Israeli settlements 'displace' Palestinians: HRW

[Ancient lion]

JERUSALEM — Palestinians in the occupied West Bank lack basic amenities and are effectively being forcibly displaced by discriminatory Israeli policies, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Sunday.

The New York-based rights group called on the United States to penalise Israel by withholding from its massive annual aid a sum equal to the amount the Jewish state gives in subsidies to West Bank settlements.

The 166-page report accuses Israel of depriving the Palestinians of services that are offered to Jewish settlers, who live in communities considered illegal under international law because they are built on occupied land.

"Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads," HRW representative Carroll Bogert said.

"While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp -- not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands and out of their homes."

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev criticised HRW, saying evidence from recent years showed "that Human Rights Watch has allowed an anti-Israel agenda to pollute its objectivity."

He also denied the report's accusations, saying there had been "unprecedented levels of growth and development on the part of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank" over the past two years.

"Anyone who looks at objective data can see this. The government of Israel is committed to working with the Palestinian Authority upon this path that is beneficial to all," he told AFP.

But Bill Van Esveld, the author of the report and a researcher at HRW's Middle East division, said the study exposed a two-tier system enforced by a network of discriminatory laws and military orders.

"We're talking about different treatment of two people living in the same area for no real reason," he told AFP.

He said settlers had easy access to planning committees whereas Palestinians were not allowed to serve on the same committees, and that it had become virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits to build homes.

The policies make life increasingly difficult for Palestinians in the West Bank, and in many cases encourages them simply to leave.

(AFP)
wonderful, peace-seeking people !

 

[Marc39]

JERUSALEM — Palestinians in the occupied West Bank lack basic amenities and are effectively being forcibly displaced by discriminatory Israeli policies, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Sunday.

The New York-based rights group called on the United States to penalise Israel by withholding from its massive annual aid a sum equal to the amount the Jewish state gives in subsidies to West Bank settlements.

The 166-page report accuses Israel of depriving the Palestinians of services that are offered to Jewish settlers, who live in communities considered illegal under international law because they are built on occupied land.

"Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads," HRW representative Carroll Bogert said.

"While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp -- not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes even pushed off their lands and out of their homes."

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev criticised HRW, saying evidence from recent years showed "that Human Rights Watch has allowed an anti-Israel agenda to pollute its objectivity."

He also denied the report's accusations, saying there had been "unprecedented levels of growth and development on the part of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank" over the past two years.

"Anyone who looks at objective data can see this. The government of Israel is committed to working with the Palestinian Authority upon this path that is beneficial to all," he told AFP.

But Bill Van Esveld, the author of the report and a researcher at HRW's Middle East division, said the study exposed a two-tier system enforced by a network of discriminatory laws and military orders.

"We're talking about different treatment of two people living in the same area for no real reason," he told AFP.

He said settlers had easy access to planning committees whereas Palestinians were not allowed to serve on the same committees, and that it had become virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits to build homes.

The policies make life increasingly difficult for Palestinians in the West Bank, and in many cases encourages them simply to leave.

(AFP)
wonderful, peace-seeking people !

Israeli Arab Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh: Arabs And Muslims Run To Israel

Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have a dream: to work or live in Israel. Some even say they are prepared to pay large sums of money to obtain Israeli citizenship. Others pay a lot of money to Palestinian and Jewish traffickers who help them bypass checkpoints to enter Israel in search of work and good life. These are not self-hating Palestinians. Nor are they "pro-Israel traitors" who support the Zionist movement. Many Palestinians feel that neither Fatah nor Hamas has done enough to alleviate their suffering. Many Fatah leaders who stole billions of dollars of international donations earmarked for the Palestinians have invested their fortunes in hotels, tourist resorts and real estate firms in the West. Hamas, on the other hand, prefers to spend millions of dollars on purchasing [and smuggling] large amounts of weapons, including rockets and ammunition.

It is a disgrace for Arab and Muslim dictators, particularly those who make billions of dollars from selling oil, that their constituents have to seek work and refuge in Israel and the West. It is also a disgrace for Fatah and Hamas that thousands of Palestinians cannot find jobs or a good life in the two Palestinian states in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arab and Islamic regimes are spending billions of dollars on building new mosques and madrasas while nearly half of their people are illiterate and live under the poverty line. University graduates in these countries are forced to search for work in the West because of poor working conditions and lack of opportunities.

