Israel's Palestinians citizens are told ‘You are not Israelis you are Arabs’ as they are prevented from having a picnic in a ‘Jewish’ area
It was with
the best of intentions that an Israeli Policeman boarded a bus from Modi’in in
the West Bank to Tel Aviv to check on little things like the (Palestinian)
labourer’s permits to be in Israel. Because just like in South Africa
Palestinians need permits and passes to be outside their Bantustan.
However this particular plod was an especially caring person which
is, as you can imagine, quite unusual in Israel. He was particularly concerned
for the safety of the Palestinian passengers who were not wearing their seat
belts. So concerned that he handed out 250 Shekel fines all round.
Now there are certain people who are carping that he ignored the 6
or so Jewish passengers on the same bus but I am mystified. Clearly
this policeman was more concerned for the safety of the Palestinians than
Israeli Jews! Is that racism? Sure they probably can’t afford about
£60 in fines from their meagre wages but that’s better than being killed or
injured.
If anything he should be accused of anti-Semitism for not caring equally
for the Jewish passengers!
The second article is a little reminder that Israel is a Jewish
Supremacist state even in respect of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Zionist
propagandists usually use the fact that Israeli Arabs can vote as proof that
Israel is a democracy. But a democracy doesn’t distinguish between its
citizens. It treats them equally or attempts to do so.
Here was an Israeli Arab family having a picnic but they made the
mistake of holding their picnic in the Occupied West Bank. The nearby
Jewish settlers took exception. To them an Arab is an Arab, regardless of where
they come from. And they don’t like Arabs. So they summoned the Israeli army
who, of course, agreed with them.
In their ‘logic’ the West Bank is Jewish not Palestinian land. Israeli
Palestinians have no more right to be there than Palestinians who live there.
And it is the function of the IDF to keep it that way.
Of one thing we can be sure. Neither the racist Israeli
Policeman nor the soldiers will be punished after the ‘investigation’.
Tony Greenstein
Israeli
Police Fine Only Arab Passengers for Not Wearing Seat Belts on Public Bus
Passengers say
officer conducting inspection was deliberately discriminating and didn't check
Jewish passengers at all, while police deny their claims
A policeman conducting a routine inspection of a
public bus in central Israel fined only Arab passengers for not wearing seat
belts while not checking Jewish ones, according to several passengers.
Witnesses who were on
the bus from Modi'in to Tel Aviv told Haaretz that it was a case of deliberate
discrimination, while police denied racial profiling had taken place.
The bus in question,
operated by the Kavim bus company, stopped on Sunday morning at morning near a
major interchange on Route 443 for what the police
described as “enforcement of traffic laws and coronavirus regulations.” Most of
the passengers were Palestinians from the West Bank
with permits to work in Israel who had gotten on the bus at the Maccabim border
checkpoint. The driver of the bus, Mahmoud Mujahid, said he estimated that six
of the 29 passengers on the bus were Jewish.
According to several
passengers, the policeman approached the Arab passengers and spent about half
an hour checking their documents. After all of them had presented permits
showing that they were allowed to enter Israel, almost all received 250 shekel
($76) citations for not wearing seatbelts, a violation of the law that is
thought to be enforced very rarely. None of the Jews were reportedly checked or
fined. The driver, who is Arab, was also not fined.
Arab passengers expressed
outrage at the citations and threw them on the floor of the bus, prompting the
policeman to say that they would be receive another fine, for 700 shekels
($213) if they did so. In a video of the incident, the driver can be heard
saying, “The Israel Police are abusing laborers. [The policeman] is treating
them like animals. These are human beings on their way to make a living.”
Mujahid, the driver,
a resident of the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Kafr Aqab, said he was initially warned that he too would be
fined, but that the policeman later reconsidered. He said that when he objected
to the citations given to the passengers, he was told that if he didn’t proceed
onward on his route, he would be fined for obstructing traffic.
“I’ve never heard of
a seat belt fine on public transportation,” he said. “Even police officers who
get on the bus don’t buckle up.”
- 13-year-old
Palestinian says Israel Police tased and beat him during arrest
- Police
use stun grenades, arrest five at Umm al-Fahm demonstration against
violence
One of the Jewish
passengers claimed that it was clear to her that the policeman was harassing
the Arab passengers. “None of the passengers were buckled at all,” she told
Haaretz. “We thought it was an inspection for permits,” she said, referring to
permits issued to West Bank Palestinians
allowing them to enter Israel. “He didn’t even look at us [Jewish passengers].
It wasn’t pleasant. I didn’t dare open my mouth. It was clear that it was
deliberate, explicit, disgusting and racist. It was obvious. It’s something
that isn’t done. Everyone was in shock. The driver begged, ‘Why are you doing
this to them?”
The police said in
response: “In an inspection of dozens of vehicles and buses, several of them
were found to have passengers who were not buckled as required. Some of the
passengers and drivers who were the subject of the enforcement were Jews and
some were Arab, and contrary to what was claimed, the citations were issued
only for violations that were identified and without any relation to the
person’s origin or religion.”
“This is something out of Alabama in the 1960s,” said Knesset member
Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Ta’al party, part of the Joint List electoral
alliance of majority Arab parties.
“It’s humiliating, racist conduct and a blatantly
discriminatory use of means of enforcement for arbitrary and racist [purposes].
I demand that the police commissioner investigate the incident, cancel the
citations and put the police officers on trial.”
“This
is something out of Alabama in the 1960s,”Ahmad Tibi
Israeli settlers harass an Arab Israeli family having a picnic outside the village of Jibya in the West Bank on February 6, 2020. (Screen capture/YouTube)
'You're
Not Israelis, You're Arabs': Settlers and Soldiers Expel Family Having a Picnic
The Arab
family, all Israeli citizens, was picnicking at a site near Ramallah, not far
from an outpost, when settlers harassed them and called the army
Israeli soldiers
ejected an Israeli Arab family from a site near Kafr Jibiya in the Ramallah
area of the West Bank on Saturday, where the family was having a picnic. The
soldiers arrived on the scene after Israelis from a nearby Jewish settlement
outpost called them to the site.
In two video clips of
the incident, the settlers are first seen approaching the family and telling
them to leave, although the site is not within the confines of any West
Bank Jewish settlement. When the family refused, one of the settlers took
their belongings and threw beverages from their cups onto their campfire. The
settlers continued saying - "You're
not Israelis, you're Arabs, we did you a favour when we let you stay,"
and then called the army.
The family filmed a
soldier who arrived on the scene, who told them that they had to leave. “I don’t want to use too much force. You’re
not allowed here,” the soldier is heard saying.
The mother of the
family told the soldier it was public space. And in an apparent attempt to say
that as Israeli citizens, they are entitled to be present at the site in the
West Bank just as they could picnic in the Carmel Mountains within Israel
proper, she asked, “Isn’t an Israeli
allowed to be in the Carmel Mountains?”
“You’re
in the Carmel Mountains? ”You’re not allowed to be here. Please leave. Come
on,” the soldier replied.
There is an
unauthorized settlement outpost near the site called Zvi’s Farm, which was
partially built on state land and partially on privately owned land.
The Israeli army said
it was aware of the incident and will "look
into the combatants' conduct."
see also
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please submit your comments below