Yes! Just Like That!

Did you know every social movement in any other society has an antecedant in American history? No?

I'm sick of seeing articles or hearing events in other cultures place somewhere on the American (or Western European) timeline. This is especially blatant with women's issues, but exists in other contexts, like this article in the NY Times today on "Jordanian Students Embracing Conservative Islam"

Across the Middle East, young people like Mr. Fawaz, angry, alienated and
deprived of opportunity, have accepted Islam as an agent of change and
rebellion. It is their rock ’n’ roll, their long hair and love beads. Through
Islam, they defy the status quo and challenge governments seen as corrupt and
incompetent.

Wow! Our rebellion was so innocent, with love beads and long hair, while theirs is Islam. I assume the journalist is attempting to help Americans understand this phenomenon by relating it something they know. But would that passage really suffer desprived of that reference? I doubt it. Why can't the Jordanians feel angry and alienated and want change without it being related to some American social movement from 40 years ago?

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

I was watching al-Jazeera a couple days ago, and caught a report on AIDS. It was a small report, mostly a chat with an expert in the studio. They threw up a graphic on the sources of AIDS transmission (I don't remember if this was supposed to be world-wide or Arab world only). The sources included unknown, blood transfusions, gays (شذوذ), drugs, and by far the largest category: zena (زنا).

First of all, I was surprised that homosexuals were referred to as shuzuz, instead of مثليون, which is usually used in formal writing. The latter word refers to "similar" like the word homo, while shaz means different. Like irregular verbs in grammar are shaz. I thought that word was strictly 'ammiyya, and kind of an insult.

And on the sex. I thought the word zena meant "adultery" but have been told it generally refers to all extra-marital, harram sex. Fornication.

So much for de-stigmitization of HIV/AIDS. Why do you have this disease? Because of dirty, dirty zena, you whore. This despite one of the fastest-growing groups of HIV/AIDS cases is women in (supposedly) monogamous relationships (there's more recent links but I'm lazy).

Car Bomb

Car bomb exploded this morning in Damascus around 8am, where the highway meets Airport Road. Killed 17 and wounded 14, civilians. While I was sleeping, some of my friends heard it and Sale7 said he saw the smoke from his apartment. The Syrian Interior Minister on Al-Arabiyya blamed it on terrorists.

Sorry to Brag

I've been attending a workshop this week, and thus have not had the usual idle moments at work in which to jot a few thoughts about life and shit, as it is technically known. The workshop has been awesome, the Ministry of Information and UNFPA are conducting it for Syrian journalists.

It's convinced me that I could understand a college-level lecture in Arabic, which is exciting in itself. There are naturally some words I don't understand, but they are few enough I can jot them in a notebook for later, and do not affect my understanding the lecture.

It reminds me of going to a play within my first few months here, and my friends told me to jot down any words I didn't understand. 20 minutes in there were two words on the paper and the dude next to me asked if I understood the play. "No."
"Why didn't you write down words you didn't understand?"
"I don't understand enough to write down words!"

I can now write down words.

It's also exciting because the trainer isn't speaking Syrian, but what I think is part Palestinian (at least in pronounciation) and part Egyptian (there are quite a bit of Egyptian constructions). Of course, he also is speaking in times in fusha, though at this point I understand Syrian more easily than even fusha.

So yeah, sorry to brag but this is exciting for me. And at the end of the course I will get a certificate! Yes!

And it All Comes Back to Ireland

My father is proven right. It all comes back to Ireland. Since moving to the States 30 years ago, he has been on a one-man mission to prove that everything comes from the Irish; I have born the majority of this campaign. Growing up, books like, "How the Irish Saved Civilization" littered the house. At any time I was expected to name the four Irish Nobel Prize winners for Literature (Yeats, Shaw, Beckett, Heaney) or recite a Yeats poem. Any discussion on practically anything brought up the inevitable Irish Analogy.

American civil rights movement? Let's hear the story about Catholic Emancipation again. But from where did Martin Luther King draw his inspiration? If you said Ghandi, you'd be only partially corrent: the true source of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and all boycotts for that matter, was the Irish Land League in 1880. Peasants in county Mayo organized a protest against Charles Boycott, the landlord's agent, for refusing to lower rents. Everyone refused to deal with the man: no one would work the fields, shopkeepers refused to sell to him, servants left the house. Boycott soon entered the English lexicon. Affirmative action, in his mind, has a direct relation to the positive discrimination practiced to bring more Catholics into the police and other government bodies in Northern Ireland after peace.

