Keepin' it real

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
05 July '10

The headlines are full of evasive maneuvers being used by our politicians, the Op-Eds are full of advice to be taken, and proper instructions and lessons are given on how to run the country, are rampant in Café’s, Shuls and all sorts of demonstrations.

Give up, release, don’t release, land for, no land for, solutions, one state, two state, red state, blue state.

Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn’t want to embarrass President Obama, (No) Defense Minister Barak will do anything to embarrass Netanyahu.

Double, triple, and quadruple standards are practiced to show how “nice” we are.

All so far away from ground level, so far away from the mean streets.

The other night some Arabs decided to infiltrate into a community in Judea and Samaria. They succeeded. Not only did they succeed, but also managed to steal a weapon. Thank Gd they decided to make a run for it and not go to the street where tens of teenagers were taking their Shabbat “rounds”. Whether the infiltrators were spooked or whatever motive guided them, the situation that was a hairbreadth away could have been horrendous.

This is the way it is, this is the way it was, and this is the way it will be…for now. Whether it is in Judea and Samaria, the Gazan border, the center or north of the country, this is the reality. There are many people out there that want to kill us, simply because we are Jews, and simply because we are in our land.

Give them land you say? When did that stop them before? Here we are, all yelling for, and against, attending world conferences, listening to so called “leaders”, while losing touch with reality on the ground.

In the north, the Arabs steal land away from us in front of our eyes while we discuss the situation. Hezbollah builds an arsenal. Abbas tells us that he will allow us to keep the Kotel (Western Wall), then Erakat says no. Hamas smuggles in untold amounts of weapons and rockets. Our enemies, whose soul intent is to remove our presence from this land or worse, procure more and more weapons and equipment and I ask you… what are we doing?

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Practical Zionism

Fresnozionism.org
25 March '10

In the early days of the Zionist enterprise, a group of Jewish Palestinians — in those days, the word ‘Palestinian’ referred to Jews — organized a group called hashomer, ‘guardians’ who defended Jewish farms and towns against marauding Arab bandits. Not everyone who applied to join was accepted, including David Ben-Gurion.

Today, despite the existence of a Jewish state with police, an army and numerous other security-related institutions, it’s become necessary to recreate this paramilitary organization.

In recent years, it has become harder and harder for Jewish farmers in the Galilee and Negev to survive, because they are assailed on a daily (or nightly) basis by Bedouins or Palestinian Arabs who steal everything that isn’t nailed down, destroy fences, set fire to crops, build squatter dwellings on farmers’ land, slaughter their animals in their fields, and threaten, beat or even try to kill anyone who tries to prevent them.

These aren’t ’settlements’, by the way (not that it matters), this is happening inside the Green Line.

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Israel's Main Source of Water Faces Dire Shortage

Amiram Cohen
Haaretz
25 August 09

The Water Authority has instructed Mekorot, the national water company, to pump only 132 million cubic meters of water from Lake Kinneret this year - about one quarter of the annual average, sources in the agriculture sector said.

This would be the smallest amount pumped from the Kinneret since the National Water Carrier went into service in 1964.

The Water Authority wants to begin the coming winter with the Kinneret no lower than it was last year at that time. The level of the lake is currently about 45 centimeters lower than it was at this time last year, but it is unlikely it will maintain this level; the Water Authority predicts that the level will fall to 214.87 meters below sea level, lower than the "black line" below which the lake's pumps cannot operate properly.

Meanwhile, the Water Authority has informed farmers that they intend to decrease the water ration to farmers by only 5 million cubic meters, reducing the cutback from 100 million cubic meters to 95 million cubic meters. The allocation refers to the amount of high-quality water available to farmers from three basins: the Kinneret, the Yarkon-Taninim aquifer and the coastal aquifer.

Representatives of the agricultural sector said they were very disappointed by the authority's decision, since they say the water economy is is much better than it was predicted to be, particularly in the Galilee and the Golan Heights.

