Giving land for nothing

In a nutshell, this is why giving land for "peace" (try to see the sarcasm in that word) will never be of use to Israelis. And yes I know I'm a European girl expressing my opinions, but lets face it.. It's not very complicated. So wake up and smell the coffee, leftists!

Part of article:

What is the definition of ‘all of Palestine’ for which the struggle will be continued?
“That means all the area occupied according to law, and we will continue to fight over it. And it means that we won’t give the IDF and the settlers who are escaping from Gaza to the West Bank to abuse our people there. Palestinian blood is one and therefore we are ready to continue the struggle. For this reasons we have already set up the units who work to smuggle the necessary knowledge for fighting techniques, especially to do with the missiles, from Gaza to the West Bank.

Hold on, missiles in the West Bank is a very dangerous thing. Would an (IDF) operation in Qalqilia cause missiles to fall on the Sharon area (central Israel) or on Tel Aviv?

“In principle, yes. But I am not saying that we will fire these missiles left right and center. These missiles will be activated in proportion to Israeli activity. A small Israeli operation here and there will not tempt us to use the missiles, but a major assassination, or big infiltration into a city like Jenin, would force us to act. But as always, we won’t initiate, we will only respond to Israeli activities.”

Blogs are shaping contemporary culture

I just read this article about blogging. None of it came as a surprise, but it somehow gives you a feeling a satisfaction to see what you've already known for a long time published by other people.
But what this article also discusses, is that blogs are giving people a new way of receiving information. This is exactly why pro-Israel blogs are needed.

Everyone's Blogging

CEOs have them. Struggling artists have them. They're Web logs and they're changing the way people get information. Do you have one?

When CBS News went public last year with what it thought was evidence that President Bush had shirked his National Guard duty, it seemed that no amount of White House spin could hold off the scandal dogs. But a group of largely nameless, faceless so-called bloggers took up the defense and quickly began posting online dispatches questioning the authenticity of documents CBS used for its story. The rest, of course, is history. Bush was reelected; several CBS employees were shown the door.

Yes I'm alive!

7 days of no blogging! Preposterous I say...
Thank you to those of you who have expressed concern. Also thanks to all those who are still visiting!
And no, nothing has happened to me. I am doing very well. I have been, however, and still am, busy - busy - busy. Not only is my job at the tourist shop (where I've been doing some overtime) been sucking most of my energy out of me (especially since it's THE busy season right now), but I have been spending all my freetime on studying for a summer exam I am taking in 2 weeks from now. The whole matter is quite stressful. Basically, the course is mathematical (obligatory). I am useless when it comes to calculations. I had to hire a tutor. Finding a suitable tutor took a substantial amount of time, and now everything is at the last minute. So during the busiest time ever at work, I have very little time to study a subject I find practically incomprehensible...
And so.. That's my excuse! (And yeah I know, I always have an excuse...).

WW3?

I feel like all life has just been sucked out of me.
Right now I have no words for this. Just thoughts, and tears.

An eligible bachelorette?

All right, lets have it... WHO the **** signed me up for 'The Bachelor'??!

Today someone left a message on my answering machine:

Hello Maria. I am calling from the television company Saga Film about your application for the reality tv show "The Bachelor". Please call me back.

I was confused. I listened to the message again. There was no mistake. So I called the woman, and had a conversation that went something like this:

Maria: Hello, there was a message on my answering machine that said something about an application for the Bachelor..
Woman: Yes, what is your name?
Maria: Maria Susanna
Woman: Ahh yes, your application is just perfect, we'd love to have your for an interview!
Maria: No you don't understand. Signing up for 'the Bachelor' is just about the last thing I would ever do.
Woman: Oh is that so?
Maria: I'm afraid so. So you're going to have to delete the application.
Woman: Yes of course
Maria: Do you know who did it? And what did they write about me, anyway?
Woman: It's just a really great and interesting application, that's why we really want you for an interview.
Maria: Well it's a hoax so please erase it.
Woman: Are you absolutely sure you're not interested, not even a little?
Maria: Absolutely.

