I have written about this before but someone I felt the need to express m thoughts on this again. I keep seeing the talk about the 2002 Arab Initiative. This plan is very simple. In fact it's too simple. It essentially calls for Israel to return to pre 1967 borders in exchange for normalized relations with 22 countries. Let's take a look at this for a second. We Israel would have to give away all of East Jerusalem. This includes Pisgat Zaev, Neve Yaako, The Old City, a large part of Armon HaNztziv, Mountain of Olives, Gilo, Har Homa, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Hadasa Mount Scopus hospital, Ramot, Ramat Shlomo, AND Har HaBayit (The Temple Mount). This is simply not acceptable. On top of that that will require the giving away of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria but not in Jerusalem including 3 large cities of Ma'aleh Adumim (~40,000), Ariel (~20,000), and Efrat (10,000). This does not even consider the fact that after such an agreement, the Arabs could easily continue the struggle even though they said they won't. There is a precedent for this. Before 1967, their goal was to eliminate Israel. Once we beat them in such an embarrassing way they all of a sudden wished they had just the 1949 borders. It's funny how perspective can change. Have you ever been to a Casino up $100 and thought about quitting but decided that you would like $200. Then you are down $200 30 mins later and all of a sudden that $100 doesn't sound so bad. You say to yourself, well if I just get back to up $100 then I will quit then. Of course when you get there, you don't quit and try an go for more again. Same thing with the Arabs. They say it now and they mean it. However, once they have that land (G-D forbid), they will want more and will continue fighting. On top of that they will still want the right of return even into pre 1967 Israel and they will not recognize us as the Jewish state. To be honest, their test was Gaza. We gave them some land. Instead of building something special, they used it as a launching pad for attacking Israel.
So what now? Well there really can never be peace. If you just take a step back and look at it objectively you can identify a number of issues that there is room to move on both sides but there are three issues that neither side will ever budge on. They are:
1.) Jerusalem-After Ehud Olmert came back from the Annapolis accords, rumor has it that he reported to the Knesset behind closed doors that he had come to an agreement with the Pals but that we had to give away East Jerusalem for it. Essentially he was denied being told that aside from it being wrong, if the Knesset were to agree to this, the political careers of all involved would be over. That was the last we ever heard about giving away East Jerusalem. On the Arab side, all I ever hear is Palestine with Jerusalem as it's capital. I don't know much more than that but it seems that the Arabs are also not willing to give up on Jerusalem for any price. Essentially this is a stalemate and I could end right here and we should never have to talk about peace but there are 2 more.
2.) Refugees-Whether you accept it or not (I don't) there are lot's of Palestinian refugees both in Israel (including Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) and in other countries. There are more that don't have refugee status anymore but still the PA considers them refugees. They demand right of return to their original homes on ALL refugees (even those not officially refugees and even those that would return to areas inside a theoretical final State of Israel) and they are not willing to budge. For Israel to accept these refugees would be to commit suicide since we would basically be the minority after this. It's worthy to note that the Jews in Israel were once refugees
3.)Recognition as The Jewish State and the National Homeland of The Jewish People-Many people have belittled this but in reality this is essential. It's closely connected with #2 but basically without this, the Pals could try and immigrate and just vote us out of Power. Additionally any Arabs living here could try and turn this into an Arab state. If they are legitimately interested in peace then this shouldn't be an issue. Certainly in any peace deal we would recognize an in theory Palestinian state as The Palestinian State and the National Homeland of The Palestinian People.
Are you convinced? Do you get it? Do you understand now that there will never be peace? There should never ever be talk of giving up any land or settlements ever again until you can resolve these 3 issues. The reason is that if you believe that peace has no chance then you we are giving away land for nothing. Not for some sort of agreement but just to make people happy. Once those 3 issues are resolved then we can talk about little things. I assure you as an Israeli that I am not willing to budge on even one of them and I believe I am the majority. Furthermore, I believe the Arabs are just as steadfast.
