Thursday, November 27, 2014

Politics – November 2014
Support is sought to facilitate the work of the Middle East Study Group. Information at http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/mestudygroup/informationfordonors.aspx
Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go


~  James Baldwin
One thing is assured in the Middle East - the next war.
~Raphael Cohen-Almagor
This has been a bloody and tensed month. Terror has returned to the streets of Israel. Many young Palestinians, motivated by the last war in Gaza in which they think Hamas was the victor, decide to take matters to their hands and to disturb the peace. Ten Israelis were killed and more were injured in one month in a series of terrorist incidents across the country. The heart of the confrontations is Jerusalem. The Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel wish to provoke the police and to inflame the situation. The actions of the Israeli government do not help to mitigate tensions. If Mr Netanyahu thinks that strengthening Jewish presence in East Jerusalem will strengthen Israel’s security and bring calm and peace then the Palestinians want to show him that he is very wrong. The two parties are chain smokers in a powder magazine. In recent years we have seen wars erupting every two years. I find it difficult to see that the situation will not escalate to a war sooner.
If Israel and Palestine will not work together to reach some understandings (I do not speak of a big peace deal, which is far-fetched at the moment but of small pieces of peace, of mutual steps to stir the situation back to some form of normal life), the result will be violence and gore.


Reflections on October Newsletter
Iran
Abbas and Netanyahu Speeches
Netanyahu
Not Friends At All
Irish Senate Votes for Recognition of Palestine
Spanish government urged to recognise Palestine as a state
Operation Protective Edge has increased support for Hamas and armed struggle among Palestinians
Limits of War Conduct
Rocket Terror
New Fashion in Terrorism
Drones

Cyberterrorism

Lecture at Amnesty

European Declaration on Palliative Care

Nicholas Winton

8th European Commission-Israel Seminar on combating racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism was held in Jerusalem
Organs on Wheels
My New Article
ANNUAL SHAPIRO AWARD FOR BEST BOOK IN ISRAEL STUDIES
Yonathan Shapiro
Monthly Poems

Light Side



Reflections on October Newsletter
Professor Jo Carby-Hall wrote from Kingston-upon-Hull:
Dear Rafi,

I have read your “Politics” with great interest.  Yes indeed Tel Aviv has been made into the city it currently is through the vision and energy of Shlomo Lahat. He has transformed Tel Aviv from what I used to know it to be. I am pleased to read that his successor is following the same policies.

The answer to your question on terrorists hiding amongst the civilian population constitutes sheer cowardice and selfishness on their part. We have seen time and time again this phenomenon develop in other theatres of war (if you can call them as such) worldwide and we are currently experiencing exactly this with, inter alia, IS in the Syria and Iraq theatres.

Pursuance on a two state (Palestine/Israel) solution policy is the only logical/sensible one but for the background politics which prevent it (for the time being) from happening.  The possible recognition of Palestine by two states and possibly more states fostering this policy in the future could be the watershed to success… but there is a long way to go!

Shalom

Jo


Mr Abe Silverman wrote from Alberta, Canada
Dear Rafi
It is my strong belief that the insurmountable problem between the Arabs and the Jews is that the Jews have always said yes to sharing, and the Arabs have always said no. To this day I have yet to hear and Arab Leader say to his people in Arabic " I accept Israel as the National  Home of the Jewish People." A 2 State Solution is not possible until these simple words are said loudly unequivocally and sincerely.
Warm regards
Abe Silverman,



Iran
A range of stories indicate that Iran is preparing to expand its declared plutonium program and has not yet accounted for a potentially vast clandestine uranium enrichment program, with new analysis suggesting that the latter may exceed the entirety of Iran's previously known capacity. The IAEA needs to benchmark the full scope of Iran's program now, so that all components of the program can be built into an agreement which the IAEA will monitor following an agreement. Meanwhile, Russia announced that Moscow and Tehran had signed a deal to build up to eight new nuclear reactors in the Islamic republicץ Russia and Iran had in September announced major trade initiatives that were at the time described as a way for Tehran to dodge Western sanctions pressure.
Abbas and Netanyahu Speeches
Last month President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu appeared before the UN General Assembly. I read both speeches and agreed with the majority of both of them.
How this can be?
Simple. Both leaders mostly spoke of the evils of the other side. There was hardly anything constructive in their respective speeches regarding the need to pursue peace.
There are no angles in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both leaders know this. Both leaders emphasize this. Both leaders insist to see the glass half empty. Both leaders lead their respective nations away from peace, deep into the war zone, conflict and violence.
Both nations deserve better leaders.


