Israel: A failed state

http://tinyurl.com/nfaqvns

Charles Abelsohn

Charles Abelsohn retired several years ago as the legal manager of one of the most well–known entities in Israel. He is a graduate of three universities (Cape Town, Stellenbosch and U. Of South Africa) in South Africa in Law, Transportation Economics and Finance. His interests, even as a young student, were Judaism, Israel, Economics and Finance.

I grew up in South Africa and left for Israel in the 1970`s. So I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable on South African apartheid. In view of the criticisms of Israel as an apartheid state, I felt it my duty that my understanding and knowledge of apartheid should be put to good cause by exposing the evil manifestations of apartheid in Israel

I started in my neighbourhood. I went to the municipal park. In South Africa, only whites would have been allowed to enter. I could not believe my eyes. Arabs and Jews were mixing peacefully, Arab and Jewish children socialising and shouting at each other in their home languages. This cannot be, where is the separation? So I went to the shops and restaurants of the adjoining mall. What a major let down! Arabs and Jews shopping together as customers, Arabs and Jews employed together in the shops as assistants and cashiers, Arabs and Jews sitting in restaurants, an Arab dentist with his sign for all the world to see and the only missing ingredients were the “blankes alleen – whites only” signs. Clearly, in matters of commerce and common use of public and transport facilities, open to all, Israel is a failure in implementing apartheid: there is clearly no South African style apartheid to be found in public areas.

I had a brainwave. There are four places where there simply has to be South African apartheid – beaches, hospitals, universities and the army. I rushed to the beach and another failure. Jews, Arabs and tourists mixing, unaware that according to the world they should have been separated; even worse, I learnt that one million Arabs from the Palestinian Authority`s West Bank had visited Israel`s Mediterranean beaches during summer, mixing with Israelis as if it was the most natural thing to do. These failures to comply with the most elementary requirements of apartheid were making me sick and I rushed to hospital requiring medical attention. I was treated by Arab nurses before being ignominiously delivered to Arab doctors for further treatment. I heard that twenty percent of the medical staff are Arab and that the Israeli hospitals, medical staff, administrative staff and patients, are open to all, even the Syrian enemy or the Palestinian terrorist injured while setting off his bombs to kill and injure Israelis. In a children`s ward could be found in adjoining beds, Jewish, Israeli Arab, Palestinian Arab and Syrian children. Last year, 220,000 West Bank Palestinians, including 20,000 Palestinian children, took off time from shouting to the world about their ill-treatment and oppression at the hands of Israelis in order to visit Israeli hospitals for medical treatment. What a lousy advert for apartheid.

I was going crazy. Apartheid – where are you? I drove like a madman to an Israeli university to search for this elusive apartheid thing. Again, about twenty percent of the students at Israeli universities, no less than 30% at Haifa university, are Arabs. There are Arab professors and lecturers mixing with their Israeli colleagues. The Palestinian, Bargouti, leader of the world-wide anti-Israel boycott (BDS) movement, which bases itself on alleged Israeli apartheid, is a student at Tel Aviv University. Kafka, where are you when you are so desperately needed? This is becoming a mad, mad, mad world. When it comes to imposing apartheid, Israel does not appear to have a clue as to what is required.

I knew I could rely on the army to provide me with a first success that apartheid exists in Israel. After all, why would any but Jews want to serve in the Israeli army? I charged to army headquarters and suffered possibly my biggest defeat. In the Jewish/Israeli army serve, as commanders, officers and soldiers, Ethiopians, Beduin Arabs, Christian Arabs, Moslem Arabs, Druse and Circassians (Moslems originally from the Northern Caucuses). Worse, the world famous Golani Brigade is commandeered by a….. Druse Brigadier General! What sort of fictitious apartheid permits Arabs to serve and even command in the Jewish army? Israel, you failure you, don`t you know anything about implementing apartheid?

I decided to catch this Israeli apartheid thing slyly through the back door. South African apartheid was anchored by legislation. I went to a lawyer to obtain details of legislated apartheid in Israel. I came out with my tail between my legs. Not only is there no legislative apartheid but Israel`s Declaration of Independence and subsequent Basic Laws specifically provide for full democratic and human rights for all. Arabs serve as judges and in fact an Arab judge recently sentenced an ex-president of Israel to jail for being naughty with the ladies. Arabs vote as equals with Jews and sit as members of the Knesset (Parliament) as members of all parties. What an abject failure for Israel; even the judiciary up to and including the Supreme Court and the Knesset (Parliament) are devoid of “apartheid”.

