10 may 2014
Palestinians stand next to graffiti reading in Hebrew "Arabs Out" on the wall of a mosque in the northern Israeli town of Umm al-Faham on April 18, 2014
Israel's best known writer, Amos Oz, says that Israelis behind a wave of hate crimes against Muslims and Christians are "Hebrew neo-Nazis," Haaretz newspaper reported on its website Saturday.
It quoted the award-winning author as saying terms such as "price tag," widely used to describe attacks on Palestinians and others by Jewish extremists, are sanitized euphemisms.
They are "sweet names for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups," Haaretz quoted Oz as telling guests Friday at an event marking his 75th birthday.
He said there was a difference between perpetrators of such events in the Jewish state and elsewhere.
"Our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo-religious justification," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Earlier Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, despite police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag ... King David for the Jews ... Jesus is garbage" was written in Hebrew on the wall of St George's Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Police also said "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in east Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
After Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday, the Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Arab property crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been nearly no successful prosecutions for such attacks, and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
The Pope's visit to the region is scheduled to begin in Jordan on May 24.
Israel's best known writer, Amos Oz, says that Israelis behind a wave of hate crimes against Muslims and Christians are "Hebrew neo-Nazis," Haaretz newspaper reported on its website Saturday.
It quoted the award-winning author as saying terms such as "price tag," widely used to describe attacks on Palestinians and others by Jewish extremists, are sanitized euphemisms.
They are "sweet names for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups," Haaretz quoted Oz as telling guests Friday at an event marking his 75th birthday.
He said there was a difference between perpetrators of such events in the Jewish state and elsewhere.
"Our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo-religious justification," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Earlier Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, despite police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag ... King David for the Jews ... Jesus is garbage" was written in Hebrew on the wall of St George's Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Police also said "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in east Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
After Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday, the Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Arab property crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been nearly no successful prosecutions for such attacks, and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
The Pope's visit to the region is scheduled to begin in Jordan on May 24.
6 may 2014
As Israelis commemorated 'Memorial Day' on Monday, and began a series of events to lead up to 'Independence Day' on May 15th, one Israeli group launched a smartphone app called 'iNakba' to allow users to find the locations of Palestinian villages that were destroyed or expropriated during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Palestinians mark the day of Israel's independence as the Nakba (Catastrophe), the day they were stripped of their land and rights, and became the world's largest refugee population.
In the new app, the Israeli group Zochrot includes an interactive map and photos of the towns and villages that were destroyed by the newly-formed Israeli forces and militia groups in 1948.
According to Zochrot, “Nakba is an Arabic word that means “catastrophe.” The Nakba was the destruction, expulsion, looting, massacres and incidents of rape of the Palestinian inhabitants of this country. It was keeping refugees out by force at the end of the war, in order to establish the Jewish state. And it is the ongoing destruction of Palestinian localities, the disregard for the rights of refugees and displaced people, and the prohibition against teaching and commemorating the Nakba in schools and civic groups.”
Raneen Jeries, who works with Zochrot, said to AFP reporters, “Many Palestinians have difficulty locating their home towns and villages [inside what is now Israel], because cities or Jewish settlements have been built on top of them. There's a file on each of hundreds of Palestinian villages or cities, and you can find information and see old and new user-uploaded photos about the locality.”
Jeries added that people who live near the ruins of the villages inside what is now Israel can add their own photos and updates, so “Refugees living in Lebanon, for example, can follow their village and each time someone uploads a photo of it or writes a comment, they'll see an update.”
Zochrot works to “challenge the Israeli Jewish public's preconceptions and promote awareness, political and cultural change within it to create the conditions for the Return of Palestinian Refugees and a shared life in this country.”
With the iNakba app, the group hopes to increase awareness of the villages and towns that were depopulated for the creation of the state of Israel on Palestinian land seized by force in 1948. The app is available in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
Palestinians mark the day of Israel's independence as the Nakba (Catastrophe), the day they were stripped of their land and rights, and became the world's largest refugee population.
In the new app, the Israeli group Zochrot includes an interactive map and photos of the towns and villages that were destroyed by the newly-formed Israeli forces and militia groups in 1948.
