Bedouin villages in the South Hebron Hills are poised to skip the industrial age and take a leap from primitive to sustainable. They will never have to worry about reducing their carbon footprint– unlike those of us from affluent societies in the US or Israel. Renewable energy systems– wind turbines and solar panels are being built for the poorest and most marginalized communities in the occupied West Bank. This help is a matter of life-support. Environmental studies reveal their cisterns are toxic and they have been denied access to the electricity grid servicing nearby settlements. The project is a joint initiative of Israelis and Palestinian community workers who believe borders of fear and racism are best overcome by neighbors working together.
I am traveling on Highway 60 with Ilan, cofounder of Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers who insist on telling their fellow citizens the price of occupation. Historically this road connected seven major cities: Nablus/Shchem, Genin, Tul-Karem, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron/Halil and Be'ersheva. In 95-6 during the Oslo agreements, the road was shifted to lead 'around' the Bethlehem area. The tunnels near Beit Jallah were dug, establishing the first "Israeli only roads", marking the beginning of "separate roads." Check Points were set up, not quite on the Green Line, shaving land away from Palestinians (as usual). Internationals are supposed to go through Bethlehem near Rachel's Tomb Checkpoint, turning the Beit Jallah "tunnels" into a de-facto apartheid checkpoint. To pass through, one must have either a Blue ID- Israeli citizenship, or 'the Right of Return'. Neither of which I have, but Ilan does not seem worried. West Bank Palestinians are not aloud into Jerusalem without permits and green license plates are not aloud within Israeli '67 lines. They are however allowed on Highway 60 if it is within the Occupied Territory. Jerusalem is effectively off from the the road as is historical continuity, the traditional economy and of course the people.
Ilan is excited to share projects he has been working on in the southern villages. I have brought children’s books for the library in Susya, a village with a bullet proof school bus to protect their children from angry settlers. We are driving on a super fast road that tunnels through the earth, cutting travel time and making it easy to ignore the fact that we are passing beneath Palestinian towns and villages. In a color coded world– white water tanks on Jewish rooftops denote solar, black water tanks on Palestinian rooftops, mergency reserves. Green license plates are for Palestinian cars and yellow for Israeli but the only license plates on Highway 60 are yellow. This road, built on Palestinian land, is exclusively for settlers and Israelis...
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Iris Keltz @'Counterpunch'
Have to say that the most startling aspects of these last two posts from Counterpunch are: 1. Uri Avnery's "proof in the pudding" that Israel's claims to being a democratic state are a farcical misrepresentation of the facts, and that the Knesset's style of government is transforming into rule by fascism, its ostracism of non-Jewish citizens worthy of the Nazi's at their most fanatical. 2. Iris Keltz's comments about car licence plates in Israel, yellow for the Jewish people's cars and green for the Palestinian people's cars, it may not be apartheid for the people(?), but it is certainly apartheid for the cars, judging the cars by the religious persuasion of their owners. One has to ask what would they(the Israeli government) like to ask for next, perhaps the addition of a badge in the shape of a green crescent moon to be worn by all Palestinian residents of Israel, or maybe not.
The walls came down on the dehumanising policies of apartheid in South Africa, through a concerted global effort and the struggles of those denied their humanity by the South African government. The walls came down on the Nazi government of Germany, through the actions of a global effort that spoke for humanity, which refused the apartheid policies dehumanizing the Jewish people of Europe, and the evils that such intolerance created. The walls must come down in Israel, on a government whose policies deny human rights to 20% of the population of Israel by circumstance of their birth, that they were not born Jewish. The walls must come down on the Israeli government that will not recognise a Palestinian state, because of their religion, and because the Israeli government schemes to steal more and more of the Palestinian people's land. The blockade of Gaza and the economic ruin of Palestinian lands, the physical, daily torture of children, their parents and grandparents are indistinguishable from the worst excesses of an apartheid system, and are an unconscionable blight on global humanity. It is time for the world to step forward once again, and denounce Israel for its apartheid inhumanity, BOYCOTT ISRAEL NOW.
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