The bottom line is that, when it comes to implementing apartheid, Israel is a failed state. Israel fails every test evidencing the existence of South African style apartheid.


But all was not yet lost. My lawyer pointed out that the Palestinian had learnt much about apartheid from their good South African friends. Could I snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by changing direction? Apparently, yes. The Palestinians have legislation forbidding the sale of property to Jews; the sentence for transgressions: death. Good. Apartheid at last. There are no Jews or Israelis living in Areas A & B under Palestinian Authority control. Better. More apartheid. The Palestinians have announced that no Jews or Israelis will be entitled to live in their state after it is founded. Eureka! Success at last! If you want to find South African apartheid in the Middle East, all you need to do is visit the Palestinian Authority`s areas, or for that matter, most Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Libya etc (where Jews and Israelis have no rights or are even allowed). By now it must be clear to all why the Palestinians, their supporters and the Arab world are always shouting “apartheid”. These folk are the real success stories when it comes to implementing apartheid.

Israel's record-breaking milkers

Dairy farming expert shares Israel’s secrets for its exceptionally high yields of milk, along with solutions for happier and healthier cows
(By Rivka Borochov)

Joshuah Miron in Volcani’s dairy

Why is it that Israel can get about 12,000 liters of milk per year per cow, while in other countries the total yield is only about 8,000? What has made Israeli cows the record-breaking milkers that they are? Why is the Israeli milking technology from firms such as AfiMilk now found on dairy farms the world over? How can farmers and the milk industry everywhere make their cowsheds clean and healthy and the entire milk market more environmentally sound?

Israel’s Volcani Center, a government-run research body, provides some clues.

Over in the Volcani Center’s cowshed, kept cool during the hot noonday sun with water misters and fans, is Joshuah Miron. He heads the Ruminant Sciences Department and oversees the health and welfare of the Volcani Center’s herd of 230 milking cows in Beit Dagan, Israel.

He talks while his cows munch in the background.

Israel’s extraordinary success in the dairy industry is made up of three important ingredients: enhanced breeding to make better milkers; advanced nutrition science; and a team of highly educated dairy farmers, most of whom have an undergraduate degree in the field. Put these three together and you get the answer, which starts at the Volcani Center.

Virtually all of Israel’s 1,000 dairy farms take advantage of Volcani research designed to overcome challenges in the milk industry. The center’s work has surpassed even its own expectations, says Miron.

Consider that Israel is a small country with limited arable land. For feedstock, says Miron, Israel can “grow only 30 percent of the cow’s diet. The rest has to come from somewhere. If the rest is imported, then the price of milk would be very high. Grain costs $340 per ton. Just to feed them, we couldn’t support our cows.”

The Volcani Center came up with a nutritious and earth-friendly solution: using some 630,000 tons of wet vegetarian byproducts from the olive oil and food production industries to feed its dairy cows. Otherwise, these byproducts would be treated as waste and taken to the desert and buried, according to Miron.

Distress sensors for happy cows

Milk yield and quality is directly related to the health and wellbeing of the cows. In Israeli cowsheds, if a cow experiences any sort of distress, it will be sensed immediately, as each cow is hooked up to an AfiMilk monitor produced at an Israeli kibbutz based on Volcani research. Its infrared sensors for determining infection or inferior milk quality help the dairy manager track the health of every milk cow in real time, along with fat and protein content and overall output.

The AfiMilk system, sold worldwide by a private company, measures electrical conductivity in the milk as it passes from the cow’s teat into the pipe system. Miron says it can sense bacteria in the cow’s udder, a sign of dietary stress; or mastitis, a painful udder condition that would need treatment.

Continuing the clever “eco-system” design of the Israeli dairy industry, the fodder that is grown in Israel for cattle is raised with recycled water. And the cow manure from the dairy is hauled back to the farmer’s fields as fertilizer to start the process all over again.

Israeli dairy-farming expertise such as this helps dairies in many developing nations make milking a more efficient process. 

West Bank Update - Christian Community Part 1

A contact from the Emmaus group in the UK recently returned to Bethlehem to assess any changes in the status of the Christian community there.

Below is part 1 of his report.

 Since my last visit in 2012 there have been some notable changes. An overwhelming sense of fear and anticipation now pervades the Christian community, fuelled by their belief there is little they can do to change anything. They are now a minority representing just 4.8% of the population living among a Moslem majority of 95.2%, with a fragile constitution built on Sharia that affords them less rights or equality. It would be unfair to say they have given up hope, but there is a growing sense of hopelessness.

Palestinian society as a whole seems to be deteriorating with increasing levels of debt, violence, discrimination and lack of interest in even trying to explore ways forward with the Israel. Many are just too tired and weary.

