Back to the 1967 Boarders for Ethnic Cleansing

By D.P. Settlers are taking the strategies they used in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and using them in Arab neighborhood within Israel's 1967 boarders. We saw how they succeeded in the West Bank village of Hebron. This use to be an area that had a thriving Arab community. Now it is controlled by Israeli soldiers and only Jewish settlers are allowed to move freely. In the town of Acre which is within Israel's 1967 boarders where many Jewish settlers have resettled according to Rebecca Wilkomerson tension have really heated up recently. This year their were violent clashes between the Jewish and Arab population resulting in many Arab families being expelled from their homes and becoming homeless. The Jewish settlers that have moved into the East Jerusalem Neighborhood of Silwan have made a lot more progress in expelling the Palestinians from their homes so Jewish families can move into the homes in their place. The settler groups have used faulty archaeological research to get the state to intervene on their behalf. They have also used tactics of harassment to force the Arabs to leave their homes. According to Rebbeca Wilkomerson the goal in all these cases was to cleans a former Arab Neighborhoods of its Palestinian Arab inhabitants and replace them with militant extremist Jews. An article by Kobi Ben Simon who writes for Haaretz reports on one example that illustrates this phenomenon. Rabbi Eliyahu Mali a former resident of a West Bank settlement has established a Jewish religious school (yeshiva) in the Arab neighborhood of Ajami in Jaffa South of Tel Aviv within the 1967 boarders. Rabbi Mali explained in an article, “We have carried out a great project in the settlements for the past 30 years, but that now the struggle needs to be moved to a different place” He is now a prominent person in the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva in Jerusalem's old city. According to its Web site the institution, “is the spiritual focus for the return of Jews to their homes in the 'Moslem' quarter” This development worries Omar Siksek who has recently been elected to the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal counsel. Siksek explains, “There are a great number of synagogues in Jaffa and there was always mutual respect between religions here. But I do not want people who harbor extremist views living in my neighborhood, people who want to expel me from my home. While yeshiva students are moving into Jaffa, there are 500 demolition-and-evacuation orders pending against Arab residents, most of them in Ajami. That is a crazy paradox, which can only lead to disaster. For 60 years we have lived in coexistence. Why do we need this mess from Yesha [Judea-Samaria] now?” Even after he wins a seat in his municipal counsel he cannot smile. Dr. Elie Rekhess, who was editor the of study “mixed cities - comparative approach” (Hebrew, 2006) and research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Easter and African Studies at Tel Aviv apposes the establishment of the Jewish school in the Arab neighborhood. She says “The situation is highly volatile. A process in under way in which social and economic distress among the Arab public is colliding with a Jewish national – religious awakening”. She goes on to call it a “provocation” and “the new settlement, the 2008 model” She also says “The Jewish presence in the territories is already consolidated and now these same people are entering Arab neighborhoods and hoping to ensure that the state's Jewish character is preserved inside the green line. She also says, “A yeshiva like this in Jaffa does not create a basis for coexistence; on the contrary, when a rabbi from Beit El moves into the heart of an Arab neighborhood, that is a political act. He bears a very clear message.” Meital Lehavi who is a member of the Meretz party and sits on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal counsel says, “Very quietly without our noticing and under our noses, inflammatory core groups are strengthening their hold, and fanning hostility and suspicion between the Jewish and Arab population. I am not sure that city residents are aware of the move to Judaize Jaffa by Jewish 'Settlers' who undoubtedly consider themselves the successors of the generation of pioneers and those who drained the swamps” She goes on to say, “anyone who believes that he will succeed in undermining the stability of the ties between Jews and Arabs in Tel Aviv-Jaffa will discover he is wrong. Jaffa will not become a second Are. Residents of Tel Aviv-Jaffa will continue to reinforced the elements that unite and bind rather than those that divide. The Meretz party is a left leaning political party that tries to represent the Israeli peace movement in the Israeli government at the national level, municipal level and in other local bodies. Nadia Hilou who is in the labor party and chairs the mixed-cities lobby is very concerned about the ethnic tensions that have arisen in cities that have both Jewish and Arab populations living close to each other. She talks about a mother coming to her and relaying an experience the mother had with a Yashiva student where the Yeshiva student tells the mother, “We will remove you from here”. I myself saw a video where a Jewish settler child entered a Palestinian dwelling and through a rock as he yelled, “I will exterminate you” Another video showed a female settler telling a Palestinian woman to get back in her house and close the door. Later in the video, the female settler tells the Palestinian “sit here, in the cage”. The project to videotape abusive acts by Jewish settlers against Palestinians was spearheaded by B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group. Here are some links to videos showing abuse by Jewish settlers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJhjJPO5tuk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAqJO3zHKAU

