| Short story for the weekend: Shtetl Days Posted: 08 Jun 2012 03:00 PM PDT Last week I posted a delightful science fiction story with a Jewish theme. This week, quite by accident, I stumbled onto another - really, a dystopian alternate history - called Shtetl Days, by Harry Turtledove. It is too long to post the entire story - 34 pages printed - but here is part of it: Jakub Shlayfer opened the door and walked outside to go to work. Before he could shut it again, his wife called after him: "Alevai it should be a good day! We really need the gelt!"
"Alevai, Bertha. Omayn," Jakub agreed. The door was already shut by then, but what difference did that make? It wasn't as if he didn't know they were poor. His lean frame, the rough edge on the brim of his broad, black hat, his threadbare long, black coat, and the many patches on his boot soles all told the same story.
But then, how many Jews in Wawolnice weren't poor? The only one Jakub could think of was Shmuel Grynszpan, the undertaker. His business was as solid and certain as the laws of God. Everybody else's? Groszy and zlotych always came in too slowly and went out too fast.
He stumped down the unpaved street, skirting puddles. Not all the boot patches were everything they might have been. He didn't want to get his feet wet. He could have complained to Mottel Cohen, but what was the use? Mottel did what Mottel could do. And it wasn't as if Wawolnice had—or needed—two cobblers. It you listened to Mottel's kvetching, the village didn't need one cobbler often enough.
The watery spring morning promised more than the day was likely to deliver. The sun was out, but clouds to the west warned it was liable to rain some more. Well, it wouldn't snow again till fall. That was something. Jakub skidded on mud and almost fell. It might be something, but it wasn't enough.
Two-story houses with steep, wood-shingled roofs crowded the street from both sides and caused it to twist here and turn there. They made it hard for the sun to get down to the street and dry up the mud. More Jews came out of the houses to go to their jobs. The men dressed pretty much like Jakub. Some of the younger ones wore cloth caps instead of broad-brimmed hats. Chasidim, by contrast, had fancy shtreimels, with the brims made from mink.
...
He closed up and locked the door. He'd done some tinkering with the lock. He didn't think anybody not a locksmith could quietly pick it. Enough brute force, on the other hand . . . Jews in Poland understood all they needed to about brute force, and about who had enough of it. Jakub Shlayfer's mobile mouth twisted. Polish Jews didn't, never had, and never would.
He walked home through the gathering gloom. "Stinking Yid!" The shrei in Polish pursued him. His shoulders wanted to sag under its weight, and the weight of a million more like it. He didn't, he wouldn't, let them. If the mamzrim saw they'd hurt you, they won. As long as a rock didn't follow, he was all right. And if one did, he could duck or dodge. He hoped.
No rocks tonight. Candles and kerosene lamps sent dim but warm glows out into the darkness. If you looked at the papers, electricity would come to the village soon. Then again, if you looked at the papers and believed everything you read in them, you were too dumb to live.
Bertha met him at the door. Sheitel, head scarf over it, long black dress . . . She still looked good to him. She greeted him with, "So what were you and Reb Eliezer going on about today?"
"Serpents," Jakub answered.
"Pilpul." His wife's sigh said she'd hoped for better, even if she hadn't expected it. "I don't suppose he had any paying business."
"He didn't, no," the grinder admitted.
...
Jakub walked over to the closet door. That the cramped space had room for a closet seemed something not far from miraculous. He wasn't inclined to complain, though. Oh, no—on the contrary. Neither was Bertha, who came up smiling to stand beside him as he opened the door.
Then they walked into the closet. They could do that now. The day was over. Jakub shoved coats and dresses out of the way. They smelled of wool and old sweat. Bertha flicked a switch as she closed the closet door. A ceiling light came on.
"Thanks, sweetie," Jakub said. "That helps."
In back of the clothes stood another door, this one painted battleship gray. In German, large, neatly stenciled black letters on the hidden doorway warned AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Being an authorized person, Jakub hit the numbers that opened that door. It showed a concrete stairway leading down. The walls to the descending corridor were also pale gray. Blue-tinged light from fluorescent tubes in ceiling fixtures streamed into the closet.
