-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/6/_/1406/_/971233465/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com POLITICS: There are no free-market political parties in Israel, only shades of statism. Parties on the "right" are orthodox religious parties who are opposed to "land for peace" concessions, but otherwise have their hands in the public coffers as much as the parties on the "left." Except for the recent change to popular election of the Prime Minister, all voting in Israel is for political parties--not individual candidates. You vote for the party of your choice and the party produces a list of who will serve in the Knesset. Thus, the Israeli model of parliamentary politics is very close to Lenin s dictum of maintaining rigid "party discipline." Members of the Knesset owe their entire political existence to the party, and only indirectly to the electorate. Thus, the powers at the top can and do demand total conformity to the party line. For this reason, Israeli politics are rampant with corruption. Payoffs and personal enrichment are commonplace as is the inevitable blackmail that comes when a party official tries to oppose the party line. Virtually all high political offices, including those in the court system are part of the political patronage system. Hence, it is almost impossible for a beleaguered Knesset member to recur to the courts for justice, if the Powers That Be are against him. The mere threat of prosecution is turned off and on like a spigot to induce the desired leverage on wavering politicians. This week s announcement that the investigation into Benjamin Netanyahu s corruption charges is being dropped is a tell-tale sign that the PTB are intending to resurrect Netanyahu as a leader in the Likud. This is part of the ongoing evidence pointing to external control of both major parties in Israel. The Labor Party has undergone a continual stream of factionalization since 1948 when they began with an outright majority of the 120 seats of the Knesset. Now they hold less than 20 seats and must build coalitions with other parties in order to rule. The Labor Party still has two major factions within its ranks--one allied with Shimon Peres who is tightly controlled and financed by the European NWO globalists, and the other aligned with Ehud Barak, the current Prime Minister who, in turn, is controlled by the US faction of the NWO globalists (Kissinger and group). The other two major parties Likud and Shas range in support between 15-17 seats and must form coalitions with other opposing parties in order to govern. The Likud Party is the Israeli equivalent of the American Republican Party. While the Likud has several members who are pro-free market in orientation, the leadership under Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu is as corrupt as the Labor Party. Sharon is a close friend of Shimon Peres, so there is little difference in their politics except that Sharon pretends to be the opposition. Bibi Netanyahu owes his entire political career to the Henry Kissinger group in the US who financed his education, got him a job on Wall Street and guided his rise in Israeli politics. The Shas Party is a "right wing" party of Sephardic Jews whose base of support resides primarily among the Moroccan Jews who have immigrated to Israel. Its most prominent leader (Deri) is currently in jail on corruption charges stemming from years of taking bribes from his coalition partners in the Labor Party--who blackmailed Deri in order to keep the Shas Party aligned with the leftist Labor agenda--something the Shas membership nearly rebelled over. What is ironic is that the Arab population in Israel controls 10-12 seats and thus has become the determining faction that can make or break any coalition. For this reason, it would be political suicide for the Israelis to allow a repatriation of millions of Arab refugees to Israel, who would then be able to command a majority of votes in the Knesset. It is specifically for this reason that Arafat is demanding not only an independent state, but that Israel (not the Palestinian state) absorb almost all the Arab refugees. Arafat fully intends to take back Israel either by militarily conquest (after Israel s security position is weakened by "land for peace" deals), or by democratic conquest via forcing the return of refugees to Israel. PEOPLE: There are notable exceptions to the generalizations I will make here about Jews and Arabs, but I find these general observations do correctly describe some of the underlying reasons for long-term conflict between the two groups. The Jews represent about 80% of the population of Israel, and perhaps only 20% of these could be considered deeply orthodox. The rest are composed of traditional and secular Jews, most of whom have some feeling for generic Zionism (support of a homeland for the Jews) but who are otherwise very liberal and left-leaning in their politics. The Sephardic Jews are Semitic peoples and tend to be more fervent in their defense of Israel as a nation. The Ashkenazi Jews come from eastern Europe and Russia and tend to provide most of the high intellectual power in Israel, as well as a disproportionate amount of its socialist and Marxist policies. There is a fair amount of conflict among the Jews themselves, as the various factions hardly agree on anything. In contrast to this innate competition, however, there is a general feeling of collective unity that keeps them from splitting apart entirely, borne out of a common heritage and welded together by persecution. This same collective mentality has allowed the Jews to prosper under socialism (at least in the incipient phases of economic development) that normally proves disastrous in other cultures. For example, none of the collective farms the Israelis helped develop in Africa survived, even when managed by Israelis. Israel s brand of socialism has, itself, had to give way to free market techniques in order to compete in the world economy. Many Kibbutzim have dropped their most onerous collective policies or have converted to Moshav-type cooperatives. The Jews are clearly the most industrious group of people in the entire Middle East and thus are destined to lead economically. On a negative note, I found a certain amount of insensitivity to the feelings of conscience among both Jews and Arabs. Everywhere we drove in Israel, there was a pervasive discourteousness, a quickness to anger, and a reluctance to give way in heavy traffic. Although Jews are, generally, highly rational and quick mentally, they have a certain tendency to reject, in a very off-handed manner, new concepts that didn t fit into existing patterns of