According to Zochrot, “Nakba is an Arabic word that means “catastrophe.” The Nakba was the destruction, expulsion, looting, massacres and incidents of rape of the Palestinian inhabitants of this country. It was keeping refugees out by force at the end of the war, in order to establish the Jewish state. And it is the ongoing destruction of Palestinian localities, the disregard for the rights of refugees and displaced people, and the prohibition against teaching and commemorating the Nakba in schools and civic groups.”
Raneen Jeries, who works with Zochrot, said to AFP reporters, “Many Palestinians have difficulty locating their home towns and villages [inside what is now Israel], because cities or Jewish settlements have been built on top of them. There's a file on each of hundreds of Palestinian villages or cities, and you can find information and see old and new user-uploaded photos about the locality.”
Jeries added that people who live near the ruins of the villages inside what is now Israel can add their own photos and updates, so “Refugees living in Lebanon, for example, can follow their village and each time someone uploads a photo of it or writes a comment, they'll see an update.”
Zochrot works to “challenge the Israeli Jewish public's preconceptions and promote awareness, political and cultural change within it to create the conditions for the Return of Palestinian Refugees and a shared life in this country.”
With the iNakba app, the group hopes to increase awareness of the villages and towns that were depopulated for the creation of the state of Israel on Palestinian land seized by force in 1948. The app is available in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
26 apr 2014
'Judea and Samaria' means that the territory belongs to Israel
By Uri Avnery
Imagine a war breaking out between Israel and Jordan. Within two or three days the Israeli army occupies the entire territory of the Hashemite Kingdom. What will be the first act of the occupation authority?
Establish a settlement in Petra? Expropriate land near Aqaba?
No. The very first thing will be to decree that the territory will henceforth be known as “Gilead and Moab”.
All the media will be ordered to use the biblical name. All government and court documents will adopt it. Except for the radical Left, nobody will mention Jordan anymore. All applications by the inhabitants will be addressed to the Military Government of Gilead and Moab.
Why? Because annexation starts with words.
Words convey ideas. Words implant concepts in the minds of their hearers and speakers. Once they are firmly established, everything else follows.
The writers of the Bible already knew this. They taught “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21). For how many years now have we been eating the fruit of “Judea and Samaria”?
When Vladimir Putin last week restored the old name of “New Russia” to the territory of East Ukraine, it was not just a semantic change. It was a claim for annexation, more powerful than a salvo of cannon shots.
Recently I listened to a speech by a left-wing politician, and was disturbed when she spoke at length about her struggle for a “political settlement” with the Palestinians.
When I remonstrated with her, she apologized. It was a slip of the tongue. She had not meant it that way.
In Israeli politics, the word “peace” has become poison. “Political settlement” is the vogue term. It is meant to say the same. But of course, it doesn’t.
“Peace” means much more than the formal end of warfare. It contains elements of reconciliation, of something spiritual. In Hebrew and Arabic, Shalom/Salaam include wellbeing, safety and serve as greetings. “Political settlement” means nothing but a document formulated by lawyers and signed by politicians.
The “Peace of Westphalia” put an end to 30 years of war and changed the life of Europe. One may wonder whether a “Political settlement of Westphalia” would have had the same effect.
The Bible enjoins us: “Seek peace and pursue it!” (Psalms, 34:14) It does not say “Seek a political settlement and pursue it.”
When the Israeli Left gives up the term Peace, this is not a tactical retreat. It is a rout. Peace is a vision, a political ideal, a religious commandment, an inspiring idea. Political Settlement is a subject for discussion.
Peace is not the only victim of semantic terrorism. Another is, of course, the West Bank.
All TV channels have long ago been ordered by the government not to use this term. Most journalists in the written media also march in step. They call it “Judea and Samaria”.
“Judea and Samaria” means that the territory belongs to Israel, even if official annexation may be delayed for political reasons. “West Bank” means that this is occupied territory.
By itself, there is nothing sacred about the term “West Bank”, which was adopted by the Jordanian ruler when he illegally incorporated the area in his newly extended kingdom. This was done in secret collusion with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, who wanted to erase the name “Palestine” from the map. The legal basis was a phony conference of Palestinian “notables” in Jericho.
King Abdallah of Jordan divided his fief into the East Bank (of the Jordan river) and the West Bank.
