Hizbollah rearming and regrouping for another war
MALKIA - The far northern regions of Israel, in the crook of Lebanon’s southern border, have been the subject of much speculation in the two years since the Second Lebanon War and the weeks since a prisoner swap with the Islamic terrorist group Hizbollah as to whether there will be a renewal of violence. For everyone except local residents.
“You live in Jerusalem?” several residents of Kibbutz Malkia asked with a touch of fearful respect. “Watch out for bulldozers,” they invariably warned referring to recent terror attacks in the capital.
Jerusalem is still viewed with more steady uneasiness than other regions of Israel, despite the month-long pounding of 4,000 Hizbollah rockets in the North in the summer of 2006. However, the winds of war are shifting up North again. Despite being pushed back from the border and weakened militarily during the war, Hizbollah is rearming and has amassed 40,000 rockets according to Israeli military intelligence—more than triple the number it had before the war.
Hizbollah’s rearmament is largely due to UNIFIL’s failure to carry out its mandate of patrolling the Lebanese-Syrian border to prevent weapons smuggling. UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, was strengthened to 13,000 peacekeeping troops under UN cease-fire Resolution 1701 which ended the 34-day war.
“Resolution 1701 was supposed to limit [the] actions of Hizbollah, and prevent it from rearming,” said Israel’s former UN Ambassador Danny Gillerman. “It did not achieve that…The resolution also imposed an embargo on arms shipments to militias in Lebanon—namely Hizbollah—which was a huge achievement, but that wasn’t implemented either.”
Farmers who work the land have a good intuition for events in the region. “It’s quiet, but under the quietness, you hear and feel things and see movement,” Eitan Oren, a farmer at the kibbutz and a tour guide, said. “They are building underground tunnels and are rearming.”
With typical Israeli bravado, Oren stayed in the kibbutz during the war and even continued to harvest peaches and apricots while rockets whistled overhead. He wouldn’t leave in the event of another conflict. “It is a necessity to stay and not give up,” he said. “With every light that turns off, we are losing the game here.”
New Boarders at the Border
Northern Israel is geologically different from the rest of the country. Deep green pines and firs line the hilltops. Windy roads, vineyards, grazing cows, neat rows of crops and army bases dot the landscape. Forests blanket the Upper Galilee, in comparison to the stark Golan Heights that run parallel to the fertile Hula Valley below. But across the border, the southern Lebanon hills are barren and brown.
From Adir Mountain, 2,952 feet (900 meters) high, Colonel (reserves) Kobi Marom pointed out Lebanese towns that were household names during the Second Lebanon War: Bint Jabeil, Maroun A Rass; and the spot on the border road where the abduction that sparked the conflict took place on July 12, 2006. The road dips behind a mountain and the blind spot enabled Hizbollah guerrillas to ambush a convoy and kidnap two Israeli soldiers.
“The quiet is unstable. Hizbollah has rebuilt its capabilities and is a real threat,” Marom said, sweeping his hand over the landscape and the Lebanese towns across the valley. “They don’t sit on the frontline, but a couple of kilometers [1.2 miles] behind now.”
He says UNIFIL is not strong enough to oppose Hizbollah forcibly and that “it is just a question of time before Hizbollah tries to attack Israeli targets along the Israeli border. The response to this must be a big-time response. If they kidnap one soldier Israel must attack 100 Hizbollah targets.”
A State within a State
South Lebanon is effectively a Hizbollah state. While the group may be far less visible in the South than it was before the war, it is also much stronger. It has not only rearmed but also strengthened its political position in Beirut. In July, Lebanon formed a new government in which Hizbollah and its allies hold 11 seats and effective veto power. Hizbollah is now the main opposition force.
“This achievement represents success for Hizbollah’s campaign of civil disobedience over the last 18 months,” says Jonathan Spyer, a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliyah. “Veto power will enable Hizbollah to protect the independent military infrastructure that it has developed with Iranian and Syrian help—for use against Israel at some future date.”
