Contents: Jerusalem News nos 601-630

1. Niall Ferguson: Why our enemies -- and friends -- hate us
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-oe-ferguson26feb26,1,1432880.column?coll=la-news-columns
Provoking dislike throughout the world is part of being an empire.
February 26, 2007

BEING HATED IS NO FUN. And few people hate being hated more than Americans. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, "Why do they hate us?" ­ and another for each of the different answers I've heard. It's because of our foreign policy. It's because of their extremism. It's because of our arrogance. It's because of their inferiority complex. Americans really hate not knowing why they're hated.

The best explanation is the simplest. Being hated is what happens to dominant empires. George Orwell knew the feeling. As a young man he served as an assistant police superintendent in British-run Burma, an experience he memorably described in his essay, "Shooting an Elephant." Called upon to kill a pachyderm that had run amok, Orwell was suddenly aware "of the watchful yellow faces behind" him: "The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh."
Eric Blair ­ as Orwell was known then ­ could scarcely have been better prepared for his role as a colonial official. Born in Bengal, the son of a colonial civil servant, he had been educated at Eton, where boys learn not to worry about being hated. Yet even he found the resentment of the natives hard to bear: "In the end the sneering … faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves….[It] was perplexing and upsetting."

That's a feeling American soldiers in Baghdad must know pretty well.

But who hates Americans the most? You might assume that it's people in countries that the United States has recently attacked or threatened to attack. Americans themselves are clear about who their principal enemies are. Asked by Gallup to name the "greatest enemy" of the U.S. today, 26% of those recently polled named Iran, 21% named Iraq and 18% named North Korea.

Are those feelings reciprocated? Up to a point. The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies' latest poll found 52% of Iranians view the U.S. unfavorably. But that is down from 63% in 2001. And it's significantly lower than the antipathy felt in Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Two-thirds of Jordanians and Pakistanis have a negative view of the U.S., as do a staggering 79% of Saudis.

These figures suggest a paradox in the Muslim world. It's not the United States' enemies that hate it most. It's people in countries that are supposed to be friendly, if not allies.

The paradox of unfriendly allies is not confined to the Middle East. Last week was not a good week for Americanophiles in Europe. Tony Blair announced British troop withdrawals from Iraq, an unfortunate signal on the eve of the U.S. "surge." In Rome, his counterpart Romano Prodi had to resign because his coalition partners would not agree to keep Italian troops in Afghanistan or to enlarge a U.S. military base in Italy. Anti-Americanism is nothing new in European politics, but there is something new going on here, which extends to traditionally pro-American constituencies.

Back in 1999, 83% of British people surveyed by the U.S. State Department's Office of Research said they had a favorable opinion of the U.S. But by 2006, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, only 56% did. British respondents to the Pew surveys now give higher ratings to Germany (75%) and Japan (69%) than to the U.S. ­ a remarkable transformation in attitudes, given the notorious British tendency to look back nostalgically and unforgivingly to World War II. Britons recently polled by Pew regard the U.S. presence in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran or North Korea.

Nor is Britain the only disillusioned ally. Only 38% of Germans and 19% of Canadians believe that U.S. foreign policy considers the interests of others. The poignant fact is that when Americans are asked to rate foreign countries, their most favorable views are of none other than Britain, Germany and Canada.

In the 1990s, Madeleine Albright pompously called the United States "the indispensable nation." Today it seems to have become the indefensible nation, even in the eyes of its supposed friends.

Orwell would have understood. Just as it was the educated beneficiaries of British rule in Asia who were the most strident anti-imperialists in Orwell's day, so the British empire's most natural allies ­ France and the United States ­ were anything but Anglophile. For it turns out that power not only corrupts. It also tends to isolate.

There is, after all, a reason why they say it's lonely at the top.

2. Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.48

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

More coverage of the find of that Second Temple era town in
Jerusalem:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121830

Latest in the Temple Mount saga:

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=12060

... while this 'accusation' sounds vaguely familiar:

http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=18588

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Some Illyrian ships have been found in Bosnia:

http://www.suntimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=419816

... and more Roman artifacts in India:

http://tinyurl.com/2ryxnf (Daily India)

Good article on Greek theatre acoustics:

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070319/full/070319-16.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070324/139/6dnty.html

cf:

http://tinyurl.com/2r5wzg (New Scientist)

================================================================
ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC
================================================================

What archaeology is revealing about class systems in 19th century
Australia:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/03/22/servant_his.html

New Zealand Archaeology eNews:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Review of Michael Wallis, *Billy the Kid*:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/books/review/Stiles.t.html

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
An author is claiming to have evidence the Portuguese discovered
Australia:

http://tinyurl.com/2og4mx (AFP via Yahoo)
http://tinyurl.com/38jvhm (CNN)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17722949/

More coverage of the UK's pondering of the slave trade:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/arts/design/20slav.html

================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Venice and the Islamic World:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/arts/design/23voge.html

Medea's Gold:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aaGTZDuKINQc

================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a weekly newsletter representing the fruits of
the labours of 'media research division' of The Atrium. Various
on-line news and magazine sources are scoured for news of the
ancient world (broadly construed: practically anything relating
to archaeology or history prior to about 1700 or so is fair
game) and every Sunday they are delivered to your mailbox free of
charge!
================================================================

================================================================
Past issues of Explorator are available on the web via our
Yahoo site:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/

The Brit-Am Version of Explorator is a pruned-down (with permission) version
for Brit-Am audiences to bring into focus items the most pertinent
to Brit-Am themes.
Brief Brit-Am comments may on occasion accompany some of the entries.

3. England-Israel Soccer Draw
Interesting Reports

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/841378.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3380894,00.html
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2042633,00.html
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2851
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879165228&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

4. Despite the result, England fans delighted with Tel Aviv welcome
http://www.ejpress.org/article/15403
By Jeremy

TEL AVIV (EJP)--- The thousands of supporters of the English national football team who packed into the National Stadium in Ramat Gan were clearly disappointed with their teams performance in the 0-0 draw with Israel on Saturday night.

But across the board the fans, the majority of whom were on their first trip to the holy land, said they were surprised and delighted by the welcome Israel had shown them throughout the weekend.

The crucial Euro 2008 qualifying match itself was somewhat of a damp squib in the end, with few scoring chances for either team. Both sets of fans had few opportunities to get excited about their team’s play.

And the subdued atmosphere in the stadium contrasted completely with the raucous but rarely aggressive mood that was felt all over Tel Aviv from Thursday night through to Saturday.

Fans fill the beach front

From the time the threat of a general strike preventing England supporters arriving in the country subsided on Wednesday, thousands arrived in Israel. Many were handed free hats and T-shirts on arrival and headed straight for the Tel Aviv beaches.

By Friday morning Tel Aviv’s beach front promenade was awash with red and white St George flags displaying the names of teams such as Hull City and Rotherham as well as more established names like Chelsea.

There had been fears that the combination of warm weather and numerous pints of beer may turn the atmosphere more negative. But at bars like Mikes Place and Buzz Stop on the beach there was only good natured singing, banter and mixing between the English and the Israelis.

“This is the best ever reception we have ever had and I have traveled to nearly all the England away games over the last four years,” one fan told EJP.

“When we were in Croatia we were greeted by the police with batons which they hit us with.”

A number of events were held in connection with the game on Friday, including a peace tournament in Tel Aviv’s Ganei Yehoshua park featuring mixed Jewish and Arab children’s football teams, a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem by a group of England fans.

5. Merkel: Germany least anti-Semitic Country in Europe?
Merkel vows to work for troops' release
By MATTHEW WAGNER
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879171052&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to do everything in her power to secure the release of all three Israeli soldiers being held by Hizbullah and Hamas, during a meeting Sunday in Berlin with Israeli Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar.

Merkel, who is also the president of the European Union, presented the rabbis with a
survey that showed that Germany had the lowest level of anti-Semitism of all European countries.

Merkel said that as president of the European Union, she has set as a goal the combating of anti-Semitism among members of EU member states, said a chief rabbinate spokesman.

Merkel also acquiesced to the request of the two chief rabbis not to recognize the Palestinian coalition government until Hamas frees kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, recognizes Israel and stops terrorist attacks against Israel.

The two chief rabbis also discussed the Iranian nuclear threat with Merkel.

Merkel said that as a daughter of a priest, she was very receptive to religious-based solutions to conflict resolution.

1. A. Dean Byrd: Homosexuality is acquired and not Inherited

"Homosexuality Is Not Hardwired," Concludes Head of The Human Genome Project

By A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D, MBA, MPH

Francis S. Collins, one of the world's leading scientists who works at the cutting edge of DNA research, concluded that "there is an inescapable component of heritability to many human behavioral traits." However, he adds, "for virtually none of them, is heredity ever close to predictive."

In reviewing the heritability (i.e., influence of genetic factors) on personality traits, Dr. Collins referenced the research of Bochard and McGue for the estimated percentage of these traits that can be ascribed to heredity.

The heritability estimates for personality traits were varied: General Cognitive Ability (50%), Extroversion (54%), Agreeableness (42%), Conscientiousness (49%), Neuroticism (48%), Openness (57%), Aggression (38%) and Traditionalism (54%).

Such estimates of heritability are based upon unbiased, careful analyses of studies conducted with identical twins. The studies lead to the conclusion that heredity is important in many of these personality traits. It is important however, to note that even in such studies with identical twins, that heritability is not to be confused as inevitability.

As Dr. Collins would agree, environment can influence gene expression, and free will determines the response to whatever predispositions might be present.

Dr. Collins succinctly reviewed the research on homosexuality and offers the following:

"An area of particularly strong public interest is the genetic basis of homosexuality. Evidence from twin studies does in fact support the conclusion that heritable factors play a role in male homosexuality. However, the likelihood that the identical twin of a homosexual male will also be gay is about 20% (compared with 2-4 percent of males in the general population), indicating that sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations [emphasis added]."

