Doc's Talk: WASHINGTON POST OBSESSED WITH ISRAELI 'MISTREATMENT' OF ARABS

Friday, December 21, 2007

WASHINGTON POST OBSESSED WITH ISRAELI 'MISTREATMENT' OF ARABS

Second time in six days, 'blame Israel' coverage gets front-page placement

Six days ago an unbalanced, front page news feature headlined "Sealed Off By Israel, Gaza Reduced to Beggary," blamed Israel for Palestinian Arab suffering caused by Israeli reaction to Palestinian terrorism. Today The Washington Post jerked the same knee. "For Israel's Arab Citizens, Isolation and Exclusion" (December 20) also got front page treatment, and reconfirmed the paper's narrow, misleading perspective on Arab-Israeli news. Basic factual errors:

1) Jerusalem bureau chief Scott Wilson, who also wrote "Sealed Off By Israel" and who's been named the paper's new foreign editor, says "except for a relatively small Druze population, Arabs are excluded also from military service mandatory for all but ultra-Orthodox Jews, an essential shared experience of Israeli life ...."

That would be news to the many Israeli Bedouin, Arab Muslims, who have served in the Israel Defense Forces over the decades, often in key roles as scouts and trackers. Contrary to Wilson, Arabs are not "excluded" from serving in the Israeli military; rather, they are not required to serve, as most Israeli Jews are. No law stops them from volunteering, however. Indeed, Ha'aretz (normally a source the Washington Post would embrace since it is often unfairly critical of Israel) reported in a 2004 article titled "Number of Muslim, Christian Arab volunteers in IDF growing" that:

New figures made available by the Israel Defense Forces show the number of Muslim and Christian Arab Israeli volunteers in the army is growing. The deaths of five soldiers from the IDF's Desert Reconnaissance Unit (the so-called Bedouin unit) in an attack on an army outpost near Rafah earlier this month drew public attention to the service of Bedouin in the IDF.

However, the reports on the incident paid little attention to the fact that most of the dead were not Bedouin: Three of the five soldiers killed were Muslim Arabs from villages in the Galilee and Triangle, who had volunteered for military service.

CAMERA got a November 3 correction from The Los Angeles Times on just this error.

2) Wilson writes that Israeli Jews outnumber Israeli Arabs "five to one in a population of about 6.5 million people."

There are two basic factual errors here: Israel's population is not "about 6.5 million people," it is 7.2 million, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. And the Jewish population does not account for 80 percent to the Arab population's 20, which would be a "five to one" ratio. Rather, subtracting 310,000 "others," mostly non-Jewish relatives of Jewish immigrants, the recognized permanent population is 76 percent Jewish. But subtracting also another estimated 200,000 non-Jewish foreign workers, Israeli Jews constitute barely 75 percent of the total, outnumbering Israeli Arabs by about four to one, not five to one.

Add these fundamental errors of omission:

Wilson focuses on a young, attractive, well-educated Arab Israeli couple, Ahmad and Fatima Zubeidat. They apparently are the type of couple most Americans wouldn't mind having as neighbors. Yet an Israeli government agency denied their application to move into a new Jewish community built on state land. The article indicts Israeli government and the larger Jewish society for not investing in Israeli Arab towns and villages on par with Jewish areas, and specifically for not letting the Zubeidats move to the new Galilee town of Rakefet.

3) What the article does not report, to the positive:

* The average Israeli Arab is (like the Zubeidats) better educated, more prosperous, and freer religiously and politically than the citizens of most Arab countries throughout the Middle East;

* Israeli Arabs enjoy the same legal rights, if not economic and social standing, as Israeli Jews;

* Israeli Arabs hold 12 of the Knesset's (parliament's) 120 seats. One is a deputy speaker (and was temporary acting president). Israel Arab members exercised the balance of power on key decisions, making possible formation of Yitzhak Rabin's government in 1992 and passage of both the Oslo I and Oslo II accords;

* An Arab is one of Israel's 14 Supreme Court justices;

* Arab ambassadors and consuls represent Israel in a number of countries; and, for example,

* An Arab woman, Rana Raslan, won the Miss Israel contest in 1999 and represented the country in the Miss World competition.

4) What the article does not report, to the negative:

* Wilson mentions without the necessary detail that "Israel's Arabs ... commonly refer to themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel ...." Actually, increasing numbers refer to themselves as "Palestinian by nationality, Israeli by citizenship" ("A Day on the Green Line," by Eric Rozenman, B'nai B'rith's International Jewish Monthly, Fall, 2002) - a troubling bi-polarity for a state subjected to renewed Palestinian terror warfare since 2000;

* Until the 1993 - 1998 Oslo process and the start of the "al-Aqsa intifada" in 2000, instances of disloyalty by Israeli Arabs were rare. Since then, however, hundreds have been arrested on charges of participation in anti-Israel terrorism, including murder.

* Many Israeli Arabs participated in anti-Jewish riots inside Israel at the start of the second intifada, including in the Galilee;

* Arab Knesset members have challenged the Jewish character of the state. Some have sided, at least rhetorically, with Israel's enemies, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization under Yasser Arafat, Syria, and Hezbollah;

* Long before the "al-Aqsa intifada," Israeli Arab attitudes included those of popular poet and anti-Zionist Knesset member Tawiq Zayyad, whose poem "Here We Will Remain" told Israeli Jews: "We will lie on your chest like a wall/ Stick in your throat like a piece of glass ... We will sing the songs/ Fill the streets with demonstrations/ Fill the jails with honor and make children/ Each generation more revolutionary than the one before it."; and

* While Hamas attacks Israel from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, a leader of Israel's internal Islamic fundamentalist organization, the so far non-violent Islamic Movement, has stated - in a religious dialogue with Jews - that in the Holy Land, "only Muslims can rule here."

Without this missing information, how are Post readers - the majority of whom are likely to believe American-style efforts at minority integration should be the norm -- to understand the final paragraph:

"'I'm very left-wing, but I think Arabs should live in one place, ultra-Orthodox Jews in one place, secular Jews in one place and so on,' [Nadav] Garmi [of the town in which the Zubeidats have been denied residency] said. 'If you want a good neighbor, you have to have a place for everybody. It's best not to mix too much.'"

Perhaps as confirmation of "those prejudiced, anti-Arab Israelis."

What readers won't learn from The Post :

5) The vast majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, closely related by family, cultural, and, of course, religious ties to the Sunni Muslim majorities in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip and large Sunni minority in Lebanon. Those populations remain hostile to Israel; Syria and Saudi Arabia technically are still at war with it, and the Palestinian Authority, though pledged on paper to peace, continues to incite hostility. As a minority, Israeli Arabs are not analogous, for example, to blacks in the United States or Germans in Poland.

Nevertheless, Israeli Arabs live in security, their numbers increasing almost 10 ten times since 1948. Unlike declining populations of Christian Arabs almost everywhere else in the Arab world, the number of Christian Arabs in Israel has grown nearly 400 percent since 1948.

Arabs in Israel do face social, economic, housing/residency and other problems. Given the above, it would be remarkable if they did not. But, given the above, Israel stands out in terms of coexistence and integration of a problematic minority, not only compared to its immediate neighbors, but also to countries from Sri Lanka and Nigeria to Germany and France.

Comment: Want to help-write me-thanks to CAMERA

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk