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Yasser Arafat and Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery also spelled Uri Avneri, born September 10, 1923 in Beckum (Westphalia, Germany) as Helmut Ostermann, is an Israeli journalist, left wing peace activist, Knesset member, who was originally a member of the right wing Revisionist Zionist movement. Uri made aliyah in 1933. As a youth, he was a member of the Revisionist Zionist paramilitary group, Irgun. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he was a fighter in the Samson's Foxes jeep unit (and also wrote its anthem). Afterwards, he wrote a book about the war, called In the Fields of Philistia. He's the founder of Gush Shalom, Israel's leading antiwar organization.
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THE ISRAELI CAULDRON—A Miracle of Rare Device
A picture engraved in memory: Ariel Sharon in the Knesset. Around him the storm is raging. The Members rush about, shouts ring out from all sides. The Member on the podium waves his arms, denounces and curses him. Sharon sitting at the government table. Alone. Immovable. Massive and passive. No muscle in his face is moving. Not even the nervous tic of his nose, that was once his trade-mark (and that many people considered a kind of lie-detector). A rock in the raging sea.
What Awaits Samira?
A few days ago, at a conference in Europe, I met a charming young lady. Intelligent, well educated, versed in several languages, and, well, very attractive. After a few hours of shopping, she was as elegant as a model, dressed in the very latest fashion. She happens to be a Shiite from Baghdad, where she has now returned. Let's call her Samira.
MUHAMMED'S SWORD
Since the days when Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.
Constantine the Great, who became Emperor in the year 306--exactly 1700 years ago--encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine . Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part.
'...Shall We Not Revenge?'
IF ONE wants to understand what the Palestinians did on election day, one has to see the film "Paradise Now", which has been nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign film, after collecting several prestigious international prizes. It explains better than a million words.
The 155th Victim
WITH A few words, a Lebanese army officer destroyed, the day before yesterday, the illusion that Israel had achieved anything in this war. At a televised Lebanese army parade that was also broadcast on Israeli TV , the officer read a prepared text to his assembled troops, who were about to be deployed along the Lebanese-Israeli border. This is what he said in Arabic: "Today, in the name of the comprehensive will of the people, you are preparing to be deployed on the soil of the wounded South, side by side with the forces of your Resistance and your people, which have amazed the world with their steadfastness and blown to pieces the reputation of the army about which it has been said that it is invincible."
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