Pilgrims Progress in Israel

A recent film issued on Al Jazeera http://tinyurl.com/ndsuesc depicts passionate views from Palestinian priests, a Christian tour operator and a British writer as they speak out against the obstacles facing pilgrims visiting sacred sites today, particularly Bethlehem and Nazareth.

As with many such programmes, the arguments seem convincing. I passed it on the a friend who is a professional tour guide and surprise, surprise, there is a different story.

She writes:-

Thank you for this. I watched that film twice and I must say, it is a good piece of propaganda, filled with half truths and lies.

As a tour guide working with pilgrims (and other groups) I must say, that none of my pilgrims ever visit Yad Vashem. It simply does not exist in these itineraries. Also Eilat is never included, as a proper pilgrim tour takes 8 days maximum.

Further, Qasr el Yahud is included in every pilgrim tour since the place is open to public. However, many Christians prefer to get baptised in Yardenit as the water quality at Qasr el Yahud is very poor. But there are groups baptising there as well. I see them all the time; Ethiopians, Russians, South Americans, Indians etc.  

Bethlehem; Only few Israeli tour guides and few Jewish bus drivers (all Israeli Arab drivers enter!) are entering the site, as we need special permit to Shetach A. There, a Palestinian Tour Guide, mostly connected to one of the shops, enters the bus and brings the pilgrims to one of the Restaurants, then to the Shop, then to the Church and the Shepherd Fields. 

Some visit the Caritas Children Hospital. This takes all in all about 4 hours, depending on how many people standing in line at the birth place of Jesus. By the way; there are absolutely no spiritual feelings in Bethlehem, but a lot of pressure and most of my groups are happy to return to Jerusalem. They simply hate to be fed with propaganda. They want (and they have the right to) to hear different sides of the conflict, that means different views of Israelis and the different Palestinian point of views. That is our duty.  There is no black and white and that is obviously what they get there. (a Messianic Jew tour guide might be an exemption, but I doubt that)

Some groups stay overnight and tour next day to Herodion and other places. 45 minutes will never do!

Nazareth; indeed, there is a point of truth that pilgrims visit the Church of Annunciation and that’s it. There is much more to see, but due to the itinerary, there is simply no time for more. Some operators include a walk through the village and a view point on Har Hagfiza.

Jenin and Nablus are never included in a pilgrim’s program. It would be much more expensive, as bullet proofed buses have to be arranged and which Israeli tour guide wants to visit these places? I would not go and I think, we are not insured there, as we are not when we enter Bethlehem, even with permits!

I checked on the internet that British Reverend talking in the film. He has an anti-Semitic record! Unfortunately, many people do not know how to differentiate between truth and propaganda when they hear people of the public talking, like these different priests and reverends. It’s a disgrace! Films like these make me very angry and sad.

University and beyond: Younger Bedouin moving forward

Jamal Al-Karnawi - a Bedouin who is an advisor for Arab students at Ben Gurion University in southern Israel and a social activist - relates his views on the Bedouin communities of the Negev and their participation in higher education, the advancement of women and the Begin Plan for bettering the lives of the Bedouin in the Negev.

http://youtu.be/efu-34s2vLM

With thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Al-Karnawi doesn't only talk the talk: his job - helping Arab students at BGU - will enable the younger generation of Israeli Bedouin and other Arab-Israelis to succeed in their studies and their life after university. Arab-Israelis face many difficulties in higher education, from language to cultural barriers. Advisors like Al-Karnawi, and the many programs to assist them, help these young men and women obtain the degrees so important for meaningful careers.

Al-Karnawi emphasizes the need for the Bedouin and the government to find common ground. While he expresses his support for the current process of talks related to the implementation of the Begin Plan as well as for projects to enhance living conditions in Bedouin society, he also emphasizes the need for better communication with the Bedouin to reduce their apprehension regarding the government's plans for development of the Negev.

The Real Number of Palestinian Refugees?

From the recent Ettinger report analysing the true number of refugees, we read:-

*According to an August, 1971 Ford Foundation report, by 1950, the majority of the Palestinian refugees began evacuating the camps and non-refugees moved in to benefit from UNRWA’s services. For example, half of the population in the Jelazoon refugee camp, near Ramallah, settled there after 1950.

*A November 17, 2003 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented that less than 33% of registered Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps.

*The actual number of Palestinian refugees is determined by the following: 

a) Before the 1948/9 War, 800,000 Arabs (per inflated numbers) resided within the boundaries of “pre-1967 Israel”. 

b) At the end of that war, 170,000 Arabs stayed in Israel.  

c) Of the remaining 630,000Arabs, 

     - 100,000 were absorbed by Israel’s family reunification gesture; 

     - 100,000 middle and upper class Arabs left before the beginning of the               1948-49 war and were absorbed by neighboring Arab states; 

     -  50,000 migrant laborers returned to their Arab countries of origin; 

     -  50,000 Bedouins joined their brethren-tribes in Jordan and Sinai; 

     -  and 10,000 were war fatalities. 