Jakub started down the stairs. Bertha was an authorized person, too. She followed him, pausing only to close the hidden door behind them. A click announced it had locked automatically, as it was designed to do. The grinder and his wife left Wawolnice behind.
Men and women in grimy Jewish costumes and about an equal number dressed as Poles from the time between the War of Humiliation and the triumphant War of Retribution ambled along an underground hallway. They chatted and chattered and laughed, as people who've worked together for a long time will at the end of a day.
Arrows on the walls guided them toward their next destination. Explaining the arrows were large words beside them: TO THE SHOWERS. The explanation was about as necessary as a second head, but Germans had a habit of overdesigning things.
Veit Harlan shook himself like a dog that had just scrambled out of a muddy creek. That was how he felt, too. Like any actor worth his salt, he immersed himself in the roles he played. When the curtain came down on another day, he always needed a little while to remember he wasn't Jakub Shlayfer, a hungry Jew in a Polish village that had vanished from the map more than a hundred years ago.
He wasn't the only one, either. He would have been amazed if he had been. People heading for the showers to clean up after their latest shift in Wawolnice went right on throwing around the front vowels and extra-harsh gutturals of Yiddish. Only little by little did they start using honest German again.
When they did, the fellow who played Reb Eliezer—his real name was Ferdinand Marian—and a pimply yeshiva-bukher (well, the pimply performer impersonating a young yeshiva-bukher) went right on with whatever disputation Eliezer had found after leaving Jakub's shop. They went right on throwing Hebrew and Aramaic around, too. And the reb and the kid with zits both kept up a virtuoso display of finger-wagging.
"They'd better watch that," Veit murmured to the woman who had been Bertha a moment before. 
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| Arabs are very nice to their refugees - unless they happen to be Palestinian Posted: 08 Jun 2012 10:33 AM PDT From Al Jazeera: Hundreds of Syrians approach the agency daily to register for its services and protection, pushing the total number of registered Syrian refugees in Jordan to over 22,000, the UNHCR in Amman has said.
Andrew Harper, the UN refugee agency's country representative, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that 7,800 Syrian refugees had been registered in May 2012, marking the highest number of registrations in a single month since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government began 14 months ago.
Jordan now has more registered Syrian refugees than Turkey, Harper said.
The UNHCR expects this upward trend to continue with the agency's increased outreach efforts and recent dispatch of a mobile office to the border city of Ramtha.
Harper said that the number of registered refugees is unrepresentative of the total number of Syrians in need, which the government places at 120,000.
According to the UNHCR, around half of the registered refugees come from Homs, which has been pounded by the Syrian government, and just over a fourth originate from Deraa.
Harper maintains that the Jordanian government and people have been exemplary in opening their borders and communities to Syrians.
The UNHCR is trying to mobilise resources from the international community and Gulf Arab countries because it feels Syrians will be staying in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for some time.
Local communities have absorbed the bulk of the burden and challenges that hosting Syrians poses for Jordan.
Syrians and Jordanians have connections and family ties and that is why community-based efforts to assist Syrians in Jordan have been extraordinary.
Sheikh Omar al-Zoubi, a Jordanian from the border town of Ramtha, has taken it upon himself to collect donations to fund the treatment of injured Syrian refugees who cross over.
He says people's contributions have been exemplary. He mentions that he once managed to collect $17,000 in one day to pay a hospital bill for one Syrian patient.
Zoubi, a devout Muslim, says the volunteers and donors he works with do not belong to a certain group or political party, but are rather helping Syrians out of a religious motive.
He said "we collect donations to rent homes for them and treat them and we ask Allah to bring them victory and to get rid of their country's tyrant".