A fat liar - literally

Check this out: 59 lies in the film Fahrenheit 911

Separated at birth?

Mayor Livingston and the wicked Chancellor Palpatine

Stupid spoke..

"A Jerk"

I am beginning to suspect this man really is a living stone. Once again he has decided to let what comes out of his mouth reflect his prejudiced, anti-Israel thoughts.
Today I received a mail to sign a petition against terror. It was encouraged by the recent London as well as Netanya terror bombings. So what I find particularly interesting is the fact that Livingstone should dare make such comments justifying palestinian terror right after most Londoners themselves have just gotten a piece of what acts of terror really is about. Not to mention that his statement about palestinians not being in possession of any weapons is a sheer lie.

But anyway, here is some of what London's mayor had to say:

London mayor stands up for terror

Ken Livingstone tells reporters, 'Palestinians don't have jets and bombs; they only have their bodies to use as weapons'

LONDON - London's mayor Ken Livingstone held a press conference Monday in which he justified Palestinian terrorism against Israelis, saying, “The Palestinians don’t have jets and bombs, they only have their bodies to use as weapons."

Livingstone also compared Hamas to the ruling Likud party and laid into Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who as defense minister managed Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon to destroy PLO bases there.

“I don't expect to agree with them, whether it is a suicide bomber or an Israeli Minister of Defense who authorized an illegal invasion of a neighboring state,” the mayor of London said.

Addressing the possible visit of Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who has justified suicide terrorism against Israelis and has been previously hosted by the London mayor, Livingstone defended the Muslim Brotherhood cleric.

Livingstone told journalists that the cleric condemned suicide bombings “in the strongest possible terms, except in the Middle East, and we can’t have a double standard on this.”

Israeli Response

Responding to the press conference, Israeli's ambassador in London Zvi Heifetz said, "It is outrageous that the same mayor who rightfully condemned the suicide bombing in London as 'perverted faith,' defends those who, under the same extremist banner, kill Israelis."

Heifitz added, "Differentiating between the victims based on their nationalities is nothing short of shameful. Terror is terror - and nothing the Mayor can say will change that."
------------------------

So what can conclusion can one draw from a mayor of one of Europe's largest cities, when it is clear as a day that he:
*Feels that the life of an Israeli is worth less
*Lies when it serves his purpose
*Compares the Likud party to Hamas
*Has a nice cup of tea with Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, and invites him another 30 times more.
*Condemns and criticises whatever Israel does (and has done), but calls any criticism of Muslims 'islamophobia'.
*Much more...

So I'd say, that perhaps... Mayor Livingstone is a raving anti-semite, who might want to seek employment in a less international field. In order to be helpful, I decided to give Livingstone my: Top 3 choices for Mayor Livingstone's new job!

Nr. 1: The Royal English Mail! Don't ya think he's look dashing in red?

Nr. 2: Delivering Goats Milk. Like their slogan says: "Thanks goodness for goats!"

Nr. 3: A Parking Inspector. Well, the complete loss of power might come as a shock to Livinstone. So the joy of giving out tickets might turn out to be an excellent new career.

Democracy - And orange is its color

I worked until around 22:15 today. After that I spent the evening with my mother. We talked the disengagement, and particularly about the demonstrations that are going on now. My beautiful, lovely and wise mother just shook her head and said that she couldn't believe Israel was making a mistake like the disengagement.

Anti-pullout activist

There isn't much to say that hasn't been said already from where I'm standing where this is all concerned. I'm just waiting to see what happens. Waiting, hoping and praying.

An interesting photo gallery can be viewed here: Disengagement

To kill or not to kill?

"Handsome bastard". Well ok, at least he's a bastard

An interesting article in today's Ynet discusses what I like to call 'Muslim views on killing the innocent'.

The survey by the Pew Research Center examined public opinion in six predominantly Muslim nations: Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Jordan and Lebanon. It also examined views in nine North American and European countries as well as in India and China.

In all, more than 17,000 people were questioned either by telephone of face-to-face.