Indeed, Hizbollah has already been given the right to bear, and use, arms against Israel. The Beirut government approved “the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and the resistance [i.e., Hizbollah] to liberate its land in the Shebaa Farms, Kfarshuba Hill and Ghajar,” all located on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon.
Israel’s Northernmost Town
Metulla, Israel’s northernmost town, stood in the shadow of a converted Hizbollah base during the Second Lebanon War. The town absorbed 153 rockets, 43 landing on homes and more than 100 in the surrounding orchards. Fortunately for Metulla residents, they were, ironically, too close to the border and most rockets sailed over the town toward targets further south, such as nearby Kiryat Shmona which became a ghost town.
From the Dodo Lookout above, Metulla unfolds in a burst of houses and greenery next to a valley. Swaths of crops and orchards fan out to the south, while to the north, residents can look eye to eye at their Lebanese neighbors. A road on the Lebanese side of the border, separated by a chain-link fence, features a flagpole flying the Lebanese, Hizbollah and Palestinian flags.
The town was founded in 1896 by Baron Rothschild who purchased the land, enabling Jewish immigrants from Russia and other areas to settle there. When Britain and France carved up boundaries, Metulla’s houses remained inside Palestine, while 400 dunams (100 acres) of its farmland were transferred to Lebanon. Metulla farmers were permitted to cross over and work their lands until 1952 when they were cut off for good. Now they see their untouched land across the ambiguous border.
In 1976, Israel opened the Good Fence, a border crossing between Metulla and Lebanon, allowing southern Lebanon residents enter the country to work, see a doctor, attend school and transport goods. The fence closed after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, an economic blow to residents on both sides of the border. Lebanese who labored in the orchards lost their jobs, and the Israeli farmers who employed them have now turned to Thai workers who only get five-year visas.
Metulla’s proximity to the border has also cost the tourism industry. Israel’s only permanent ice skating rink is located in the town in a state of the art facility called the Canada Center. But with fewer tourists venturing up to the border town, losses are inevitable.
But tempered by decades of conflict, Metulla residents are tough. During the rocket barrages of 2006, 60 percent of the town’s 1,500 residents stayed home.
“The people that live in Metulla will never be afraid,” the town’s mayor Jacob Katz told us, while conceding later: “I don’t think you can ever feel secure.”
The Shebaa Farms and Ghajar
Tucked into the controversy are two plots of land, the Shebaa Farms, a 12-square-mile (31 sq. km.) mountainside running along Lebanon’s southeast border, and Ghajar, a formerly Syrian village at the foot of the Shebaa Farms that has been under Israeli control since the Six Day War in 1967.
Cease-fire Resolution 1701 called for the UN secretary-general to draw a border demarcation for the Shebaa Farms, which was recognized by the UN in 1974 as part of the Syrian Golan Heights “occupied” by Israel. Hizbollah claims Shebaa is actually Lebanese—not Syrian—territory, giving it an excuse to continue fighting against the Israeli “occupier.” Israel insists that any negotiations over the Shebaa Farms must take place with Syria, not Lebanon.
“Up until 1967 it was Syrian territory, there is no question about it,” Colonel Marom said. “After the [Israeli] withdrawal [from Lebanon] in 2000 there have been many incidents here. In my point of view it is just a question of time before [Hizbollah] attacks again. Shebaa Farms are a good option for them.”
Marom believes Israel should keep the territory for its strategic vantage point, even if it isn’t as vital as the Golan Heights.
“There is no reason to give it up. It has become part of Israel,” he said. “It does not cost anything to keep it up. There is no Israeli civilian presence in the area.”
“It is a great observation point to protect this valley,” he said, as he pointed out nearby Shiite villages in Lebanon, likely Hizbollah strongholds. Then Marom identified Druze, Christian and Sunni villages in sight, also controlled, he said, by Hizbollah: “They control all the educational, social and economic services. Even for the Christians.”
Aug 17, 2008
Bank Fee Reform Barely Transforms
The government’s long-awaited bank reform has resulted in an average monthly savings of half a shekel (about 15 cents) for Israelis, while many individual fees actually went up.
