tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post7418991089931194279..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Gaza, Goldstone, GuardianYaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-69659790860566509572010-07-23T13:58:18.028+03:002010-07-23T13:58:18.028+03:00Paul
great stuff, what a long way a bit of calcula...Paul<br />great stuff, what a long way a bit of calculating goes but:<br />how can you expect any self-respecting journalist to even get in the vicinity of CIA-data which in the past have looked to me quite reliable.<br /><br />They'd lose all their respectability and credibility with their kind - btw the whores I had the honour to meet seemed quite decent and reliable to me ;-)<br /><br />for anybody looking for a safe career path though Israelinurse at CiFWatch has job advice to offer <br /><br />http://cifwatch.com/2010/07/22/how-to-succeed-in-israel-as-a-journalist-without-really-trying/<br /><br />Silke<br /><br />(btw I could re-write her stuff with ease to fit McKinsey-normatized young managers)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-23179036581608149882010-07-23T09:42:58.139+03:002010-07-23T09:42:58.139+03:00The Israeli border with Gaza runs 51 km. A 300 m. ...<i>The Israeli border with Gaza runs 51 km. A 300 m. buffer zone therefore takes 15.3 sq. km.</i><br /><br />Not to nitpick, but it's even slightly less than that because of the overlap on the NE corner of the strip. <br /><br />Still, I'm sure that Ms Sherwood, so beleaguered with the facts, is firm in her certainty that she got the gist of the thing right. <br /><br />Who, after all, cares about accuracy when there's a cause to flog?Barry Meislinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04795125774426217113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-60897274011267168172010-07-23T09:01:50.269+03:002010-07-23T09:01:50.269+03:00Just so's you know, here are more precise numb...Just so's you know, here are more precise numbers about that buffer zone along the Gaza border (I'm older than Yaacov and have been reading Le Carré longer than he has).<br /><br />The Israeli border with Gaza runs 51 km. A 300 m. buffer zone therefore takes 15.3 sq. km.<br /><br />Total land area of the Strip is 360 sq. km., of which 29% or 104.4 sq. km. is arable land. 15.3 is 14.7% of 104.4, so the maximum possible percentage of arable land the buffer could eat up is no more than half what Sherwood alleges — and then, only if every centimeter of the buffer zone had been arable land previously.<br /><br />That doesn't seem believable, but not all agricultural land is arable. What if we say that all the buffer zone was at least agricultural, even if not arable? Total agricultural land in Gaza amounts to 50% of the land area: 180 sq. km., so the buffer zone could use at most 8.5% of that.<br /><br />But <i>at least</i> half the buffer zone wasn't taken from agricultural land, because Israel didn't "establish" a 300 m. zone after Cast Lead, it expanded an existing (since 2005) 150 m. one. The expansion can have therefore have swallowed no more than 4.25% of Gaza's cultivated land — less if any of that 150 m. ribbon had been non-agricultural to begin with.<br /><br />30% vs 4.25%, tops, and all the numbers come from a few minutes with the CIA World Factbook at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html and a four-function calculator. No wonder journalists have the kind of reputation that used to be reserved for politicians and whores.<br /><br />Incidentally, I was entertained to see that the title to Sherwood's article is:<br /><br /><i>Israel shelling kills Palestinian 'militant' at Gaza border</i><br /><br />Somebody got so confused, they forgot that at the Guardian it's "terrorist" that goes in ironic quotes. "Militant" is to be written straight-faced.Paul Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-77984045327464713272010-07-22T17:23:26.897+03:002010-07-22T17:23:26.897+03:00I see possibilities in offense because I guess tha...I see possibilities in offense because I guess that there must be young ones who have had it with the do-gooder hypocrisy. It seems to me that most are at least fortyish i.e. the ideal bunch for youngsters to go against and make everything better which means of course "Israel ... right or wrong"<br /><br />SilkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-65409805016708763482010-07-22T14:50:24.840+03:002010-07-22T14:50:24.840+03:00I wonder why Israel's government wastes it tim...I wonder why Israel's government wastes it time filing such reports with the Jew-hating UN. Will it ever change the latter's mind about Israel? It will not. Israel should stop acting like it needs to apologize for defending itself and go over to the offensive and attack its critics, including the UN. It sounds to me like Israel is still playing defense. That is not the way, in my opinion, to tackle the damage the Goldstone Report inflicted on Israel head on. A different approach is very badly needed today to deal with the multiple threats that stem from it.NormanFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03365459073293643108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-86221860726761737502010-07-22T14:43:02.931+03:002010-07-22T14:43:02.931+03:00The 30% is nonsense, and, as you say, a few second...The 30% is nonsense, and, as you say, a few seconds on GoogleEarth shows it to be.