When my wife and I visited Israel in September, she was amazed by how lousy the public sculpture was, and began taking pictures of it. I posted some of those pictures here. No doubt there's some great architecture in Israel, the bridge near the central bus station in Jerusalem and the earthen vessel that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum leap to mind, but there's a lot of mediocre public sculpture (and the art in the Israel Museum leaves something to be desired, and let's not talk about the literature...). I have now made the sculpture a subclause in my critique of Zionism. My theory: a, young country needs to express its identity, inevitably embarrassing; b, if you're Jewish you get to plop down anything anywhere, just about, to wild applause, and as a Jewish prince with entitlement issues I know whereof I speak (in fact my mother had even read a Piaget book on childrearing before I was born and learned that since excrement was the first thing a child made and he was very proud of it, mother must not do anything to shame the child let alone flush the glorious product when he was in earshot); c, Jews flourish as artists in a relationship with a majority culture.
Anyway, a reader sent in the shot above from the illegal Israeli colony, Ma'ale Adumim, in the West Bank. Gosh. The object in the middle is a globe, I believe.
Also notice the verdant surround. They've stolen a lot of Palestine's water for that effect.
In general, Israeli architecture is very shoddy as well.
Possibly a pterodactyl wishbone, intended to denote Judaism’s great age on the earth?
On further reflection, make that a “terr’or”dactyl wishbone”.
A dying bird perched on a Mongolian hat?
Ben Stein complains about Phil’s mother’s child-rearing in his recent little speech about celebrating Xmas and the degeneration of America, which includes his take on Dr Spock et al.
From an earlier post by M. Ratner:
“This is all in an area where water is almost non-existent and many Palestinians have no water. In the center of each of the roundabouts on the way up is an olive tree, but not just an ordinary olive tree, but a wide squat one that is perhaps 400 or even 500 years old, likely an olive tree likely taken from Palestinian land. At the entrance to the city is one of the more incongruous and Orwellian monuments to erect in this stolen city: a huge white metal sculpture of two doves with wings unfolded sheltering a globe and inscribed on its base with the word—and it seems like a nasty joke—“Peace.” Peace, apparently defined, as the dismembering of the Palestinian people. As we continued our ride up we pass a suburban shopping mall with some big box stores, stores that are part of international chains that hopefully will become targets of the BDS movement.
We finally stop at the end of a street that could come out of any middle class suburb in America: neat houses and apartments with small yards. Ma’ale Adumim is called a dormitory community or as we would say, a bedroom community. Its residents work in Jerusalem. They live here rather than in Jerusalem because of price (half that of Jerusalem) and lower taxes, not because of religious ideology. It is a secular community that can shop at the mall and will be able to drive to work in a few minutes on segregated roads. We went to a lookout over the E1 area and toward Jerusalem. As we looked down the hill we saw a construction site for a huge swimming pool—a swimming pool in this parched land where only the select have water. Across the valley we saw the building of the architecture of apartheid: the segregated roads and separation walls. I could have been standing in a white only town in South Africa, but I was standing in an Israeli Jewish only town in the occupied territories.”
link to mondoweiss.net
They do like ornamental peace doves, just not the real thing:
link to flickr.com
Through Settlers’ Eyes
by Michele Chabin
link to cnewa.org
May 2006
“Ma’ale Adumim was established by 23 Israeli families in 1975 and was recognized by the Israeli government two years later by Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Though built outside the Green Line, it is not included among the settlements that any subsequent Israeli government has ever publicly considered dismantling. Many Israelis believe the settlement, and others, are vital for the country’s defenses, part of the buffer zone that Israel built up after the 1967 war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
“We are the gate to Jerusalem from the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley,” said Benny Kashriel, the settlement’s mayor, who has pushed the settlement?s expansion during his three successive terms in office. “If we weren’t here, the Palestinians would string their villages together all the way to Jerusalem.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian advocates insist that international law requires that the settlement, like others in the West Bank, be dismantled. And they dismiss Israeli security concerns as unjustified, given Israel’s undisputed military preeminence in the region.
