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Shadows in Time is book 1 of R. A. Lura's fanstay-thriller series. Spirit guides, nature fairies, ghosts, evil dog-pigs, magic and a telepathic horse make Shadows in Time a 'can't put it down' story. Book 2 - Shadows in the Wind will be out in 2011!
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Caitlin McNevin's psychic abilities surface after she moves to a remote old country estate. When she befriends an eccentric and mystical Irish immigrant and neighbor and is gifted with the ancient "Book of Secrets", her paranormal experiences heighten. Trusted with the ancient"Book of Secrets", Caitlin reads from it without the safety of her new friend's presence and unwittingly unleashes the dark side.And the battle between good and evil begins!
Book trailer: www.youtube.com/watch
Caitlin McNevin's psychic abilities surface after she moves to a remote old country estate. When she befriends an eccentric and mystical Irish immigrant and neighbor and is gifted with the ancient "Book of Secrets", her paranormal experiences heighten. Trusted with the ancient"Book of Secrets", Caitlin reads from it without the safety of her new friend's presence and unwittingly unleashes the dark side.And the battle between good and evil begins!
Book trailer: www.youtube.com/watch
The heat of the doctor�s office assaulted Matilda in a sharp contrast from the bitter winter gales that she had just forged through. The small bundle of life in her arms lay all too still, almost lifeless, as she approached the receptionist to announce her arrival. Fear constricted her chest, making each breath laborious as she peered into the pale, wax-like cheeks of the infant in her arms. Her sweet little Caitlin; how small and helpless she appeared in the layers of fabric that surrounded her. Just last night her screams of despair where so powerful that Matilda was hard pressed to remember that Caitlin was barely six months old.
Matilda had named Caitlin after her cousin back in Ireland. She and her cousin Caitlin had been like sisters while growing up in the quaint countryside in county Cork. She recalled, with a smile, the laughter and joy that had filled her childhood years. Oh how she longed for the years gone by.
Matilda and her dear cousin had lost contact when Caitlin moved to America with her husband, Tommy, five years earlier, but had acquired Caitlin�s address just before she and James started their journey to America.
Her cousin was living in the hills of Pennsylvania; not far from Manhattan, actually. Matilda longed to contact her and let her know that they where close again and that she had a namesake, but James would have none of it while they where in such dire financial straits. His pride was a blessing in some ways and a curse in others.
Anger for her present situation welled up and her smile was lost to an anguished contortion. Having had such a happy childhood herself, she had vowed that her babies would know the same. She did her best to shield young Nora from the poverty and hardships that filled their days since arriving in America. The trip had been long and hard, filled with false promises and hopes. She prayed for her family�s happiness and success in life and longed for financial security.
Matilda and her husband, James, had only recently immigrated from Ireland. A proud man, when the promise of housing and a job at his uncle�s friend�s factory had not been fulfilled and their meager funds dwindled as he scrambled for shelter and work, he refused to seek help from any federally funded assistance program; leaving the family to survive on what was left of his meager wages from the job he had managed to secure at a local shoe factory; after his thirst had been quenched at the neighborhood bar, of course.
The doctor�s fee was probably going to take most of the money she had available to her for the week�s supply of food and goods, but she could not risk ignoring her precious Caitlin�s health. Her daughter was seriously ill; there was no doubting that. A doctor was needed and that was all there was to it. She would deal with James and his old fashioned ideas of natural healing and how doctors are a waste of good money later. For now, she would focus on the little darling in her arms and believe that her prayers would be answered and they would be fine. A long sigh of frustration was released as she thought of her plight.
�Mama, it�s cold out here, can I come in?�
Matilda turned in response to the small voice belonging to her oldest daughter, Nora. Nora�s big brown eyes pleaded with want and a touch of fear; fear of what, maybe of loss? Children could be insightful and intuitive, especially in Matilda�s family lineage. Even though she had done her best to shield her eldest child, perhaps Nora sensed how serious their plight was.
Nora�s bright strawberry blonde curls scattered around her face, glistening with the moisture of the melting snow. She was almost lost in a worn and faded blue wool jacket, a pair of bright multicolored, predominantly orange mittens with matching scarf, and a hat. They where a gift from Grandma Maloney. Grandma Maloney made a new set for everyone each Christmas. The family had grown to look forward to, and rely upon, Grandma Maloney�s contribution to their winter warmth. The wave of sadness that passed through Matilda was almost consuming as she wondered what the future held for her dear little Nora.
�Yes darling, come in and sit down in that chair.� Matilda�s thick brogue was barely above a whisper as she directed her daughter to the empty corner of the room. With her free hand, Matilda helped Nora free herself from the constraints of her woollen outer wear, which was rapidly becoming heavily laden from the melting snow.
Nora settled back into the chair and looked around the room with her brown, doe-like eyes. Three of the four walls where lined with chairs that where occupied by patients waiting to be seen. They seemingly paid no notice to the newcomers, each absorbed in their own misery and plight. A man with beady red-rimmed eyes looked distressfully from behind the handkerchief that was covering the majority of his face. His obvious misery caused Nora to shrink for fear of catching his ailment as her mother approached the nurse who had appeared behind the reception desk.
�Excuse me, please. We have an appointment with the doctor.� Matilda�s voice was barely audible.
�Name?� The nurse bellowed, without looking up.
�McNevin, Matilda McNevin.� The nurse looked up, making a quick assessment of Matilda before she scowled with disdain and looked back down at the schedule book. �I have a Caitlin McNevin; no Matilda.�
Matilda sighed, frustrated with the obvious prejudice that the nurse was emanating. Was it her poverty or nation of origin that bothered this rude and self-important woman? She held the comment she longed to make about the nurse�s arrogance at bay, knowing it would not help the situation. �I am Matilda. My baby is Caitlin McNevin. She�s... she�s quite ill.�
�Sit down. I�ll call you when the doctor can see you.� The nurse�s eyes never left the paperwork on her desk as she clipped her orders to Matilda; waiting until Matilda had settled in the chair next to Nora before looking up and briefly scanning the room. She smiled warmly at an elderly woman and nodded congenially at the man with the red rimmed eyes before scowling darkly when her eyes met Nora�s. Nora quickly hid her face in the sleeve of her mother�s coat.
The nurse picked up a file and walked from behind the reception desk. �Mr. Roberts, follow me please.�
The red-rimmed eyes of an elderly, oversized man squinted as he smiled in satisfaction while he heaved his weight out of his chair and stabilized his balance before following the nurse down the short corridor and into the examining room.
Matilda settled in for the long wait. Her body felt exhausted and achy. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off and reminisce about the happier times and the life she had led in Ireland. Matilda was reveling in memories of the warmth, gaiety and excitement that she experienced at the last festival she attended before they had foolishly left her beloved Ireland, the Feast of St. Michael, when her attention was yanked back toward the infant she held in her arms as the buxom nurse in crisp white attire, abruptly ordered them to follow her into the pediatric examination room. The nurse barely harbored a look of disdain for the haggard looking trio as they trailed behind her into the small, bright room.
Nora gaped in awe at her surroundings; such bright and vivid colors! The wallpaper sported cartoon animals of all shapes and sizes. The table where her mother laid her sister was located in the center of the room, allowing the doctor freedom to move around it. A teddy bear mobile dangled above one end of the table, offering entertainment for small patients.
Nora sucked the warm air into her lungs as her eyes opened even wider to view the tall man in a white jacket entering the room. Ignoring her, he walked briskly toward the table and immediately began to examine her baby sister, Caitlin.
Matilda and the doctor spoke in hushed whispers. Nora sensed panic in the voice of her mother and concern in the voice of the doctor.
�Will she be alright doctor?� pleaded Matilda. She wanted to know, yet was afraid of the answer.
�Time will tell; time will tell. I am sorry you didn�t get her here at the first onset of the fever. We have seen cases, when treated early enough, where the patient escapes any repercussions to the body and grows up strong and healthy. But this child is barely breathing and her heart sounds weak. I will give you something to keep her comfortable and we will start her on an antibiotic and then we pray. That is the best I can do for you.�
Nora grabbed the hem of her mother�s coat as she looked in the corner of the room at the two brilliantly glowing women standing in the corner. Their beautiful longs gowns shimmered of a pastel rainbow when they moved, yet appeared linen white when still. She tried to get her mother�s attention to point these beautiful ladies out, but to no avail.
The women looked down at Nora with warm and friendly smiles. Their eyes twinkled with a starlight effect. The scent emanating from them was of a flower she had smelled long ago. It was the scent of honeysuckle; like what was growing outside her baby sister�s window. As they approached, the scent grew stronger.
Nora looked down at the hems of their gowns and was amazed to note that they where a few inches above the floor. She could see no feet under their gowns and wondered how these ladies where able to float like that. They stopped in front of her and she experienced a warm, soothing feeling of comfort that she had never felt before. It was so peaceful and gentle. Nora�s head became light and it was difficult to focus as the glowing women continued on toward the baby on the table.
The doctor and her mother remained deep in conversation; oblivious to the women picking up her sister. Oddly enough, Nora felt no urge to speak. She remained planted in one spot, dreamily watching the two women as they raised their arms, holding Caitlin high toward the ceiling. Her sister was silent and motionless.
