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ReInked
Grassroots campaign seeks to tell the real story of Israel and Palestine
An ad hoc group of Bay Area residents took to the streets last week to counter the misinformation of BlueStar PR's high-profile pro-Israel ad campaign. Bus shelter posters alleging that a majority of Palestinians consider Israel a model democracy, activists were replaced with ones offering "A Closer Look at Israel's Democracy."
In response to the contention that: "All Israelis – Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze– enjoy Israel’s vibrant democracy. Alone in the Middle East, Israel offers its citizens freedoms of speech, religion, and press, women’s rights, gay rights…" the new poster points out that:
"Israel's Democracy:
- includes political parties that call for the complete expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. (Source: http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)
- implements the Law of Return which gives every Jew in the world the inherent right to settle in Israel as a citizen. Meanwhile Israel denies Palestinian refugees their Right of Return guaranteed by international law.
- "operates separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children…Palestinian Arab students receive substantially less funding than Jewish students, and they attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than Jewish children." (Source: Human Rights Watch)
- Denies basic human rights to 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza through the longest-running military occupation in modern history."
In response to the contention that: "All Israelis – Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druze– enjoy Israel’s vibrant democracy. Alone in the Middle East, Israel offers its citizens freedoms of speech, religion, and press, women’s rights, gay rights…" the new poster points out that:
"Israel's Democracy:
- includes political parties that call for the complete expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. (Source: http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)
- implements the Law of Return which gives every Jew in the world the inherent right to settle in Israel as a citizen. Meanwhile Israel denies Palestinian refugees their Right of Return guaranteed by international law.
- "operates separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children…Palestinian Arab students receive substantially less funding than Jewish students, and they attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than Jewish children." (Source: Human Rights Watch)
- Denies basic human rights to 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza through the longest-running military occupation in modern history."
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I wanted to comment on two points which I thought were quite weak.
"Israel's Democracy:
- includes political parties that call for the complete expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. (Source: http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)"
Is this supposed to be some kind of surprise? This is the nature of democracy. Unlike many Muslim countries, where deviancy from the state is not tolerated, Israel and other democracies around the world always have extremist groups.
"operates separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children…Palestinian Arab students receive substantially less funding than Jewish students, and they attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than Jewish children." (Source: Human Rights Watch)"
The Human Rights Watch never claimed that there are separate school systems. In fact, school systems are not separate and over 300,000 Arabs attend Israeli schools. There is no official system of school segregation. However, there is a lot of self-segregation practiced among the two groups which causes imbalanaced schools, and Arab dominated schools do receive less attention and resources and that's the point that should be addressed.
"Israel's Democracy:
- includes political parties that call for the complete expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. (Source: http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)"
Is this supposed to be some kind of surprise? This is the nature of democracy. Unlike many Muslim countries, where deviancy from the state is not tolerated, Israel and other democracies around the world always have extremist groups.
"operates separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children…Palestinian Arab students receive substantially less funding than Jewish students, and they attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than Jewish children." (Source: Human Rights Watch)"
The Human Rights Watch never claimed that there are separate school systems. In fact, school systems are not separate and over 300,000 Arabs attend Israeli schools. There is no official system of school segregation. However, there is a lot of self-segregation practiced among the two groups which causes imbalanaced schools, and Arab dominated schools do receive less attention and resources and that's the point that should be addressed.
http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)
However much extremist they might be, they don't call for the extermination of the Palestinians, differently from what the Palestinians want for the Israelis.
Is it wrong that they ask for the dismantlement of the terror infrastructure in Judea, Samaria and Gaza?
They accept the Palestinians' right to exist.
The Palestinians want to destroy Israel.
As for nullifying the Oslo Accords, the PA breeched them. So if they have not been nullified, it has been thanks to Israel's good will.
If we protest "extremism" of an Israeli party, why don't we protest extremism among the Palestinians?
United Arab List
The United Arab List (RAAM, Heb. acr. of Reshima Aravit Me'uchedet: רשימה ערבית מאוחדת) is a political party in Israel.