See: Full transcript of Abbas speech at UN General Assembly
Netanyahu
I wish to highlight some statements that Prime Minister Netanyahu has said toward the end of his speech:
I believe peace can be realized with the active involvement of Arab countries — those that are willing to provide political, material and other indispensable support. I’m ready to make a historic compromise, not because Israel occupies a foreign land. The people of Israel are not occupiers in the land of Israel. History, archaeology and common sense all make clear that we have had a singular attachment to this land for over 3,000 years.
I want peace because I want to create a better future for my people, but it must be a genuine peace — one that is anchored in mutual recognition and enduring security arrangements — rock solid security arrangements on the ground, because you see, Israeli withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza created two militant Islamic enclaves on our borders for which tens of thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel, and these sobering experiences heightens Israel’s security concerns (regarding ?) potential territorial concessions in the future.
Now, those security concerns are even greater today. Just look around you. The Middle East is in chaos, states are disintegrating, and militant Islamists are filling the void. Israel cannot have territories from which it withdraws taken over by Islamic militants yet again, as happened in Gaza and Lebanon. That would place the likes of ISIS within mortar range, a few miles, of 80 percent of our population.
Now think about that. The distance between the 1967 lines and the suburbs of Tel Aviv is like the distance between the U.N. building here and Times Square. Israel is a tiny country. That’s why in any peace agreement, which will obviously necessitate a territorial compromise, I will always insist that Israel be able to defend itself by itself against any threat.
(italics mine)
Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterates his commitment to genuine peace, meaning that he does not trust his counterpart. He does not speak of peace but of a genuine one which, presently, is difficult if not impossible to achieve. Still, he is committed to genuine peace and is willing to make historical concessions, provided some assurances for Israel’s security are provided.
I agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu that the peace needs to be genuine, and that security assurances need to be provided. Any peace agreement will not last for long if it undermines security.


Second point I wish the highlight concerns the occupation. Prime Minister Netanyahu says that occupation does not exist because The people of Israel are not occupiers in the land of Israel. Like Begin, Prime Minister Netanyahu conveniently focuses on land. The people who residing the land are missing from his worldview. So even if The people of Israel are not occupiers in the land of Israel they do occupy another people, the Palestinian people.
The Israeli government has been remarkably successful in denying the occupation, so much so that the concept and the word Kibbush, occupation in Hebrew, hardly feature in Israeli vocabulary and everyday parlance. I encounter this word mostly when I read reports of human rights organizations, and some Haaretz reporters. Most of Israeli media relates to the occupation to the same extent that the BBC relates to terror. If you open the BBC you would think that we are living in a world free of terror as the concept does not exist in its coverage. Similarly, if you read/watch/listen to most Israeli outlets you would not be aware that Israel occupies another people.
One word on the dirt that keeps emerging on the “special” relationships between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama that are now in a new, unprecedented low point: Prime Minister Netanyahu should know by now to pick his friends and, no less importantly, his enemies. He should NOT make the American president his enemy, and, ipso facto, Israel’s enemy. Clearly, the two leaders do not see eye to eye. Prime Minister Netanyahu should bear in mind that at stake is not only Prime Minister Netanyahu but the entire Israeli nation.


Source:


Not Friends At All


 On October 28, 2014, Jeffrey Goldberg had hit the headlines about the crisis in US-Israel relationships, and the derogatory language American officials openly used in conversations with him about Prime Minister Netanyahu. Netanyahu was described as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, “Aspergery” and most recently “chickenshit.” These are bad news for every Israeli, and for anyone who cares about Israel.


