The worldwide launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, scheduled for this coming Shabbat, has provoked a furious response from Shas minister Eli Yishai. Yishair threatened to employ the full weight of Israel's Hours of Work and Rest Laws, which preclude labor on Shabbat, against book stores that participate in the simultaneous worldwide launch, scheduled for 2:01 a.m. Saturday morning. Not to be outdone, the head of the Ashkenazi fundamentalist UTJ went further, condemning the Potter books "defective messages", clearly upset that Christian fundamentalists had beat him to this point six books ago. (Magic is clearly avodah zarah, unless it involves aged rabbis blessing amulets that can be used as Shas campaign props.)
However, I'm sympathetic to the conflict between Potter-mania and Shabbat. (Fortunately for me, one of the benefits of living in the treifa medina is having Amazon.com deliver your pre-ordered copies to your doorstep.) Therefore, I would propose a couple of compromise solutions to the dilemma:
1. Deliver the books with a Shabbat Floo Network, programmed before sundown to run continuously between the book stores and Israeli homes.
2. Have the clerks, after enjoying a full and restful Shabbat, employ Time-Turners on Motzei Shabbat to travel back to 2:01
3. Employ House Elves as Shabbes Goys.
Tasty commentary on politics, law, religion and more, without the fattening dogma. (The views expressed on this blog are the author's alone, and do not represent those of any past, current or future employer or his past, current, and future soulmate.)
July 19, 2007
July 18, 2007
Sweet and Jewcy
Jewcy has been hosting a fascinating discussion on ADL's egregious decision to lobby against formal recognition of the Armenian genocide. One of my pontifications on the topic has been plucked from obscurity to a place of honor in Jewcy's Daily Shvitz.
I would like to thank the Shvitz for the kind words, and welcome any Jewcy readers who wandered over to my humble blog.
I also want to acknowledge that I am fully aware that days after skewering Foxman's pretensions to Middle East punditry, I indulged my own weakness for commenting on the subject. So in fairness to Abe, I promise that as soon as I am selected to run the ADL, I'll quit the Israel blogging.
I would like to thank the Shvitz for the kind words, and welcome any Jewcy readers who wandered over to my humble blog.
I also want to acknowledge that I am fully aware that days after skewering Foxman's pretensions to Middle East punditry, I indulged my own weakness for commenting on the subject. So in fairness to Abe, I promise that as soon as I am selected to run the ADL, I'll quit the Israel blogging.
July 16, 2007
Hakuna Fatah-ta
The Peace Process is back in full swing. If the prisoner release and accompanying editorials urging additional Israeli concessions to strengthen Fatah weren't clear enough indications, the Bush administration's announcement of full fledged Peace Conference confirms it.
The "West Bank First" plan comes in the wake of the Hamas victory in Gaza, which put a bloody coda on the failure of the "Gaza First" plan trotted out after Israel's unilateral withdrawal. From Day One, the plan was doomed, as the greenhouses left behind on the settlement sites were looted and quickly replaced with rocket launchers. A democratic election contested by rival armed militia-parties failed to solve the Palestinian internal disarray and hopes for the burdens of governance to moderate Hamas proved futile.
Now however, the Fatah collapse in Gaza has led to the corpse of Oslo be reanimated once again - in the West Bank at least. Once again, Israel and Fatah are ostensibly negotiating over a transition to a two-state solution, entailing in a Fatah-run state in most of the West Bank (and at least theoretically, Gaza.) From all indications, the Bush Administration, Olmert and the Peace Processors (and their cheerleaders in the punditocracy) appear bent on repeating the same mistakes that doomed Oslo.
First and foremost, they are continuing to build a Peace Process around a cult of personality. The entire edifice of Oslo was based on the shaky foundation of Arafat. Every Israeli concession, and every American intervention was focused on one goal - strengthening Arafat in the hopes he would deliver his end of the bargain. As a result, Arafat's refusal to put away the terror option and fully commit to a negotiated two-state solution doomed Oslo. Moreover, rather than leaving the Palestinians the building blocks towards statehood, the Oslo years left Palestinians poorer in everything but militias.