Ok so now what? Well I don't offer any solutions for some final state. The issues are known. If we were to make a single state then Israel wouldn't be Jewish. We would have to not allow the Arabs voting rights. Internationally we really couldn't do it. The status quo is problematic because while we are not officially occupying them, (because there never was a state in the areas) we do have a situation where we are military controlling a population. It can't go on forever. I propose this. Essentially there is already a Palestinian state. Well there are 3. There is One in the south which covers a large area including Hebron and Bethlehem. There is another one which covers Ramallah and Jenin in the north. Then finally there is the Gaza Strip. Those areas more are less are what as known as areas A and B from the Oslo Accords other than Gaza. They are already governed by the Arabs. They are self sustaining. Israel should Annex area C which includes basically the settlements. That is it. It's not solution but it is the best case scenario. We won't have peace. We should however be able to coexist and that is enough in my eyes.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
This Had to Happen
If anyone will look at the politics of the situation with a clear head, they will see that the conflict in Gaza had to happen. Here is the chronology and why. I wanted it to happen anyways but here is why it couldn't have been avoided.
1.)The three yeshiva boys were kidnapped and apparently killed that same day. Obviously if this hadn't happened, then the conflict in Gaza could have been avoided but that's a different topic.
2.)A vicious search got underway and while they were looking they decided to arrest all terrorists they found along the way. As the IDF arrested more terrorists, Hamas shot more rockets from Gaza. To be honest, Hamas had to shoot the rockets. There is a certain level of honor that goes with these things. Hamas was willing to stop shooting if we would stop arresting (once again, this would give them some honor) but we were not willing nor should we have been. We needed to find the boys and their killers (even though we didn't know they had been killed at this point).
3.)18 days later, the 3 boys were found dead. I do believe if they somehow had been found that first night even if they were already dead possibly this could have been avoided. However, the public was so engaged and had become so attached to these boys that really the PM had to do something even if he didn't want to. On top of that, Hamas wanted us to stop arresting and looking for the killers. We couldn't agree to it. They couldn't stop even if they wanted to due once again to the honor.
4.)The murder of the Arab teen happened the night after the funeral which was the day after the boys were found. This could have been avoided had Bibi came out and said we are going to hit Hamas hard now. After Bibi appeared like he wouldn't do anything, the public was furious and unfortunately some people were furious to the point of murder. This further cemented this conflict since now Hamas was even more mad along with many regular Arabs. Still Bibi asks for quiet and we will answer with quiet. At this point Hamas was furious and even if Bibi had agreed to stop the search for the killers, Hamas was beyond mad.
5.)At this point they were at a stalemate. Hamas wanted Bibi to stop arresting and looking for the killers and he couldn't do that. Hamas couldn't stop if they wanted to without this out of dignity from their people. We couldn't stop the search also because it was right and because of the pressure. Bibi was under even more pressure to hit them harder and not pull back. As the rocket fire got more intense, Bibi had to do something. Now you have the war. Really there was no way of avoiding this short of the kids not being killed.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Jerusalems North East Entrance
Jerusalems's northeast entrance going into Pisgat Zaev is highly crucial. This is the only entrance to Jerusalem for people coming from places in Eastern Binyamin including (18,000), Kfar Tapuach (1,100), Rachelim (100), Eli (3,200), Ma'aleh Levona (700), Shvut Rachel (400), Nof Harim (200), Palgei Mayim (100), HaYovel (100), Amona (100), Ofra (3,400), Beit El (5,800), Cochav HaShachar (1,600), Rimonim (600), Givat Asaf (100), Psagot (1,700), Mitzpe Ha'ai (100), Ma'aleh Michmash (1,200), Cochav Ya'akov (6,300), and Adam (4,500). That's almost 50,000 and when you consider most of those numbers are from 2011, it is already above 50,000.
Needless to say that the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem serve not only Jerusalem but also those 50,000 people. I am one of them and I can say that those areas are very useful to us.
Needless to say that the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem serve not only Jerusalem but also those 50,000 people. I am one of them and I can say that those areas are very useful to us.