Goldberg thinks that post-November 2014, after the midterm elections, the USA may move into actions that the Israeli government dreads. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations. Moreover, the Obama administration may take a public, full lay-down of the administration’s vision for a two-state solution, including maps delineating Israel’s borders. These borders would be based on the Clinton Parameters: 1967 lines, with significant West Bank settlement blocs attached to Israel in exchange for swapped land elsewhere. Such a lay-down would make explicit to Israel what the U.S. expects of it.   
Source: Jeffrey Goldberg, The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here, The Atlantic (October 28, 2014),


Irish Senate Votes for Recognition of Palestine

In October 2014, a few weeks after British lawmakers also voted to recognise Palestine, Ireland’s upper house of parliament passed the motion that the "Seanad Éireann calls on the Government to formally recognise the State of Palestine and do everything it can at the international level to help secure a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."  
As in the U.K., the motion is non-binding and symbolic.The motion was proposed by Irish conservative party Fianna Fáil’s Averil Power and was signed by 31 of the upper house’s 60 members. Power proposed the motion and criticised Israel, saying it was operating an “apartheid regime.” She said it was important that the international community "send out a clear message of support for the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination."
Spanish government urged to recognise Palestine as a state

On November 18, 2014, Spanish lawmakers urged their government to recognise Palestine as a state, albeit only when the Palestinians and Israel negotiate a solution to their long-standing conflict.

The symbolic motion, which echoes similar votes last month in Britain and Ireland, was backed by all the political groupings in the lower house after the ruling People’s party watered down the wording hours after a deadly attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem in which five Israelis and two Palestinian assailants were killed. The non-binding text, brought by the opposition Socialists, was initially an outright call to recognise a Palestinian state and had angered the Israeli government. But Beatriz Rodríguez-Salmones of the People’s party, which holds an absolute majority in the lower house, told the debate her party would not back a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state “at a time of intense pain for Israel”. “It is not the right time to seek a unilateral recognition. Peace and a peaceful cohabitation between two states are the objective ... The method is a negotiation between the two,” she said. The text that was adopted said: “The parliament urges the government to recognise Palestine as a state ... This recognition should be the consequence of a process negotiated between the parties that guarantees peace and security for both, the respect of the rights of the citizens and regional stability. ”Foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo, the only member of the Spanish government to attend the debate, said the government was now committed to working in favour of a dialogue between the two parties that brought “peace, stability and progress to a region that has been suffering for a long time”.

Source: The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/18/spain-vote-motion-recognise-palestine-state-israel

The Washington Post reported that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the international community’s failure to advance a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is spurring governments and parliaments to take action to recognize the state of Palestine — and “that momentum will grow.” The U.N. chief said at the U.N. commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that the international community must assume “a collective failure” for not being able to get a peace deal. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement read at the commemoration, welcomed changes in popular sentiment in the West that have reached “official political levels,” starting with Sweden’s recognition of the state of Palestine and the overwhelming motions supporting recognition by parliaments in Britain, Ireland and Spain. He said these actions, and upcoming votes in France and other European countries, are “positive developments which enhance the opportunities for peace and security and stability in the region.”“Does Israel, the occupying power, understand all of the messages in this regard?,” Abbas asked.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor told the General Assembly that Sweden and European parliaments supporting recognition of a Palestinians are taking away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate, compromise or renounce violence and are giving them exactly what they want — “statehood without peace.”
Operation Protective Edge has increased support for Hamas and armed struggle among Palestinians
A poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media & Communications Center and published in late October 2014 shows that the majority of respondents (53%) said the war achieved the Palestinians people’s interests, while 21% said it harmed their interests.

The poll found that the percentage of those who support military operations against Israel increased from 31% before the war to 42% after the confrontation.

According to the study, the war seems to have increased Hamas’s popularity at the expense of Fatah. Trust in Hamas increased from 16% in April 2014 to 25% in October. Moreover, a majority of 61% of respondents said that Hamas’s rockets help achieve Palestinian goals.

