Congratulations are
in order to the Middle East’s only democracy for its ingenious solution to the problem of human rights - make filming them a crime!
Credit Yesh Din https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUZXCtH7NXU
Under the proposed legislatioin the person filming these soldiers could be gaoled for undermining the morale of the animals who fired at this couple
It’s
not often that I congratulate the Israeli government but their latest proposal,
to ban journalists from photographing soldiers who are engaged in abuses of
human rights, beating people up, shooting a few demonstrators etc. has the
touch of genius. After all, if you stop
people filming the abuses then they won’t exist, never happened, are just allegations
without any supporting evidence.
At
a stroke we get rid of the embarrassment of people being caught in flagrante.Now I know that organisations like the BBC
can be relied on to look the other way, but even they, on occasion, find it
impossible to cover everything up, no matter how hard they try.How much easier it will be when the BBC can
turn round and say that unfortunately they were unable to capture any
photographs because ‘the only democracy
in the Middle East’ has made it a crime.
Who
knows?Perhaps if German soldiers hadn’t
filmed the execution of Jews on the steppes of White Russia all those years ago
then the Nazis too could have maintained what is now called plausible deniability.But I forgot. Comparisons with the Nazis are ‘anti-Semitic’
which means I guess that it would have been wrong for the Nazis butnot wrong for the ‘democratic’ Jewish state.
Either
way I really do believe that congratulations to Netanyahu and Lieberman are in
order and only anti-Semites full of nothing but sour grapes will complain.
Israeli soldiers confront a Palestinian journalist
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PCJ) released
a statement on Saturday condemning the proposal of a new bill in the Israeli
Knesset that would criminalize the photographing or recording of Israeli
soldiers while on duty.
The bill was
proposed on Thursday with the support of right-wing Israeli Defense
Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and if passed, those found in violation of the law
could face a prison sentence of up to five years.
The PCJ called the proposed bill “racist,”
saying that it “severely attacks the
profession of the press and legitimizes the criminal practices committed by the
Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian people.”
The group said the law would “grant
legitimacy to the Israeli occupation to commit more crimes,” and is an
attempt by the Israeli government to “escape
punishment and international justice.”
“The core of the law is to
mislead justice and provide a formal cover for further crimes,” the group said.
In the statement, the group called on the United Nations (UN) and other
international institutions “concerned
with the freedom of press work to express their opinion and exert pressure on
the occupying entity to comply with its laws in accordance with international
laws and conventions, and to protect the freedom of press work and the role of
fundamental journalists in uncovering and documenting the truth.”
FILE PHOTO: An Israeli soldier shouts as he aims his weapon during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators at a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Hebron December 15, 2017. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma/File Photo
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel moved on Sunday to snap the lens shut on
rights groups that film its troops’ interactions with Palestinians by
introducing a bill that would make it a criminal offense.
Rights groups frequently film Israeli soldiers on duty in the occupied
West Bank, documentation the organizations say is necessary to expose abuse by
the military.
A video filmed by Israeli rights group B’Tselem in 2016 showing an
Israeli soldier shoot dead an incapacitated Palestinian assailant drew
international condemnation and led to the soldier’s conviction for manslaughter
in a highly divisive trial.
The proposed law, formulated by the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu
party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, would make
filming or publishing footage “with
intent to harm the morale of Israel’s soldiers or its inhabitants”
punishable by up to five years in prison.
The term would be raised to 10 years if the intention was to damage “national security”.
A ministerial committee which oversees legislation voted to approve the
bill on Sunday. It will now go to parliament for a vote that could take place
this week and if ratified, will be scrutinized and amended before three more
parliamentary votes needed for it to pass into law.
Yisrael Beitenu leader and Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, praised
the committee and said: “Israeli soldiers
are under constant attack by Israel haters and supporters of terrorism who look
constantly to degrade and sully them. We will put an end to this.”
Despite Avichai Mendelblit's reservations for constitutional reasons,
ministerial panel okays bill but demands other changes before Knesset vote.
The proposed Israeli law that would ban
the filming of soldiers carrying out their duties is problematic from
a constitutional standpoint which may prevent its enactment, says Israeli
Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit.
