Israel: Settlers brace for end of building freeze
SEPT 25,10 10:45AM
JERUSALEM – An Israeli lawmaker says Jewish settlers have hauled construction equipment into a settlement deep inside the West Bank in preparation for the end of a construction moratorium.The end of the settlement slowdown presents the first major crisis in Mideast peace talks launched early this month in Washington.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who imposed the slowdown 10 months ago as a peace gesture, says he will not extend the restrictions. But the Palestinians say they will not continue negotiations if building resumes. The U.S. is trying to broker a compromise.Pro-settler lawmaker Danny Danon said Saturday that activists plan to lay the cornerstone of a new neighborhood in the Revava settlement Sunday, the last day of the slowdown.He said further construction is planned Monday.
Intense US efforts fail again to break Mideast deadlock by Lachlan Carmichael – Sat Sep 25, 3:16 am ET
NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet for a second day of talks Saturday, after failing to break the deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians.Clinton has sought to use her clout to bring renewed impetus to the flagging peace process, and has persuaded the two sides to go back to the negotiating table for the first time after a 20-month hiatus.
But the talks are overshadowed by the end of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building, with the Palestinians threatening to walk out of the fledgling peace talks if it is allowed to expire as planned on Sunday.
The pair met in New York on Friday after US officials bluntly told both the Israelis and Palestinians not to wreck the fledgling peace negotiations.Abbas had earlier rejected an Israeli suggestion that a compromise may be possible ahead of the scheduled end of the moratorium.Our efforts will continue, Clinton spokesman Philip Crowley said after Abbas and the chief US diplomat met for 25 minutes on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.Nothing new until now, Abbas told AFP after emerging from his evening meeting with Clinton, noting the two would meet again on Saturday.Abbas advisor Nabil Abu Rudeina said: We're discussing American efforts about the continuation of the negotiations.A senior Israeli government official said the Jewish state was willing to cut a deal acceptable to the United States and the Palestinians, after US President Barack Obama's call for the moratorium to be extended.But he also stressed that there cannot be zero construction in West Bank settlements, a compromise Abbas rejected as a partial solution.A total freeze must be maintained on settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, including in Jerusalem,Abu Rudeina said, adding that Abbas rejected any compromise that does not guarantee a complete halt to all settlement activity.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman echoed a toughening US line toward both the Palestinians and the Israelis.At this point, we are urging both sides to create the atmosphere that is most conducive to a successful conclusion to the negotiations, he said.We don't think either side should be using the threat to walk out, to interrupt the process.He acknowledged the discussions are pretty intense right now as Washington tries to keep the negotiations on track.Arab League chief Amr Mussa, in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, told reporters that Israel must show a readiness to extend the freeze if the peace talks are to continue.Obama on Thursday firmly urged Israel to extend the moratorium. On the same day, he issued a passionate call at the UN General Assembly for the world to back his peace drive.On Friday, Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Israelis and Palestinians to do all they can to sustain the direct peace talks. The previous round of direct negotiations collapsed when Israel launched a devastating military offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in December 2008.Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not appear to have made any progress towards narrowing their differences during talks last week in Egypt and in Jerusalem attended by Clinton.US officials have suggested a three-month extension to the moratorium, during which the two sides could agree on borders, which could neutralize the settlements dispute, a senior Palestinian official said.
Abbas told AFP this week he was not opposed to a settlement freeze for a month or two.The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, to be illegal. Some 500,000 Israelis live in more than 120 Jewish settlements across the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories expected to form the bulk of a future Palestinian state.Israel captured Arab east Jerusalem in 1967, and considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital.
Another core issue that has eluded six decades of peacemaking efforts is Palestinian refugees.The Palestinians want Israel to recognize the right of return of those who fled or were expelled when the Jewish state was created in 1948. With their descendants, they number 4.7 million people.
Israel rejects the demand.
US-backed Abbas and his secular Palestinian party Fatah only control the West Bank since the Islamist movement Hamas routed out his forces from the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The two movements have been deadly enemies ever since, but on Friday, Fatah and Hamas leaders held reconciliation talks in Damascus and said they wanted the discussions to continue.
