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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rick McDougall who wrote (4126)	12/24/2003 4:09:53 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 22250

Refreshing news from the Only-Democracy-In-The-Mideast (TM): Chinese workers in Israel sign no-sex contract Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv Wednesday December 24, 2003 The Guardian Chinese workers at a company in Israel have been forced to agree not to have sex with or marry Israelis as a condition of getting a job. According to a contact they are required to sign, male workers may not have any contact with Israeli women - including prostitutes, a police spokesman, Rafi Yaffe, said. He said there was nothing illegal about the requirement and that no investigation had been opened. An Israeli lawyer who did not want to be named said while the contract might appear legal, it would be rejected if challenged in court. "The point is that a Chinese worker will agree to anything and then will not have anyone to help them if there is a problem," he said. The labourers are also forbidden from engaging in any religious or political activity. The contract states that offenders will be sent back to China at their own expense. About 260,000 foreigners work in Israel, having replaced Palestinian labourers during three years of fighting. When the government first allowed the entrance of the foreign workers in the late 90s, ministers warned of a "social timebomb" caused by their assimilation with Israelis. More than half the workers are in the country illegally. Israeli police have increased efforts to deport those working without permits because of rising Israeli unemployment, which has reached 11% in recent months. Advocates of foreign workers, who also come from Thailand, the Philippines and Romania, say they are subject to almost slave-like conditions, and their employers often take away their passports and refuse to pay them. Analysts say there is much division within Israeli society over immigration and status, although the conflict with the Palestinians has given it an appearance of unity. Recent immigrants such as Russians and Ethiopians are disliked by older immigrants, and there is much resentment among secular Israelis at the privileges given to ultra-orthodox Jews. The foreigner workers are at the bottom of the pile. guardian.co.uk

To: Rick McDougall who wrote (4126)	12/24/2003 4:04:09 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22250

General Zinni blames neocons: "Likewise, he says, the goal of transforming the Middle East by imposing democracy by force reminds him of the "domino theory" in the 1960s that the United States had to win in Vietnam to prevent the rest of Southeast Asia from falling into communist hands. And that brings him back to Wolfowitz and his neoconservative allies as the root of the problem. "I don't know where the neocons came from -- that wasn't the platform they ran on," he says. "Somehow, the neocons captured the president. They captured the vice president." He is especially irked that, as he sees it, no senior officials have taken responsibility for their incorrect assessment of the threat posed by Iraq. "What I don't understand is that the bill of goods the neocons sold him has been proven false, yet heads haven't rolled," he says. "Where is the accountability? I think some fairly senior people at the Pentagon ought to go." Who? "That's up to the president." Zinni has picked his shots carefully -- a speech here, a "Nightline" segment or interview there. "My contemporaries, our feelings and sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice," he said at a talk to hundreds of Marine and Navy officers and others at a Crystal City hotel ballroom in September. "I ask you, is it happening again?" The speech, part of a forum sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Marine Corps Association, received prolonged applause, with many officers standing. Zinni says that he hasn't received a single negative response from military people about the stance he has taken. "I was surprised by the number of uniformed guys, all ranks, who said, 'You're speaking for us. Keep on keeping on.' " washingtonpost.com