Zoubi says Saudi and Qatari individuals have been approaching him to donate money to Syrians in Jordan. Arabs are known for their hospitality and taking care of their own. The commendable efforts being made to take care of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are not anomalous - Syria alone absorbed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees during the Gulf War. There have been other major population movements within the Arab world during times of war. Although not an exact analogy, the difference between how Arabs are treating Syrian refugees in 2012 and how they have treated Palestinian Arab refugees from 1948 through today is striking. Just like today's Syrians, most of the 1948 Palestinian Arabs fled the fighting our of fear. Just like today's Syrians, one reason they left their homes was because they felt that life would be better for them in a friendly neighboring Arab country. But Palestinian Arab refugees are treated differently. One reason is because Israel's victory in 1948 shamed the Arabs so much that they didn't want to be reminded of their military loss to the weak Jews, and every Palestinian Arab was an human symbol of Arab defeat. Another was that the Arabs blamed the West for Israel's existence and for the refugee plight. An oft-repeated Arab saying at the time was that the refugees were created by the UN with its partition resolution, so the UN should take care of them. They didn't want to take responsibility so they refused, and the West had no option but to step in or risk the deaths of thousands. Arabs didn't care. This is why the amount of money given to UNRWA from Arab states remains a mere pittance even today. A third reason could be seen from another recent refugee population. During the Gulf war, Syria and other Arab nations were happy to accept Iraqi refugees - except for those of Palestinian lineage. They kept those thousands of Iraqi Palestinian refugees in horrible camps on the border between Syria and Iraq, and it took a couple of years for UNHCR to find them countries to move to, mostly in the West. Not only that, but Arabs publicly and bitterly complained at UNHCR's efforts to find them new homes and to make them lose their refugee status! They felt that for every refugee to be resettled in the West, that was one less who might identify as "Palestinian" and one less who would eventually help destroy Israel. The Arabs might be charitable towards their own, but their desire to destroy Israel is much, much stronger. And every single "refugee" is worth more in the additional pressure he or she seems to add to eventually achieving that goal. And if you don't believe this - then explain why Jordan wantis to segregate Syrian Palestinian refugees from other Syrian refugees, and stop them from coming into Jordan proper? It is heartwarming to see extensive Arab efforts to help Syrian refugees, but it also shows by contrast how awful the Arab world continues to treat Palestinians. (h/t Yoel) 
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| Friday links (Ian) Posted: 08 Jun 2012 08:55 AM PDT Six Day War anniversary coverage The IDF Liberates Jerusalem: A Look Back - Video The capture of Jerusalem, as never seen before First part of a day by day series from CifWatch with videos. The Six Day War Day One Ukrainian Teens Arrested For Damaging Holocaust Memorial ' Dress like an Orthodox Jew' restaurant in Euro 2012 city Lviv, Ukraine "Dr Zuroff said that the restaurant gives guests hats with peyot attached when they arrive, and avoids citing prices on the menu so that people have to "haggle" on payment. At another restaurant, "Kryvika", customers are welcomed into a room that is reminiscent of a Nazi-era bunker, after greeting waiters with the password "Glory to the Ukraine." Peddler of borderline anti-Semitism and fierce critic of Israel made several visits to White House, records show Wiesenthal Center to YouTube: Take down 'I love Israel' video A "Pinkwashing" roundup The Crazy Lie of "Pinkwashing" and the Liberal Case for Israel Exposing Queers against Israeli Apartheid – Video "Martin Gladstone sits down with Michael Coren to discuss his documentary on Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a fringe group causing a stir in both gay and Jewish communities alike." The website for the doco Reclaiming Our Pride
Also, (not from Ian,) The Palestinian Money Pit at Aish. Is Assad using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians? The real "spring" is not Arab (h/t Yoel) 
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| Sexual assaults on women in Tahrir Square increasing Posted: 08 Jun 2012 07:30 AM PDT Today there is a mass demonstration of thousands in Tahrir Square in Cairo against what many Egyptians felt was a light sentence for Hosni Mubarak in his trial. The women in the protest better watch out. From AP: Her screams were not drowned out by the clamor of the crazed mob of nearly 200 men around her.
An endless number of hands reached toward the woman in the red shirt in an assault scene that lasted less than 15 minutes but felt more like an hour.
She was pushed by the sea of men for about a block into a side street from Tahrir Square. Many of the men were trying to break up the frenzy, but it was impossible to tell who was helping and who was assaulting.