My father has also been insisting on creating a Palestinian-Israeli peace along the lines of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland (though wouldn't this create one state? Perish the thought!). No fan of colonalization, he laments the injustice of hundreds of years of English occupation, and was delighted when I pointed him to Edward Said's work on analyzing Irish literature with post-colonial theory.

And now, even Lebanon can be Ireland. Joshua Landis, who runs the awesome blog Syria Comment has written some commentary on a WSJ editorial on Hezbollah. In countering the ed's author, he writes that Hezbollah is a reasonable organization, "not much different from the IRA."
Futher:

The US very intelligently refused to treat the IRA as a terrorist
organization despite British insistence that it be proscribed as an
evil criminal gang. Fortunately, the the US insisted on viewing the Irish
Catholic struggle as political and not criminal. The result was successful
diplomacy that helped resolve the dispute and transformed Ireland into one
of the happier countries in the world with one of its zippiest
economies. There is no reason Lebanon can not follow suit.

Yes! It all does come back to Ireland! Unfortunately I doubt that many in Washington are going to see Hezbollah as more similar to the IRA than to al-Qaeda, as all logic vanishes in the face of the supposed monolith of "Islamic Terrorism". al-Qaeda in the unspoken word in all American pronouncements on Hezbollah (and Hamas), referenced with the all-emcompassing "Islamic Terror" or, what are they calling it? "Islamofascism". Whenever these terms are invoked, the average American sees Osama Bin Ladin, never mind that sect differences, or that Hezbollah is at heart nationalist, or that Hezbollah's beef ain't directly with the US.

But the bigger question is, if Hezbollah is IRA, when are they going to get a Sinn Féin? Both Gerry Adams and Nasrallah do have beards and kindly, grandfatherly smiles.

Arab Summit

The Arab Summit dominated the news this past week here. Who would be attending, who wouldn't. Friday all the news channels documented Bashar Al-Assad's welcoming different heads of state, and Saturday was all the opening speeches. The airport was close Friday for all the delegations, and this Saturday English lessons in Sitt Zeinab were canceled because roads were closed. It was big! BIG!

Then I look at international coverage (BBC, NYT) and there's nothing but a small, hidden articles saying "oh yeah, there was a conference, or something. People said things, blah blah blah".

Car Bomb in Damascus

Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbollah commander, was killed last night in a car bomb at around 10:45pm in Kafer Susseh, a residential neighborhood in Damascus. Hizbollah has accused Israel.

While sayara mufakhkhakha (car bomb) is one of my favorite words to say in Arabic (along with shilaymon - straw) it is only because of the repeated خ , while use of the word itself is tragically limited to events no one wants to happen.

Gaza

Did you know that a few primitive rockets can serve as justification for starving 1.5 million people?

Fortunately, Hamas blew up the border and Palestinians are streaming into Egypt in order to buy... flour.

Please Jesus Don't Let Giuliani Win

I've been following the election, though from afar, since it turns out a vote in the Michigan democratic primary will be useless (to punish the state for moving up its primary date, all the democrats pulled out). But I absolutely cannot believe the Republicans that have been dredged up this year. Especially Giuliani.

His New Ad:

OH MY GOD! The middle east is full of people who look middle-easternish and they are angry and Muslim!! Poor Pakistan, at whom many of these references appear to be directed. Haven't we had enough of Bush and lumping everyone in the "Middle East" - an ever-expanding region which has almost reached Cambodia, I think - into a scary group of terrorists?

I hope so. Rudy 2008: Fear is More Effective than Policy or Rudy 2008: Let's Just Bomb Fucking Everybody!

(Click if that thing up there isn't working)

Bush Comes to the Middle East

Bush came to the Middle East yesterday morning: I was at Manar's house and we happened to catch the pomp and circumstance of his visit to Israel live on every news channel.

Amid the backdrop of the plane and mixed American and Israeli flags, Bush descended, greating Olmert like an old friend. Children waved American and Israeli flags, and Bush and Olmert both gave speeches about the strong friendship between the two states. Because it wa live al-Jazeera had no translation so I translated a bit for Manar.