Despite the attorney general's reservations, on Sunday, the Ministerial
Committee for Legislation approved the bill, but demanded significant changes
in its wording and further discussion in the committee, in advance of the
preliminary vote on it in the Knesset plenum.
The parliament is expected to vote in favor of the proposed law,
sponsored by MK Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beiteinu), once it is revised
substantially.
A senior member of the coalition told Haaretz that an agreement had been
reached with Ilatov whereby the proposed law will call for a ban on interfering
with Israel Defense
Forces soldiers in the line of duty, but there will not be a total
prohibition on filming and documenting such activities.
The final wording of the bill has yet to be agreed upon but coalition
MKs say it would call for a prison sentence of up to three years for preventing
a soldier from carrying out his duties.
The version of the law approved by the Ministerial Committee for
Legislation calls for a five-year prison term for anyone filming or
distributing footage on social media that documents confrontations between
Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, with the intent to “break the spirit of
Israeli soldiers and inhabitants.”
Anyone who documents such activities and disseminates the information
with an intent to harm national security could face up to 10 years in
prison.
“For many years," according to explanatory information appended to
the text of the bill, "Israel has witnessed a worrisome phenomenon in
which IDF soldiers are being documented."
"Via video, stills and audio recordings by anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian
groups such as B’Tselem, the women of Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence
and various BDS groups. In many instances, these organizations spend entire
days near IDF soldiers waiting with baited breath for some action they can
document in a biased way in order to slander the IDF," according to the
addendum.
"Such documentation generally interferes with ongoing and
operational IDF duties, sometimes accompanied by accusations and insults being
hurled in their faces.”
Defense Minister Lieberman hailed the bill in a tweet. “I congratulate
the Ministerial Committee for Legislation for approving the Yisrael Beiteinu
bill that bans taking pictures of of our security forces with the purpose of
delegitimizing them,” he wrote.
“Israeli soldiers are under attack from groups of people who want to
destroy Israel and support terror who want to discredit, humiliate and harm
them. Let’s put an end to this!,” he concluded.
In Israel human rights activists are considered traitors, foreign
agents and terrorist supporters
One of the signs that Israel
is on the road to becoming an authoritarian state is the fact that even the herrenvolk, Jews who are human rights supporters or anti-war activists, are attacked as
traitors, spies, foreign agents and enemies of the State. Even the liberal New Israel Fund [NIF] is considered a hostile organisation.
Im Tirtzu video targeting New Israel Fund for allegedly persecuting Israeli soldiers
One particular object of attack is George Soros, the billionaire Jewish philanthropist, who has funded the NIF and Israeli human rights organisations. The Zionist attack on Soros is no different from the attacks of anti-semites. Indeed Netanyahu joined hands with the far-Right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the latter's attack on Soros.
Yair Netanyahu's cartoon which drew praise from neo-Nazis
Last year Netanyahu's son, Yair, drew a cartoon of Soros which received plaudits from David Duke of the KKK and Andrew Anglin of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer. The Jerusalem Post quoted Zehava Gal-On, former head of Meretz as saying that 'this won’t be the last time that neo-Nazis quote Netanyahu,” accusing him of “supporting world antisemitism” after the Foreign Ministry released a statement legitimizing criticism of Hungarian- American billionaire George Soros. William Echikson in Politico echoed this:
'During his campaign, Orbán blamed his country’s problems on a Jewish financier, George Soros — and won, big time. After his victory, Orbán spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, said the attacks on Soros “could not possibly be anti-Semitic, since they were echoed by Netanyahu.”
Don't let Soros have the last laugh, in a mocking echo of Hitler's prophecy speech when he talked about having the last laugh over the Jews who had derided him
Anti-semites claiming that their support for Zionism means they can't possibly be antisemitic has become a regular theme. When people say that anti-semites disguise or hide their anti-semitism by professing support for the Palestinians, the opposite is usually true. Most anti-semites today assert that they couldn't possibly be anti-semitic since they support Israel and Zionism. People such as Richard Spencer, the founder of the alt-Right who declares himself a 'White Zionist'. Viktor Orban has launched a campaign to rehabilitate Hungary's pro-Nazi war time ruler, Admiral Horthy, who presided over the deportation of nearly 1/2 million Jews to Auschwitz. This however has not stopped Netanyahu from striking up an alliance with Orban.