The article provides the readers with some interesting statistics, such as:

In Morocco, 26 percent of the public now say they have a lot or some confidence in bin Laden, down from 49 percent in a similar poll two years ago. In Lebanon, where both Muslims and Christians took part in the survey, only 2 percent expressed some confidence in the Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader, down from 14 percent in 2003.

In Turkey, bin Laden's support has fallen to 7 percent from from 15 percent in the past two years. In Indonesia, it has dropped to 35 percent from 58 percent.

However, in Jordan, confidence in bin Laden, who took responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and many other attacks, rose to 60 percent from 55 percent. In Pakistan, it went to 51 percent from 45 percent.

A similar picture emerged when respondents were asked whether suicide bombings were justifiable. In Morocco, 13 percent said they often or sometimes could be justified, down from 40 percent in 2004.

However...

More Jordanians support suicide bombings

In Indonesia, 15 percent expressed that view, down from 27 percent in the summer of 2002. Support for suicide bombings also fell in Pakistan and dropped dramatically in Lebanon. However, support rose in Jordan, to 57 percent from 43 percent in 2002.

The poll was taken well before last week's bombings in London.

When asked what caused Islamic extremism, 40 percent in Lebanon and 38 percent in Jordan blamed U.S. policies and influence; in Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey, respondents were more likely to blame poverty, unemployment or poor education.

The Christian view of Muslims and the Muslim view of Jews

Despite terrorism fears, majorities in Britain, the United States, France, Canada and Russia and pluralities in Spain and Poland expressed favorable views about Muslims.

But in Germany and the Netherlands, opinion swung to an unfavorable view. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed in the Netherlands expressed an unfavorable view of Muslims. In Germany, 47 percent were unfavorable, compared with 40 percent who expressed favorable views.

Anti-Jewish sentiment was overwhelming in the Muslim countries. In Lebanon, 100 percent of Muslims and 99 percent of Christians said they had a very unfavorable view of Jews, while 99 percent of Jordanians also viewed Jews very unfavorably.

A mail order bride?

Appalling!
Every few months or so, perhaps about twice a year, I like to google my own name to see if anything new has come up. Normally there isn't anything unusual. But this time I was horrified to find out that somebody appears to be using my face & name for a Russian mail order bride advertisement! In shock, I found myself forced to look through the hundreds of photos of the gorgeous Russian brides-to-be, who are for some reason willing to give up their sanity for a life with an old, ugly, crippled and/or mentally disturbed Western European man. (Not that I want to sound judgmental here. I've heard it works out sometimes..).
To my disgust I saw that the women on the website had been divided into the following categories: The free gallery, the silver and the gold. The free gallery contained mostly photos of unattractive women, the silver had photos of normal/attractive women, and the gold had photos of pretty/beautiful women. This classification of human beings made me sick to my stomach.
For the record, I didn't find my own picture in any of the galleries, but my name is definitely listed there, somewhere. And possibly, my picture/pictures.
So if any of you men out there are looking to get a mail order bride, and you come accross a profile with my photos, here's what you should do: Dream on ;)

IAF strikes

Well, the IAF has hit Gaza.

Palestinian terrorists kill 22-year-old woman in artillery barrage on Israeli communities in and outside Gaza Strip; IDF says that it attacked Hamas targets in response and will cut Gaza into three pieces

I found comments from the readers quite interesting, as I often do. Most people were saying what I am saying, that disengagement won't bring peace.
I can't believe they're hitting Gaza tonight, and yet going through with this plan. And I can't believe I'm still hoping.

UPDATE: Taking on Hamas

Just wasn't meant to be?

I don't get hit on a lot. Infact, sometimes I wonder if men think I look frightening. Like I might bark at them or physically injure them. I don't count the times when I get hit on by someone who is not my type (I admit that there is almost nobody in Iceland who fits into the category of "my type"). Not that those guys hit on me a lot either.
Today I felt like a complete shit.
The manifestation of "my type" walked into my shop. A tall (not a requirement though), dark, French (but still really charming and good looking) guy with dark brown curly hair (my biggest weakness). After hanging out there for ages (with me trying not to stare at him), he started flirting. He wasn't one of those tacky French men. He was shy and sweet, and his face even got red when I looked at him. After this had gone on for a while, I could very easily have asked him what he was doing that evening. But what did ingenious Maria instead choose to say? "Well it was nice talking to you, bye". His face got red again. He smiled and left.