Thus, the actual total number of Palestinian refugees was 320,000.  

*Most of the refugees followed their political, economic and social leadership, which left before the eruption of the war.  Many were enticed to depart by Arab leaders, who promised a quick devastation of the Jewish state that would provide the evacuees with Jewish property. British authorities influenced others, pressuring the minority in mixed Jewish-Arab towns to evacuate: Arabs evacuated but Jews did not. 

For a full report see http://bit.ly/18GhJP0 

Just another "Snow" story

Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance assisted in tackling the snow and Ice near Bethlehem by the IDF. Just another area of cooperation!!

Haifa's Festival of Festivals 2013

The colourful Festival of Festivals, now in its 16th year, takes place every weekend in December in Haifa’s mixed Arab-Jewish Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood. Thus quotes "Jewish Times Asia" which just goes to show that the event is reaching a wide world audience.

The festival promotes cultural and artistic events that celebrate - Chanukah, Christmas and Eid al-Adha. This year, the festival includes an art exhibition featuring the works of 50 Jewish and Arab artists in Wadi Nisnas; an art trail and an exhibition of paper cuts by international artist Tzipora Neeman with the cooperation of Jewish and Arab women.

There are photography and video exhibits and an antiques fair that opened on 28 November and runs for five weekends at Beit Hagefen.

Further there is an arts and crafts fair; a children’s art exhibition; folklore concerts by the Romanian gypsy band Fanfara Shavale and others and music concerts in Haifa’s churches and concert halls that combine liturgy, Arab and Israeli music.

Also taking place are street activities and free shows for adults and children; art activities and creative workshops for children; ethnic food stalls; coexistence routes of song and literature in Wadi Nisnas - marked by posters lining the streets; processions, carnivals, folklore dancing and more.

The festival, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year, is produced by the Municipality of Haifa and Gefen House (a Jewish-Arab center in Haifa), in cooperation with residents of the Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood

Even Beduin Leaders like the plan!!

Whilst many international news reports have a totally negative view on the plans for the Beduin in the Negev, several brave Beduin community leaders have begun to speak-out in favor of the Prawer-Begin plan, despite threats against them from militant Israeli Arab leaders. (with thanks to DAVID M. WEINBERG 12/05/2013, full article at http://tinyurl.com/ndxxhjc )

a)               Sheikh Odeh Zanoon is the first Negev Beduin leader to reach agreement with the State of Israel to establish a modern Beduin settlement for his tribe members, near Yeroham.

The 300 families of the Zanoon tribe, currently spread across an area of 20,000 dunams without electricity, running water and roads, will move to a modern settlement of approximately 1,500 dunams. The settlement will be planned with their full participation. Many tribe members doubt Israel’s benevolence, but recognize that the plan constitutes an invaluable opportunity for real quality of life.

b)               Abed Tarabin is also moving his Tarabin clan from an illegal encampment near Omer to a properly- planned Beduin town, New Kfar Tarabin, with government support.

He says that “The government plan isn’t 100% perfect, but it is a great improvement over the current situation of Beduin in the Negev. We can build proper homes on recognized land, demand employment and health and education services, and make other demands of the government, like any other citizen. In our new town, we have asked for and received agricultural and industrial help.”

Tarabin adds, “The opposition to the plan comes from belligerent politicians, making noise for their own purposes. It doesn’t come from real Beduin leaders who are concerned with their people. There is plenty of room in the Negev for everybody, and it is good that the government is working to improve things and is investing money in us.”

c)               Kamel Jum’a Abu-Nadi of Lakia, a Beduin town founded in 1982 as part of a previous government project to settle Beduin in permanent towns, says that “The Begin plan is a fair proposal that seeks to end the saga of Beduin land claims. 85% of Beduin have no land claims; only 15% do, and these claims are holding up the development of the Negev for the Beduin. We simply have to reach a compromise on the land claims, since the government’s NIS 10 billion economic development plan for the Negev will improve our currently- very-bad situation in education, employment, welfare, transportation and other infrastructures.”

d)               Id Abu Rashed, a prominent leader of the Rashed tribe from the town of Abu Qrenat (a Beduin town of 2,700 people expected to grow to 7,000 people by 2020, that lies between Beersheba and Dimona) says that “Those who oppose the Begin-Prawer plan do so for political reasons, not substantive reasons. If you check just who has been demonstrating against the plan, you discover that half of the protesters are Arab-Israelis [i.e., not Beduin] from Israel’s north that are being bussed in from the north in organized fashion. The flags of Palestine that are flown at these demonstrations led by the Arab-Israeli Islamic Movement and its Balad political party in fact damage the reputation of the Beduin in the Negev. The Negev Beduin have no anti-Israel nationalist motivations, nor have they ever in past.”

e)               Hassan Ka’abia, a Beduin officer in the IDF from the village of Ka’abia who now works for the Israel Foreign Affairs Ministry, says that the sedentarization of the Beduin people is necessary and inevitable, and the alternative is poverty, crime and illness.

