Tag: Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera English, January 9, 2011

On a recent Monday, over 200 Jewish Israelis rallied in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv under the banner of Keep Bat Yam Jewish. The demonstrators, most of whom were religious and strikingly young, were there to protest romantic relationships between Arabs and Jews, particularly those between Arab men and Jewish women.

I didn’t go as a reporter. I went to bear witness. I’d also volunteered to translate for a colleague, a Palestinian man, who doesn’t speak Hebrew.

We stood to the side. Demonstrators, mistaking us for supporters, handed us leaflets shameless propaganda. I read them aloud to my colleague, even though I was ashamed to repeat the words I held in my hands: The Arabs are taking control of Bat Yam, buying and renting apartments from Jews, taking and ruining girls from Bat Yam! 15,000 Jewish girls have been taken to Arab villages! Guard our city—we want a Jewish Bat Yam!

The rally came in the wake of a religious edict forbidding Jews from leasing or selling homes or land to Arabs. The proclamation was signed by fifty rabbis, many of whom are state employees, before it was announced publicly several weeks ago. Another 250 have joined since then.

Continue reading “A week of racism in Israel”

Al Jazeera English, December 10, 2010

Hundreds of rabbis have signed a religious edict forbidding Jews from renting or selling homes or land to Arabs and other non-Jews. The public letter instructs Jews to “ostracize” those who disobey the order, which is widely viewed as an attack on the country’s Palestinian citizens.

When the decree was announced on Tuesday, it had been signed by 50 rabbis, many of who are employed by the state of Israel as municipal religious leaders. Despite sharp public criticism, another 250 rabbis have added their names to the proclamation.

It’s the latest battle in the ongoing religious campaign against non-Jews.

A similar edict was issued in the city of Safed less than two months ago, when over a dozen rabbis banded together to urge Jewish landlords not to rent apartments to Arab college students. African refugees—a group the state refers to as “infiltrators”—and migrant workers have also been targeted. This summer, 25 Tel Aviv rabbis signed a proclamation that forbids Jews from renting to “infiltrators.” Ten real estate agents who work in neighborhoods that are home to large populations of African refugees answered the call, publicly stating that they would refuse such tenants and would not renew the leases of those who are currently residing there.

Continue reading “Rabbis say no housing for Arabs”

Al Jazeera English, October 14, 2010

You could easily miss the thin, gravel road that leads to Al Arakib, a Bedouin village in the north Negev. It’s a bit ironic, given the enormity of the struggle there and its deep implications for the Jewish state.

Israeli forces have razed the village five times since late July, sparking cries of ethnic cleansing and leaving more than 300 Bedouin homeless. But the equally determined residents, along with a handful of Jewish activists, continue to rebuild.

The government claims that Al Arakib was abandoned and, as such, belongs to the state. Israel calls the Bedouin squatters who “infiltrate” the area and settle it illegally. According to the state, these people must be removed to make way for a forest, to be planted by the Jewish National Fund.

Villagers, some of whom hold Ottoman-era deeds to the property, say that the Israeli army asked them to leave temporarily in 1951. Believing they would be able to move back, they left. It was then, they say, that the state declared Al Arakib abandoned and expropriated it.

Continue reading “Israel declares war on its own people”

Al Jazeera English, October 13, 2010

Expressing his support for the controversial loyalty oath bill—legislation that will require non-Jews to pledge allegiance to Israel “as a Jewish and democratic state” —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked, “Zionism established an exemplary national state, a state that balances between the national needs of our people and the individual rights of every citizen in the country.”

But a look at the educational system—a foundation of society—offers a very different picture.

Continue reading “An education in inequality”

Al Jazeera English, October 6, 2010

It’s been 10 years since the October 2000 events that saw 13 unarmed Palestinians killed by Israeli police. Friday afternoon more than 6000 Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered in the Galilee village of Kfar Kana. Waving Palestinian flags—and gripping pictures of their martyred sons—they marched through the town to commemorate the deaths.

The protestors also called for justice.

In 2003 an inquiry lead by Israeli High Court Justice Theodore Or, known as the Or Commission, criticized the actions of the police. But an internal police investigation—which critics say was superficial, at best—yielded no charges. A decade later, there have been no prosecutions.

Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, a local NGO, continues to represent the bereaved families. Reflecting on the October 2000 events, Adalah’s founder and director, Hassan Jabareen remarks, “The state treated us like we are an enemy in battle.”

Before October 2000, Palestinian citizens of Israel associated such killings primarily with the Occupied Territories. But the deaths and the lack of a serious investigation made Palestinians inside the Green Line feel as vulnerable as those in Gaza and the West Bank. The events, Jabareen explains, “gave us the impression that, for the state, it’s moving from a territorial conflict to an ethnic conflict.”

Continue reading ““And then the night came down””

Al Jazeera English, July 17, 2010

For most children summer is a carefree time. But for the children of Israel’s undocumented migrant workers, deportation looms on the horizon.

It has been a hotly contested issue since last July, when the Oz Unit, a strong arm of the interior ministry’s population and immigration authority, first hit the streets.

As the state took aim at Israel’s 250,000 illegal labourers, 1,200 children were marked for expulsion along with their parents.

The move, a sudden reversal of Israel’s long-standing policy against deporting minors, sparked public outrage. Protests and media scrutiny delayed the deportations but only temporarily.

In October, Eli Yishai, the interior minister, indicated that the families would indeed be expelled. The following month, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, announced that the children would be allowed to finish the school year.

Roei Lachmanovich, a spokesman for Yishai, commented: “The government’s decision is that Israel should minimise the number of foreign workers in Israel. It is nothing against those 1,200 children – the decision is against the illegal workers who think getting pregnant gives them permission to stay here.”

Continue reading “Israel’s ‘illegal’ children”

Al Jazeera English, July 10, 2010

Mahmoud Alami, a Jerusalem taxi driver, knows the city like the back of his hand. He knows the neighborhoods, the streets. And he knows the stop lights.

There’s one in particular that troubles him not professionally but personally. It stands between Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood, and Pisgaat Zeev, a Jewish settlement. “It stays green for [settlers] for five minutes. But to go in and out of Beit Hanina? Only two or three cars can pass,” Alami says. “It’s too short. It causes a lot of traffic jams.”

Al-Jazeera English found that stoplights that lead to Jewish settlements and neighborhoods stay green for an average of a minute and a half. In Palestinian areas, it’s 20 seconds. One light in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem is green for less than 10.

“[Palestinians] are stuck,” says Amir Daud, another taxi driver. “It reflects a very bad situation for the people.”

Continue reading “Israel’s ‘street apartheid’”