Pushed against the wall, the unknown woman's head finally disappeared. Her screams grew fainter, then stopped. Her slender tall frame had clearly given way. She apparently had passed out. The helping hands finally splashed the attackers with bottles of water to chase them away.
The assault late Tuesday was witnessed by an Associated Press reporter who was almost overwhelmed by the crowd herself and had to be pulled to safety by men who ferried her out of the melee in an open Jeep.
Reports of assaults on women in Tahrir, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year, have been on the rise with a new round of mass protests to denounce a mixed verdict against the ousted leader and his sons in a trial last week.
No official numbers exist for attacks on women in the square because police do not go near the area, and women rarely report such incidents.
But activists and protesters have reported a number of particularly violent assaults on women in the past week. Many suspect such assaults are organised by opponents of the protests to weaken the spirit of the protesters and drive people away.
Mahmoud said two of his female friends were cornered Monday and pushed into a small passageway by a group of men in the same area where the woman in the red shirt was assaulted.
One was groped while the other was seriously assaulted, Mahmoud said, refusing to divulge specifics other than to insist she wasn't raped.
Mona Seif, a well-known activist who has been trying to promote awareness about the problem, said Wednesday she was told about three different incidents in the past five days, including two that were violent.
In one incident, the attackers ripped the woman's clothes off and trampled on her companions, she said.
Women, who participated in the 18-day uprising that ended with Mubarak's 11 February 2011 ouster as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs on Tahrir, have found themselves facing the same groping and assaults that have long plagued Egypt's streets during subsequent protests in the square.
Women also have been targeted in recent crackdowns on protesters by military and security troops, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security that grew even more aggressive in the days following his ouster.
In a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops were captured on video stomping with their boots on the bare chest of a woman, with only her blue bra showing, as other troops pulled her by the arms across the ground.
A 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights says two-thirds of women in Egypt experienced sexual harassment on a daily basis. It isn't only political protests that have men attacking women. They do it on religious holidays, too. And if you think that women who cover their bodies and hair are less likely to be attacked, think again. The article does say that some Egyptians are fed up, and organizing patrols to protect women in Tahrir Square. 
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| The silence Abbas wants you to hear (Lori Lowenthal Marcus) Posted: 08 Jun 2012 06:10 AM PDT From The Algemeiner, by Lori Lowenthal Marcus: ...Under the Palestinian Authority's Penal Code, a holdover from when Jordan illegally occupied the territories, defamation suspects can be arrested and held in detention for up to six months before they are charged with a crime. Esmat Abdul-Khalik, an al Quds University lecturer and single mother of two, was arrested in late March and held in solitary confinement and denied the possibility of any visits because someone else criticized PA President Mahmoud Abbas on her Facebook page, calling him a traitor and suggesting he resign. Abdul-Khalik is not the only Arab arrested recently for Facebook page activity, at least three others have recently been picked up for daring to criticize members of the government.
In September, the director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, George Canawati, was arrested for posting on his Facebook page criticism of the Bethlehem Health Department. Last month the PA judicial and executive authorities determined Canawati will be tried for defamation – a crime punishable by up to two years in prison – in the Magistrate Court of Bethlehem City. The trial was recently adjourned until September.
Altogether, nine journalists have been arrested in recent weeks for exposing corruption or making critical remarks about the PA leadership on Facebook, and many others have been summoned for interrogation. When Facebook postings expose government critics to censure, you can be sure that no one will risk filing bona fide media reports about the topic.
But just as frightening as Arab Palestinian bloggers and journalists being arrested for posting on their Facebook pages is the steady drumbeat of pressure that is leading to a decrease in coverage by western journalists who, presumably, are not as vulnerable to the capricious selections for punishment designed to suppress criticism of the ruling regime.
In addition to whispered discussions being heard in Ramallah about the "Facebook Police" are the directives issued to western journalists to focus their reporting on "Israel's 'occupation'" and refrain from prying into alleged corruption committed by PA officials, because "nothing else is newsworthy and nothing else should be reported."
