Israel celebrates 60 years of independence

holyland red

In 67, Roman forces besieged the city for seven months before finally breaching the walls. According to Josephus, all the inhabitants and refugees (numbering 9,000) were killed except for two women who had hid themselves during the ensuing slaughter.

Sultan

On the contrary Brian...

It's the Palestinians who deserve all the plaudits for surviving in the hell hole.

holyland red

Qumran (Hebrew: חירבת קומראן‎, Khirbet Qumran) is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, just next to the Israeli Kibbutz of Kalia. The site was most likely constructed sometime during or before the reign of John Hyrcanus, 134-104 BC and saw various phases of occupation until, probably after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Titus and his X Fretensis destroyed it. It is best known as the settlement nearest to the hiding place of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves of the sheer desert cliffs

holyland red

Bar'am was a Jewish village in Mishnaic and Talmudic times. Perhaps building a village at this deserted location was maybe inspired by a legend that Queen Esther was buried in Bar'am. On Purim, the Scroll of Esther (Megillah) was read at her grave.

The synagogue of Bar'am is not mentioned in early sources, but Medieval writers commented upon its impressiveness. Rabbi Moses Basula said, in 1522, that the synagogue belonged to Simeon bar Yochaim, who survived the Second Jewish War in 13 BCE. But the building has been dated to at least a century later.

holyland red

Around the beginning of the Common Era, the fishing village of Capernaum was entirely Jewish. It was very small. During the rule of Herod it guarded the frontier. A Roman garrison was stationed with a centurion at its head. Passengers had to pay taxes to a customs office. The centurion also seems to have ordered the building of the synagogue. The first synagogue does not exist anymore, but as archaeologists have shown in recent digs, it lies buried under the present synagogue.
The current synagogue was built somewhere in the fourth century. In the past it was thought that the synagogue dated from the third century. But now archaeologists argue that the correct date is late fourth century, because pottery and coins from the 4th century have been found under the floor

Team Brian GB

The Palestinians have always lived in a hell hole, the arab world has always looked down upon the Palestinians, if Egypt were so concerned they could give them some land in the Sinai, if Saudi Arabia were concerned they could find land but they don't, they use the plight of Palestinians to further their cases against Israel. The fact of the matter is no one in that part of the world holds Palestine in high regard.

And my name isn't Brian.

Fitzjames

I used to hate it when people at work that I barely knew told me it was their birthday. Sure they bought cakes and stuff and I bought a funny card but basically I like to acknowledge people that I genuinely like rather than smile nicely for people who I dont care about.....because they have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and grab you by the water cooler to tell me how everyone in the office hates them and back home the neighbours are jealous about some rezoning they have done on their garden.

I used to go along with it cos for people like that ......we actually believe their paranoia....then as we know them better, we think the people who dont like people who dont like them might actually have a point........and it aint because of they are obese, too short, too black, too ginger, too pretty....too heavily accented........its cos they are assholes.
If a factory or office block contained say 195 workers........well some indeed many would be racist......and we are always relunctant to stack our rational feelings with their irrational ones.

So anyway..........whats that got to do with Israel.
Happy Birthday.

Happy birthday on barely surviving the greatest sin that mankind has seen in modern times ....the Holocaust. (and indeed a repetition of a sin dating back thousands of years). Congratulations on the achievement of setting up a state in the middle east based on your own achievements (including force of arms......dont be too bothered that on occasions you resorted to Terrorism. It certainly wouldnt bother me.) Big cheer.

Congratulations on defending that state. The original kibbutz system and unifying a nation thru education, health care and making the desert grow. Big cheer.

But ......what can I say. Israelis attitude on any criticism a friend may make of the way it lives its life.........turns off potential friends. And its understandable that in the Israeli psyche the one single truth is that History tells them they dont need friends. They are "alone" in a sea of enemies. You managed to turn the good will of the greatest sin in mankinds history into a crutch. At any inconvenient point you have pictures you can show us.

Its "friends are either for or against.......no time for any nuance, hesitation.
Alas I live my life in a whelter of muddling thru trying to do the right thing. Life is a compromise, it is nuanced.
Simpler to deal with people who recognise that.