I can't take it anymore
Seriously I am ready to explode. If I was an Arab I probably would have exploded already. What is going on here? The Arabs are rioting in Jerusalem. So what if the riot. I don't care. They have taken over the city though. Who's city is it? Our or theirs? The new road from Pisgat Zaev to Begin has been rendered useless. How? Why? Well the Police have decided it's too dangerous to go into that area. unless you are an Arab. Wait so that means the road is open only to Arabs. OMG. Who paid for that road? That's right. Racism. The cost was 180 million NIS. That's about 50 million USD. So who paid for this road? That's right Israeli citizens including Arab Israelis. The road serves the people living in Northern Pisgat Zaev, Neve Ya'kov, Beit Hanina, those coming in from Eastern Binyamin.
What about the light rail? They continue to destroy it.I just saw a picture that I can't find now where they were taking a disc saw to the tracks in Shuafat. What is going on here? Our police have arrested just a few and they aren't afraid of us. This makes me sick. We must stop this. We have the power. We are just afraid to use it and this must stop.
Why is this happening?
Well it's simple really. Bibi is the problem. Our PM moved left leaning Likud members up the list in the last elections. He is right wing in his ideals but he doesn't stand by them. He is terrified of Obama. He can't take criticism. Get over it Bibi. They will never like you. We will however love you if you start acting like an Israeli PM and not an American one.
How people feel
I can tell you
How people feel
I can tell you
What do we do?
Well generally I would say all is lost but all is not lost. I have never seen the Israeli public so united but the government not. We need to protest. The support for a massive attack and an end to this wussy attitude in Shuafat is enormous. They cannot contain us. I don't know why it hasn't happened but there needs to be a big protest like yesterday. The turnout would be bigger than any Gush Katif protest ever was. I assure you that all the people that were at that funeral will be there.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Innocent Civilians
Are there innocent civilians in cases where we must kill terrorists or terrorist infrastructure? Well yes there are. I guess you would have to assume there are good Arabs. How should we deal with them?
I remember about 5 years ago there was some highly sought after terrorist kingpin that they had located. He had surrounded himself in a house with 200 innocent civilians. We had plans to blow up the house but we decided against it due to the fact that we would have turned that house into a mass grave of 200 innocent civilians with one really deadly terrorist. The problem is that we put so much weight into the so-called innocents that we encourage it.
What happens is this. The kingpin tells the people to surround or go into the house. If they don't then he will kill them. They do what any wise person would do and then do what he says. Then we don't kill him which encourages this kind of action for next time. Furthermore, not all civilians are spared. In many cases they don't know about them or they decide that a few dead civilians is acceptable. Innocent people do die anyways.
The proper way to deal with this is to ignore the civilians. First not all are innocent. Some are willing to help. Some stand in there to help them. They believe in the cause. They are not standing in there out of fear but out of pride. Secondly, those that are truly innocent are making things worse. They are doing the sensible thing so what we must do is not make it sensible. We must kill the terrorists even if it means dead civilians. Even many dead civilians. I assure you that if 200 innocent people were to die as a result, then the next time they would think twice. If they saw that there was a good chance of dying no matter what then things would be different. They might not listen to the terrorists next time. Or they might be scared of them and run away before they could be threatened. They might fight back? Or they might just let us know more things. Either way in the long run LESS civilians would die. Consider the following scenario. A child cries because he doesn't get what he wants. The parents cave in and give him what he wants. Next time he will for sure cry since it worked so well last time. Same thing. It works so they do it. If it stopped working then they would stop using this tactic because they would just be wasting their time.
So who is innocent? Well if your neighbor is a terrorist and you didn't tell us then you are not innocent. If your neighbor has a weapons cache and you don't tell then you are not innocent. Of course by killing terrorists no matter what we will encourage the real innocents to come out. They will be scared of the next bomb falling on their neighbor's house. The quasi innocents who support it quietly will not report it and will die as they should. This is the real solution.
