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Hinting at the mistakes of the political echelon during the war in Lebanon in the summer, OC IDF Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Tuesday that the length of the war - fighting inside Lebanon lasted 33 days - was a factor in the feeling of disappointment in Israel and Hizbullah's sense of victory.YnetNews:Speaking at a Tel Aviv University conference, Gantz said the war went on for too long and that its length was one of the reasons that Israel did not emerge with a clear victory. Read more.
Tuesday morning, former IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen (res.) Dan Shomron, who reviewed Halutz's performance during the recent war, criticized him harshly for his flawed management of the conflict.
Tuesday afternoon, he presented the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee with his conclusions, declaring that this summer's war "was run without any goal."
From The Jerusalem Post:
Israel and Syria both issued vehement denials on Tuesday to a report
that there had been secret agreements between the two countries during former prime minister Ariel Sharon's term as prime minister.
David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, said that "the Israeli government is unaware of any such meetings."
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also denied the reports. "That there were no contacts and the report is totally false," said a statement released by the ministry.
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Jamal Zahalka (National Democratic Assembly), who visited Syria about four months ago, told Ynet that the Haaretz report that Israeli and Syrian representatives held talks for two years and formulated a document of understandings for a peace agreement between the two countries was "a virtual agreement of academics."I am currently (14:30 IST) uploading to YouTube an exclusive interview with Dr. Eran Lerman, former IDF Intelligence Dep. Chief of Strategic Planning about the reputed "non-paper" talks between Israel and Syria. Lerman also takes a look forward to possible regional developments with Iran. I will embed the report soon, so come back soon and refresh this page to watch.
According to the MK, to the best of his knowledge no direct or indirect talks were being held between Israel and Syria.
What's more, Meir Dagan, chief of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, confirmed Syria's arms ramp-up last month, saying that the dictator-led Arab nation to Israel northeast has exhibited no signs of desiring peace with Israel.
"Israel's military deterrence was damaged in the [Second Lebanon] war. Therefore, Assad's self-confidence grew. They are prepared to take more risks than in the past," Dagan said.
In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.
The main points of the understandings are as follows:
An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed. As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years. At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval. More details here.
Text of draft.
Map.
Israel: Northern Hula Valley, looking east towards Golan Heights. (Photo: Dave Bender)
Israel: Eastern bank of Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), looking west
towards Tiberias, Arbel areas. (Photo: Dave Bender)
Benny Morris is considered the most influential and prolific member of the New Historians, a controversial group of scholars who have challenged much of the received wisdom of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Warning: Benny has penned a serious downer of a read ahead. But read it anyway.
One bright morning, in five or ten years' time, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran's acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Ahmedinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go ahead. The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa, and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel's half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel's anti-missile batteries and Home Guard units.Hmm... Maybe this will cheer up ole, Benny...With a country the size and shape of Israel (an elongated 8,000 square miles), probably four or five hits will suffice: No more Israel. A million or more Israelis, in the greater Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem areas, will die immediately. Millions will be seriously irradiated. Israel has about seven million inhabitants. No Iranian will see or touch an Israeli. It will be quite impersonal.
Taking a page from google bombs in the past such as this one and this one, an Israeli blogger initiated a google bomb against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Go to Google and type in "Kishalon Harutz" - "Utter Failure" - (this only works in Hebrew fonting, by the way), Google's Israel portal will send you to the Prime Ministers Office.
Laughter is the best medicine - an old saying, but one that the University of Haifa is taking seriously by introducing Israel's first degree program - and perhaps the only degree in the world - in medical clowning.
"It's a kind of start-up actually," said Herzel Ziyoni about the pilot program being offered by the university's Department. of Theater.
Though the hospitals accept the presence of medical clowns, they don't consider them part of the staff. The students hope that the new degree program will change this situation.
Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949 - January 13, 2007) was a popular US jazz saxophonist of the post-Coltrane era. He won 11 Grammys as both performer and composer.And from the New York Times:
Having taken a deep understanding of John Coltrane’s saxophone vocabulary and applied it to music that merged with mainstream culture — particularly jazz fusion and singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and 80s — Mr. Brecker spread his sound all over the world.