Nearly two years after Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer called the list of Israel’s bank charges “ridiculous,” reforms finally went into effect to standardize fees in the banking industry. The monstrous number of fees that banks were charging was reduced from 198 to 72. But otherwise, the proposals were broadly disappointing.
“They looked for what would hurt the public and that’s where they struck,” said parliamentarian Moshe Kahlon. “A crisis of confidence has been created between the public and the banks, which will be hard to overcome in the coming years.”
Fischer says some movement is better than nothing in Israel’s largely uncompetitive banking industry, which functions as an oligopoly. He urged Israelis to take advantage of the changes by doing what they do best—bargain. He encouraged comparative shopping and haggling with banks over their fees in order to force competition, the lack of which is considered the biggest stumbling block to reform.
“Competition is important for bank customers because it creates more varied services. This is the greatest and only power that will lead to streamlining,” Fischer said. “It is necessary to give the reforms…time to work.”
The Bank of Israel is urging consumers to compare the cost of maintaining a checking account, credit cards, and other services at various banks. Its website will feature calculators for users to estimate fees and to find the bank that offers the lowest rates for their personal banking needs.
Consumer organizations were upset that the Bank of Israel didn’t limit the number of bank fees, but the American-born and educated Fischer prefers a hands-off policy.
“Sweeping supervision is undesirable and unacceptable in the world,” Fischer said. “It will bring us to a place where we don’t want to go and would actually hurt the competition that we all want so much, and ultimately hurt consumers.”
Some consumers already insist that the reforms have backfired.
“It used to cost me $1.50 per check to deposit checks from abroad,” a Jerusalem businessman said. “Now they’re taking $6 per check and adding commission too. A transaction that used to cost $9 now costs $70. It’s legal theft.”
Last year, a parliamentary committee reported that Israeli banking fees are 70 percent higher than those in the developed world while Israeli salaries are on average 30 percent lower. No surprise, but the banks are reporting record profits.
Nearly two years after Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer called the list of Israel’s bank charges “ridiculous,” reforms finally went into effect to standardize fees in the banking industry. The monstrous number of fees that banks were charging was reduced from 198 to 72. But otherwise, the proposals were broadly disappointing.
“They looked for what would hurt the public and that’s where they struck,” said parliamentarian Moshe Kahlon. “A crisis of confidence has been created between the public and the banks, which will be hard to overcome in the coming years.”
Fischer says some movement is better than nothing in Israel’s largely uncompetitive banking industry, which functions as an oligopoly. He urged Israelis to take advantage of the changes by doing what they do best—bargain. He encouraged comparative shopping and haggling with banks over their fees in order to force competition, the lack of which is considered the biggest stumbling block to reform.
“Competition is important for bank customers because it creates more varied services. This is the greatest and only power that will lead to streamlining,” Fischer said. “It is necessary to give the reforms…time to work.”
The Bank of Israel is urging consumers to compare the cost of maintaining a checking account, credit cards, and other services at various banks. Its website will feature calculators for users to estimate fees and to find the bank that offers the lowest rates for their personal banking needs.
Consumer organizations were upset that the Bank of Israel didn’t limit the number of bank fees, but the American-born and educated Fischer prefers a hands-off policy.
“Sweeping supervision is undesirable and unacceptable in the world,” Fischer said. “It will bring us to a place where we don’t want to go and would actually hurt the competition that we all want so much, and ultimately hurt consumers.”
Some consumers already insist that the reforms have backfired.
“It used to cost me $1.50 per check to deposit checks from abroad,” a Jerusalem businessman said. “Now they’re taking $6 per check and adding commission too. A transaction that used to cost $9 now costs $70. It’s legal theft.”
Last year, a parliamentary committee reported that Israeli banking fees are 70 percent higher than those in the developed world while Israeli salaries are on average 30 percent lower. No surprise, but the banks are reporting record profits.