The heritability estimates for homosexuality is substantially lower than General Cognitive Ability, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness, Aggression and Traditionalism!

Dr. Collins noted that environment--particularly childhood experiences--as well as the role of free will and choice affect us all in profound ways. As researchers discover increasing levels of molecular detail about inherited factors that underlie our personalities, it's critical that such data be used to illuminate the issues, not provide support to ideologues.

Citing such dangers, Dr. Collins referred to the book written by activist Dean Hamer, who declared the discovery of the "God gene" (this same author also is associated with "discovering the gay gene").

Dr. Collins noted that the "evidence" in Hamer's book "grabbed headlines," but was "wildly overstated."

A reviewer in Scientific American suggested that Hamer's book on the "God gene" should have been titled, "A Gene That Accounts for Less than One Percent of the Variance Found in Scores on Psychological Questionnaires Designed to Measure a Factor Called Self-Transcendence, Which Can Signify Everything from Belonging to the Green Party to Believing in ESP, According to One Unpublished, Unreplicated Study."

Unfortunately, much of the research in areas such as homosexuality has been misrepresented; not only in the media, but also by the scientists themselves through a tendency to overestimate the quantitative contribution of their findings.

Regarding the contributions of genetics to areas such as homosexuality, Dr. Collins concluded, "Yes, we have all been dealt a particular set of cards, and the cards will eventually be revealed. But how we play the hand is up to us."

I agree.

Reference:
Collins, Francis S. (2006). The Language of God, A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief. New York: Free Press.

See the NARTH website:
http://www.narth.com/

2. New Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Israel
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Major New ZOA Poll: Americans Oppose Giving Land to Palestinians by
5-to-1, Believe Palestinian State Would be a Terrorist State by 2-to-1,
Support Israelis over Palestinians by 10-to-1

NEWS RELEASE
Zionist Organization of America
Jacob & Libby Goodman ZOA House, 4 East 34th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016
(212) 481-1500 Fax: (212) 481-1515 email@zoa.org www.zoa.org

March 26, 2007
Contact Morton A. Klein at: (212) 481-1500
Attn: NEWS EDITOR

MAJOR NEW ZOA POLL: AMERICANS OPPOSE GIVING LAND TO PALESTINIANS BY 5-TO-1, BELIEVE PALESTINIAN STATE WOULD BE A TERRORIST STATE BY 2-TO-1, SUPPORT ISRAELIS OVER PALESTINIANS BY 10-TO-1

New York -- A major new national poll has found the following regarding American opinion on the Israel and Middle East issues:

By a margin of 2-to-1 (45%- 22%), Americans believe that a Palestinian Arab state would be a terrorist state rather than a peaceful democracy;

By a margin of 5-to-1 (60% - 11%), Americans believe that Israel should not make more land to the Palestinian Arabs.

By a margin of 10-to-1 (45% - 4.6%) Americans overwhelmingly support
Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs.

By a margin of more than 5-to-1 (65% - 11%), Americans believe that Saudi Arabia is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism;

By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (46% - 24%), Americans believe that Egypt is not a reliable and trustworthy ally in the war against radical Islamic terrorism; and

By a margin of nearly 2-to-1 (51% - 26%), Americans believe that the US should impose economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia until it stops its support and funding for terrorists and radical Islamic education that teaches hatred of America and Israel.

The poll of 1000 randomly selected Americans was commissioned by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the US, and has a margin of error of 3.1%. It was carried out by McLaughlin & Associates, a major national polling company, on March 25, 2007.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "This poll makes clear that the American public fully understands Israel's difficult plight in dealing with the Arab war against it. Americans understand that establishing a Palestinian state would simply result in but another terrorist state in the Middle East, which is the last thing America needs in its efforts to bring peace and security to the region. The American public has shown that it is completely against appeasing this Palestinian terror regime by offering any more concessions to it. It has shown that it has a far more realistic view of the Arab war against Israel than governments around the world, including the Bush Administration, which has continued to deal with and even fund Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas, despite the PA's on-going refusal to fulfill its obligations under signed agreements and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan to dismantle the apparatus of terror and end incitement to hatred and murder in the Palestinian public square that feeds
it. This policy remains in place despite the recent formation of a Palestinian Arab national unity government under the leadership of Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). This new Hamas/Fatah government has refused to recognize Israel, forswear terrorism or fulfill previous agreements.

"Members of the House and Senate should become aware that sanctions against Saudi Arabia for its financial support of radical mosques and spreading the extreme Wahhabi Islamic doctrines, including in American mosques, is something that Americans support. The Bush Administration should also be much tougher on the Palestinian Authority and, instead of engaging and rewarding it, hold it accountable for its pro-terror, anti-peace actions.
This too would be heeding the American public, which overwhelmingly supports Israelis over the Palestinian Arabs. Congress should also take action to convert all aid flowing to Egypt from military aid to purely humanitarian aid, as Americans now realize that Egypt is not the partner in fighting terror it pretends to be. This can be clearly seen in Egypt's refusal to end the massive arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza of weaponry for Palestinian Arab terrorists and the constant anti-Semitic articles, shows and songs that are a staple of Egyptian culture.

"This poll shows conclusively that the typical American overwhelmingly supports Israel, which is why the overwhelming majority of members of Congress, reflecting their constituencies, also support Israel. If they didn't, they would not be representing the views of their constituencies.
This fact refutes the pernicious claim publicized by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt last year that Congressional support for Israel is the result of political pressure by American Jewish pro-Israel individuals and groups and that these pro-Israel policies are against American interests and what most Americans want. This poll should put that anti-Semitic nonsense to rest
.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

3. Germany threatened with Jihad
http://www.debka.com/
A new jihad video threatens attacks on Germany unless its troops are pulled out of Afghanistan

March 26, 2007, 12:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

German government agencies warn that the terrorist threat to the country is the greatest in recent years. The new video, signed by the “Voice of the Caliphate,” is compared to the al Qaeda warnings to Spain ahead of the Madrid railway bombings two years ago. It has aroused concern in Berlin about the forthcoming G-8 summit taking place at Heligendamm in June.

4. French Forces Back US and UK versus Iran and Afghanistan
http://www.debka.com/
Thursday, DEBKAfile reported exclusively a rendezvous Wednesday between the French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force with the USS John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea Wednesday for joint missions in the global war on terror.

The next day, Iran launched a new naval war game in the Persian Gulf. Just before the British sailors were seized, UK commanders in Basra accused Iran of being behind 90% of the violence in S. Iraq and paying out $250 to anyone willing to attack British troops.

Amid rising tensions in the strategic Gulf waters, DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose the American-French rendezvous was timed to coincide with the UN Security Council session Wednesday to debate expanded sanctions against Iran for continuing its banned uranium enrichment program.

The Iranians were bowled over by the appearance of the Charles de Gaulle opposite their southern coast, having assumed that Paris took issue with Washington’s tough stand on their nuclear activities and was seeking improved relations with Tehran.

However, Western military circles explain that the French president Jacques Chirac decided before he leaves office in May to repair the bad impression he left in early February when he urged the world - and Israel in particular - to learn to live with “an Iranian nuclear bomb or two.”

Rafale fighter-bombers on the French carrier’s decks will fly missions over Afghanistan alongside US warplanes.

Its arrival raises to four the number of Western aircraft carriers cruising within striking distance of Iran, including the USS Eisenhower and USS Boxer.

The Charles de Gaulle is accompanied by French Task Force 473, which consists of five warships: the FNS Cassard guided missile destroyer, the FNS Tourville anti-submarine frigate, the FNS Dupleix destroyer adapted for escorting oil tankers and the FNS Marne, a command and supply vessel. Captain of the French task force is Rear Adm. Xavier Magne. Commander of the American flotilla is Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn.

5. Brit-Am Prepares Publication-Media Onslaught
Exclusive information indicates that the organization of Brit-Am is about to publish a series of works that could change the way many of us view reality.
The new publications include a work by Orjan Svensson ("The Hebrew Code of the Runes") showing that the Early settlers of Scandinavia were of Israelite origin.
This work concentrates on Runic Writing proving through scientific analysis and mathematical formulae that ancient inscriptions of Scandinavian people were written by Hebrews.
Another new work to be published by Brit-Am in association with Russell-Davis Publishers is by Paul Bauucom who proves that the lost land of Atlantis was off the coast of northern Europe with its capital in present day Denmark. This book also shows how certain groups in the past regarded as offshoots of the Ancient Greeks were in fact Israelites.

A new book by Yair Davidiy ("Role to Rule") reveals the Biblical Goal of the USA and UK in the world today and their Divinely-ordained duties in this age.
These works (and possibly more) should be available within the coming six weeks or so.

1. Guysen Israel News
From: Guysen Israel News <webmaster@guysen.com>
Subject: Mailinfo - Guysen Israel News - Tuesday 27 March 2007
Extracts
(a) Nazis in Germany
22:25 Criminal acts committed by neo-nazis and extreme right wing militants in Germany reached their highest level since the reunification of Germany in 1990. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(b) 2 Million Iraqi Refugees
20:30 The UN is planning to build refugee camps for Iraqis fleeing their country. Nearly 2 million Iraqis have left their country ravaged by violence, taking refugee mainly in Syria and Jordan. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(c) Iran keeps captives
14:09 Iran does not want to exchange prisoners with the British. The Iranian vice foreign minister said on his country's television that his country does not want to exchange the fifteen British marines that it is holding for the five Iranians arrested in the north of Iraq. He did not say what Iran's intention is regarding the British prisoners. (Guysen.Israël.News)
13:37 The Iranian authorities have confirmed that the fifteen British marines held since Friday are "in good health" and are being held in Iran. The Iranian government transmitted this information to the British ambassador in Teheran. (Guysen.Israël.News)

(d) Palestinians Want to Emigrate
09:45 One third of Palestinians would be wiling to emigrate abroad if they had the possibility to do so. A poll carried out by the A-Najah university in Shechem (Nablus), revealed that half of those interviewed considered that Hamas joining the national unity government constitutes a rejection by the terrorist organization of its electoral platform. More than two thirds of Palestinians consider that Hamas had failed and less than a quarter would vote for the terrorist organization again if elections took place now. (Guysen.Israël.News)

2. IDF Major Ro'i Klein Nominated for Medal of Valor
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121956

by Hana Levi Julian and Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) IDF Major Ro'i Klein, of blessed memory, has been nominated to receive the State of Israel’s highest honor, the Medal of Valor for heroism in the heat of battle.

