Haaretz continues its weird practice of leaving its most interesting stories offline, and I'm continuing to use footnotes.
Today (Oct. 29th 2008), section one, page 8: There is a rise of 66% in the number of Arab-Israeli high-school graduates who are volunteering to do a year or two of National Service. Their number this year (September-August, since these programs start after the end of the school-year) is at about 1,000, and the chief reason it isn't higher is that no-one allocated enough funds for additional positions. Probably because no-one foresaw the steep rise.
This service is the legal equivalent of military service; graduates enjoy the same financial advantages offered to veterans (support in university fees and mortgages, that sort of thing). Apparently a major motivation for these young men and women is therefore financial, but some of them are cited as wanting to contribute to their society, and reduce the hurdles on their way into mainstream Israel.
The Arab-Israeli politicians are vehemently against, obviously. What would happen to them if their potential voters felt more secure as Israelis, and voted according to issues, not ethnic identity? Gewald!! (However you say that in Arabic). Their position, however, should not be brushed away. The way this sort of thing works in Israeli parliamentary democracy is that funds are allocated to programs according to the pressure of sectoral politicians. The National Religious have oodles of programs with lots of money, because it's important to them that religious young women do national service rather than serve in the macho IDF. Left-wing politicians have only started directing funds to such programs in recent years, perhaps for pacifists. If the Arab MKs see such programs as a threat, it will take longer for their number to grow.
Such is the messiness of democracy.
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FROM CAROL HERMAN
Believe it or not "MISTAKES WERE MADE."
Up front? Ben-Gurion played fast and loose with others, so that only he would come out "on top." And, then? He selected a path away from America's system.
BINGO.
And, guess what? So did India!
Think about this.
The one man who created the UN was FDR. HIMSELF! He also forced Winston Churchill to seek out a signature from India, so they'd be part of the Allied group. (India was a full possession of England, at the time!)
FDR is the ONE MAN who forced democracy. And, what he got for it? Mayhem.
Gandhi, it turns out, actually liked Hitler. And, he ruled India as only a faker could. (But when you become a mythological "founder" it becomes hard to argue the facts.)
At first, Israel coped, because of the way the UN drew the map. And, it was Ben-Gurion who thought "accepting half the pie was better than waiting for none."
But the advantages, through wars, did grow Israel territorially bigger. Not free of the people living on the ground. (Because there wasn't so much "flight" as came Israel's way in 1948.)
And, now you have 1/10th of Israel's population: ARAB!
Plus, lots of these arabs still get along! While they pay taxes, though, they don't get any share in the political system. So what? Well, you can't get more politically corrupt than the Knesset ... And, I don't mean over "duplicate airline tickets" going in on expense reports!
I just mean that in Israel a creep like Shimon Peres, who is also a political threat. AS WELL AS A SURVIVOR! Can manage to see an innocent man tried in the press for rape. And, then he conveniently jumps into the President's "palace."
In Israel, this is not even called a "coup."
When will Israeli-Arab "relations" improve? Probably never. But for the arabs? There's nowhere else in the mideast that arabs get freedom. So, go ahead. It becomes a reality that "not having to serve in the military." And, for the "small costs" involved in taxes. Arabs get to stick their middle-finger in the air at Jews all of the time.
Win-win. If that's what you're seeing.
Turns out for Arabs things are a little bit worse than that. Where the ultra-religious can, they steal taxpayer monies for their own schools. And, they gyp all the taxpayers at large.
Nothing new here.
All religions are a business.
Can Israel ever become secular?
Where would you find this path?
In Europe, where Jews weren't allowed to participate in any government ... you know what happened. Without penalties, the germans arrived at structuring up the Holocaust. When a group becomes an "outside group" ... this is probably the ending outcome.
But? Well, instead of Jews, in was Native American Indians. And, of course, history is replete with these stories.
All of our histories seem to be stories saved up about wars.
Even the Greeks had HOMER. (And, in his book,about the Pelopenisian War, it turns out that the People from Troy WERE THE HEROES! They had a legitimate claim.
Greece? Had Achilles. And, so do we all. Everyone has a place of weakness. But you can walk away from a war, winning.
Why does history save its war stories? Probably because there's a need for all these adventures.
Meanwhile, what really happens, day to day, does not get memorialized in myths.