As the women lowered the infant, enormous glowing wings of brilliant gold appeared from behind their backs and enfolded the trio. It was difficult to know how long they remained like that. Nora seemed lost in time and space, mesmerized by the vision before her. Her mother and the doctor kept on talking.
The glowing women lowered their wings and placed the small child back on the table and she moved slightly while a small whimper from her tiny lips immediately caught the attention of the doctor and her mother. They seemingly ignored the glowing ladies who stood quietly and watched as the doctor examined Caitlin one more time. He turned to her mother, pleased and surprised with his findings.
Matilda began to cry and Nora reached up to comfort her teary eyed mother. She received a loving hug as her mother�s gentle voice in her ear whispered, �These are tears of joy, my darling. Your sister will be fine. Caitlin will be fine!�
As they turned to leave the room, Nora looked back for one more view of the two beautiful glowing women, but saw no one. They had left as quietly as they had arrived. She made no mention of them to her mother and as time passed by, the beautiful glowing ladies became a faded memory.
One month later, while checking on the peacefully sleeping infant, Matilda peered into the room to discover a bright glowing woman bent over Caitlin�s crib. The woman�s billowing dress rippled with the colors of a pastel rainbow as she slowly passed her hands over the infant. She reminded Matilda of an angel from one of the fairy tales her mother had entertained her with during her childhood. Not feeling compelled to enter the room, she dreamily returned to her bed for the most complete and deepest rest she had experienced in years. When she awoke in the morning, Matilda recalled her dream and smiled.
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Lanesborough – The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is poised to select a contractor for the largest construction project in state park history. Of the four bids that were submitted for the overhaul of the Mount Greylock State Reservation Historic Parkway, three came from Berkshire County construction companies. With more, WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief, Carrie Saldo;

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Emmanuel Emesakoru
Magic Always
There's magic when we hold hands
When you slip your fingers into mine
The memory always lingers
Magic always does happen
Within the feel of your palm
There's magic when we stare at each other
With no words spoken at all
The fire always burns
Magic always does happen
When I'm lost, staring at you
There's magic whenever we kiss
When your lips feather mine
I thirst for more of you
Magic always does happen
As my throat constricts
There's magic when we make love
On cloud nine to the skies above
I yearn for more of you
Magic always does happen
When you send shivers through me
I'm your tricky wand
And you're my magician
Please wield magic with me always
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Comments about this poem (Magic Always by Emmanuel Emesakoru )
Naveed Akram (4/12/2008 12:44:00 PM)
Magic is always an inspiration. Itself the power of magic has a mystery, and we are being offered a magic spell. The thirst of magic is exposed, the birth of magic has taken place. It feels like another person, like a magical feeling anyway. Who is magical more than the other? Is what you say also magical? And why do magicians hide their magic so magnificently? Please, why do they love the magic so strongly?
I like the simple words being spoken, and I love it as much as magic. This poem looks like magic, but is it? Maybe the hiding of magic is even taking place. The understanding of magical experiences can be unearthed here. But a poem is good for this purpose: for unearthing a secret or two. (Report) Reply
Fraddel Gantare (8/15/2007 8:10:00 PM)
Famous Poems
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
Langston Hughes
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
Rudyard Kipling
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
A Dream Within A Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
Robert Frost
(March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)
Maya Angelou
(4 April 1928 - 28 May 2014)
Edgar Allan Poe
(19 January 1809 - 7 October 1849)
William Wordsworth
Langston Hughes
(1 February 1902 – 22 May 1967)
- Arthur Seymour John Tessimond
Emily Dickinson
(10 December 1830 – 15 May 1886)
William Butler Yeats
(13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939)
Pablo Neruda
(12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973)
William Shakespeare
(26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616)
- The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
- Daffodils, William Wordsworth
- Dreams, Langston Hughes
- Phenomenal Woman, Maya Angelou
- Still I Rise, Maya Angelou
- A Dream Within A Dream, Edgar Allan Poe
- If, Rudyard Kipling
- If You Forget Me, Pablo Neruda
- Annabel Lee, Edgar Allan Poe
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost


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This is the third module in the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Project Suite curriculum. Each activity is self-directed by students or student teams and utilizes online videos, data from the SDO satellite and hands-on activities to explore,... (View More) research and build knowledge about how the Sun's varying activity impacts Earth and space weather. Each activity provides opportunities to build knowledge and vocabulary, apply or demonstrate learning through real world connections and create resources to use in investigations. Both a teacher and student guide are included with sequential instructions and embedded links to the needed videos, tutorials and internet resources. In Activity 3A: Sun-Earth Interactions, students gather information from online videos and create a 3D model to demonstrate the relationship to Earth's place in space and the affect of Earth's axial tilt on our seasons, then film a short video explaining the reasons for the seasons. Activity 3B: Space Weather, students use online videos to gather information on what space weather is, and its causes and effects, to create a concept map. They then use real-time real-time SDO data to forecast space weather. Activity 3C: Solar Research in Action! Make a Magnetometer has students view information in online videos about to Earth's magnetosphere and the impacts of space weather, then create a magnetometer to detect and visualize changes in the Earth's magnetic fields to monitor solar storm impacts. A computer for student-teams and access to the internet are needed for this module. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $5 - $10 per group of students
This is a set of readings associated with activities during Solar Week, a twice-yearly event in March and October during which classrooms are able to interact with scientists studying the Sun. Outside of Solar Week, information, activities, and... (View More) resources are archived and available online at any time. This is a series of online readings about the Sun, including general solar facts, the life cycle stages of the Sun, stellar classifications, solar activity, and space weather. This activity is scheduled to occur during Monday of Solar Week. (View Less)
This is a short online reading associated with activities during Solar Week, a twice-yearly event in March and October during which classrooms are able to interact with scientists studying the Sun. Outside of Solar Week, information, activities, and... (View More) resources are archived and available online at any time. Learners will read about how Earth is protected from the harmful effects of solar radiation. This activity is scheduled to occur during Wednesday of Solar Week. (View Less)
This iOS app for iPhone, iPad and iTouch, allows families and educators to investigate and learn about the Sun at home, at school, or anywhere. It provides 13 free, easy to use, hands-on activities, plus live images of the Sun from NASA's SDO... (View More) satellite, videos of the Sun, and more. Each activity includes material lists, step-by-step instructions, and detailed explanations. Some of the activities and media pieces are also available on the project website. The activity materials are widely available and inexpensive. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This collection of math problems is based on a weekly series of space and Earth science problems distributed to teachers during the 2013-2014 school year. The problems were intended for students looking for additional challenges in the math and... (View More) physical science curriculum and were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. Includes information for teachers and answer key. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
This is a resource about the Sun and its effects on the rest of the Solar System. Learners will watch movie clips and read a guidebook of information about space weather, solar variability, the heliosphere, Earth's magnetosphere and upper... (View More) atmosphere, as well as the solar mysteries that scientists are still studying. (View Less)
This is a poster about radiation in space. Learners can read about the Van Allen belts and how NASA's Van Allen Probes are investigating the influence of the Sun's energy on Earth. The activity version also includes math problems, a vocabulary... (View More) matching game, a communication research challenge, and a toolbox of web resources. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free per group of students
This is a lithograph about NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, or MMS. Learners will cut out and assemble a colorful 3D model of an MMS spacecraft. Web links, additional facts, and QR codes are included for audiences to access more information.
This is an activity about Earth's magnetic field. Learners will construct a soda bottle magnetometer, collect data, and analyze the results to detect magnetic storm events. Ideally, learners should collect data for at least a month. If several... (View More) months are available for data collection, this is ideal. This is the first activity as part of the iMAGiNETICspace: Where Imagination, Magnetism, and Space Collide educator's guide. Instructions for downloading the iBook educator's guide and the associated Transmedia book student guide are available at the resource link. (View Less)
This is a software package about space weather: what it is and what it does in space and here on Earth. The disc includes software that displays movies and images of the aurora and of the Sun in various wavelengths from the ground and from orbiting... (View More) NASA spacecraft; a tutorial about what space weather is and how the aurora is formed; and more. Users will also find real-time space weather conditions from current satellite missions and can download the latest data without leaving the Space Weather application. A TicTacToe game is also included that tests space weather knowledge. The disc contains many other Space Weather resources, programs, sounds, and games for use at home or school, and there are several educational websites included in full on the disc for offline viewing. In addition there is an exhaustive list of links to a variety of space weather resources available online. The disc is available for free from a number of sites if downloaded. (View Less)


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Ubi Soft Entertainment has announced the completion of IL-2 Sturmovik, its latest World War II flight combat game. The game lets players participate in some of the most intense air battles on the eastern front during World War II. In addition to the IL-2, players can fly a variety of other aircraft including the MiG, P-39, and Messerschmitt airplanes. The game includes both realistic and arcade-style flight models, as well as variable realism settings. The game supports up to 16 players in cooperative missions and up to 32 players in dogfight mode.
IL-2 Sturmovik is scheduled to ship to stores on November 20 with an approximate retail price of $44.95. For more information, take a look at our previous coverage of the game, and watch the exclusive new video footage linked below.


