Desicritics Comments on Israel Diary

Comment by Mollie Decker

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:23:25 EST

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Comment by tclkw8nkpw

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:53:00 EDT

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Comment by tclkw8nkpw

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:52:25 EDT

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Comment by tclkw8nkpw

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:52:22 EDT

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Comment by tclkw8nkpw

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:51:19 EDT

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Comment by Ruvy

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:40:55 EDT

Vinod, In other words, the only aboriginal peoples you find here are the two or three hundred Samaritans who still make sacrifices on Mt. Gerizim - and us Jews who have either lived here for 2,000 years or have returned from exile at long last.... It's nice to be HOME.

Comment by Ruvy

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:37:12 EDT

Vinod, Shavua Tov, Just a quick note for you. Then I gotta run. The Babylonians were not Arabs. Until the Arabs succeeded in conquering other far more civilized peoples carrying the green flag of Islam, their culture was very similar to the Bedouin or the Wahhabi tribes a century ago. In this country the Arabs are Walids-come-lately and they all know it. The only Arabs that lived here 2,000 years ago were the Nabateans (as in Nevay�t)who lived south of Idumaia and Judea, and who were superb agriculturalists.

Comment by Vinod Joseph

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:09:46 EDT

Ruvy, I had this impression that you lived somewhere in an inaccessible part of the West Bank. Now that I've been to Israel, I do realise that you are probably not more than an hour's drive from Jerusalem. Yes, I do wish I had contacted you. Mea culpa. Regarding the Philistines, maybe you are right, but I have a problem when people say "they disappeared from history". It is much more probable that they melted into the rest of the population in Palestine. It is true that their language was non-Semitic in origin. But do consider the fact that Philistines and the Hebrew tribes were conquered by the Babylonians who were Arabs from Iraq. The Hebrew tribes managed to maintain their distinct identity, since Judaism was well developed by that time. The Philistinians most probably merged with the conquering Babylonians. If you look at modern day Palestine, you have the Jews, the Druze, the Samaritans and the Arabs. Therefore by implication, the modern day Palestinian Arabs are descendants of the Philistines and Nebuchadnazzar's Babylonians. In any event, didn't the Jews originate from a tribe led by Abraham which migrated from Ur in Mesopotamia Babylonian (Iraq) to Canaan in Palestine? We did end up drinking tap water eventually. We do it in the UK and Israeli tap water was no less tasty. Most probably it was an M16 and not Uzi that I brushed against. We plan to return to Israel in the near future – maybe in 18 months or so. When we do, I shall definitely contact you and we should meet up.

Comment by Vinod Joseph

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:08:04 EDT

Ruvy and blokesablogin, thanks for your comments.

Comment by blokesablogin

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:32:42 EDT

Thank you! Vinod. My mom was there in Israel and Ramallah for a month and she returns next month for another 3 months, teaching Art of Living courses. But, when we asked her to 'describe" the land and her peoples, she was like, "They are wonderful people!" Even her week in Arab Muslim quarters in Ramallah, her hosts took care of her "total vegetarian" diet (no chicken or eggs!LOL!). And yes, she shared the same- everyone's love for India and Indians. She also got to go to the Indian grocery store to buy toor daal to survive for a month!

Comment by blokesablogin

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:31:59 EDT

Thank you! Vinod. My mom was there in Israel and Ramallah for a month and she returns next month for another 3 months, teaching Art of Living courses. But, when we asked her to 'describe" the land and her peoples, she was like, "They are wonderful people!" Even her week in Arab Muslim quarters in Ramallah, her hosts took care of her "total vegetarian" diet (no chicken or eggs!LOL!). And yes, she shared the same- everyone's love for India and Indians. She also go to go to the Indian grocery store to buy toor daal to survive for a month!

Comment by smallsquirrel

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:29:51 EDT

israelians in goland heights? nooooo.... (I am going to hell for being snarky, I know....)

Comment by anand

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:43:13 EDT

the israelians definitely need more space and thats why they are building their colonies in goland hights

