The New Israeli Defense Minister

I thought this photo - a handout image from the Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images - was vaguely amusing in a childish sort of way.

Or at least the accompanying caption was, via Getty Images:

"JERICHO - AUGUST 6: In this handout image from the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak (R) meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (C) on August 5, 2007 in Jericho, West Bank...

I know that Israeli governments come and go more regularly than most, and that can make it difficult to keep up with who's in what post, but I'm still pretty sure that isn't Ehud Barak. No wonder Olmert looks perplexed.

All of which is a roundabout way of mentioning that I have added two new translations to my Palestinian biographies site. The first is an interview that Marwan Barghouti gave from jail to the Italian daily, Corriera della Sera: Abbas, hai dodici mesi per cacciare i corrotti (in English, Abbas has 12 months to get rid of the corrupt). Yes, it's a bit old now; things really do sit in my in-tray that long.

The second is one of a series of interviews that the Israeli network Walla! ran on the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, containing the reminiscences of Palestinians and Israelis who lived through it. The interview I translated - הזכרונות (in English, Memories [of 1967]) - is with the Israeli Defence Minister himself, Saeb Erekat.