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Repair shop says to replace both wheel bearings but only right front one is making noise? Do you have to do both?
View questions for:All Chrysler
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2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser
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2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser Question: Wheel bearing replacement - 1 or both?
freelancer, w/o Turbo, Cincinnati, OH, September 09, 2009, 23:48
1 Answer
Answer #1Bret Bodas September 10, 2009, 00:25Master
I hear this repair method often, and I disagree with it when it refers to sealed wheel bearings, which is what you have. It's very rare for both bearings to fail at the same time, so I always replace the one that is bad. The worst thing is the other one starts making noise later on and you have it replaced. You don't save very much, except your time by having to return at a later date to have it replaced.
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Chicago, IL (PRWEB) February 13, 2013
With the all important St. Paddys Day season rapidly approaching, Fadó Irish Pub has introduced a new menu with a focus on sharable, small plates and snacks made from scratch that pair perfectly with a round of pints. Additionally, over 70% of the menu has been overhauled with pub favorites like the Lamb Dip, Fish and Chips, the Gourmet Burger, and Boxties getting new presentations and fresh ingredient changes.
Fadó is a great gathering spot that offers something for everyone, said Tom Dowd, general manager. We realize people may not ask what are we having tonight, Mexican, Italian or Irish? but they do want a place where they can share some great food with friends while they grab a pint, he added.
The most notable addition to the traditional Irish menu is the Chip Shop: a concept dedicated entirely to the artful presentation of chips, or as we Americans might refer to them, fries. Guests can order a sinfully delicious serving of chips, either Fadó Thick Cut Chips or Natural Thin Cut Chips, and an option of two or four sauces including Guinness mayo, red chili aioli and many others. For those who cant choose between sauces, opt for topped chips, with the choice of Fresh Rosemary & Parmesean Tossed, Harp Lager Cheese Sauce & Bacon, Black Pudding & Chimichurri among the delicious combinations.
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Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party were backpedaling furiously this weekend to dispel an unwelcome image of diplomatic flexibility, after a negotiating document surfaced in which the Israeli prime minister appeared to offer sweeping concessions to the Palestinians on 1967 borders, return of refugees, Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley and some undefined Palestinian claim in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu and the Likud issued a series of statements variously calling the purported document either a fake or a genuine American draft that Netanyahu's adviser had helped to draft, even though the prime minister flatly rejected its contents. In a final effort to distance himself from the concessions, he announced on Sunday that he no longer endorsed Palestinian statehood.
While Netanyahu was trying to distance himself from that document, however, Israel's Channel 10 Television on Sunday evening reported on yet another document offering similarly sweeping concessions in Netanyahu's name. This second document was a letter reportedly given to Quartet negotiator Tony Blair by Netanyahu's then-adviser Ron Dermer, currently Israeli ambassador in Washington, expressing willingness to accept the "consensus of the international community" and withdraw from all the territories Israel captured in 1967, with some land swaps. Channel 10 investigative reporter Raviv Drucker reported the Dermer letter but gave no indication of its date. (Dermer has denied offering any withdrawals.)
Forgotten amid the furor, meanwhile, is the July 2014 New Republic account of the failed Kerry peace talks, by reporters Amir Tibon and Ben Birnbaum. In January 2014, they reported, the secretary of state got a written agreement from Netanyahu that the "new secure and recognized border between Israel and Palestine will be negotiated based on the 1967 lines with mutual agreed swaps."
In all, then, there are now reports of three separate documents in which Netanyahu or his close aides appear to accept the creation of a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 armistice lines or their equivalent in area. This would seem to weaken the claims from the left that Netanyahu is incapable of making the concessions needed to reach peace with the Palestinians. Coming just over a week before Israel's parliamentary elections, though, they pose far greater danger to Netanyahu, whose campaign for reelection is based on his image as an uncompromising opponent of Israeli concessions.
The weekend furor began with front-page report by political commentator Nahum Barnea in Friday's Yediot Ahronot (English version here). It described a document dated August 2013, purportedly summing up a series of negotiations in London between a close adviser to Netanyahu and a confidante of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
"Palestinians cut security coordination with Israel"? Really?
This looks like another one of those cases where the press gets out ahead of the story. The initial headlines (here, here) said the Palestinians have cut security coordination between their forces and Israel's. The stories under the headlines said that actually the PLO's central council had either ordered or recommended that the Palestinian Authority (which is not the same thing as the PLO) halt security coordination at some future point to be decided by Mahmoud Abbas.
The reality seems to be that Abbas, who chairs both bodies, has just given himself another cudgel to hold over Israel's head, part of a growing collection, like the International Criminal Court and other UN agencies, that he brandishes but never really uses as he tries to pressure Israel. His goal is to press Israeli to accept his terms for Palestinian independence without reigniting the violence that's brought such misery on the Palestinians in the past. Don't ask how its working out for him.
Abbas's dilemma is that the government serving in Jerusalem during most of the time he's been in office, Netanyahu's, really, really doesn't like his terms for independence and seems impervious to his pressure. When the Palestinians use violence Jerusalem says it won't be forced into conceding. When the Palestinians resort to nonviolent pressure, like diplomatic maneuvering or boycotts, Jerusalem calls it "diplomatic terrorism" or "economic terrorism" and says it won't give in to terrorism. When the Palestinians refrain from pressure tactics Jerusalem sees no need to concede.
Coordination between Israeli and Palestinian security forces was one of the terms of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which agreed jointly to create the Palestinian Authority as a semi-autonomous administrative body in the territories while Israel and the PLO continued to negotiate a permanent arrangement.
Under PLO-PA chairman Yasser Arafat the coordination was, shall we say, spotty, going up and down and falling apart completely when the Second Intifada broke out in 2000. Things got better in 2003 when Abbas, then Arafat's deputy, was appointed PA prime minister. Terror attacks dropped dramatically and the PA security forces stopped participating in them. Things got better still after Arafat died in November 2004 and was replaced as chairman by Abbas.
The real turning point came in 2007. That's when the United States set up a training program under Lieutenant General Keith Dayton to professionalize the PA forces. Things turned around rather quickly as more and more units went through the American training bases in Jordan and returned to the field.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas may have opened the door to his government's joining the International Criminal Court on New Year's Eve when he signed the Rome Statute, the 2002 treaty that created the court. But that doesn't make the Palestinian Authority — or the State of Palestine, as the United Nations now calls it — a member of the court. Not yet, anyway.
The road from signing the treaty to hauling Israelis before the court on war crimes charges — the road from Rome to The Hague, as Ynet's Elior Levy put it — is still long and complicated. Abbas has flexed some muscles and shown his people some moxie, but he hasn't yet declared judicial war on Israel, and it's not entirely clear that he can — or even that he wants to.
What he's been doing, it appears, is building, slowly, step by step, a legal-diplomatic edifice that may eventually make that possible. But he still has some hurdles to cross. And there are still opportunities for Jerusalem and Washington to stop the process. His end goal is not getting Israelis thrown in jail, but getting them out of his people's lives.
If Abbas's State of Palestine were to be accepted as member-state of the court, it would be entitled to bring charges of war crimes perpetrated against it. At first glance Israel might not seem to be vulnerable, because the rules of the court only apply to countries that are members. Israel is not a member. However, the court specifically allows member-states to bring charges over crimes committed on their territory, even if the alleged perpetrator wasn't a member-state.
The whole tactic of going to the court carries high risks for Abbas and his allies. He heads up a government that includes the terrorist Hamas, with its long record of intentional, bloody attacks on civilians that unambiguously constitute war crimes. Palestinian leaders might find themselves more vulnerable to prosecution than Israelis.
What could Israel be charged with? The obvious charges involve the large-scale death and property destruction wreaked on Gaza during the three wars against Hamas over the past six years. There are disputes about the proportion of civilians among the dead, but no one questions that there were a lot of them. But it's not at all clear that those deaths, horrific as they are, would be indictable as war crimes.
The Palestinian effort to have the U.N. Security Council set a deadline for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank failed to win the necessary nine votes for approval this afternoon. Palestinian spokesmen had spoken confidently before the vote of winning nine or even 10 votes. But two nations whose support they said they expected, Nigeria and South Korea, ended up abstaining. In the end eight nations voted for the resolution, two voted no and five abstained.
The outcome ended up confirming what some Palestinian and Israeli spokesmen had said weeks ago: that the resolution would fall short if it came up for a vote in 2014. Palestinian chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat had warned in a December 15 interview with an Arabic-language Israeli radio station that the resolution didn't have nine votes.
Jordan, which holds the Arab group's seat on the Security Council, was said to be pushing for a delay in the vote until next week, when five new members take their seats, including fiercely anti-Israel Malaysia, which will take the Asia-Pacific seat currently held by South Korea. But the Palestinians insisted on holding the vote before the New Year's holiday.
Jordan submitted the resolution to the Security Council Monday night, over furious objections from Israel and an American hint of a veto.
The resolution called for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement within a year and full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by the end of 2017. The full text appears after the jump.