The absence of good government, transparency, accountability and democracy in these countries is driving Arabs and Muslims to seek work and a better life not only in North America and Europe, but even in places like Israel. In many ways, these Palestinians are not different from the African immigrants who try to infiltrate Israel every day through Egypt. The immigrants come from Sudan, Ethiopia, Eretria, Nigeria and other African countries.

Like the Palestinians, the Africans are prepared to pay a lot of money to get into Israel. Egyptian traffickers charge up to $1,000 for each immigrant. But for the African immigrants, the journey is also a very dangerous one. In the past three years, Egyptian border guards have shot and killed dozens of African men and women who tried to cross the border into Israel. While the Egyptians are killing the African immigrants, Israel is providing the lucky ones who manage to cross the border with jobs, as well as medical and social services. True, Israel is not 100% perfect. But an African Muslim or Christian still prefers Israel to countries like Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. As a "refugee" from Darfour, Sudan, who now lives in Tel Aviv, explained: "I feel more secure in the Jewish state than in Sudan or any Arab or Islamic country.

The Iconoclast - New English Review

Khaled Abu Toameh...

Most Arabs in Jerusalem prefer to live under Israeli rule for a number of reasons. First, because as holders of Israeli ID cards they are entitled to many rights and privileges that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip don't enjoy. They include freedom of movement and social, economic, health and education services that Israeli citizens are entitled to. Redividing Jerusalem means bringing either the Palestinian Authority of Hamas into the city. The Arab residents of Jerusalem have seen what happened in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past 16 years and are not keen to live under a corrupt authority or a radical Islamist entity.

Over the past few years, many Arab residents of the city who used to live in the West Bank have abandoned their homes and returned to Jerusalem. They did so mainly out of fear of losing their rights and privileges as holders of Israeli ID cards. But many of them also ran away from the West Bank because they did not want to live in territories controlled by militiamen, armed gangs and corrupt leaders and institutions.

Yahoo! Groups

Khaled Abu Toameh...

Arabs living in Israel have always enjoyed free and unlimited access to medical services. Israeli hospitals have always been full of Arab patients, who often heap praise on doctors and nurses for offering them the best treatment.

Even Arabs from neighboring countries have been seeking medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. Many Arabs in Jerusalem are extremely grateful to the Israeli medical teams for their services. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Arabs can testify how these paramedics and doctors saved their lives.

Just two weeks ago, a 65-year-old Arab woman in Jerusalem who suffered a heart attack talked about how the Magen David medical team that rushed to her home had literally saved her life. Magen David paramedics should be commended for the great work they are doing to offer the best medical treatment to patients -- regardless of their nationality and religion. They should be commended for endangering their lives to enter Arab villages and neighborhoods to save lives.

Why do PalArabs attack ambulances? (Khaled Abu Toameh) South Capitol Street

 

[Jos]

The "poster" Marc39 may be just a reply Bot set up to read certain keywords to generate a reply, all be it with a limited range, when it encounters a question outside it's limits it will generate a reply such as

 

[P F Tinmore]

The "poster" Marc39 may be just a reply Bot set up to read certain keywords to generate a reply, all be it with a limited range, when it encounters a question outside it's limits it will generate a reply such as

That could explain the lack of relevance and the same thing posted in every thread regardless of the topic.

 

[Marc39]

The "poster" Marc39 may be just a reply Bot set up to read certain keywords to generate a reply, all be it with a limited range, when it encounters a question outside it's limits it will generate a reply such as

That could explain the lack of relevance and the same thing posted in every thread regardless of the topic.

Given your total lack of even one reputational point, you'd be the irrelevant one.

 

[P F Tinmore]

See, that same response was posted in another thread.

 

[Marc39]

See, that same response was posted in another thread.

You have no reputational points in that thread, too, loser.

 

[Ropey]

The "poster" Marc39 may

That could

LMAO

You two could be irrelevant. You may be simply mouthpieces spouting off the words of others and unable to form true coherent arguments.

Could, may, if...

Are considered detractors to decent discussions since they create unsupportable logic.