The poll also indicated a drop in the percentage of Palestinians who support negotiations with Israel – from 54% in April this year to 52% in October.

Trust in Fatah dropped from 41% before the military confrontation to 35% after the war.

While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas retained his status as the most trusted Palestinian personality, still the poll found that support for Abbas dropped from 25% in April this year to 23% in October.

Trust in Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh rose from 13% before the war to 17% after the confrontation.

The poll also showed that a majority of respondents (57%) considered Hamas to be the winning side in the war as opposed to 8% who believed Israel emerged triumphant.
Source: “Support rose for Hamas and armed struggle after war, poll says”, The Jerusalem Post, 29 October 2014
Limits of War Conduct
The Israeli government argues that Hamas has been using civilian buildings for its terroristic purposes. It brings evidence to show that Hamas has stockpiled rockets and ammunition in schools, mosques and hospitals, and that Hamas fired rockets from such buildings. Should Israel attack these buildings? Is it prudent for Israel to attack such institutions?
Decision-makers need to draw lines regarding war conduct: what is permissible to attack, and what is not permissible to attack. The decision has to take into account military considerations, as well moral and diplomatic considerations. Battles are won on the battleground. Wars are won on the battleground as well as in the diplomatic/international arena. You may win the battle and lose the war in the eyes of world public opinion.
My line is that mosques and hospitals should not be targeted for practical reasons. The bad consequences outweigh the positive ones. Israel does not have to publicly announce this, but its mode of operation should accept that, generally speaking, mosques and hospitals be attacked only in exceptional circumstances.
Mosques should not be attacked because they are symbols. Mosques are symbols of Islam. Israel does not wish to be seen attacking Islam. We respect all religions, Islam included. All religions are open to interpretations, peaceful and radical. We have nothing against Islam. We stand resolute against terror. Attacking mosques stirs hatred across the Islamic world.


Hospitals should not be attacked because they are places of sick people, of women who give birth to children, of sick children, of paralysed, unconscious, disabled, immobile, needy patients. Hospitals house vulnerable people who need constant help, otherwise they would not be there. Providing them with warnings to evacuate are of little sense because many of these patients cannot be evacuated. There is no other place to take them, and sometimes they should not be moved. Providing a warning is not, and cannot be regarded as a justification for attack. Hospitals are off limits, notwithstanding the vile ways Hamas uses them.


The Lancet, Vol. 384 of August 2, 2014, pp. 389-390 published an article titled “Gaza’s health and humanitarian crisis” in which it claims that 22 hospitals, clinics, and medical centers have been hit and damaged by Israeli shelling. Four hospitals closed down.
Attacking mosques and hospitals is against best interests of Israel. The negatives outweigh the positives.
As for schools, these are legitimate targets only when they are empty, and assurances have been granted that they are, indeed, empty, as warnings have been given, and intelligence verified that the children were evacuated.
Rocket Terror
Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah warned that his rockets were capable of hitting any place in Israel – specifically that Jerusalem “will not find a single piece of land” that rockets could not hit – and that Israel would be forced to close its ports in the event of a military conflict with Hezbollah. 
Hezbollah is believed to have up to 100,000 rockets in its arsenal, and its leaders have for months been threatening confrontation with Israel. The fear is also that the Hezbollah has constructed an underground tunnel network leading into Israel’s north, which its operatives would use to conduct a spectacular terror attack against residents along the Israel-Lebanon border.


History has shown that we should take Nasrallah’s threats very seriously.


New Fashion in Terrorism
Terrorism often changes its faces. It moves from one fashion to another: In the 1960s and 1970s, hijacking was in fashion. In the 1980s we had bombings. In the 1990s, suicide bombings. In the early 21st Century, rocket terror. And recently planned car accidents, crushing cars into people who are on the side of the road.