US striving for peace between Israel and Syria
– Fri Sep 24, 11:04 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The United States would like to see Israel and Syria settle their differences as part of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, a top US official said.We want to get to a comprehensive peace. It has to include a Syria-Israel track. It's absolutely essential that Syria be part of this process, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff Feltman told reporters.He said Monday's meeting in New York between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem will take place in that spirit.We have a lot of differences with Syria. Those differences aren't going to disappear overnight. But we also recognize that it is certainly in our interest to do what we can to engage the Syrians and the Israelis in a peace process that can lead to a comprehensive peace, said Feltman.He also hoped Arab nations continue and expand support to PA (Palestinian Authority) and find ways to signal what are the benefits to Israel from a Middle East peace.Clinton and Mouallem's meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly will be their second since their brief, March 2009 encounter in Egypt during a donor conference for the Gaza strip.US-Syria relations have been improving since US President Barack Obama took office in January 2009.
Israel plays down scope of future settler projects
By Dan Williams – Fri Sep 24, 11:18 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel urged the Palestinians Friday not to abandon recently resumed peace negotiations over the imminent expiry of a West Bank settlement moratorium, saying any new construction projects would be limited in scope.The scheduled end Sunday of the 10-month partial halt to building in Jewish settlements has drawn Palestinian threats to quit the talks sponsored by President Barack Obama, who has repeatedly called on Israel to extend the freeze.Obama renewed his appeal from the rostrum of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday, raising pressure on the Jewish state.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose rightist coalition government includes pro-settler parties, has so far deflected Obama's pleas. But he has also said renewed construction in the settlements might be on a reduced scale.Netanyahu was in contact with U.S. and other world leaders, and had envoys working with the Americans, as part of intensive efforts to find a mutually agreed compromise to the issue of the moratorium ending, an Israeli official said Friday.If this is going to work, it must be a two-way street, the official said.It also has to be said that the plan for building in the West Bank in the coming year is so modest that in no way would they impact on the parameters for a peace deal.
The official, who declined to be named, would not elaborate on what Israel had offered to, or asked of, the Palestinians in recent contacts.Among stop-gap ideas floated by Israeli officials has been resuming full construction in settlement blocs which the Jewish state would eventually annex, while scaling back projects in isolated settlements. Another has been for Israel to ration approval for new buildings de facto, without a formal freeze.But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly stated he would not accept a renewal of building in the settlements and has threatened to pull out of peace talks if they resume.The president will not agree on even a single new house in the settlements, a senior Abbas aide told Reuters Friday.Officials close to the talks said last week that Netanyahu had turned down a proposal to extend the moratorium by 3 months.
OBAMA SAYS TALKS SHOULD CARRY ON
The Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future state and say all settlement construction must stop because the projects prejudge future borders. The World Court regards the settlements, built on land occupied in the 1967 war, as illegal.Netanyahu's office quoted him in a statement as saying that continued settlement construction had not blocked previous rounds of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations dating back to 1993.Neither did those talks always include a condition set by Netanyahu and rejected by the Palestinians -- that they recognize Israel as a Jewish nation-state.If the Palestinians want peace, they will stay in the talks with us, in order to reach a framework agreement within a year,Netanyahu said. I hope the Palestinians will not leave the talks and will not turn their back on peace.
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly Thursday, Obama envisaged the foundations of a Palestinian state being in place in a year and said: We believe that the moratorium should be extended ... We also believe that talks should press on until complete.
Abbas welcomed Obama's words.
The president (Abbas) expressed his full readiness to cooperate with the American efforts to make the peace process succeed,the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Paul Taylor)
Obama urges Arabs and Israel to support fragile talks By Alister Bull and Patrick Worsnip – Thu Sep 23, 8:08 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to extend its partial freeze on settlement-building and Arab states to move toward normal ties with the Jewish state to help keep fragile peace talks alive.Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly three weeks after Israeli and Palestinian officials resumed direct peace talks, Obama urged world leaders to make sure this time is different from previous failed efforts to end the six-decade conflict.The U.S. president spoke on the opening day of the annual, 192-nation gathering amid global disagreements on issues from Iran's nuclear program to a maritime dispute between Japan and China and a U.S.-China currency spat.In talks on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, Obama urged Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to take rapid steps to address the dispute over the yuan's value, U.S. officials said, making clear he wants it to rise further and faster.The U.S. president also told Iran the United States remained open to diplomacy to resolve questions about its nuclear program, which Washington believes aims to develop weapons despite Tehran's denials.But U.S.-Iranian animosities resurfaced almost immediately when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the assembly most people believe the U.S. government was behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.That prompted a walkout by the U.S. and several European delegations, which have also walked out during past speeches by Ahmadinejad at the United Nations because of anti-American or anti-Israeli comments.