So why do we insist on using this term? Because it means that this is not a part of Israel, but Arab land that will belong – like the Gaza Strip – to the State of Palestine when peace (sorry, a Political Settlement) is achieved.
Until now, the semantic battle remains undecided. Most Israelis talk about the “West Bank”. “Judea and Samaria” has remained, in common parlance, the realm of the settlers.
The settlers, of course, are the subject of a similar semantic battle.
In Hebrew, there are two terms: Mitnahalim and Mityashvim. They essentially mean the same. But in common usage, people use Mitnahalim when they mean the settlers in the occupied territories, and Mityashvim when they speak about settlers in Israel.
The battle between these two words goes on daily. It is a fight for or against the legitimacy of the settlement beyond the Green Line. Up to now, our side seems to have the upper hand. The distinction remains intact. If someone uses the term Mityashvim, they are automatically identified with the political Right.
The Green Line itself is, of course, the leftist concept. It makes a clear distinction between Israel and the occupied territories. The color comes from the fact that this border – actually the 1949 armistice line – was always marked on the maps in green. Until.
Until the (left-wing) Minister of Labor, Yigal Alon, decreed that henceforth the Green Line would no longer be marked on any map. Under an old law dating back to the British Mandate, the government owns the copyright for all maps printed in the country, and the Minister of Labor was in charge.
This remained so until Gush Shalom sued the government in the Supreme Court. Our argument was that since on the two sides of this line different laws apply, the citizens must have a map that shows them what law they have to obey at a given place. The ministry gave in and promised the court that it would print maps with the Green Line marked.
For lack of an alternative, all Israelis use the term “Green Line”. Since Rightists do not recognize this line at all, they have not invented an alternative word. For some time they tried the term “Seam-Line”, but this did not catch on.
A line between what? At the beginning of the occupation, the question arose what to call the areas just conquered.
We of the peace camp called them, of course, “occupied territories”. The Right called them “liberated territories” and floated the slogan “Liberated territories will not be returned”, a catchy rhyme in Hebrew. The government called them “administered territories” and later “disputed territories”.
The general public just settled for “the territories” – and that is the term used nowadays by everybody who has no interest in stressing his or her political conviction every time these areas are mentioned.
This raises the question about the Wall.
When the government decided to create a physical obstacle between Israel and the Occupied Territories, a name was needed. It is built mainly on occupied land, annexing in practice large areas. It is a fence in open areas, a wall in built-up ones. So we simply called it “the Wall” or “the Fence”, and started weekly demonstrations.
The “Wall/Fence” became odious around the world. So the army looked around for a term that sounded non-ideological and chose “separation obstacle”. However, this term now appears only in official documents.
With whom are we negotiating about the Political Settlement? Ah, there is the rub.
For generations, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel denied the very existence of a Palestinian people. In the 1993 Oslo Agreement, this idiotic pretense was dropped and we recognized the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people”. But the Palestinian state was not mentioned, and until this very day our government abhors the terms “Palestinian state” or “State of Palestine”.
Even today the term “Palestinians” evokes conscious or unconscious rejection. Most commentators speak about a political settlement with “our neighbors” – by which they do not mean the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians or Lebanese, but You Know Who.
In Oslo, the PLO negotiators strenuously insisted that their new state-in-the-making should be called the “Palestinian National Authority”. The Israeli side vehemently objected to the word “National”. So the agreement (actually a “Statement of Principles”) calls it the “Palestinian Authority” and the Palestinians themselves call it the “Palestinian National Authority”. Palestinians who need urgent medical treatment in Israeli hospitals are turned back if they bring financial documents signed by the “Palestinian National Authority”.
So the fight goes on along the semantic front. For me, the really crucial part is the fight for the word Peace. We must reinstate it as the central word in our vocabulary. Clearly, loudly, proudly.
As the hymn of the peace movement (written by Yankele Rotblit as an appeal by the fallen soldiers to the living) says:
“Therefore, sing a song to peace / Don’t whisper a prayer / Sing a song to peace / In a loud shout!”
- Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com
By Uri Avnery
Imagine a war breaking out between Israel and Jordan. Within two or three days the Israeli army occupies the entire territory of the Hashemite Kingdom. What will be the first act of the occupation authority?
Establish a settlement in Petra? Expropriate land near Aqaba?