France tried in mid-December to put together an alternative draft resolution that eased some of the terms that most alarmed Jerusalem and Washington, in hopes of securing U.S. backing and perhaps getting unanimous council support. Palestinian officials were said to be reluctantly supporting the French effort. Just before Christmas, though, the Palestinians let it be known that they would submit their own draft, and that instead of softening the language they were hardening it even further.
That evidently made it easier for Washington to peel away enough support to yield today's result: instead of nine supporters the resolution won eight, with two voting against and five abstaining.
The Palestinian tactics mystified Israeli and American diplomats and prompted speculation that the Palestinians were intending to lose the vote. It was thought that they wanted to put on a show of toughness to counter rising anger on the Palestinian street and increasing pressure from Hamas, but they didn't want to anger Washington by forcing it to cast a veto at a time when it needs Arab support against ISIS.
Intriguingly, during the council discussion following the vote Palestinian U.N. delegate Riyad Mansour delivered a long, detailed, furious denunciation of Israel behavior and repeatedly criticized the council for failing to act on its "responsibility" to intervene. But he ended, incongruously, by thanking by name the five council members whose terms end tomorrow for their service: Rwanda, Australia, South Korea, Luxembourg and Argentina. Three of the five abstained (Rwanda and South Korea) or voted no (Australia) and thus provided the margin for the resolution's narrow defeat.
Think of it this way: The council's 15 members include the five permanent members — U.S., U.K., France, Russia and China — and 10 non-permanent members. Five of those 10 joined the council in January 2013 and leave tomorrow while rhe other five (Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Nigeria) joined in January 2014 and serve for another year.
Of the seven no's and abstentions that blocked the Palestinian resolution, two came from the five permanent members, two from the class of 2014 and three from the class of 2013 that leaves tomorrow. In other words, it was the class of 2013 that provided Washington and Jerusalem their margin of victory. And that was the group that Mansour chose to salute in closing his speech.
And if you're wondering, no — none of the other speakers saluted the departing class of 2013. Only Mansour.
Here is today's roll call:
Three of Israel's most senior ex-defense officials came out last week, almost simultaneously, with blistering attacks on the security policies of the Netanyahu coalition. Appearing in separate forums, the three — former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi — each charged that the government is endangering Israel's future by allowing right-wing extremists to sabotage prospects for a two-state solution, putting the country on a path toward a single, binational state that will be plagued by continuing ethnic strife.
Two of the attacks appeared as op-ed essays in last Friday newspapers. One, by Diskin, appeared in the mass-circulation Yediot Ahronot. Titled "What lies ahead for Israel" (in English here), it argues that the current "Jerusalem intifada" is a "microcosm" of what awaits Israel if it does not resume serious peace negotiations with the Palestinian leadership. Diskin is particularly critical of the "inflammatory propaganda" and "brainwashing" that depicts Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as an obstacle rather than a partner, when in fact, he writes, Abbas is strongly opposed to terrorism and maintains a "clear policy" of security cooperation with Israel.
The second, by Shavit, appeared in the liberal-leaning Haaretz. Titled "Blindness, Stupidity, Cause for Concern" (here, Hebrew only), it worries about the "haughtiness and arrogance" among "central factors in religious Zionism,"
together with more than a bit of the messianic thinking that rushes to turn the conflict into a holy war. If this has been, so far, a local political conflict that two small nations have been waging over a small and defined piece of territory, major forces in the religious Zionist movement are foolishly doing everything they can to turn it into the most horrific of wars, in which the entire Muslim world will stand against us.
I also see, to the same extent, detachment and lack of understanding of international processes and their significance for us. This right wing, in its blindness and stupidity, is pushing the nation of Israel into the dishonorable position of "the nation shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers 23:9).
[Postscript: An English version appeared Monday morning under a different title: "Former Mossad chief: For the first time, I fear for the future of Zionism." I've replaced some of my translations with Haaretz's text.]
The director of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service, speaking in the wake of today's massacre in a Jerusalem synagogue, told a Knesset committee that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas "is not interested in terrorism and is not leading [his people] to terrorism. Not even under the table."
His remarks directly contradicted a string of statements (English) by Israeli leaders, from Prime Minister Netanyahu on down, accusing Abbas of "inciting" the attack by his calls to "defend Al-Aqsa." Netanyahu called (Hebrew) the synagogue slaughter "the direct result of incitement led by Hamas and Abu Mazen, incitement that the international community is irresponsibly ignoring."
The security chief, Yoram Cohen, was addressing a closed meeting of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee. His remarks were described to reporters afterward by participants.
Cohen acknowledged that there were "factors within the Palestinian Authority" who interpret Abbas's criticisms of Israel as "giving legitimization to terror."
However, in describing the sequence of events that led to this morning's bloodbath, he said the confrontations began after the July 2 murder of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu-Khdeir. He said the tensions were exacerbated by Knesset discussions of a bill to permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, submitted last spring by Likud lawmaker Miri Regev, and by high-profile visits of politicians to the Temple Mount that are seen as supporting the legislation.
Hamas is eager to have Mahmoud Abbas's U.S.-trained Presidential Guard take control of the border crossings between Gaza and Israel. But the Islamist organization isn't likely to give in to pressure from Abbas and the West to put its own military wing under Abbas's control, nor to let officials of the proposed Fatah-Hamas unity government take the reins of civilian government in Gaza.
So says Colonel M., head of the Palestinian unit in the research department of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate, in a wide-ranging interview with Arab affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff of the English-language Times of Israel website and the Hebrew-language Walla! News site.
Colonel M. (the Times of Israel incorrectly translates his title as lieutenant colonel) also describes the IDF intelligence reading of the events that led to the outbreak of this summer's war in Gaza. He states flatly and firmly that Hamas neither wanted nor planned a war, but stumbled into it unintentionally as the end result of a series of missteps beginning with the kidnapping of three Israeli yeshiva students in the West Bank in early June. He says that published accounts of Hamas planning for a "July War" are "nonsense." His account of the events is virtually identical to the scenario I laid out in a column in July.
The colonel emphasized, Issacharoff writes, that the views he expressed aren't his own personal assessment or that of his unit but the consensus view of Israeli Military Intelligence as a whole. He says the assessment is shared by the Shin Bet security service. (This contradicts a recent news analysis in Yediot Ahronot by military correspondent Alex Fishman, who claimed the Shin Bet disagrees and believes Hamas planned the war).
No less intriguing than what the interview says is what it doesn't say. Issacharoff writes that Colonel M. refused to discuss the situation on the West Bank or Abbas's strategic thinking, "apparently out of fear of appearing to criticize the political echelon." It's yet another indication of the deep and growing divide between Israel's security professionals and their politician bosses over Israel's security needs.
This should have been Bibi Netanyahu's big year at the United Nations. World revulsion toward ISIS was at a peak, putting Islamist terrorism at center stage. President Obama, long derided by Netanyahu and his allies as a naïve peacenik, had suddenly become a wartime president. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was, at last, the least of the world's problems. If Bibi wanted the world to leave Israel and the Palestinians alone to fight things out in their own way, all he had to do was show up and play it cool.
But, of course, you knew he wouldn't. He had to go and take this opportunity — nay, engraved invitation — to show gracious statesmanship and use it instead to show the petulance and short-sightedness for which he's famous.
Obama, addressing the assembly September 24, hit all the right notes. In a 39-minute speech that ranged from Ukraine to Ebola, Iran, poverty and climate change, more than one-third was devoted to the fight against radical Islamism, as epitomized by ISIS. He called on "the world to join in this effort" to destroy "this network of death." He declared, uncharacteristically for him, that there could be "no reasoning, no negotiation with this brand of evil." He demanded that "the Arab and Muslim world" end funding of extremist ideologies. He called on Muslim youth to choose between pluralism and stagnation. He even pooh-poohed the "illusion" that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "the main source of problems in the region."
The president wasn't just talking through his hat. Before showing up in New York he'd assembled a global coalition of more than 60 nations to join the fight against ISIS. Some are just providing funds (not a small thing in these tight-budget times; that's the role our ally Japan played in the 1991 Gulf War). Others, notably the Europeans, are fighting with us in Iraq but haven't crossed the border into Syria.
On the other hand, five Sunni Arab states have mobilized to join our attack on the Islamist army's bases on Syrian soil. That's a historic achievement — getting Arab states to fight openly alongside us Western infidels to extirpate a diseased branch of Islam. You might think back to World War I and T.E. Lawrence leading Arabs against the Ottoman Turks. But that was to dismantle a bloatec empire. This is to defeat concentrated evil that wraps itself in the pages of the Quran.
Israel and the Palestinians are said to be near agreement on the terms for a long-term cease-fire for Gaza, following a day of talks in Cairo under Egyptian mediation. The Israeli team was reported by Yediot Ahronot's Ynet news site to be heading back to Israel this evening to present the tentative agreements to Israel's security cabinet.
