Friday, September 26, 2003

Arabs & Jews QUOTE OF THE DAY "We, both veteran and active pilots, who have served and who still serve the state of Israel, are opposed to carrying out illegal and immoral orders to attack, of the type Israel carries out in the territories... We, for whom the IDF and the air force are an integral part of our being, refuse to continue to hit innocent civilians... The continued occupation is critically harming the country's security and moral fiber." - - 27 Israeli Air Force Pilots (excerpted from their letter last week: refusing to take part in aerial attacks on populated Palestinian areas in the territories) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 26th 1924 -- The Declaration of the Rights of the Child was endorsed by the League of Nations. It was followed in 1948 by the U.N. General Assembly's adoption of a 2nd Declaration of the Rights of the Child, a brief, seven-point statement that built on the 1924 Declaration: "By the present Declaration of the Rights of the Child…men and women of all nations, recognizing that Mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give, declare and accept it as their duty to meet this obligation in all respects…."  The 1948 Declaration was followed almost immediately by a decision to draft a still more detailed Declaration, resulting just over a decade later in a third Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly in 1959. http://www.unicef.org/crc/convention.htm RHINO HERE: 2 stories today: The 1st is that of the 27 Israeli Air Force pilots, who last week signed and distributed a letter in which they refused to fly bombing missions on populated Palestinian areas in the territories. The 9 active duty pilots, including Brigadier General Yiftah Sector (res.), who was a squadron leader during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, have been grounded, and all 27 are facing stiff criticism and possible legal action. Then there's the death of Palestinian-born intellectual Edward Said, who besides being at the forefront of ethnomusicology, and the study of the Orient, Islam & the developing world at large, also gave voice to many Palestinians who didn't believe that Yasser Arafat spoke for them. As the article from Haaretz (linked below) announcing his passing states, "He made many Israeli acquaintances and had many Jewish friends in the United States. However, among the American Jewish establishment, he was considered public enemy number one." Finally, RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is an offering from Rabbi Michael Lerner suggesting that  "as Christmas has entered American mass culture as a season for good feelings, Americans could benefit from embracing the Jewish Days of Repentance" which are upon us  (this year from Sept. 26h to October 6th). Here, Rhino asks forgiveness of anyone I may have wronged in the past year; anything I may have said or done which unjustly (I'm thinkin shrub here) disrespected you or yours. Like all humans, the Rhino is fallible. In fact, more often than not, he's just doing his best to cope. And too often (like now) barely staying awake enough to get the blog out by 2 AM PST.    Happy New Year All. IAF chief grounds dissenting pilots By Amos Harel , Gideon Alon, Baruch Kra , and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz, 9/26/03 Air Force Commander Dan Halutz yesterday ordered nine pilots who signed a letter refusing to take part in operations in the territories to be grounded until further notice. Altogether, 27 reserve pilots signed the letter... But only nine of the group are still on active duty with the force. Dissenting pilots grounded PM: Pilots' refusal reminds me of 1982 attempt to oust gov't By Amos Harel and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz, 9/26/03 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday condemned the letter of refusal signed by 27 reserve Air Force pilots, in which they stated that they would not participate in operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  S peaking in a holiday interview to Israel Radio, Sharon said that the letter reminded him that there had also been an attempt to overthrow a democratically-elected government during the 1982 Lebanon War... http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/343998.html Prof. Edward W. Said, spokesman for Palestinians, dies at 67 By Danny Rubinstein, Haarerz, 25/09/2003 Palestinian-born intellectual Edward Said died yesterday in New York after a long struggle with leukemia. He was 67. Said was the most eloquent and best-known spokesman of the Palestinian problem, at least in the West. However, his influence far exceeded the Palestinian and Arab question and marked new directions in the study of the Orient, Islam and perhaps the developing world at large... ...Said was sharply against the Oslo accords, and in his provocative style called the Palestinian Authority established by Yasser Arafat a combination of corruption and dictatorship. In recent years, a vast chasm developed between Said and the Palestinian leadership. During certain periods, senior members of the Palestinian Authority asked to have his writings banned... ... In recent years, he visited Jerusalem on a number of occasions and asked to see the house his family lost in 1948. He made many Israeli acquaintances and had many Jewish friends in the United States. However, among the American Jewish establishment, he was considered public enemy number one. READ IT ALL AT: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/344410.html 7:56:59 AM    comment

Why America Badly Needs Ten Days of Repentance Why America Badly Needs Ten Days of Repentance-and Soon! By Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun.org 9/25/03 Just as Christmas has entered American mass culture as a season for good feelings, Americans could benefit from embracing the Jewish Days of Repentance (this year from Sept. 26h to October 6th) as a season for self-examination, both as individuals and as a society. Although the original symbolism of the Jewish High Holidays (God judging us and sealing our fate-"Who shall live and who shall die? Who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low?"-in the Book of Life) may have little resonance for a secular culture, there is a real power in the underlying idea. Environmentalists have helped us understand that there is a karmic order to the universe: the damage we are doing now will in fact reverberate in our futures and in the lives of our children. In fact, the human race may be dangerously close to global ecological catastrophe on a scale that the Bible predicted when it claimed that the natural cycles would fail if people did not create a moral order in their daily lives. And we've witnessed how the quick resort to violence and military intervention, providing a quick fix, actually has not made our world much safer, glad though we may be to be rid of Saddam. On the personal and the global level, ten days of repentance might give us the opportunity to explore how we've been missing the mark, and what we can do to get re-aligned with our highest selves. We might discover the ways that we've allowed a cynical media and a societal ethos of materialism and "looking out for number one" to obscure our collective longing for love and community, for a world of generosity and kindness... READ THE REST AT: http://www.tikkun.org/Tikkunmail/index.cfm/action/current_issue.html "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 7:05:29 AM    comment

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