Speaking about four miles from the Ground Zero site where the World Trade Center once stood, Ahmadinejad gave no hint of interest in Obama's offer of a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute.Obama devoted much of his somewhat subdued, roughly half-hour speech to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The U.S.-brokered talks are in danger of collapsing almost before they have begun because of the September 30 expiration of Israel's self-imposed, partial moratorium on new construction in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank.Israel's refusal so far to maintain the freeze -- and the Palestinians' threat to walk out if it does not -- have imperiled the negotiations, which aim to resolve the main issues in the conflict within a year.
We believe that the moratorium should be extended, Obama said.We also believe that talks should press on until completed. ... Now is the time for this opportunity to be seized, so that it doesn't slip away.
GLOBAL MESSAGE
Obama, who brought the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together in Washington on September 2 to restart direct talks after a 20-month hiatus, argued that Arab states must show Israel how much it has to gain from seeking peace.He urged countries that back the Palestinians to follow through with political and financial support and said they must stop trying to tear Israel down and take tangible steps toward normalization with the Jewish state.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition government is dominated by pro-settler parties, has said he will not extend the construction moratorium but could limit the scope of further building in some settlements.Israel's delegation was absent from the assembly hall, but a spokeswoman for the Israeli U.N. mission said it was due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth. It's not a boycott, she said.The African Union urged the United Nations to put genocide and war crimes charges against Sudan's leader on hold, warning they could destabilize Africa's biggest nation and endanger an upcoming referendum on southern independence. Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika called for a one-year deferral of the International Criminal Court case against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charged with crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region.(Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Writing by Arshad Mohammed and Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Israeli police, Palestinians clash in Jerusalem
– Thu Sep 23, 3:16 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Stone-throwing youths clashed with Israeli police in an Arab area of east Jerusalem on Thursday, an AFP journalist said, a day after violence was sparked when a Jewish settlement guard shot dead a Palestinian.Police fired tear gas grenades and water cannon to disperse groups of youths hurling stones and burning tyres in the Issawiya district of the holy city.Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik Ben Rubi said there were no casualties or arrests, adding that it was now calm again, apart from some sporadic clashes.The fighting on Wednesday erupted when Arab residents of the Silwan neighbourhood stoned a security guard in his vehicle and he opened fire, police said.Witnesses said another two Palestinians were wounded in the shooting, and several were injured later as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in and around Silwan.There were also sporadic clashes in Silwan in the evening (Thursday) between security forces and stone-throwers, the police spokesman said.The violence came as negotiators sought to reach a compromise on the impending end of a partial settlement moratorium that threatens to torpedo Israeli-Palestinian peace talks relaunched earlier this month.
U.N. experts condemn Israel attack on Gaza flotilla
– Wed Sep 22, 11:31 pm ET
GENEVA (Reuters) – An attack by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May was unlawful and resulted in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, a panel of international experts said on Wednesday.The three experts, nominated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Israeli attack in which nine pro-Palestinian activists -- eight Turks and one Turkish American -- were killed, also said that Israel's blockade of Gaza had caused a humanitarian crisis and was unlawful.The experts -- judges from Britain and Trinidad and a Malaysian human rights campaigner -- said in a report that the Israeli military's action had used disproportionate force and totally unnecessary and incredible violence in intercepting the flotilla.It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds, they said in the report, to be submitted to the rights council on September 27.It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.The three experts said Israel had a right to security, and the firing of rockets into Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza also constituted violations of humanitarian law.But the Israeli blockade of Gaza amounted to collective punishment of the civilian population and was not lawful in any circumstances, they said.The rights experts, who were not allowed to enter Israel, said Israel had refused to cooperate with their mission, and called on the Israeli authorities to identify those involved in the violence and prosecute them.Israel, which says pro-Palestinian activists on the boat were killed when they attacked its commandos, had said from the outset it would not work with the probe by the rights council.