The 11-member Palestinian delegation includes five representatives of Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, including Azzam al-Ahmed, the delegation head, and delegation spokesman Qais Abd el-Karim of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; four representatives of Hamas, including deputy political secretary Moussa Abu Marzouk; and two representatives of Islamic Jihad. The Israeli delegation includes Shin Bet director Yoram Cohen; Defense Ministry political-diplomatic director Amos Gilad; coordinator of government activities in the territories Maj. Gen. Yoav "Pauly" Mordechai; director of the IDF planning directorate Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer; and Yitzhak Molcho, Prime Minister Netanyahu's personal lawyer.
Following are the terms of the emerging agreement, as reported on Israel's Mako-Channel 2 News by veteran Arab affairs commentator Ehud Yaari and reporter Udi Segal:
Demanded by Israel:
A complete halt to firing and hostile action from Gaza.
Israeli control of border crossings to be opened between Gaza and Israel in the framework of the agreement.
Payment of money and any other cash transfers to public workers in Gaza will be carried out only via the Palestinian Authority.
Demanded by Palestinian negotiators:
The determination that the Israeli infantry officer thought to have been captured is in fact dead has changed the trajectory of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, which now appears to be winding down.
Military officers were quoted by Walla News and Haaretz late Saturday night as saying that IDF engineers will be finished within a day with the demolition of the 31 Hamas attack tunnels that have been identified leading into Israel. Numerous Israeli and Palestinian news outlets report that troops have begun withdrawing from the populated areas of the Gaza Strip to a staging area along the border fence, where they will remain until the Israeli government decides its next steps. The government said it will continue air strikes against rocket launchers and other offensive targets.
Even before Friday's abortive cease-fire, the question of how much longer Israel should continue the operation was becoming a political football in Jerusalem last week. Senior military officers told reporters that the mission they were assigned was nearly done and that they were waiting for the government to decide whether to push on or pull back. Cabinet ministers on the right replied that it was up to the military to decide whether the country was safe or not.
The question appeared to become moot Friday morning after a Givati infantry brigade officer, Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, was reported to have been snatched by Hamas gunmen during an ambush near the city of Rafah and spirited away into a tunnel. Troops closed off Rafah and began a house-to-house search for the missing officer. That led to expectations of a prolonged dragnet like the one conducted in the search for the three kidnapped yeshiva students in the West Bank in June.
On Saturday evening, however, the army's personnel chief and chief rabbi reported that they had determined that Goldin was dead, relying on "medical, halachic and other considerations" based on "evidence from the battlefield."
That reopened the political debate over whether Operation Protective Edge was nearing its end or approaching a new stage, and what would constitute victory. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to the press (Hebrew, English) at IDF headquarters Saturday night and essentially punted: He indicated that the army had done a fine job in taking care of the tunnels, but said that operations would continue as needed.
Mark your calendars: It was on Sunday, July 20, that the momentum turned against Israel. Sometime around noon the wind shifted and the tide began to roll out, and Israel started to lose international sympathy for its Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
Up until Sunday morning Israel had a pretty clear field, owing to a combination of factors. For one thing, the optics. As long as Israel was responding to Hamas rockets with air strikes against Hamas targets, it looked to most observers like a fair fight. Israel's opponents claimed there was no equivalence given the lopsided death toll. Israel's supporters claimed the opposite: there was no equivalence because Hamas was aiming at civilians, while Israel was just trying to stop the rockets. In practice, it was a wash.
Even after Israel's ground troops entered Gaza on Thursday night, July 17, the action looked reasonably measured to most outsiders. Hamas' network of cross-border tunnels had ceased to be a theoretical problem that morning, when a squad of terrorists emerged on the Israeli side, prepared to attack a kibbutz. Israel sent in troops for what was announced as a limited operation along the border fence to destroy the tunnels. There were no international complaints. Lots of noisy street demonstrations, but hardly a peep from the world's governments.
It didn't hurt Israel's case that the same Thursday saw 298 passengers killed when a Malaysian Airlines passenger was jet shot down over Ukraine, apparently by pro-Russian rebels, and 270 Syrians — soldiers, security guards and civilians — murdered execution-style by ISIS militants who had taken over a natural gas field. Gaza was just one of the world's killing fields as the weekend approached.
Most important, Israel was facing an enemy, Hamas, that was almost universally despised. Egypt, always central to Israel-Hamas mediation, had been pouring contempt on Hamas throughout the crisis. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas had loudly condemned attacks on Israel during the crisis, once at a June 18 meeting of Islamic foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia and again when Hamas started bombarding Israel. When Egypt's July 14 cease-fire proposal was accepted by Israel and rejected by Hamas, the Islamist organization's support was reduced to rogue-state Iran, Islamist Turkey and the emirate of Qatar.
Qatar launched its own cease-fire initiative, which included the preconditions Hamas had demanded — freeing prisoners, opening borders, putting the Gaza-Egypt border under international supervision — but nobody endorsed it. The Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, lined up formally behind Egypt — and by implication, Israel. The Jewish state had never had more sympathy in the Arab world for its defense needs.
What happened next was something that's happened over and over in Israel's military operations in recent years: The government overestimated the depth of its international support and decided to broaden the scope of the operation. On Saturday night the ground campaign was expanded beyond the surgical operation that had been promised against tunnels near the fence. It became a major assault on a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City, Sheja'iya. The neighborhood houses some of Hamas' tunnel entries and rocket launchers. It also houses tens of thousands of civilian families.
By evening the shelling and ground fighting had killed more than 80 Palestinians, including an estimated 60 civilians. The expanded fighting also began taking a serious toll on the Israeli side: 13 soldiers killed.
From the "If You've Only Got Time To Read One Thing" Dept. Actually, I've got three items to recommend, each of which casts invaluable light on what's going on right now in Gaza. In a moment I'll rank them in order of importance, but first, a comment on what they have in common. The three are from — in no particular order (I'll get to that later) — reporter Patrick Kingsley in the left-wing British daily The Guardian; conservative-leaning Israeli political reporter Haviv Rettig-Gur in the right-of-center Israeli news site Times of Israel (he's formerly of the Jerusalem Post); and liberal-leaning Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Barel in Haaretz.
Interestingly, they all end up in pretty much the same place: Hamas is increasingly isolated, refusing to accept the Egyptian call for an unconditional cease-fire; it keeps on bombarding Israel because it's desperate for something, anything, that can be presented as a win for all the trouble it's caused; and consequently, Hamas is receiving (and deserving) most of the blame — from Europe and even the Arab League — for the current suffering of the Palestinians under its rule in Gaza. Its only remaining friends are Turkey and Qatar.
Now to the individual items on my list. First up, Haviv Rettig-Gur's piece in Times of Israel, a must-read. It's really two analyses woven together, presented in an unemotional, straightforward and quite convincing argument.
In the first place he looks at the way that both Israel and Hamas use contradictory claims of their own strength and their own weakness — strength in order to deter the enemy, weakness in order to win sympathy abroad. It's not the most original argument in the world, but he presents it extremely well, and it's important coming from him.
He proceeds from there to expand on Hamas's victimhood mentality in order explore its mistaken use of post-colonial theory in service of the Palestinian cause. In Hamas thinking, he writes, the Palestinian fight against Israel is like the Algerian fight against the French in the 1950s. Therefore the enormous suffering that Hamas's "resistance" causes to the Palestinian people is worth it, as was the unspeakable suffering of the Algerians, because it ends in victory. The weakness of the post-colonialism approach as an anti-Israel strategy, Haviv writes, is that Hamas fails to grasp Israel's self-understanding as a nation on its own soil rather than a colonial invader.
The Forward has my latest column on how Israel and Hamas stumbled through a series of accidents and misunderstandings into a war nobody wanted. Because it's written for print (unlike this blog) it has limits on length, and even though the paper generously lets me run way over my limit every week, there are inevitably things left out that need to be said. Permit me to add.
First, the current blowup began with a kidnap-murder of three Israeli teenagers, two of them 16-year-olds who just finished 11th grade. As the father of a son who is the exact same age — and is in Jerusalem right now on a summer program — I can just begin to guess at the feelings. But I can only begin to guess.
Second, the Israeli government suppressed the fact that the boys were dead, as it knew on Day 2, with the apparent motive of dismantling the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank. The prolonged, fabricated uncertainty had the collateral effect of inflaming Jewish emotions in Israel and the Diaspora, and the tension may well have intensified the resulting anger after the bodies were found. On the other hand, it also provided cover for Israel to round up and dismantle, with barely a shot fired, a network operating in territory it controls that openly preaches destroying Israel and murdering its citizens. I don't know that such a roundup is a bad thing.
Moreover, if it allows for a new Fatah-Hamas unity government with Hamas in a seriously weakened position, and a PA that can openly embrace the Quartet conditions and peace process with greater authority — including the ability to speak for and deliver Gaza — then it just might be something even hardcore doves can celebrate.
Third, regarding the current mutual bombardment. Here's where the series of accidents and misunderstandings kicked in. When Israel began rounding up Hamas-West Bank, amid declarations from Bibi that Hamas "will pay," the Hamas leadership in Gaza went underground and began gearing up for a renewed Gaza war that they feared — incorrectly, I believe — that Israel was planning. Going underground meant abandoning their earnest-but-not-always-competent enforcement of the 2012 cease-fire. The result was a sudden, drastic increase in rocket fire from PRC, Islamic Jihad and the Qaeda-style jihadis to its right. Israel responded with several aerial attacks on rocket crews.