Fear:

Fear was present in most conversations as was anger. There is deep frustration with the Palestinian Authority who, in their opinion, has failed them completely. Basic infrastructures are absent or of poor quality with no credible law and order, health service, social services or education.

This is despite the vast amounts of aid flowing in over twenty years. While I was there, three days of shootings occurred with gunfights in the street at night, and a police officer killed. Hospitals and medical facilities are avoided for fear of catching disease and government schools are seen as incubators of radicalism.

It is unsafe for Christian women to walk in parts of some cities and although not a new phenomenon, the areas in which women will now not walk has widened. Kidnapping is a growing concern, exacerbated by the very recent attempt to take two young female Christian schoolteachers on their way to work. Christian schoolchildren will not travel in taxis unless the driver is a Christian and known personally to the family. There are rumours (unconfirmed) of young children being kidnaped in Beit Sahour, a neighbouring town to Bethlehem, for the harvesting of body organs. Even school Facebook pages are warning parents to be vigilant. It is believed that Beit Sahour is being targeted because it has a higher proportion of Christians.

“Israel is holding us together, otherwise radical Islamists groups like Hamas would have taken us over” 27yr old Hebron Resident

BEDOUIN MYTH #6 – “THE BEDOUIN ARE ONLY DEMANDING 5% OF THE LANDS

WRITTEN BY REGAVIM ON DECEMBER 18, 2013.

Unilateral refusal adopted by the Bedouin sector in relation to any generous offer from the government over the years is in fact a bargaining chip of the Bedouin position, which refuses any compromise and creates “facts on the ground.” For the sake of discussion, they claim that the percentage of lands needed for settling the Bedouin population is only 3% of the area of the Negev (around 86,487 acres), and the amount of land claims amounts to “only” five percent (about 160,618 acres) from the total area of the Negev, which comprises some 3,212,400  acres.

“To remind you and to wake you from your slumber, the Bedouin comprise 30% of the residents of the Negev. The lands disputed over with the government are 5% of the Negev … what is the fuss over? It’s all over 5%. Over this the government establishes an administration? Over this the government establishes staff upon staff? Over this the government makes new committees each day? Apparently there is too much unemployment in the public sector. Shame on the State of Israel that chastises the Bedouin over such meager amounts of land in the Negev.” (Knesset Member Taleb Abu Arar – Ra’am Ta”al Party, from a speech in the Knesset over the Regulatory Act)

These numbers waved before us are completely divorced from reality, both in terms of the amounts of land on which the Bedouin reside today, and also in relation to the amount of land claimed:

Bedouin Settlement in the Northern Negev

The aerial photographs printed above in regards to the section dealing with the number of Bedouin villages in scattered areas gives tangible evidence to the great spread of Bedouin settlement. The investigative division of Regavim has made an updated map of settlement, showing this spread covers 148,263 acres, as will be expanded upon in the following sections.

1.   The True Extent of Lands used for Bedouin settlement is about a fifth (20%) of the Negev.

After taking away the firing ranges used by the IDF, the nature reserves and the areas protected by the National Master Plan (Plan 35), the remaining lands reserved for settlement of the Negev amounts to only 687,200 acres.

It should be emphasized that the settlement areas are not actually ever fully used for settlement and agriculture, but also include parks, open areas and the like. As such, the numbers have a completely different meaning: The Bedouin 148,263 acres actually occupy 21.5% of the lands allotted for settlement throughout the Negev, and make claims on a similar amount of land.

For the sake of comparison: There are 205,000 residents in the city of Be’er Sheva living on only 8,650 acres of land. The Bedouin population, numbering at around 211,000 people, live on an area seventeen times larger, on around 148,260 acres of land!

2.     Percentage of Lands Claimed: All ownership claims over lands that have come to the courts since the 70’s until today, whether initiated by the Bedouin or in the context of opposing claims filed by the State of Israel in the past ten years,[1] have been shelved. The State of Israel has declared over the years that according to the law and according to the registry, it is the owner of the scattered areas of the Negev and it is willing to clarify all claims of ownership of the Bedouin in court. Among the Bedouin population, only 12% (300 families) are categorized as claimants over various areas of land.

Settlement area available in the Negev

In other words: 300 families (approximately 13,000 people) are claiming private ownership over 23% of the Negev that is reserved for settlement!

In order not to leave an opening for the Bedouin claim that also individual farms and agricultural settlements in the Negev receive vast lands; it should be mentioned that this claim is NOT genuine. The farms in this region are placed there as guardians over government land and live under a tenant agreement. None of them make ownership claims over the lands they work and none of them expect to receive the land as private land.