Which U.S. Candidate Is Better for Israel?
Wondering who to vote for based on your Israel preferences?
Michael Oren, a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research and educational institute, unveiled a comprehensive study of the vastly different directions a John McCain or Barack Obama presidency would take regarding Israel and Middle East policies. The study, based on the candidates’ comments over the last two years, shows vast disparities in thought on the region and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Oren said that George W. Bush’s legacy redefined what it means to be “pro-Israel.” Bush had the most distinct Israel policy of any American administration in terms of the peace process, yet he was the first president to publicly call for a Palestinian state and a contiguous one at that.
Bush also began using what Oren calls “code words.” For example, taking “current realities” into account in negotiations on Jerusalem refers to sprawling Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, described as “settlements” by the international community. Reiterating the concept of a “Jewish state” means that Palestinian refugees would not be allowed to return to Israel in a two-state solution.
Nevertheless, Bush’s pro-Israel stance hasn’t swayed the majority of American Jews, who traditionally vote Democratic.
“American Jews do not place Israel at the top or their priority list,” Oren said. “Even the American Evangelical community is not entirely united around the Republican candidate.”
Out of 130,000 registered American voters in Israel, some 35,000 voted in the 2004 elections. According to Kory Bardash, chairman of Republicans Abroad Israel, an overwhelming 70 percent voted Republican, showing their priorities to be quite different than Jews living in America.
In the Shalem Center study, Oren concluded that Obama would possibly negotiate with a Palestinian government that included Hamas whereas McCain would not. McCain has called on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle terrorist organizations while Obama hasn’t mentioned it. Obama is against “settlement expansion,” words never used by McCain.
Obama would also take a wider, more regional view of Mideast politics, much like the State Department, and seek a “comprehensive” peace which would include both the Palestinians and Syria. McCain would focus on the Israel-Palestinian track before adding another nation to the equation.
On the divisive topic of Jerusalem, Obama declared at a Jewish lobby gathering that the city should be the undivided capital of Israel but backtracked a few days later. McCain on the other hand advocates moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Oren estimates that Obama would put pressure on Israel to give up settlements while McCain would be more sympathetic to Israeli claims to Jerusalem. On Iran, Obama favors open dialogue while McCain would not agree to negotiations unless major preconditions are met, such as halting the quest for nuclear weapons and ending calls to wipe Israel “off the map.”
If Israelis had it their way, a majority would have wanted Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency. Israelis have been enamored with the Clintons since the presidency of Bill Clinton, who was seen as a strong friend of the Jewish state.
“It was an unusual thing,” Oren said. “The way he bonded with the Israeli people was preternatural. He had an intensely and uniquely personal relationship with this country.”
Oren attributed it to the father-son relationship between the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Clinton.
Except for a few elite academics, Oren says Israelis are woefully uninformed about American politics. “Israel is a rather provincial country,” he said. “It has no ‘long term’ in foreign policy.”
Michael Oren, a Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research and educational institute, unveiled a comprehensive study of the vastly different directions a John McCain or Barack Obama presidency would take regarding Israel and Middle East policies. The study, based on the candidates’ comments over the last two years, shows vast disparities in thought on the region and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Oren said that George W. Bush’s legacy redefined what it means to be “pro-Israel.” Bush had the most distinct Israel policy of any American administration in terms of the peace process, yet he was the first president to publicly call for a Palestinian state and a contiguous one at that.
Bush also began using what Oren calls “code words.” For example, taking “current realities” into account in negotiations on Jerusalem refers to sprawling Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, described as “settlements” by the international community. Reiterating the concept of a “Jewish state” means that Palestinian refugees would not be allowed to return to Israel in a two-state solution.
Nevertheless, Bush’s pro-Israel stance hasn’t swayed the majority of American Jews, who traditionally vote Democratic.
“American Jews do not place Israel at the top or their priority list,” Oren said. “Even the American Evangelical community is not entirely united around the Republican candidate.”
