The Israeli Defense Forces in the 21st Century: Humanitarian Complier or Human Rights Violators? An assessment of IHL compliance in the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead

My reasons behind writing this paper are very personal and its conclusion will have a direct impact on my future. I am Jewish by blood and have always have had a strong connection with the tradition even though I do not consider myself religious. I have respected more so the traditions and culture that have come from the faith of my mother. The fact that my grandfather, great grandfather, and the dozen more before him, carried on these same rituals that I carry out on Shabbat or on the high holidays, is beyond the realm of being special. Many cannot say that they can share something so similar with their ancestors. It is rare that you have an identity as an American outside of sharing your American citizenship with another 310 million people. Not that I am not proud to be an American, I am very much so, I just have always felt however that I was a Jew before an American. There are only around 16 million Jews on the planet out of 7 billion people. It’s a very unique identity. Yes, like many others I stand for American democracy, the freedom it brings, and its attempt to do the right thing around the globe (keyword “attempt”). I would die for my country if necessary but it is not so urgent that I come to America’s aid as quickly as possible. Israel is a different story. As I write this right now hundreds of rockets and mortars have been raining down upon the civilian population of Israel from terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah waits to the north bent also on the destruction of Israel. Their benefactor Iran wishes for the Jewish state to be wiped off the face of the earth. It is not such a friendly place for Israel to be located. But it is there and it’s not going anywhere. I will never forget something one of uncles said to me this summer when I was in Israel serving in an international volunteer Israeli Defense Forces program, Sar-El. He said “my grandfather told my father when he was a boy that he was going off to war so that he would never have too in the future. My father said the same thing to me in yet I still had to fight. I told my kids that, but I know they will still have to serve and risk their lives and there isn’t much hope that their kids will not have the same fate.” I looked at his young kids, my other cousins, playing in the yard and couldn’t imagine saying that to my kids or anyone in my family. There is something that is deeply wrong when everyone has serve in the military because the defense of the country demands it. It’s not like Switzerland where they never have to actually spill blood to protect their way of life. I felt like it was my obligation to protect something that is in my heart and soul permanently in order to try to make it so that the next generation doesn’t have to serve to risk their lives. I wanted to make that sacrifice so that they don’t have to just because of the location of their home or what name they call G-d. I would think that anyone who was human would think that that is wrong in the world we live in today. Just as its wrong that Palestinians care under occupation in West Bank, essentially in a big prison. Many evil men have tried to exterminate the entire Jewish population throughout their 3500 year history and to think that there are still many men who wish to still do the same is unacceptable. Leaving out the politics of the situation in Israel and just focusing on the principle is very important. I have a strong sense of honesty and morality which is why the answer to this paper is vital to my decision of serving in the IDF after I graduate in May. I want to be a part of something that is noble and just. Protecting those who can’t protect themselves is a call to service and I hear that call to defend those that share my identity. No decision is emanate or final. This paper will examine modern history with an emphasis on the IDF’s cooperation with the noble principles of International Humanitarian Law and will attempt to answer the question of how they conduct the defense of Israel against an enemy who hides among its own population, essentially holding them hostage. I do not agree with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and do believe the Palestinian people should have the right for true self-determination. The issue is complex but the fact of the matter is clear to me, no child born into any society should be condemned to serve in the military in order for his existence to continue. I want to do my part to ensure that my cousin doesn’t have to pick up a weapon to defend himself and his family. Israelis and Palestinians deserve that chance to be born into a world without being threatened, just like every American gets that opportunity. The IDF has had a difficult mission to accomplish in their last two conflicts. Dealing with a much stronger force than expected in 2006, that force being Iranian trained, funded, and armed Hezbollah, hidden amongst the population of southern Lebanon. In December of 2008 increased rocket fire at the Israeli civilian population from within the sixth most densely populated place on earth was at the hands of Hamas. Both groups are political and social organizations in addition to their militant arm. The fighting environments were very difficult and the IDF walked a thin line distinguishing the combatants amongst the bystanders. The IDF made major mistakes that cost lives in both conflicts. However, at the same time, they went to extraordinary efforts to ensure that civilians weren’t harmed. This is an assessment of those conflicts and how they should be looked at. War is chaos and we are all geniuses after the fact. This paper will attempt to properly identify the relationship the Israeli Defense Forces’ and International Humanitarian Law had during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009

Dietary phytosterols and phytostanols decrease cholesterol levels but increase blood pressure in WKY inbred rats in the absence of salt-loading

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are safety concerns regarding widespread consumption of phytosterol and phytostanol supplemented food products. The aim of this study was to determine, in the absence of excess dietary salt, the individual effects of excess accumulation of dietary phytosterols and phytostanols on blood pressure in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) <it>inbred </it>rats that have a mutation in the <it>Abcg5 </it>gene and thus over absorb phytosterols and phytostanols.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty 35-day old male WKY <it>inbred </it>rats (10/group) were fed a control diet or a diet containing phytosterols or phytostanols (2.0 g/kg diet) for 5 weeks. The sterol composition of the diets, plasma and tissues were analysed by gas chromatography. Blood pressure was measured by the tail cuff method. mRNA levels of several renal blood pressure regulatory genes were measured by real-time quantitative PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to the control diet, the phytosterol diet resulted in 3- to 4-fold increases in the levels of phytosterols in plasma, red blood cells, liver, aorta and kidney of WKY <it>inbred </it>rats (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The phytostanol diet dramatically increased (> 9-fold) the levels of phytostanols in plasma, red blood cells, liver, aorta and kidney of these rats (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The phytosterol diet decreased cholesterol levels by 40%, 31%, and 19% in liver, aorta and kidney, respectively (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The phytostanol diet decreased cholesterol levels by 15%, 16%, 20% and 14% in plasma, liver, aorta and kidney, respectively (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The phytostanol diet also decreased phytosterol levels by 29% to 54% in plasma and tissues (<it>P </it>< 0.05). Both the phytosterol and phytostanol diets produced significant decreases in the ratios of cholesterol to phytosterols and phytostanols in plasma, red blood cells, liver, aorta and kidney. Rats that consumed the phytosterol or phytostanol diets displayed significant increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to rats that consumed the control diet (<it>P </it>< 0.05). The phytosterol diet increased renal <it>angiotensinogen </it>mRNA levels of these rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that excessive accumulation of dietary phytosterols and phytostanols in plasma and tissues may contribute to the increased blood pressure in WKY <it>inbred </it>rats in the absence of excess dietary salt. Therefore, even though phytosterols and phytostanols lower cholesterol levels, prospective clinical studies testing the net beneficial effects of dietary phytosterols and phytostanols on cardiovascular events for subgroups of individuals that have an increased incorporation of these substances are needed.</p

