Give us a break, says Gaza-Sderot blog
OK, maybe some NGO suggested this to them (or maybe not), but here is a very new blog co-authored by two friends, one from Gaza, and one from Sderot.
The Christian Science Monitor reported the news: “The two men have not seen each other in about a year. But they are now reunited in the blogosphere, writing a joint diary to stave off their own despair and prove that a dialogue is still possible across the divide. Titled, ‘Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot’, the pair rants in (uneven) English about the seeming futility about the Hamas-Israeli hostilities, the daily stress of surviving the violence, and the loneliness of optimists. ‘Peace man’, an unemployed bachelor who resides in Gaza’s Sajaiya refugee camp, blogs between Gaza’s power outages and complains of insomnia from the constant overflights of Israeli attack helicopters. ‘Hope man’, a software programmer whose Sderot house has been buffeted on all sides by Qassam rockets, worries about being away from his kids – who are at school – when the next rockets fall … Afraid their public conversation may be seen as disloyal by their countrymen, they assiduously guard their true identities. The Gaza blogger says in a phone interview that some of his friends who know about the blog have expressed concern for his well-being … The bloggers met about two years ago through an Israeli-Arab dialogue group sponsored by the Center for Emerging Future in Boise, Idaho, which obtained Israeli army permits for Peace Man to cross into Israel to attend dialogue meetings in Jerusalem and Sderot. Danny Gal, the Israeli coordinator for the center, said the group encourages Israelis and Palestinians to set up joint peace ventures … Desperate for a respite from the violence, the blogging pair recently started calling for a one-month truce in the fighting, which they say will give a chance for the anger to ease on each side and for leaders to think creatively about searching for a solution”. The full CSM article is posted
here .
Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
thanxxx
that is huge
& of course i joined & congratulated them immediately
they do have one advantage over us
which is notification of follow up posts by email
& i dont know if that is a special perk they get for being on the front line
so i dont know whether to envy them or not
but i do also see by the dawns early light that their & our call for a cease fire has already resulted in a distinct diminuendo of fire at least
& in fact a whole nother ballgame
Israel: New ‘Rules Of The Game’ In Gaza Strip
March 10, 2008 | 0845 GMT
The Israeli military has withdrawn ground forces from the Gaza Strip and halted aerial assaults under “new rules of the game” following last week’s military operation in Gaza, Haaretz reported March 10, citing a senior government official. These rules, under which Israel will not attack Gaza as long as Hamas does not fire at Israel, are the reason for the recent lull in violence, the official said. Palestinians have fired only three Qassam rockets at Israel since March 7, compared with about 50 a day the previous week, according to the report.
& you may think this is more a result of the new israeli perception of actually being in reasonably good shape now
Israel: Intelligence Agencies Present Annual Threat Assessment To Cabinet
March 9, 2008 | 1737 GMT
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service told government ministers that there is a low chance of a new Palestinian uprising in the near future, Haaretz reported March 9. Citing the service’s annual intelligence estimate, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said that an uprising would occur only if Muslim holy places, such as the Dome of the Rock, were damaged or attacked or if the Palestinian death toll were to rise significantly. Meanwhile, Israeli Military Intelligence and the Mossad intelligence agency said Syria is prepared to sever its ties with extremist groups in the Middle East. Both agencies estimate that Syria would be more likely to sever such ties if Israel agreed to return the Golan Heights and if the United States were to begin negotiations with Damascus again. Additionally, Military Intelligence, the Mossad, Shin Bet, the Foreign Ministry and the National Security Council met to brief the cabinet and said there is a low likelihood of enemy states initiating an attack on Israel in 2008, but a growing likelihood of violence by Hizbollah, the Jerusalem Post reported March 9. The agencies pointed to five major threats Israel will face in 2008: Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Palestinian terror and Islamic Jihad.
but i think it really means good news for all
& perhaps far better than it may yet appear
since israel may now at last be feeling she can afford to make the small concessions necessary to get a peace snowball really rolling at last
of course the real problem
as it were
is again bush
rather than the israelis or palestinians of any stripe
http://www.cfr.org/publication/15683/hamas_necessary_for_mideast_talks.html?breadcrumb=%2Fabout%2Fnewsletters%2Feditorial_detail%3Fid%3D856
but when my countrywomen & townsmaids learn of this
you can be sure we will be out marching again here with our pails & stools
so i have just placed this notice in our local opinion group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cornwall_community_network/message/13680
& am out
up & away
well it was just the cows & me again today after all
but it sure sounds to me like we have a cease fire already in one probability
Israel, PNA: Hamas, Israel Agree On Cease-Fire
March 10, 2008 1631 GMT
Israel has agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Al Arabiya on March 10. Abbas’ statement contradicts Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s statement that there had been no cease-fire agreement.
oops & apologies for my fenced & hedged sources
please assume all bulletins are from stratfor
& the notice to my fellow townsmaids
which i meant to provide here yesterday
went as follows
march follies continued
countrywomen & townsmaids all
no this is not another insertion of my execrable help offered advert
but i really need & beg your attention this time please
for it has come to my notice that the people of both israel & palestine
of all known stripes
would actually like very much to make peace at this time
but are just as actually being directly prevented from doing so by our own dear
terrorless
leader in washington
of all things
single handedly
no kidding
if you doubt it please feast your eyes on these
http://www.cfr.org/publication/15683/hamas_necessary_for_mideast_talks.html?
breadcrumb=%2Fabout%2Fnewsletters%2Feditorial_detail%3Fid%3D856
http://un-truth.com/israel/give-us-a-break-says-gaza-sderot-blog
& i am not out of school here either
so beginning today
& for as long as it is still march
or at least until the cubes of march which fall this year on the 27th
i invite you
my fellow followers of this leader
to march with me to the summit of cream hill with stools & pails
any day at high noon you would love to do so
& levitate there together
seriously
rather i mean earnestly
thank you
supermaid aka md
for me & mike donner too