No. The very first thing will be to decree that the territory will henceforth be known as “Gilead and Moab”.
All the media will be ordered to use the biblical name. All government and court documents will adopt it. Except for the radical Left, nobody will mention Jordan anymore. All applications by the inhabitants will be addressed to the Military Government of Gilead and Moab.
Why? Because annexation starts with words.
Words convey ideas. Words implant concepts in the minds of their hearers and speakers. Once they are firmly established, everything else follows.
The writers of the Bible already knew this. They taught “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21). For how many years now have we been eating the fruit of “Judea and Samaria”?
When Vladimir Putin last week restored the old name of “New Russia” to the territory of East Ukraine, it was not just a semantic change. It was a claim for annexation, more powerful than a salvo of cannon shots.
Recently I listened to a speech by a left-wing politician, and was disturbed when she spoke at length about her struggle for a “political settlement” with the Palestinians.
When I remonstrated with her, she apologized. It was a slip of the tongue. She had not meant it that way.
In Israeli politics, the word “peace” has become poison. “Political settlement” is the vogue term. It is meant to say the same. But of course, it doesn’t.
“Peace” means much more than the formal end of warfare. It contains elements of reconciliation, of something spiritual. In Hebrew and Arabic, Shalom/Salaam include wellbeing, safety and serve as greetings. “Political settlement” means nothing but a document formulated by lawyers and signed by politicians.
The “Peace of Westphalia” put an end to 30 years of war and changed the life of Europe. One may wonder whether a “Political settlement of Westphalia” would have had the same effect.
The Bible enjoins us: “Seek peace and pursue it!” (Psalms, 34:14) It does not say “Seek a political settlement and pursue it.”
When the Israeli Left gives up the term Peace, this is not a tactical retreat. It is a rout. Peace is a vision, a political ideal, a religious commandment, an inspiring idea. Political Settlement is a subject for discussion.
Peace is not the only victim of semantic terrorism. Another is, of course, the West Bank.
All TV channels have long ago been ordered by the government not to use this term. Most journalists in the written media also march in step. They call it “Judea and Samaria”.
“Judea and Samaria” means that the territory belongs to Israel, even if official annexation may be delayed for political reasons. “West Bank” means that this is occupied territory.
By itself, there is nothing sacred about the term “West Bank”, which was adopted by the Jordanian ruler when he illegally incorporated the area in his newly extended kingdom. This was done in secret collusion with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, who wanted to erase the name “Palestine” from the map. The legal basis was a phony conference of Palestinian “notables” in Jericho.
King Abdallah of Jordan divided his fief into the East Bank (of the Jordan river) and the West Bank.
So why do we insist on using this term? Because it means that this is not a part of Israel, but Arab land that will belong – like the Gaza Strip – to the State of Palestine when peace (sorry, a Political Settlement) is achieved.
Until now, the semantic battle remains undecided. Most Israelis talk about the “West Bank”. “Judea and Samaria” has remained, in common parlance, the realm of the settlers.
The settlers, of course, are the subject of a similar semantic battle.
In Hebrew, there are two terms: Mitnahalim and Mityashvim. They essentially mean the same. But in common usage, people use Mitnahalim when they mean the settlers in the occupied territories, and Mityashvim when they speak about settlers in Israel.
The battle between these two words goes on daily. It is a fight for or against the legitimacy of the settlement beyond the Green Line. Up to now, our side seems to have the upper hand. The distinction remains intact. If someone uses the term Mityashvim, they are automatically identified with the political Right.
The Green Line itself is, of course, the leftist concept. It makes a clear distinction between Israel and the occupied territories. The color comes from the fact that this border – actually the 1949 armistice line – was always marked on the maps in green. Until.
Until the (left-wing) Minister of Labor, Yigal Alon, decreed that henceforth the Green Line would no longer be marked on any map. Under an old law dating back to the British Mandate, the government owns the copyright for all maps printed in the country, and the Minister of Labor was in charge.
This remained so until Gush Shalom sued the government in the Supreme Court. Our argument was that since on the two sides of this line different laws apply, the citizens must have a map that shows them what law they have to obey at a given place. The ministry gave in and promised the court that it would print maps with the Green Line marked.
For lack of an alternative, all Israelis use the term “Green Line”. Since Rightists do not recognize this line at all, they have not invented an alternative word. For some time they tried the term “Seam-Line”, but this did not catch on.