How does a country start off on the wrong foot? IDEALISM. Happened to India. Happened to Israel.
What's messy is coming to terms.
On the other hand? At the ballot box it seems Livni is strengthening.
She found out that men, in general, fight their hardest, inside. Behind closed doors. And, yes. Every once in a while a woman can't be beaten.
And, maybe, just like Obama pulling out the American prize ... we're seeing shifts among the People?
No great changes can occur, however, until the political crap house gets cleaned out.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
There's a pretty good book out there, to read: THE HUMAN FACTOR, by "Ishmael Jones." About America's CIA. Definitely one of the most dysfunctional agencies funded by Congress.
Anyway, this story (like the ones you get about the Mossad), tell about these MISFITS. The things that go so wrong; because a few get to lead. BADLY. And, this just encourages things to get worse.
Anyway, Jones is working on a foreign assignment in the "Balkins." Where he also moves his family. Right away, in taking his kids to the local park; he sees people training their dogs to VIOLENCE.
Quoting from Page 124: "At the opposite end of the park, a long row of people trained their dogs to attack. Shouting Hundekomandos ... that's "dog commands" in German ... [and] I thought to myself that every country is a Petri dish and its policies the culture: Communism had produced fearful people who trained vicious dogs for protection."
Me? It's an interesting thing about Karl Marx. Genetically Jewish, though he, himself, was a convert. Just to be sure his parents conversion "took." He still could not EVER get to be a world leader! But he smelled the powers of it!
If you think about it, what Karl Marx accomplished was to write a manifesto for all those boors who are not born into the aristocracies in (for his time, any country in Europe!) But he still wanted to see the few, ruling the many.
And, in Israel? Ben Gurion bought this system, lock, stock and barrel.
So, you don't need the vicious, snarling attack dogs. Instead? Israel's created a political system where a very few RULE. And, they're the ones who snarl.
This is supposedly also based on some religious concept.
Except? In the secular world those fanatics haven't quite learned, yet, anything about the spirit of cooperation.
(Can Livni change this? Well, right now she seems to be making the right moves.) An election could turn out to be funny. In other words? Ehud Barak reduces the Labor Party to fewer seats than Bibi Netanyahu was awarded in the last "go round."
While I just marvel at the Haredi! Why? Because they're from Eastern European extraction! Of course, there were plenty of orthodox Jews on the boats that came to America. Some, if not many, tossed the religion overboard ... and bought into a very liberal way of voting.
Up ahead? Well, I find it interesting a Black man may very well get elected to the White House. While I notice a Mormon couldn't. Let alone a Jew!
So, the secular world also contains it's systemitized access to power. (Money? Money's different.)
As to the arabs, they fair far worse! Like the Chinese and Jews, arabs have also been "vagabonds." People who traveled in groups to other lands. And, held onto their family identifications.
Here? Many Jews drifted away from the "affiliations." And, yes. Americans had a real selection of European choices. Because, in Europe, there were three main divisions. As you know. Orthodox, conservative, which is similar to orthodoxy, but the couples sit mingled together for prayers. And, of course, reformed. Once a "catch-all" for the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, who became a Jew to marry one. Her kids seem rather religously rudderless, if you want my opinion.
But religous affiliations, in America, have led to a crazy republican right wing. Doesn't look to bring in voters from outside, now does it?
While, there ya go. The Haredi gained real powers in Israel. Through Olmert. And, yes. Also because Ben-Gurion didn't truck so much with religious choices, EITHER. He wanted consolidated power.
Is it something to think about?
Well, you tell me. Did you see how Marx brought about this revolution?
It's always about the few. Even if you don't want to call them aristocrats, anymore.
And, at the bottom? The lunacy of what petro dollars bought! Making fanatics out of muslims; where they stayed in because it empowers men, at home.
And, because, just like in sports. You can only function at games, if you have teams.
In Israel, arabs can't get any footing, because Jews don't trust them, as a body, enough.
While in America, if Obama wins, you'll see a post-racial world, supplanting the hatred offered by the GOP.
It's good to take lessons away from all of this. Why? Because Livni might win, ahead. And, the religous nutters who refuse to empower women will go blind with their rages.
Well? Marx does teach that you can reach for power, where you're on top. Even if you're not the son of the Queen of England. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact.
Want good government? Look for a broad and responsive coalition.
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