In the interests of accuracy, an
addition to the information I provided last week on the excellent video "Israel
Inside": Tal Ben-Shahar did not generate the original idea for this
film -- although he did run with it once he was approached. The producer
of the film, Rafael Shore, conceptualized it and came to Tal with the
idea.
~~~~~~~~~~
As to that "start," I am referring
to a delay that was requested by the government on the demolition of Givat
Ha'Ulpana:
On instructions from the
government, the attorney general went to the High Court on Friday and
requested that the Court release the government from its pledge to demolish
housing in Ulpana this very week.
Before I proceed further, I want
to point out what we are seeing here: Just days ago, I was reading, from
multiple sources, that it would be impossible, or near-impossible, to
stop the demolition, because the Court had ordered it on the pledge of the
government. That was nonsense, as many of us understood. And what we
see now is how politicized this process is -- how much it is
a question of political will.
~~~~~~~~~~
What the attorney general told the
court was that the State wants to re-examine its policy that
automatically mandates the removal of all "unauthorized"
buildings on "private Palestinian land." Each case should be decided
separately, but as things stand now a decision regarding Ulpana impacts other
sites. "Other sites" that are most immediately pertinent are Givat
Assaf, which the government pledged to dismantle by July 1 and Amona, which is
slated to be dismantled by the end of the year. Migron, about which I've
written extensively, would likely also be affected.
~~~~~~~~~~
Each time I see reference to
"private Palestinian land," I have this great impulse to ask, "Seez who?"
This is another issue that is really politicized. We're not
talking about land that has documented ownership by a Palestinian Arab, but
rather situations in which ownership is unclear, or, worse, in which Jewish
ownership has been challenged -- situations in which sometimes land is
almost arbitrarily designated as "Palestinian." (There is
a convoluted history here that I will, perhaps, revisit.) In the
instance of Ulpana, the Beit El community claims ownership and this claim has
never been adequately examined in the courts.
~~~~~~~~~~
The government requested a
delay of 90 days; the Court has granted 60 days.
A matter to be followed
closely...
~~~~~~~~~~
Givat Asaf is a community of about
30 families that was established in 2001, in memory of Asaf Hershkovitz, who had
been killed by terrorists. Associated with the Beit El Local Council, in
Samaria, it is about 3 kilometers from Beit El.
(A note of correction here: Beit
El functions politically within its own Local Council and is not part of the
Binyamin Regional Council.)
Credit:
JPost
~~~~~~~~~~
Amona is part of the Binyamin
Regional Council of Samaria. On a hilltop that overlooks Ofra, it was
founded in 1997 by young people from that community. It was the site, six
years ago, of violent (obscene and shameful) police/IDF actions against
residents of the area, as action was taken to dismantle homes.
Credit:
Paulasays
There were some 30 families in
this community, and it has never been abandoned.
~~~~~~~~~~
I follow through here with
additional reports on attacks by Arabs.
Last Thursday was a day of
particular Arab unrest/violence precisely because it was Yom Ha'Atzmaut.
Outside of the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, there were two
incidents. In one -- in the valley of Hinnom -- members of a family were
attacked and required hospitalization; in another -- outside the Lion's Gate --
an 11 year old boy received injuries to his head.
Last night, in Hevron, in the
Beit Hadassah neighborhood, Arabs attacked a group of Jewish children in a
playground with rocks big enough to kill. The children escaped, but
residents noted "a sharp escalation in the size of the blocks thrown." The rocks were thrown
from the roofs of two vacant buildings into which Arab squatters have moved.
Those throwing the rocks ran away before the IDF arrived.
~~~~~~~~~~
During the day yesterday, a
Palestinian Arab was arrested at the Hawara checkpoint near Shechem (Nablus); he
was carrying two bombs. The night before, in Nablus, another Arab was
arrested by the IDF; he was carrying several improvised weapons, including
Molotov cocktails.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bad news. But why am I not
surprised?
From The Investigative Project on
Terrorism:
"In a major concession,
Obama administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to continue
a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if the government in Tehran
took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. The officials told the Los Angeles Times
they might agree to let Tehran continue enriching uranium up to concentrations
of 5% if the Iranian government agreed to unrestricted inspections, and strict
oversight and safeguards that the United Nations long has demanded. Iran has
begun enriching small amounts of uranium to 20% purity in February 2010 for what
it contends are peaceful purposes, although most of its stockpile is purified at
lower levels. Uranium can be used as bomb fuel at about 90% enrichment. The question of whether to approve even
low-level enrichment is highly controversial within the U.S. government and
among its allies because of the risk that Iranian scientists still might be able
to gain the knowledge and experience to someday build a
bomb…"
This definitely does not
meet PM Netanyahu's red line stipulations.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the very same time, security
specialists have reported to Congress that "Iran is recruiting a hacker army to
target the U.S. power grid, water systems and other vital infrastructure for a
cyberattack in a future confrontation with the United States." This was
reported by the Washington Times, which acquired the testimony to be
provided to Congress.
~~~~~~~~~~
Khaled Abu Toameh reported
yesterday that Fatah officials, who are feeling increased confidence as the
result of positive election results lately on Palestinian campuses and in
professional unions, have been encouraging Abbas to replace Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad (an independent) with someone from Fatah.
This is not an action that Abbas
would take lightly, however, because Fayyad is so heavily favored by the
international community. Reports I have read today indicate that Abbas and
Fayyad have met and "smoothed over" recent tensions.
~~~~~~~~~~
Fayyad (the "moderate"), for
his part has -- according to Ma'an -- voiced a pledge in Ramallah
to fight for the use of the PA curriculum in the 50 Arab schools run by the
municipality of Jerusalem.
This is actually a hot issue that
had many people tearing their hair out for a long time. For years, the
municipality and the government turned a blind eye while Palestinian Arab
students studying inside of Jerusalem were allowed to utilize PA-produced
textbooks, which promote jihad and give Israel no legitimacy.
In 2011, in a move that was long
overdue, the municipality set a stipulation that all schools in the city
that receive government funding would be permitted to use only textbooks prepared by the Jerusalem
Educational Administration, a joint body of the municipality and the Israeli
Ministry of Education.
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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