[savoir]

Eeeeezzzeeeee ! !

Stop signing the checks.

Next problem ?

[Sailor Dave]

savoir, on Nov 21 2009, 03:29 AM, said:

Eeeeezzzeeeee ! !

Stop signing the checks.

Next problem ?

Agreed but do you think that would cause the area to collapse. What happens if Israel is wiped off the map? Will we still get intel from the Mossad who have their ear closest to the ground in that region?

[savoir]

Like the Iraqi WMD intel ? Better off without it.

" By deception thou shalt do war."

Trouble is, who is being deceived ?

[frenchie]

mustang__1, on Nov 20 2009, 11:16 PM, said:

there is no such thing as being anti-Israel, or that disgraceful line of "anti-zionist", and not being anti-Semitic as well. To say otherwise is to be either ignorant or lying.

Beg to differ.

Granted MOST anti-zionism , pretty obviously stems from barely-concealed antisemitism. But you're gonna have a hard time convincing anyone that Neturei Karta, Satmar, or Toldos Aharon are antisemitic, aren't you?


A further, ought-to-be-obvious point: not all criticism of Israeli policy is anti-Israel or anti-zionist. (although I'll grant you, a lot of it is)

[spankoka]

savoir, on Nov 21 2009, 12:29 AM, said:

Eeeeezzzeeeee ! !

Stop signing the checks.

Next problem ?

They are probably going to get closer to China and India as a hedge in any case.

http://www.southasia...2/paper131.html

[savoir]

Already happening.

http://www.atimes.co...a/KD02Df02.html

Rats . . . . . sinking ships

[akaGP]

Sailor Dave, on Nov 21 2009, 03:09 AM, said:

savoir, on Nov 21 2009, 03:29 AM, said:

Eeeeezzzeeeee ! !

Stop signing the checks.

Next problem ?

Agreed but do you think that would cause the area to collapse. What happens if Israel is wiped off the map? Will we still get intel from the Mossad who have their ear closest to the ground in that region?

Who is going to wipe Israel off the map when they are the ONLY country in the region with a huge nuclear arsenal and missiles to deliver that payload.

As to Mossad sharing intelligence with U.S., you have got to be kidding; their only interest is to convince us of what they want us to believe while spying on us.

[Mark K]

spankoka, on Nov 21 2009, 06:03 AM, said:

savoir, on Nov 21 2009, 12:29 AM, said:

Eeeeezzzeeeee ! !

Stop signing the checks.

Next problem ?

They are probably going to get closer to China and India as a hedge in any case.

http://www.southasia...2/paper131.html

They will do business with them, but the #1 emergency sugardaddy is
Russia.

[Pelagicon]

Could we agree that Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the middle-easterners are all Semites?
All they really want is to not pay retail.
Walmart could be the answer.

[CrotchRocket]

Sorry to have offended all bagel-eaters, world-wide. Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and et. al. bagel-eaters. Pass the cream cheese, please....

[savoir]

Pelagicon, on Nov 21 2009, 10:01 PM, said:

Could we agree that Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the middle-easterners are all Semites?
All they really want is to not pay retail.
Walmart could be the answer.

Only about 20% of Israelis are semites. The rest come from Eastern Europe. Their connection with the tribes of Israel is an absolute zero. The existence of so many Jews in Eastern Europe did not occur as a result of either migration or conversion. It was a political decision.

[By the lee]

Published on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by
CommonDreams.org

The Architecture of Apartheid

by Sarah Lazare & Clare Bayard

The word "Revenge" is scrawled in Hebrew on a Palestinian school in Hebron. The windows are covered with screens and the play yard obstructed with more screens tipped with barbed wire, to obstruct the stones regularly pelted down by Jewish settlers. The space between the school and the neighboring building is blocked off with large, wooden slabs, to ensure that Palestinian school children do not encroach into settler territory. Nearby checkpoints and cameras placed on rooftops serve as constant reminder that these kids' every movement is monitored and contained.

This schoolyard scene, on an empty weekend day, illustrates the separation and containment that has become written into the architecture of Hebron. In this city where 1,500 Israeli soldiers are stationed on any given day, the 170,000 Palestinians living here are kept under constant watch, their movements restricted while their safety is under constant threat. The Jewish settlers who have been moving in since the late '70s, now numbering 800, are known for repeatedly attacking Palestinians while Israeli soldiers sit idly by.