Im Tirzu, is part of the far-Right scene in Israel. It is a fascist pressure group which see it as its mission to demonise Israeli
human rights organisations, cultural figures of the left and indeed any
opposition to the right-wing nationalist demagogy that passes for debate in Israel. Even the Jerusalem District Court said it was
legitimate to call Im
Tirzu a fascist group.
Im Tirzu is not a
marginal organisation.It is actively
supported by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu but not only him.The ‘opposition’ of Yesh Atid, a supposedly
centrist party under Yair Lapid and the Israeli Labour Party under its new
right-wing leader Avi Gabbay, also support the demonization of human rights
groups.
On its 10th
anniversary Netanyahu posted a video congratulating Im Tirzu on its fine work
The latest Im Tirzu video attacks the NIF which funds human rights
organisations such as Bt’selem as traitors who attack ‘our’ soldiers as they go about their thankless work murdering
Palestinians.It is the kind of
propaganda stuff you would expect of a fascist organisation for whom the
fatherland is uber alles.
You see the same adoration for the
forces of the state that existed in Nazi Germany.Im Tirzu specialises in
attacking dissident culture and even prominent left-Zionist cultural figures. The Nazi party also attacked avante garde
culture.In the words of Herman Goering,
‘when I hear the words culture, I reach
for my revolver.’
This is where Zionism and its racial supremacist, ethno-nationalist
state are now heading.A state where the very term ‘leftist’ is now a term of abuse.
Jonathan Offir’s article is a
timely reminder that far from being a democratic state, Israel is rapidly
removing democratic rights even from Jews.
The rightwing Israeli Jewish group “Im
Tirtzu” has published an incitement video, featuring Adi Shosberger, who has recently called soldiers near the Gaza fence ‘terrrorists,’ and an activist
from ‘Machsom Watch’ (‘Checkpoint watch’) who tells an Israeli soldier
“you are a disgrace”.
The video frames these actions as a
conspiracy of the progressive New Israel Fund. New Israel Fund, a global organization based in the U.S., has
supported Machsom Watch, but it has no connection to Shosberger. “I have
no connection to the New Israel Fund,” Shosberger writes, in Hebrew.
The Im Tirtzu video satirically promotes a
video game, where one plays a soldier confronting leftist activists:
“Do you
want to experience what IDF soldiers feel when they are persecuted by New
Israel Fund organizations?”, the
narrator says.
In the game,
the soldier confronts activists and ‘terrorists’ yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’. The narrator says:
“What are
you waiting for? Join the fight against the foreign agents.”
In the
actual video game, the soldier can kill the Palestinians, but has to jump over
the Israeli activists.
Shosberger,
who was protesting the manifestly illegal policy of shooting unarmed
protesters, has also been trashed by a
mainstream radio host who has publicly fantasized about her rape and murder,
calling her “stupid”, “filth” and “little bitch”.
The Israeli organization “Im Tirzu“ calls
itself “the largest grassroots Zionist movement in Israel,” but has been widely
labelled “fascist”. A Jerusalem court judge has even ruled that this is a legitimate charge.
woman reading out statement from Breaking the Silence
Its call to fight the “foreign agents” arose 2-1/2 years ago, when Im Tirtzu published a video which incited against four NGO’s: B’Tselem, the Public Committee
Against Torture in Israel, Breaking the Silence, and HaMoked: Center for the
Defense of the Individual. Staffers were personally named and framed as
“foreign agents”.
“While we fight terror, they fight us,” the
narrator said
That video
coincided with the push from Justice
Minister Ayelet Shaked, herself arguably a fascist, of the “Transparency bill” nearly two years ago, which forced organizations that receive more
than half their funding from institutions abroad (including from European
governments), to disclose it prominently in official reports. The law does not
specifically refer to leftwing organizations, but applies to about 25 NGOs.
Rightwing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank,
tend to rely on private donations, which the law does not cover.
The recent video is a further incitement
against those who criticize Israeli policy, and it is making a blanket
judgement of any dissent to be a national treason by “foreign agents”.
