i will be off blogging till the end of month due to finals. wish me luck, see you then.
Tala

Confused: Do i want peace? -- Part 1

I still remember when i was in high school when arab TV stations were spilt on how to address the Israeli army. is it "جيش العدو الصهيوني" or "جيش الدفاع الاسرائيلي" , translation: "The Zionist Enemy Forces" or "Israeli Defence Forces" till the day, i think Arabs don't agree about this term, among several others ofcourse.

you as an individual, what would you choose? how do you see it? are you truly at peace with making peace? i ask you to take a moment to think about it and think of your choice's implications, there is no right and wrong here.

speaking for myself i am so confused, i look at the international facts, agreements and history, thats not what they taught us in history class, all i read about our history even at college was bluffing the days of glory and that they are occupying our Land. i Never and i mean by never NEVER studied history from International Law point of view. hell! i didn't understand what my own rights are!!

as an Arab and Jordanian, i had the curiousity to know who among the world countries admitted to the state of Israel and who didn't?

in ANY Document i came across reading Israel history by Israelis it would start with this:

Some ask the question, "Does Israel have a right to exist?" That is not a proper question since Israel does exist, is recognized by the United Nations and many other countries, and is no more subject to being so questioned than is the United States, Japan, or any other country. Anyone who persists with the question of Israel's right to exist is one whose agenda is to eliminate Israel and its Jewish inhabitants

Israel Declared its independance on May 14, 1948 and The United States announced its recognition of the new nation only 11 minutes later. In the fall of 1948, Israel had applied for membership in the United Nations but failed to win the necessary majority in the Security Council. In February 1949, Israel renewed its application for membership in the United Nations. On March 4, 1949, the Security Council recommended to the General Assembly that it be admitted. On May 11, Israel was admitted, to become the 59th member. Between January 1, 1949 and May 11. 1949, Israel was recognised by 32 States, in addition to the 20 that had accorded it recognition prior to December 31, 1948. Today Israel has full diplomatic relations with most countries of the world, except portions of the Islamic/Arab block that continue to believe that Israel can somehow be eliminated.

Total number of countries with which Israel maintains diplomatic relations: 162. *

Number of states which renewed/established diplomatic relations with Israel from the Madrid Conference (October 1991) until September 13, 1993: 32.

Number of states which renewed/established diplomatic relations with Israel since the signing of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles (September 13, 1993): 37.

In addition, Israel maintains:
a mission to the United Nations (New York)
a mission to the United Nations institutions in Geneva
a mission to the United Nations institutions in Paris (in the embassy)
a mission to the United Nations institutions in Vienna (in the embassy)
an ambassdor to the European Union (Brussels)

Number of diplomatic missions:
71 resident embassies
18 consulates general
5 special missions
Total: 94

* Note: Morocco, Tunisia and the Sultanate of Oman closed the Israeli offices in these countries in October 2000 and suspended relations with Israel. Niger, which renewed relations with Israel in November 1996, severed them in April 2002. (link)

As of November 2006, 34 countries do not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel:
Africa: Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia
(The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic of Western Sahara does not recognize Israel, but is not a member of the United Nations.)
Americas: Cuba
East Asia: (Republic of China), North Korea
South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives
Southeast Asia: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, (Vietnam)
Southwest Asia: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen (link)

The Republic of China (or Taiwan) does recognize Israel, but does not officially conduct relations with it (though there are "unofficial relations") due to Israel's recognition of the PRC

we are a nation of lost rights primarily due to our ignorance of our surrounding. people, take a look at this book and tell me what you think. its called Myths and Facts about the Arab Israeli Conflict

what do we have ready to say in the face of the whole world on behalf of our part of the truth?

WHEN JUSTICE FAILS!! IM SO BAFFLED MR SECRETARY GENERAL

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s statement to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, in New York, 1 March:

Since last Wednesday, there has been a deeply alarming escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel, and a terrible civilian death toll. The scenes from Gaza today have been particularly disturbing.

Some 117 rockets have been fired from Gaza at southern Israel, (really is this your opening statement! excuse for killing 90?) including 26 rockets today. These rockets have been fired at several civilian centres and have extended as far north as the Israeli city of Ashkelon. According to press reports and Israeli Government sources (sure they are saying the truth Ban, the holy word of the holy) the rockets fired at Ashkelon are not home-made Qassams, but rather are rockets of advanced Katyusha-like design, allegedly smuggled into Gaza when the border with Egypt was breached. (i bet they have nuclear heads too, sheesh!) One Israeli civilian (Katyusha like design eh?) has been killed in Sederot and five civilians were reported injured in Ashkelon today, including women and children.

During this same period, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has undertaken attacks from the air and by land on targets in the Gaza Strip. An estimated 90 Palestinians have been killed (i guess those were friendly fires?), among them many civilians, and injuries are in the hundreds. According to United Nations estimates, 59 Palestinians have been killed today, including 39 civilians, among them three women and five minors, including an infant. Let me stress that there are many conflicting reports on the numbers of casualties, and these figures are not confirmed (sure if your source is the Israeli government! doncha think?). Additionally, there has been heavy property damage. (no worries, Abbas promissed peggy would fix it!)

