Celebrating the Hamas takeover of Gaza?

I have had trouble posting lately, so there are many things that I have wanted to write about hat I haven't got a chance to, because it won't save my drafts. I have lost interesting posts that I have put a lot of effort into, so now I write it all in Gmail.

I have gotten a bit tired of the "More power = More responsibility = More accountability" reasoning. This reasoning was among the lines of thought that gave me hope that the disengagement might produce something. In the sense that if Israel was gone they might actually try to fix the real problems, which really have nothing to do with occupation.

I said the same thing when Hamas won the elections; maybe now the world will realize what Palestinian "nationalism" is all about. It didn't happen, because the world chose to shut its eyes.

The reasoning is true in the sense that people try to fill their roles. So, if someone is thinking of themselves as a student/chanich they will try to find loopholes in the rules and be disruptive. While if they suddenly are put in charge of a group, they will try to establish order and think of themselves as a part of the solution and not the problem.

So why am I "celebrating" the Hamas takeover of Gaza?

Its very simple. No its not that I am glad that Palestinians are killing each other, that's actually a pretty sad result of the depravity of their society. So why is it? Because the West Bank and Gaza are now separate. Gaza will unfortunately become a backwards taliban/Iran mixture of Islamic religious extremism. While the West Bank will gravitate towards modern more secular palestinian Arab nationalism. Neither is a great enemy for Israel to be up against. It was also easier for Israel to combat a divided Palestinian population through the old "divide and conquer". So what is it that we are gaining from this (lest anyone think that Fatah aren't also crazy) ? The concept that maybe we can have a tri-state solution. Its not quite Rav Yoel Bin-nun's idea of Egypt taking Gaza and Jordan taking the West Bank, but its a step in the right direction. With no need for territorial continuity we really may be able to achieve some sort of permanent borders. In fact, Hamas understands that this separation of the West Bank and Gaza can hurt the Palestinian ideal of taking over all of Israel through stages or otherwise. I happen not to think that Egypt and Gaza reclaiming the lands that they had until '67 is a realistic idea. I much prefer we break up the Palestinian extreme nationalism and let them focus on the land they currently occupy rather than carving up Israel for the needless desire for a contiguous state, when two separate sates would do equally well. The only question remains is if and how to transfer people from Gaza to the West Bank and vice versa who want to live in the other Palestinian state.

The Zionist Boycott - of Coca-Cola?

If fighting the Illegal Arab boycott and all the other anti-Israel boycotts weren't enough, enter the Zionist boycott of Soft Drinks. The ZOA decided to fight fire with fire and start its own boycott of Coca Cola.

Wait a second

Coke vs Pepsi. Did you know that from 1966, Coca Cola has been a firm supporter of commerce with Israel? Coca Cola has refused to follow the Arab boycott for decades. Pepsi followed the boycott and didn’t begin trade with Israel until 1992. Coca Cola not only sells its soda in Israel, it built and currently operates a plant there as well. The next time you are looking for a cool taste to simmer down the summer, remember – Coke is it! - http://www.25waystohelpisrael.com/pages/t1.asp?PID=3001

This also goes against the grain of most Jewish and Zionist organizations who are very hesitant to get involved in boycotts, even the very careful one about Darfur.

It seems like the ZOA have a point though

ZOA: "Don't Buy Coca-Cola"

New York — The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) condemns the Coca-Cola Company ("Coca-Cola" or the "Company") for occupying and using certain property in Egypt, all the while knowing that the property was stolen by the Egyptian government from its Jewish owners, the Bigio family. This participation in anti-Semitic and immoral conduct is made even more egregious by how boldly and self-righteously Coca-Cola describes itself.

Now here is the thing. The ZOA is a Right Wing organization on the fringe of anything that people would call mainstream Zionism. They are not going to be listened to, we already know that from the UPZ controversy.