Out of 130,000 registered American voters in Israel, some 35,000 voted in the 2004 elections. According to Kory Bardash, chairman of Republicans Abroad Israel, an overwhelming 70 percent voted Republican, showing their priorities to be quite different than Jews living in America.
In the Shalem Center study, Oren concluded that Obama would possibly negotiate with a Palestinian government that included Hamas whereas McCain would not. McCain has called on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle terrorist organizations while Obama hasn’t mentioned it. Obama is against “settlement expansion,” words never used by McCain.
Obama would also take a wider, more regional view of Mideast politics, much like the State Department, and seek a “comprehensive” peace which would include both the Palestinians and Syria. McCain would focus on the Israel-Palestinian track before adding another nation to the equation.
On the divisive topic of Jerusalem, Obama declared at a Jewish lobby gathering that the city should be the undivided capital of Israel but backtracked a few days later. McCain on the other hand advocates moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Oren estimates that Obama would put pressure on Israel to give up settlements while McCain would be more sympathetic to Israeli claims to Jerusalem. On Iran, Obama favors open dialogue while McCain would not agree to negotiations unless major preconditions are met, such as halting the quest for nuclear weapons and ending calls to wipe Israel “off the map.”
If Israelis had it their way, a majority would have wanted Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency. Israelis have been enamored with the Clintons since the presidency of Bill Clinton, who was seen as a strong friend of the Jewish state.
“It was an unusual thing,” Oren said. “The way he bonded with the Israeli people was preternatural. He had an intensely and uniquely personal relationship with this country.”
Oren attributed it to the father-son relationship between the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Clinton.
Except for a few elite academics, Oren says Israelis are woefully uninformed about American politics. “Israel is a rather provincial country,” he said. “It has no ‘long term’ in foreign policy.”
From Immigration to Integration
Once at the bottom rung of society, Ethiopian Israelis are showing signs of a breakthrough
Few immigrants to Israel since World War II have endured as grueling a journey to Israel as the Ethiopians. Nearly all Ethiopian Israelis have experienced months-long treks through deserts, time spent in refugee camps, losing family members and then the woes of being absorbed into a competitive economy and modern culture.
Coming from a third-world country where electricity and technology were luxuries, many Ethiopians didn’t even know what a refrigerator was and used it as a shoe cabinet when they first got to Israel. But they had followed their faith and a life-long desire to live in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel).
Most Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel on two spectacular airlifts: Operation Moses brought 8,000 in 1984 and Operation Solomon brought 14,000 in 1991.
Integration has been challenging. The stereotype of Ethiopian Israelis in their relatively short three-decade existence here has been that of cleaners and security guards—the lowest paying jobs with no need for education. But now first- and second-generation immigrants are tenaciously delving into society and reaching new levels of success.
Bat-El Ananya is one example. She knew that if she was going to succeed in Israel it was going to be by relentlessly pursuing a degree—she did not want to be a cleaner. But she was off to a late start having immigrated at the age of 9. She spent two to three years in an intensive Hebrew course, had to make new friends, deal with culture shock, go to a new school and acclimatize to new challenges.
“All this to deal with as a child is huge,” she said. “But I very much wanted to advance and become a full member of Israeli society and learn a good profession.”
Now she’s a lawyer and works at Tebeka, an organization that represents Ethiopian Israelis, many of whom are unaware of their rights. Because many of the older generation haven’t fully learned Hebrew, they are easily taken advantage of when it comes to getting fired or being compensated. Anaya learned that in Israel, it takes more than just education to succeed. The biggest hurdle of mild-mannered Ethiopians is sometimes in modifying their behavior.
“It’s hard to act with Israeli chutzpah, but you have to,” she said. “I grew up with both cultures, a very fantastic mixture. I learned both, but for the older Ethiopians, it’s hard to deal with.”
A recent government report confirmed that the 110,000-strong Ethiopian community has had trouble assimilating. Ethiopians tend to live in the suburbs where housing is cheaper, but jobs are sparser. Many men, in fact, live in the cities during the week two or more hours away from home.