Maj. Klein, who volunteered to lead his Golani Brigade Battalion 51 into battle, was killed in the line of duty on July 26, 2006, during last summer’s Second Lebanon War.

While fighting for control of the hostile village of Bint Jbil in southern Lebanon, Klein and his men were ambushed by Hizbullah terrorists. Maj. Klein led a group of soldiers and tried to attack the terrorists from behind, but they were stopped by a wall. Klein then began treating one of the wounded, at which point a terrorist hurled a grenade at the group. Soldiers who survived the battle - eight did not - reported that Ro'i yelled out "Shma Yisrael" [Hear O Israel, Deuteronomy 6:4] and jumped upon the grenade, absorbing the brunt of the explosion and saving the men around him. A stunned silence overtake the men, and then one of them started shouting, "He jumped on the grenade! He jumped on the grenade!" Though mortally wounded, Klein tried to continue to communicate by radio to his superiors.
One of the survivors, Elad Ozeri, later said that shortly afterwards, when it was thought that he was dead, Capt. Itamar Katz, who took over the command, approached him. At that point, Klein - in his last act on earth - raised his arm and gave his coded radio device to Katz. "Maj. Klein always emphasized to us the importance of finding the coded devices of soldiers who were hurt," Ozeri said, "so that they would not fall into the hands of the enemy."

Klein actually saved his men twice in the same battle, Ozeri said: "At the beginning of the encounter, he saw a grenade that had been thrown, and was able to yell and warn the men in time."

The husband and father of two small boys, Ro'i Klein was an acknowledged Torah scholar, superb commander and an accomplished musician in civilian life. He was buried in Eli, the Samaria community in which he lived, on what would have been his 31st birthday.

The Medal of Valor has been awarded only some 40 times in the history of the State - none in the past 40 years - and is the sole medal that is bestowed by the Minister of Defense. The last recipient was Brigadier-General (res.) Avigdor Kahalani, who commanded Armored Battalion 77 during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

3. Swedish Hero Honored but Sweden Disgraces His Memory
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE
64 avenue Marceau - 75008 Paris - Tel. +33147237637 - Fax: +33147208401
http://www.wiesenthal-europe.com

Wallenberg Weeps on a Paris Street Corner: A Wiesenthal Centre Comment.

By Dr Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations.

Paris, 26 March 2007

Almost sixty-two years after his disappearance, the City of Paris, this Saturday, named a street in honour of this "Righteous Gentile" who, as a Swedish diplomat in wartime Budapest, rescued over 35,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi deportation to the death camps.

Due to the ceremony being held on a Sabbath morning, the official Jewish institutions and the Embassy of Israel were unrepresented.

The invitation listed Sweden's Ambassador to France among the speakers.
Ironically, on the same day, the Swedish Foreign Minister announced his forthcoming meeting with the Hamas terrorist led "government of Palestine".

This visit may be viewed as a slap to the memory of Wallenberg for, by implication, it endorses the Hamas Charter which calls for the extermination of the Jewish people, including the descendants of those saved by a truly just son of Sweden.

Rue Raul Wallenberg runs along a short stretch of dingy tenements leading into the ring road expressway at the very edge of Paris. Without GPS, several taxi drivers were unable to even find its cross streets.

The plaque on the site is most intriguing:
"Rue Raul Wallenberg. A Swedish Diplomat born in 1912, disappeared in 1945 into the Soviet Union. A Just Among the Nations."

The words "Jew" and "Holocaust" are marked by their absence. Perhaps the oversight considered the sensitivities of putative Islamist radicals in the neighbourhood.

As Wallenberg weeps on a Paris street corner, one wonders what was the point of this sad exercise.

4. 74% of Israelis won't eat chametz during Passover, 94% will attend seder
Kobi Nahshoni - YNET Published: 03.27.07, 11:38 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3381754,00.html

Seventy-four percent of the Israeli public will not eat chametz (leavened food) during Passover and 94 percent plan to celebrate the holiday with a traditional meal and by reading the Hagadda, a Ynet poll reveals.

The survey was conducted by the Mutagim institute and included 500 respondents.

5. Jews Want Arabs to Leave
From: imra@netvision.net.il

=========

Poll: 50% of Israeli Jews support state-backed Arab migration
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 18:18 27/03/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/842641.html

A Poll sponsored by the Center for the Campaign Against Racism found that half the Jewish population of Israel believe the state should encourage Arab migration.

The poll, conducted by the Geocartography Institute and presented Tuesday at a press conference, found a sharp increase in the number of Israeli Jews who support Arab migration in comparison to a similar poll conducted last year.

The poll was carried out in December 2006, and included 500 participants.
The margin of error is 4.4 percent.

In addition, the poll addresses the Jewish reaction to hearing the Arabic language spoken on the streets of Israel. According to the data, some 50 percent of the participants said they become fearful when they hear the Arabic language spoken around them. 43 percent said they feel uncomfortable, and 30 percent feel hatred. In contrast, last year only 17.5 percent said they feel hatred when faced with spoken Arabic.

The poll participants were also asked about work relations with Arabs. 50 percent said they would refuse to work at a job in which their direct supervisor would be Arab. This number represents a 47 percent increase since the 2005 poll on the same topic.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

1. UK gov't worried by growing anti-Jewish sentiment on campuses
by Amiram Barkat
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/843856.html

The British government has stated its opposition to an academic boycott on Israel and is concerned about the "rising tide of anti-Semitic discourse and anti-Semitism on university campuses" according to the British government's response to the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into anti-Semitism.

The government's response, released yesterday and presented by Race and Faith Minister Phil Woolas, stated: "We are specifically concerned about significant indications that, unlike other forms of racism, anti-Semitism is being accepted within parts of society instead of being condemned."

The report, submitted in response to the recommendations of the all-party committee headed by Labor Member of Parliament John Mann and published in September 2006, contains 35 recommendations on how to deal with rising anti-Semitism.

In specifically noting the problem of anti-Semitism on campus, the report stated: "We conclude that calls to boycott contact with academics working in Israel are an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange."

The report continued: "We are aware that current rhetoric about Israel and Zionism (from the far-right, the far-left and Islamic extremists alike) employs anti-Semitic motifs consistent with ancient forms of hatred toward Jews."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the government response. Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the organization, said "with this robust response, neither anti-Jewish discourse nor more overt forms of anti-Semitism can be brushed aside."

2. Teddy Kollek was British informer
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3382779,00.html

3. Pembrokeshire in Wales
Jerusalem News Magazine Article:
http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/Pembroke.html
Pembrokeshire is in southwest Wales.
The article gives a little of its history along with illustrations.

4. Archaeology: Has The Palace of David Been Found?
First Temple (?Period?) wall found in City of David
Mar. 29, 2007 23:05 | Updated Mar. 30, 2007 16:06
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/results.html?st=basic&QryTxt=City+of+David
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

A wall from the First Temple was recently uncovered in Jerusalem's City of David, strengthening the claim that it is the site of the palace of King David, an Israeli archeologist said Thursday.

The new find, made by Dr. Eilat Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center's Institute for the Archeology of the Jewish People, comes less than two years after she said she had discovered the palace's location at the site just outside the walls of the Old City.

The monumental 10th century BCE building found by Mazar in 2005 following a six month dig has ignited debate among archaeologists about whether it is indeed the palace built for the victorious David by King Hiram of Tyre as recounted in Samuel II:5.

A 20-meter-long section of the 7-meter-thick wall has now been uncovered. It indicates that the City of David once served as a major government center, Mazar said.

Mazar estimates less than a quarter of the entire wall has been uncovered so far, and says that it is the largest site from King David's time ever to have been discovered.

The dig is sponsored by the capital's Shalem Center, with academic backing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

5. Odds and Ends

a. Visitors to Jerusalem
Over a million visitors are expected in Jerusalem over Pesach.

b. Equal Opportunity Would be the Least they could do
Black Humor : Scandinavian and EU Governments gave millions of dollars to Arab organizations that want to remove all the Jews from the Middle East.
They also gave large sums to Quisling-type organizations that work to undermine Jewish and Israelite Identity in Israel.
Brit-Am would like to see Arabs removed from the Middle East.
Brit-Am believes in strengthening Jewish and Israelite Identity.
We think in the interests of Equal Opportunity the Governments of Scandinavia etc should also give money to us.
They apparently do not see things that way.
Maybe we are not active enough in our "specialities" to warrant support?
Fair enough.
We are certain however that with a little good will and effort other suitable candidates may be located.

c. Global Warming and the Petroleum Industry
Global Warming is a fact. Human activity would appear to be at least partly to blame.
The petroleum industry has an interest to prevent ecological protective "green" policies.
The petroleum industry also backs Arabs and anti-Israel anti-Semitic activists.
Any land controlled by Arabs becomes a desert but the process can be reversed.

