Mideast Media Sampler 07/17/2011

From DG:

1) More Roger

I need to clarify two points about my critique of Roger Cohen's latest drivel.

I was uncertain about his charge that Israel supported Salam Fayyad. Barry Rubin e-mailed to point that Israel indeed had. For example in his speech to Congress, PM Netanyahu said:

But there is another truth: The Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in which they will be neither Israel's subjects nor its citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable and independent people in their own state. They should enjoy a prosperous economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.We've already seen the beginnings of what is possible. In the last two years, the Palestinians have begun to build a better life for themselves. Prime Minister Fayad has led this effort. I wish him a speedy recovery from his recent operation.We've helped the Palestinian economy by removing hundreds of barriers and roadblocks to the free flow of goods and people. The results have been nothing short of remarkable. The Palestinian economy is booming. It's growing by more than 10% a year. 

Elder of Ziyon in his comments to my critique wrote that Cohen's time frame - five years - for the decrease in terrorist violence was correct. I thought the drop should have been measured from 2002 or 2003 based on terror fatalities. Elder responded that he used injuries from terror attacks as his standard and that the biggest percentage drop had been from 2006 to 2007. (1019 to 291) Elder also pointed out that this drop preceded  Fayyad's appointment as Prime Minister, so he doesn't deserve all the credit Cohen gives him on this count.

The underlying premise of Cohen's op-ed is if only the United States had done more; if only Israel had done more; if only Abbas had done more, we'd now have peace. But would we?

There was a poll released late last week that showed that a majority of Palestinians don't accept a two state solution. Other findings of the poll included:

When given a quote from the Hamas Charter about the need for battalions from the Arab and Islamic world to defeat the Jews, 80% agreed. Seventy-three percent agreed with a quote from the charter (and a hadith, or tradition ascribed to the prophet Muhammad) about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones and trees.

But only 45% said they believed in the charter’s statement that the only solution to the Palestinian problem was jihad.

There was a silver lining to the poll though:

The survey’s more positive findings included that only 22% supported firing rockets at Israeli cities and citizens and that two-thirds preferred diplomatic engagement over violent “resistance.”

Among Palestinians in general 65% preferred talks and 20% violence. In the West Bank it was 69-28%, and in Gaza, 59- 32%.

Asked whether they backed seeking a Palestinian state unilaterally in the UN, 64% said yes. The number was 57% in the West Bank and 79% in Gaza. Thirty-seven percent said the UN action would bring a Palestinian state closer, 16% said it would set back the establishment of a state, and 44% said it would make no difference.

And this begs the question, are the Palestinians being prepared for peace? The answer is rather clear.


2) Hezbollah's hardships

According to Der Spiegel, Hezbollah is facing financial difficulty (via Daily Alert)

In recent months, Hezbollah has become involved in disastrous investments, losing almost €1 billion ($1.4 billion). The Iranians, who are now feeling the brunt of the UN sanctions imposed as a result of their nuclear activities, have made it clear that they cannot provide Hezbollah with additional funding at this time. This is embarrassing for Hezbollah, whose image in Lebanon depends in large part on its generous social services. It is now falling behind in the rebuilding of homes it had promised to Hezbollah's Shiite followers after the destructive 2006 bomb attacks. Israel began massive bombing strikes in Lebanon that year after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. 

Apparently this is one more positive benefit of Iranian sanctions.

Nor does the recent indictment of four members of Hezbollah help their standing, as Jonathan Spyer writes:

Once again, the movement’s Achilles’ heel has been the irresolvable contradiction between its pan-Arab pretensions and its practical loyalties to the narrow, mainly Shi’ite, Iran-led bloc.

This contradiction has now been laid bare in its most blatant form.

Hezbollah members, whose guns were proclaimed as serving a notional Arab and Islamic “general will” against Israel, now stand accused of the murder of an iconic Sunni Arab politician from the very heart of the Arab mainstream.

May their troubles increase.


3) Electric avenue

Sky New recently covered an effort of Israel scientists to capture energy from traffic and turn it into electricity. ( h/t Legal Insurrection)

The bright sparks at the country's Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed a road that generates power when vehicles pass over it.
And they hope the technology will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
In a university car park, Haim Abramovich and his team run a heavy truck repeatedly over a special stretch of tarmac.
"The name of the game is harvesting," he told Sky News. "Harvesting means energy which is available but is going to waste.
"So what I want to is to harvest part of that energy and make it useful. This is the name of the game and this is my dream."

I did a little research and discovered that this project has been going on since 2009.

The manager of the project, Dr. Lucy Edri-Azoulay, said that the generators on Highway 4 were planted 2 inches below the top level of asphalt, and use the weight of cars driving on top of them to generate electricity. 

Edri-Azoulay explained that the technology driving the system is based on Piezoelectric materials, which generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. 

Edri-Azoulay stated that installing the program on a single traffic lane stretching one kilometer would produce 200 kilowatts of electricity hour and a four lane highway with the system implemented would produce a megowatt of electricity, enough to power 2,500 households.

For more information here's the company that is developing this system, Innowattech.

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