A line between what? At the beginning of the occupation, the question arose what to call the areas just conquered.
We of the peace camp called them, of course, “occupied territories”. The Right called them “liberated territories” and floated the slogan “Liberated territories will not be returned”, a catchy rhyme in Hebrew. The government called them “administered territories” and later “disputed territories”.
The general public just settled for “the territories” – and that is the term used nowadays by everybody who has no interest in stressing his or her political conviction every time these areas are mentioned.
This raises the question about the Wall.
When the government decided to create a physical obstacle between Israel and the Occupied Territories, a name was needed. It is built mainly on occupied land, annexing in practice large areas. It is a fence in open areas, a wall in built-up ones. So we simply called it “the Wall” or “the Fence”, and started weekly demonstrations.
The “Wall/Fence” became odious around the world. So the army looked around for a term that sounded non-ideological and chose “separation obstacle”. However, this term now appears only in official documents.
With whom are we negotiating about the Political Settlement? Ah, there is the rub.
For generations, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel denied the very existence of a Palestinian people. In the 1993 Oslo Agreement, this idiotic pretense was dropped and we recognized the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people”. But the Palestinian state was not mentioned, and until this very day our government abhors the terms “Palestinian state” or “State of Palestine”.
Even today the term “Palestinians” evokes conscious or unconscious rejection. Most commentators speak about a political settlement with “our neighbors” – by which they do not mean the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians or Lebanese, but You Know Who.
In Oslo, the PLO negotiators strenuously insisted that their new state-in-the-making should be called the “Palestinian National Authority”. The Israeli side vehemently objected to the word “National”. So the agreement (actually a “Statement of Principles”) calls it the “Palestinian Authority” and the Palestinians themselves call it the “Palestinian National Authority”. Palestinians who need urgent medical treatment in Israeli hospitals are turned back if they bring financial documents signed by the “Palestinian National Authority”.
So the fight goes on along the semantic front. For me, the really crucial part is the fight for the word Peace. We must reinstate it as the central word in our vocabulary. Clearly, loudly, proudly.
As the hymn of the peace movement (written by Yankele Rotblit as an appeal by the fallen soldiers to the living) says:
“Therefore, sing a song to peace / Don’t whisper a prayer / Sing a song to peace / In a loud shout!”
- Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com
25 apr 2014
|
Growing number of Jewish activists say they will not accept crimes committed by the Israeli regime in the name of their religion.
Israel has long been a source of instability in the Middle East and around the world. The destruction of homes to make way for illegal settlements, assassinations, indiscriminate bombing of civilians and an apartheid wall, ripping apart Palestinian families and communities have come to define its very existence. All this is being done in the name of Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. For years Israel's ideology of 'Zionism' has been seen as synonymous with Judaism. However, for an increasingly vocal and visible minority of Jews, Zionism represents an unjust perversion, both theologically and ethically. |
10 apr 2014
|
In this video, members of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Rabbinical Council call for divestment from occupation profiteer Hewlett-Packard.
It is part of JVP’s “Hewlett-Packard: Harming Peace” campaign. The video plays on the phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” traditionally uttered at Passover seder dinners, which Jews around the world will gather for next week. Hewlett-Packard makes electronic systems Israel uses to control the movement of Palestinians and has been specifically targeted in a number of divestment campaigns. |
“This year in Jerusalem, Israeli policies limit the number of Palestinians who can live in the city” of Jerusalem, says Rabbi Brant Rosen.
“This year in Jerusalem, Palestinian Jerusalemites are considered permanent residents. Israel considers them immigrants,” adds Rabbi Margaret Holub. Effectively, Israel treats Palestinians whose roots in Jerusalem go back generations as if they were immigrants who must earn and qualify for the right to remain.
“This year in Jerusalem, a Hewlett-Packard powered system divides Palestinians into four categories, each with different rights: blue Israeli IDs, blue-green Palestinian Jerusalem IDs, green West Bank IDs and orange Gaza IDs,” Rabbi David Mivasair explains.
The video notes that according to Human Rights Watch, over 640,000 Palestinians risk separation from a direct family member who holds a different color identity cards. Israel’s “center of life” policy requires that Palestinian Jerusalemites prove continuous residency in the city to retain their Jerusalem ID. There’s no such requirement for Jewish Israelis.