1. Wishful Thinking: Israel's Need for Oil
and the coming conquest of Egypt and Syria
Article written by an enemy of Israel and is outdated.
nevertheless the maps are interesting and he breings up some points worth considering.
http://www.giwersworld.org/911/oil/israel-oil.phtml

2. Israel: Induced Climate Change for the Better
http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&issn=1520-0450&volume=037&issue=11&page=1470
Land Surface–Induced Regional Climate Change in Southern Israel

Koen De Riddera and Hubert Gallée, b
Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique G. Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1960s, the southern part of Israel has experienced major land use changes following the start of the irrigation scheme and the subsequent intensification of agricultural practice. Several studies, mainly based on the analysis of climatic time series, have shown that this has been followed by a significant change of the local climate, especially during the summer and early fall. They indicate a reduced diurnal amplitude of surface air temperature and wind speed, and a threefold increase of the October (early wet season) convective precipitation. In this paper, these phenomena are investigated by simulating the influence of the land surface on local meteorological variables with a two-dimensional version of a mesoscale atmospheric model containing a detailed land surface scheme. Particular attention is given to the correct estimation of land surface parameters from soil and vegetation maps and remote sensing data. The simulations confirm the observed reduction of the diurnal amplitude of temperature and wind speed when replacing a semiarid surface by a partly irrigated one. Furthermore, it is shown that the potential for moist convection increases with the surface moisture availability and is rather insensitive to the surface roughness.
January 23, 1998

3. Japanese Nationalist Revision

"The Trouble with Japanese Nationalism"

Francis Fukuyama

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fukuyama2
Extracts

Walking past the Mitsubishi Zero, tanks, and machine guns on display in the museum, one finds a history of the Pacific War that restores “the Truth of Modern Japanese History.” It follows the nationalist narrative: Japan, a victim of the European colonial powers, sought only to protect the rest of Asia from them. Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea, for example, is described as a “partnership”; one looks in vain for any account of the victims of Japanese militarism in Nanjing or Manila.

One might be able to defend the museum as one viewpoint among many in a pluralist democracy. But there is no other museum in Japan that gives an alternative view of Japan’s twentieth-century history. Successive Japanese governments have hidden behind the Yushukan museum’s operation by a private religious organization to deny responsibility for the views expressed there.

That is an unconvincing stance. In fact, unlike Germany, Japan has never come to terms with its own responsibility for the Pacific War. Although socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama officially apologized to China in 1995 for the war, Japan has never had a genuine internal debate over its degree of responsibility, and has never made a determined effort to propagate an alternative account to that of Yushukan.

My exposure to the Japanese right came in the early 1990’s, when I was on a couple of panels in Japan with Watanabe Soichi,...
In the course of a couple of encounters, I heard him explain in front of large public audiences how the people of Manchuria had tears in their eyes when the occupying Kwantung Army left China, so grateful were they to Japan. According to Watanabe, the Pacific War boiled down to race, as the US was determined to keep a non-white people down. Watanabe is thus the equivalent of a Holocaust denier, but, unlike his German counterparts, he easily draws large and sympathetic audiences. (I am regularly sent books by Japanese writers that “explain” how the Nanjing Massacre was a big fraud.)

4. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.49
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 9.49 April 1, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

Something lost in translation here, I think ... remains of
'Raidan Temple' have been found in Yemen:
http://www.sabanews.net/view.php?scope=f9129&dr=&ir=&id=128691

The latest how-the-pyramids-were-built theory (although I think
we've heard this one before, no?):
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/History.news/aid/585544
http://tinyurl.com/2dmwvw (Independent)
http://tinyurl.com/2dgzqp (Reuters via Yahoo)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17873984/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_sc/france_pyramid_theory_8

Remains of a First Temple wall in the City of David:
http://tinyurl.com/228u7j (JPost)
... while we get new accusations in the Temple Mount saga:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=3926&sectionid=3510101

More coverage of that Second Temple village in Jerusalem find:
http://tinyurl.com/2wds3m (AFP via Yahoo)
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070331-062931-5245r

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

A section of the Eridanos river bed is on display:
http://tinyurl.com/2me3rx (ANA)

The perfume-from-Cyprus story continues to get coverage:
http://www.physorg.com/news94190703.html
http://tinyurl.com/2y646h (USA Today)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/ap_on_sc/ancient_perfume_2
http://tinyurl.com/2w9ddv (NG)
http://www.centredaily.com/220/story/54780.html
(the anachronistic headline is obviously a pun attempt)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17802536/

More details on that Heinrich Schliemann film:
http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/3591/

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================

Evidence for early 'science' in Medieval York:
http://tinyurl.com/2za3nc (Press)

... and the Stonehenge visitor centre saga:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/6507963.stm

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front ... I can't remember if we've had this bit of
Thomas Jefferson DNA results before:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070328111115.htm

... and the genetic origins of this Viking woman are interesting:
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1709020.ece

Microsoft joins the efforts to save Romansch:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aMIDIGeScPZg

Interesting item on how quickly dogs may have been domesticated:
http://tinyurl.com/2jgea7

5. Recent Jewish and American Discoveries
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:29:28 +0100
From: Pulidog <philos@jerseyserve.com>
Subject: Unreported good news

Surely there was one very important and positive item of significant news that was released last month, between 12th and - 29th March, something that will be a "blessing" to all. A news worthy item that was completely ignored by just about every major news service in the West - especially by the BBC and those who worship at Mammon's alter of global warming. The news item in question was the fact that an Israeli firm had unveiled and demonstrated a new system for the SAFE disposal of radioactive waste!

Israeli technology for the disposal of low- and medium-level radioactive waste unveiled to delegations from Russia, Japan, Korea and the United States. Authorized by the relevant Israeli government authorities the facility is located in the waste-burying site in Ibillin, near Karmiel.
Yet, not a word of this BLESSING upon the oil and gas dependant nations of the world, apart from that listed below, was reported in the major press!

By the end of the month (29th March), Greenpeace and Zohni Wahdi, the Palestinian Health Minister were already condemning and slamming Israel for endangering and polluting the whole Eastern Mediterranean - par for the course no doubt while one waits for the Arab World to come up with a cure for cancer.

A Second item of Blessing was the announcement (found at least on Fox News) of a high performance electric sports car - zero to sixty in four (4) seconds , one that was developed and demonstrated by an individual designer in the USA (Joseph) - So in spite of everything, G-d still blesses the world through His people - kindly allowing the rain to fall upon both sides of the fence.

* Karin Kloosterman "Israeli Discovery Converts Dangerous Radioactive Waste
into Clean Energy". New York Jewish Times, March 27, 2007
* Ezra HaLevi "Israel Develops System to Neutralize Nuclear Waste". Arutz
Sheva, March 18, 2007
* Shelly Paz "Israeli firm to unveil radioactive waste disposal system". The
Jerusalem Post, March 12, 2007
* Press Release: "Process details". EER PGM, retrieved on March 31, 2007,
date of publishing unknown

1. 77% of Israeli Jews believe in God
From: imra@netvision.net.il

Brit-Am Note: The poll below is interesting but misleading.
The representative sample of 1000 appears too small and
may have concentrated on the wrong areas.
Most of the figures should probably be upgraded by 5-10% in favor of the religious opinions.

Subject: Dahaf Poll:77% of Israeli Jews beleive in God

Dahaf Poll:77% of Israeli Jews beleive in God
Dr. Aaron Lerner 2 April 2007

The following are the results of a poll of a representative sample of around
1,000 Israeli Jews carried out by Dahaf for Yediot Ahronot and published on
2 April, 2007

Do you beleive in God?
Yes 77% Some greater power 8% No 12%

What do you consider yourself to be:
Secular 50% Traditional 30% Religious 12% Ultra orthodox 8%

Say Kiddush on Shabbat
Always 61% Sometimes 36% No 3%

Light candles
Always 61% Frequently 9% Sometimes 14% No 16%

Is there a religious value to serving in the IDF?
A lot 40% Somewhat 14% Little 8% None 36%

Drive on Shabbat
Never 27% In life threatening situations only 5% When need to 5% Unlimited
63%

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

2. Book Review: The English in North Africa
From: Richard Gorrie <rgorrie@UOGUELPH.CA>

H-NET BOOK REVIEW
Published by H-Albion@h-net.msu.edu (April 2007)

Nabil Matar. _Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689_. Gainesville:
University of Florida Press, 2005. xiii + 241 pp. Appendices, notes,
bibliography, index. $59.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-8130-2871-X; $24.95
(paper), ISBN 0-8130-3076-5.

Reviewed for H-Albion by Bob McJimsey, Department of History,
Colorado College

Encounters of the Wrong Kind

This well-researched and fluently written book will repay the reader
on a number of topics. In the form of straight history, the book
recounts the military, diplomatic, and commercial dealings between
England and the North African states comprising Libya, Tunisia,
Algeria, and Morocco. As a study of literature, it analyzes plays,
pamphlets, and geographical writings depicting the Moor as a
representative of the non-English other. In the process, the author
illuminates various ways in which relations with Barbary impinged on
English politics and self-understandings.

Throughout the period, the corsairs raided shipping and took captives
from their base in the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic, often
sweeping onto the coasts of Ireland and Cornwall. In response,
English governments responded with efforts at convoy protection,
attacks on the corsairs' home ports, and treaties calling for
protection of trade, exchange of captives, and alliances against
Spanish and French enemies. This latter course was possible because
the Barbary states maintained grievances against their expulsion from
Iberia and, correspondingly, were vehemently anti-Catholic and more
willing to deal with Protestant England. All of these efforts
suffered from the English state's chronic lack of resources. Although
successive governments were supportive of attempts to protect trade,
they often off-loaded that burden onto the trading companies. Even by
the end of the period, when the English navy was gaining supremacy
over the corsairs, the English outpost at Tangier had to be evacuated
in 1684 due to a lack of means to maintain it.

The literature of the period usually distinguished between Barbary's
land and people. In language that recalled the writings of Richard
Hakluyt and Sir Walter Raleigh, appeals to establish permanent
English outposts in North Africa depicted the area as a veritable
Land of Cockayne, flowing with riches ready for the taking. By
contrast, depictions of the Moor, including Othello and Caliban,
created images of dark, devious, and dangerous personas. Sporadic
attempts were made to describe the tenants of Islam, but for the most
part writers engaged in a form a racial profiling based on
appearances and translating these into behavioral expectations. Only
by the end of the century, when the immediate dangers of corsair
raiding had subsided, did writers draw the Moor as a figure of comedy.

