Berlusconi's plea to Israel to return Golan Heights to Syria not likely to win compliance

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The front page headline of Ha’aretz is that Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, about to visit Israel, comes with a recommendation that giving up the Golan would add to Israel’s status in international politics. Italy is a great place to visit. The food and wine are first class, the clothes and shoes

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Middle East, USA

Growing influence of Haredim changing character of Israel

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM– I should perhaps be out on the barricades protesting against the growing haredi domination of Israel. Apart from some disaffected children who grew up in liberal Jewish households, particularly in America, and are “born again,” the high birthrate and culture of early marriage steadily increases the ultra-Orthodox population. The demographic imbalance

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Middle East

Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, March 19, 1954, Part V

Compiled by Gail Umeham Double Talk Southwestern Jewish Press March 19, 1954 Page 7 By Janet & Susan Solof Rochelle (Rocky) Goodrich really galloped and gobbled her way to her sixteenth birthday with many of her  friends.  First horseback riding and then dining with Rocky were Luanne Blumberg, Joan Borenstein, Joan Breitbard, Linda Douglas, Brenda

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Adventures in SD History

Evidence of Palestinian corruption should put brakes on U.S. Mideast push

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Here is something that President Obama and his advisers should consider before spending any more of their time nudging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a peace. http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167194 The details are not entirely clear, but reinforce the larger story of corruption in high places of the Palestine Authority, the lack

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Obama's State of the Union proves again he's a speaker, but can he also be a doer?

JERUSALEM–President Obama’s State of the Union address dealt almost entirely with domestic issues, despite American troops active in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen, as well as highly touted efforts with respect to Israel-Palestine and Iran. Also, the focus was heavily on the economy, and lightly on what had been his iconic health initiative. The

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Aid to Gaza and to Haiti

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.–The suggestion by Gaza Palestinians that they were most attuned to Haitian suffering because-after all-they had suffered an Israeli “earthquake” was a disgusting attempt to equate self-inflicted ruin as a result of terrorism against Israel with the horrifying natural disaster that befell the Haitians. Nevertheless, it appears to have prompted a

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Middle East, USA