Mourners at the fresh grave of Naftali Fraenkel, one of three Israeli teens murdered, allegedly by members of the Hamas-linked Qawasmeh family of Hebron. / Getty Images
Now that the bodies of the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers have been found and laid to rest, the crisis is rapidly turning into a wickedly complex, five-sided tug-of-war with enormous stakes on all sides. One axis pits hawks against doves inside Israel, with cries from the public for revenge backed by right-wing cabinet ministers while the military, backed by government doves, urges cautious, calibrated measures, to avoid an escalation into war. Prime Minister Netanyahu is caught in the middle, immobilized by indecision.
The debate erupted into angry verbal confrontations at security cabinet meetings on Monday and Tuesday, reaching a climax at one point when IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz praised the cabinet for adopting a temperate set of counter-measures that avoid escalation into full-scale war. In reply Gantz received a tongue-lashing from economics minister Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home Party, the cabinet's strongest advocate of harsh measures. Bennett angrily told Gantz he had no authority to "critique" the ministers' actions.
The second line of tension is a tug-of-war between Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas over Abbas's month-old unity pact with Hamas. A Hebron-based Hamas cell is believed responsible for the kidnap-murders, and Netanyahu is demanding that Abbas break off ties with the Hamas leadership in response. Abbas is holding off, deterred by doubts over the involvement of Hamas leaders — Hamas officials in both Gaza and Damascus continually deny any involvement or knowledge — and by popular pressure from below not to be identified too closely with Israel. But Israel anger and Hamas recalcitrance may leave him no choice.
The third and perhaps most significant line of confrontation is the growing tension between Hamas leaders in Gaza and Damascus and the local Hamas organization in Hebron. The Hebron organization, dominated by one of the city's oldest and largest clans, the Qawasmehs, has effectively operated for more than a decade as an independent franchise within the fundamentalist movement, and frequently as a radical opposition force and spoiler. The Shin Bet has identified Marwan Qawasmeh, 29, and a family hanger-on, Amer Abu-Eisha, 33, as the kidnappers of the yeshiva students.
Several detailed accounts of the Qawasmeh family's alleged spoiler role in Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire efforts have appeared in several Israeli and international publications in the last day, claiming, based on Palestinian and Israeli intelligence sources, that the clan staged the kidnapping in order to sabotage the Fatah-Hamas unity pact and reignite armed conflict.
Martin Indyk, the Obama administration's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, will formally resign this afternoon and return to his think-tank job at the Brookings Institution, the Associated Press reports. If there was talk of a renewed American effort to reignite peace talks, this is probably a bad sign.
It's probably just coincidence that the news comes the morning after Washington throws a farewell party to end all farewell parties for visiting Israeli President Shimon Peres, who's due to retire in a month.
Back home in Israel, meanwhile, the nastiest Middle East conflict was the one between hawks and doves inside the Netanyahu government. Over the last two days they've been furiously calling each other names and demanding each others' resignation.
It all started on Wednesday, when Israel's president-elect Reuven Rivlin praised Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas in a speech for his fierce condemnation the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers, delivered June 18 in a highly publicized speech in Saudi Arabia to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Rivlin went on to say that he's prepared to meet with Abbas, as he's done in the past.
Economics minister and Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett responded in a radio interview Thursday morning, calling Rivlin's praise of Abbas "horrible." Bennett called Abbas a "mega-terrorist," his evidence being that the Palestinian Authority pays salaries to Palestinian prisoners serving time in Israeli prisons.
Abbas, visiting Moscow yesterday, said that he's ready to return to the negotiating table for another nine months under certain conditions: that Israel complete the stalled fourth round of prisoner releases agreed to last year as part of the deal for the last round of talks, and that the first three months be devoted to discussing the borders of the new Palestinian state. No formal reply yet from Israel.
Israel appears to be sending mixed signals to Washington on U.S. aid to the new Palestinian unity government. On one hand, the Netanyahu government wants everyone to know it's furious over the new "reconciliation government" that Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has formed with the reviled terrorist organization Hamas. Officials from Prime Minister Netanyahu to Washington ambassador Ron Dermer have been declaring that the unity pact means "there can't be business as usual."
On the other hand, it's not clear Israel that wants Washington to respond by cutting its financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. Jerusalem depends heavily on the PA security forces' cooperation in fighting terrorism in the West Bank, and loss of funding could freeze their salaries and keep them home. In the longer run, the aid underwrites billions of dollars in PA governmental services from health to mail delivery and garbage collection that would fall on the Israeli taxpayer if the authority were to collapse under U.S. and international pressure.
Israelis who have met members of Congress in recent days say they're hearing expressions of confusion over Israel's mixed messages — that the new PA government is essentially a terror-backed group but that aid should not be cut.
Pro-Israel lawmakers and Jewish groups have been reciting a line that seems to represent a demand for ending aid, namely: "U.S. law is clear — no funds can be provided to a Palestinian government in which Hamas participates or has undue influence." Those words appear in a pop-up on AIPAC's website. A nearly identical phrase appears in a speech by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez that's touted on the American Jewish Committee website and elsewhere.
But that's not the whole law. Deeper on the AIPAC website is a set of "key points" that states the entire relevant law:
Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Mahmoud Abbas in 2010/Getty Images
Israel's decision today to suspend peace talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization, in response to yesterday's Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement, is really three distinct decisions. One is sensible. The second is understandable if questionable. The third is inexcusable.
The first decision is the actual suspension of talks, pending formation of the new Palestinian Authority government. The second is to suspend transfer of tax revenues that Israel collects on the Palestinians' behalf, in retaliation for Palestinian actions. The third is to launch an international media campaign to "blacken the name" of PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in international public opinion.
The first, suspending talks, sensibly reflects the gravity of the Palestinian step and the delicacy of Israeli domestic politics. Israel isn't alone in viewing Hamas as a rejectionist, irridentist and terrorist organization; that's the assessment of the international community.
The Middle East Quartet — the diplomatic partnership of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — laid out three conditions back in 2006 for Hamas participation in the diplomatic process: recognizing Israel, swearing off terrorism and accepting previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. To date it has met none of them. There have been unofficial trial balloons, never formally confirmed, about Hamas possibly accepting peaceful coexistence on some basis. And Hamas has largely observed a cease-fire across the Gaza border since taking a whipping in Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012. But it has flatly refused to give up terror in principle, and the only thing preventing Hamas attacks in the West Bank, where no cease-fire exists, has been Israeli-PLO security cooperation.
Under the circumstances, then, it's reasonable for Israel to suspend negotiations until it sees whether the new Palestinian unity government meets minimal international norms — in effect, whether unity means Hamas following Fatah toward coexistence or Fatah following Hamas toward endless war. It's not merely reasonable — it's the least Jerusalem can do to show its voting public that it's doing its job.
The second Israeli decision, to suspend the monthly transfer of Palestinian tax revenues, is a longstanding tactic for retaliating over Palestinian provocations. It does seem to be useful as a political safety valve, to let the Israeli public know that their government is on its toes and not giving away the store. Like Palestinian-led boycotts of Israel, it's a way to pressure (read: beat up on) the other side without actual bloodshed. Like those boycotts, its usefulness in encouraging Palestinian good-faith adherence is a lot less clear. Still more unclear is whether or not it's legal under Israel's signed agreements.
Palestinians in Gaza City on Wednesday celebrating Hamas-Fatah unity pact. / Getty Images
Old Jewish joke: The beggar of Chelm goes to the rabbi's house and pleads in a most pitiful tone: "Please rabbi, I haven't eaten in days. Won't you please give me a ruble to buy some food?"
The rabbi is touched and gives the beggar a ruble.
An hour later the rabbi is walking downtown when he sees the beggar sitting in a café, eating a thick slice of cake. Incensed, he rushes across the square and accosts the beggar: "Scoundrel! I gave you a ruble to buy food because you were in need, and now I see you've wasted it on cake. How dare you?!"
"Excuse me," the beggar replies indignantly. "Yesterday I had no money and I couldn't eat cake. Today I have money and you say I shouldn't eat cake. Tell me, rabbi, when can I eat cake?"
So it is with Hamas, Fatah and Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Last week there was no point in Israel closing a deal with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority because it could only speak for the West Bank half of the Palestinians, given that Gaza is controlled by Hamas. Today there's no point in closing a deal because the Palestinian Authority is finalizing an agreement for joint rule with Hamas, which will put it in partnership with a terrorist organization sworn to Israel's destruction. So tell me, rabbi, when will there be a point in closing a deal?
Conventional wisdom offers two possible answers to the question. One is that the economic blockade of Gaza is intended to weaken and eventually topple the Hamas government so that the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority can regain full control. That would allow it to speak for all Palestinians and become a viable negotiating partner—assuming, that is, that you believe Fatah could ever be a viable negotiating partner.
The Palestinian daily Al Quds reported on its website Monday afternoon, quoting a "knowledgeable source," that the Palestinian leadership had decided to return to the negotiating table for two more months, with the aim of laying out the borders between Israel and a potential Palestinian state, according to Walla! News reporter Amir Tibon.
