A Lesson on Jerusalem

The new light rail system has come in for a lot of criticism during its construction and the current running in period. Jerusalemites have justified reasons to complain. However, one complaint by a British member of Parliament is so fatr removed from reality, one wonders on which palnt he is living.

The following article represents the reality

David Ha'ivri Published April 27th: 2012 ,   http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221402,00.html

During my recent visit to the British Parliament, I heard concern from a number of members that Jerusalem's new light rail system was built as a "tool of Israel's apartheid.” This type of claim can leave one baffled - where do you start explaining, when an intelligent elected official hits you with a claim that is so totally off base? Aside from the issue of priorities, since people are being killed by Assad daily in Syria, it is so hypocritical for world leaders to ignore that massacre and waste their time and effort in seeking out something to pin on Israel.

In Israel's War of Independence in 1948, part of Jerusalem was captured by the British-trained Arab Legion of Trans-Jordan, who held the city for 19 years, until it was again united in the miraculous Six Day War of June, 1967. During the 19 years of Jordan's illegal occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were barred from access to holy places in the city. Jewish doctors and nurses were massacred while trying to reach the Hadassah Hospital, located on then-isolated Mount Scopus.

 Only after Israel's Defense Forces reunited the holy city were members of all religions again allowed access to places holy to them (aside from the Temple Mount, which maintains limited access for non-Muslims.)

Jerusalem today is a city with total population of about 760,000 people - about 65% Jewish, 35% Muslims, Christians and others. Anyone who visits the city will see a mix of people from all ethnic backgrounds and all religions taking part in all aspects of the city's culture and commerce. Like it or not, apartheid is not a fitting description for the reality of Jerusalem today.

Hebrew and Arabic

The city of Jerusalem incorporated its light rail public transportation system this year. The light rail is intended to relieve traffic congestion, and to save the city from some of the air pollution of exhaust fumes from the cars and buses that it will replace.

The light rail is now 14 kilometers long with 23 stops. It starts in the Pisgat Zev neighborhood in the north and runs though Beit Hannia and Shuafat, passes by the Old City through the center of town, runs along Jaffa Street past the central bus station and ends at Mount Herzl.

The track passes though and stops in both Jewish and Arab neighborhoods. I have taken the train and noticed that both Jews and Arabs are regular commuters. All of the train’s signs, tickets, ticket machines, and public announcements are made very clearly in both Hebrew and Arabic. Signs of station names are posted in both Hebrew and Arabic.

Knowing the facts firsthand, it is strange for me to hear discussions in British Parliament about the light rail being segregated and a “tool of apartheid.” Why, I ask, do people buy into such baseless libel and propaganda?

MASHAV and USAID sign MOU

MASHAV Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation based in Haifa http://mashav.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/missionhome.asp?MissionID=16210& and USAID have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to increase cooperation on food security to Africa


The Heads of MASHAV and of USAID signed in Washington, April 18, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation on food security to Africa, within the framework of USAID’s “Feed the Future” Initiative. The MOU allows for closer cooperation on the issue of food security in four countries: Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda.


Feed the Future strives to increase agricultural production and the incomes of both men and women in rural areas who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.


MASHAV’s cooperation includes its proven agricultural expertise in applied agricultural research, irrigation and water technologies, and agricultural production in arid zones. Emphasis will be given to gender issues, training and human capacity building, and adaptation to climate change.

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL THAT YOU ARE UNLIKELY TO FIND IN THE MEDIA 22-4-12

With thanks to the British Israel group form the compilation

• Israeli doctors have recently restored the eyesight of more than 2,000 people in seven countries: Nepal, Mynamar (Burma), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Cambodia, the Maldives and Ethiopia. The surgical operations were performed in special camps set up by MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, which is subject to the Foreign Ministry) in cooperation with the Eye from Zion organisation and the Khan Foundation. All the surgeons were Israeli opthalmologists. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4173873,00.html

• Interaction with dolphins has long been known to help people suffering from mental illness and post -traumatic stress disorder. A 16-year-old Israeli boy, Morad Azva, who was attacked by peers from high school in his village, Kalansua, Israel, became mute and closed off to the outside world. Normal treatment with orthodox methods of medication and psychiatric therapy was not successful. It was only after being sent to Dolphin Reef in Eilat for “dolphin therapy” that through interaction with the dolphins there, he began to speak again.

http://nocamels.com/2012/03/dolphin-therapy-helps-mute-israeli-teen-speak- again/