So happy Birthday Israel but three cheers for Israel? Well at most two cheers for Israel.
And dont be offended if I pass on the birthday cake. Possibly I have a sore tummy. A sore tooth maybe. Ooops I just remembered I have a rare form of 24 hour diabetes.
Dont take it personally that I dont wanna go down the pub at lunch time. I dont drink and besides......my wife asked me to get home early.
No offence.

Wibble

Massada blew me away. We slept on the picnic tables at the bottom before climbing up at dawn. The view at the top was
one thing but you got a real feel for the isolation of the place and at least a fee of how being under siege there could feel like.

Sultan

Where do you think the Palestinian refugees live?

So other countries give up their land?

Sultan

I live in a beautiful Roman town in a country called England.

Giggsy PO

They are Arabs with Arab culture, Arabic language and Arab history. They have their own Arab states from where they came into the Land of Israel about one century ago to contrast the Jewish immigration.

So they live there.

holyland red

They got 80% of the territory, but they're still refugees. They like being refugees, don't they?

holyland red

That's something we have learned to live with over the years. We are still under siege, and we could still face disasters, but what this day is about is our ability to charge a heavy price for future attacks. The holocaust memorial day was last week, and though we could still face another holocaust our independence means that we won't be left helpless as the people of Masada or the European Jews during WW2.

holyland red

Zippori had several synagogues (18 according to Talmudic sources), but so far only this one was unearthed in the North side of Zippori. Dated to the 5th C, the 15M x &M building was covered by a magnificent Zodiac mosaic floor, 20 inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic, and scenes from Bible stories

VidaRed

dont jews have arabic roots ?

holyland red

holyland red

Hammat Tiberias

Joshua 19: 32, 35: The sixth lot came out for the children of Naphtali.... And their border was ... the fortified cities were Ziddim-zer, and Hammath, and Rakkath, and Chinnereth..."



The city was a walled city during the Biblical times, and peaked during the Roman/Byzantine periods. It was known for its warm health springs (a total of 17 springs, at a temperature of about 60oC) and was a spa center for the great Roman city of Tiberias.

A number of synagogues were unearthed and reconstructed, including one of the most important mosaics - a zodiac with symbols, inscriptions and symbols, and two 7-branched menorahs.

holyland red

VidaRed

[Hellboy]17

Couldn't agree more.

holyland red

Don't believe everything you read on the internet

VidaRed

holyland red

Land and Population Exchange Survey
Over 90% of Arab residents in the 'Triangle' are opposed to the land exchange plans announced by the Israeli Government on the 3rd February, 2004

A survey of the public opinion of Arabs residents of the 'Triangle' region in Israel has shown that there are high levels of opposition to Israeli Government's plans to exchange Arab towns and their residents in Israel for Jewish settlements and their residents in the West Bank. The survey results show that the majority (96%) of respondents were aware of the plans and that 91% of respondents opposed the plans, 67% of the respondents registering strong opposition.
Israel is a real hell for Arabs

Team Brian GB

Perhaps if the rest of the world followed Britain when we recognised the West Bank as part of Jordan we wouldn't be in this mess today.

Ballache

Arabs come from what is known today as the Arabic gulf.

Fearless

On the face of it, thats an absurd comment.

Deeper down, in the murky depths of the subconcious, you've hit the nail on the head.

Fearless

Even better - had the rest of the world followed Churchill and the League of Nations when he recognized that the West Bank would be part of Israel - before Jordan even existed- we wouldn't be in the mess we are today.

Plechazunga

They have common ancestors. Arabic and Hebrew are are on different sub-branches of the same branch of the Semitic language family.

Genetically, Arabs and Jews are closely related according to the tests that have been done, but it's complicated... the Jews whose ancestors lived in Europe the last 2000 years or so have mixed with a klot of other ethnic groups, and likewise the Arabs have mixed with Turks, Kurds, Persians, Europeans etc. Then there are the Jews who stayed in Palestine and other middle-eastern countries, who have mixed with Arabs - they are obviously closer genetically, I assume, but I've not seen specific results on that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/742430.stm

holyland red