thought. Despite their quick minds, Israeli Jews are almost totally blind to the deceptions and corruption involving many leaders at the national level. They have almost no concept of the dangers of the NWO and the globalist agenda to subjugate Israeli sovereignty for the "global good." Even though approximately 80% of Israel knows about Barry Chamish s startling investigations documenting the role of the Israeli secret service (Shabak) in the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, they do nothing. So while there is a subtle collective feeling on behalf of their national survival, it gets mistakenly mingled with a reliance upon national leaders which produces a uniform type of apathy concerning individual action. There is perhaps an overconfidence inherent in the Jewish mind as well. In intellectual discussions I find it very difficult to get thinking Jews to consider other points of view. On more than one occasion while interviewing some of the best and brightest Jewish intellectuals, I found them completely insensitive to certain spiritual and libertarian ideals. At the same time, ironically, there seems to be a fascination in the Jewish mind with intricate conceptual thought as evidenced by the great time invested in study of the tiniest details in the Talmud and in other rabbinical writings. Why they cannot see through the complexity of global or national deceptions and conspiracies eludes me. Factionalism is rampant in Israel due to the intensity with which debate is embraced, especially on religious points, which are highly subject to the special interpretations of each different school of rabbinical thought. I will say, however, that I found the orthodox Jewish settlers to be happy, industrious group, filled with passion for life and for Israel. Their cooperative Yeshivot (schools) are a model of self-help and sacrifice in order to provide a better life for their children. They are certainly not the "right wing" fanatics the liberal media in Israel makes them out to be. Without this small core of faithful orthodox Jews, Israel might not have received the many small miracles that led to national independence and subsequent victories over a determined enemy with a massive quantitative advantage. The Arabs are generally less intense than the Jews, more likable when not agitated, but less industrious as a whole. Part of the Arab apathy in overcoming environmental deficiencies of their Middle East surroundings may be tied to the problematic and fatalistic Islamic doctrine asserting that much of the bad that happens is the "will of Allah." In contrast, the Jewish concept of being treated by God as a collective (The chosen people, the House of Israel) seems to motivate individual initiative to assist the salvation of the group. Despite this collective view the Jews have of mutual protection the Jews tend to be independent thinkers. In contrast, Arabs tend to be greatly swayed by group psychology. If they have good leaders, they are peaceable and friendly. If they have bad leaders, as is presently the case in the extreme, they can be capable of mass hysteria and panic or even aggression. Both Jews and Arabs are somewhat captivated by materialism, but in different ways. The Jews view material gain as an ongoing tool for progress while many Arabs tend to view material gain as an end in and of itself. Thus, possession of "things" is a sign of prestige in the Arab world. Sadly, because of this, petty theft is a common way of life among many Arabs and is a constant source of irritation for the Jews. Some Jewish settlements have a hard and fast policy of not hiring any Arab labor. However, because Jews tend to rise to entrepreneurial levels quickly in life, the Arabs provide most of the basic labor pool. Thus, Arabs working among the Jews are a permanent fixture in Israel, and of benefit to both Jew and Arab. However, the constant problem of things "disappearing" keeps a barrier of distrust between the two peoples. There is another imbalance in the relationship between Jews and Arabs that must be aired. Except in times when border areas are sealed during terrorist attacks, Arabs can come and go among the Jewish controlled areas in perfect safety, with no fear of reprisals and vindictive behavior. Yet Jews can never go into Arab controlled areas of the Palestinian Authority and have that same assurance of safety. In the Gaza strip there is a separate strip of land owned by Jewish settlements on the coast. The Jews must pass through Palestinian controlled land to get to their zone, and often they must be accompanied by armed convoys of Israeli troops. This week, two Israeli soldiers were wounded (one fatally) in an Arab attack on a military convoy trying to protection Jewish civilians trying to get to their homes in Netzarim--a Jewish settlement in the Gaza strip. Clearly this is evidence that only the Israelis can be trusted to provide overall security to the lands where a mixed population of Jews and Arabs exist. I don t believe this is a reflection of the common Arab himself, who has a tradition of hospitality, but rather of the hostile Palestinian leadership that is itching for a fight. Also in the news this week was a deliberately-staged Arab riot protesting the entrance of Ariel Sharon and a group of Knesset members onto the temple mount. By prior agreement with the Arabs, Jews have a right to free access to the temple mount. But wherever the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been given security authority over a sector occupied by both Arabs and Jews, they refuse to allow Jews safe passage. Worse yet, the Israeli government lets the PA get away with it and the international community says nothing. In this case, the Palestinian Police chief made clear and provocative statements about the impending visit designed to encourage Arab radicals to gather at the temple mount and prepare to attack--which they did, resulting in minor wounds to 34 Israeli policemen. But I suspect that Sharon was not simply trying to publicize the fact that the Arafat would not be fair or even handed in the management of the temple mount. Likud may well be helping the Labor Party s initiative to give away sovereignty of the temple mount to the United Nations. By precipitating a nasty Arab reaction on the temple mount, it helps move the international community to a position that rejects both Jewish and Arab sovereignty over the contested holy site. The UN tries hard to maintain the image of fairness, but historically the UN has only acted to curtail Jewish self-defense, not Arab aggression. It will happen again if the UN has its way. 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