About a third of all spousal killings in Israel in 2006 involved Ethiopians, more than 20 percent of children do not go to school and about a quarter of teenagers use drugs, according to reports from the National Ethiopian Project. Even Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted mistakes in absorption: “The [Ethiopian] immigrants sought to feel like a drop that returned to the ocean; however, they were not received with open arms, but with alienation and sometimes racism.”
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein heads the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), an organization that has sponsored programs to help young Ethiopians succeed in Israel. He fears that racism may creep into Israeli society based on misconceptions and stereotypes of jobs and education.
“We won’t be able to integrate the Ethiopians here fully until we feel, we understand, we know the path and history they went through to get here,” said Eckstein, who speaks some Amharic and has visited Ethiopia.
The IFCJ sponsors a program to train Ethiopian university graduates as journalists and another program with the Tebeka Center to place Ethiopians with higher education in solid jobs. The programs help do what any first-generation immigrant cannot: network.
“We don’t have fathers who have connections—we need help to achieve our dream,” said Tal Chekol, now an attorney. He recalled how he closed the gap after arriving in Israel at age 8 and only starting school at 11. Chekol passed the bar exam and eventually landed a job, also at Tebeka.
“Ethiopians often don’t know how to access services in Israel and are embarrassed to ask for help,” said Jennifer Kaplan, founder of Project Sheba, which also seeks to make connections where none may exist. “They live at such a grassroots level that they do not think about basic things.”
Project Sheba helps families in attaining basic services and tutoring students because their parents can’t help. Later, it eases the transition for parents when the children become their teachers because they know more Hebrew and dove more quickly into the new culture.
“The quiet, refined respectful child of Ethiopia becomes the talkative, outgoing sabra [native-born Israeli] who knows more about Israeli society than his parents,” Kaplan told Israel Today.
Enuue Shimrit Kassa walked through Sudan for a month, spent a year in a refugee camp and lost part of her family trying to get to Israel. But now she appears to have fully integrated. She is assertive, strong and publicly disagrees with her elders—a far cry from the docile culture of the north African nation. She didn’t get to this point, however, without a massive identity crisis.
“When I was 16-17 years old, I rejected my own culture,” she recalled. “I didn’t want to be Ethiopian, just Israeli. I was ashamed of my parents—they couldn’t come to my school, couldn’t speak the language. I felt I’m the parents of my parents.”
Kassa is a radio news presenter now and, like her, these success stories are finally becoming more commonplace among the Ethiopian community.
“The Former Soviet Union immigrants come educated mostly,” Micha Feldman, one of the driving forces behind Ethiopian immigration, explained. “Ethiopian adults are illiterate in their own language. Kids came disadvantaged into the school system. Therefore the accomplishment on their side is so big.”
Few immigrants to Israel since World War II have endured as grueling a journey to Israel as the Ethiopians. Nearly all Ethiopian Israelis have experienced months-long treks through deserts, time spent in refugee camps, losing family members and then the woes of being absorbed into a competitive economy and modern culture.
Coming from a third-world country where electricity and technology were luxuries, many Ethiopians didn’t even know what a refrigerator was and used it as a shoe cabinet when they first got to Israel. But they had followed their faith and a life-long desire to live in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel).
Most Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel on two spectacular airlifts: Operation Moses brought 8,000 in 1984 and Operation Solomon brought 14,000 in 1991.
Integration has been challenging. The stereotype of Ethiopian Israelis in their relatively short three-decade existence here has been that of cleaners and security guards—the lowest paying jobs with no need for education. But now first- and second-generation immigrants are tenaciously delving into society and reaching new levels of success.
Bat-El Ananya is one example. She knew that if she was going to succeed in Israel it was going to be by relentlessly pursuing a degree—she did not want to be a cleaner. But she was off to a late start having immigrated at the age of 9. She spent two to three years in an intensive Hebrew course, had to make new friends, deal with culture shock, go to a new school and acclimatize to new challenges.
