Boker tov, Boulder!

What is the status of Tel Aviv, anyway?

IMRA: "a section of the Mt. of Olives cemetery has been prepared to accommodate 25 graves" [from Gush Katif].

Smooth Stone: It should be noted that since the Mt. of Olives is in eastern Jerusalem that in the view of the PA, and for that matter the United States, this is disputed territory. Mr. Sharon is moving bodies from a place he swore in his last election campaign had the same status as Tel Aviv to a place that he swears in his current pre-election remarks has the same status as Tel Aviv....

The following is a satire

Al-Qaeda Threat: A modest proposal to protect the U.S. by expelling Jews
By Rachel Neuwirth

.... Nine large, American cities are prime targets because of their size, importance and their concentrations of Jews. If the presence of Jews in these cities increases their appeal as targets then logically the absence of Jews would decrease that appeal by a comparable amount. The security of three hundred million Americans must not be kept at risk merely for the sake of not inconveniencing Jews who comprise barely two percent of our population. Because the potential danger is so immense and so imminent, the relocation of American Jews must be expedited.

Removal of Jews should not be too difficult. Jews want to be seen as loyal Americans. Most would cooperate, if reluctantly and emotionally, in their removal as their patriotic duty to increase the safety of their fellow Americans. Jews are accustomed to relocating and have done so repeatedly from biblical times. In recent times, nearly a million Jews were expelled from Arab countries and more than a million Jews have also left the former Soviet Union. Even inside America, Jews often move for purely personal reasons. Relocation is a familiar Jewish experience.

Then there is the question of propriety. Is it proper to compel Jews to relocate -- especially after they have become so comfortable in this country? Fortunately this question has already been answered....

Reuters and the tactless headline

I can't believe this headline was composed by someone whose first language is English:

Dead Gaza settlers dug up for reburial in Israel

From the article:

Israel's chief rabbis agreed that it was better to exhume the bodies than leave graves behind and potentially invite vandalism by Palestinians, who saw the settlers as interlopers.

Perfectly understandable, right? You view someone as an "interloper," and it makes you want to desecrate their grave, right? Maybe even their remains. Very common -and ultimately, acceptable- human reaction to social ills.

Disengaged Jews could live on golf course

UFB, via IsraelReporter

(IsraelNN.com) The Disengagement Authority has announced that it has purchased a golf course in Ashkelon with the intent of using it to house many of the Gaza residents expelled from their homes last week. According to the authority, 158 families, mostly from Nisanit, have signed statements regarding their intention to move to the area, which is designated for Jewish refugees from northern Gaza. Residents who join the project will receive a lot in exchange for the lot that was in their possession before the expulsion.

“Due to the high cost of developing the ground, each family will pay a construction, sewage, improvement and infrastructures fee of $70 per built-up meter,” the statement said.

EU urges Israel: "keep up momentum for peace"

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, right, shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana during a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday Aug. 29, 2005. Solana called on Israel to complete its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and keep up the momentum for peace, commending the orderly and nonviolent evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Ukraine: Yeshiva students attacked

Arutz Sheva

The worst of a series of anti-Semitic incidents in Ukraine occurred last night when two yeshiva students were attacked. One of them is listed in moderate-to-serious condition.

At approximately 11:30 last night, the two students, aged 19 and 20, were attacked in Kiev. Two skinheads assaulted them with sharp bottle shards. One of the wounded was operated on, having sustained cuts and breaks in several parts of his body.

Alex Katz, head of the Jewish Agency's delegation to Ukraine, told Arutz-7's Yedidya HaCohen, "We suggested that the victim be flown to Israel, in order that he receive the proper treatment, but it was dangerous to even move him."

Katz said that last night's was the worst in a recent series of similar incidents in the area. Among them were cemetery vandalism and assaults on Jews.

MUST READ and SEE

I'm getting caught up in a rather haphazard way, much the same way the unpacking is going. I'm not necessarily finding things in the order I would have preferred.

To unpack the Expulsion of Jews from Gaza, go to Rick Richman's post, Sitting Shiva for Gush Katif. It is a magnificent initial testimony to what has befallen our family.

Mazal tov to Banagor

He got linked by Nazis.

EU Envoy: East Jerusalem "Occupied" Territory

I really appreciate LGF's headline on this one:
European Union Hits Bottom, Digs:

The European Union’s envoy to the Middle East, Mark Otte, says Withdrawal is the Model for Jerusalem (Arutz Sheva)

“Our position regarding the West Bank and east Jerusalem is identical - they are occupied territories, and the future of Jerusalem will also be discussed in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” Mr. Otte told Al-Quds, a Jerusalem-based Arabic-language newspaper.

Otte dismissed statements by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel will retain large blocs of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in any permanent arrangement with the Palestinian Authority. Such commitments, the European Union envoy asserted, are nothing more than “spin” intended for internal Israeli consumption.

before and after

This combo picture shows the Jewish settlement of Morag, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 7, 2005, top, and Monday, Aug. 22, 2005, before and after Israeli bulldozers demolished houses.... AP

More Morag.... before