Im Tirtzu is ostensibly calling for this
treatment of “foreign agents” to be implemented in law. But the incitement
there is so virulent, that it’s not difficult to see how someone might get the
idea that they should take the law into their own hands, and ‘teach these
foreign agents a lesson’ – as an act of patriotism, of course.
One might be inclined to see this merely as a
‘game’, as the video suggests it is. But it is not a game. It is dead serious.
It’s as serious as when the mentioned mainstream radio host Shai Goldstein says
he “feels like killing that woman” (Adi Shosberger). But many Israelis don’t
seem to get this. It passes as mere ‘outrage’, justified by the notion that the
“most moral army in the world” cannot possibly be carrying out acts of terrorism,
or even acting in ways which are a “disgrace”.
Militarism is a religion in Israel, like
Zionism, and people are being sacrificed by it in many ways. Mostly, it’s
Palestinians – but it’s also those who show solidarity with them. Then you’re a
“foreign agent”.
About Jonathan Ofir
Israeli musician, conductor and blogger / writer based
in Denmark.
The right-wing group's director tells Haaretz, however, that the public
has the right to know about cultural figures' left-wing affiliations.
The latest Im Tirtzu campaign, which targets left-wing artists. Pictured (from left): Sha'anan Street, Amos Oz, Joshua Sobol and Gila Almagor. From the Facebook page of Im Tirtzu
The right wing Im Tirtzu group, which last month stirred controversy over
its video targeting figures from left-wing organizations as foreign "moles," acknowledged that it had erred in a new poster that purports to expose some of
Israel's leading cultural figures as left-wing.
The acknowledgment of the mistake with regard to the poster, in which
authors Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua, actress Gila Almagor and
singer Chava Alberstein among others were labeled "moles in culture"
was posted on the organization's Facebook page over the signature of its
director general, Matan Peleg. The poster, which was put on the group's
Facebook page on Wednesday, disclosed what Im Tirtzu claimed was the
cultural figures' association with left-wing groups.
Despite the admission of error, in a conversation with Haaretz, Peleg
defended the poster and said the public has the right to know about the
political activities of those featured in it. The poster prompted widespread
condemnation from politicians on the right as well as the left, including
condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Among those criticizing it were Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the
leader of the right-of-center Habayit Hayehudi party, who called the material
"embarrassing, unnecessary and humiliating." His party colleague,
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked added that artists identified with the left
should not be placed out of bounds. For his part, Likud Knesset member Benny
Begin called the outing of purported traitors "a longstanding ugly and
dangerous fascist trait."
In its Facebook post on Friday, Im Tirtzu did not provide detail
regarding what it viewed as mistaken in the poster, and did not remove it from
its website or remove the list of artists and intellectuals that accompanied
it. In a separate statement, Im Tirtzu reaffirmed that it was proud of its
initial "moles" campaign directed at figures associated with Israeli
human rights groups and left-wing organizations receiving foreign government
funding, saying that the mistake that it was acknowledging only related to the
poster featuring the cultural figures.
Friday's Facebook post over Peleg's name contained the following
admission regarding the poster: "We
made a mistake. We put up a mistaken post on a very important and substantial
subject and therefore we need to be much more careful." Saying that
the poster didn't constitute a campaign and that the organization wasn't
calling anyone a traitor, despite media allegations to that effect, the
statement in Peleg's name added: "We
take full responsibility and promise to continue to work with great faith on
behalf of the people of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF," the
Israel Defense Forces.
"We will continue to convey
pointed criticism of organizations that present IDF soldiers as war criminals
and against those calling for a boycott of the country. Many thanks to all
those who have supported us over the past two days and thank-you also to those
who set us straight over our mistake," the statement added.
Later Im Tirtzu issued a clarification that the acknowledgement of the
error related only to Wednesday's post of the poster and not the earlier
campaign "which exposed those who
harm IDF soldiers, [a campaign] over which we are proud and will continue [to publicize]."
In his conversation with Haaretz, however, Peleg defended his group's
publication of the list of cultural figures, information that he said was
already available elsewhere on the Internet. "The major advantage of the media storm that erupted is that now many in
Israeli society know that when they say 300 cultural figures have signed a
petition of one kind or another, they know they can check it name by name, and
it's possible that they will see some of the names on the public boards of
outside organizations," he explained.
