Happy New Year: A Song for 2010

To all EA readers, I add my thanks to those of Mike Dunn and EA's staff. From the tragedy and sorrow as well as the joy and excitement that we have witnessed in the last year, there emerges the hope for this one:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tuTSi6Sck&feature=related[/youtube]

EA's Story of 2009: "Trippy Skippy" --- Opium-Eating Wallabies and Crop Circles

From the BBC (25 June):

Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite", a government official has said.

Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the kangaroo-like marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine.

She was reporting to a parliamentary hearing on security for poppy crops.
Australia supplies about 50% of the world's legally-grown opium used to make morphine and other painkillers.

"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Lara Giddings told the hearing.

"Then they crash," she added. "We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."

Rick Rockliff, a spokesman for poppy producer Tasmanian Alkaloids, said the wallaby incursions were not very common, but other animals had also been spotted in the poppy fields acting unusually.

"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles," he added.

Retired Tasmanian poppy farmer Lyndley Chopping also said he had seen strange behaviour from wallabies in his fields.

"They would just come and eat some poppies and they would go away," he told ABC News.

"They'd come back again and they would do their circle work in the paddock."

Some people believe the mysterious circles that appear in fields in a number of countries are created by aliens. Others put them down to a human hoax.

Middle East Inside Line: Israel & US Spar Over Settlements

Following the Israeli Government's decision to build 700 more apartments in East Jerusalem, the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs expressed Washington's concern over the future of the peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel:

Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible.

We believe that through good faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its status for people around the world.

Jerusalem Mayor and businessman Nir Barkat maintained, however, that criticism from the United States would not have any impact on construction in the city. He added that the demand, applied only to Jews, to halt construction in Jerusalem would not be legal anywhere in the world.

Palestine: Protesters Meet at Gaza’s Border

Israel: Netanyahu Manoeuvring for Peace Talks with Palestine?

Eleven days ago, former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin told the Meretz Party leadership that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was close to finalizing an agreement with the Obama administration for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, envisaging a two-state solution based on 1967 borders:

* Timetable: Netanyahu is willing to accept the U.S. proposal to allot 24 months to talks, but does not want to announce that the goal is to reach a deal by the end of that period.

* Borders: Netanyahu has agreed that the goal of the talks is to end the conflict on the basis of an independent Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders, the exchange of agreed-upon territory, and a Jewish state with recognized and secure borders that will meet Israel's security needs.

* Jerusalem: Netanyahu has agreed that the status of Jerusalem will be discussed in the negotiations, but has not agreed to any preconditions on the issue.

Israel-Palestine: Is Egypt Bringing Abbas to Peace Talks?
Middle East Inside Line: Israel & US Spar Over Settlements
Palestine: Protesters Meet at Gaza’s Border

* Refugees: Netanyahu said he was willing to discuss the refugee issue only in a multilateral framework.

* Previous agreements: Netanyahu is willing to commit to all previously-signed agreements.

* Arab Peace Initiative: Netanyahu is not willing to support the plan, but is willing to say both sides are taking into consideration international initiatives, including this one, that contribute to the advancement of the peace process.

Although the government called Beilin's words "unfounded", Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit's "good news" following the meeting with Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's scheduled visit to Cairo on Wednesday, and U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell's expected visit in the second week of January lend weight to Beilin's scenario.

Some observers have linked these development to Netanyahu's reshaping of his Government. Haaretz's Akiva Eldar argued that "Netanyahu needs Kadima to fill the ranks that will empty in the wake of the departure of his partners from Yisrael Beiteinu and the National Union, and perhaps also some members of [Netanyahu's] Likud". Israel Harel from Haaretz added, "Netanyahu does need Kadima: to serve as a political counterweight to the ultra-Orthodox, in order to transform them from a growing burden to productive partners in building the Israeli state and Israeli society." Harel warned,however, that Likud might be divided again if Netanyahu cannot move further due to the Right's firm opposition.

Palestine: Protesters Meet at Gaza's Border

Approximately 1000 Israeli Arabs, including members of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, gathered Thursday on the Israeli side of the Gaza border to protest Israel's continuing blockade of the area. They were "met" by about 500 people, including 100 international activists, on the Gaza side.

The rhetoric was far from muted. Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak enjoys "classical music and killing children in Gaza" Following his criticism, Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared that Gazans were "much stronger" a year after Israeli's invasion in Operation Cast Lead. He added, "We have overcome the occupation, and will meet at the Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, which will remain Arab and Muslim."