If it comes out that this doesn't work then they were never innocent to begin with. Also don't tell me you don't know what your neighbor does. Before I moved to Israel I lived in an affluent area where the houses are at least 100 feet apart and in our case there was even a small forest between us and the neighbor I am speaking about. We knew they were up to something. People coming to this house at odd hours. Weird activity in the house also at odd hours. We reported it. It eventually came out that he was arrested by the FBI. He was a major narcotics supplier in our area. When your neighbor is up to some serious no good, you know. They know too and if they don't tell us then they are terrorists themselves.
Good Arabs
I am only writing this post to refer to. This post should not be considered on it's own as I really don't care too much about this topic on it's own. Some future posts may be based on this assumption so to avoid rewriting this each time then I will just refer to this.
I have talked with them through my job as a guard and through business relations such as buying things and hiring them for services.
Most of them don't care about Hamas. Some hate Hamas even. They will say things like, they only bring us problems. I wish they would just go. My brother died because his neighbor was Hamas. Most honestly just want to make a living doing whatever and just live their lives. They are the majority. However, it doesn't take many people to spoil it for everyone. How many Muslims were living in the USA on 9/11 that were law abiding citizens and didn't support terrorists? Milllions. On that day though, it was the 19 in those planes that mattered.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Why the Israeli government system is terrible
Hi all. Today I am going to focus on the Israeli governmental system and not on the actual politicians that sit in it today. I may reference them but this is not the main issue.
I lived in the USA (Michigan) for 27 years before coming to Israel and I didn't realize just how good the US system of government really was until I came here and learned what little I have learned with my fairly good but still limited Hebrew. Here are my problems and what needs to be done.
The election system. They have got to find a way to improve the system of elections. We cannot go on any further with just voting for parties. I will get to the party system later. So we will have more elections. Then we cannot have a day off for every election day. There are a few ways it could be changed. They could make it all electronic. This probably would receive some resistance but they could make all elections online and you would get a password by mail. This might not be the best idea so they could just not give a day off. Everyone would come after work or before work like they do in the states. Sure the lines will be longer but they can have more staff. More booths. The staff can be some of the people that worked during the day. There are other options like making the elections over several days. Just think. The parties have primaries with problems but they get by with no day off.
The next issue is the public initiatives. We have none. You cannot file a petition and do anything with it. Yes the politicians might listen if they choose but there is not mandate. There needs to be a way for the public to raise bills and laws for vote with a petition like they do in most US states. You get a certain number of signatures and it goes to vote in the next election. now we just got through with the election so now you know why it's important for the system to be more efficient. This will make the government more for the people.
Now some avid observers may have noticed that in the United States Federal government there are no public initiatives. Now I have a few theories why this is the case. It could be that some issues must be handled by politicians and also that there are 50 states and one cannot be sure that all will be represented in the petition or vote. Of course it could just be a big conspiracy.
Whatever the reason, they have something we don't. A real representative democracy. This is the biggest problem in Israel. This must change. Let me explain. In Israel you have probably 5 major parties. Now you might think this is better than the USA because they really only have 2 that matter. However there is no connection between the party representatives and the voters. For those that don't know when you vote, you just vote for a party. The parties all have a list. When the votes are tallied, they allocate the votes to the parties on a percentage basis. There are 120 reps so if a party gets 25% of the vote then they will get 30 reps in the next Knesset. There is a % threshold which I believe is 2% and any party that gets less than that % will have it's votes discarded which often causes even less people to vote for them.
This is a very flawed system. Let's say I voted for Likud which I didn't but this is the central issue. Now if the party doesn't act as I wished they would have I really have nowhere to turn. I could vote for another party but really there are no other parties like Likud. They are the secular right wing party. Let's say Aylon voted to release prisoners which he did. To whom is he accountable. No one. There are primaries but they really don't fix the issue. You see when the next primaries come around they will just be voted in again because they will get on the list.
Before I give my proposal I would like to add one more problem that is part of the proposal. You see the Prime Minister has too much power. He votes, and he gives minister appointments who are also cabinet members. This is a problem because then there is a big vote on an important issue that the PM really wants to see passed, he will threaten to strip the minister from his post. This puts the PM in a VERY VERY powerful position.
