יום שבת, 23 ביולי 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Palestinian Arabs using archaeology "to rewrite history"

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 11:22 AM PDT

AP has an article on an archaeological dig in Shechem (Nablus):
Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval.

Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem, and are preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year.

The project, carried out under the auspices of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities, also aims to introduce the Palestinians of Nablus, who have been beset for much of the past decade by bloodshed and isolation, to the wealth of antiquities in the middle of their city.
Then comes the good part:
In Israel, archaeology, and especially biblical archaeology, has long been a hallowed national pursuit traditionally focused on uncovering the depth of Jewish roots in the land. For the Palestinians, whose Department of Antiquities was founded only 15 years ago, the dig demonstrates a growing interest in uncovering the ancient past.

The department now has 130 workers and carries out several dozen rescue excavations every year on the sites of planned building projects in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, said Hamdan Taha, the department's director. Ten ongoing research excavations are being conducted with foreign cooperation.

All of the periods in local history, including that of the biblical Israelites, are part of Palestinian history, Taha said.
"Palestinian history" predates "Palestinians?" How can it be considered "Palestinian history" if the residents of the lands were not related to today's Palestinian Arabs? Do Jews claim that uncovering pre-Biblical treasures is part of the history of Israel? It's important, to be sure, but Israeli archaeology - despite the claims of its detractors - is populated by people who are dedicated to uncovering the truth, whether it seems to support or  go against the biblical narrative. To call any ancient findings "Palestinian history" is to grotesquely mangle the meaning of the word.

This is an obvious attempt to minimize real history, and especially Jewish history, in the land and instead push a narrative of an ancient "Palestinian people" who never existed.

But don't take my word for it:
Digs like the one in Nablus, he said, "give Palestinians the opportunity to participate in writing or rewriting the history of Palestine from its primary sources."
Ah, archaeology gives today's Palestinian Arabs the opportunity to rewrite history. Got it.

(h/t Dan)

Israel taking on Silicon Valley (The Telegraph)

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 10:10 AM PDT

Nice:

Despite only being 64 years old, and constantly in a state of political turmoil, Israel is fast becoming known in technology circles, as the world's second Silicon Valley and as a 'start up nation' – now also the title of a successful book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, charting the country's successful and often unknown tech story.

This prowess in technology has resulted in leaders and high profile figures from around the world to make regular visits to the small embattled state to see the start up nation in action. Earlier this month for instance, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear,flew into Israel in order to promote the UK's capital as the best place for Israeli's to list their companies and to find out about opportunities for UK based fund managers to invest in Israeli technology businesses.
Seeing the start up nation in action, so soon after returning from Palo Alto – the home of the original Silicon Valley, I was impressed by the same high levels of innovation, concentrated into one small area and a similar set of cash rich and investment-hungry venture capital firms waiting on the sidelines for the next golden egg.
Company after company presented to us, a small band of international journalists, many showing a different solution to a problem people often don't yet know they need solving.
Stand out technology companies included: Waze – a mobile navigation app updated in real-time, Playcast – an on demand gaming service delivered via TVs without a games console, and JustAd TV, an advertising service which allows adverts to be dropped into time-shifted viewing.
However, where the Israeli 'Silicon Valley' differs to the original Californian version, is in the amount of consumer technology products being created.
I saw a lot of middleware and chip companies while on my tech tour, which definitely all fell into the business to business category.
According to Yonatan Sela, vice president of marketing of Tvinci, a pay TV on-demand platform, because of Israel's small size, (7.7 million) and it's rather unique inability to do business with its direct neighbours for political reasons, it's difficult to grow a consumer technology business in Israel.
"Building a consumer brand is much harder to do outside of a big market like the US. It's definitely very difficult to do in Israel as the population is so small that growing and scaling a consumer brand is tough. Plus we can't rely upon the brand then to catch on with our immediate neighbours. This is why business to business solutions we can provide via technology and then sell aboard, is more commonplace."
However, Gilad Japhet, the founder and chief executive of MyHeritage, a popular social networking site for families and is a rare example of an Israeli consumer web company, thinks the focus on technology solutions for businesses is indicative of the country's culture and expertise.
"Israelis are incredibly good at problem solving. They are trained to never accept barriers and always try and solve an issue – no matter how difficult it is. This makes Israel very strong in technology. However, Israelis are typically not good when it comes to finesse and creating slick user interfaces for the normal consumer. This leaves a shortage of business to consumer start ups in Israel as people here usually like to solve digital issues for businesses but not the consumer…I think Israelis are drawn more to algorithms and the back end stuff."
There is also a trend happening across the country's technology start ups which is helping to create a more stable and dependable business sector. Entrepreneurs are slowly moving away from the 'fast exit' which Israeli founders of technology companies had become known for. Increasingly these technology businesses are being built for the long term, hoping to ape and eventually rival the giants of Silicon Valley.

