GALILEE FLOWERS The Collected Essays of Israel Shamir Israel Adam Shamir GALILEE FLOWERS CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 5 WHY I SUPPORT THE RETURN OF PALESTINIANS.................................................................... 6 PART ONE....................................................................................................................................... 8 THE STATE OF MIND ................................................................................................................. 8 OLIVES OF ABOUD.................................................................................................................... 21 THE GREEN RAIN OF YASSOUF................................................................................................ 23 ODE TO FARRIS ........................................................................................................................ 34 THE BATTLE FOR PALESTINE.................................................................................................. 39 THE CITY OF THE MOON ......................................................................................................... 42 JOSEPH REVISITED................................................................................................................... 46 CORNERSTONE OF VIOLENCE.................................................................................................. 50 THE BARON’S BRAID................................................................................................................ 56 THE INVASION .......................................................................................................................... 61 CONVOY TO BETHLEHEM ........................................................................................................ 65 THE LAST ACTION HEROES..................................................................................................... 69 HILLS OF JUDEA ....................................................................................................................... 74 PART II ......................................................................................................................................... 76 GALILEE FLOWERS .................................................................................................................. 76 MAMILLA POOL ....................................................................................................................... 81 APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST MONTH ......................................................................................... 89 NOT ANOTHER PEACE PLAN.................................................................................................... 93 PART III........................................................................................................................................ 96 THE FAILED TEST .................................................................................................................... 96 RAPE OF DULCINEA................................................................................................................ 100 A TALE OF TWO STATES........................................................................................................ 104 SUMMER FOOL, WINTER FOOL ............................................................................................. 109 PART IV...................................................................................................................................... 112 KID SISTER ............................................................................................................................. 112 NEW PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT............................................................................................... 117 UP TO A POINT ...................................................................................................................... 121 2 GALILEE FLOWERS VAMPIRE KILLERS ................................................................................................................. 125 BANKERS AND ROBBERS ........................................................................................................ 130 FIESTA OF ST FERMIN ............................................................................................................ 138 NINCOMPOOP ......................................................................................................................... 143 PRINCE CHARMING ................................................................................................................ 145 ORIENT EXPRESS.................................................................................................................... 153 LAST SUNNY DAYS ................................................................................................................. 156 PART V........................................................................................................................................ 160 A YIDDISHE MEDINA.............................................................................................................. 160 THE ELDERS OF ZION AND THE MASTERS OF DISCOURSE ................................................... 186 LOVE LABOURS LOST ............................................................................................................ 197 ON THE MOVE ........................................................................................................................ 200 THE SPARROW AND THE BEETLE........................................................................................... 209 PART VI...................................................................................................................................... 215 MAIDENS AND WARRIORS...................................................................................................... 215 POISONING WELLS................................................................................................................. 221 PHANTOM OF TERROR ........................................................................................................... 225 BALI HALLOWEEN.................................................................................................................. 228 SULTAN AND SHAITAN ........................................................................................................... 230 TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN................................................................................................. 234 PART VII .................................................................................................................................... 239 THE THIRD DOVE................................................................................................................... 239 CHOSEN AND CHOOSING ....................................................................................................... 244 DECONSTRUCTION OF JEWISHNESS ...................................................................................... 248 BINOCULARS OF MISS KLEIN................................................................................................ 254 A STRANGE CASE OF JARED ISRAEL .................................................................................... 256 HUMAN SHIELD ...................................................................................................................... 259 CHILD MURDERS AND RABBI LERNER.................................................................................. 262 PART VIII................................................................................................................................... 264 ODE TO CYNTHIA ................................................................................................................... 264 WAR AND PEACE .................................................................................................................... 268 DIVIDE AND RULE .................................................................................................................. 271 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 277 3 GALILEE FLOWERS PRIVATE PEACE TREATY ....................................................................................................... 277 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................................................................................. 279 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... 281 NOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 282 4 GALILEE FLOWERS Israel Shamir Galilee Flowers (The Collected Essays of Israel Shamir) Introduction The essays collected in the this book were written during the years 2001-2002, in the old Palestinian port-town of Jaffa, on the shore of the Eastern Mediterranean, during the Second In- tifada, or Intifada al-Aqsa, but they are not limited to events in Palestine. The war in the Holy Land is presented as the centre-stage of the world-wide struggle of ideas, against a backdrop of such momentous modern developments as the growing influence of American Jewry (“the Rise of the Jews”), the decline