Two malodorous stories

On the same day I run into two newsstories, one right after the other, both dealing with the sense of smell and having to do with the wonderful region we now call home. Both stories are dated January 1 2007. Judge for yourselves:


Yahoo! News
Jordan king complains of Israeli odors

Jordanian King Abdullah II has complained of bovine odors coming from the Israeli side of the frontier along the countries' shared southern border, Israel's environment minister said Monday.

Speaking to Israel Radio, Gideon Ezra said the smells, from a livestock quarantine facility, were blown across the frontier toward the king's palace in the town of Aqaba, on the Red Sea next to the Israeli town of Eilat. Jordanian officials contacted Israel last week and requested the odors be neutralized, Ezra said.

Jordan and Israel, enemies for decades, signed a peace agreement in 1994 and now enjoy close ties.

In response to the Jordanian complaint, Israel has ordered the owners of the facility — where imported livestock is held in quarantine before being released to farmers — to clean up large amounts of animal waste that had built up at the site, Environment Ministry spokesman Sharon Achdut said.

Ezra said that upon receiving the complaint, Israeli officials immediately spread "deodorants" around the site to offset the smell affecting Abdullah's palace, and that a thorough clean-up would begin within days.

"I think that when we get a request from Jordan, just as when we make a request of Jordan, it's one country's duty to do as much as possible for the other," Ezra said.

An official from the Jordanian Royal Palace said the complaint was relayed to the Israeli Environment Ministry through Jordan's ambassador in Tel Aviv.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc.

And the second story, this one picked up on Ynet:

14:44 , 01.01.07

Lebanon: 'Divine victory' perfume on sale

'Resistance perfume' celebrating 'Hizbullah divine victory' now on sale in Beirut stores
Yaakov Lappin

A new perfume carrying the "scent of resistance" and celebrating Hizbullah's "divine victory" has been released on the market in Lebanon, according to a report which appeared in the Lebanese Daily Star on Monday.

"If you've ever wondered what resistance smells like, then try a dab of 'Resistance Perfume,' which comes 'exclusively' with a political message and a picture of Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," the Daily Star article said.

"Apparently, the scent of resistance is a strong and musky one that comes with a single pledge – 'a truthful' one," the report added.

A slogan on the perfume box, quoting Nasrallah during a wartime speech made over the summer reads: "You are the truthful promise ... and I have great faith in you and I promise you divine victory."

The Daily Star, which placed quotation marks around every mention of Israel in its report, added that the package comes with "a digitally manipulated picture of a sinking ship, meant to represent the 'Israeli' warship damaged by a Hizbullah missile during the conflict, along with reprints of Nasrallah's speeches and messages from the 'Lebanese prisoners in 'Israeli' prisons.'"

'Hizbullah not a commercial venture'
Mohammad Dekmak, CEO of the Bint Huda chain of stores in the south Beirut area, told the Daily Star: "We thought it was a catchy idea, as now the perfume is more than something that smells nice, it is a political statement."

The report said the perfume's designer initially came by the Beirut store "carrying 40 samples of the perfume in a plastic bag - and sold them all within minutes."

Hizbullah Spokesman Ghassan Darwish was quoted by the Star as saying: "We don't like to encourage people to turn Hizbullah into a commercial venture, but since the perfume is called 'Resistance' and not 'Hizbullah,' we have no right to really prevent it from being sold as resistance is a broad ideology not limited to one party."

Respnding to the perfume, a pro-Hizbullah demonstrator in Beirut told the Lebanese newspaper that he was "content with showering and using plain soap."