Latest Latma

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 09:05 AM PDT

Syrian protests keep getting bigger as media coverage shrinks

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Syria just isn't in the news as much as it was a couple of months ago - but the protests against the Assad regime keep getting bigger.

Today, in Hama, hundreds of thousands making a huge human Syrian flag:


Thousands in Latakia:


Thousands in Edleb:


Deir az-Zour:


Homs:



There are protests in dozens of Syrian cities today. And people are getting killed.

This is not the time for the media and politicians to lay off - it is time to step up.

Ilan Grapel to remain in Egyptian jail for another 45 days

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 07:30 AM PDT

A South Cairo court has ruled to keep Ilan Grapel in jail for an additional 45 days as the Egyptian government continues to look for evidence that the openly Israeli tourist was really a secret Mossad agent.

Grapel has already been in custody for some five weeks. Efforts by the US to free him have not been successful.

Meanwhile, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar announced that Egypt has nothing to fear from Hamas - but rather from Israeli spies like Grapel. He says that the reports that Hamas helped spring prisoners during the uprising were false and said that "we do not interfere in the affairs of Arab countries at all."

Golden bell that may have been worn by Second Temple Kohen Gadol discovered

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 06:35 AM PDT

Amazing:
Archaeologists have unearthed what they believe to be a golden bell belonging to the High Priest from the period of the Second Temple.
While conducting an archaeological dig in Jerusalem's City of David, members of the Israel Antiquities Authority were astonished to find a rare golden bell with a small loop at its end.

Archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who are leading the excavation, said: "The bell looks as if it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period [1st Century B.C.E.]."

That man of high authority is assumed to be none other than the High Priest. Archaeologists have surmised that the bell may have fallen while he walked through Jerusalem's main street, near Robinson's Arch [an ancient entrance to the Temple Mount]. They believe the bell may have fallen into the drainage canal below.

The bell was discovered in the city's main drainage canal from that period, unearthed between layers of dirt that had piled up on the floor of the channel. The drainage canal was built and hewn west to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, carrying rainfall from different parts of the city, through the City of David and the Shiloah Pool to the Kidron Valley.

Jewish sources say that the high priests who served in Jerusalem's Holy Temple did indeed hang golden bells on the edges of their coats. The book of Exodus, for example, describes the coat of Aaron, the high priest, as containing "bells of gold."

Exodus 28:31-34:
And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And it shall have a hole for the head in the midst thereof; it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a coat of mail that it be not rent. And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about.

UNRWA threatens to shut down in Gaza over protests

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 05:32 AM PDT

From CRI:
A United Nations agency taking care of Palestinian refugees threatened Thursday to suspend all its activities in the Gaza Strip if people did not end a series of protests against the organization.

"We are thinking to stop our operations completely in a week" if the protests against the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) continued, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UNRWA.

Dozens of people have blocked gates of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City for the second day because the agency suspended some of its relief programs.

Gunness stressed that it is unacceptable for the protests to develop in this way.

The UNRWA says their basic services, mainly health and education, are still being offered normally, and the suspension targeted other programs such as temporary employment.

The UNRWA attributes the crisis to a lack of funding, noting that the donor countries did not meet their obligations.

The protests are sponsored by Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls Gaza. Hamas refused the UNRWA's threats to stop the operations and called on the protestors to continue their sit-in around the agency's headquarters.
Comments at Palestine Press Agency are defiant, saying that the UN could "go to hell" because it is a Zionist agency anyway.

Hey, if UNRWA doesn't want to be there, and Gazans don't want it to be there....

Lies, damn lies and J-Street surveys

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 03:17 AM PDT

Yesterday, J-Street came out with a poll saying that Jews are still more pro-Obama than leaning towards Republican candidates, even though that support has eroded.