• During Passover week which was warm and sunny, it was estimated that up to half a million tourists visited Israel’s national parks and nature reserves which were fully packed. The Golan Heights, and Lake Hula hotels were also at maximum capacity and Israel Radio reported that the road leading to the north, the Sea of Galilee and near the Carmel Forest were filled with traffic jams. Jerusalem and its outskirts also received a record number of visitors. Among the most popular sites were the Banyas Reserve, Gan Hashlosha, (Sahne), Birya Forest, the Gilboa, the Jordan River and the Hula valley. (Taken from the Times of Israel)

• These are quotes taken from a recent Friday sermon on Jordan T.V. given by Muslim cleric, Ghaleb Rabab’a: “Jordanian Army is invincible – Jerusalem will be regained … The arrogance of the Jews will be shattered … Will shatter the might of Israel just as the might of the Crusaders and the Byzantines was shattered… The absolutely most dangerous thing is the Jews…” With friends like these……..! (Thanks to Memri for these quotes.)

• Fifteen Bedouin teenagers from the northern Negev town of Hura have recently made Israeli theatrical history. Their performance at the Bat Yam Youth Theatre Festival marked the first time that a Bedouin troupe of any age had staged a Western-style play in Israel. Their play was the group’s own adaptation of the 17th century French satire by Moliere, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. These teenagers transformed Moliere’s comic masterpiece into a hilarious masterpiece of their own cultural reality in the jargon of modern Bedouin Arabic. In this version, a Bedouin tent replaces the stately mansion, traditional Bedouin robes and head coverings replace period French costumes, and instead of a minuet, 5 boys performed a fiery debka line dance. The inspiration for producing this play in the Bedouin community came from Pauline Marchand, director of the French Institute of Beersheva and the Negev, the cultural arm of the French Embassy which is underwriting this project.
(Thanks to Israel21C for this item)

PA Treatment of Minority Christian Population

The end of the Israeli occupation would allow all our people, Christians and Muslims, to develop all our potential living side by side, say FAYSAL HIJAZEEN, IBRAHIM SHOMALI http://tinyurl.com/cvh25vo .

“Based on our years as parish priests in Palestine, we were appalled by the false allegations regarding Palestinian Christians made in recent weeks by Israeli spokespeople, such as Ambassador Michael Oren.”

One has to wonder just how credible these views are when differences of opinion with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority can result in closure of the church involved.

The First Baptist Church in Bethlehem was ordered closed by the Palestinian Authority on Saturday, according to Rabbi Russell Resnik of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. Resnik reported the incident after meeting with Pastor Steven Khoury, the son of First Baptist's head pastor, Naim Khoury.

"Steven told me that...a representative of the Palestinian authority showed up at his father’s church in Bethlehem and told him to shut the doors–they were closing down the church," wrote Resnik.

The Palestinian officials reportedly did not specify why they were closing the church, but Steven, who pastors his own church in Jerusalem, told Resnik that it must be because of his family's support for Israel.

Observers have noted with suspicion that the shuttering of First Baptist in Bethlehem came just one day after the Christ at the Checkpoint conference, which was organized and hosted by Bethlehem-based Christian leaders who do not support Israel's restoration.

Messianic blog Rosh Pina Project noted that Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the same Palestinian Authority that shuttered First Baptist, had only days earlier attended and addressed the conference Christ at the Checkpoint.

In 2009, Steven Khoury was interviewed by CBN on the true reason for the suffering of Bethlehem's Christians. You can view that video here:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2009/October/Tried-by-Fire-Bethlehems-Remnant/?WT.mc_id=EmbedNewsPlayer

‘It All Started When an Israeli Officer Hit Back’

After so many incidents in which Palestinian propaganda has managed to rearrange the narrative so that the Israeli side appears to be the aggressor, an ISM (International Solidarity Movement) video has gone viral showing an IDF officer hittiing a protester in the face with his gun.

Let's be clear, this is wrong, whatever the circumstances, but how would you react if someone had just broken two of your fingers. Of course, this part of the narrative is ignored. Once again, videos have been edited to whitewash the protesters, many of whom are overseas provocoteurs trying make problems for the State of Israel

For a more complete account see http://tinyurl.com/ces8sxw

Yet another Non Event - The Flytilla

So the latest “Flytilla” has come and gone. With the hype surrounding the event, one could have been forgiven for thinking that there would be an “invasion” at Ben Gurion Airport.