Walking into Hebron literally feels like a nightmare. Shahuda Street, one of the main roads, is traveled only by settlers on foot or in speeding cars, soldiers and police, and packs of fighting dogs. Palestinians living on this street have to climb into their houses from the rear, either cutting across neighbors' rooftops, carving holes in their walls, or, like one little girl we watched, scaling a rope to the second story. Their front doors have been welded shut or barricaded with rusty metal, like the countless shops in Hebron, closed by military order. Streets are sealed off with concrete and bales of ribbon wire.

"Security is the magic word here," says Hisham Sharabati, a journalist who has been living in Hebron for most of his life, gesturing towards an Israeli military checkpoint at the entrance of the Abraham Mosque, in the middle of the Old City. "Israel uses that word in any way it likes, so that it can justify denying Palestinian human rights."

In 1994, a settler named Baruch Goldstein opened fire in the mosque at Abraham's tomb, a sacred site to Muslims, Jews, and Christians. We saw the torn marble, bullet holes in the arch that points towards Mecca. 29 Palestinians were killed while praying, then more when the military opened fire on people trying to run out of the mosque. The response? Palestinians were placed under 30 days of curfew, the fruit and vegetable market was shut down, and the "system of separation" developed. Since then, Palestinians living in Hebron have been controlled by the military and attacked by settlers - a "security" structure that many say was intended to push out Palestinians to make way for settlers. The city was carved up into the H1 Area - controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and the H2 Area, controlled by the Israeli military. Within the H2 area, Jewish and Palestinian quarters were cordoned off by a matrix of roads, many of them off-limits to Palestinian use. Vibrant marketplaces and city centers were shut down, some of them slowly taken over by Jewish settlers, others turned into ghost towns guarded by military checkpoints. Israeli soldiers now patrol every street in the H2 area, in a tactic that serves as a constant reminder of the Israeli military presence.

Jewish settlers claim that they have rights to the land, invoking a bloody massacre in 1929 that left 67 Jews dead. There are varying accounts of this tragedy: Mikhael Manekin from Breaking the Silence, a group of former IDF soldiers who now speak out about what they witnessed and acts they perpetrated, told us that many of the murderers had come in from surrounding villages. He claims that several Palestinian locals risked their lives to defend the Jews, and some of them were granted certificates of appreciation by Jewish organizations for doing so. Local settlers have used the 1929 massacre to justify pushing Palestinian Hebron residents out of their homes, with a sign placed in the middle of a settlement that reads, "These Arabs are living on stolen land."

What happened in 1929 is horrible, but it does not justify mass displacement and systemic degradation of a people. The massacre is being used to target Arabs and perpetuate racism in a way that has not been directed towards European populations guilty of massacring Jews on a far larger scale. The painful landscape of Hebron is an example of how trauma can beget trauma: a population of Jews, traumatized by a history of violence and discrimination, has turned around and traumatized another people, and in doing so, is doing untold damage to their own community. Settlers here occupy a city that has become a hotbed of religious/ethnic tension and blatant racial discrimination. This is not good for anyone who grows up in such an environment, whether Israeli or Palestinian.

Hisham guided us through the city all morning; in the afternoon, we met with Mikhael, who as an Israeli, could take us into the areas Hisham is prohibited from entering although he's lived in Hebron his whole life. Mikhael explained that there are 2 or 3 soldiers per settler, a ratio clearly intended to control the large Palestinian population. Rather than correlate the military presence to the amount of settlers; the logic is based in military containment and control of the "enemy," under the guise of protection. Mikhael served as an officer in Hebron, and now is one of the Breaking the Silence members who leads tours there for Israelis and internationals.

The settlements within Hebron have been declared illegal by the Geneva conventions. The official city maps, which are the documents used by Israeli courts, are wildly inaccurate. They claim that ghost streets, long sealed off by concrete and metal, are functioning thoroughfares and marketplaces. Walking through the streets of Hebron, you find a city carved up by the violent military presence and constant threat of settler violence.

Some roads have a concrete barrier running along the edge, leaving a few feet for Palestinians to walk along while two wide lanes are reserved for settlers. The souks, Old City markets, have wire screens or makeshift netting overhead: insufficient protection for attacks from settlers living on the floors above. The wire screens are heavy with trash, bricks, giant concrete chunks, and exploded plastic bags that contained sewage and urine when they burst onto the people and racks of goods below. Hisham told us one young man was in a coma after a sharpened metal rod came through the screen and penetrated his skull. Now, when you look up, you can see piles of objects that got caught in the screen: crowbars, bricks, stones, chairs. While walking through a market, we saw a settler woman throw sand from her third story apartment down at a crowded market where Palestinians were shopping. It fell on a Palestinian woman's head, as well as on one of our delegation members, Eddie, who because of being Mexican-American has often been perceived to be Arab on this trip.