Why the show? Everyone who has talked to me about the visit, including Manar, immediately rolled their eyes. "And he's going to achieve peace? Yeah, as if we don't know what side he's on." We already knows what side he's on, so why make a big show about it? It only makes everyone on the other "side" all that more certain of the pun my Arabic teacher has repeated nearly daily since Anapolis - ana bolees - Arabic for "I am the police". Bush isn't interested in real peace or in the Palestinian people, just in control and Empire etc. Do we really need singing Israeli children or the image of six-pointed stars and stripes to reconfirm the suspicions of the non-Israel lovin' world?

But maybe I should give Georgie a little credit. Maybe, just maybe the show is a sign to Israelis that America really really supports them and Bush really really loves them, so when (please let it be when, not if) the American president requests difficult sacrifices - like "stop building those settlements that you've been saying you would stop building since Oslo" - the Israelis will oblige, secure in the knowledge that Bush really really loves them and cares about their security and is only asking because these sacrifices are neccessary.

Or maybe the love-fest is just straight-up love for Israel, no matter how it may play on al-Jazeera.

Lebanon Might not be an Ideal New Years Destination

I was in class today when Ester, the Italian, got a text from her friend that said "the general of the Lebanese army died in an explosion". She shared, and we all immediately thought why? Michel Sulaiman is the one guy everyone agreed on for president - who gains from killing him? And immediately as well - shit, does this mean civil war? During the break our teacher checked it out and no, the general was not killed, but a vice-general (نائب القائد - what do we call this? One of the guys right below the general) was.

Still - who benefits? Those aligned with March 14 and Hizballah all have good relations with the army. Maybe it was the Islamist militants the army spent the summer fighting in Nahr al-Barid?

Syria's Coming!

Syria's accepted the invitation to come to the Annapolis Peace Conference, I just read on Al-arabiyya's website. Though I would love to dwell on the implications and give my own humble opinion, I'm very busy since I have to give a freakin' two-hour presentation on this same topic Tuesday. Hopefully there's some Zionist in the class who will fight most every one else. That way, my presentation can consist of saying: "Israel. Go!" and serenely presiding over the ensuing tumult.

Election Tomorrow

The big news here is the Lebanese presidential election to be held tomorrow, after being delayed 4 times. The news is all ablaze on the topic, especially on the the high interest that America, France, Britain, Israel, Syria, Iran, and others have in the result. Basically (and very basically) from the multitude of Lebanese political parties there are two camps: "pro-West" and "pro-Syrian" (including Hizbollah). The two sides have to agree on a presidential candidate, who must be a Maronite Christain because of Lebanon's insane constitution. The Christians themselves are split between the two camps.

If the parliament cannot decide on one candidate tomorrow, many fear that the two camps, who are probably training and arming supporters, will form rival governments, and its 1975 all over again.

The family I live with and I watch TV together, them agreeing with various mps and ministers from the latter camp. They were impressed that I know from what sect each of Lebanon leaders must be from (President, Maronite Christian; Prime Minister, Sunni; Deputy Prime Minister, Orthodox; Speaker of Parliament, Shi'i). Abu Mazen shakes his head at this, and blame the French. "You know Lebanon used to be part of Syria. They divided us to make us weak. United we are stronger."

Defending America

My friend Rusha invited me to an iftar at her friend's apartment this week. Nine women, all about 23-24, all working, two married. They teased the one who's been married for 10 months about her lack of pregnancy - "after a year!" she protested. It was a potluck type meal so everyone brought a dish to pass. I bought some chocolate croissants.

The woman who's apartment it was in lives alone, which is rare in Syria, especially in Midan, one of the more conversative areas of Damascus. After dinner some of the women watched Bab al-Hara, an insanely popular Ramadan series, while others grilled me about America. "There is no religion in America - it is sad. People think that they do not need God but then at some point in their life they feel empty." I explained that actually America is a very religious country. Our congress starts everyday with a prayer. "Really?" I also was asked about Israel and America, and wound up explaining how the first five books of the Bible are the Torah, and how Christianity came from Judaism, and how Jewish law and Sharia' are quite similar, both in form and in derivation of law, as distinct from Christianity which emphasizes orthodoxy over orthopraxy.

