Isn't it just lovely? Nice to see that even in the midst of greater consolidation, the contagion of greater separation, has returned to feed on that virus that is now its host. fair use [Link]Livni slams haredi protesters for wearing yellow stars

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Saturday night criticized haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters in Jerusalem who wore yellow Stars of David on their jackets in the claim that the incitement and oppression against them was similar to that faced by Jews during the Holocaust.

"With all due respect to the right of groups in the haredi community to protest, and that is their elementary right, to put a yellow star on their children does serious injury to the memory of those killed in the Holocaust," Livni stated.

"I hope that the heads of the haredi public condemn these acts, because they hurt the common cause that all of us still share," she added.

I hope it comes to pass.

But the barriers to peace in the Middle East may be more numerous than most involved are willing to admit.

Many of those barriers were created, and are maintained, by people who don't even live in the Middle East, and who see the area more as a symbol than as the home of millions of people.

In addition to Reed's excellent work, The Controversy of Zion, The personal diary of Moshe Sharett, Israel's Sacred Terrorism, stands as a must read book, if you can find it. The writer/editor is Livia Rokach.

Sharett was one of Zionism's chief diplomats before 1948 and Israel's first foreign minister and prime minister from 1953 to 1955. He had one big problem... a smattering of conscience. The diary selections are his personal notes from high level meetings with the government and military. The publishing of this book was fought tooth and nail by both Sharett's family and the Israeli government. The final product is an uncorrected OCR scan that went straight to print, as is. It is a rather crude publication, but the subject matter is riveting.

The diary reveals how in the early 1950s Israeli leaders deliberately provoked Arab states by military operations and covert terrorist actions, stirred up mass hysteria in Israel, and began plotting the takeover of Southern Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. It also exposes Sharett's disdain for the psychopathy of his contemporaries.