An older man who lives at the edge of Shahuda Street, in the last meters Palestinians living on that block are allowed to walk up to, explains that he has to apply for permits if his children or grandchildren want to visit his home. He is not allowed any other visitors, like every Palestinian who remains in their home in H2. On the other hand, settler children take field trips on his street. We watched a group of elementary school-aged settler children walk down Shahuda, accompanied by a few adults including with some with assault rifles strung over their shoulders.

Standing on a rooftop overlooking the old city, we could see concrete and stone buildings, punctuated by military bases in the center of the city, and on opposing hills. These military installations have either expelled or built on the rooftops of people living in top floor apartments. Many of the rooftops held water tanks, important storage for a neighborhood whose water is diverted to the nearby settlements and sold back at higher prices to Palestinians.

In the hills south of Mount Hebron, settlers attack Palestinians going to graze their sheep. A friend told us about a village that was expelled in 2000, and until a few weeks ago, was living in caves near their lands. The Israeli court actually ruled that they could go back to their village, and on Friday settlers attacked their flocks and killed a lamb. When Israeli solidarity activists called the police, who came hours later, the police accused the elderly Palestinians of having killed their own animal to frame the settlers. Olive harvest accompaniment is prioritized not only because the olive trees sustain many people, but also because legal loopholes are used to take away peoples' land if they aren't able to reach it for a certain period of time. It is reminiscent of the eminent domain laws used to steal people's land in the lower 9th ward: if displaced New Orleanians weren't able to return to the city to cut their grass regularly the city would claim their plot- often an overgrown lot with only the foundations left where the house was blown away by the wall of water.

Solidarity work in this area sounds like it mostly takes the form of accompaniment, whether it's escorting children to school to protect them against stone-throwing settlers, or walking with people to their grazing lands. Settler children throw stones at Palestinian children on their way to school- children under 14 cannot be held responsible, Mikhael told us, so they are careful about who throws the stones. One school finally had to change its hours and days so that the children would not be walking to school when settler children were home to attack them- they're the only Palestinian school not open on Saturdays, and the kids have no recess so they can leave early enough to get home safely. Every day. "The Palestinians are the ones who take the burden of the separation policy into their lives," Hisham says.

Palestinian residents of Hebron have been organizing to revitalize their communities and challenge military occupation and settler violence. The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee fixes up battered neighborhoods to encourage people to come home, planting gardens and repainting dilapidated storefronts. Youth Against Settlements has organized creative direct actions: a recent protest involved setting up mock checkpoints next to Israeli ones, getting arrested after five minutes but still drawing attention to the conditions they live in.

Hebron is situated in the center of global power struggles and alliances situated around Israel. This city is the logical conclusion of a religious/ethnic state - a city where military occupation is woven into the fabric of daily life and residents are forced to build screen fortresses to protect themselves from stones and bricks. From the shut down city centers, with welded doors and security cameras pointing towards the emptiness, to the settlement military bases that sit in the center of town, this is the reality of the current state of Israel. This is what we, as U.S. citizens are supporting, when our government sends military aid so that Israel can buy tanks and weapons to patrol these streets.

Sarah Lazare and Clare Bayard are members of Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM) and are currently travelling throughout Israel and Occupied Palestine to bring their stories of military resistance to those Israelis and Palestinians who also struggle against the violence, militarism, and forced service. E-mail Print Share Close Twitter StumbleUpon Facebook Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo TechnoratiDiscuss

[CrotchRocket]

Israeli Planes Strike Targets In Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli planes carried out air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, injuring seven Palestinians, Palestinian medical workers said.

OMG! Bagel-eaters have wings! Ouch. They carry incendiary devices in their 3-toed claws beneath their evil wings!

[savoir]

They are attempting to goad Hamas into a rocket attack. Been doing it for years.

[2high2tight]

after a couple thousand years of getting shit on by everyone we got the Bomb. Y'all can go fuck yourselves now. payback this big is going to be a real bitch.

[Godfrey Bigot]

Dawg, on Nov 21 2009, 02:40 PM, said:

Now please explain to me.....do the Jews hate the Arabs or is it the Arabs that hate the Jews??? Cause it has been going on for so long I am not really sure.