 Conclusion:

The true extent of land where the Bedouin live, where they make claims of private ownership, is not only 5% of the area of the Negev, but rather 23% of the area of the Negev that has been allotted for settlement. Some 20-30% of Bedouin in the Negev have seized lands more than 17 times the size of the city of Be’er Sheva. Whose total number of residents is approximately equal to the total population of the Bedouin in the Negev. Among all of the sectors of Israeli society, there is no sector so small that makes a claim of private ownership over an area so large, despite the fact that from a legal perspective, it has been proven time and time again that their claims are without basis.

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[1] An expansion of this issue can be found in the Regavim position paper, “The Renewal of Opposing Claims for Land Regulation in the Negev.”

BEDOUIN MYTH #5 – GOVERNMENT BUDGETS DISCRIMINATE?

WRITTEN BY REGAVIM ON DECEMBER 18, 2013.

“The Bedouin sector is the poorest among Israeli society; Bedouin local authorities are ranked at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in Israel.” For years we have heard complaints from the Bedouin and leftist organizations about discrimination and bias on the part of the state. Take for example the claim of Professor Ismail Abu Sa’ad from the Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva:

 “Statistics about the situation of Bedouin towns in the Negev teach us of the abject failure of the urbanization policy assimilated into their framework. The sources responsible for this failure include a shortage of land and accompanying services, budget crises in local authorities … The municipal budgets come from two sources: budgetary transfers from the government and independent income from local taxes. In addition to this, eligible municipalities are sometimes given grants for exceptional development projects. The offices of the government systematically discriminate against Bedouin municipalities. Formulas for consideration for Bedouin towns are biased and grants for development given to them are meager in comparison with their urgent needs and what is given to Jewish settlements.”

A table of statistics published by the Central Statistics Bureau[1] regarding data about local councils in 2011 compares the budgets of majority Jewish authorities to those of the Bedouin authorities chosen at random. The majority Jewish authorities that were chosen are also recognized as being ranked low on the socioeconomic ladder and must deal with high unemployment rates. On the majority Jewish side data was gathered from Yeruham, Sderot, Ofakim, Arad, Netivot, Dimona, and Kiryat Gat. On the Bedouin side data was gathered from Segev Shalom, Abu Basma, Arara, Tel Sheva, Hura, Ksifa, and Rahat.

A comparison of data from 2011 displays the exact opposite: governmental participation in the budgets of Bedouin authorities is almost twice as much as its participation in budgets of majority Jewish authorities.

Government Participation in Local Authority Councils

1. The annual percentage of governmental participation in budgets for majority Jewish authorities (including “exceptional budgets”) stands at an average of 51.6%. For Bedouin authorities, the annual governmental participation (including “exceptional budgets”) is an average of 78.9%. The town of Abu Basma stands out with a striking 98% (!). The budget of the authority comes from governmental aid, with only 1.8 percent from independent income.

Percentage of Property Tax Income from General Budget

2.  Percentage of Property Tax Income from General Budget: For majority Jewish authorities, the percentage of independent income from property tax payments in the annual budget stands at an average of 21.3%. On the other side, the percentage of property tax in the annual budget for Bedouin authorities stands at only 3.7%. It is noteworthy that for the Council of Arara, the percentage of property tax collection rose 142% from 2010 to 2011. On opposition to this, during the same period property tax collection for Abu Basma fell by 87%. 

Governmental Budgets per Person

Dividing the average governmental participation in budgets for majority Jewish authorities mentioned (693,595,000 NIS) by the total number of residents (185,400) leaves 3,741 NIS per person. Dividing the average governmental participation from the budgets of Bedouin authorities (599,869,000 NIS) by the number of residents in all of the authorities mentioned (140,200) leaves 4,278 NIS per person. If so, the Bedouin authorities enjoy a governmental investment per person that is 537 NIS higher than the governmental participation per person in the Jewish authorities. 

3.   Property Tax Payments to Local Authorities.

Residents of majority Jewish authorities numbering at 185,400 people made property tax payments in 2011 of an amount of 119,107,000 NIS for 81,051 square meters. The amount of total income from property taxes in these authorities stands at 325,387,000 NIS. The residents of Bedouin authorities, numbering at 140,200 people, paid in that year 20,749,000 NIS for only 19,885 square meters. The amount of income from property taxes in these authorities stands at 27,232,000 NIS. This data teaches on the one hand about the unusually low amount of property tax payments in the Bedouin sector (both from housing and industry), together with a general dysfunction in the collection system of the Bedouin. 

