Your tax dollars at work

Tax-Exempt Funds Aiding West Bank Settlements - An important article in the New York Times abut how Americans have sent tax-deductible contributions to settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem at the same time as the U.S. government has consistently viewed the settlements as an obstacle to peace. See the graphic below of the groups who have sent money and volunteers to the settlements.

The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence

Good column today by Nicholas Kristof on the Israeli occupation, especially what's happening in the southern Hebron hills area: The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence.

As he ends his article: "Israel has a point when it argues that relinquishing the West Bank would raise real security concerns. But we must not lose sight of the most basic fact about the occupation: It’s wrong."

Jewish settlement in Silwan: eviction order

One of the sources of the tension in Silwan is the illegal settlement of Jews in houses belonging to Arabs. One of them is called Beit Yehonatan, and yesterday a Jerusalem court ordered the eviction of the Jewish settlers from the house: Settlers lose court battle against East Jerusalem eviction. Let's see if they actually get evicted - even when there are court orders against settlers, they often openly disobey, and the police or army find a way not to fulfill the court order.

Beit Yehonatan

From the Hebrew article, which is more extensive (my translation):

Residents of the contested house, from the organization Ateret Cohanim [which has been involved in moving Jews into Arab sections of east Jerusalem for over twenty years: RL] requested that the court defer the execution of the eviction and sealing order because of the new planning program that the Jerusalem municipality is putting forward for the area, in which it might be possible to give permission at least part of the building. However, the judge, Moris ben Atar, decided in his judgment that even if the planning program would give permission [retroactively, to make the building legal], the matter could take a long time, and even if the order for eviction and sealing were to be overturned, in that case it would be possible to reverse the sealing up and use the building again, if permission was in fact granted.

The spokesman for the residents of Beit Yehonatan responded to the decision of the court that "The residents of Beit Yehonatan intend to appeal the decision to the district court. In addition to that, according to the criteria that the the legal adviser of the municipality has set, Beit Yehonatan has been placed at the bottom of the priority list for enforcement [of the eviction] ...."

On the left, they called for fulfilling the eviction order as soon as possible. "The manipulations of the settlers, with the support of the city, time after time, in order to prevent [the eviction] render the court and its decisions powerless and injure democracy and the rule of law," said Joseph (Pepe) Alalu, member of the Jerusalem city council from the Meretz party. "Enough with the footdragging. They must fulfill the court order immediately, or Israel turns into a banana republic."

In the last week there have broken out severe confrontations between the settlers' guards and the Border Police and dozens of Palestinian residents in the area of Beit Yehonatan, especially next to the settlers' house next to Beit HaDvash. On Sunday the Palestinians reported dozens of injured from the confrontations, most of them from inhaling tear gas, which was fired, according to them, inside the houses. The police reported ten Border Police officers injured from stone-throwing.

The tension in the neighborhood is expected to rise further on Monday, because MK Ori Uriel (National Union) promised, in the name of the settlers organizations, that they will evict the Palestinian families who are living in the house next to Bet HaDvash. The building is the old Yemenite synagogue that was in operation from the late 19th century until the 1930s.

The area of Silwan was one of the neighborhoods where Jews began to settle in the late 19th century as they began to leave the Old City; most Jews moved to new neighborhoods that spread out along Jaffa Road, but small numbers of Jews settled in already existing Arab villages or neighborhoods, like Silwan or near the tomb of Shimon ha-Tzadik north of Damascus Gate. A Yemenite community grew up in Silwan, but the Jews were forced to leave in the 1930s because of the continuing hostility between Jews and Arabs during the late mandatory period, including the Arab Revolt of 1936-39.

Daniel McGowan & Gilad Atzmon in upstate New York

I had been wondering what Daniel McGowan, the Holocaust denier from Geneva, New York, had been up to lately. (For my other posts on McGowan, click here).

David Adler of Lerterland, in a posting entitled "Don't Let Atzmon Hoodwink America's Jazz Scene," reports that Gilad Atzmon, the noted jazz musician and anti-semite, will be playing two concerts in upstate New York (Rochester and Geneva), that were organized by McGowan.

Atzmon is playing with someone named Rich Siegel, who seems to be as anti-Israel (and as forgiving of Holocaust deniers) as Atzmon is. Apparently the first gig in Rochester was kicked out of the original venue (a Unitarian Church) when a local rabbi got wind of the event. It's been rescheduled for another venue, but is still sponsored by the church and the Social Justice Council (according to Siegel).