Islam preaches death to the jews and has done so since about 627AD when mohammed tried to impose himself as a prophet in the jewish religion he demanded they make changes to their holy book.The jews did not accept him.
Banu Qurayza covers this along with the following slaughter of about 900 jewish males with the widows being remarried almost instantly and children sold to slavery.It can be found in the sira of ibn hisham as well as other books.

Islam preaches kill the jews so while muslims believe the crap in the quran the jews will always have problems with muslims.
Hammas,hezbollah,Iran well thats islam and not really arabs against the jews.

Ever wonder why the saudis can find $10 million for a islamic school in south western sydney yet have done nothing for the palestinian refugees?
It suits their political needs (Islam) to brand Israel and the USA as a pack of cunts for what you have done.
The saudis see it as god is punishing the palestinians so why should they help and maybe if they took care of the jews then god would reward them with new wives and newfound wealth that previously belonged to the jews.

The Jews make up about 3% of the worlds population and have about a 1/3 of all the nobel prizes in science.
Muslims make up about 1/3 of the worlds population and you can count all the nobel prize winners on both hands.The first one abdus salam had the muslim word removed from his headstone as he was ahmadi.

[mustang__1]

akaGP, on Nov 21 2009, 01:18 AM, said:

mustang__1, on Nov 20 2009, 10:16 PM, said:

MoMP, on Nov 20 2009, 10:01 PM, said:

akaGP, on Nov 20 2009, 02:07 PM, said:

1SickPuppy, on Nov 20 2009, 12:44 PM, said:

The Israeli government receives more US foreign aid than all other nations on earth COMBINED. In 2008 it was $2.8B. It's been this way since 1979:

"Israel long since the US' top recipient of foreign aid, will receive USD 2.4 billion. Since 1979 and the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Israel has annually received up to USD 3 billion in aid." (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362402,00.html)

What have our billions bought us? The extreme hatred of 1.6B Muslims worldwide. What has Israel done to thank us? Start numerous wars with its neighbors and continue a series of Zionist-domination plans for the West Bank. The latest move by PM Benjamin NetinYahoo is to authorize 900 MORE bagel-eater houses smack-dab in the middle of the Palestinian's homeland. Talk about an agitating, irritating bunch of bastards.

I think we've allowed the Jewish lobby on the Hill to control Congress long enough. I grew up a child in the 60s, believing all that hogwash about the Jewish miracle, the Kibbutz, the freedom-loving warriors in the Holy Land. Now, 40 years later, I realize they are little more than belligerent bagel-eaters, who have managed to entangle us in their 2000 year old hatred of their half-brothers, the A-Rab ragheads.

Time to let Benjamin Bagel-Eater and his band of malcontents, duke it out, mano-y-mano, with their cousins, and may the best one win. We got enought worries without these shits dragging us down...

Condemning all Jews because some of them are obnoxious assholes is ridiculous.


If you have specific gripes with Israeli Government and/or AIPAC, post the facts.

He didn't point out "all Jews", He pointed out Israel. Don't be too trigger happy on the Anti-Semite trigger, please.... Bagel-eaters is no more insulting than if someone called me a spaghetti-eater (I'm Italian-American). Israel isn't easy to love, but I'm glad they're there. Sort of like the little brother flexing his muscles but being able to walk the walk.

there is no such thing as being anti-Israel, or that disgraceful line of "anti-zionist", and not being anti-Semitic as well. To say otherwise is to be either ignorant or lying.

As usual, you are an ignorant fanatic who is full of shit.

If you are Jewish, my friend Arnie would tell you that assholes like you give Jews a bad name.

yeah, and my friend Arnie would call you both fucking morons, to your face. Old Jews from New York all seem to have an attitude...

there is no such thing as being anti-Israel, or that disgraceful line of "anti-zionist", and not being anti-Semitic as well. To say otherwise is to be either ignorant or lying.

Beg to differ.

Granted MOST anti-zionism , pretty obviously stems from barely-concealed antisemitism. But you're gonna have a hard time convincing anyone that Neturei Karta, Satmar, or Toldos Aharon are antisemitic, aren't you?


A further, ought-to-be-obvious point: not all criticism of Israeli policy is anti-Israel or anti-zionist. (although I'll grant you, a lot of it is)
if they believe that Israel was a mistake and should not exist, and should cease to exit by having all of the jews exit the country, then they're anti-semtic. Im critical of both America and Israel, both countries have obviously made mistakes. But, if someone says they are anti-israel, or anti-zionist, id give them a 99.98% chance of being too cowardice to say they are anti-semites.