Despite this, the latest chatter from the Peace Processors is centered around one goal: strengthening Abbas. Once again, the entire process is dependent on the whims and capacities of the head of Fatah. It is All About Abbas. As a result, the tough work of building functional institutions of Palestinian governance is being shunted aside for photo-op summits. The release of Fatah militia are presented to Abbas, but little is being done to give the average Palestinian a peace dividend.
One would hope that some lessons were learned from the fiasco of Oslo. That this time, Israeli concessions will be tethered to concrete steps taken by Fatah, and the US and the EU would focus not only on Fatah's ability to control terror, but also on its ability to deliver sound government and services. Further, one would hope that Jordan and Egypt would be brought in to play an intimate day-to-day role in ensuring progress is made, and not simply permitted to take cynicallyl disengage between summit meetings. And most importantly, that the Bush administration realize the folly of waiting for some grand breakthrough of a final status agreement, rather than pressing for concrete steps towards dismantling settlements and resettling refugees immediately so that even if the plan fails, progress is made to an ultimate solution to the problem.
But then again, for the Peace Processors, these are unnecessary quibbles with that get the great vision of the Two-State Solution. As long as hands are shaking, light-bulbs are flashing and symbolic Israeli concessions keep flowing to Abbas, there is nothing to worry about it. Hakuna Fatah-ta.
The "West Bank First" plan comes in the wake of the Hamas victory in Gaza, which put a bloody coda on the failure of the "Gaza First" plan trotted out after Israel's unilateral withdrawal. From Day One, the plan was doomed, as the greenhouses left behind on the settlement sites were looted and quickly replaced with rocket launchers. A democratic election contested by rival armed militia-parties failed to solve the Palestinian internal disarray and hopes for the burdens of governance to moderate Hamas proved futile.
Now however, the Fatah collapse in Gaza has led to the corpse of Oslo be reanimated once again - in the West Bank at least. Once again, Israel and Fatah are ostensibly negotiating over a transition to a two-state solution, entailing in a Fatah-run state in most of the West Bank (and at least theoretically, Gaza.) From all indications, the Bush Administration, Olmert and the Peace Processors (and their cheerleaders in the punditocracy) appear bent on repeating the same mistakes that doomed Oslo.
First and foremost, they are continuing to build a Peace Process around a cult of personality. The entire edifice of Oslo was based on the shaky foundation of Arafat. Every Israeli concession, and every American intervention was focused on one goal - strengthening Arafat in the hopes he would deliver his end of the bargain. As a result, Arafat's refusal to put away the terror option and fully commit to a negotiated two-state solution doomed Oslo. Moreover, rather than leaving the Palestinians the building blocks towards statehood, the Oslo years left Palestinians poorer in everything but militias.
Despite this, the latest chatter from the Peace Processors is centered around one goal: strengthening Abbas. Once again, the entire process is dependent on the whims and capacities of the head of Fatah. It is All About Abbas. As a result, the tough work of building functional institutions of Palestinian governance is being shunted aside for photo-op summits. The release of Fatah militia are presented to Abbas, but little is being done to give the average Palestinian a peace dividend.
One would hope that some lessons were learned from the fiasco of Oslo. That this time, Israeli concessions will be tethered to concrete steps taken by Fatah, and the US and the EU would focus not only on Fatah's ability to control terror, but also on its ability to deliver sound government and services. Further, one would hope that Jordan and Egypt would be brought in to play an intimate day-to-day role in ensuring progress is made, and not simply permitted to take cynicallyl disengage between summit meetings. And most importantly, that the Bush administration realize the folly of waiting for some grand breakthrough of a final status agreement, rather than pressing for concrete steps towards dismantling settlements and resettling refugees immediately so that even if the plan fails, progress is made to an ultimate solution to the problem.
But then again, for the Peace Processors, these are unnecessary quibbles with that get the great vision of the Two-State Solution. As long as hands are shaking, light-bulbs are flashing and symbolic Israeli concessions keep flowing to Abbas, there is nothing to worry about it. Hakuna Fatah-ta.