“All this to deal with as a child is huge,” she said. “But I very much wanted to advance and become a full member of Israeli society and learn a good profession.”
Now she’s a lawyer and works at Tebeka, an organization that represents Ethiopian Israelis, many of whom are unaware of their rights. Because many of the older generation haven’t fully learned Hebrew, they are easily taken advantage of when it comes to getting fired or being compensated. Anaya learned that in Israel, it takes more than just education to succeed. The biggest hurdle of mild-mannered Ethiopians is sometimes in modifying their behavior.
“It’s hard to act with Israeli chutzpah, but you have to,” she said. “I grew up with both cultures, a very fantastic mixture. I learned both, but for the older Ethiopians, it’s hard to deal with.”
A recent government report confirmed that the 110,000-strong Ethiopian community has had trouble assimilating. Ethiopians tend to live in the suburbs where housing is cheaper, but jobs are sparser. Many men, in fact, live in the cities during the week two or more hours away from home.
About a third of all spousal killings in Israel in 2006 involved Ethiopians, more than 20 percent of children do not go to school and about a quarter of teenagers use drugs, according to reports from the National Ethiopian Project. Even Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted mistakes in absorption: “The [Ethiopian] immigrants sought to feel like a drop that returned to the ocean; however, they were not received with open arms, but with alienation and sometimes racism.”
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein heads the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), an organization that has sponsored programs to help young Ethiopians succeed in Israel. He fears that racism may creep into Israeli society based on misconceptions and stereotypes of jobs and education.
“We won’t be able to integrate the Ethiopians here fully until we feel, we understand, we know the path and history they went through to get here,” said Eckstein, who speaks some Amharic and has visited Ethiopia.
The IFCJ sponsors a program to train Ethiopian university graduates as journalists and another program with the Tebeka Center to place Ethiopians with higher education in solid jobs. The programs help do what any first-generation immigrant cannot: network.
“We don’t have fathers who have connections—we need help to achieve our dream,” said Tal Chekol, now an attorney. He recalled how he closed the gap after arriving in Israel at age 8 and only starting school at 11. Chekol passed the bar exam and eventually landed a job, also at Tebeka.
“Ethiopians often don’t know how to access services in Israel and are embarrassed to ask for help,” said Jennifer Kaplan, founder of Project Sheba, which also seeks to make connections where none may exist. “They live at such a grassroots level that they do not think about basic things.”
Project Sheba helps families in attaining basic services and tutoring students because their parents can’t help. Later, it eases the transition for parents when the children become their teachers because they know more Hebrew and dove more quickly into the new culture.
“The quiet, refined respectful child of Ethiopia becomes the talkative, outgoing sabra [native-born Israeli] who knows more about Israeli society than his parents,” Kaplan told Israel Today.
Enuue Shimrit Kassa walked through Sudan for a month, spent a year in a refugee camp and lost part of her family trying to get to Israel. But now she appears to have fully integrated. She is assertive, strong and publicly disagrees with her elders—a far cry from the docile culture of the north African nation. She didn’t get to this point, however, without a massive identity crisis.
“When I was 16-17 years old, I rejected my own culture,” she recalled. “I didn’t want to be Ethiopian, just Israeli. I was ashamed of my parents—they couldn’t come to my school, couldn’t speak the language. I felt I’m the parents of my parents.”
Kassa is a radio news presenter now and, like her, these success stories are finally becoming more commonplace among the Ethiopian community.
“The Former Soviet Union immigrants come educated mostly,” Micha Feldman, one of the driving forces behind Ethiopian immigration, explained. “Ethiopian adults are illiterate in their own language. Kids came disadvantaged into the school system. Therefore the accomplishment on their side is so big.”
Tower of Hope
BEIT SAHOUR - Standing as an unconventional symbol of hope to Palestinian children, a three-story high climbing wall towers over the outskirts of this Christian community near Bethlehem.
It was built by hand by volunteers from Paidia, a non-governmental organization based in Pensacola, Florida that uses recreation as a tool to teach children leadership, environmental awareness and tolerance.