My proposal is this. 120 Knesset members is too many. If you add the house and the senate together you get 535 seats. So there is one seat for every ~560,000 residents. On the other hand there is one Knesset member for every ~58,000 Israelis. That's almost 10 fold. So we can get by with 20 less. The Knesset will be 100 members. The country will be divided into 100 districts and when we vote we will not vote for a party. We will vote for who we want to represent our district plus the PM. If the rep doesn't do as he promised his phone will ring and when elections come he will be voted out. In some cases large cities will have multiple districts but that's ok. So what about the ministers? Well the PM who will NOT be in the Knesset and will NOT have a vote. This is important so the PM cannot pressure governments to vote as he likes. So the true democratic process can take place.
Speaking of the true democratic process, we should just get rid this idea of forming and dissolving governments. Everyone that was voted in is part of the government. There is no reason to change anything. Anyways if you have districts the representatives will stabilize and probably the same ones will be there each time.
I know this would basically be the American system but there are other implementations of it and it works. I will tell you the downfall is efficiency. The Israeli government would move a lot slower but I have a solution for that and it's really already in place in the US. If you think about it, the only time it's really urgent is during war time. Well the President or PM is the commander in chief. He runs the military. This is a lot of power but then again the PM also would have no power to make the Knesset vote one way or another. Other things would take time but that's ok. Have you ever went into a store by yourself and bought something you regretted? Of course but if you went into the store with 99 of your closest friends and family you probably would make a lot less regrettable purchases. Sure it would take more time but when we are talking about making decisions that affect the Jewish State then it's worth that time. Maybe not so much on your next purchase.
The only reason I can see that someone would be against this would be if they don't trust the people. Maybe you are a leftist and you are afraid the public will vote right or maybe you are on the right and you are afraid of the opposite. Regardless you are missing the point. Isn't a democracy supposed to represent it's voters? With my plan the level of corruption will be greatly reduced and we will have a government that represents the people which is what everyone wants.
It's a great plan. Sure it could be tweaked but the principle of separation of the legislative and executive branches is what must stay in place. It will never pass and the reason is simple. The current state is nice for those that live in it. You can't ask the current government to vote for it's own demise. Well you can but they will never do it. Another equally solid reason is the global political climate. It's really easy for Obama to get Bibi to do what he wants. He and all his friends know that they will be there next time because they are protected by the party and it's list. If you can imagine though that Bibi tries to get his friends to vote for releasing prisoners. Now his friends all were voted in directly and they will have to take that into account when they vote and Bibi has no power other than to just ask. Ironically the very system that his country was founded on works against him in other countries but that's the way it is. When the voice that is breathing down the neck is Bibi and not the people well you know who they will vote for and that's the very reason why Obama would probably be against it.
I lived in the USA (Michigan) for 27 years before coming to Israel and I didn't realize just how good the US system of government really was until I came here and learned what little I have learned with my fairly good but still limited Hebrew. Here are my problems and what needs to be done.
The election system. They have got to find a way to improve the system of elections. We cannot go on any further with just voting for parties. I will get to the party system later. So we will have more elections. Then we cannot have a day off for every election day. There are a few ways it could be changed. They could make it all electronic. This probably would receive some resistance but they could make all elections online and you would get a password by mail. This might not be the best idea so they could just not give a day off. Everyone would come after work or before work like they do in the states. Sure the lines will be longer but they can have more staff. More booths. The staff can be some of the people that worked during the day. There are other options like making the elections over several days. Just think. The parties have primaries with problems but they get by with no day off.
The next issue is the public initiatives. We have none. You cannot file a petition and do anything with it. Yes the politicians might listen if they choose but there is not mandate. There needs to be a way for the public to raise bills and laws for vote with a petition like they do in most US states. You get a certain number of signatures and it goes to vote in the next election. now we just got through with the election so now you know why it's important for the system to be more efficient. This will make the government more for the people.
Now some avid observers may have noticed that in the United States Federal government there are no public initiatives. Now I have a few theories why this is the case. It could be that some issues must be handled by politicians and also that there are 50 states and one cannot be sure that all will be represented in the petition or vote. Of course it could just be a big conspiracy.