Contacts with the Moors, who could be seen as traders and seamen
tramping the streets of English seaports, highlighted a sense of an
English identity. Protestantism was one defining characteristic,
particularly when used as an appeal to settle Barbary lands as a
messianic mission. For the most part, however, Englishness meant
holding onto a birthright which a person carried forever and which
defined them in any foreign circumstance. This notion carried with it
a sense of superiority toward other peoples and cultures, thus
contributing to the English garrison at Tangier remaining oblivious
to the world outside its walls. And it benefited captive English
women, who were allowed to maintain privileges according to their
social status at home. On the home front this emphasis on a
birthright also adds significant weight to the use of the term by
radicals of the New Model Army at the Putney Debates of 1647.

In the same way, the government's lackluster efforts to protect trade
and redeem captives brought forth protests, petitions, and overall
criticism. The Petition of Right included complaints about corsair
raidings and Charles I's ineffectual use of Ship Money to protect the
coasts made that practice even more unpopular. More important,
however, was a petitioning movement from wives of captives. The
plight of over a thousand women left destitute without their husbands
sparked a women's movement of sizeable and persistent expressions.
Although their petitions were couched in terms that accepted the
standard notions of male patriarchy, they represented a form of
female activism hitherto unknown on the English political scene. In
this way the author makes a singularly important contribution to our
understanding of ways in which women came into the public square.

The taking, ransoming, and exchanging of captives was an ongoing
feature of the period. Not only were the numbers significant, the
process of raising a ransom could become snarled in governmental
fumblings. Normally local parishes raised money, often transferring
it to the government to carry out the final transactions. At this
point confusions could take place, resulting in the failure to supply
the needed funds. The resort to ransoming also highlights the state's
inability to cope with the problem of captives by other means. At the
same time the English took their own share of Barbary captives, often
exceeding the numbers taken on the other side. As a result, in
addition to the slave trade, the trafficking in human flesh within
western Europe was both constant and sizeable.

These insights make this book a valuable guide to unexpected avenues
of inquiry. This reviewer's only criticism concerns the author's
argument that the English attitude toward Barbary included a desire
of imperial domination. Given the English state's lack of resources
and its continual wobbling between an emphasis on trade and military
action, the commitment to an imperial policy seems premature. This is
certainly not the period in which a confident and well organized
English navy could support the outcries that accompanied The War of
Jenkins' Ear. That much said, this book remains a valuable
contribution to an understanding of seventeenth-century England.

3. Conspiracy Theories and the "New World Order"
Origin of the terminology in a mistranslation
http://www.answers.com/topic/novus-ordo-seclorum

4. Kissinger hid Yom Kippar War outbreak from Nixon
From: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Kissinger hid Yom Kippar War outbreak from Nixon

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Previous reports indicate that Kissinger also held
up the supply of weapons to Israel - without Nixon knowing - out of a desire
for Israel to "bleed enough" that it would be willing to give up the
Sinai.]

Kissinger hid war outbreak from Nixon
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 3, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879235224&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger initially kept the outbreak of
the Yom Kippur War a secret from then-president Richard M. Nixon, historian
Robert Dallek reveals in a new study of the Nixon and Kissinger's foreign
policy and personal relationship dueto be published in April.

Dallek, the author of An Unfinished Life, a biography of John F. Kennedy,
delved through previously untapped records of Nixon and Kissinger's
partnership, including some 20,000 pages of transcripts of Kissinger's phone
conversations, to compile his study Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power.

According to Dallek, reports that Israel had been attacked reached
Washington at approximately 6 am that same day, but Kissinger waited three
and a half hours before informing Nixon in order to keep the president from
interfering.

Partners in Power (HarperCollins) examines five years of American foreign
policy under Kissinger (who served as national security advisor before
becoming secretary of state) and Nixon, and proffers a behind-the-scenes
look at how they tackled not only the Middle East, but Vietnam, Cambodia,
and China.

In addition to analyzing their political decisions, Dallek analyzes the two
men's characters and their often complex working relationship.

5. Effects of Climate Change in the USA already being felt
No Longer Waiting for Rain, an Arid West Takes Action
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/us/04drought.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

6. Some British schools drop Holocaust education for fear of Muslims
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1866

Source: The Jerusalem Post
April 04, 2007

A new survey has found that some British grade schools are dropping the Holocaust from their history lessons for fear of an often violent Muslim minority that denies the Jews were mass murdered by the Nazis.

The study revealed that many teachers in Britain are afraid to confront rampant anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial among Muslim students.

Some schools are even avoiding lessons on the Crusades, of which England was a major participant, because the historically accepted accounts that of period are challenged by the leaders of local mosques.

London has recently become increasingly concerned by escalating anti-Semitism in Britain, and some are daring to point an accusing finger at the burgeoning Islamic community there.

7. Arabs Like Unleavened Bread at Passover Season
Matza's secret fans - Arabs

By Yoav Stern Haaretz 6 April 2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846011.html

The first swallow of spring is usually found in the heaps of Matza boxes
that fill supermarket aisles all over Israel. It certainly applies to
supermarkets in the Jewish towns and cities, and apparently is also true in
Arab communities.

Gadaban Supermarket, located at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm, generally
stocks up on Matza for Passover. Moreover, the supermarket has to replenish
its stock before the end of the holiday, due to keen demand by locals.
Apparently, the Arab public regularly consumes large quantities of Matza.

Iyad Sharbaji, the manager of Gadaban, told Haaretz yesterday that his Matza
is consumed entirely by local Arabs. "The Jews passing by here already have
enough Matza. The customers are all from the local Arab community," he said.

His competitor down the road, The Market, opened this year. The demand for
Matza therefore caught the store by surprise. "People told us ahead of time
that they wanted Matza, so we bought five crates. Now we have only two
left," he said.

It turns out the avid consumption of Matza is not a new trend in Arab towns
and villages, whose inhabitants view the traditional Jewish food as a
welcome and refreshing change in the menu. "It's not a religious issue, and
certainly not a political one," Sharbaji explains.

A journalist associated with the Islamic Movement in Israel told Haaretz
that he also bought Matza. "The kids can't get enough of it," he gleefully
reported. "They eat it like crackers. But it also represents a sense of
folklore for us. Maybe we like it more than Jews do because no one's forcing
us to eat nothing but Matza all day long," he said in explanation.

Another happy customer from Baka al-Garbiyeh said his children and wife were
"packing the Matza away," adding that they preferred to eat their Matza with
a spread of jam or chocolate.

In fact, it seems Matza is particularly popular with Arab children, and most
consumers report their sons and daughters especially relish the seasonal
offering.

Since the demand for Matza in the Arab public is naturally unconnected to
Passover, the residents of towns like Baka al-Garbiyeh begin consuming it
well before the holiday.

Meanwhile, bakeries in Arab towns have reported a substantial increase in
sales during Passover, as Jewish customers stock up on bread and pita, which
are hard to find in Jewish towns over the holiday.

8. Most Europeans support strike on Iran

Source: The Jerusalem Post
April 08, 2007

The somewhat surprising results of a recent public opinion poll reveal that a majority of Europeans support Washington's position that Iran must be stopped from obtaining nuclear arms, even if military intervention is required.

Commissioned by a London think-tank, the survey was conducted among 17,000 people from the 27 European Union members states.

In 18 out of the 27 EU members states, a firm majority responded in the affirmative to the statement: "We must stop countries like Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, even if that means taking military action."

Overall, 52 percent of Europeans said they would back a military strike on Iran.

Suggesting that they would like the US to go ahead and do the dirty work, however, a majority of respondents also said they don't want to see their nations' defense budgets increase.

The poll also showed that most Europeans are not unaware of the grave danger posed to their nations by a growing and increasingly radicalized Muslim minority on the continent.

Seventy-one percent in Britain, 66 percent in Germany, and 64 percent in France said they recognize that "Islamic fundamentalism" is directly threatening their societies.

9. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.50
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>

================================================================
explorator 9.50 April 8, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
Pumice from the eruption of Santorini has been found in a Sinai
site (and yes, the headline writers continue to have difficulties
with the difference between lava and anything else that comes
out of a volcano):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070403/ap_on_sc/egypt_ancient_eruption_5
http://tinyurl.com/2tjerp (Examiner)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070403/2/12z6r.html
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070403/23/12zdg.html
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=43880
http://www.physorg.com/news94796998.html
http://tinyurl.com/32xsyz (NG)
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070404/139/6e52f.html
http://tinyurl.com/26ldkm (Kathimerini)
http://tinyurl.com/35ch78 (WPost)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Egypt-Ancient-Eruption.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17920435/

An overviewish thing (not sure, actually, how to describe this
one) on the Valley of the Kings:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/839/heritage.htm

More coverage of the latest how-the-great-pyramid-was-built
theory:
http://tinyurl.com/2tbxgq (HT)

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Bringing together a bunch of recent stories on the origins of
the Etruscans:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/arts/snetrus.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/03etruscan.html

================================================================
EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
The latest from Stonehenge (not sure there's anything 'new' here):
http://www.pr-inside.com/stonehenge-secrets-of-the-builders-r82154.htm

Six 2000 b.p. burials from County Clare:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0402/breaking50.htm

Interesting item on what are being dubbed 'stonehenge amulets':
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/04/06/stonehengesymbol_arc.html

================================================================
NORTH AMERICA
================================================================

Remains from the Texas Revolution:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4689986.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ksat/20070406/lo_ksat/11539082
http://www.kvia.com/global/story.asp?s=6331106
http://tinyurl.com/2fy4uw

Searching for the graves of some Continental soldiers who died
from smallpox:
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_5604959

Review of William Freehling, *The Road to Disunion* (vol II):
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Foner.t.html

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front, the Hatfields and McCoys may have had some
genetic reason for their feud:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9450054
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_he_me/hatfield_mccoy_secret

DNA and genealogy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/us/02dna.html

Belgians are returning to the Middle Ages:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/03/news/belgium.php