 

[Marc39]

The "poster" Marc39 may

That could

LMAO

You two could be irrelevant. You may be simply mouthpieces spouting off the words of others and unable to form true coherent arguments.

Could, may, if...

Are considered detractors to decent discussions since they create unsupportable logic.

Ho Say and Tin Head are gay lovers.

 

[georgephillip]

West Bank BOOMS

"In the three months since Israel ended its settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, causing the Palestinians to withdraw from peace talks, a settlement-building boom has begun, especially in more remote communities that are least likely to be part of Israel after any two-state peace deal."

Israeli Settlement...

 

[P F Tinmore]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDAb2Gm6VCI[/ame]

 

[Marc39]

Hamas Demolish 200 Gaza Homes To Build Mosque...

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip plans to raze another 180 Palestinian houses, on top of the 20 it recently demolished in the southern town of Rafah, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights charged on Thursday.

The 20 houses already destroyed were home to some 150 people, who are now homeless and living in tents, the organization said.

Hamas to raze 180 Gaza houses to erect Islamic religious center - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

 

[P F Tinmore]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4PEtyzCix8&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Marc39]

League of Nations...

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

 

[Marc39]

Robert Bernstein, Founder, Human Rights Watch: Rights Watchdog, Lost In The Middle East...

AS the founder of Human Rights Watch, its active chairman for 20 years and now founding chairman emeritus, I must do something that I never anticipated: I must publicly join the group’s critics. Human Rights Watch had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters. But recently it has been issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.

At Human Rights Watch, we always recognized that open, democratic societies have faults and commit abuses. But we saw that they have the ability to correct them — through vigorous public debate, an adversarial press and many other mechanisms that encourage reform. That is why we sought to draw a sharp line between the democratic and nondemocratic worlds, in an effort to create clarity in human rights. We wanted to prevent the Soviet Union and its followers from playing a moral equivalence game with the West and to encourage liberalization by drawing attention to dissidents like Andrei Sakharov, Natan Sharansky and those in the Soviet gulag — and the millions in China’s laogai, or labor camps.

When I stepped aside in 1998, Human Rights Watch was active in 70 countries, most of them closed societies. Now the organization, with increasing frequency, casts aside its important distinction between open and closed societies. Nowhere is this more evident than in its work in the Middle East. The region is populated by authoritarian regimes with appalling human rights records. Yet in recent years Human Rights Watch has written far more condemnations of Israel for violations of international law than of any other country in the region. Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world — many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over some 350 million people, and most remain brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no internal dissent. The plight of their citizens who would most benefit from the kind of attention a large and well-financed international human rights organization can provide is being ignored as Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division prepares report after report on Israel.

Only by returning to its founding mission and the spirit of humility that animated it can Human Rights Watch resurrect itself as a moral force in the Middle East and throughout the world. If it fails to do that, its credibility will be seriously undermined and its important role in the world significantly diminished.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20bernstein.html

 

[P F Tinmore]

League of Nations...

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

ART. 7.

The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

 

[Marc39]

League of Nations...

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

ART. 7.

The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

Art. 7 constitutes the right of return of Jews to the Jewish National Home in "Palestine" [Israel]

No such right exists for Arabs.

 

[P F Tinmore]

League of Nations...

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

ART. 7.

The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

Art. 7 constitutes the right of return of Jews to the Jewish National Home in "Palestine" [Israel]

No such right exists for Arabs.

Palestine is the homeland of the Jews.

Too bad Israel destroyed it.

 

[Marc39]

ART. 7.

The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.

The Avalon Project : The Palestine Mandate

Art. 7 constitutes the right of return of Jews to the Jewish National Home in "Palestine" [Israel]

No such right exists for Arabs.

Palestine is the homeland of the Jews.

Too bad Israel destroyed it.

Warren Buffett, Multi-Billion Dollar Purchase of Successful Israeli Company...

Israel is exceptional. I can give you an absolute, unequivocal answer. You can go around the world and it's very impressive to see a country of 7 million create a business like this, I haven't seen anything like this in the US.

When you think about it, if you compare Israel (now) to 1948, it's very, very impressive. It's a remarkable place

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV3W_86NTYA[/ame]