Comment by Ruvy

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:10:15 EDT

Vinod, I enjoyed your article immensely. There are many misconceptions in it, but on the whole you have rendered a good picture of the land I live in. But you should have contacted me!!! How often does one get to meet a fellow writer from the blogosphere?! I would have been glad to have treated you and your bride to some coffee, and could have given you a far clearer picture of Jerusalem and and the Jewish towns surrounding it. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in Jerusalem and it cost us 250 Shekels (1 Shekel = 13 Indian Rupees; GBP 1 = 6.2 Shekels, and USD 1 = 3.55 Shekels). You really should have contacted me before you came (my e-mail address can be found going to my blogsite). You would have spent a lot less on cab fare in and around Jerusalem, and I would have been able to give you a clear picture of the fact that Natzr�t, and Natzr�t Ill�t are two separate towns. I won't argue with your political views here, and had we met for coffee, I would not have argued with them then either. A gentleman does not lecture his guest and in this article at least, you are still a guest of Israel. I will correct some misconceptions that you have. 1. Philistines were a Greek people who came and settled on the coast. David's famous elegy of Sha'�l and Yonat�n upon their death at Gilb�a lists the cities they lived in. And they maintained their religion until they basically disappeared from history. 2. Jerusalem has Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian restaurants, in addition to the standard, shwarma, falafel and hummus places, and the restaurants that serve bagel, locks and cream cheese to the ubiquitous American Jewish tourists in J-lem. 3. You could have saved a lot of money just drinking tap water here, though I will grant that the well water we drink in Ma'alé Levon� tastes far better than what you will get in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv from the National Water Carrier. This is not Egypt or Jordan, where drinking tap water can be an invitation to some very fast trips to the water-closet! 4. Overheard from an American tourist sipping a small thimble of exquisite Arabic coffee after her St. Peter's fish: The first thing I'm gonna do when I get home is to make myself a large pot of kawffee. Turkish coffee is good, but you will never cure Noo Yawkuhs of their taste for American kawffee. I'm telling you this as a native boy from Brooklyn. We drink Tasters' Choice in our house, an American brand. It's NIS 30 for a jar of 200 grams. If I have to, I'll drink kafé shaH�r or Turkish (or Arab or Greek) coffee, what you spotted those toorists from New Yawk drinking in Natzr�t. When I'm in a dairy restaurant, I order kafé haf�kh, what you know as a latté. 5. Israeli soldiers generally do not carry Uzis. They generally carry M16's. What your foot was resting against was likely an M16, unless the soldier was in an elite unit using Israeli made rifles. Guards at the natb�g (What ben-Gurion International Airport is known as in Hebrew) carry Uzis - or they did eight years ago, when I drove a rental vehicle back to return it before returning to St. Paul. 6. Figs, dates and the like are the traditional fruits grown here. In addition, when you consider the hostility of the nations towards us (remember what you wrote about the clerk at the Israeli Consulate feeling angry about the visa on a separate sheet of paper?), it is a good security policy to be as self-sufficient with food as possible. my wife sighed and said, 'they are not bad people. Just very badly organised.' Yup!! She got it right on the money!! I do hope you enjoyed yourself in this country and can return again. Kids cost money and it may be hard in the future! Shabb�t Shal�m from the hills of the Shomr�n! Reuven

Comment by talih kraty je

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:19:18 EDT

"abz" has posted 4 comments "abdullah" has posted 2 comments "talih kraty je" has posted 1 comments "taliv" has posted 1 comments "joseph" has posted 1 comments "denay" has posted 1 comments

Comment by joseph

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:06:27 EDT

Israel: 6 wars 4 million Palestinian Refugees 3 million Occupied 254 km of an Apartheid Wall 562 Humiliation-check-points 20K Political-prisoners 468,831 new settlers on an Occupied land Disappearance of Palestine Destruction of 350 Churches & Mosques World Leader in UN Violations, at 69 Has Killed more innocent civilians per capita than any other country 50,000+ Has Imprisoned more civilians per capita 250,000+ Has rendered more civilians Handicapped per capita 50,000+

Comment by abdullah

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:04:37 EDT

you very brave man why not viist the israel/palestine border or gaza instead of writing 15 pages of facts and histroy?

Comment by taliv

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:03:17 EDT

right on youtube israel gaza zone they destroy palestinians home yey so kind we also destroy mothers and babies wooohooo come give money as we destroyed the holiest church int he world for space for our lvoely community

Comment by denay

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:00:20 EDT

i cried when i watched this video and i have a baby just like you do and those people did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZj889BA4A&feature=related i watched it in tears. please watch the video.

Comment by abz

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:57:32 EDT

israel shud be split in 2 but guess they want more land for them selves and we got 22 countries eh? we have over 400million ppl how much do they have oh 7million? ooooo a bit less? and i wish you enjoy watchign this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZj889BA4A&feature=related i love israeli ppl and hated the goverment but little kids writing on bombs evil. but u cant judge 7million by 1. neither can you judge there whole army

Comment by abz

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:57:17 EDT

Comment by abz

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:56:50 EDT

Comment by abdullah

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:48:46 EDT

why dont you search on utube israel gaza zone ? and see what israels really like?

Comment by commonsense

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:16:14 EDT

nice eminently readable piece...perhaps a bit too long for one reading...could have been easily chopped up into several instalments...enjoyed it!

Comment by abz

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:16:21 EDT

[EDITED - THREATS - PLAY NICE OR LEAVE]