But most of the time I tried to explain that not all Americans are afraid of Islam or Arabs. "There are places with much ignorance of Islam, but there are also places with many Muslims and everything is fine" (my Arabic isn't exactly eloquent). In fact, I think it's better for immigrant Muslims in America than in France or Germany. "What about Israel? I hear Americans only get one side of the conflict." Actually, that's true.

But these girls were so sure that they knew exactly how these issues are debated in America, and about American society in general. While there is a lot of ignorance in some areas, there is also quite a lot of tolerance of all religions (except Mormons:) and it's not a godless Sodom and Gomorrah, no matter how much I wish it were.

It was very similar to classes I had earlier this week, in which a discussion of media had turned into why America Hates the Arabs, and a one on Edward Said and Orientalism turned into the America is Colonizing Iraq Hour.

The Australian giving a presentation was making a point about how America in Iraq is different than Britain in Iraq/Palestine/Egypt or France in Syria. "The Americans want to leave." But the teacher and the other classmates did not buy this. "No they want to stay and control the oil. They never wanted Democracy, they just want to control the oil and occupy the land."

Hold up. No fan on the occupation of Iraq myself, I had to make a few distinctions. America is not against Democracy in Iraq. The administration doesn't care that much about the type of government that emerges, as long as Iraq is friendly on foriegn policy and to American business interests. The problem with Saddam wasn't that he was a dictator - we're friends with enough of those, but that he threatened our good dictatorial friends the Saudis. And oil. If he had remained the nice dictator he was in the 80s, shaking hands with oil companies, there would have been no reason to invade. I tried to explain that an idea had developed in the Bush government that if Saddam was removed, Iraq could become another Turkey - friendly democracy that doesn't controvene the US on foreign policy. If it is an unfriendly democracy, well, look at Palestine. Or going back in history, Congo, Iran...

America does not want to occupy Iraq. Bush wants a nice elected government that does fuck all domestically (who cares?) but goes with the US on important international matters, and gives business a whack at the resources. I'm not saying this is admirable, but it is not the French in Syria.

Back in the States, I am not at all reticent about criticizing US foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, or American misperceptions. But here, I often feel compelled to defend America under attack. At least through most of the debate, "American government" or "Bush's goverment" was used instead of the general "America", and I often express skepticism with my own goverment. But when people talk about America as a monolith of ignorance and hatred for Islam and the Middle East - c'mon. I know we have Fox News and a shitload of assholes who were mad that Keith Ellison got elected (first Muslim in Congress) not to mention all the assholes who would be mad if they actually followed the news enough to know that Mr. Ellison had been elected, but we also have a diversity of debate. Half of us were against the war from the start, for example. Half of us voted for Kerry. What, 70% of us finally realize what a horrible fuck up the war in Iraq is. And some of us are Muslim or Arab, and many of us have friends, colleagues, or family who are Muslim or Arab. I don't mean to say America is a happy land of handholding and racial/religious tolerance, but shit, people aren't lighting cars on fire in our banlieues.

At least at dinner we could agree on one thing: "My teacher told me to read 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman, and it was so bad! I hate that man." Amen.

Danger Danger Danger

I finally got to go back to class today after two days of Fulbright orientation. There's 10 of us here, some doing research, all but one with Language grants, though many are doing straight language training for their Fulbright grant as well. Two more will be joining us much later in the year.

We had briefings with the economic officer about sanctions, with the consular officer about how doing drugs will get you thrown into a pit and kicked for 14 years without your family knowing where you are, with the security officer about how terrorism, like last year's attack on the US Embassy here, or regional conflict is a very real possibility and to keep alert, and with the medical officer on how to boil everything before you eat it and soak it in chlorine and you know what why don't you just ship in all your food from Sweden. She also warned us that the sun is stronger than we might think and that we should consider investing in some sunscreen, especially as some of you (motion in my direction) are quite fair. That was the first day.

On the second we got to hear the political officer sigh and explain "the United State's official position" on everything. He didn't have any info to tell us (swearing his own ignorance) on the Syrian nukes? that's blowing up the news here. Every one here I've talked to laughs at the idea of Syria pursuing nuclear technology. Why North Korea anyway when Iran is so much closer? The US hasn't corroborated what the Israelis are saying. Could this turn into a conflict? The political officer said we have no idea, but we hope not. He also ventured that the Syrian-US relationship is more tense that it has been at any point in the past couple of years. Hopefully that won't mess up my getting an iqama! But meeting the political officer once again gave me pause about a possible career at DOS. He seemed so disheartened, schilling the same lines about US policy in the region, most of which he didn't seem to believe. Fun.

