Latest news with #Begin
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Don't hijack hostage marches for other political causes, writes Einav Zangauker
Einav Zangauker urged a focus solely on hostage return. Yair Golan called for unity and hope despite political differences. Einav Zangauker, the mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, wrote a post on XTwitter on Thursday condemning those who attend hostage marches with other political causes other than returning the hostages home. She wrote: "When you come to Begin to support us, the families, to protest for your brothers and sisters – do it solely under messages that focus on the hostages, and no other messages." she said that for her, "there is no other issue at all" other than the return of the hostages. Zangauker mentioned that "If that doesn't suit you, then don't come to hitch a ride on the backs of hostages being held by Hamas." She also stated that the demonstrations at Begin "are a significant focal point to express their [our] rage at the government" Zangauker wrote this in response to The Democrats Party head Yair Golan, who came to a demonstration and spoke about the "Qatargate" affair. She continued to write, "My son has been held hostage for 601 days. For me, my personal world has collapsed." Golan spoke at a demonstration at Begin, saying, "The poison machine doesn't attack us because of a particular word here or there, but because of the threat and danger we pose to its rule. They know that if we stand united, we can form a government that will save the country." He continued to say that Israelis should not let the "poison" divide them. "We are not your enemies. We are your brothers and sisters. We may differ in opinions, but we are united in our love for Israel." He concludes with "In the face of the poison machine—let's build the camp of hope."
Arab News
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
1978 - The Camp David Accords: A flawed path to peace
CHICAGO: When Egypt's President Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem hoping to prevent future wars and resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict through negotiations, he did so believing a comprehensive peace would not only include Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, but most importantly an Israeli agreement to withdraw from the occupied territories and allow for a the establishment of a Palestinian state. During his lengthy speech to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Sadat said: 'I have not come here for a separate agreement between Egypt and Israel … Even if peace between all the confrontation states and Israel were achieved, in the absence of a just solution to the Palestinian problem, never will there be that durable and just peace upon which the entire world insists today.' Sadat did not live to see how right he was about how Israel's refusal to withdraw from the occupied territories would fuel a surge in extremism, create more violence, disrupt his own nation and make regional peace impossible. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's sole purpose was to remove the military threat posed by Egypt, divide the Arab 'confrontation states' and block demands for Palestinian statehood. Sadat was naive to trust Begin, one of the Middle East's most vicious terrorists. Begin had orchestrated some of the most heinous civilian atrocities during the 1947-1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, including the massacre of nearly 100 civilians in the small Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. That massacre, including pregnant women butchered and their bodies thrown into the village water well, shocked the Arab population of Palestine, prompting a refugee flight of fear. Before his Knesset speech, Sadat visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial which, ironically, is built on the remains of Deir Yassin. He was wooed by Israel and the US, and treated like a distinguished head of state for making peace with Israel. He toured the US in 1978 and was feted at dinners in several major American cities, including Chicago, where I joined 500 other Arab Americans protesting against his 'surrender.' The Camp David Accords earned Sadat and Begin the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize but scorn in the Arab world. The Arab League reacted by removing Egypt from its membership and moving the organization's headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Israel's strategy was clear to everyone but Sadat. He signed the accords after 12 days of intense negotiations in 1978, between Sept. 5 and 17. But just weeks before this, Begin inaugurated the settlement of Ariel, on seized land in the West Bank more than 16 kilometers east of the Green Line, which became a symbol of Israel's continuing war against Palestinian statehood and the center of Israeli settlement expansion. Despite the disconcerting reality on the ground, Sadat went ahead and signed a formal peace treaty with Israel at the White House on March 26, 1979, officially ending the conflict between the two countries. US President Jimmy Carter writes to Egyptian counterpart Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressing his commitment to finding 'a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East.' In a handwritten letter, Carter appeals to Sadat for help: 'The time has now come to move forward, and your early public endorsement of our