The past month we witnessed several such incidents. Terrorists rammed their vehicles into pedestrians in Jerusalem and in other places, killing some and injuring many others. The Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said after one incident: “Hamas blesses the courageous operation in Jerusalem and considers it as a normal reaction to the Israeli crimes in Jerusalem and in al-Aqsa. Hamas calls on all of our people to use all means to stop these crimes.” Anger over the incidents is likely to add to the rising tensions in Jerusalem as the government is expanding the building operations in east Jerusalem, and more Jews make a point of praying in the highly sensitive Temple mount area.
Drones
This video is for those interested in drones:

Cyberterrorism

Experts are warning that nuclear capabilities might find their way to terrorist organizations. Actually, terrorist organizations do not need to steal weapons in order to inflict untold damage on their enemy. They can remain in their hideout places in Pakistan, Iraq or any other place, and use the Internet to infiltrate sensitive computers and disrupt operations with horrific implications on the region where the nuclear plant is situated.
The following example may serve to illustrate the possible vulnerability of control systems and highlight cybersecurity issues that could arise for infrastructure computers when SCADA controls are interconnected with office networks. SCADA stand for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition systems. These are the computers that monitor and regulate the operations of most critical infrastructure industries. In August 2003, the “Slammer” Internet computer worm was able to corrupt for five hours the computer control systems at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio. The computer worm was able to penetrate sensitive systems in the Davis-Besse power plant control room largely because the business network for its corporate offices was found to have multiple connections to the Internet that bypassed the control room firewall.
Source: Kevin Poulsen, “Slammer Worm Crashed Ohio Nuke Plant Network,” Security Focus, August 19, 2003, http://www.securityfocus.com/news/6767

Lecture at Amnesty



The Amnesty branch at Hull University invited me to speak on The Roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I spoke for one hour and then took questions. The audience was attentive. It was clear to me that they heard things they have never heard in their lives. Some of them believed, I assume, Zionism equals racism and fascism. They did not realize how revolutionary and constructive the Zionist movement was. It was an interesting experience.

At the end of the talk, I was invited to a demonstration to stop the bombings of Gaza.



European Declaration on Palliative Care


The EAPC participates in two large-scale European Commission funded projects – IMPACT and EURO IMPACT – . They bring together important research partners and stakeholders in European palliative and end-of-life care. During an invitational conference, last October, they have launched a declaration with 10 recommendations for policy- and decision makers in order to improve the quality of and access to palliative care in an age-friendly Europe. These recommendations are based on recent scientific insights.
The more signatures this declaration receives, the stronger the message to the policy and decision makers will be. We strongly recommend signing the declaration at http://palliativecare2020.eu/declaration/ and spreading it to your national and international contacts.
Luc Deliens
Lieve Van den Block
Project lead EURO IMPACT
Yvonne Engels
Myrra Vernooij-Dassen
Project lead IMPACT
Sheila Payne
EAPC President
2014
European Declaration
on Palliative Care

Evidence-based policy recommendations by two EU funded projects

"Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and treatment of other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual" [World Health Organization].

Palliative care is required from early in the disease course, can be delivered alongside potentially curative treatment, and continues to include end-of-life or terminal care.

Calling upon policy and decision makers at regional, national and international level to:

1. Recognise that the delivery of and access to high quality palliative care is a public health priority which requires a public health approach.2. Develop or redraft national and international health care policies, such as policies on healthy ageing, long-term care and dementia, to include palliative care as an essential component.3. Develop or redraft palliative care-specific policies to include referral criteria that allow patients and their family timely access to palliative care consistent with their level of need, regardless of diagnosis, age, prognosis, estimated life expectancy or care setting.4. Develop or redraft policies to include mechanisms to ensure access to specialist multidisciplinary palliative care services or teams in all health care settings.5. Promote a paradigm shift in health and social care towards basic palliative care skills for all health care professionals, to empower them to deliver patient-centred family-focused care for all people with a life-limiting illness, based on personalised or tailored care plans, with attention to all needs of the patient and his or her family.6. Support inter-professional and multi-disciplinary collaboration as a cornerstone of high-quality care and education in palliative care.7. Invest in curriculum development and education in palliative care across all disciplines of health and social care at undergraduate and post-graduate level, and establish palliative care as a specialty.8. Promote public awareness through community level approaches: education of the public and training offamily carers and volunteers.9. Increase funding opportunities for national and international research in palliative care.10. Establish continuous mechanisms to monitor and improve the quality of and access to palliative care.Launched in Brussels, October 2014 