And as if there weren't enough for one day..
Later that evening a really cute, dark guy came, and we started talking. When I realised that he was also flirting. I thought to myself "hmm Maria, you're popular today". I also had that case made, but what did I do?? I ended that conversation with "okay, so you're buying this, well okay thank you!".
I took a quick look at this credit card. The cute, dark guy was an Israeli. He smiled as he walked out.

I stood there for about 10 minutes thinking about how I will most certainly die alone.

At war with the mailman

I am now at war with the mailman.

You see.. I don't like to get newspapers to my house. I don't like junk mail, advertisements, etc. Infact, I don't even particularly care for handwritten letters much.
When I moved into the apartment where I currently live (last September), I immediately began receiving the newspaper "Frettabladid", against my will. To my disgust, the newspaper boy would for some reason stuff my mailbox with not one, but with two or three copies of the paper. I honestly have no idea why he thought I would need several copies of the same paper.
I placed a note on my mailbox saying "No 'Frettabladid' and no junkmail please". It worked. Until a few weeks ago.. You see, there is a new 'free paper' in town, simply called 'Bladid', meaning 'The Paper'. This pitiful excuse for a newspaper is certainly not something I would like to waste my time reading, even if I were into anything other than online news. The fact that I mostly boycott Icelandic news, and don't like to have them rubbed up against my face, are another issue.
So anyway, 'Bladid' is apparently delivered by the mailman himself, and my note asking for 'no Frettablad and no junkmail' did not seem to be enough. After a few weeks of taking 'Bladid' straight from the mailbox to the trashbin outside the house where I live, I decided to place a new note on my mailbox:
"No papers at all, and no junkmail please".
My neighbor saw me attaching the new note to the mailbox and asked what I was doing, and told me I could be sure to get 'Bladid' again the next day. And what do you know? When I got home from work at around 22:30 pm, I saw that annoying waste of paper sticking out of my mailbox once again. I wrote a new note, in my favorite color, red. I placed it on the mailbox, in the way that the mailman will need to remove it to put mail in, so he can't possibly miss it:

"DEAR MAILMAN
I DON'T WANT 'THE PAPER'.
IS THIS FINALLY CLEAR???"

This means war...

A dark day in Netanya

A bloody homicide attack in Netanya has killed 3 and injured 90

Three killed in Netanya suicide attack; Islamic Jihad claims responsibility

A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Hasharon mall, at the entrance to the coastal town of Netanya, on Tuesday evening killing three women and wounding 24 others. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Six people were seriously wounded in the attack, and 18 others sustained light injuries. The wounded were taken to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava and Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera.

-----------

This unspeakable tragedy makes me sad, and what makes me sick to my stomach is to see respected news sources such as BBC News belittling the incident:

A suicide bomber has killed two people and himself and injured about 30 at the entrance to a shopping centre in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya.

The same was written in Iceland's biggest newspaper. How horrifying that such ways should be uses to encourage anti-Israel thoughts.

As always, my thoughts and prayers go out to victims and their families.

A little on terrorism

Here is an interesting and thought provoking post.

Reconnected to planet earth!

At last I am able to write down a few words in my beloved weblog!
I have just gotten through an unbelievable work marathon, and I daresay I've sacrificed my time entirely for work lately. All my spare time has been spent on sleeping, in order to have energy for the hours I've been putting in. But now I shall finally get to enjoy a couple of days off. A couple of days that will be packed with a million little things that I need to do.. But days off, nevertheless!