“This transition,” he says, “difficult as it may be, is fascinating and another piece in the cosmopolitan mosaic that is the modern State of Israel.”

Consequently, the Netanyahu government should be praised, not vilified, by Diaspora rabbis and human rights activists for proposing a comprehensive, judicious (and very expensive!) plan that will both facilitate proper development of the Negev and ensure advancement for the Beduin community.

Yad Sarah lends medical gear to Israelis and tourists

I feel a sense of pride to write the following the story of Yad Sarah as my daughter- in-law is heavily involved as a volunteer in the organisation, acting as manager of a branch of the organisation in the city where she lives. She spends time day, and sometimes night, to ensure the smooth running of the branch.

So many countries have adopted this model which helps to save  vast amounts of money that would otherwise be spent in the healthcare system. My wife and I have had cause to use the services in the past, so we know how effective they are.

Rivka Borochov 12 Sep 2013

Yad Sarah saves Israel an estimated $400 million in medical costs every year

by offering equipment and support to people in their own homes.

The 6,000 people who volunteer for Israel’s charity Yad Sarah are known by people in

their communities as angels, not only because they help save the Israeli economy

an estimated $400 million in medical costs every year, but also because they offer their

time to bring a longer and higher quality of life to people who might otherwise have to

be cared for in hospitals or geriatric centers.

Through its 102 branch offices, Yad Sarah lends out more than 300 different kinds of

medical equipment to Israelis and tourists -- rich or poor, Jewish or Arab.

Yad Sarah also provides 16 support services, from rides for the disabled to the

doctor’s office or just out for a cup of coffee with friends, to toy libraries for parents of

children with special needs.

About 20 percent to 30 percent of the people who turn up at the Jaffa office are from

the Arab community -- Muslims and Christians who come to get wheelchairs,

respirators, crutches, cribs, breast pumps, sleep apnea devices, baby monitors,

hospital beds and all the other items Yad Sarah lends out for up to three months with

nothing more than a small security deposit asked up front.

Countries including Turkey, El Salvador, South Korea, Italy, Jordan, Angola and

South Africa -- and many more -- have adopted the Yad Sarah model in various

forms,

Yad Sarah started out as a small charitable fund in 1976 in the apartment of Uri

Lupolianski, a young teacher who would later become the mayor of Jerusalem. In his

religious community in Jerusalem, he noticed that every winter children would be

taken to hospitals by ambulance and then returned home the next day.

The reason for this burden on the healthcare system, he found, could be fixed with

humidifiers and ventilators to moisten the dry air created by the heating systems in

these old Jerusalem apartments. But the parents in his neighborhood couldn’t afford

the basic equipment to solve the problem every winter.

Creative solutions to improve life quality

Yad Sarah offers a whole range of services: clean linens for the bedridden, security

systems for the lone elderly, meals on wheels, home visits, legal services, and even a

service to help people put their life story into print to share with their family after they

are gone.No other country in the world has this kind of service with everything at one address.

Anat Ben Zaken, who is in charge of the Life Story operation, says that Yad Sarah

volunteers created about 100 Life Story books last year alone. A volunteer who is an

expert in writing will arrange 10 to 15 visits at the home of the elderly or dying person

so their life story can be recorded digitally. Later it is transcribed and edited into a

book to be shared with the family.

This is especially important for Holocaust survivors, adds Feldman, because often

they haven’t told their story to anyone in the family before; the memories were too

painful.

But easing the pain is what Yad Sarah does best –– and it does it with an impressively

low budget.

Most of Yad Sarah’s operational costs come from inside Israel, from donors and also

from clients who donate the security deposit after an item has been returned.

The massive organization – Israel’s largest charity and the world’s largest lender of

medical equipment -- employs only 200 people and relies on its thousands of

volunteer “angels,” mainly pensioners, to staff management and office positions at its branches.

Feldman says Yad Sarah’s annual operating budget is about NIS 80 million, or about

$20 million, and 94 percent of that comes from donations locally and internationally.

They believe in keeping people at home in their own communities as long as possible,

for both humanitarian and economic reasons.