approach is extremely important — perhaps vital.' After Sadat announces his intention to visit Israel, the country's new prime minister, Menachem Begin, addresses the Egyptian people from Jerusalem pleading for 'no more wars, no more bloodshed.' Carter writes private letters to Sadat and Begin, proposing they meet. Sadat and Begin arrive at Camp David for 10 days of talks. At 9:37 p.m. Carter, Begin and Sadat board presidential helicopter Marine 1 and fly from Maryland to the White House. At 10:31p.m., Begin and Sadat sign a framework for peace. Sadat and Begin jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Sadat and Begin sign the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in Washington. Sadat assassinated in Cairo by Islamic extremists opposed to the peace treaty. When you look at the five fundamentals of the accord, only two were actually achieved. Egypt did get the Sinai Peninsula back, under demilitarized conditions, and the two countries ended their state of war and established diplomatic relations. But three conditions were never met: meetings to resolve the Palestine question, with the involvement of Jordan, stalled; the introduction of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza within five years failed; and an end to the Israeli settlements never even began. The accords were never allowed to stand in the way of plans to entrench Israel's hold on the occupied territories. When US President Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid on Nov. 4, 1980, and Sadat was assassinated while reviewing a military parade on Oct. 6, 1981, Begin was given the green light to close the door on Sadat's 'dream.' Despite political differences, US President Ronald Reagan attempted to follow up on Carter's Middle East peace vision and in August 1982 proposed a 'freeze' on settlements, urging Israel to grant Palestinians 'autonomy' as a step toward statehood. Begin's reaction was swift. On Sept. 2, 1982, with Carter and Sadat out of the way, he led a Knesset move to consolidate Israel's hold on the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights, increasing the Jewish settler population. Israel, the Cabinet declared, would 'reserve the right to apply sovereignty over the territories at the end of the five-year transition period' toward Palestinian 'autonomy' that was specifically envisioned in the Camp David Accords. In 1978, the settler population was only 75,000. By 1990, it had tripled to 228,000. Today, in excess of half a million Israeli settlers occupy at least 370 settlements, or 'outposts,' in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This year, on Jan. 20, the first day of his second term in office, US President Donald Trump lifted the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on far-right settler groups accused of violence against Palestinians. Ironically, while the Camp David accords were supposed to create an environment of hope and optimism, the failure to advance them beyond the return of the Sinai created a sense of fatalism that fueled extremism, evidenced most dramatically, and with such shocking consequences, by the fateful attacks by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Although the peace between Egypt and Israel remains, the failure to achieve peace with the Palestinians has ensured the accords remain little more than a formal version of an armistice agreement, and relations between the two countries are defined solely by military cooperation.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House hunters flock to Art Deco-inspired home in Sacramento. Take a look inside
Inside Look is a Sacramento Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories. Potential buyers flocked to an Art Deco-inspired home with Streamline Moderne influences in one of Sacramento's most desirous neighborhoods after the unique and impressive property hit the market this month. The 2,723-square-foot residence is for sale for $1.3 million in the Curtis Park neighborhood. 'It's unique architecture in Curtis Park was compelling for a lot of people to want to come see it,' listing agent Paloma Begin of Compass said. A two-day weekend open house brought in 75 home hunters each day, which is considered well above average, she said. Begin highlighted that visitors came from both the capital region and the out-of-area market. Ultimately, the interest resulted in an offer being accepted on Friday. The sale is pending. The house was built in 2010 after a late 1980s dwelling on the lot was torn down. The husband-and-wife team of architect Kale Wisnia and interior and building designer Catherine Reon of Sacramento-based CRKW Studio collaborated on the project. The architectural style is perhaps best described as an updated blend of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne themes. The aesthetic is 'Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, 1930s-inspired (with) clean lines,' Begin said. Art Deco and Streamline Moderne share a modernist lineage. The Art Deco movement emphasized luxury, lavish materials and intricate geometric patterns before evolving into Streamline Moderne, an architectural style of the 1930s and '40s which favored simplicity and functionality. The two-story Curtis Park residence is sophisticated — and fun. Soaring ceilings, a central fireplace, private patios and an open-concept layout set the stage for the wonderfully designed home. A second-story hallway opens up to sweeping views of the