Testing of some bones which were supposedly taken from the
pyre of Joan of Arc have turned out to be even more interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/world/europe/05bones.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-France-Joan-of-Arc.html
http://tinyurl.com/27dv4r
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6527105.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17950078/

Good overviewish thing about the Dead Sea Scrolls:
http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/199687

What makes a Stradivarius so special:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/opinion/07marchese.html

Review of the *Oxford Campanion to Black British History*:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article2424420.ece

Review of Lynn Hunt, *Inventing Human Rights*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Wood2.t.html

Review of Daniel Smith, *Muses, Madmen, and Prophets*:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/books/review/Kramer.t.html

================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Fez:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/travel/08Fez.html

New Haven:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/travel/escapes/06trip.html

================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Portraits of Colonial Jews:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/design/06voge.html
(second item)

Colonial Williamsburg:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/06will.html

Awakenings:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/design/06zen.html

Artifacts from the Fur Trade:
http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2007/04/03/features/features003.txt

That Umbrian village wants its Etruscan chariot back from the
Met:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/arts/design/05char.html
http://tinyurl.com/3bk4gu (great headline, which I'll be er, using)

================================================================
PERFORMANCES AND THEATRE-RELATED
================================================================
Oliver Twist:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/theater/reviews/06twis.html
================================================================
ON THE WEB
================================================================
Proceedings of the Old Bailey:

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
================================================================
OBITUARIES
================================================================
Elizabeth Reilley (horticulture scholar):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/obituaries/07reilley.html

1. Japan revises role in WWII Okinawa
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
f=/c/a/2007/04/01/MNG7COVNT31.DTL&hw=World+War&sn=017&sc=228
San Francisco Chronicle
Textbooks will no longer say army ordered civilians to commit suicide as conflict ended

Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times

(04-01) 04:00 PDT Tokyo -- In another sign that Japan is pressing ahead in revising its history of World War II, new high school textbooks will no longer acknowledge that the Imperial Army was responsible for a major atrocity in Okinawa, the government announced late Friday.

The Ministry of Education ordered publishers to delete passages stating that the Imperial Army ordered civilians to commit mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa, as the island was about to fall to American troops in the final months of the war.

The decision was announced as part of the ministry's annual screening of all public school textbooks. The ministry also ordered changes to other delicate issues to dovetail with government assertions, even though the screening is supposed to be free of political interference.

"I believe the screening system has been followed appropriately," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has long campaigned to soften the treatment in textbooks of Japan's wartime conduct.

The decision on the Battle of Okinawa came as a surprise because the ministry had never objected to the description in the past. It followed recent denials by Abe that the military had coerced women into sexual slavery during the war, despite acknowledgements by previous governments that the comfort women were kidnapped and forced into military brothels.

The results of the annual textbook screening are closely watched in China, South Korea and other Asian countries. So the fresh denial of the military's responsibility in the Battle of Okinawa and in sexual slavery -- long accepted as historical facts -- is likely to deepen suspicions in Asia that Tokyo is trying to whitewash its militarist past.

Shortly after assuming office last fall, Abe transformed the Defense Agency into a full ministry. He has said that his most important goal is to revise the American-imposed pacifist constitution, which forbids Japan from having a full-fledged military with offensive capabilities.

Some 200,000 Americans and Japanese died during the Battle of Okinawa, one of the most brutal clashes during the war. It was the only battle on Japanese soil involving civilians, but Okinawa was not just any part of Japan.

Japan officially annexed Okinawa -- a kingdom that, to this day, has retained some of its own culture -- in the late 19th century. During World War II, when many Okinawans still spoke a different dialect, Japanese troops treated the locals brutally. In its history of the war, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum presents Okinawa as being caught in the fighting between America and Japan -- a starkly different view from Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine war museum, which presents Japan as a liberator of Asia from Western powers.

During the 1945 battle, during which one-quarter of the civilian population was killed, the Japanese army showed indifference to Okinawa's defense and safety. Japanese soldiers used civilians as shields against the Americans, and convinced locals that victorious U.S. soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. With the impending victory of U.S. troops, civilians committed mass suicide, urged on by fanatical Japanese soldiers.

"There were some people who were forced to commit suicide by the Japanese army," one old textbook explained. But in the revision ordered by the ministry, it now reads, "There were some people who were driven to mass suicide."

Other changes are similar -- the change to a passive verb, the disappearance of a subject -- and combine to erase the responsibility of the Japanese military. In explaining its policy change, the ministry said that it "is not clear that the Japanese army coerced or ordered the mass suicides."

As with Abe's denial regarding sexual slavery, the ministry's new position appears to discount overwhelming evidence of coercion, particularly the testimony of victims and survivors themselves.

"There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese army directed them to commit suicide," Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, said in an angry editorial. "There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.

The editorial described the change as a politically influenced decision that "went along with the government view."

Abe, after co-founding the Group of Young Parliamentarians Concerned About Japan's Future and History Education in 1997, led a campaign to reject what nationalists call a masochistic view of history that has robbed postwar Japanese of pride.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former prime minister who is a staunch ally of Abe's, recently denied what he wrote in 1978. In a memoir about his Imperial Navy experiences in Indonesia, titled "Commander of Three Thousand Men at Age Twenty-Three," he wrote that some of his men "started attacking local women or became addicted to gambling.

"For them, I went to great pains, and had a comfort station built," Nakasone wrote, using the euphemism for a military brothel. But in a meeting with foreign journalists a week ago, Nakasone, now 88, issued a flat denial. He said he had actually set up a "recreation center," where his men played Japanese board games like go and shogi.

2. Red meat linked to breast cancer
http://www.theage.com.au/news/diet/red-meat-linked-to-breast-cancer/2007/04/04/1175366294320.html

3.DNA: Do All Small Dogs Share the Same Ancestor?
http://www.huliq.com/17645/ancient-genetic-material-keeps-pups-pint-sized

4. Dennis Miller: "the worst the Jews will do to you, if left alone, is debate you to death."
Maine's Michael 4/05/2007 9:06:33 pm PDT
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25034_The_Protocols_of_the_Daily_Kos#comments
<<Why is 'Palestinianism' acceptable, and Zionism not?

<<The former is racist and genocidal, the latter a striving for a tangible Jewish national identity.

<<The 'Palestinians' and Islamic fundamentalists will slice your head off as soon as look at you.
As Dennis Miller says, the worst the Jews will do to you, if left alone, is debate you to death.

5. China with Diminishing Water Resources and Agrarian Land turns to Brazil
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/business/worldbusiness/06soy.html?th&emc=th

<<In China, vanishing cropland and diminishing water supplies are hampering the country’s ability to feed itself, and the increasing use of farmland in the United States to produce biofuels is pushing China to seek more of its staples from South America, where land is still cheap and plentiful.

6. Russia, China, and Saudia Versus Environmental Reforms
Scientists Detail Climate Changes
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/science/earth/07climate.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th
<<Under pressure from nations including Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, the authors said, sections on coral damage and tropical storms were softened in the summary. They also got the authors to drop parts of an illustration showing how different emissions policies might limit damage. Officials from those countries argued that data in the report did not support the level of certainty expressed in the final draft.

7. Archaeology: German Bible-Believers Search for City of Sedom
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=43230&archive=true

1. Electromagnetic radiation produces Biologic effects, kills bees
Shalom Yair,
for a while there are reports about mysterious disappearances of bees in the US and also Canada.
Here a link to a online article about that issue:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070223-bees.html

Moreover there are reports about this phenomenon here in Germany and Switzerland. Please find attached in this regard translated extracts of a Swiss article.

God bless you and your work
Sonja Durski

Extracts Only of an article from "Swiss Community of Interest of People Concerned with Electromagnetic Pollution":

Quelle: http://gigaherz.ch/pages/posts/mobilfunk-und-bienen-ein-unerklaerliches-phaenomen1142.php
Translated Excerpts:

„No idea what happens. The bees simply flapped away”, a beekeeper expressed in a report of “10 vor 10” on Swiss Radio SF1.

For decades it has been known, if one wants to know, that Electromagnetic radiation produces Biologic effects. And since in 1998 Digital Cellular mobile radio with high-frequency pulsed radiation was established, the “unexplainable phenomena” increased highly.
Homers don’t find their way back home, swallows remove from their nests and familiar surrounding, because they don’t find insects during the foraging at flight etc. etc.

According to sales promotion of Mobile telephone system Spring will bring again many new “Mobile-Phone-Assortments”. If and how much bee colonies in this springtime or in five or ten years will pollinate the blossoms of our fruit trees, - interests only a few. And if, only those, who suffers financial penalties. There are vegetables and fruits in the supermarket…

Gigaherz therefore will carry out a large bee-experiment by itself.
We have found an appropriate bee keeper with a large number of bee colonies, who is prepared to situate several of them in long ranging “radiation clubs” of mobile phone base stations. We are to search for and figure and measure adequate selection of such stations. In time of vegetation bees search for their nutrition in a distance up to 300m to the beeyard. If nutrition runs short, the bees fly up to 3km. All bee keepers agree, namely that during the presently observed dying of the bees no dead bees are found in the bee yard and outside and the numbers of the bees is diminishing amazingly unlike other bee diseases. Ergo the bees no longer find the way back home, due to the collapse of their navigation system. One has to imaging, what 3 km are for such a tiny insect.
Supposedly there is no great connection to DECT, but to a greater extent to GSM and UMTS, because bees fly a greater distance than the range of a DECT-telephone. Gigaherz still takes information from bee-experts. We have the very good ability to measure and figure the base stations ourselfs.

