Oct 22 1998 CHILDISH GAMES The Israeli delegation to the Wye Plantation summit was a sorry spectacle. In the balance hang the future of Israel, peace in the country, the lives of Israelis and Palestinians - and the delegation plays silly games. To the full text of the Gush Shalom ad

Oct 23 1998 Let's Pick Olives! Tomorrow, Saturday, we shall go and pick olives together with the Arab inhabitants of Moawia village, near Um-al-Faham (Israel), in order to express our support of their fight for their lands. Transportation: Tel-Aviv, 7.30 a.m., Arlosoroff station. Ra'anana junction (north) , 8.00. Assembly at 9.00, Ein-Ibrahim junction, from where we shall go in a solidarity convoy to the village.

Oct 23 1998 Turkey/Syria -- a report from Stratfor's Global Intelligence Update

October 22 1998 Compassionate Listening Project announces spring trip to Israel/Palestine.

Oct 22 1998 "a wish to continue... " Yair Dalal and the AL OL ensemble hosts a joint concert with the acclaimed musicians Saed al Saweiti and Gowad al Tamimi from the Palestinian Authority.
This musical collaboration began at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1994 in Oslo, Norway and continued with the recording of a collaborated CD: " Music Channel ", recently released in Israel.
Yair Dalal and the AL OL ensemble & Saed al Saweiti and Gowad al Tamimi - Middle East Session have been performing together around the world since 1995.
This is their premiere performance in Tel Aviv . A tribute to peace supporters in the Middle East and in honor of the memory of the late Yizthak Rabin .
Premiere in Tel Aviv
2 November 1998, 20:30 hrs
Zavta Hall - Tel Aviv

Yvonne Kahan Dalal
E-mail: najema@netvision.net.il
P.O.Box 4296 Tel Aviv 61042
ISRAEL TELFAX: 972 3 6761810
Najema Web Site

Oct 22 1998 To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Amnesty International is collecting signatures for a pledge to support this very important United Nations declaration. Amnesty already has 3 million signatures (real and virtual) world wide, and wants 8 million (which would be a significant proportion of the world's population of around 6 billion).  The UN Secretary General has already agreed to be present either in person or live by satellite to receive the pledge  as a tangible statement of the people of the world's commitment to an international agenda of human rights. The simplest way to add your name to the pledge is to:

Send an e-mail to udhr50th@amnesty.org.au

Put YOUR NAME in the SUBJECT

Copy paste the following text in the message:

'I support the rights and freedoms in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for all people, everywhere'.

It's that easy.

Oct 19 1998 If the settlers can use it, so can the peace camp: The fax number of Wye Plantation is: 1-410-827-0325 Send your message ATT: PM of ISRAEL MR. BINYAMIN NETANYAHU

Oct 18 1998 IF HE WILL HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE - HE WILL SIGN. IF HE WILL SIGN - HE WILL NOT IMPLEMENT. EITHER WAY, HE WILL PUT THE BLAME ON THE PALESTINIANS. NO BOARD OF INQUIRY WILL BE ABLE TO EXONERATE THE GRAVE-DIGGER OF OSLO. Gush Shalom ad, Haaretz, October 16, 1998.

Oct 16 1998 The Mark of Cain -- a brief, poignant statement about Ariel Sharon's appointment as foreign minister and his involvement in the peace talks.

16/10/98 As the Wye talks do or do not progress, in Hebron, reality is far less pastoral. House demolitions continue, as do mutual harrassment of Palestinians and Jews. Here's a report from the Peace for Hebron Group, an online group that includes an email newsletter to those interested in peace in that sad, sad, town.

16 10 98 ISRAELI RECIPROCITY AND PALESTINIAN SECURITY From LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Enviornment: The issue of security remains the biggest hindrance to any real, just and lasting peace agreement, if indeed such a thing is still possible, between Israel and the Palestinians. It is this issue which heads the agenda at the Wye summit; Israeli defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai has stated that the primary condition for success at the talks is "reaching an agreement with the Palestinians on security, particularly a systematic and continuous war against terrorist infrastructure." Unfortunately, the word 'security' in this context has taken on such overtones that it becomes highly unlikely that any such agreement can be met, or implemented with any real effect. In order to be effective, an agreement on security must be acceptable to and have the support of the Palestinian people, or it will become just another "peace of paper." To the full article.