Nicholas Winton
Sir Nicholas Winton, who lives in Maidenhead, was born in May 1909. He was 29 when he arranged trains to take the children out of occupied Czechoslovakia and for foster families to meet them in London.
It began in 1938 after the Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland, the name for areas of pre-war Czechoslovakia. Mr Winton visited refugee camps outside Prague and decided to help children secure British permits in the same way children from other countries had been rescued by "kindertransports".
At the time he was a stockbroker in London, and being from a German Jewish family he said he was well aware of the urgency of the situation.
He organised a total of eight trains from Prague to London and helped to find foster families for the refugees. Sir Nicholas saved 669 children, most of the Jews, from the Nazis.
Sir Nicholas did not tell anyone about his actions for 50 years, until his wife found a scrapbook.




In October 2014, Sir Nicholas has been awarded the Czech Republic's highest state honour. The 105-year-old was given the Order of the White Lion by the Czech president during a ceremony at Prague Castle. In a speech, he thanked the British people who gave the children homes. He said: "I want to thank you all for this enormous expression of thanks for something which happened to me nearly 100 years ago - and a 100 years is a heck of a long time.
"I am delighted that so many of the children are still about and are here to thank me."

Source: “Nicholas Winton honoured by Czechs for saving children from Nazis”, BBC.com, 28 October 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29798434
8th European Commission-Israel Seminar on combating racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism was held in Jerusalem
The eighth seminar on the fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism was held in Jerusalem on 27-28 October, bringing together officials, diplomats and experts from Israel, the European Commission, the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency, the European External Action Service and several EU Member States.
The EU representatives welcomed the discussions. Lars Faaborg-Andersen, Head of the EU Delegation to Israel said: "Racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism are incompatible with the values of respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, equality and non-discrimination upon which the EU is founded.  The European Union is committed to combating these phenomena by making use of all powers available under the European Treaties, in particular through legislation, financial support for projects and dialogue." He added: "This dialogue is essential for our joint efforts to continuously foster our common values."
Over the two days, the participants discussed policies and tools aimed at combating racism and xenophobia, with a particular focus on anti-Semitism. In this context, data, trends and EU measures to combat racism and anti-Semitism figured prominently on the agenda. A specific session was devoted to cyber-hate - a growing and worrying phenomenon for both the EU and Israel.
In the context of the attack on the Jewish Museum in the centre of Brussels earlier this year, the debate addressed the threat of radicalization in Europe and the preventive actions that are being taken.
Education and training, including Holocaust remembrance were discussed. The EU representatives also highlighted the EU's official dialogue with religious organisations, including representatives of European Jewish communities, as well as with non-confessional organisations.
The seminar, held annually, reflects the importance attributed by both the EU and Israel to the fight against anti-Semitism and serves as an important opportunity for dialogue.
Organs on Wheels
I participated in a conference on end-of-life concerns. Inter alia, we discussed organ transplants. In the coffee break, one of them told me with a wink that they refer to motor cyclists as “organs on wheels”.
My New Article
Breaking the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock – Two State Solution

Global Education Magazine: International Day of Peace, 21 September 2014, pp. 58-63

http://www.globaleducationmagazine.com/Global-Education%20Magazine-International-Day-of-Peace.pdf
http://www.globaleducationmagazine.com/breaking-israeli-palestinian-deadlock-state-solution/
ANNUAL SHAPIRO AWARD FOR BEST BOOK IN ISRAEL STUDIES (FOR BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2014)
The Association for Israel Studies annually awards the Shapiro Prize for the best book in Israel Studies published during the last calendar year.  This award honors the memory of Yonathan Shapiro (1929-1997), one of Israel's most distinguished and influential sociologists, by recognizing outstanding scholarship in the history, politics, society, law, economics, state, and culture of Israel and also pre-1948 the Jewish community in Palestine.