<br /><br />You can view some pictures of the buffer zone I took from Nir Am here:<br /><br />http://cifwatch.com/2009/10/25/the-view-into-gaza/ <br /><br />which show the buffer zone very clearly as a strip a couple of hundred yards wide, and the lare stretches of farmland stretching south from there.AKUShttp://cifwatch.com/2009/10/25/the-view-into-gaza/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-58522313727449379842010-07-22T13:59:32.458+03:002010-07-22T13:59:32.458+03:00Tamara
one mustn't be so hard on Madam Sherwoo...Tamara<br />one mustn't be so hard on Madam Sherwood - she probably meant 3 % (which still seems a lot to me) and then had a typo <br />- One zero less or more, what is it these days ;-)<br /><br />SilkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-33307535897063168662010-07-22T13:57:08.513+03:002010-07-22T13:57:08.513+03:00Ariadne commenting at CiFWatch got an answer from ...Ariadne commenting at CiFWatch got an answer from the UK government to the "No to Goldstone" petition:<br /><br />http://cifwatch.com/2010/07/21/framing-israel/#comment-28683<br /><br />which reminds me that I had once a boss who didn't like me and thus claimed he found working together with lesbians intolerably hard because they/we had such an unfeminin attitude (Mannweib) which at the time was quite a common belief. He based his classifying of alas very hetero-me on the fact that I preferred a shoulder-strap handbag. What should I have done? copulated lustfully with a male with him looking on? Would that have changed his view or would he have come up with that I must be "bi"?<br /><br />SilkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-53630325050865982282010-07-22T05:08:54.848+03:002010-07-22T05:08:54.848+03:00Yeah - I too rubbed my eyes when I got to that 30%...Yeah - I too rubbed my eyes when I got to that 30%. Ms Sherwood is what is known as - here in London - a bit of a tool. Gullible. And gullible because she hates Israel. A while back I watched a very long and very poor quality film of a discussion at the Frontline Clun on the subject of reporting on Israel, Ms Sherwood was on the panel and dearie dearie me. <br /><br />Well done, Yaacov, for cutting to the chase, as always.Tamaranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-89654378851250926922010-07-22T02:52:06.167+03:002010-07-22T02:52:06.167+03:00Khaled Abu Toameh is a real journalist. Unfortuna...Khaled Abu Toameh is a real journalist. Unfortunately as the "Journolist" episode in America displayed, there are far too few of them left these days.4infidelsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-59085643909591794042010-07-22T00:41:29.645+03:002010-07-22T00:41:29.645+03:00Sherwood had the "honour" of getting fis...Sherwood had the "honour" of getting fisked at CiFWatch several times<br />this is the last<br />http://cifwatch.com/2010/07/20/jaffa-tales-real-and-imagined/<br />it reads like the woman might be more adequate in the fairy tale writing department<br /><br />SilkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-89029825459993727392010-07-22T00:36:39.446+03:002010-07-22T00:36:39.446+03:00Yaacov
General Odierno had a human rights advisor...Yaacov<br /><br />General Odierno had a human rights advisor attached during the surge. It was a British woman, Emma Sky. There were some reports on it.<br /><br />and there were others - David Kilcullen, an Australian, who I think, hitched up with Petraeus but probably not in the field - he is on Wikipedia - I once heard him in a lecture - the link is below.<br /><br />Silke<br /><br />this looks not like the piece on Sky I remember but for a start it will do:<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/world/middleeast/21emmasky.html<br />or this<br />http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article5776397.ece<br /><br />and here is a lecture by David Kilcullen at Pritzker<br />http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2009/06-16-david-kilcullen.jspAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com