When asked about his group's future direction, he replied: "The DNA of Im Tirtzu is to work
against organizations that harm IDF soldiers, and that won't change."
He explained that the Facebook post with the poster on cultural figures was not
removed because the group viewed the material posted on Facebook as an ongoing
feed, meaning that, with the posting of additional material, the poster appears
lower down.
"If you assume responsibility,
you assume responsibility," he said. "Now
that we have written what is mistaken in it, we will certainly leave it so
anyone who wants to form an impression will do so. We are not evading
responsibility. We wrote in the post what we view as a mistake and we are
moving forward."
A verdict by the Jerusalem District Court finds that
recognizing ‘certain lines of resemblance’ to fascism in the ideology or
activities of the right-wing movement can be seen as ‘truthful.’ The verdict is
a major blow to Im Tirtzu’s efforts to portray itself as a mainstream, grassroots
movement.
The extreme-right group Im Tirtzu
lost a court case against a group of leftist activists who opened a Facebook
page called “Im Tirtzu
– A Fascist Movement.” Judge Raphael Ya’akobi of the Jerusalem District
Court determined that some of Im Tirtzu’s attributes bear certain similarities
to fascism – thus allowing the activists to use both a freedom of speech
defense, as well as “spoken truth” defense.
Ya’akobi ruled against Im Tirtzu
in all claims of the lawsuit, except for a post on the group’s page which drew
similarities between Im Tirzu and Nazi ideology.
Im Tirtzu has become known over
the past several years for their attacks on left-wing academics and
organizations. Following the
Goldstone Report on 2008-09’s
Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Im Tirtzu accused
the New Israel Fund of aiding, through the various organizations it supports,
the UN fact finding mission. A personal campaign against the head of the NIF,
Naomi Chazan, bore
anti-Semitic features [disclaimer: +972
Magazine is on the New Israel Fund’s donor-advised list].
Ad by Im Tirzu blaming the head of NIF Naomi Hazan in the creation of the Goldstone report
Three-and-a-half years ago, Im
Tirtzu filed lawsuit against the creators of the Facebook page “Im Tirtzu – a
Fascist Movement,” demanding NIS 2.6 million ($720,000 US) in compensation and
the removal of the page. During the procedures, the defendants had Professor
Zeev Sternhell, a world expert on fascism, testify on the resemblance between
Im Tirtzu’s activities and those of the
European extreme right in the first half of
the twentieth century. Sternhell himself was a victim of a pipe-bomb
attack by Jewish terrorist Ya’akov “Jack” Teitel.
Furthermore, Ya’akobi ruled that
in all cases but one, the name of the Facebook page and the specific posts that
were brought before him fall under the right to free opinion. Thus, a
slanderous motive cannot be attributed to them.
Although the court could have
stopped there, Ya’akobi also accepted the defense of “a truthful publication,”
that the critique of Im Tirtzu as part of the political debate was in the
public’s interest. In other words, the court is not stating the Im Tirtzu is a
fascist movement (or that it isn’t, for that matter), but that because there
exist “certain lines of resemblance” to fascism, calling them as such cannot be
considered slanderous.
This is a major blow to Im
Tirtzu’s attempts to position themselves as a mainstream grassroots movement.
In the past, group members threatened a lawsuit
against Wikipedia Israel for calling it “a right-wing movement” on its entry.
Im Tirtzu has been sponsored by
John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel. According to the movement’s report,
in recent years most of the support to Im Tirtzu comes from the Central Fund of
Israel, which sponsors various religious, right-wing and settler causes.
The Jerusalem court did not call
for compensation regarding the single claim in which it ruled in favor of Im
Tirtzu, since the case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.
Afikim bus company to have special buses for Palestinian workers commuting from the West Bank to jobs in central Israel; announcement follows complaints from settlers that Palestinians are a security risk.
Palestinian protesters on an Israeli bus line in the West Bank last year.
Starting on Monday, certain buses running from the West Bank into central Israel will have separate lines for Jews and Arabs.