(Both of the posts are from Mondoweiss - for a flavor of the site's wacko anti-Zionist politics, read Philip Weiss's anti-Elena Kagan rant; he's against her because former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak is one of her legal heroes. For a more rational article on Kagan's view of Barak, see today's Haaretz article).

Fire in Silwan, East Jerusalem

Earlier tonight a helicopter started to circle around somewhere nearby, and I kept hearing the sounds of ambulances. When my neighbor came home, I went out to talk to her and we saw the helicopter coming in our direction with searchlights aimed from it towards the north, towards the Old City. It's not normal to hear helicopters flying around in Jerusalem - it's usually a sign that something unusual is happening. During the day, if I hear them when I'm at the National Library, which is near the main government buildings, it's probably because of some dignitary visiting the city or possibly because of a big demonstration.

I went to the Hebrew website of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, and found an article that revealed the reason for the helicopter. What follows is my translation.

Fire in Silwan: They are abusing the residents of the house of Abu Nab

Left-wing activists and residents in the east Jerusalem neighborhood told Ynet that the violent disturbances began when guards broke into the house of Abu Nab, which right-wing activists have threatened to clear out soon. “They fired in every direction,” they said.

The violent confrontations that broke out tonight in Silwan in east Jerusalem perhaps hint at the disturbances which are likely to flame up if right-wing activists execute their threats to clear out the house of Abu Nab themselves; in the past the house was a synagogue. In the confrontations six policemen and four security guards were lightly injured. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), tens of Palestinians were injured by inhaling smoke.

According to left-wing activists and Arab residents in Silwan, tonight’s events began after private security guards came into the new “House of Contention,” the house of Abu Nab. According to the residents, the security guards attempted to break into the house, and when they found it locked, they began to fire tear gas inside it. In the end, they succeeded in breaking past the doors, and a few minutes, many residents of the village began to confront them.

Avner, one of the leftwing activists who is in contact with the Arab residents, said to Ynet that this was a provocation by the police, who are trying to inflame the area to prevent the evacuation of Beit Yehonatan. “The residents there were dragged into a violent confrontation, the police and Border Police have been wandering around in the last few days and trying to incite the area after the quiet demonstration we held in the place on last Friday,” he said.

Nasrin Elian from ACRI said that “The security guards from the settlers confronted the residents, in the context of the threat of MK Uri Ariel, that if the house of Abu Nab isn’t cleared by July 4, they will clear it out by themselves. What happened is that once again there were provocations by the security guards near Beit Yehonatan and Beit Ha-Dvash. Many young people gathered together, and the guards began to fire in all directions. Everyone who came near to the house, they shot in his direction.”

Elian also said that the security forces fired tear gas into the house of Abu Nab. “All of the residents, about 40 people, were suffocating and went outside, among them a girl of five who fainted and lost consciousness, and a pregnant woman who also fainted. There was a helicopter in the air with a light beam that lit in every direction, and the ambulances were coming back and forth loading injured people. The residents report about tens of injured, among them two severely.” The police report that they do not know about the injured.

The chairman of the Meretz faction in the Jerusalem city council, Joseph (Pepe) Alalu, who resigned from the coalition after the mayor, Nir Barkat, advanced the King’s Garden plans, blamed him for the disturbances: “When the hammer throws a stone in the water, after that even a hundred wise men can’t take it out from there. We knew, we warned, and the thing that is the worst is that even Nir Barkat knows the sensitivity of the situation. The residents of Silwan, at the moment that the discussions began about the plan, saw themselves deceived again and again. They proposed their own plan, but the municipality did not deal with it at all. It’s a shame that because of a plan like this disturbances have begun now.”

See also the report in Haaretz: East Jerusalem fracas.

Hagit Ofran of Peace Now just reported on these events in Silwan in an article in the Huffington Post - her report covers a wide range of what's been happening in east Jerusalem, the provocations of the settlers and the Wild West actions of the Border Police.