The various Israeli departments compiled a list of some 1500 activists and handed it to airlines with a warning that if allowed to board, the activists would be put back on the flights on which they arrived and sent back at the airlines' expense. (A very positive action) As a consequence airlines, such as Lufthansa, Air France and others heeded the warning and cancelled the reservations of most of these activists, some 400 to 600 demonstrators.

The bottom line is that perhaps 1 woman from France managed to get through to Ramallah and approx. 60 were detained at Ben-Gurion airport and to be deported from Israel.

For those Israeli left-liberals who criticized the Israeli government for its position ("why not allow them to come in and demonstrate?"), their effect was minimal.
One has to ask, which of the Western countries, particularly the USA, who would allow entry to people whose sole expressed goal is to demonstrate against those governments? Yet the press think this is “hot” news.

In addition, would these “activists” dare fly into countries whose regimes deserve to be demonstrated against. Yet in a blatent display of hypocracy, they paint themselves as "heroes" attempting to enter Israel, the only liberal country in the Middle East, where all its citizens, including Arab-Palestinians, enjoy full human rights, freedoms and security.

The government of Israel acted properly and efficiently. Israel has her home grown “idiots”. She does not need imports of “idiots” from abroad.

From Slavery to Freedom

I have written in the past about the village at Aleh Hanegev http://www.aleh.org/eng/ that deals with a person's disabilities in its many forms. The story below is really inspiring and is well worth reading to the end

Dvir, a resident of Ashkelon, was diagnosed as severely cognitively disabled at birth. Coupled with cerebral palsy and severe motor disabilities, he was considered very low-functioning, and his weak control over the muscles in his mouth made it impossible to understand him when he spoke. Unfortunately, repeated failures while trying communication boards led to his refusal to use them as an alternative means of communication.

At age 22 his parents brought him to live in Aleh Negev-Nahalat Eran, a groundbreaking rehabilitative village for children and adults with severe physical and cognitive disabilities. Aleh Negev is home to over 130 disabled residents, most of whom are diagnosed with medium to severe cognitive disabilities and who cannot speak at all.

“From the moment I met Dvir, it was clear that he was different,” says Masada Sekely, Director of the village. That first indication occurred when Dvir was shown a picture of boat and asked to describe what he saw. Dvir answered that it was a canoe.

"We asked him, ‘How do you know that this is a canoe?’ relates Sekely. “He answered that he once went on a trip to the North, when he sailed in a canoe. This was a clear indication of his ability to remember,” she adds.

A year and a half ago one of the volunteers, a drama teacher, decided to teach Dvir to play a harmonica. Physically, it seemed to be impossible. “His mouth was always open,” says Inbar Lazar-Shapiro, Dvir’s social worker. But the volunteer refused to give up. He taught him how to purse his lips and blow, working with candles and learning to blow them out. They moved onto the harmonica, and with persistence, Dvir mastered the skill.

But the ongoing practice did something else as well: Dvir’s ability to speak improved drastically.

As soon as it became easier for people to understand what he was saying, Dvir began to share his feelings and thoughts with the therapy staff. His feelings revealed a rich inner world and an unimagined cognitive level. He told the staff that he wants to move to another home, where he can be with friends with whom he can speak. He put his thoughts into a letter that he asked his therapist to type for him:

Hello, everyone. I want to tell you how I feel. I don’t have any friends here who can speak…I feel lonely here in the village; I don’t have anyone to talk to and share things with besides for the workers…. I cry at night and think that I don’t have what to do here…I can’t talk to any other resident because they won’t understand me and they can’t answer me. I am not retarded and I think I am on a much higher level than the other people here. I hope you understand me. Dvir
Recently, Dvir was re-evaluated by the village professional staff and diagnosed as having light-to-medium cognitive disabilities. He understands everything that goes on around him, and despite his speech difficulties, he takes an active part in conversations. “There is a wide gap between his physical and cognitive abilities,” asserts Lazar-Shapiro.

A few months ago Israel’s Welfare Department Placement Committee convened to meet with Dvir and to discuss placing him in a different facility, with people more suited to his cognitive level. The Aleh Negev administration is in full agreement, and hopefully Dvir will soon move to a daycare center in Beer Sheva.

“There is no question that Dvir’s story is extremely unusual. You feel that you changed an entire world. You gave a person hope for a normal life. It will be very difficult for us to part from Dvir, but we know he will be in a place that is better for him,” conclude Sekely and Lazar-Shapiro. And Dvir says, “I think about moving all the time and I also dream about it at night.”