The Afikim bus company will begin operating Palestinian-only bus lines from the checkpoints to Gush Dan to prevent Palestinians from boarding buses with Jewish passengers. Palestinians are not allowed to enter settlements, and instead board buses from several bus stops on the Trans-Samaria highway.
Last November, Haaretz reported that the Transportation Ministry was looking into such a plan due to pressure from the late mayor of Ariel, Ron Nahman, and the head of the Karnei Shomron Local Council. They said residents had complained that Palestinians on their buses were a security risk.
The buses will begin operating Monday morning at the Eyal crossing to take the Palestinians to work in Israel. Transportation Ministry officials are not officially calling them segregated buses, but rather bus lines intended to relieve the distress of the Palestinian workers. Ynet has reported that fliers are being distributed to Palestinian workers notifying them of the coming changes.
Any Palestinian who holds an entrance permit to the State of Israel is allowed by law to use public transportation. Officials at the Samaria and Judea District Police have said there is no change in the operation of the rest of the buses, nor is there any intention to remove Palestinians from other bus lines. But Haaretz has in the past reported incidents when Palestinians were taken off of buses, and witnesses at checkpoints say that such incidents are ongoing.
Ofra Yeshua-Lyth is a member of Machsom Watch, a female advocacy group monitoring West Bank checkpoints. She says that recently, Bus 286 from Tel Aviv to Samaria arrived at a checkpoint filled with Palestinian workers. She filed the following report:
"Police officer Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Shai Zecharia stops the bus at the bus stop. Soldiers order all the Palestinians off the bus. The first thing they do is collect all their identity cards as they get off. One by one, the Palestinians are told to go away from the bus stop and walk to the Azzun Atma checkpoint, which is about 2.5 kilometers away from the Shaar Shomron interchange. All of them responded with restraint and sadness, at most asking why. Here and there they received answers such as, ‘You’re not allowed on Highway 5’ and ‘You’re not allowed on public transportation.’ Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Zecharia gave some vital information to one of the older Palestinians who had arrived there, telling him: You should ride in special vans, not on Israeli buses.”
In response to the report, the Transportation Ministry said it "has not issued any instruction or prohibition that prevents Palestinian workers from riding the public bus lines in Israel or in Judea and Samaria. Furthermore, the Transportation Ministry is not authorized to prevent any passangers from riding those lines."
"The two new lines that will be run as of tomorrow (Monday) are intended to improve the services to Palestinian workers that enter Israel via the Eyal Crossing," the ministry's statement continued, adding that the new lines will replace the "pirate" driving services who have been transporting Palestinian workers "at exorbitant prices and in an irregular fashion."
According to the ministry, the new lines will depart from the Tzofim area near Qalqilyah and will transport workers to their places of work in the Sharon region and Tel Aviv, at "especially cheap prices." For example, the tariff for traveling to Kfar Sava or Raanana will be NIS 5.1, and to Tel Aviv will cost NIS 10.6. This is compared to some NIS 40 that passengers have been charged by the private transportation services for each direction, the ministry said.
"The new lines will lessen the burden that has formed on buses as a result of the increase in numbers of working permits provided to Palestinians, who are permitted to work in Israel and will contribute to the improvements of services, for the betterment of Israelis and Palestinians as one", the statement said.
The Samaria and Judea District Police have yet to respond to the report.
A new Israeli bus line will serve only Palestinians. Officials claim it’s not segregation, but the ongoing experience of discrimination faced by Palestinian workers speaks for itself.
Palestinian workers with Israeli work permits wait to board a new
Israeli bus line for Palestinians only, after crossing the Eyal
checkpoint.
Early this morning, Palestinians from the West Bank with permits to work inside the state of Israel crammed onto bus lines specially created for “Palestinians only” — instead of using the same public buses used by Israelis. The Israeli Transportation Ministry launched the new bus lines today, for travel from the Eyal checkpoint to Tel Aviv and Kfar Saba and back to the checkpoint, after settlers complained about Palestinians using the same buses as Israelis on their way to and from work inside Israel.
Palestinian workers with Israeli work permits attempt to board a new
Israeli bus line for Palestinians only, after crossing the Eyal
checkpoint near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, March 4, 2012.