Many nations believe the council, on which Islamic states and their allies have a majority, focuses on Israeli treatment of Palestinians at the expense of other rights issues.Israel has said it would cooperate with another U.N. probe convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon into the incident, which damaged Israel's ties with Turkey.Israel is also conducting its own inquiry.Monday's session of the rights council will also examine another report by experts on the follow-up investigations by Israeli and Palestinian authorities into the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict. That report has found the probes were inadequate.(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn, editing by Tim Pearce)
Israel's Russian migrants an obstacle to peace: Bill Clinton
– Wed Sep 22, 8:23 pm ET
NEW YORK (AFP) – Russian immigrants to Israel are a key obstacle to reaching peace with the Palestinians, according to ex-US president Bill Clinton -- words that elicited a terse reaction from Israel's leader.Clinton, speaking Tuesday at the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference, said that an increasing number of members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are the children of Russians and settlers, the hardest-core people against a division of the land.This presents a staggering problem, according to an account in Foreign Policy magazine. It's a different Israel. 16 percent of Israelis speak Russian.According to Clinton, who was president from 1993-2001, Israel's Russian immigrants are those least interested in reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians.They've just got there, it's their country, they've made a commitment to the future there, Clinton said. They can't imagine any historical or other claims that would justify dividing it.In Clinton's view, the most pro-peace Jewish Israelis are the native-born Israelis who can trace their family roots back for centuries and more.They can imagine sharing a future because they can see events in historical context, he said.
Those next most supportive of a peace deal are the Jews who emigrated from Europe and have been in Israel for one or more generations.Clinton described the North African Jews who immigrated to Israel in the 1970s as the swing voters.When they think peace is possible, they vote peace. When they think it's not, they vote for the toughest guys on the block, Clinton said.On Wednesday, the office Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a terse statement saying that the Israeli leader regrets the comments.As a friend of Israel, Bill Clinton surely knows that immigrants from the former Soviet Union have contributed and continue to contribute greatly to the progress, development and strength of the Israel Defense Forces and to the state of Israel, read the statement, quoting Netanyahu.Only a strong Israel can bring about a secure and stable peace, Netanyahu said.Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, is the US secretary of state.
Egypt accuses Israel of chutzpah at nuclear meet
– Wed Sep 22, 8:15 am ET
VIENNA – Egypt accused Israel on Wednesday of displaying chutzpah — blatant shamelessness — in unusually harsh comments at a 151-nation meeting on the issue of a nuclear-free Mideast.The remarks at the International Atomic Energy Agency's general conference reflect the bitterness dividing Arab nations and Israel and its supporters over whether Israel should open up its nuclear program to the U.N. watchdog's perusal.The Egyptians issued the statement Wednesday after Israel accused Egypt of unfairly singling out the Jewish state while ignoring its own commitments to the IAEA.Egyptian delegate Aly Omar Sirry characterized those comments as demonstrating the full meaning of the world chutzpah — a Hebrew world for blatant shamelessness.Israel is commonly considered to be the only Mideast nation with nuclear weapons.The conference votes this week on an Arab-sponsored resolution urging Israel to open its nuclear activities to inspection.
Quartet urges Israel settlement freeze
by Ron Bousso – Tue Sep 21, 9:39 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The world sponsors of the Middle East peace process urged Israel to extend its settlement freeze after Palestinians warned the thorny issue could derail fledgling peace talks.The Quartet, comprised of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly as Israeli and Palestinians held talks in an effort to defuse the crisis.The Quartet noted that the commendable Israeli settlement moratorium instituted last November has had a positive impact and urged its continuation, it said in a statement after its representatives met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.It also urged both sides to promote an environment conducive to progress, including by refraining from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric.A planned press conference following the meeting was nevertheless called off at the last minute with officials citing an electricity cut as the reason.The dispute over the settlements has threatened to undermine the fledgling efforts by the United States to revive the Middle East peace talks after their official launch in Washington last month following a nearly two-year hiatus.Shortly before the Quartet meeting, a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who is in New York for talks, said the next 10 days will be key for the future of the Middle East peace talks.
The next 10 days will be decisive and determine the fate of the direct negotiations with Israel, Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.There is a very large international effort made to overcome the obstacles in the way of direct negotiations. In particular, the obstacle of the settlements, he said.The Palestinians have repeatedly demanded that Israel extend a 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which expires next week.Abbas said after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the world must understand our need to halt settlement activity.But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to extend the partial ban despite the urging of US President Barack Obama. He has hinted, however, he would confine building to major settlement blocs.We said there would be no preconditions (to starting talks,) so you can't come after five minutes with conditions, Netanyahu said Tuesday, referring to Abbas's threat.Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon told AFP that the two sides should find a middle of the road solution, but that ultimately the future of the settlements will be decided by the borders of the future Palestinian state.Abbas and senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, are in the United States for talks on the peace process.Netanyahu's top advisor Yitzhak Molkho and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat held talks in New York earlier on Tuesday, according to an Israeli official.