Since all I've done is worked, most of the things I have to say will inevitably be work related.. As I have previously mentioned, I work in a tourist shop. I sell souvenirs, and I assist tourists (foreigners) by giving them directions, and helping them with all kinds of incredibly strange problems and questions that they come up with.
Working in a tourist shop is not like working in a regular shop. In order to work with tourists one will be expected to do all kinds of strange things. Here are some examples:

-Be multilingual. Preferably speak all the world's languages. Except Dutch, since everyone in Holland (including young children and old people) speak English fluently, for some reason.
-If you don't speak a language, learn basics, body language, to speak with your hands, and be extremely resourceful when it comes to communication.
-Have figured out all the exchange rates of all the major currencies
-Have figured out the European, American and British clothing and shoe sizes.
-Not get nervous about how to reply when Americans greet you with "how are you?" (even though it's completely inapproriate, since they're complete strangers and couldn't care less about my health).
-Have learned to convert celcius into fahrenheit, centimeters into inches, and kilos into pounds.
-Have learned never to give a discount to anyone from China (then they will turn out to have 40 Chinese friends who will all demand a discount as well).
-Not to tell a joke to a German. They won't appreciate hearing anything that isn't of use to them. After spending much time observing German behavior, I have noticed that they do occasionally tell each other jokes and laugh, but their jokes seem to always be about money. And they're never very funny..
-Not, under any circumstances to shout at, insult or physically injure dumb Americans, no matter what they say. Even if they point at a Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt and ask if that is the Icelandic flag, or ask you what it feels like 'to be colonized by the United States'.
-By God, don't tell a Canadian that "Canadians and Americans are just the same" (although lets be realistic, it's true).
-Show an immense amount of patience when dealing with the Japanese, who speak virtually no English, and appear to mostly be like overgrown children with a mad laughter and a strange obsession with 'Hello Kitty' (which, sadly, seems to be becoming quite a trend here as well).
-Not try to understand how a French person thinks, or what a French person says. Just try to understand that God put the French on earth to TEST MY PATIENCE AND MAKE ME A STRONGER PERSON, SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING SO THOUGHTFUL!! Okay I'm calm now...

But don't get me wrong, there are some nationalities that are absolutely delightful. The British, for instance, hardly ever make any trouble at all, and say the cutest things like "I beg your pardon", and "oh thank you ever so much".
Due to my attachment to Israel, my favorite tourists are the Israelis. It is quite interesting how many Israelis are visiting Iceland. I run into many each day, and they almost always like to talk. There was a quite amusing incident that occurred today while I was (once again) playing one of my Israeli cd's at work. A young religious Israeli couple came into my shop, and simultaneously began singing their heart out. Then they walked around the whole shop singing. They talked with me for a while, and then they photographed the huge viking troll that stands outside the shop, like everyone else does.

Can't be real

London today

Al Qaeda are truly the pest of contemporary mankind.

It takes strength to be the world's most hated man

I have always been pro-Bush. I support him, I admire him, I trust him. I also feel sad, bitter and disappointed over the way the intense hatred so many are expressing towards him.
The other day when I was at the mall, I saw at least 4-5 people wearing anti-Bush t-shirts. Hating the man has become a trend.
I saw an interesting article that I would like to point out, and I recommend reading:

Texas tradition

Disengagement is opposed to George Bush's values, writes Yoram Ettinger

In a recent speech, U.S. President George W. Bush presented his country with a worldview in the tradition of late President Ronald Reagan: no retreat in the face of terrorism, yes to pre-emptive strikes – including assassinations – against terrorist breeding grounds.

Rest of article: Here

Don't read this if you're allergic to nonsense :-)