The decision to grant or deny residency to Jerusalem’s indigenous Palestinian population is at the sole discretion of Israeli authorities. Meanwhile, Rosen says, “Jews throughout the world are entitled to receive automatic and immediate citizenship through Israel’s Law of Return for Jews and to reside in Jerusalem at will.”
The Electronic Intifada has previously reported on Israel’s revocation of Palestinian Jerusalemites’ residency rights.
Cantor Michael Davis calls on churches and pension funds: “let’s divest from Hewlett-Packard, so that next year … we’ll be one step closer to the day when Palestinian families can gather and pray freely in Jerusalem.”
Source
“This year in Jerusalem, Palestinian Jerusalemites are considered permanent residents. Israel considers them immigrants,” adds Rabbi Margaret Holub. Effectively, Israel treats Palestinians whose roots in Jerusalem go back generations as if they were immigrants who must earn and qualify for the right to remain.
“This year in Jerusalem, a Hewlett-Packard powered system divides Palestinians into four categories, each with different rights: blue Israeli IDs, blue-green Palestinian Jerusalem IDs, green West Bank IDs and orange Gaza IDs,” Rabbi David Mivasair explains.
The video notes that according to Human Rights Watch, over 640,000 Palestinians risk separation from a direct family member who holds a different color identity cards. Israel’s “center of life” policy requires that Palestinian Jerusalemites prove continuous residency in the city to retain their Jerusalem ID. There’s no such requirement for Jewish Israelis.
The decision to grant or deny residency to Jerusalem’s indigenous Palestinian population is at the sole discretion of Israeli authorities. Meanwhile, Rosen says, “Jews throughout the world are entitled to receive automatic and immediate citizenship through Israel’s Law of Return for Jews and to reside in Jerusalem at will.”
The Electronic Intifada has previously reported on Israel’s revocation of Palestinian Jerusalemites’ residency rights.
Cantor Michael Davis calls on churches and pension funds: “let’s divest from Hewlett-Packard, so that next year … we’ll be one step closer to the day when Palestinian families can gather and pray freely in Jerusalem.”
Source
10 mar 2014
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews staged a mass prayer in New York City, to protest Israel's proposal to draft ultra-Orthodox citizens into its army.
(Haaretz) Sunday's gathering in Manhattan brought together a community of New York's most Orthodox Jews who are based in Brooklyn and in the village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, north of the city.
Protester Yitz Farkas, an American citizen, said that religious Jews should not be forced to join a secular army. Protesters also said they are against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and that they believe Israel should exist only after the Messiah arrives.
On Sunday, organizers said that they would honor their tradition of separating men from women at religious events by doing the same at the rally.
(Haaretz) Sunday's gathering in Manhattan brought together a community of New York's most Orthodox Jews who are based in Brooklyn and in the village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, north of the city.
Protester Yitz Farkas, an American citizen, said that religious Jews should not be forced to join a secular army. Protesters also said they are against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and that they believe Israel should exist only after the Messiah arrives.
On Sunday, organizers said that they would honor their tradition of separating men from women at religious events by doing the same at the rally.
9 mar 2014
A group of Israeli teenagers have told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will refuse to serve in the military because of its role in the occupation of Palestinian land.
"The main reason for our refusal is our opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the army," about 50 youths wrote in a letter to Netanyahu, published on Saturday by an Israeli pacifist group.
The group referred to "human rights violations" in the West Bank, including "executions, settlement construction, administrative detention, torture, collective punishment and unfair distribution of water and electricity".
"Any military service perpetuates the current situation, and therefore we cannot take part in a system that carries out these deeds," read the letter posted on the Facebook page of Yesh Gvul.
Haaretz reported that Yesh Gvul, which advocates conscientious objection, said on Saturday evening in response to the letter’s publication that "refusal is a personal decision by every person in a democratic society".
According to Haaretz, Yesh Gvul added: "We support anyone whose democratic and humanist values drove him to refuse to take part in occupation and repression of the Palestinian people."
Yesh Gvul (There is a limit) describes itself as a "peace group campaigning against the occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature".
No construction freeze
Military service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving three years and women two.
