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Solutions

I couldn't face the prospect of being cut off from hearing the latest developments during the twenty-five hour period that comprised of Shabbat.

What to do as Jewish law prohibits me from operating an electronic device (such as a computer) on the Sabbath.

I decided to think laterally and streamed Israel Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) through the speakers, with my screen switched off. The computer therefore took on the role of a radio - there is no prohibition in listening to the radio on the Sabbath.

I heard the latest news reports and although my mastery of Hebrew is not 100%, I understood enough to get the gist of what was going on. I also made sure that my dictionary was close at hand, though virtually every word I looked up and learned was connected with the concept of war!

I am now firmly of the opinion that this whole episode (starting with the abduction of Cpl. Shalit) was engineered by Iran to take the world's attention off the nuclear issue. If you follow the Gaza/Lebanese story in conjuction with the UN's ongoing investigation into the reactors, you can see that the crisis began as Iran was being put under intense pressure to reply to the draft incentives, designed to suspend it's uranium enrichment programme. Additionally, the G8 summit would no doubt have focussed on the very same issue. It is therefore not coincidental that both Hamas and Hezbollah have chosen this time to start a conflageration by kidnapping Israeli soldiers.

I'm sure that if I've worked this out, so have the Israelis. One thing we all agree on, is that Israel must keep the military operations short, so as to ensure that they don't get stuck in either Lebanon or Gaza for a long period of time. The main objectives are to get the soldiers back and at the same time, to destroy the arsenals of Kassam and Katyusha missiles.

I hope the solutions are as easy as my figuring out how to hear the latest news updates, from two thousand miles away.

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