living space below, creating an open, airy feel and a sense of seamless connection inside. The well-equipped, beautiful gourmet kitchen and marble gas fireplace draw attention immediately upon entering the home. '(The seller) was a professional chef, so he built this kitchen to accommodate his needs,' Begin said. The kitchen showcases three large pantries for storage and prep work, under-counter refrigerator drawers, a six-burner Wolf range, long and sleek granite countertops. But the most outstanding feature in the kitchen might be an expansive silver hood over the range with an exposed chimney pipe that resembles an art piece and ascends all the way up to the second-story ceiling. A wet bar serves a large dining room and an elegant living room is distinguished by built-in shelves, an elegant, captivating, round tray ceiling and glass chandelier. French-style doors open out to an outdoor grilling and dining area under a pergola. There's a path leading to a water feature and areas to sit on the lawn under a lush canopy of mature trees. The backyard contains raised beds for a kitchen garden and fig and lemon trees. Upstairs — just beyond a study loft next to a sleek staircase and a second bedroom — lies the magnificent primary suite. The main bedroom offers an expansive dressing room, private roof deck, lavish marble bathroom with separate vanity areas, a steam shower, a jetted tub, a bidet and a strong baseboard vacuum to keep things neat. A third bedroom is found in a private location downstairs with a full elegant bathroom nearby. The property comes with a detached garage with a stylish glass garage door and a car charger. The backyard features a solid storage shed on the side. The home delivers other amenities, such as a whole-house vacuum with strong suction power, an upstairs laundry and a mudroom. The house sits on a tidy, tree-lined residential street just steps from Curtis Park, making the property even more attractive, Begin said. 'You can walk to dinner, you can walk to beer and coffee, you can ride your bike,' she said. 'It has city amenities nearby. The park is great.' Granite Bay's highest-priced sale in 3 years is a home built for sports-car collection Explore Elk Grove's 'modern castle' right on golf course. Ultra-luxe home lists for $3.4M
New York Times
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Douglas Dunn's Dance Idyll, With Undertows of Darkness
'L' Embarquement pour Cythère,' a 1717 painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau, depicts lovers having a party on an island. They are paired off near a statue of Venus, with encouraging Cupids flying about. Douglas Dunn's new dance shares a title with the painting, along with some of its pastoral charm and idealization of the past. But this idyll — the work of a choreographer now in his 80s, known for his wit and whimsy — is troubled by a darker present. The dance, which Douglas Dunn + Dancers debuted on Wednesday in the second half of a two-week season at Judson Memorial Church, is presented in the round. Jerome Begin's score, played live by the violin duo String Noise with Begin on electronics, evokes at first an underwater realm, like Neptune's Garden. Dancers skitter on, grouping themselves not in the painting's couples but in two same-gender trios. Their movements are courtly, ceremonial, but then, periodically, bestial or bullish. Both modes gesture at antiquity. Sections of dance like this alternate with sections in which the poet Anne Waldman is wheeled around in a chariot by Dunn and his longtime partner, Grazia Della-Terza, both attired (by Mimi Gross) in Renaissance garb. Between Waldman's fluttery conjurer's recitation, her unclear diction and the church's echoey acoustics, it can be difficult to decipher much of what she's saying. That's a pity, because her words (supplied to me after the show) are cascadingly associative, allusive poems about the painting and the dance, about enemies of beauty and whether art is antidote or merely a brief escape. The second section of dancing, featuring a different set of six dancers, seems to be set more in the Renaissance. At least that's my association with the lutelike pizzicato of the violins. The choreography is circular in design, often inscribed with smaller circles in the compositional shape of a canon or round. It's still idyllic, but partway through, Begin introduces buzzing electronic bass notes, like a serpent in Eden or death in Arcadia. Waldman's text, even if comprehended only in fragments, suggests what the danger could be: a dark age, end time, something dissolving, tyrants, despots (who talk of living on Mars). Against this, Dunn offers more of what he always has: intelligent form and whimsy. All 12 dancers circle now, stopping to strike well-balanced, three-person fountain poses, but also overlapping and interchanging intricately. While Begin's score gathers momentum, the choreography mainly resists, remaining stately or still. Then, without altering tone or manner, the dance bursts into multiplicity, with each dancer doing his or her own thing, hopping around or slowly balancing while Waldman recites in their midst. Complex but not chaotic, this has the look of what Merce Cunningham, in whose company Dunn danced long ago, described as the art of nature, a composition with lots of things in it, all different, yet each affecting the others. A word that Waldman repeats with a positive spin applies well to the vision: 'entanglement.' Such