The source "ruled out the possibility" that the Palestinians would reverse their decision to sign 15 United Nations conventions, but added that the Palestinians have "no intention" of joining any more international bodies "in the near future."
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Cairo with Arab League foreign ministers to seek their backing for the Palestinian position. In advance of that meeting, the Jerusalem Post reports, the Arab League's deputy secretary general said in a statement issued Monday that the United States still "has a role to play in pushing the peace process forward."
This is a news flash for anyone who's waiting to hear the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declare publicly in Arabic that he's ready to recognize and make peace with Israel. He said it. You can watch it here.
The background: Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, in a taped interview to be screened this week at a Tel Aviv conference, declared that the Palestinian goal is full peace between the state of Israel and a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.
Speaking in Arabic (subtitled in English and Hebrew), Abbas said that the transition period for Israeli withdrawal could be as much as three years, but that "those who speak of 10 or 15 years don't want to withdraw." He said that Israeli troops would not remain on Palestinian territory, but that NATO troops could be put in their place to secure the borders.
The interview is to be screened at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, the Tel Aviv think tank formerly known as the Jaffe Center of Tel Aviv University. The interviewer is attorney Gilead Sher, who served as chief of staff and chief policy adviser to onetime prime minister Ehud Barak. The two-day conference opens on Tuesday.
Institute president Amos Yadlin, former IDF chief of military intelligence, addressed a pre-conference press briefing today (English, Hebrew) to present the institute's annual Strategic Survey. He said that the odds of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians in the coming year are not high, but that the risks of avoiding the difficult decisions required for an agreement are greater than the risks of taking those decisions.
If no peace agreement is possible, Yadlin said, Israel should consider taking unilateral steps to withdraw from the West Bank. He said crucial lessons had been learned from the 2005 unilateral Gaza withdrawal, and a unilateral West Bank withdrawal need not repeat the mistakes of Gaza.
One of most striking aspects of today's news coverage is the stark difference between English and Hebrew language versions of the reporting:


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PCB Layout and Library Footprint Creation
Closed - This job posting has been filled and work has been completed.
Job Description
Create a PCB Layout and create all related footprints in either Mentor Graphics PADS or Cadence Allegro from a completed OrCAD Capture schematic. The OrCAD schematic files, board dimensions, hole placement, and a rough sketch of part placement will be provided. Upon project completion, all files, including all library files, will be sent to us.
The PCB will be 4 layers and will contain about 120 parts which are mostly 0805 surface mount capacitors and resistors. The largest part is a 44 pin microprocessor and the most detailed design area will be the power supply circuit.
This project will be completed in 2 steps. First we will receive the parts placement layout for us to verify. After part placement is approved, then board routing will be completed. Once board routing is approved, all created files will be emailed to us.
Software needed:
Mentor Graphics PADS 4.2.1 (or newer) or Cadence Allegro 16.5 (or newer)
Skills: graphics, design


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Best Mid-Range Wine List (2004)
Mel's Restaurant and Bar
In Denver, Mel and Jane Master are known for a lot of things. Their flagship restaurant, Mel's, is one of the most consistently excellent eateries in town, with a staff of top-notch professionals and a menu that's high-end and comforting at the same time. Outside of Denver, though, they're probably best known for the name they've made for themselves in the wine business. Lucky for us, Mel's gets to act as a focal point for all that grape expertise, and the restaurant's list -- which features primarily French vintages -- maintains a nice depth and breadth without pricing out the casual drinker or becoming too fussy. But what truly sets Mel's apart from the dozens of other good lists and good houses is the way the wine is neither elevated above nor subsumed by the food. The two menus strike a perfect balance, complementing each other equally and proving that the best companion you can ever have for a fine dinner is an equally fine bottle of wine.
More Food & Drink Awards
Best Second ActFrank Bonanno
Best ChefSean Kelly
Best New Unexpected RestaurantKabul Kabob
Best Special-Events MenuOpus Restaurant


text:
I have some list and I do
list.ForEach( l => { ... something ...}). Now, on certain condition I need to stop iterating over the list, but
break doesn't work - I get "
Control cannot leave the body of an anonymous method or lambda expression" compilation error.
Any idea how to overcome that restriction?


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Appliances Connection
Have any of you purchased appliances from Appliances Connection? If so, is their customer service good?
In my experience they've been great but I've only ordered from them once with no hassle. They consistently have the lowest prices out of anyone and after you punch in your zip on the product page all of the installation prices are reduced. That link shows you what you'd expect from any online appliance dealer. Appliances are a hard thing to ship and install so things are going to happen. 8/10 lifetime score with over 6,000 reviews is pretty damn good. However, I'm fortunate enough to have built up a relationship with a rep at a local store, Karl's Appliances, and he beats every price they have by about 5% including the tax difference. But if he wasn't so agreeable to accommodating the prices I'd be right back to appliance connection. The beauty of it all is you have to pay by credit card. So even if everything goes south just reverse the charge. My 2 cents. Good luck!
Here is a link that might be useful: Reseller Ratings - Appliance Connection
Point of order. Past threads on this topic have revealed that are two different businesses with very similar names.
One is Appliance Connection ("appliance" singular).
The other is Appliances Connection ("appliances" plural).
One is in Gulf Coast states, the other in Brooklyn.
Appliancesconection the online retailer based out of Brooklyn is a complete scam. I ordered 4 new appliances, and after waiting a month for shipping, they ALL arrived completely damaged. I was unable to return them and their customer service was rude and even threatened me at one point. I filed a credit card dispute and they falsified documents which caused me to end up loosing the dispute. I eventually ran out of energy and just purchased all new appliances from a local big box retailer. I have $2500 worth of damaged appliances in my garage if anybody is interested. Do not buy from appliancesconnection. Kegs review sounds fake to me. Check out the BBB, over 284 complaints. Read some of them, they all look like the same story, selling used and damaged appliances as new.
I bought my Fagor oven there. I learned after I ordered it that it was out of stock and the restocking date was pushed back several times, eventially 2 months or so (that manufacturer, as some of you may know, is financially precarious). They were very pleasant to deal with over the phone though, and also helped me to obtain the rebate that was in effect when I ordered it but had expired when the appliance arrived (I needed to include the serial number to obtain the rebate, which obviously I didn't know until I received the appliance). The manufacturer was giving them the erroneous shipment dates, so the only thing I can fault AC for is showing something as being in stock that really wasn't. They also used an excellent shipping company, and the item arrived in flawless condition.
Well, after kegs' glowing recommendation, I placed my order. Did not see the other recommendations until today. According to Appliances Connection the order is on its way and I sure am praying that they items arrive in good, new condition. Please add your prayers with me if you will.
What did you end up buying walnutcreek? Are you by any chance in Austin? There's a greenbelt area called walnut creek here! Great hiking!
I hope your appliance/s come when they're supposed to. Let us know how it goes.
Good luck!
I do not live in Austin, but would love to live there.
From Appliances Connection I ordered:
Bosch 500 Series 36" Wide Smoothtop Induction Cooktop (than to sjhockey)
Bosch 500 Series 24" Wide Fully Integrated Dishwasher
Bosch DUH 500 Series Under-Cabinet Hood with 400 CFM Internal Blower
Bosch 800 Series 21.8 Cu. Ft. Capacity Standard-Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch appliances are expected to be delivered next Tuesday.
The rest of the new kitchen from various sources is:
Kitchen Aid Stainless Steel Microwave and Kitchen AidConvection Wall Oven installed this past Monday. They look beautiful
The InSinkErator Evolution Excel 1 HP Continuous Feed Garbage Disposal is also installed and it is wonderful.
In addition to the Bosch appliances, awaiting the arrival of:
Houzer Bellus Series Drop In Steel 22.000 33.000 Kitchen Sink in Brushed Satin
Franke Satin Nickel Kitchet Faucet with Pull Down Spray has been received.
This post was edited by walnutcreek on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 18:44
All of the appliances except for one were in good order. The cooktop had a gouge in the bottom stainless steel frame. The delivery firm took a picture of the damage and sent it to Appliances Connection (AC). AC contacted me to advise that that panel can be replaced, they can redeliver the cooktop, they will send the replacement frame directly to my home, and schedule a certified technician to replace the panel. I sent AC a message today asking when all of that could be effected and advised that I would like to have it installed this coming Tuesday. I know the date for installation can probably not happen, but no harm in asking.
The people at AC and the delivery company JB Hunt and it's employees have all been a delight to work with.
So, Margo and Tommy, I recommend that you have no fear of ordering from them. My experience has been very good.
My appliances that did arrive safely should have been installed by now; however, the fellow doing the installation fell ill and is now recuperating, so we have rescheduled the intallations for Tuesday. That is why I am hoping AC can have the cooktop situation done by then.