According to the organizations representing the farmers, the flow volume of the Dan Springs, which provide the Kinneret a good deal of the water channeled to the National Water Carrier, was the highest it has been for the past three years. At the beginning of August, the flow volume was 6.2 cubic meters per second, as opposed to 4.3 cubic meters per second at this time last year.

Farmers also said the reservoirs in the Golan Heights were filled almost to maximum at the end of the winter, and contain 32 million cubic meters of water.

Yoram Tamari, who holds the water portfolio for the Israel Farmers' Federation, said the decision on the cutback was made at the height of last winter, before the heavy rains at the end of February and the beginning of March, which he said led to "dramatic improvement" in the water economy.

According to Tamari, last year's average rainfall, measured at 25 survey stations throughout the country, was 490 millimeters, which according to the Water Authority's own standards, should allow it to reduce the cutback by up to 60 percent.

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon warned recently that the water cutback will dramatically decrease large-scale cultivation in the north and require the import of raw materials from abroad, resulting in increased unemployment.

Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor said that despite the farmers' problems, a cutback in all sectors of all the water economy was unavoidable, since "we have no guarantee what next winter will be like; it may be as dry as the four that preceded it."
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'State Lands Being Commandeered By Arabs'

Sharon Roffe-Ofir
Ynet
21 August 09

HaShomer HaHadash, established in order to prevent Arab takeover of Jewish lands, convenes in north. 'State decided it doesn't care about racketeering in Negev or about land expropriation in Galilee,' complains organization's founder

Hundreds of volunteers from the HaShomer HaHadash organization met Thursday to express their grievances over supposed public land expropriation at the hands of the Arabs in the north.

"The State of Israel has a national mission to protect the 4 million dunams (about 988,500 acres) that are being stolen from under their noses," said one of the organization's members, Brig. Gen. (res.) Ram Shmueli.

During a conference that took place next to the statue of legendary valley land protector, Alexander Zaid, near Tivon, the organization's members asked that national priorities be adjusted.

Yoel Zilberman, 24, from the town of Tzippori, established the organization two years ago along with his friends. Since, the group has blossomed to 300 members, who keep watch every night over Galilee and Negev lands over which nearby Arab residents attempt, and sometimes succeed, to overtake.

The organization provides support for any farmer who encounters a problem. They believe that by 2012, their ranks will number 2,000 members. "We have given ourselves and objective to bring back courage and strength," said one of the members, Erez Eshel. "It shouldn't be that a farmer is afraid to work his land. It starts with bullying on farm lands and ends with bullying on the Tel Aviv promenade. Therefore, what goes on here needs to worry not just a handful of people, but the entire country."

"We believe that the country decided it doesn't care if protection money is collected in the Negev or if land in the Galilee is commandeered every day and farmers looking to protect their land are beaten up," said Zilberman. "The State, unfortunately, cares only about Azrieli Towers. We won't let this happen. The time has come for the country to wake up and understand that this is the cancer of the country, and if it isn't taken care of, we won't have any state left to live in."

'Choose good over comfortable'

Both MK Yisrael Hasson and Minister Moshe Ya'alon were invited to the event, entitled "Who will save my home," Thursday evening. However, because he was summoned for a talk with the prime minister, the latter could not attend.

Nazareth Illit Mayor Shimon Gapso spoke at the event and explained why he believes this is not just a problem for farmers, but for everyone: "The State of Israel's plan was that 45% of the Galilee will be Jewish by 2010. In reality, we are less than 40%, and if the State doesn't make sure to bring Jews here en masse, we will lose the Galilee."

Brig. Gen (res.) Ram Shmueli, who served on nearby Ramat David air force base, spoke after Gapso. He told those present how the State is losing the Negev: "This country was not conquered by the soldier's sword, but the farmer's plough. There is no Right or Left here. Our future is in holding on to State lands. It is a deposit no government has the right to get rid of. We must understand what our national objectives are in order to be here for another 60 years, and another 60 years after that.

Zilberman concluded the meeting, saying: "This generation has been lost to Survivor and Big Brother. I promise there will be a reawakening of people who choose good over comfortable in order to protect this country."
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