Today, 32,000 Israelis live in Ma’ale Adumim. Most of them work in Jerusalem, a 20-minute commute. And like the Meyers, most of them were drawn to the relatively inexpensive housing. In Ma’ale Adumim, thanks to generous government subsidies, a three-bedroom apartment costs about $150,000, while in Jerusalem it can cost more than twice as much.
The settlement boasts two shopping malls, hospitals, swimming pools and tennis courts as well as a $2 million Peace Library. There are also 100 companies and small factories in an industrial zone inside Ma’ale Adumim. There used to be a Burger King, until an international boycott forced the multinational company to withdraw its branches from settlements in the Occupied Territories. A local burger shop replaced it.
The air is clean, the schools are among the country?s best and the crime rate is low. “This city is so quiet that it has only one traffic light,” said Jacob Richman, a soft-spoken internet consultant who runs the city’s unofficial web site. Like the Meyers, Mr. Richman said he “wasn’t specifically looking to live in a settlement” when he moved to Ma’ale Adumim 16 years ago. “I was looking for affordable housing very close to Jerusalem with a lot of green spaces.” What has kept him here, a bachelor surrounded by families, is the community spirit, he said.
He enjoys the Purim parades when children and some adults dress up in costumes to celebrate the holiday commemorating an ancient Jewish victory. “We [also] had a snow day where they imported snow from Mount Hermon,” part of the Golan Heights that Israel won from Syria and continues to occupy. “People move here, like it and tell other people,” Mr. Richman said. “They find it an attractive place to live.”
Mayor Kashriel said he is most proud of the “harmony” among the diverse mix of residents in Ma’ale Adumim. About 40 percent consider themselves Orthodox or fully observant. The remaining 60 percent either consider themselves secular or attend synagogue but also drive on the Shabbat (Sabbath). Most of the residents are Sephardic Jews, who trace their origins to Arab countries. The Ashkenazic Jews, who hail from Eastern Europe, are a minority. Unlike other such communities, there is no “turf fighting” in Ma’ale Adumim, the mayor said.
“Most of our residents are religious and political moderates,” Mayor Kashriel continued. “Most are young couples not long out of the army, living on a low income and looking for low taxes and good facilities.” Most voted Likud in the last election, but are not “fanatic right wing,” he added. “Twenty-five percent voted for Meretz or Labor, left-of-center parties. We’re not a place for extremists.”
Barring a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Ma’ale Adumim’?s future will remain uncertain, its residents admit. “We do have concerns that Ma’ale Adumim could be uprooted, but we try not to think about it,” Mrs. Meyer said.”
The inscription is a bit blurry, but it seems to be a quote from Deuteronomy 32:11.
כנשר יעיר קנו על גוזליו ירחף
[Like] an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young.
interesting, Avi, thanks. Eagle (vulture) and dove juxtaposition. The two aspects of God. Also emblematic for Zeus (rapist) and Venus. Pax Israeli?
The US Christian end-timers love that combo, too:
link to eagledove.com
Thanks, Antidote. I enjoyed the symbolism, it’s very interesting.
Now this is great, world-class art!
“Phoenix Rising from the Ashes,” is a bronze statue of a woman and a bird, which represented Atlanta’s comeback after the Civil War.
JPEG IMAGES – link to waymarking.com
RE: “as a Jewish prince with entitlement issues” – Weiss
SNARK #1: Who’d a thunk it?
RE: “since excrement was the first thing a child made and he was very proud of it, mother must not do anything…” – a Piaget book
SNARK #2: No sh*t, Sherlock!
P.S. Phil thinks he’s entitled to THE TRUTH. What a crock of sh*t! [lol]
Is there no limit to the horrors Israel is prepared to unleash upon the world?
To its credit, Israel has in recent years gone from the anal stage, as evidenced by this sculpture, to the phallic stage, just a few months ago.
Now that’s progress. Freud would have been proud, especially given his appreciation for Israel.