[MoeAlfa]

mustang__1, on Nov 22 2009, 10:13 PM, said:

But, if someone says they are anti-israel, or anti-zionist, id give them a 99.98% chance of being too cowardice to say they are anti-semites.

I understand what you're saying, but it's quite not that simple. Aside from the many secular Jews who are ambivalent about Israel, there is an active and virulent anti-Zionist, and even anti-Israel, movement among ultra-religious Jews, e.g., the Satmar and other Hasidic groups who oppose the establishment of a Jewish state on religious grounds. Israeli orthodox communities with strong Sephardic ties, such as Edah HaChareidis are also anti-Zionist. Here's an interesting picture of Naturei Karta protesters at an AIPAC meeting. Their opposition to Zionism is overtly political.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/NKUSA.ORG_at_AIPAC_protest_2005.JPG

[mustang__1]

they represent the .02%....

[frenchie]

Not in Brooklyn, they don't.

[CrotchRocket]

Not in the West Bank, either!

http://www.testriffic.com/resultfiles/11082the_summer_of_george039.jpg

[Mark K]

akaGP, on Nov 21 2009, 01:18 AM, said:

mustang__1, on Nov 20 2009, 10:16 PM, said:

MoMP, on Nov 20 2009, 10:01 PM, said:

akaGP, on Nov 20 2009, 02:07 PM, said:

1SickPuppy, on Nov 20 2009, 12:44 PM, said:

The Israeli government receives more US foreign aid than all other nations on earth COMBINED. In 2008 it was $2.8B. It's been this way since 1979:

"Israel long since the US' top recipient of foreign aid, will receive USD 2.4 billion. Since 1979 and the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Israel has annually received up to USD 3 billion in aid." (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362402,00.html)

What have our billions bought us? The extreme hatred of 1.6B Muslims worldwide. What has Israel done to thank us? Start numerous wars with its neighbors and continue a series of Zionist-domination plans for the West Bank. The latest move by PM Benjamin NetinYahoo is to authorize 900 MORE bagel-eater houses smack-dab in the middle of the Palestinian's homeland. Talk about an agitating, irritating bunch of bastards.

I think we've allowed the Jewish lobby on the Hill to control Congress long enough. I grew up a child in the 60s, believing all that hogwash about the Jewish miracle, the Kibbutz, the freedom-loving warriors in the Holy Land. Now, 40 years later, I realize they are little more than belligerent bagel-eaters, who have managed to entangle us in their 2000 year old hatred of their half-brothers, the A-Rab ragheads.

Time to let Benjamin Bagel-Eater and his band of malcontents, duke it out, mano-y-mano, with their cousins, and may the best one win. We got enought worries without these shits dragging us down...

Condemning all Jews because some of them are obnoxious assholes is ridiculous.


If you have specific gripes with Israeli Government and/or AIPAC, post the facts.

He didn't point out "all Jews", He pointed out Israel. Don't be too trigger happy on the Anti-Semite trigger, please.... Bagel-eaters is no more insulting than if someone called me a spaghetti-eater (I'm Italian-American). Israel isn't easy to love, but I'm glad they're there. Sort of like the little brother flexing his muscles but being able to walk the walk.

there is no such thing as being anti-Israel, or that disgraceful line of "anti-zionist", and not being anti-Semitic as well. To say otherwise is to be either ignorant or lying.

As usual, you are an ignorant fanatic who is full of shit.

If you are Jewish, my friend Arnie would tell you that assholes like you give Jews a bad name.

yeah, and my friend Arnie would call you both fucking morons, to your face. Old Jews from New York all seem to have an attitude...

there is no such thing as being anti-Israel, or that disgraceful line of "anti-zionist", and not being anti-Semitic as well. To say otherwise is to be either ignorant or lying.

Beg to differ.

Granted MOST anti-zionism , pretty obviously stems from barely-concealed antisemitism. But you're gonna have a hard time convincing anyone that Neturei Karta, Satmar, or Toldos Aharon are antisemitic, aren't you?


A further, ought-to-be-obvious point: not all criticism of Israeli policy is anti-Israel or anti-zionist. (although I'll grant you, a lot of it is)
if they believe that Israel was a mistake and should not exist, and should cease to exit by having all of the jews exit the country, then they're anti-semtic. Im critical of both America and Israel, both countries have obviously made mistakes. But, if someone says they are anti-israel, or anti-zionist, id give them a 99.98% chance of being too cowardice to say they are anti-semites.


I think Israel was a big, big mistake, but the jury is still out. All depends
on if they can find a way to get along with their neighbors....