Jewish building in East Jerusalem

The fruits of Jewish settlement in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem:

Molotov cocktails thrown in Silwan, 10 injured

After house demolition in King's Garden project announced, disturbances noted in Silwan streets for days straight. Some 200 people riot, throw stones, Molotov cocktails at police, Jewish house. 'Red line crossed,' says senior Border Guard official

Disturbances in Silwan continue. Some 200 people started rioted Sunday in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem. The rioters threw stones at dozens of Border Guard and police officers on the site. Six policemen were lightly injured, as were four security guards at the Jewish house.

Construction at Sheikh Jarrah begins

Just days ahead of Netanyahu-Obama meeting, builders start 20 Jewish homes in east Jerusalem

Construction in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah began Sunday, just a few days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with the US president.

The controversial construction plans, set at the site of the Shepherd Hotel, surfaced on the eve of Netanyahu's previous meeting with Barack Obama three months ago, embarrassing the Israeli government.

Channel 10 reported Sunday that bulldozers had already arrived at the site, intended for 20 new Jewish homes.

Netanyahu has much to account for during his meeting with Obama, with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat's controversial 'King's Garden' plan in Silwan. The plan orders the razing of 22 Arab homes.

A number of officials, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, have claimed the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan construction plans were purposefully promoted at sensitive times by extreme rightists hoping to embarrass the prime minister.

Peace Now said in a statement, "The mayor of Jerusalem and his partners in the right wing continue to decide the facts on the ground and harm Israel's political status. Netanyahu must order Barkat to stop the construction in Sheikh Jarrah immediately."

Israeli takeover of East Jerusalem

Akiva Eldar in Haaretz reports (Planning committee to release blueprint outlining takeover of East Jerusalem):

The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee at the Interior Ministry will publish in the coming weeks a new blueprint program for development in Jerusalem that will include plans to expand Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Most of the land earmarked for this expansion is privately owned by Arabs. If the plan is approved, after objections to it are heard, it will grant official approval to an urban plan for the Israeli takeover of East Jerusalem....

In October 2008, the District Planning and Building Committee decided to advance the blueprint plan, which was prepared by a team headed by Moshe Cohen, who was the Jerusalem planning official at the Interior Ministry.

Right wing elements and factions in the Jerusalem municipality complained to Interior Minister Eli Yishai that the plan would add large residential areas for the city's Arab population, at the expense of open space and also argued it would take away from areas earmarked for Jews.

Mayor Nir Barkat ordered adjustments to the blueprint plan in line with his support for broadening Jewish presence in the Holy Basin in East Jerusalem.

Even though the National Planning and Building Committee had determined that the City of David would be categorized a "national park," the blueprint plan allows the construction of residential areas there.

The Elad NGO, whose heads are close to Barkat, purchased in recent years homes in the village of Silwan, which is near the walls of the Old City, in order to "Judaize" the area.
Last week, the municipal planning and building committee approved Barkat's plans to destroy 22 homes in the Al-Bustan neighborhood, in the southern part of Silwan. Barkat explained that illegal construction in the area is blocking the plan to transform Al-Bustan, also known as Gan Hamelech, into a part of the national park.

A spokesman for the Jerusalem municipality confirmed that "in the coming weeks the plan will be brought for discussion before the district committee.

A statement from the Interior Minister's office said that "there are discussions at a professional level in order to approve the plan."

It's events like this that are leading Israel very quickly to create a situation in which there will be only one state, and no possibility to create a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I don't know if Prime Minister Netanyahu is in cahoots with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat over these plans, or if Barkat and his right-wing partners Elad are trying to create "facts on the ground" under his nose, but if Netanyahu doesn't want to shut off his negotiating options completely, he should put a public stop to this. But of course he won't, because Netanyahu moves to stop things like this only when they have created international condemnation and a public rift with the United States.

I had a conversation over Shabbat with a couple of friends about the future of Israel. These friends are politically pretty centrist - they're religious, Zionist, have been part of the religious peace movement Oz ve-Shalom/Netivot Shalom in the past. They were saying that they thought it might come to one state. One of them said that all she wants is for Jews and Arabs to be able to live peacefully with each other, and for that purpose she's getting to the point where she is basically willing to give up on Israel being defined as a Jewish state - so that it becomes a "state of all its citizens." This is a perspective that comes from the extreme left of the Israeli political spectrum and is identified with the Hadash party (the Arab-Jewish communist party). I would never have expected either of these friends in the past to take this perspective. This is a sign of how badly the situation has deteriorated in the past year.

Update - see this article from the June 28 edition of Haaretz - Jerusalem Master Plan.