<p>By D.P.</p> <p>Settlers are taking the strategies they used in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and using them in Arab neighborhood within Israel's 1967 boarders. We saw how they succeeded in the West Bank village of Hebron. This use to be an area that had a thriving Arab community. Now it is controlled by Israeli soldiers and only Jewish settlers are allowed to move freely. In the town of Acre which is within Israel's 1967 boarders where many Jewish settlers have resettled according to Rebecca Wilkomerson tension have really heated up recently. This year their were violent clashes between the Jewish and Arab population resulting in many Arab families being expelled from their homes and becoming homeless. The Jewish settlers that have moved into the East Jerusalem Neighborhood of Silwan have made a lot more progress in expelling the Palestinians from their homes so Jewish families can move into the homes in their place. The settler groups have used faulty archaeological research to get the state to intervene on their behalf. They have also used tactics of harassment to force the Arabs to leave their homes. According to Rebbeca Wilkomerson the goal in all these cases was to cleans a former Arab Neighborhoods of its Palestinian Arab inhabitants and replace them with militant extremist Jews.</p> <p>An article by Kobi Ben Simon who writes for Haaretz reports on one example that illustrates this phenomenon. Rabbi Eliyahu Mali a former resident of a West Bank settlement has established a Jewish religious school (yeshiva) in the Arab neighborhood of Ajami in Jaffa South of Tel Aviv within the 1967 boarders. Rabbi Mali explained in an article, “We have carried out a great project in the settlements for the past 30 years, but that now the struggle needs to be moved to a different place” He is now a prominent person in the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva in Jerusalem's old city. According to its Web site the institution, “is the spiritual focus for the return of Jews to their homes in the 'Moslem' quarter”</p> <p>This development worries Omar Siksek who has recently been elected to the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal counsel. Siksek explains, “There are a great number of synagogues in Jaffa and there was always mutual respect between religions here. But I do not want people who harbor extremist views living in my neighborhood, people who want to expel me from my home. While yeshiva students are moving into Jaffa, there are 500 demolition-and-evacuation orders pending against Arab residents, most of them in Ajami. That is a crazy paradox, which can only lead to disaster. For 60 years we have lived in coexistence. Why do we need this mess from Yesha [Judea-Samaria] now?” Even after he wins a seat in his municipal counsel he cannot smile.</p> <p>Dr. Elie Rekhess, who was editor the of study “mixed cities - comparative approach” (Hebrew, 2006) and research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Easter and African Studies at Tel Aviv apposes the establishment of the Jewish school in the Arab neighborhood. She says “The situation is highly volatile. A process in under way in which social and economic distress among the Arab public is colliding with a Jewish national – religious awakening”. She goes on to call it a “provocation” and “the new settlement, the 2008 model” She also says “The Jewish presence in the territories is already consolidated and now these same people are entering Arab neighborhoods and hoping to ensure that the state's Jewish character is preserved inside the green line. She also says, “A yeshiva like this in Jaffa does not create a basis for coexistence; on the contrary, when a rabbi from Beit El moves into the heart of an Arab neighborhood, that is a political act. He bears a very clear message.”</p> <p>Meital Lehavi who is a member of the Meretz party and sits on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal counsel says, “Very quietly without our noticing and under our noses, inflammatory core groups are strengthening their hold, and fanning hostility and suspicion between the Jewish and Arab population. I am not sure that city residents are aware of the move to Judaize Jaffa by Jewish 'Settlers' who undoubtedly consider themselves the successors of the generation of pioneers and those who drained the swamps” She goes on to say, “anyone who believes that he will succeed in undermining the stability of the ties between Jews and Arabs in Tel Aviv-Jaffa will discover he is wrong. Jaffa will not become a second Are. Residents of Tel Aviv-Jaffa will continue to reinforced the elements that unite and bind rather than those that divide. The Meretz party is a left leaning political party that tries to represent the Israeli peace movement in the Israeli government at the national level, municipal level and in other local bodies.</p> <p>Nadia Hilou who is in the labor party and chairs the mixed-cities lobby is very concerned about the ethnic tensions that have arisen in cities that have both Jewish and Arab populations living close to each other. She talks about a mother coming to her and relaying an experience the mother had with a Yashiva student where the Yeshiva student tells the mother, “We will remove you from here”. I myself saw a video where a Jewish settler child entered a Palestinian dwelling and through a rock as he yelled, “I will exterminate you” Another video showed a female settler telling a Palestinian woman to get back in her house and close the door. Later in the video, the female settler tells the Palestinian “sit here, in the cage”. The project to videotape abusive acts by Jewish settlers against Palestinians was spearheaded by B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group.</p> <p>Here are some links to videos showing abuse by Jewish settlers</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJhjJPO5tuk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJhjJPO5tuk</a><br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAqJO3zHKAU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAqJO3zHKAU</a></p>