Touring Brass Quintet: Terrence Flanagan, Trumpet; David Golden, Trumpet; Timothy Swenson, Horn; Steven Scoggan, Trombone; Jerry Ulrich, Tuba; March 19, 1973

Centennial East Recital HallMonday EveningMarch 19, 19738:15 p.m

Glutathione S-transferase mu 1 (GSTM1) and theta 1 (GSTT1) genetic polymorphisms and atopic asthma in children from Southeastern Brazil

Xenobiotics can trigger degranulation of eosinophils and mast cells. In this process, the cells release several substances leading to bronchial hyperactivity, the main feature of atopic asthma (AA). GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes encode enzymes involved in the inactivation of these compounds. Both genes are polymorphic in humans and have a null variant genotype in which both the gene and corresponding enzyme are absent. An increased risk for disease in individuals with the null GST genotypes is therefore, but this issue is controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes on the occurrence of AA, as well as on its clinical manifestations. Genomic DNA from 86 patients and 258 controls was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction. The frequency of the GSTM1 null genotype in patients was higher than that found in controls (60.5% versus 40.3%, p = 0.002). In individuals with the GSTM1 null genotype the risk of manifested AA was 2.3-fold higher (95%CI: 1.4-3.7) than for others. In contrast, similar frequencies of GSTT1 null and combined GSTM1 plus GSTT1 null genotypes were seen in both groups. No differences in genotype frequencies were perceived in patients stratified by age, gender, ethnic origin, and severity of the disease. These results suggest that the inherited absence of the GSTM1 metabolic pathway may alter the risk of AA in southeastern Brazilian children, although this must be confirmed by further studies with a larger cohort of patients and age-matched controls from the distinct regions of the country

The Status Of Two New England “Endemic” Carices: Carex Elachycarpa And C. Josselynii (Cyperaceae)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149729/1/tax00494.pd

Cysteinyl leukotrienes: multi-functional mediators in allergic rhinitis

Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) are a family of inflammatory lipid mediators synthesized from arachidonic acid by a variety of cells, including mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, and macrophages. This article reviews the data for the role of CysLTs as multi-functional mediators in allergic rhinitis (AR). We review the evidence that: (1) CysLTs are released from inflammatory cells that participate in AR, (2) receptors for CysLTs are located in nasal tissue, (3) CysLTs are increased in patients with AR and are released following allergen exposure, (4) administration of CysLTs reproduces the symptoms of AR, (5) CysLTs play roles in the maturation, as well as tissue recruitment, of inflammatory cells, and (6) a complex inter-regulation between CysLTs and a variety of other inflammatory mediators exists.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75432/1/j.1365-2222.2006.02498.x.pd

De(con)structive poetics : readings of Hilda Doolittle’s The war trilogy

The thesis studies linguistic, structural and post-structural models we may use for reading a classical text, in this case for reading Hilda Doolittle's The War Trilogy (Oxford University Press, 1944-1946). The object of the study is to demonstrate the application of recently developed critical techniques for examining a text that lies in the Anglo-American long poem tradition, contemporary with the writings of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Louis Zukofsky, and Charles Olson. The study is not restricted to a reading of The War Trilogy, as such, but also tries to define a poetics whose recursive formations typify what we call contemporary writing. The thesis explores theories for reading approaches that have been developed from Saussure's Course and from subsequent linguistic strategies outlined in the new critical modalities being advanced by Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricoeur, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva, Jonathan Culler and others. The study is divided into two parts. Part One discusses critical methods, models and metaphors for outlining what is meant by de(con)structive reading and writing. Part Two gives interpretations of The War Trilogy based on the way these exegetical techniques focus on questions of textuality. Reading methods explored include: hermeneutic cryptanalysis, linguistic coding, linguistic modelling based on semiotics, communications theory in literary narratives, metaphors of writing and tracing, theory of supplementarity and difference, grammatology, schizanalysis, with provisional definitions for characterizing differences between classical polysemy and the writing of the modern genotext. Thus the study broadly differentiates between the composition of the classical Book, formed as a logocentric representation of concepts, and the decomposition or disintegration of concepts traced by the writing of the modern text, produced as a logodaedalic inscription. The general terms "classical" and "modern" are not strictly categorical distinctions but are used throughout as diacritical indicators for showing how and where Hilda Doolittle's The War Trilogy occupies an ambiguous marginality, leaving its mark along a "margin of difference" which is drawn between Book and text, Word and writing, reflecting both classical and modern styles of lecture and ecriture. The study also presents ways that "interpretation", as such, may be iconographically depicted by various mimetic tropes which religiously permeate and program the way we read, the deceptive circulation of the letter, the envelopment of concepts in writings, and their development in literary discourse.Arts, Faculty ofEnglish, Department ofGraduat