Earlier this month, members of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel protested against a new law which would mean they too were subject to the draft.
It comes as Netanyahu said on Sunday he is opposed to freezing construction in settlements as a means to extend US-sponsored peace talks with Palestinians.
Such a freeze "would serve nothing," Netanyahu told public radio.
"We imposed one in the past and it brought no results," the premier said of the 10-month construction moratorium he issued during the last round of peace talks with Palestinians that ended in 2010.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has been struggling to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree a framework for extending direct peace talks, launched in July, beyond an April 29 deadline.
ٍSource: ALJAZEERA
Report: Israeli teens tell PM they 'refuse to be cannon fodder'
Dozens of Israeli teens on Saturday sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing their moral objection to the Israeli army's actions and their intention to refuse enlistment, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli news site Ynet reported that in the letter the teens condemned the army's "war crimes according to international law," citing "executions without trial ... administrative arrests, torture, (and) collective punishments."
"Following our conscience, we cannot take part in a system that commits the aforementioned acts," the letter said.
The teens saw the army's actions as an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the report.
Mandy Kretner, one of the authors of the letter, said in a statement that "the army's actions distance us from finding a solution and reaching peace, justice and security."
"The army serves the powerful people in society and not the citizens, who are only a tool," said another of the letter's signatories, Shaked Harari.
"Me and my friends refuse to be cannon fodder," Harari added.
Additionally, the teens decried the army's problematic impact on Israeli society, according to the Ynet report.
Mandatory army service leads "to racism and violence within society and to discrimination based on ethnicity, nationality and gender," the teens noted.
Although the majority of Israeli Jews enlist in the armed forces, every year a small number refuse to serve.
"The main reason for our refusal is our opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the army," about 50 youths wrote in a letter to Netanyahu, published on Saturday by an Israeli pacifist group.
The group referred to "human rights violations" in the West Bank, including "executions, settlement construction, administrative detention, torture, collective punishment and unfair distribution of water and electricity".
"Any military service perpetuates the current situation, and therefore we cannot take part in a system that carries out these deeds," read the letter posted on the Facebook page of Yesh Gvul.
Haaretz reported that Yesh Gvul, which advocates conscientious objection, said on Saturday evening in response to the letter’s publication that "refusal is a personal decision by every person in a democratic society".
According to Haaretz, Yesh Gvul added: "We support anyone whose democratic and humanist values drove him to refuse to take part in occupation and repression of the Palestinian people."
Yesh Gvul (There is a limit) describes itself as a "peace group campaigning against the occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature".
No construction freeze
Military service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving three years and women two.
Earlier this month, members of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel protested against a new law which would mean they too were subject to the draft.
It comes as Netanyahu said on Sunday he is opposed to freezing construction in settlements as a means to extend US-sponsored peace talks with Palestinians.
Such a freeze "would serve nothing," Netanyahu told public radio.
"We imposed one in the past and it brought no results," the premier said of the 10-month construction moratorium he issued during the last round of peace talks with Palestinians that ended in 2010.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has been struggling to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree a framework for extending direct peace talks, launched in July, beyond an April 29 deadline.
ٍSource: ALJAZEERA
Report: Israeli teens tell PM they 'refuse to be cannon fodder'
Dozens of Israeli teens on Saturday sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing their moral objection to the Israeli army's actions and their intention to refuse enlistment, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli news site Ynet reported that in the letter the teens condemned the army's "war crimes according to international law," citing "executions without trial ... administrative arrests, torture, (and) collective punishments."
"Following our conscience, we cannot take part in a system that commits the aforementioned acts," the letter said.
The teens saw the army's actions as an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the report.
Mandy Kretner, one of the authors of the letter, said in a statement that "the army's actions distance us from finding a solution and reaching peace, justice and security."
"The army serves the powerful people in society and not the citizens, who are only a tool," said another of the letter's signatories, Shaked Harari.
"Me and my friends refuse to be cannon fodder," Harari added.
Additionally, the teens decried the army's problematic impact on Israeli society, according to the Ynet report.
Mandatory army service leads "to racism and violence within society and to discrimination based on ethnicity, nationality and gender," the teens noted.
Although the majority of Israeli Jews enlist in the armed forces, every year a small number refuse to serve.
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