The Mobile-Phone-Industry has already reacted extreme viperishly and already attempts to pelt the experts of Gigaherz in advance with all kinds of mud. Thence it called “to conduct an objective dialogue”.
Hans-U. Jakob

2. DNA: Neolithic Near Eastern Origin of domesticated cattle,
possibly from "Syria".
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/
<<This, in combination with our new finding of a T haplotype in a very Early Neolithic site in Syria, lends persuasive support to a scenario whereby gracile Near Eastern domestic populations, carrying predominantly T haplotypes, replaced P haplotype-carrying robust autochthonous aurochs populations in Europe, from the Early Neolithic onward. During the period of coexistence, it appears that domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs and introgression was extremely rare.>>

3. Iran and Al Qaeda Active in Iraq
http://www.debka.com/

The US again blames Iran for manufacturing and smuggling deadly roadside EFP bombs into Iraq

April 11, 2007, 4:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

US military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, told reporters Wednesday, April 11: “We know from detainee debriefs that training has gone on in Iran as recently as this past month for people to learn how to assemble and employ them.”

Al Qaeda develops device for blocking new American IED roadside bomb jammers - from DEBKA-Net-Weekly 293, March 16

April 10, 2007, 9:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

US military vehicle blown up by IED in Iraq

In the first 9 days of April, 44 US servicemen lost their lives in Iraq, many of them from the deadly roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices – IEDs. The Pentagon has fitted new systems on US vehicles to disarm those devices, but Al Qaeda had come up with a mysterious device for blocking them.

This was first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly.

2. Additives in Cigarettes Still Being Used
http://www.ash.org.uk/html/regulation/html/additives.html
Additives are used to make cigarettes that provide high levels of 'free' nicotine which increases the addictive 'kick' of the nicotine. Ammonium compounds can fulfill this role by raising the alkalinity of smoke
Additives are used to enhance the taste of tobacco smoke, to make the product more desirable to consumers. Although seemingly innocuous the addition of flavourings making the cigarette 'attractive' and 'palatable' is in itself cause for concern.
Sweeteners and chocolate may help to make cigarettes more palatable to children and first time users; eugenol and menthol numb the throat so the smoker cannot feel the smoke's aggravating effects.
Additives such as cocoa may be used to dilate the airways allowing the smoke an easier and deeper passage into the lungs exposing the body to more nicotine and higher levels of tar.
Some additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic or pharmacologically active.
Additives are used to mask the smell and visibility of side-stream smoke, making it harder for people to protect themselves and undermining claims that smoking is anti-social without at the same time reducing the health risks of passive smoking.

Cigarettes: What's Killing Our Country
http://www.essaydepot.com/essayme/569/index.php

Shedding Light on Cigarette Additives
August 10, 2000

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2000/shedding-light-on-cigarette.html
Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco industry whistle-blower, told participants at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago, Ill., that cigarette makers carefully engineer their product, Reuters reported Aug. 8.

During a session on cigarette science, Wigand told the group that 600 chemical additives are used in creating popular brands of cigarettes. Among the additives are lemon, cocoa, buttermilk, licorice and various sugars that are soaked into the paper holding the tobacco leaf.

"Why would you want something sweet? Who likes sweets the most? Kids," said Wigand, whose life story formed the basis for the hit movie "The Insider."

He also pointed out that the additives, while recognized as safe in foods and cosmetics, were never approved to be burned and inhaled.

Scientists who formerly worked for the tobacco industry added that science has been used as a marketing tool by cigarette makers. For instance, firms realized they could increase the amount of nicotine absorbed by smokers while advertising lower nicotine levels in their product.

"You're not dealing just with nicotine. You're dealing with a drug cocktail," said William Farone, a whistle-blower who worked during the early 1980s for Philip Morris.

3. Arutz Sheva Thursday
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
Apr. 12 '07, 24 Nisan 5767

HEADLINES:
(2. PERES: INVEST IN THE SEA, NOT JUDEA/SAMARIA
by Hillel Fendel

At a conference entitled "The Sea as an Economic Resource," Shimon Peres says Israel should stop investing in Jude and Samaria and build artificial islands in the Mediterranean instead.

The conference, which opened yesterday (Wednesday) in the seaside town of Mikhmoret, north of Netanya, deals with "opportunities and threats presented by the sea." Topics on the agenda include pollution of the sea and coasts, the economic potential of the sea for Israel, and more. The conference is sponsored by the Ruppin Academic Center.

In his remarks, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said, "The State of Israel has a narrow waistline [less than ten miles between Netanya and Tul Karem, for instance - ed.]... Israel has invested some 60 billion shekels in the territories [Judea, Samaria and Gaza]. Instead of this, we must invest in the sea, and stretch our western border in that direction by building artificial islands."

It was Peres who, as Minister of Defense in the mid-1970's, approved the establishment of the first Jewish communities, Kedumim and Elkanah, in Samaria. He has since become very anti-settlement.

Some view with irony his remarks about investing in the sea, especially in light of his well-known position in favor of a New Middle East and well-known Arab threats to throw the Jews into the sea.
Peres' support for artificial islands, though not a lone voice, is also controversial. Plans to build an international airport a quarter-mile offshore from north Tel Aviv are currently being discussed by an inter-ministerial committee. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz recently agreed to proceed with plans on between one and five such islands along the central Israel coast between Bat Yam and Netanya as a way of alleviating central Israel's land shortage problem.

However, environmental groups such as the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) say that the idea gravely threatens the future of Israel's tranquil Mediterranean waters and sandy beaches. "Before the airport-island scheme gains irreversible momentum," IUED urges "full exploration of terrestrial alternatives, including direct development costs, environmental impacts, and feasibility of rail transport links to population centers."

Other participants at the Mikhmoret conference include water industry experts, environmentalists, and more. Conference Chairman Buki Oren, a former Chairman of Israel's official Mekorot Water Company, said, "There is enough water in the world to supply all its needs; the challenge is to know how to use it wisely and develop appropriate technologies." He said that Israel must take the lead in raising international awareness regarding the use and preservation of water resources.

Environmentalist businessman Morris Kahn had criticism both for companies that pollute and for the Environment Ministry's lackluster efforts to enforce ecological regulations. "Personal responsibility must be imposed on companies and their directors that pollute the environment and the sea," Kahn said.

(5. [Afghans-Lost Ten Tribes] 'I LOVE ISRAEL - MY FOREFATHERS WERE PROBABLY JEWS'
by Alexander Maistrovoy

40 years ago, as Israel celebrated its 1967 triumph, an extraordinary event occurred in the Jewish community of India. The President of India, Dr. Zakir Hussain, made a highly surprising visit to the Ohel David Synagogue of Pune, Maharashtra, which was celebrating its centenary. The significance of the event and the title of the guest were unprecedented. Why did he visit?

Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi has his own explanation: Dr. Hussain, one of the most famous sons of India, honored with the India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, was a member of a Pashtun (Pakhtun; Pathan) tribe known as the Afridi. And the Afridi tribe is identified with Ephraim, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Dr. Aafreedi is an Indian citizen, a representative of the Afridi tribe too, and an historian. He isn't 30 yet, but he has a Ph.D. on Medieval and Modern Indian History, and his research paper was entitled: "Indian Jewry and the Self-Professed 'Lost Tribes of Israel' in India." His book of the same title is the third serious major work ever by a Gentile on this subject. Now he is doing his Post-Doctoral Research at Tel Aviv University.
"Right then I decided that I would explore my probable Israelite roots."

"Small minorities and marginal groups in all parts of the world have always interested me", he told this reporter. "But I was always more interested in Jews than any other group because of their impressive accomplishments and achievements, in spite of their numerical insignificance, and also because Muslims in my home town Lucknow tended to blame Jews for everything evil in the world. My interest in the Jews further deepened when my late uncle once said to me that our roots were Israelite. I was then 12 years old. Right then I decided that I would explore my probable Israelite roots when I get to the doctoral level.

"There were no Jews in my home town Lucknow. I only met Jews for the first time when I started researching for my Ph.D. But the more I read about Jews, the more my admiration grew for them. The Jewish saga is a tale of unprecedented heroism and self-sacrifice; Jews were humiliated and mistreated like no other people in history. That despite this, the Jews rose and returned to their ancient homeland (Israel) after two thousand years speaks volumes about the character of these tenacious people. I admire Jews as much for their resilience and courage as for their wisdom and scholarship."

After getting his Ph.D. from Lucknow University in 2005, Navras won scholarships from the Center for Judaic Studies in Shandong University, China and from the Israeli government. The terms of the Chinese scholarship were more lucrative, but Navras chose Tel-Aviv. "It's only for my love for Israel," he explains.

Navras began his research of the connection between Afridi Pashtuns from Malihabad in Lucknow district (of the state of Uttar Pradesh) and the Ephraim tribe. Pashtuns settled there in the mid-18th century and they are about 1,200 today. It is a drop in the ocean compared to about 45 million Pashtuns around the world. Pashtun tribes mainly live in the highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they are divided into 60 tribes and 400 clans.

The Afridi tribe is one of the largest (about three million) and very martial. They controlled the famous Khyber and the Kohat passes, collected tribute from caravans and became famous for their fearlessness and selflessness in battles with everyone who tried to
Dr. Aafreedi refers to great Jewish rabbis who mention Afghanistan and Pakistan as the home of "Lost Tribes."
conquer Afghanistan - from Mughal troops in the 16th and 17th centuries to the British in the 19th and Russians in the 20th centuries.

For hundreds of years, Afridis have called themselves Bani Israel (Pushto for the Hebrew B'nei Yisrael, meaning "Children of Israel") and believe that they originated from the Ephraim tribe. Lately, the hatred of Jews in the Islamic world made the young generation of Pashtuns give up their beliefs, but Navras quotes a number of Jewish immigrants from Afghanistan who testify to the prevalence of many Jewish rituals and customs among the Afridi Pashtun, such as the lighting of candles on Shabbat, growing long side-locks, wearing shawls resembling the tallit (ritual prayer shawl), circumcision on the eighth day after birth, and Levirate marriage.

Dr. Aafreedi refers to great Jewish rabbis, such as Saadia Ga'on and Moses Ibn Ezra, who mention Afghanistan and the Pathan territories in Pakistan as the home of Jews descended from the lost tribes. He also notes that a number of medieval Arabic and Farsi texts refer to the same phenomenon. In the 19th century some British travelers and officers, like Sir Alexander Brunes and J.P. Ferrier, wrote about the Israelite origin of Afghan tribes.