The United Arab List was established in 1996, as a union between two political forces: The Arab Democratic Party (Hezb al-Democraty al-Arabi / Miflaga Democratit Aravit) and elements related to the Islamic Movement and to the National Unity Front.
Its constituency consists mostly of pious or nationalist Israeli Arab, and enjoys popularity among the Bedouins. The Islamic Movement also operates in poor Arab towns and villages, as well as in Bedouin settlements, to mobilizes voters.
It supports the creation of a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital; and a solution of two states - a Jewish and a Palestinian for the conflict in the region.
Current Knesset Members
Abdulmalek Dehamshe - The party leader.
Taleb El-Sana
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=790077h5lgck4?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=United+Arab+List&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc02b
The United Arab List (RAAM, Heb. acr. of Reshima Aravit Me'uchedet: רשימה ערבית מאוחדת) is a political party in Israel.
The United Arab List was established in 1996, as a union between two political forces: The Arab Democratic Party (Hezb al-Democraty al-Arabi / Miflaga Democratit Aravit) and elements related to the Islamic Movement and to the National Unity Front.
Its constituency consists mostly of pious or nationalist Israeli Arab, and enjoys popularity among the Bedouins. The Islamic Movement also operates in poor Arab towns and villages, as well as in Bedouin settlements, to mobilizes voters.
It supports the creation of a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital; and a solution of two states - a Jewish and a Palestinian for the conflict in the region.
Current Knesset Members
Abdulmalek Dehamshe - The party leader.
Taleb El-Sana
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=790077h5lgck4?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=United+Arab+List&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc02b
>>>"- [Israel] Denies basic human rights to 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza through the longest-running military occupation in modern history."<<<
I call upon the person who's droning this lie to come out and tell me, how much longer will you keep at it? Tibet has been occupied by the communist Chinese juggernaut for 56 years (since 1949). See the difference between 1967 and 1949? Or are you ignoring the truly longest military occupation in modern history as it's been performed by a leftist thuggish force?
>>>"-[Israel] implements the Law of Return which gives every Jew in the world the inherent right to settle in Israel as a citizen. Meanwhile Israel denies Palestinian refugees their Right of Return guaranteed by international law."<<<
For one, there's a provision in that law under which the minister of interior may deny entry and citizenship in special cases, like a person who poses a grave threat to the public and would cause the state's authorities nothing but trouble. Take Meir Lansky for example.
Second of all, what's termed here a "right of return" is in reality a demand of return which is not exactly guaranteed by int'l law, since many of the original refugees willingly left for other countries before they were threatened by the progress of war, coupled with the fact that the Arab states to which the moved haven't afforded them opportunities to rehabilitate themselves and have denied them citizenship for the most part so as to perpetuate their plight as a festering wound for political ends.
I call upon the person who's droning this lie to come out and tell me, how much longer will you keep at it? Tibet has been occupied by the communist Chinese juggernaut for 56 years (since 1949). See the difference between 1967 and 1949? Or are you ignoring the truly longest military occupation in modern history as it's been performed by a leftist thuggish force?
>>>"-[Israel] implements the Law of Return which gives every Jew in the world the inherent right to settle in Israel as a citizen. Meanwhile Israel denies Palestinian refugees their Right of Return guaranteed by international law."<<<
For one, there's a provision in that law under which the minister of interior may deny entry and citizenship in special cases, like a person who poses a grave threat to the public and would cause the state's authorities nothing but trouble. Take Meir Lansky for example.
Second of all, what's termed here a "right of return" is in reality a demand of return which is not exactly guaranteed by int'l law, since many of the original refugees willingly left for other countries before they were threatened by the progress of war, coupled with the fact that the Arab states to which the moved haven't afforded them opportunities to rehabilitate themselves and have denied them citizenship for the most part so as to perpetuate their plight as a festering wound for political ends.
One more question: which "questionable sources" are you talking about? Perhaps they're merely sources you personally find repulsive?
Hope to hear from you.
Hope to hear from you.
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