multiplicity is the chief choreographic strength of the piece featured in the first week of Dunn's season, the 2023 experimental opera 'Body/Shadow.' This sui generis work features the odd performer ratio of 17 dancers and one singer — the composer, Paul J. Botelho. He wanders among the dancers dressed like an amateur naturalist or an eccentric explorer, a gentle and curious fellow festooned with cameras, carrying a sack filled with equipment and knickknacks that he offers to audience members. He sings wordlessly in a countertenor, employing extended vocal techniques to chirp, weep, trill and speak sibilantly in something like the snake language of Harry Potter movies. As Botelho does this for an hour, the dancers stay in nearly ceaseless motion, only one or two of them leaving the stage and then only for moment, perhaps to don a Zebra head. Occasionally, they extend sheets as screens for projections and shadow play. But mostly they gracefully execute a series of short phrases, in a saltimbanque, or traveling player, style similar to that of 'L'Embarquement,' that add up to an overabundance. Watched with soft-focus attention, it's a planetary wonder. In 'L'Embarquement,' that vision extends too long, across a false ending as the lights fade and the violins sound as though they're sliding off the edge of the earth. But even the overextension, the refusal to stop pumping out steps and patterns, is affecting. Colored by Waldman's words, the harmonious multiplicity might be seen as pluralism, a beneficent entanglement currently under threat. Certainly, 'L'Embarquement' is a pledge of allegiance to the imagination and once-again embattled art.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fort Smith mayor, board agree to lawsuit settlement over charity donations
During the Feb. 21 meeting, Mayor George McGill and the Fort Smith City Board of Directors agreed to settle a civil suit that the mayor misappropriated funds from his budget to support local groups and charities in the city. Local attorney Joey McCutchen filed a suit on behalf of Jimmie Cavin. The complaint was that using the funds was prohibited by Article 12, Section 5 of the Arkansas Constitution: 'No county, city, town or other municipal corporation, shall become a stockholder in any company, association, or corporation; or obtain or appropriate money for, or lean its credit to, any corporation, association, institution or individual.' The second part says that those entities can appropriate money to finance economic development projects or services. The mayor had appropriated money from the office's annual budget to various organizations and charities, and the city board would later vote to approve such action. The suit specifically listed the following: Donations for the Mercy Hospital Ball ($10,000 over two years) Contributions to the Fort Smith Round Table Juneteenth Celebration ($15,000) Donations to the Steel Horse Rally, Inc. ($4,000) Sponsorships of golf tournaments or golf-related events ($12,000) Donations to Twisted Effects Braid Studio, LLC (back-to-school event, $2,000) Donations to 'Begin A New Generation (BANG)' (back-to-school event, $2,000) The city settled the suit by acknowledging the prohibition outlined in the state's constitution. McGill said the city would take steps to ensure such actions won't happen again. 'We acknowledge that state law presents limitations not previously brought to our attention. It is telling that only after years of successful community investment have these issues been raised by those who seek to undermine our efforts rather than improve them,' McGill said. 'Moving forward, we will explore available legal avenues to continue supporting these organizations that strengthen our city. We will not allow political gamesmanship to weaken our commitment to the people and programs that serve Fort Smith.' The vote to settle the civil suit passed 5-2, with Directors Jarred Rego (Ward 1) and Andre Good (Ward 2) in opposition. 'I am concerned that this type of unconstitutional spending is occurring frequently in cities across Arkansas,' Cavin said. 'I am hopeful that by holding Mayor McGill and the City of Fort Smith accountable, the unconstitutional spending will be recognized and stopped.' 'While charitable and private organizations serve laudable, important roles in communities, it is not [the role of] government to decide which private organizations should receive taxpayer money,' McCutchen said when the lawsuit was initially filed. 'Taxpayers should have the freedom to decide whether to support certain charitable organizations, rather than having government officials make those decisions on their behalf using taxpayer money. For the government to do so is unconstitutional in Arkansas.' 'Our city has supported community-based organizations that provide valuable services to our citizens. This partnership strengthens our community, improves lives, and fosters meaningful progress,' said McGill. 'Regarding the concerns about providing direct funding to these organizations, we have always acted in good faith and were in the best interests of our city at heart. Mercy Hospital has spent almost $180 million in our city. When they call on us, we should be there. The Boys Club and the Girls Club provide services for the youth in our city. When they call on us, we should be there.' This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Fort Smith settles suit over unconstitutional use of public funds
