On Sunday, 06/25/2006, at 05:40 in the morning, a terrorist group of several Palestinians crossed the border south of the Gaza Strip into Israel through a tunnel near Kerem Shalom and attacked an army facility that was within the sovereign territory of Israel.

The force, numbered eight, killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded four, one of which, Gilad Schalit, was abducted by the terrorists as they retreated back to the Gaza strip. Gilad’s abductors were members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Palestinian governing party Hamas), the Popular Resistance Committees (which includes members of Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas), and the Army of Islam.

For over 1,000 days Hamas and Israel are in on/off negotiations, brokered by Germany and Egypt, to end this tragedy and bring Gilad home. No agreement has been reached yet but one would most likely involve a massive release of prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for the one soldier. What apparently the two side can not agree on is who’s on the list.

The fact that these secret talks are stuck for months now raises levels of frustration among Israelis who already swallowed the hundreds-to-one frog. It is also raises false hopes among thousands of Palestinian families hoping their loved ones are among those to be released.

It seems that the only beneficiary from the stalemate is Hamas which cynically abuses Gazans in its internal struggle against Fatah as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which makes you wonder – is there any point to these discussions, really? is Hamas genuinely negotiating or is it just a charade?

An interesting talkback on one of the Israeli online papers today suggested an interesting move to create the necessary pressure and bring the situation to closure. There must be 2000-3000 names that Israel has no problem seeing getting out of jail. If this list is made public, rather than be kept a closed secret, Hamas would have no option but show its true face and get down to business.

Here we go… Less than 24 hours after being sworn into office as Israel’s new Foreign Minister, this douchebag is already talking dangerous talk.

In a speech given yesterday, Avigdor Liberman is disclaiming the two-state solution, saying it was never officially ratified by the Israeli government or parliament. Even if this is the case technically, the message sent out is super volatile. Mr. Liverman is definitely not the smart one around – how the hell did he manage to climb so high? Dangerous words of a foreign mentality.

Read the full story in Haaretz.

This is unbelievable. Israeli education system is continuing on the miserable trend of producing poor student results. The latest international comparative study TIMMS found Israel to be just above average. Big deal – looking at the countries below the average is not something to brag about.

This is very bad news for a nation once so proud of its education system and students.

So much talk, planning and reforms and the damn government (and the two proceeding it) could not get back on track. In a defensive statement the DoE blames it all on the teachers’ strikes. Here’s my advice for reform Ms. Tamir:

1. Make obtaining a teaching degree free for any young individual who wants to become a teacher.
2. Fire 25% of the current teaching staff.
3. Replace with young new graduates.
4. Pay more (and I mean, way more) for teachers.
5. Abolish all this frontal/preparation hours nonsense. Teaching should be a respectable full time occupation. No half-days. No off-campus preparation time.
6. Make teachers pass annual qualification tests. Failed the test? See 3 above. Teaching should be a licensed practice.

This should bring Israeli education system back to its glory days. It may take a few months of painful strikes but at the end of the day it’ll be for the benefits of the students, the teacher and the economy as a whole.