Some western journalists have been warned not to work with Arabic speaking reporters who fail to toe the "All-Occupation, All The Time" reporting. This is how the PA controls not only their own media outlets, but those western outlets. All too many simply play along rather than stand up for press and speech freedoms and possibly risk losing access.
...Khaled abu Toameh finds that the path he took away from censorship seems to have doubled back on itself. Rather than walking firmly on the precious path of western iconic freedoms of an unfettered press and uncensored speech, abu Toameh is finding that that road is rotting out beneath his feet. This rare truth-telling journalist is finding it increasingly harder to report the corruption and lack of freedoms in the PA, and as a result our news world is becoming a quieter, but certainly not a better, place. On his own Facebook Page abu Toameh posted this silent cri de coeur: "A campaign of intimidation, harassment, pressure, threats and boycotts has made it impossible for an Arab journalist to work in the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories." 
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| The Guardian publishes Hamas lies Posted: 08 Jun 2012 03:15 AM PDT Once again, Hamas is given a platform to spew nice sounding words in English - this time by Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh: We as a people want to live in our homeland, the land of our ancestors, in freedom, dignity and democracy, and with a just peace that restores our rights. We do not want to attack anyone and do not accept anyone attacking us. As we have said on more than one occasion, the key to security is the end of occupation....I would like to reiterate on behalf of my people our sincere desire to live in security and stability, without wars and bloodshed; we hope that the world will help us in this venture. We extend our hand to all those who seek a just peace to work seriously to end the occupation and help us establish our state, which the world has already recognised....We do not want more blood. The first deception for the English-language audience is the definition of "occupation." According to Hamas, all of Israel is on occupied territory, as I have proven a number of times. Hamas has made it crystal clear that it wants to destroy Israel in stages, as Mahmoud Zahar said on video in 2010: "We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital – but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key – without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land.
"This is our plan for this stage – to liberate the West Bank and Gaza, without recognizing Israel's right to a single inch of land, and without giving up the Right of Return for a single Palestinian refugee.
[...]
"Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy. " Hamas' charter also makes it clear it does not seek a democratic Palestinian Arab state, but a pan-Muslim 'umma where Palestine is swallowed up by a new large Islamic nation. Democracy is not the goal, but a tactic. Now, as far as Hamas' desire for "peace" and "no bloodshed," here are some recent Hamas statements: March 30: Hamas confirmed that the Al-Aqsa Intifada "will continue to be present at the heart of every Arab and Muslim, and that they address the Palestinian issue." and the Islamic movement stressed in a statement that the resistance will continue in all its forms in the liberation of Palestinian land ....Hamas stressed that the intifada "will remain a landmark inspired by the Palestinian people the meanings of resilience, stability, and the challenge against the crimes of the Zionist enemy." May 16: The entire [Hamas] Palestinian Legislative Council confirmed that the armed resistance is the only option to restore the rights and Palestinian rights. Here is the illustration of that article from the Hamas newspaper Palestine Times: May 26: Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal confirmed that resistance is a right for all peoples and every nation, and no nation in history has terminated occupation voluntarily, but it only happens by the use of force. Even though the Guardian's "Comment is Free" column is meant to showcase a variety of views and opinions, it seems ridiculous that it is meant to be a platform for baldfaced lies. Yet it is. UPDATE: Here is my comment in The Guardian: Do Guardian readers know that when Haniyeh says he wants and "end to occupation" he means an "end to Israel?" Hamas media in Arabic define all of Israel as "occupied" and all Israeli towns as "settlements."
Do Guardian readers know that at the exact same time that Haniyeh claims to not want bloodshed, Hamas leaders are saying the exact opposite? Just in the past month Khaled Meshal and the Hamss legislative council confirmed in very clear terms that "armed resistance" is the ONLY method to "liberate Palestine," and that they praised the suicide bombing spree known as the second intifada.
Do Guardian readers know that only last week Hamas leaders praised suicide bombers and other terrorists, and their media lovingly went over the details of how their "martyrs" blew up innocent Israeli women and children to bits?
Or is it better to ignore everything Hamas says daily in Arabic and believe the baldfaced lies that they say in English to credulous Westerners? 
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