Israeli land incursions are taking place near Jabalya and the northern Gaza Strip. Two Israeli soldiers are reported to have been killed in the fighting. The IDF reports that it destroyed a truck carrying 160 rockets. (Katyusha ones too?)

United Nations sources report at least four incidents of Israeli fire against ambulances and medical personnel. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has issued a call for diesel, in order to operate its ambulances. All United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools have been closed, and many families are trapped inside their houses by the violence, unable to obtain medical aid or reach safety. I call on Israel to facilitate full access to hospitals and medical centres for the injured.

At the outset of this escalation, I have made clear publicly my deep concern, and I have been diplomatically engaged to press for a calming of the violence. I have spoken today to Palestinian President Abbas, Israeli Foreign Minister Livni and League of Arab States Secretary-General Moussa. (the ones who sealed the deal against Hamas? but are concerned with the consequences?) United Nations agencies on the ground, especially UNRWA, are continuing their efforts to assist people in grave distress. ( shu biddo yla7e2 la yla7e2!)

In light of these deeply disturbing developments (r u kidding me? i guess it could have been worse according to Matan!), I would like to make the following clear:

I condemn Palestinian rocket attacks and call for the immediate cessation of such acts of terrorism, (killing one and injuring 5) which serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians and bring misery to the Palestinian people. I call for an end to these attacks. (HOLY COW!! MAN HOW MUCH CORRUPTION IS THERE IN YOUR ORGANISATION)

While recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself, I condemn the disproportionate and excessive use of force (i dont understand how you give excuse for killing in the name of security, i dont think this is what human rights call for) that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children. I call on Israel to cease such attacks. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise the utmost restraint. Incidents in which civilians have been killed or injured must be investigated and accountability must be ensured.

I am deeply concerned at the possibility of the violence escalating. I have offered our strong support for all efforts to bring about an end to the violence and a period of calm. I call on all parties to step back from the brink of even deeper and more deadly clashes.

I am also extremely concerned at the impact of these developments on the negotiation process. (are you questioning your pet Abbas if he feels anything for what have the friendly fires of Israeli did to wipe Hamas?) I call on all members of the international community, important stakeholders and Security Council members to exercise their influence on the parties to stop the violence and to allow humanitarian relief. All parties should rededicate their commitment to the peace process.

is there anything in this world that cannot be bought?? i hope Abbas enjoys his 7.7 billion promises which i doubt he will ever get hands on.

Meet The J-Blogosphere JIBs and Outer Shell Aggregators

J-Blogs refer to a segment of the Jewish Blogging Community that has been there since 2004 which for me at least is something interesting to explore parallel to what the arab blogs produce, i always wanted to hear their people speaking because its more informative than their newspapers, but from first impressions, i felt that these people are very much organised and they come in a direct, sharp, focused and clear manner and sometimes very arrogantly foolish,, drives me nuts,, but they are loyal to their community and are very safety oriented, so when a jew wrongs his community he gets judged harshly by his people for endangering the whole, for hurting the whole, the important thing. this is how this minority has protected itself over the years.

if you like to check them out, one of their oldest aggregators is JRants.com

and here are some other famous ones as well:

1. JBlog Central ; selective blogs that are very pro israel in a "good" way


2. JBlogsphere.com ; there since 2006


3. jewishblogging.com


4. English Writing Israeli Bloggers ; seems peaceful one


5. Top 50 Israeli Blogs MUST CHECK !!


6. there are more through google and yahoo engines :)

Israeli's have an annual awards for the best blogs for the year which is voted by the J blogosphere around the globe, it calles JIB awards (Jewish and Israel Blog Awards!) hmm,, these people are having so much fun there,, dont you think and guess what, whats the aim of it??? to direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs

now lets get to the arab world blogs, i came across this 30 pages article/document by Marc Lynch in Arab Media and Society for February 2007 and it speaks thoroughly about Arab Blogs titled blogging the new arab public (i dont very much agree to all content though) quoting:

Arab political bloggers engage in three principle types of activity: activism,bridge-blogging, and public sphere engagement. Activists are directly involved in political movements, using blogs to coordinate political action, spread information, and magnify the impact of contentious politics. Bridgebloggers primarily address Western audiences, usually writing in English with the intention of explaining their societies. Finally, public-sphere bloggers tend to not be directly involved in a political movement, but are deeply engaged with public arguments about domestic (and often Arab or Islamic) politics.

whats amazing is that how arab blogs are demographically arranged and each group fights for something and totally ignores the others whether its in Palestine, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Tunis and non is actually oriented in these communities, its totally from an individual perspective of suffering,, plus i sense a communication barrier because of writing methods and the style of self expression between Arab Bloggers who write in English and Arab bloggers who write in Arabic, and on this point im speaking for myself, because sometimes i find it hard to share my thoughts fully on an arabic written post though i would love to and i will work on it instead of only reading it.

so here are some arab aggregators

1. Al Bab
2. Black Smiths of Lebanon
3. Egypt Omraneya
4. Jordan Blogs
5. Kuwait Safat
6. Lebanon Aggregator
7. Lebanon's Blogs
8. Maroc Blogs
9. Palestine Blogs
10. Qwaider Planet
11. Tunisie Blogs

Update: i added to the arab aggregators list Blogs of Morroco and of Palestine and Jordan, Thanks to Qwaider and Houssein