It seems they weren't content with simply using the strategy of the Arab Boycott, but they also got writing tips. Its fair enough that they want to stress how this property was stolen from the Jewish owners and they see the Palestinians making claims and getting listened to. The 1,000,000 Jews who fled Arab lands and lost everything could probably use some of the double speak that is used against Israel and instead use it for the truth.

But Come On! "occupying" isn't that a bit much?


anti-Semitic - I'll say the same old line: There is no such thing as Semitism, call it Antisemitism, not Anti-Semitism. This makes it clear that it is not a valid position; unlike Anti-abortion or Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism is not up for discussion. Also it will make it clear that it just refers to Jews, not other "Semites"



Having said that Coke has some explaining to do

For approximately 60 years beginning in the early 1900's, the Bigios owned land and factories near Cairo, Egypt. Coca-Cola leased a factory building from the Bigios for over 25 years, and the Bigios' factories provided bottle caps and other products to the Company.

In 1962, the Egyptian government forcibly stole the Bigios' property from them, without any compensation whatsoever, for one reason only: they were Jews. The Egyptian government's actions were part of a campaign of anti-Semitic discrimination and persecution that caused almost a million Jews in Arab/Islamic countries, like the Bigios, to lose their homes, properties, businesses and livelihoods.

In 1980, the Egyptian government ordered that the property be returned to the Bigios. But the occupier, a government-owned and operated entity, never returned the property.

In approximately 1993, the Egyptian government decided to privatize the entity that was occupying and using the Bigios' property. When the Bigios learned that Coca-Cola intended to bid for the entity, they contacted Coca-Cola to remind the Company of the family's right to the property. But top Coca-Cola officials cavalierly brushed aside and ignored the Bigios' legitimate pleas to be justly compensated for the loss of their property, and went ahead with the bid. Through subsidiaries, Coca-Cola purchased 42 percent of the entity occupying the Bigios' property, knowing full well of the immoral and anti-Semitic manner in which the property had been stolen from the Bigios by the Egyptian government. The Company then formed a joint venture known as the "Coca-Cola Bottling Companies of Egypt" that has been occupying, using and benefiting from the Bigios' stolen property since 1994.

The Bigios repeatedly requested that Coca-Cola compensate them for their loss, but Coca-Cola never offered them a penny. The family was thus left with no choice but to file a lawsuit to obtain justice. They sued in Egypt 12 times. All of their lawsuits were dismissed and not permitted to go forward, some in a matter of weeks. In 1997, the Bigios filed suit against Coca-Cola in a federal district court in New York. In the almost 10 years since the lawsuit was brought, Coca-Cola's lawyers have used every legal maneuver to avoid reaching the merits of the Bigios' case because the Company has no legal or moral defense for its conduct. - ZOA

Science is cool - well at least physics

The New York Times Reports that Physics is cool!

Still, for those few days in 1987, physicists were excited, and the excitement spilled out of the Hilton into the rest of New York City.

“The stores and the bars were all ‘Physicists welcome,’ ” said Paul M. Grant, who headed the superconductivity research at I.B.M.’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose. He recalled a discotheque in Chelsea with a long line of people waiting to get in.

“The bouncers took anybody that had a physical society badge on to the front,” Dr. Grant recalled, “and we got in gratis. Can you imagine what a culture shift? We had a hell of a good time.”

Well at least it was 20 years ago

Fifty-one talks later, the session ended at 3:15 a.m. People lingered in the halls until almost sunrise. The session quickly became known as the “Woodstock of Physics.”

So they talked a lot, but maybe also cool stuff came out of it?

But today the heady early promises have not yet been fully filled. High-temperature superconductors can be found in some trial high-capacity power cables, but they have not made any trains levitate. The rise in transition temperatures has stalled again, well below room temperature. Theorists have yet to find a convincing explanation for why high-temperature superconductors superconduct at all.

Well maybe someday!

Meanwhile, if people would look into science as an interesting field to pursue and there was more money available we would get to these amazing places.

Don't forget, there will be peace in the Middle East when someone finds an efficient renewable power source.