The deadline for the end of the freeze is widely accepted as September 26, 10 months and a day after the original cabinet decision expires. But a military order regarding the moratorium states it will only close on October 1.US Middle East envoy George Mitchell said last week that talks between Israelis and Palestinians had made progress on the settlements issue. He also said the two leaders again tackled the issues at the heart of their decades-old conflict -- Israel's security, the borders of a future Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.Some 500,000 Israelis live in more than 120 Jewish settlements across the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories expected to form the bulk of a future Palestinian state.In the meantime, the committee coordinating international funds to support the Palestinian Authority's institutions and economy said that a new international donor conference will be announced later this year.
Anti Settler Discrimination by Josh Hasten
Yesha residents of even so-called consensus communities including Gush Etzion are treated as if living in an entirely different country altogether. After moving with my family from Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion settlement of Elazar just several weeks ago, it makes perfect sense to me how the democratic government of the State of Israel was able to implement a draconian ten month building freeze (so far) on Jewish construction and get away with such a discriminatory policy with very little opposition. True, those who were directly affected by the freeze as well as other Yesha residents and Yesha leaders protested the move, but the majority of the country remained silent as people’s lives were so abruptly disrupted. Think about it, Israelis who were sent by their leadership to live in these areas, both by governments on the left and on the right, were deprived of their basic right to expand homes to accommodate growth, or to build homes on new plots, while those Israelis who make a living in the construction industry had to seek alternative sources of income or barely scrape to get by.So what has my brief experience as a so-called settler taught me that would allow this policy implementation? The answer is rather simple: I have learned that Jews who live in lands acquired by Israel in 1967 through a defensive war of survival whether they are religious or secular, Ashkenazi or Sephardi, new olim or born sabras, are viewed and treated as second class citizens by the establishment. I would go so far as to say that it’s as if Yesha residents of even so-called consensus communities including as Gush Etzion are living in an entirely different country altogether.
Here are some examples: Why is it that in the year 2010 living just 15 minutes away from our capital city of Jerusalem I don’t have access to cable television? Yes, satellite is an option, but shouldn’t I at least have the choice? Also, why is it that while Jordan’s top-40 pop music station comes in crystal clear I can’t seem to tune in to Israel Army radio’s Galgalatz music station? In addition, there are many areas throughout the Gush that my cell phone provider Orange does not offer reception, thus leaving me without a phone for business calls personal calls, or in case of emergency. In fact Arutz 7 reported that the couple who miraculously survived a drive by shooting carried out by Arab terrorists near Rimonim several weeks ago was lucky that they recently changed from Orange to another provider. If they hadn’t who knows how they would have been able to contact emergency crews
thus saving their lives.And just the other day a shipping company dropped off some newly purchased appliances and the delivery man wanted to charge an outrageous additional delivery fee in addition to the normal fees just because in his words we were living over the green line. We refused to pay the fee and after some heating bickering, he decided to release the merchandise without us having to pay the penalty. And you thought it was only the European Union that instituted similar measures.Despite the fact that I now feel like second class citizen I have absolutely no regrets about making the move. While Jerusalem was a wonderful place to live, life in a Yeshuv is unparalleled. We were welcomed into the community by our neighbors and new friends with sucha sense of warmth. Whether it was instant invitations for Shabbat meals, people stopping by to say hello and to drop off welcomin platters of cookies and cake or just offering a helping hand to get settled, we knew right away that our klitah to Yeshuv life would be most pleasant. Throw in the fact that our kids are enjoying their new found freedom and are spending much more time in the outdoors exploring, we knew we made the right decision.But the question remains, how can residents of post-1967 Israel explain to our fellow countrymen living in Israel proper, that we deserve to be treated as equals? I think the first step is to invite the typical center of the country Tel-Aviv Israeli to see what life is like in a Yesha community. I know that the Yesha Council along with some of the other local municipalities have recently launched an initiative inviting high profile journalists, businessmen, and community leaders on tours throughout Yesha to show them that we are not a bunch of gun-toting messianic crazies, but are just regular people trying to make a living and raise our families in a good environment like everyone else.
I think these tours, which focus on community instead of security are a step in the right direction and should be regularly available to all Israelis who want to explore outside their comfort zone. At the end of the day these trips can provide crucial education, which is key to understanding the realities of the situation on the ground. If they are willing to come visit, those opportunities should be readily available.Once that happens and people are given eye opening experiences, hopefully there will be a paradigm shift very soon perhaps I’ll be able to sing along with Galgalatz like the rest of the country.Tishrei 8, 5771 / 16 September 10