This post was edited by walnutcreek on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 16:43


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Chassahowitzka River Campground
Homosassa, Florida
Phone: (352) 382-2200
Visit Campground Website
Sites: 81
Recent Rate: $33 3/2015
Latitude: 28.7126862
Longitude: -82.5753723
These reviews are the opinion of an RVParkReviews' member and not the views of RVParkReviews.com
Date of Stay: March, 2015 - $33.00
No security which is surprising for a county park; the road meanders through residential area and at the end you go right for the day use area, left for the campground. No gate, but the bathroom has a code-entry lock & you are advised to keep everything locked when you are away from your site. Very shady but no screening between sites. WiFi was good at my site #4. Major grocery store 2 miles away. Lots to do in the area but of course the main attraction is canoeing or kayaking on the Chassahowitzka River. It's beautiful with lots of wildlife. A bit pricy if paying by the day $33, but by the month it's a good deal at $389. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: February, 2015 - $13.00
Site size ranged from average to large (90' long) among the trees. Ground was hard-packed dirt covered with leaves and pine needles. Fire ring w/grill and like-new picnic table at each site. Tent-only area had some sites that were big enough for at least 5-6 tents. A short walk to the river where kayak and boat rental is available. Manatees are in the area daily. Boardwalk with benches and boathouse along the river. Bathhouse clean and roomy, laundry room w/folding table, clubhouse. Very few planned activities, staff friendly. Loved the "woodsy" feeling, would definitely return. Wifi antennas throughout park, but we had trouble with signal going in and out, especially on weekends when more people were here. Rate based on a one-month stay using Good Sam discount. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Fifth Wheel.
Walgreen's and Publix at end of road on US19, about 4 miles away. Not far to WalMarts and other stores in Homosassa Springs, Homosassa, Lecanto or Crystal River. Howard's Flea Market is nearby and one of the better ones we've been to.
Date of Stay: January, 2015 - $33.00
This is a fantastic campground if you want to kayak in this area - you can rent kayaks and canoes at the campground and get right on the river. The whole area abounds in fishing charters, guided paddles, manatee watching, etc. As a regular campground it is mediocre at best. The roads are sandy, not level, and have plenty of potholes. No cable. Wifi is ok. Service is dependent on who checks you in - we were 10 minutes late and received no map, no wi-fi code, and a 30-amp site when we had reserved a 50-amp site. This is a very laid-back, old Florida kind of place. The sites are scattered in the trees. There are spiffy new motorhomes and 5th wheels that have not been moved in years. Not my type of park but for a couple of nights to see the area, it was fine. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.
Very important to go eat shrimp at The Freezer. Definitely one of the best eating adventures ever (no joke). About 25 minutes from the campground.
Date of Stay: May, 2014 - $33.00
Staff was very friendly and accommodating. Canoe, Kayak, boat rentals were very reasonable and you can walk to the water. Most sites were big enough for large rigs, but not all of them. Sites were level and very shaded. Restrooms, showers, and laundry were very clean and nice size. Sites are all hard packed dirt. We were told Wi-Fi probably would not work good due to the park was full, but our Wi-Fi worked very well with full strength bars. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: February, 2014 - $28.00
This was an excellent tree-filled county park that was quiet and offered access to lots of wildlife right at their dock. Interior roads were dirt, as were the sites. We stayed in #42 and it was perfectly level. We did have a lot of standing water in our site after 2 days of rain, but it dried fairly quickly and we were able to get around. Power was 50-amp and strong, water pressure was barely adequate at just under 40 psi. A nice sturdy table and fire pit were located at each site, with wood for sale at the office - although it was expensive. The park Wi-Fi was free and worked well, and the Verizon signal to our phones and Hotspot was excellent. The bath house was new and beautiful, with clean bathrooms and showers that provided several hooks and a bench for toiletries - nicely done! The laundry room was clean and consisted of 4 washers and 4 dryers, plus a nice folding table. The staff was friendly and helpful, and it was nice to be able to walk down to the dock and rent a kayak for the day. The Publix grocery store was just a couple miles away, as was a huge Shell station where we fueled up with diesel and hooked up the car. We would definitely stay at this nice park again. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: November, 2013 - $17.00
What a beautiful place! So many trees and right on Chassahowitzka River. Near the south bend in the river is a beautiful spring to swim in. We saw a family of manatee one day, and heard owls and foxes every night. Lots of good red fishing. The sites were spacious and well shaded. The only negatives were the no-see-ums, and the ubiquitous mud when it rained, and the very expensive washers and dryers ($2.25 each). Will be back. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Fifth Wheel.Undo
Date of Stay: July, 2013 - $33.00
The campground is a great place for family water activities. We stayed here on Saturday - Monday. The campground was crowded but the sites were spaced apart very nicely. Our site (#42) was a pull thru and provided plenty of space for the slides and awning. Even with lots of families and many children, the campground was very peaceful. Swimming in the Seven Sisters Springs is very refreshing. All of the campground personnel were very friendly. The camp sites are grass and dirt. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: January, 2013 - $46.00
The park is clean and not to hard getting in and out. There are a few sites which are tight. There was a pack of dogs at one site which sounded like the hounds of hell. The office manager did finally act and evicted them. We where the the 7 site to complain about the dogs. There manager was a bit snippy about the complaint stating if you are hear to bitch about he dogs I am working on it, and it was in a non joking way. The showers where not clean. We rented canoes from up the road, $13 per boat verse $30 per boat at the camp store. Over all Nice place for a weekend get away. Oh there was live music which was nice on Saturday night down on the docks. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Travel Trailer.Undo
Date of Stay: January, 2013 - $30.00
This is one of our favorite campgrounds in Florida. Off the beaten path, quiet, and a river that is abounding with wildlife. There is a boat ramp in the campground where you can rent canoes and kayaks. You can paddle down secluded creeks, and view the Seven Sisters springs that feed the river; or travel down the river itself to the gulf. Look out for manatees, alligators, dolphins, fish, and a myriad of birds. The campground is under new management, and has built a brand new shower/restroom/laundry building that is kept spotlessly clean. The sites are large and sheltered under huge live oak trees. On a practical note, there is a Publix near by, a Wal-Mart 3 miles north, and a major shopping area 20 minutes south. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: April, 2012 - $45.00
This was a very quiet campground. Sites were large and fairly level. Loved the drive to the store where you could see the river. No discounts of any kind for camping so a little pricey. Would stay here again. We stayed 2 nights. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: February, 2012 - $40.00
Sites are fairly close together. Bring your own firewood as they do not sell nor provide any. I thought it was a bit pricey at $40.41 including tax--but I was happy to have a place to stay. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: February, 2010 - $25.00
This is a decent campground but it could use more attention by staff. The bathrooms were rarely cleaned and often without toilet paper. Not all sites at the campground have full hook ups, and the tent sites relied on the bathroom facilities. I had requested full hookups but was told there were none available when I made my reservation, however there were full hookup sites empty during my entire stay. Fortunately I had brought a portable septic storage tank which I relied on during my one week stay so I did not have to use the bathroom facilities. Laundry facility is available and wash/dry charges reasonable. The no se-ums were horrible and I learned from other campers that this had been an ongoing problem. Not much the campground staff can do about that I guess. My site was large and fairly level. There were no privacy barriers between the sites but there was space. The campground is adjacent to a boat ramp providing access to the Chassahowitzka River. Excellent area to kayak as well as great location to Crystal River area. This is a big plus for staying at the campground. I would stay again if in the area. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: February, 2009 - $18.00
This is a county park located on the Chassahowitzka River south of Homosassa Springs. There is a boat ramp, canoe and kayak rental, and camp store a short walk from the campground. The campground is very wooded with some full hook up sites. Ours was a back in with water and electric and was wide enough for 3 slides. Our site was very tight to get into because of the trees but once we got set up it was a beautiful site. There is a nice laundry room. There is a Publix grocery store a few miles from the campground. Homosassa Springs State Wildlife park is located about 15 - 20 minutes from the campground. We enjoyed our stay and would return. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Fifth Wheel.Undo
Date of Stay: January, 2009 - $22.00
Although this campground is in a great location and has very attractive sites, it could use some maintenance. Our site had broken glass and a glass bottle in it when we arrived, and the wooden picnic table had a big chunk out of it. The bath houses need a new floor. The vanity area and toilets were nice enough but the showers have no private changing areas, the water pressure is terrible, and there's no place to put your stuff. Great place for canoeing and fishing, though. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Motorhome.Undo
Date of Stay: December, 2008 - $15.00
Bathrooms older, but clean. Bathhouse is a long walk from the tent sites, but right next to the RVs! What's up with that?? Tent sites were big and private from each other due to lots of woods, but you could still hear the Florida rednecks playing their music way too loud. The campground security never seemed to drive by when this was happening. Lots to do in the area. The river was amazing for paddling, and of course, the manatee are worth the visit alone. We camped at Chassahowitzka River Campground in a Tent.Undo
53 Ratings
Crystal River, Florida
9 Ratings
Crystal River, Florida
Very important to go eat shrimp at The Freezer. Definitely one of the best eating adventures ever (no joke). About 25 minutes from the campground.virginianola • January 2015
Walgreen's and Publix at end of road on US19, about 4 miles away. Not far to WalMarts and other stores in Homosassa Springs, Homosassa, Lecanto or Crystal River. Howard's Flea Market is nearby and one of the better ones we've been to.pandcallen • February 2015
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