"Surreal" is the correct term to describe the way this day has felt. No unusual events have taken place though, except perhaps in my mind.
At around 19:30 during the evening I was feeling very tired at work. I was standing by the counter quietly, watching how three Chinese people placed three stuffed puffins on the table in front of me. They talked excitedly in a loud tone of voice in Chinese, while gently stroking the birds and turning them back and forth. I did not understand a single word, and they didn't speak any English, let alone Icelandic. They tried speaking to me in Chinese, without much luck. I had had several other customers from China that same day, the day before, and many other day, so that's hardly newsworthy. But as they stood there for about 15 minutes discussing (I assume) the puffins, it occured to me how surreal this whole situation was. While they communicated with each other so easily, none of their sounds made any sense to me, not one bit. And yet there they were, right in front of me, all the way from the land of noodles and little feet.
I contemplated this as I walked towards the busstop. At the busstop I saw a beautiful little blond girl with bright gray/blue eyes. She looked just like most other little girls in Iceland. Her daddy told her to let "them" (French tourists) with backpacks enter the bus first, because that would be the polite thing to do. An elderly Arab looked at the little girl and smiled, and sat next to what was probably his blond wife. A Chinese girl stood around reading a book about Iceland in Chinese. She wore a "North Face" jacket like the Americans do.

When I was a child I once had the following conversation with my mother:
-Mom, am I weird?
-No you're not. Nothing under the sun is weird.
I guess she was right. But sometimes, things just feel.. so surreal.

The right attitude

I wish...

Everyone thought this way: Soldier says 'no' to pullout drill

TEL AVIV - A military hand-to-hand combat instructor has refused to teach soldiers how to defend themselves against potential violence from Jewish settlers they are slated to evacuate from Gaza this summer.

“Idan was asked a few days ago to train a large group of soldiers in self-defense, aggressiveness, dominance, dealing with a knife-wielding assailant, things like that,” the soldier’s friends told Ynet. “He was very cautious, and asked to make sure it was not preparation for the withdrawal. The officers calmed him down.”

While he prepared to teach the course, an officer described what he would have to include in his training, giving examples such as dealing with “a settler with a knife” and “evacuating an outpost.”

Idan’s friends said he immediately realized the exercise was for the withdrawal, and said he was “not prepared to train troops against Jews” and that he “was taught to train (to fight) against an enemy only.”

"Conscientiously immoral"

Idan's father, Yitzhak, said it was conscientiously immoral for a soldier to train troops against other Jews.

“My son has a Jewish soul,” he said. “He is not able to train soldiers (to combat) Jews. I understand him and support him completely. I am against refusing (orders)..but my son is not refusing an order - this is a conscientious problem.”

Idan had said he would be willing to train the soldiers only if they sign documents or notify their commanders that they would not use violence against Jews, and would serve jail time if forced to do so. The army rejected his proposal.

Philosophy and pomegranates

There is no denying it: I am a bad blogger. Last night I did, however, write a long and (of course) extremely articulate post. But just as I was writing the last sentence, my darling laptop was kind enough to crash, and I simply could not be bothered to re-write the whole thing. And besides, writing on impulse is sort of my thing.
Well last night I had a bit of an epiphany. Okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but after spending days contemplating why I have been (and am) suffering from "writer's block" in every sense possible, I believe I have finally realised what is causing it. Lately, I have been unable to post, to answer e-mails, even to leave my co workers notes with instructions (I normally leave letter sized notes to make sure everything goes according to plan).
What makes the matter even stranger is the fact that I have had a lot on my mind lately, and therefore have an awful lot that I could have written or talked about. But instead, I have just been doing a lot of reading and thinking. What I realised was, that the reason why I have been unable to write, is because I simply have too much to say. I have made several attempts to write posts and mails, but everything has turned out sounding too serious, philosophical or personal.
Along with working very hard, I have been paying close attention to everything currently taking place in Israel, which is a lot.. And I daresay that my heart is more in Israel now than probably ever before. I know this is hard to understand for those who have always been in Israel, such as the highly intelligent Orly! But this is probably why I experience a feeling of sadness and helplessness practically every day, when reading new stories of "soldiers beating settlers". There is not much to say, or do. At least not from where I am sitting.
So what do I do then? Yesterday I had a day off work, so I went to the shopping mall and searched for the only thing that I know for a fact Icelandic grocery stores import from Israel: Pomegranates. I bought a bunch of them, despite their ridiculously high price. I noticed how the store had removed the little stickers with the country of origin (Israel) from the pomegranates, and instead they had put a sign saying "pomegranates - from Asia", while all the other fruits were marked with the country of origin. I suppose it was done to get people to still buy them.