The general outline of that result is probably mostly true, but another of the survey questions - regarding J-Street itself - shows how the wording of a question can influence the answer.

Here is how the press release described the poll result that J-Street clearly wanted to uncover:
Efforts to prevent Jewish critics of Israeli government policy from participating in Jewish community events directly contradict the beliefs and values of most American Jews. When asked if groups like the JCC or Jewish Federations should allow Jewish organizations that publicly criticize certain Israeli government policies to participate in events sponsored by the Jewish community, 79 percent responded that they should allow these groups to participate.

This belief holds steady (77 percent) when presented with J Street's perspective about  opposing policies like settlement expansion in the West Bank and with J Street's critics' perspective that J Street's criticism undermines Israeli security and that "just calling itself pro Israel does not make J Street pro-Israel." Notably, these results are very similar among Jews who belong to a synagogue (74 percent think J Street should be allowed to participate) and Jews who do not belong to a synagogue (79 percent think J Street should be allowed to participate).
Do 77% of Jews believe that J-Street belongs inside the "big tent" of Jewish organizations?

Here's how the general question was phrased:

Do you think Jewish community organizations such as local Jewish Federations and JCCs should allow or not allow Jewish organizations that publicly criticize some Israeli government policies to participate in events sponsored by Jewish community organizations?

Should allow 79%
Should not allow 21%
It is a generic question, designed to appeal to Jewish sense of fairness. Of course everyone supports multiple viewpoints and of course it is possible to be critical of specific Israeli policies while remaining inside the mainstream of the American Jewish community. But at some point, "criticism" goes beyond the pale - and the survey question does not attempt to identify where that line is.

On J-Street specifically, the question bias is stark:
As you may know, there is a Jewish organization called J Street which calls itself the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.

J Street supports Israel and its right to defend itself, and believes that it is acceptable to criticize some Israeli government policies, such as expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Opponents of J Street say that an organization which criticizes Israeli policy undermines Israeli security, and that just calling itself pro-Israel does not make J Street pro-Israel.

Do you think Jewish community organizations such as local Jewish Federations and JCCs should allow or not allow J Street to participate in events sponsored by Jewish community organizations?

Should allow 77%
Should not allow 23%
Keep in mind that most American Jews are not so involved in politics to have ever heard of J-Street, or to care too much about it. So the first sentence subconsciously defines J-Street for them by saying it is "pro-Israel, pro-peace" - concepts that everyone agrees with. That sentence frames the next two sentences.

The next sentence states, as a fact, that J-Street supports Israel and its right to defend itself - without defining what that means. They mention one specific Israeli policy they disagree with, but don't say (for example) that they support the US cutting aid to Israel based on that position.

The third sentence does not state anything as a fact - but as a claim. Opponents say something, but it is not established as fact the way the previous sentence described J-Street. So while J-Street is defined by the question itself as being pro-Israel, it says that its opponents only say that it is not.

Not only that,  the characterization of what J-Street's opponents believe is framed as a generic attack against any organization that is even mildly critical of Israel, subtly putting J-Street in a broad category of a group of organizations that criticize some specific aspects of Israeli policy while inherently being broadly supportive of Israeli policy.

Now that the question has thoroughly defined the parameters, the person being surveyed is primed to answer the way J-Street desires.

To make it clearer, here is another way the question could have been phrased:
As you may know, there is a Jewish political organization called J-Street.

J-Street claims to support Israel and its right to defend itself and says that it only criticizes some Israeli government policies. It would like the US to reduce aid to Israel unless Israel adheres to this American political organization's concept of what Israel should do.

Opponents of J-Street note that J-Street has lobbied for the US not to veto anti-Israel UN resolutions, and that both the Israeli public and government are overwhelmingly against J-Street's political positions as being dangerous to Israeli security.

Do you think Jewish community organizations such as local Jewish Federations and JCCs should allow or not allow J-Street to participate in events sponsored by Jewish community organizations?

How do you think that American Jews would answer that question?

J-Street's biased question could even be used to describe "Jewish" groups that support boycotting Israel. Which shows even more starkly how badly that question was written, and how you cannot believe survey results based on press releases by the organizations that issued the survey to begin with.
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