16/10/98 M-Systems announces the world's first dis on a chip -- a breakthrough in the flash memory market. Omer Sbvili explains what it all means at Ariga's Israeli High-Tech Investment Picks Page We are sorry to announce that the joint Israeli-Palestinian olive picking at Burin village (near Itzhar settlement), which was scheduled for Saturday 17/10 , is put off at the request of the Palestinian villagers.

Oct 15 1998 Barry Rubin of MERIA on the Palestinian peacemaking efforts that go unreported in the Israeli press.

Oct 12 1998 A brief report on the house rebuilding effort at Katana, this past weekend.

New Poetry Ocotober 11 1998

Four Poems by Richard Bear writing about land and love and family and children and strangers and friends and the day and the night.

In two poems, Moshe Benarroch writes first about a suicide bomber and then about Mahmoud Darwish

Scott Holstad is an oft-published American poet, whose most recent book was nominated for a Pulitzer in 1996

Alex Gavrilovich writes knowledgeably about war's embarrassments

Miriam Schneid-Ofseyer is a survivor with a deceptively innocent style writing about mothers.

Oct 9 1998 Palestinian house demolition in the West Bank and around Jerusalem is one of the most insidious of the anti-peace efforts of the Israeli government. In the last two and a half years, in particular, under a clericalist minister in the Interior Ministry, Jerusalemite Arabs have particularly been hurt by this policy, but out in the broader areas of the West Bank too, the military civil administration uses tractors and bulldozers to enforce a policy aimed at preventing Palestinians from building new housing. An anti-house demolition campaign in the U.S. needs your help. Click here for more info.

Oct 9 1998 THE MAGICIAN Last Wednesday, Binjamin Netanyahu showed again that he is the master magician. On one and the same day he did three things: He spoke about peace in Gaza, he announced the building of a big Jewish settlement in the middle of Hebron and he awarded the status of a town to the Ariel settlement. Who is he cheating? The Americans? The Palestinians? The Israelis? Gush Shalom ad for October 9. To the full text

Oct 9 1998 The olive-harvest in Burin, Saturday 17.10.98, needs help to protect the harvest from Ytzhar settler sabotage. Please bring working cloths, including hats, and food & water supply for one day. More information about transportation, available here.

Oct 8 1998 Ami Isseroff's PeaceWatch has a report and analysis on the Albright visit -- and why a box of Cuban cigars is probably the only tangible concession made during the visit (by Arafat, to Bibi)

Oct 6 1998 Forboding News Kahane's kid released from jail.

Oct. 6 1998 THE LESSON OF UM-AL-FAHAM The bloody events in Um-al-Faham, an Arab town in Israel, mean that the government of Israel is waging war against its own citizens. Gush Shalom Ad Oct 3 1998

Welcome Back, Omer Shvili Omer Shvili, of Wave Makers for Web Surfers and The Ariga Portfolio, is finally out of the army and back with us as a regular contributor, offering his insight into investment opportunities in Israeli high-tech companies on Wall Street. Click here for his new site.

Oct 5Sukkot This is the New Year's holiday that celebrates living in tents at the foot of Mt. Sinai, waiting for Moses to bring down the Torah. That actually happens on Simhat Torah, next week. It comes right after the solemnity, solace and the solitude a of atonement of Yom Kippur, and is all about having people over to sit in a sukka, pluralized in Hebrew in the feminine, as Sukkot.

A Prayer/Poem from a 26-year-old law student in Toronto named Alex Gavrilovich. Definitely influenced by Allen Ginsberg.

Ada Ahraoni, always easy to understand, has a tenacious hatred of war and love of poetry, and sends in these for the New Year.

Oct 1998 Leslie Cohen writes something luminous

Oct 1998 Women and Cigars - Karen Alkalay-Gut on Cklinton and Monica, via Winston Churchill

Oct 4, 1998 Join a Peace Quilt

Oct 1 1998 Here's the text of a letter you can send to Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai to protest Israel's policy of house demolition in the West Bank.

Oct 1 1998 A Settler for Peace: Andrew Deutsch reports on the difficulties at roadblocks, the employment conditions at the Barkan industrial park, and the evnvironmental crisis in the West Bank.

Oct 1 1998 An Invitation from Rabbi Arthur Waskow to join a new Jewish renewal mailing list. " Like a Sukkah, the list will have clear boundaries yet be open to the world." More information about the list in the Religious Pluralism section at Ariga.