The other news is that Syria will be invited to the November peace conference. Will they RSVP? Speaking of respondez-vousing, I'm going to an iftar at the ambassador's residence tonight - there is no ambassador, but the charge d'affaires will be there, taking questions from those gathered, about any old thing.

Last post from the U.S. of A.

After two days of driving around to do errands and crap I'm just about ready to go. Almost packed, I swear. I'll land in Damascus tomorrow night after a brief layover in Paris. Still no update on where I'll be staying - I called numerous times only to have it ring over and over, and emailing only prompted one response: full at AlHaramain. So this will be interesting!

Of course, it will be interesting anyways. Today there was a a fun little altercation between Syria and Israel. This is making my parents really thrilled to drop me off at the airport. Wish me luck!

Blackout Fun!

This looks fun!

Syria has had a summer of power failures and electricity shortages... The power failures have occurred in one of the warmest summers in recent memory. In Damascus, which has had daily blackouts lasting as long as five hours, the roar of gas generators is drowning out the city’s notoriously loud traffic. In some suburbs, the lights are on for only six hours a day.

Why is Syria, usually an energy exporter to Lebanon and Iraq, experiencing shortages? The government blames American and French sanctions. Government critics blame a lack of planning and incompetence. But everyone can agree that the two million Iraqi refugees are adding a strain. (NYT)

Douchebaggery! I hate the NY Post

This really should be no surprise as the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the only man capable of being evil and a "Rupert" (it just sounds like such a friendly name). And though I don't read it, it looks fun when I see others on the subway leafing through - always so many puns! And how can you but feel warm fuzzies for a paper in which the article "AIDS-Bite Threat from 'Hooker,'" appeared today with the following: "A hefty hooker threw a hussy fit yesterday when she was collared for trying to pick up an undercover cop... threatening to bite him and give him AIDS"?

But it continues to harangue Debbie Almontaser, former principal of the upcoming dual-language English/Arabic school Khalil Gibran International Academy, as well as the school itself in both two news items and editorial column today (as if editorial and news are seperate at the Post). The new principal to replace Almontaser is a non-Arabic speaking Danielle Salzber, and as the name suggests she is indeed a Jew. "New Principal 'Chosen'" is the headline - get it, she's a Jew? Previously she worked at the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools that is helping to fund the Academy and worked with Almontaser and the teachers to develop the curriculum, so this is no left-field pick as the Post suggests.

And then there's the column, "School Bad Idea Even Before Hebrew-haha" - get it, she's a Jew? - in which Andre Peyser calls the Jewish principal of an Arabic school "the worst joke ever to hit Brooklyn" before getting on with the business of assailing the very idea of the school: "Some bright combination of political correctness and insane guilt has determined that New York needs a public school catering to Arabs." "Using the public schools to segregate Muslim students seems antithetical to every societal ideal."

Peyser's head is so far up her own ass she doesn't even know that "Jew" and "Arab" are far from mutually exclusive identities (ask all the Mizrahim here in New York!) The school is not a "Muslim school" or for Arab students, nor a "potential hotbed of anti-Semitic and anti-American sentiment". Have you ever worked in a public school in New York? The shit you say is monitored. I once wore a t-shirt that was a little out-of-line and had to wear a jacket over it the rest of the day. Furthermore, there are Spanish, French, Mandarin, Korean, Haitian Creole, and Russian dual-language programs and schools already in New York. Why not Arabic? The political affiliation of the columnist is not hard to discern (see: owner of paper) and I bet I could also guess her views on the "war on terror". How do these Islamophobes expect to gather intelligence for their favorite war when they oppose the teaching of Arabic?

Having half their classes in Arabic is no more going to turn students into radical Islamists than learning Russian will produce alcoholic communists or French smoking avant-garde existentialist filmmakers.

That's it - I won't talk about the Post again. It's just too maddening.