“We believe in education through recreation for the purpose of mobilization,” said Jason Pollack, who moved from the US with his wife Sarah to run the children’s programs here.
Established in 2006, Paidia’s visibility has grown with the climbing wall—the only one in the Palestinian territories—which is swarmed by neighborhood children. Visitors can climb on the weekends for just two shekels (about 60 cents).
Paidia’s focus is on Palestinian children in Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and another suburb, Beit Jala. The organization gathers children of Christian and Moslem backgrounds, both residents and refugees, and places them in a neutral setting where they learn to rely on each other through organized recreational activities that promote cooperation and trust.
Many Palestinian towns are devoid of parks, sports fields and playgrounds. Activities are almost nonexistent and bored youth abound. So Paidia’s programs meet a major need in Palestinian society.
“There is a real need here for positive recreational activities,” Pollack told Israel Today. “We give these children an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice to help them transform their communities.”
Their activities also counter the Hamas and Islamic Jihad summer camps where kids get militia-style training, Koran classes and lessons on political prisoners. This year, Hamas conducted some 300 summer camps for tens of thousands of children while Islamic Jihad held activities for about 10,000 children who learned how to handle guns and rocket launchers.
Children between the ages of 5 and 18 took part in Paidia’s summer camp learning different values. After-school programs, ropes courses, hiking and other activities are also offered throughout the year. The programs get the children out of their own world to span the animosity between the divided segments of Palestinian population.
Paidia doesn’t intentionally cross the Israeli-Palestinian divide—Pollack said plenty of other organizations do that and do it well. But Paidia hopes, he said, that “a stronger Palestinian society will improve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”
“We are beginning to hone in on what we can do well: cross-cultural training in a cross section of the community here,” Pollack said.
A non-denominational NGO, Paidia focuses on “developing human capital,” as Pollack put it. Its goal is to raise up local leaders in the community to take over so Paidia can move on to other nations.
It was built by hand by volunteers from Paidia, a non-governmental organization based in Pensacola, Florida that uses recreation as a tool to teach children leadership, environmental awareness and tolerance.
“We believe in education through recreation for the purpose of mobilization,” said Jason Pollack, who moved from the US with his wife Sarah to run the children’s programs here.
Established in 2006, Paidia’s visibility has grown with the climbing wall—the only one in the Palestinian territories—which is swarmed by neighborhood children. Visitors can climb on the weekends for just two shekels (about 60 cents).
Paidia’s focus is on Palestinian children in Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and another suburb, Beit Jala. The organization gathers children of Christian and Moslem backgrounds, both residents and refugees, and places them in a neutral setting where they learn to rely on each other through organized recreational activities that promote cooperation and trust.
Many Palestinian towns are devoid of parks, sports fields and playgrounds. Activities are almost nonexistent and bored youth abound. So Paidia’s programs meet a major need in Palestinian society.
“There is a real need here for positive recreational activities,” Pollack told Israel Today. “We give these children an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice to help them transform their communities.”
Their activities also counter the Hamas and Islamic Jihad summer camps where kids get militia-style training, Koran classes and lessons on political prisoners. This year, Hamas conducted some 300 summer camps for tens of thousands of children while Islamic Jihad held activities for about 10,000 children who learned how to handle guns and rocket launchers.
Children between the ages of 5 and 18 took part in Paidia’s summer camp learning different values. After-school programs, ropes courses, hiking and other activities are also offered throughout the year. The programs get the children out of their own world to span the animosity between the divided segments of Palestinian population.
Paidia doesn’t intentionally cross the Israeli-Palestinian divide—Pollack said plenty of other organizations do that and do it well. But Paidia hopes, he said, that “a stronger Palestinian society will improve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”
“We are beginning to hone in on what we can do well: cross-cultural training in a cross section of the community here,” Pollack said.
A non-denominational NGO, Paidia focuses on “developing human capital,” as Pollack put it. Its goal is to raise up local leaders in the community to take over so Paidia can move on to other nations.
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