Oct 1 1998 A Tour of Palestine -- PACE, The Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange, is an organization of Palestinian professionals, located in Ramallah, dedicated to promoting awareness of Palestine’s cultural heritage through cultural tourism. The Director of PACE, Dr. Adel Yahya, an archaeologist, would like to reach out to Israelis interested in learning more about Palestinian history, politics and culture. For more information about the tour, including itinerary, cost, etc., click here.

Oct 2 1998 Promises A short story by Elisha Porat. About the soldiers in the face of death, with no love of war.

Yom Kippur Here's something that can be done for atonement: From Gush Shalom: The Fakia family's home has been demolished twice, leaving them and their 13 children, homeless. We will rebuild the home in respons to the cruelty and brutality of authorities. Two months ago, we have worked hard, under a blazing summer sun to help rebuild the home of Shawamre family in Anata. This action recieved a large International media coverage. On Saturday we will all come again, to rebuild the Fakia family's home and as a mark of belief in peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Transportation will be available on Saturday 10/10/98, from: Jerusalem - "Liberty Bell" parking lot at 8:15 Tel Aviv - "Arlozorov" (North) train station at 8:00 Residents of Katanah will meet us at the main intersection in Givat Zeev at 8:45-9:00. To guarantee your seat on the bus, please phone Gush Shalom at 03-5221732 or write to Oren Medicks

Yom Kippur An old Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv column, about Yom Kippur

Sept 25 1998 Thomas O'Dwyer reports from the German election scene. His report is called Grass-root Green

Sept 25 1998 Just because it's the new year, and because the haredim are the ones responsible for Netanyahu (having voted for him at the obviously manic, illegal, or otherwise deceived voting ratio of over 95 percent) and they've claimed the meaning of Jerusalem away from all with their unprecedented a state-supported Orthodoxy that alrady has its sects with their secret dates of when the Messiah will show up, when in fact, it's conceivable that like ftping, we'll be gtping, genomes as formulaic files and then, perhaps, when we're all able to be beamed up like Scotty, we'll still find out that we were never meant to understand the full all-encompassing truth of the universe, yet certainly one day even might be able to travel into a black hole and still not know God, we offer -- mostly because we knew he had 'em and wanted something new for his page,

From Andre Brutmann's Purim Photos,: images of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) celebrations of the Purim holiday, a celebration fo0 survival of one of the many times someone tried to defeat the Jews.

Sept 24 1998 American Peace groups, including many Jewish activists, who were alerted by Gush Shalom, induced the American international ice-cream manufacturers, Ben and Jerry's, to cancel its contract for buying mineral water from the Golan settlers' company, Mei Eden. Gush Shalom's ad for this week

Sept 23 1998 The Other Israel's Monthly Report

Sept 23 1998 An article on Jewish-Arab bridging efforts in the U.S.

Sept 23 LAW outlines five years of human rights abuses since the Oslo Agreement

The Jewish Year 5759

18/09/98 13:46:58 A HAPPY NEW YEAR? On the eve of the Jewish new year, everybody wishes everybody SHANA TOVA, a "Good Year." A year of peace, security and prosperity. But all of us feel that this time the wish is being uttered without conviction. The coming year may be bad. Very bad. Under Netanyahu, there is no hope for peace. No hope for security. No hope for prosperity. We do wish for a "Good Year." For both peoples. Because there can be no good year for one people, if it is not a good year for the other people, too. A year of peace between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine. Because thus, and only thus, the two peoples of this country will attain - A year of peace, security and prosperity for all. Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz, September 18, 1998.

Season's Greetings By Michael Eilan

It's only a job
That dried knob will have to become a pink cyclamen,
The mulberry will have to lose its leaves
The politicians will have to lie sincerely
The people in business decide
After the rain comes.

Then there's the matter of prayer
Before the rain comes,
Confused in the morning
Bemused at night
Before the rain comes
In nobody's name.
And that other moment
Which is neither single or multiple
In the drops that wash
Before the rain comes.

Then there's the matter of justice
Without happiness before and after the rain.
Dry as the job of shooting people dead
In the name of God after the rain comes
Because even a name is only a job
Without happiness before the rain comes.

Michael Eilan is a poet, writer and editor living in the Galilee. You can write to him c/o eilan@datasphere.co.il

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