Otherwise they will eventually cease to exist. At least
as a democratic Jewish state anyway.

[akaGP]

2high2tight, on Nov 22 2009, 07:51 PM, said:

after a couple thousand years of getting shit on by everyone we got the Bomb. Y'all can go fuck yourselves now. payback this big is going to be a real bitch.

Whenever I read the outrageous bullshit that assholes like 2hiugh2tight and mustang spew, it becomes clear why most of the world no longer sympathizes and supports Israel.



Jerusalem Syndrome

By Akiva Eldar

Sometimes tourists show up at Jerusalem's mental health centers, convinced that a voice from the heavens told them they were the messiah. The illness, commonly known as Jerusalem Syndrome, usually passes once they have left the city. However, Israelis, mostly public figures, have been afflicted with this syndrome for the past 42 years, affecting their ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Jerusalem has become the Disneyland of the Jewish people.

For many of those affected by this disturbing disease, it extends beyond Jerusalem. It begins with the transformation of an Arab village in the middle of the West Bank into a "Jerusalem neighborhood," and ends with the description of occupied territory in the heart of the West Bank, like Ariel, as "a settlement bloc." First we shape a new reality for ourselves; then we expect the entire world to adopt it, demand that our neighbors pay the cost, and complain that we have no partner for peace.

What could they possibly want from us? That was the combined reaction of the president, the mayor, the cabinet ministers and the head of the opposition. After all, they said, Gilo is at the heart of the Israeli consensus. What does that consensus mean? Reminder: In June 1967 Israel annexed to Jerusalem some 70 square kilometers of West Bank territory, including 28 Palestinian municipalities and villages that were never considered part of the city. When Jordan controlled Jerusalem, it was six square kilometers, including the Old City, whose territory is no more than a single square kilometer.

East Jerusalem land has been appropriated for the construction of new neighborhoods for some 200,000 Israelis. Indeed, there is consensus among Israelis that in a peace agreement that would include exchange of territory, Gilo would remain under Israeli sovereignty. But not in a unilateral step that would not be recognized by any other country. Around the world, there is wall-to-wall agreement that East Jerusalem is at best disputed territory; in the Arab world, the consensus is that it is occupied territory.

The situation in the city since 1967 has perpetuated the deep chasm that divides its two parts and the two peoples living in it, and separates the empty slogans from the reality on the ground. Thus, for example, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat complained loudly about the Obama administration, which he claimed discriminates between the residents of the city "on the basis of religion and ethnicity." It is hard to imagine that Barkat is not aware that by law, only Israeli citizens, or those entitled to citizenship on the basis of the Law of Return, are entitled to purchase a plot of what is considered state land. Since the Palestinians in East Jerusalem are city residents but almost none are citizens of the country, they are not entitled to purchase plots in a third of the lands that have been expropriated from them in order to set up Israeli neighborhoods/settlements. The result: The residential density in Arab neighborhoods is nearly double that in Jewish neighborhoods (11.9 square meters per person compared to 23.8 square meters per person).

In a democratic society like the one in Israel, it is understood that the unification of the two parts of the city carries with it equality for all its residents. But in actuality, nearly half the Palestinian students in East Jerusalem do not study in the municipal education system; some 9,000 of them do not appear on the records of the city's education authorities, and it is not known whether they receive any form of education. The Education Ministry and the Jerusalem municipality have promised the Supreme Court that they will build at least 645 classrooms in East Jerusalem to start making up for the shortfall; more than 1,350 classrooms are needed. In practice, less than 100 new classrooms have been built. To this day, filth, neglect and unpaved roads clearly mark the border between the two peoples living in the city.

Shimon Peres traveled to Egypt yesterday. For months Peres has advocated, in Israel and abroad, a plan for a temporary Palestinian state and the postponement of the debate over Jerusalem to better days. The consistent Palestinian opposition to this idea does not appear to affect him. According to our peace-loving president, since Jerusalem is at the core of Israeli consensus, the Arabs must not only adjust their own consensus regarding Jerusalem but also agree that in the meantime, until we agree to allow the issue to be brought to the negotiating table, we should continue to behave in East Jerusalem as though it is ours, and only ours.

Israeli conduct in Jerusalem, and the side effects that emerged as a result of the criticism of the construction plans in Gilo, suggest that Jerusalem Syndrome has now afflicted all of society. We can only hope that it is not an incurable disease.

[frenchie]

Proof that Jews and Arabs can get along:

http://news.bbc.co.u...ter/8367085.stm