Whatever the reason, they have something we don't. A real representative democracy. This is the biggest problem in Israel. This must change. Let me explain. In Israel you have probably 5 major parties. Now you might think this is better than the USA because they really only have 2 that matter. However there is no connection between the party representatives and the voters. For those that don't know when you vote, you just vote for a party. The parties all have a list. When the votes are tallied, they allocate the votes to the parties on a percentage basis. There are 120 reps so if a party gets 25% of the vote then they will get 30 reps in the next Knesset. There is a % threshold which I believe is 2% and any party that gets less than that % will have it's votes discarded which often causes even less people to vote for them.
This is a very flawed system. Let's say I voted for Likud which I didn't but this is the central issue. Now if the party doesn't act as I wished they would have I really have nowhere to turn. I could vote for another party but really there are no other parties like Likud. They are the secular right wing party. Let's say Aylon voted to release prisoners which he did. To whom is he accountable. No one. There are primaries but they really don't fix the issue. You see when the next primaries come around they will just be voted in again because they will get on the list.
Before I give my proposal I would like to add one more problem that is part of the proposal. You see the Prime Minister has too much power. He votes, and he gives minister appointments who are also cabinet members. This is a problem because then there is a big vote on an important issue that the PM really wants to see passed, he will threaten to strip the minister from his post. This puts the PM in a VERY VERY powerful position.
My proposal is this. 120 Knesset members is too many. If you add the house and the senate together you get 535 seats. So there is one seat for every ~560,000 residents. On the other hand there is one Knesset member for every ~58,000 Israelis. That's almost 10 fold. So we can get by with 20 less. The Knesset will be 100 members. The country will be divided into 100 districts and when we vote we will not vote for a party. We will vote for who we want to represent our district plus the PM. If the rep doesn't do as he promised his phone will ring and when elections come he will be voted out. In some cases large cities will have multiple districts but that's ok. So what about the ministers? Well the PM who will NOT be in the Knesset and will NOT have a vote. This is important so the PM cannot pressure governments to vote as he likes. So the true democratic process can take place.
Speaking of the true democratic process, we should just get rid this idea of forming and dissolving governments. Everyone that was voted in is part of the government. There is no reason to change anything. Anyways if you have districts the representatives will stabilize and probably the same ones will be there each time.
I know this would basically be the American system but there are other implementations of it and it works. I will tell you the downfall is efficiency. The Israeli government would move a lot slower but I have a solution for that and it's really already in place in the US. If you think about it, the only time it's really urgent is during war time. Well the President or PM is the commander in chief. He runs the military. This is a lot of power but then again the PM also would have no power to make the Knesset vote one way or another. Other things would take time but that's ok. Have you ever went into a store by yourself and bought something you regretted? Of course but if you went into the store with 99 of your closest friends and family you probably would make a lot less regrettable purchases. Sure it would take more time but when we are talking about making decisions that affect the Jewish State then it's worth that time. Maybe not so much on your next purchase.
The only reason I can see that someone would be against this would be if they don't trust the people. Maybe you are a leftist and you are afraid the public will vote right or maybe you are on the right and you are afraid of the opposite. Regardless you are missing the point. Isn't a democracy supposed to represent it's voters? With my plan the level of corruption will be greatly reduced and we will have a government that represents the people which is what everyone wants.
It's a great plan. Sure it could be tweaked but the principle of separation of the legislative and executive branches is what must stay in place. It will never pass and the reason is simple. The current state is nice for those that live in it. You can't ask the current government to vote for it's own demise. Well you can but they will never do it. Another equally solid reason is the global political climate. It's really easy for Obama to get Bibi to do what he wants. He and all his friends know that they will be there next time because they are protected by the party and it's list. If you can imagine though that Bibi tries to get his friends to vote for releasing prisoners. Now his friends all were voted in directly and they will have to take that into account when they vote and Bibi has no power other than to just ask. Ironically the very system that his country was founded on works against him in other countries but that's the way it is. When the voice that is breathing down the neck is Bibi and not the people well you know who they will vote for and that's the very reason why Obama would probably be against it.
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