The full findings of the report conducted by Regavim[1] conclusively refute the claims of discrimination in budgets. It turns out that that percentage of governmental participation in the general budget for these authorities is 36% higher than the governmental participation in majority Jewish authorities. If you also figure in the amount of governmental aid per person, there is a difference of more than 500 NIS in favor of the residents of Bedouin authorities.

The discrimination actually favoring the Bedouin continues despite the unusually low amount of property tax payments among the Bedouin sector, where the amount rests at an average of 3.7% of the total budgets for these authorities. In addition, this data points to a low amount of property tax collection areas in the Bedouin sector.

Conclusion: The source of poverty and backwardness among the Bedouin authorities is largely due to the fact that residents do not pay taxes as required by law and live off the public purse. The key to improving quality of life in the Bedouin communities lies in the application of law and participation by residents in property tax payments – as is usual in any other authority in the country.

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[1] “Discrimination or Lack of Inspection?” A report comparing the Jewish and Bedouin budgets in the Negev. July, 2013

High risk pregnancies from Gaza treated at Rambam

Arrived from Gaza in critical condition, returned with healthy
twinsCommunicated 18 Feb 2014

Two-and-a-half weeks after arriving at Rambam between life and death, “H”
said goodbye to Rambam and the people who cared for her and her twins.

“This is the happiest day of my life.”

Pregnant women in Gaza rarely need to turn to Israel for medical help since medical care is available in Gaza before and throughout their pregnancies. It is even rarer that two women from Gaza, within weeks of each other, find themselves and their unborn child facing life-threatening problems necessitating the expertise of specialists at Rambam Health Care Campus - but that is what happened.

Two and half weeks ago, “A”, 29 years old and pregnant with her third child, was brought to Rambam. She was suffering from a problem common in pregnancy - Rh incompatibility - a condition in which the mother and fetus have two different blood types and which can result in the mother’s
antibodies harming the red blood cells of the fetus. However, in “A”’s case, the problem was not detected in time - she was in critical condition and both she and her unborn child were in danger.

Two days after being admitted, “A” gave birth. However, things became even more difficult when her premature son was found to also have a congenital heart problem.

“A” had two small children waiting for her back in Gaza. One week after his birth, “A” had to make the difficult choice of returning to Gaza to care for her children. Her premature son remained in the care of Rambam’s medical staff.
“It’s a very difficult situation,” Yazid Falah, the Palestinian Patient Coordinator at Rambam said. “Naturally the mother wants to stay with her baby. But in this case she is there and he is here. We are doing everything we can to help her feel as close as possible to her son.” 

A few days ago the infant underwent successful surgery for another common
condition: patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), in which a vessel in the heart does not close. The infant is gaining strength and his mother remains in contact by phone on a daily basis until she can return to Rambam and bring him home with her.

One Arrived - Three Returned

Just before “A” arrived at Rambam, "H", a 35 year-old woman in her ninth month, was brought to Rambam from Gaza - also in extremely critical condition. Carrying twins, her condition was so serious that she was barely aware of her surroundings. Since childhood she had suffered from a blood clot disorder. Now that disorder placed her in extreme danger of bleeding to death - she needed special care and medications not available in Gaza.

Upon arrival “H” underwent a C-section to save her first children - a healthy boy and girl - each weighing 2.3 kg. However “H” remained in critical condition and was sent to the intensive care unit (ICU). It would be two full days before she was alert enough to ask about her babies. Each day the medical staff took new photos of the infants so  that she could have a record of their first days once she recovered.

After one week in the ICU “H” saw her children for the first time.

“I still remember when I left from Gaza to come to Israel,” “H” explained.

“The doctor said that my situation was very critical. During the first two days before I fully woke up,  I couldn’t contact my family and they thought I was dead. Until I saw my children for the first time I did not understand myself what had happened. Only when I saw them and held them did I realize that everything was now OK.”

For “H,” the birth of her twins has been a great comfort. A few days ago, two-and-a-half weeks after arriving at Rambam between life and death, “H” said goodbye to Rambam and the people who cared for her.

“H” smiled and said, “My entire family is waiting for us, everyone wants to get to know them and hold them. This is the happiest day of my life.”

UNWRA textbooks in Gaza - continued

It would seem that there is a political game being played between UNWRA and HAMAS and the headline "Hamas blocks UN textbooks in Gaza" is all part of this game.

As David Bediun writes http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=7150&q=1 , there are false rumours about the UNWRA curriculum content.

David's article should be read in its entirety.

I strongly suggest to treat this story with serious caution.