Such measures may be shocking to those unaware that in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, separate-but-unequal bus lines already exist, as detailed by Mya Guarnieri. But, as with the many forms of de facto discrimination in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, these buses are not legally segregated. So predictably, Israel’s transportation minister insists that, even with the new bus lines, “Palestinians entering Israel will able to ride on every public transportation line, including existing lines in Judea and Samaria [Israeli terms for the West Bank occupied Palestinian territories]“. Additional new lines for Palestinians only are also planned.
Palestinian workers with Israeli work permits wait to be picked up for work after they cross the Eyal checkpoint.
However, "several bus drivers told Ynet that Palestinians who choose to travel on the so-called ‘mixed’ lines, will be asked to leave them.” The same article goes on to report that:
While officially the new lines are considered “general bus lines,” Ynet learned Saturday that their existence has been made public only in Palestinian villages in the West Bank, via flyers in Arabic urging Palestinians to arrive at Eyal crossing and use the designated lines.
The Transportation Ministry defended the plan, saying it was the result of reports and complaints saying that the buses traveling in the area were overcrowded and rife with tensions between the Jewish and Arab passengers.
A ministry source said that many complaints expressed concern that the Palestinian passengers may pose a security risk, while other complaints said that the overcrowded buses cause the drivers to skip stations.
The ministry has also gotten reports of scuffles between Jews and Arab passengers, as well as between Palestinians and drivers who refused to allow them to board their bus.
Workers try to keep warm near a campfire while awaiting transportation in the early morning cold near Eyal checkpoint.
This latest example is but one of many where segregation is not explicitly spelled out in official Israeli policy (though sometimes it is), but is otherwise glaringly obvious in practice (emphasis added):
Legally, however, there is no way to stop Palestinians from boarding “regular” lines: “We are not allowed to refuse service and we will not order anyone to get off the bus, but from what we were told, starting next week, there will be checks at the checkpoint, and Palestinians will be asked to board their own buses,” a driver with Afikim – the company that holds the routes franchise for the area – told Ynet.
And the racism underlying such measures is hardly concealed:
Another driver said that, “Driving a bus full of only Palestinians might turn out to be tricky. It could be unnerving and it might also create other problems. It could be a scary thing.”
Palestinian workers wait in line to board an Israeli bus line only for Palestinians, after crossing the Eyal checkpoint.
A Haaretz report (which displays a cropped, uncredited Activestills photo as its illustration — they’ll be hearing from our lawyer) also confirms that while official policy may prohibit discrimination, incidents are commonplace:
Officials at the Samaria and Judea District Police have said there is no change in the operation of the rest of the buses, nor is there any intention to remove Palestinians from other bus lines. But Haaretz has in the past reported incidents when Palestinians were taken off of buses, and witnesses at checkpoints say that such incidents are ongoing.
Palestinian workers with Israeli work permits wait to board a new Israeli bus line for Palestinians only, after crossing the Eyal checkpoint.
Also reporting on routine harassment faced by Palestinian passengers on Israeli buses, Haggai Matar gets to the heart of the matter:
The official state bodies – ministry, police and army – all stick to the dry question of whether or not Palestinians are allowed on the bus in Tel Aviv. The answer here is indeed yes. But the people who have to live daily with the reality of occupation – Palestinians and the settlers (including the bus company, which has its headquarters in Ariel) – expose the deeper layers of Apartheid: the separate checkpoints for different people, the racial profiling security system, the permit regime, and the route of the bus which is planned only for Israelis.
While new buses may remove the latter layer from Matar’s list, the question asked by Mairav Zonszein while the Transportation Ministry was still considering this measure late last year stands: “[I]n order to solve the problem of overcrowding, why not simply add more bus lines for everyone? Why the need to specify who they are for?” And her conclusion is more relevant than ever:
While the Transportation Ministry, the police, the bus company heads and the settler council leaders have or will claim that this is not racist, that it does not constitute the formal institutionalization of ethnic segregation, it makes no difference, because that is exactly what it is. Clear as day. And considering it is no secret that most Israeli Jews prefer ethnic segregation, no one should be surprised. When military control and occupation is the norm, it is only “natural” that a de facto reality becomes a de jure one.