Many Pashtuns don't conceal their descent. For example, Emir Abdul Rahman, the grandfather of the former Afghan Shah Amanullah, stated expressly in his History of the Afghans that the Afghan tribes were of Israelite origin.

Lately, other and more impressive arguments have been produced by Joshua Benjamin in his book Mystery of the Lost Tribes, the second president of Israel, Yitzchak Ben-Zvi (The Exiled and the Redeemed [1957]), Social Anthropologist from Hebrew University Dr. Shalva Weil (Beyond the Sambatyon: The Myth of the Ten Lost Tribes), Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail (The Tribes of Israel), ex-Director of Archeology Fida Hasnain from Kashmir and others. According to some Jewish and European explorers from the Middle Ages until the present day, the Afridi tribe originates from Ephraim, the Yusufzai tribe from Joseph, the Rabbani from Reuben, the Levani from Levi, the Ashuri from Asher, etc.

Together with Prof. Tudor Parfitt (SOAS, London University) and Dr. Yulia Egorova (Cardiff University), Navras collected DNA samples of 50 paternally unrelated Afridi males of Malihabad and they are now being analyzed at University College, London.

Would the time for repatriation of the bellicose and unruly Afridi tribe to Israel ever come? "Not today, and not tomorrow, but it is possible. During his recent trip to London, Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail met two Afridi Pathan families who had fled their country during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They spoke about their desire to embrace Judaism, the faith of their supposed ancestors,” Dr. Aafreedi says.

(6. BANK OF ISRAEL RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT AS DOLLAR FREE-FALLS
by Ezra HaLevi

Amidst the continued steep decline of the dollar, Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer held a press conference Wednesday announcing the release of Bank of Israel’s 2006 Annual Report.

"Economic performance in 2006," the report stated, "exceeded levels by developed countries in some cases." The report acknowledged that most of the benefit from the economic growth took place in hi-tech.

Israel achieved 5.1% growth in 2006, much more than either the US (3.3%) or Europe (3.1%). Israeli GDP per capita rose by 3.3%, beating the 2.3% recorded in both Europe and the US. Israel’s GDP of $19,900, however, remains far below the $43,000 of the US and $34,000 of Europe.

Brit-Am Note: For the Brit-Am Position on the above claims and those similar to them see:

The Japanese are not Hebrews!
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesJapan.html

Burma Blues
http://britam.org/Burma.html

Afghanistan and Israel
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesAfghanistan.html

Other Claimants to being the Lost Ten Tribes
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesOtherClaims.html

1. Inventor of Radar
From: paperboy@nevis.scotsman.com
Subject: Scotsman.com Update Friday 13 April 2007

FACT OF THE DAY

Scientist Robert Watson-Watt was born in Angus on this day in 1892. Watson-Watt is credited with developing the first workable radar system, turning it into a key advantage to Allied forces in the Second World War. He was knighted in 1942 and ten years later received a $50,000 gift from the British government for his efforts. See more stories like his in heritage.scotsman.com

2. Thomas Gray: Hebrews in Korea?
From: "Thomas D. Gray" <tgray@supernet.com.bo>

Dear Yair,

Due to having tutored many Korean students here in Bolivia, I have had the opportunity of learning the Korean phonetic alphabet called Han Gul (u sound as in "push"). As I also have learned the Hebrew alphabet, I was struck with several similarities. Han Gul's M is a square, the K/G is like the final form of Kaph, the T is exactly a Beth spun 180 degrees (no dot), the N is like a hand written Hebrew Nun, but turned 90 degrees clockwise. The L/R is a kind of backwards English S, as if one had put a Resh on top of a backwards Lamedh. The vowels in Han Gul consist of lines placed either horizontally under the consonant symbol or vertically to the right. Small tick lines going either up or down from the horizontal line or right or left from the vertical line make the varied vowel sounds. Korean has 10 vowel sounds.

This alphabet was invented around 1400 by "King Se-Jong and his scholars" as a way to simplify writing from the hard-to-learn Chinese symbology. Interestingly, it was during this period (1200-1500) that there was a flood of new inventions in Korea, such as moveable type printing, a water clock, armored "turtle boats), a rain gauge and increased scientific study. I wonder who those scholars were.

Thomas Gray.

3. Norwegian Collaboration in WW11
Resistance, acceptance and collaboration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Norway_by_Nazi_Germany

It has been estimated that as many as 10% of Norwegians were supportive of the Nazi occupation, though this estimate is uncertain and the support varied throughout the occupation. It is clear that the vast majority of Norwegians were opposed to the occupation, and many resisted it in various ways...

Of the Norwegians that supported the NS, relatively few were active collaborators. Most notorious among these was Henry Oliver Rinnan, who infiltrated Norwegian members of the resistance, tortured and murdered them. About 5000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty on the Nazi side and were often sent to the Eastern front. Some Norwegian police forces also assisted in arresting Jews prior to their deporting to Nazi concentration camps in November 1942.

During the five-year occupation, several thousand Norwegian women had children fathered by German soldiers in the Lebensborn program. The mothers were ostracized and humiliated following the war, both by Norwegian officialdom and the civil population, and were referred to using pejorative terms like tyskerunger (children of Germans) or worse yet naziyngel (Nazi offspring). The debate on the past treatment of these krigsbarn (War children), started with a television series in 1981, but only recently have the offspring of these unions begun to identify themselves.

4. Norway-Hamas link angers Israel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6470669.stm
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1894

5. Children of the Maidservants Seduced by Anti-Israelite Forces?
Will Joseph and Judah draw closer together while the other Tribes remain entrapped by the Adversary?

The report, which was conducted by the Institute for Researching Contemporary anti-Semitism and Racism, found that twice as many anti-Semitic attacks occurred in 2006 than in the previous year.

Perpetrators of the attacks were, in most cases, identified as Muslim immigrants, or young members of the radical right and their supporters, the study reported.

Schools were popular targets of anti-Semitism in 2006, with twice as many community schools reportedly attacked then in 2005. The number of synagogues which registered attacks rose by one-third.

The report listed Britain, Australia, France, and Canada as the countries with the greatest rise in anti-Semitic attacks. Leading the list was Britain, which registered a 20-year record of 100 incidents - 60% more then in 1986. Of those incidents, 37% were considered violent.

Australia also experienced a significant increase in anti-Semitism, registering 47% more attacks then its yearly average. France also faired poorly, ending the year with 24% more attacks then usual, and 45% more violent attacks then the year before.

In contrast, the United States registered a 12% drop in anti-Semitic attacks in 2006.

2. Archaeology: Brit-Am Version of Explorator 9.51
From: david meadows <rogueclassicist@gmail.com>
================================================================
explorator 9.51 April 15, 2007
================================================================

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================

Brief item on some Parthian finds in Iran:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=5907&sectionid=351020105

On the who-wrote-the-Dead-Sea-Scrolls controversy (nothing really new here, but a summary of the current prevailing views):
http://tinyurl.com/3doumg (Forward)
cf.:
http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9217.html

Latest salvo in the Temple Mount saga:
http://tinyurl.com/2ephag (HR)

================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================

More on the portrayal of various aspects of the ancient world in 300:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9587471

A site associated with Boudicca + a power excavator is a formula for bad things:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/4454

An Antonine Wall workers' camp?:
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=566802007

The Lincoln Aqueduct may have been used after all:
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART46087.html

Greek artifacts from Peshawar:
http://www.sparta.markoulakispublications.org.uk/index.php?id=100

I think we've mentioned this Illyrian ships find before:
http://tinyurl.com/3b8wbb (Science Daily)

Time Team has been poking around a Roman fort in Binchester:
http://tinyurl.com/3atekx (NE)

Roger Travis has an interesting approach to the Aeneid:
http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2007/070416/07041607.htm

More Rome and India coverage:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070409/asp/nation/story_7623483.asp

Criticism of Herodotus as a source for 300:
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_21315.shtml

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EUROPE AND THE UK (+ Ireland)
================================================================
A 3000 b.p. ring from Buntingford has been declared treasure:
http://tinyurl.com/35z3vg (Mercury)

A Seventh Century Saxon pendant:
http://tinyurl.com/33ace2 (icLoughborough)

The UK's forgotten battlefields:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2437312.ece

Looking for Rob Roy's house:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6548271.stm

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NORTH AMERICA
================================================================
On the mounds of Missouri:
http://digmo.org/stories/2007/04/14/ancient-history/

Trying to track down the 'Swamp Fox':
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/nation/17074823.htm

NC formally apologized for slavery:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Slavery-Apology.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/us/12brfs-slavery.html

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CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
================================================================

DNA testing on sacrificial victims from Teotihuacan suggest they
were brought from quite a distance:
http://tinyurl.com/2okzjp (LAT)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18063260/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070411/sc_nm/mexico_pyramid_dc_2
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11245760.htm

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OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
A sidebar to a piece categorized elsewhere provides a handy
list of famous archaeologists and what find they are associated
with:
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/564342.html

On the effects various eye diseases may have had on some well
known artists:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070410182854.htm

Interesting item on the 'keepers' of Gregorian Chant:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/world/europe/10chant.html

History's 100 most influential people (from a Japanese perspective):
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1471

We always get theories of how pyramid stones or stonehenge stones
were moved and raised ... this guy has the most plausible method
I've seen yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

On the variety of languages in the Caucasus:
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070411-061929-6117r

A Dickens theme park:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070412/od_nm/arts_dickens_dc

On assorted 'digital libraries':
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/arts/09conn.html

Review of Hugh Brogan, *Alexis de Tocqueville*:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0410/p15s01-bogn.html

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TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Roman Africa:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200106/kaplan (rather old)

3. Why I went up to the Temple Mount
MOSHE DANN, THE JERUSALEM POST
April