Principal Resigns After Explaining Meaning of Word

New York Department of Education is opening a small public Arabic secondary school that will eventually serve grades 6-12, Khalil Gibran International Academy. About half will have Arab heritage and half will not have any experience in Arabic or have Arab heritage - it will be the latest of several dual-language public schools in New York. The school's been generating some controversy since the beginning, with some claiming the school would promote radical Islam. Being a DOE school, a public school, they will presumably be teaching the same topics as other public schools, only in Arabic. It furthermore is not even an Islamic school (there are several private Islamic high schools in New York), but a regular ol' public secular school in Arabic. How is Arabic alone going to radicalize students? Apparently because Arabic words themselves are way too contentious:

The principal's stepped down because of the controversy over statements she made last week at a press conference. Debbie Almontaser was asked by The Post about the phrase "Intifada NYC," on T-shirts being sold by Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media, group that has no relation to the school. Her response was apparently the wrong one:

"The word basically means 'shaking off'. That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic. I understand it is developing a negative connotation due to the uprising in the Palestinian-Israeli areas. I don't believe the intention is to have any kind of that in New York City. I think it's pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society... and shaking off oppression."

Oh my god every body freak out! The Post certainly did, calling her the "Intifada Principal" in a headline. Somehow, this quote has morphed into "comments that seemed to support the violent Palestinian Arab uprising known as the intifada" (The Post). More from The Post:

The school hasn't even opened yet. But the hijab-wearing principal of a taxpayer-funded school founded especially for Arab students has issued a fatwa against the kids of New York. She said there is nothing wrong with intifada. And the principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy - scheduled to open next month less than two blocks from that hotbed of radical Muslim thought, Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue - argued about the definition of the word that has sent so many to their graves.

First of all, why was she even asked about some unrelated group's t-shirts? Her only association is that the group with these t-shirts is in the same building as the Saba Association of American Yemenis, of which Ms. Almostaser is part. And second, she didn't argue about the meaning of the word - she gave the actual meaning of the word. She even acknowledged the connotations of the word in the Israeli-Palestinian realm, but offered her thought (because she doesn't know for sure, not being part of the group that produced the t-shirt) that the shirt was probably invoking the meaning of intifada, not the Palestinian intifada. Really, there's no way she could have answered this question "right", short of ripping off her hijab and offering to join the IDF (notice the dig about the hijab and the incorrect information about the school being only for Arab students).

Congratulations! She's resigned.

Stalling...?

Who is really itchn' for peace? This past weekend Palestinians Say Olmert and Abbas Are Set to Meet (NYT) in Jericho soon. What are they going to talk about? Well, like fall peace conference idea, it's a bit vague, and all parties are saying stating different purposes for the meeting:

An Abbas aide, Nabil Amr, said the leaders must be ready to hold “political” talks that included so-called final status issues for the creation of a Palestinian state, including borders...But an Israeli government official said that Israel was prepared to “mention larger issues in the realm of the future,” but would not negotiate on these issues at such meetings.

This meeting might be another gesture to bolster Abbas/Fatah against Hamas, and might indeed be nothing more than a gesture. The moderate peacenik foreign minister, Tzipi Livni suggests that both sides focus on the "widest common demoninator," presumably instead of Hard Issues. Prime Minister Olmert has floated a "declaration of principles" between the govs. Ooh, can I make some suggestions? How about an accord stating the respective governments' dislike of dead children? Or perhaps their shared admiration of hummus? And people of both sides must also be in agreement that Lindsay Lohan needs to pull her shit together. This is just a start, of course.

Delays benefit the Israeli side more than the Palestinian. The Hard Issues were left off the table in exchange for photo-ops throughout the 90s Oslo peace process, and in the meantime? More Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Stalling benefits the more powerful side, which can continue to shape the status quo to a position it's willing to negotiate from. And it is hardly radical to say that Israel is the massively more powerful party here.

Speaking of settlements, sounds like there was quite a show in Hebron this morning: Israel Removes Settlers in West Bank. No, not all of them, just a bunch of truly gung-hos who had illegaly (according to Israeli courts) set up in the center of Hebron. The "well-advertised confrontation" could be, and is intended to be a sign of the Israeli government cracking down on unruly settlers. But NYT sees some other intended messages behind the show:

In contrast to the way the Israeli army operates quiet arrests of Palestinians at night in the cities of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli government gave the settlers significant notice. A relatively fierce confrontation served both the settlers and the government, creating heroes among the settlers and allowing the government to show to the world that dismantling the nearly 80,000 settlers who live beyond the separation barrier will not be an easy task.