Yonathan Shapiro


The Shapiro Award Committee will consider books in either English or Hebrew, in the social sciences, law, and the humanities, published in 2014.  Only research monographs (but not a collection of articles), will be considered.  The prize committee will not consider books translated from Hebrew into English and vice versa, if the original book was published prior to 2014.  However, it will consider books first published in other languages and then published in English or Hebrew in 2014.  The committee will consider books by current AIS members only.  The Committee will accept self-nominations, or nominations by individual scholars or publishers.  Three hard copies of the nominated books should be sent directly to the Chair of the award committee:

Dr. Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman
Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-Gan, 5290002
Israel
Deadline of Submissions: December 31, 2014.
MEMBERS OF THE 2015 SHAPIRO AWARD COMMITTEE: 
Dr. Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman, Bar-Ilan University, Chair
Professor Raphael Cohen-Almagor, University of Hull
Professor Zaki Shalom, Ben-Gurion University and Institute for National Security Studies
Yonathan Shapiro
Yonathan Shapiro was my teacher and Chair of the Department of Sociology when I studied Sociology for my BA at Tel Aviv University. I took all the courses he taught during my three years of studies. I appreciated his knowledge and wisdom. He was kind and helpful, and thus I am delighted to honour his memory.
Monthly Poems
Without You

Without you every morning would feel like going back to work after a holiday,
Without you I couldn't stand the smell of the East Lancs Road,
Without you ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews,
Without you I'd probably feel happy and have more money and time and nothing to do with it,
Without you I'd have to leave my stillborn poems on other people's doorsteps, wrapped in brown paper,
Without you there'd never be sauce to put on sausage butties,
Without you plastic flowers in shop windows would just be plastic flowers in shop windows,
Without you I'd spend my summers picking morosley over the remains of train crashes,
Without you white birds would wrench themselves free from my paintings and fly off dripping blood into the night,
Without you green apples wouldn't taste greener,
Without you Mothers wouldn't let their children play out after tea,
Without you every musician in the world would forget how to play the blues,
Without you Public Houses would be public again,
Without you the Sunday Times colour suppliment would come out in black-and-white,
Without you indifferent colonels would shrug their shoulders and press the button,
Without you they's stop changing the flowers in Piccadilly Gardens,
Without you Clark Kent would forget how to become Superman,
Without you Sunshine Breakfast would only consist of Cornflakes,
Without you there'd be no colour in Magic colouring books,
Without you Mahler's 8th would only be performed by street musicians in derelict houses,
Without you they'd forget to put the salt in every packet of crisps,
Without you it would be an offence punishable by a fine of up to £200 or two months' imprisonment to be found in possession of curry powder,
Without you riot police are massing in quiet sidestreets,
Without you all streets would be one-way the other way,
Without you there'd be no one to kiss goodnight when we quarrel,
Without you the first martian to land would turn round and go away again,
Without you they'd forget to change the weather,
Without you blind men would sell unlucky heather,
Without you there would be
no landscapes/no stations/no houses
no chipshops/no quiet villages/no seagulls
on beaches/no hopscotch on pavements/no night/no morning/
there'd be no city no country
Without you.

Adrian Henri

Light Side



English has some strange pairs – words of contradictory meaning that are put together. Here are some examples for such oxymorons:
Clearly misunderstood
Exact estimate
Found missing
Fully empty
Pretty ugly
Seriously funny
Only choice
Original copies
Small crowd
Act naturally
Peace and love and Happy Hanukkah filled with warmth and light with family and friends.


Yours as ever,
Rafi


My last communications are available on http://almagor.blogspot.com/
Earlier posts at my home page: http://hcc.haifa.ac.il/~rca/

People wishing to subscribe to this Monthly Newsletter are welcome to e-mail me at r.cohen-almagor@hull.ac.uk
Follow me on Twitter at @almagor35
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