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| Anti Israel activists of New Israel Fund in Tag Meir "as an orthodox jew"mode |
The Jerusalem Post used to be a paper
with reports that one could trust were factual and written by those
who had Israel's interests at heart, even if their views were critical and left of
centre. Plurality of opinion is of course important in the Jewish State's newspaper of record. However you would not in the past find arab propaganda
masquerading as genuine reports in the Jerusalem Post. That is no longer the case.
JP publishes a plethora of syndicated material from organizations such as Reuters placed without comment as
written. They are overwhelmingly written from a pro palestinian
and anti Israel viewpoint. Such articles fill space but are
inappropriate in a newspaper that is broadly pro Israel.
In the last couple of days two such items of planted propaganda have
appeared in the Post. One was initiated by the NIF under its false flag
identity as 'Tag Meir', having purported 'orthodox jews' provide the rabidly anti-Israel and terror excusing Fransciscans with a mea culpa. They accepted on behalf of the wider jewish community that the latest daubings on the Dormition Abbey were the work of jews and went to grab a photo oppotunity for their anti-Israel cause. Journalist Jeremy Sharon might have thought twice about allowing himself to be used as a 'useful idiot' by the NIF.
The latest piece of propaganda was written by no 'useful idiot' but a veteran anti-Israel activist journalist Linda Gradstein attacking Israel's intention to extend the security barrier
crossing the arab village which is near to the jewish village of Beitar.
That enemy citizens are upset by the project is obvious. Anything that gets in the way of destroying Israel is for them to be condemned. Gradstein does not acknowledge the terror aspect whereby from 2001 until the barrier was built thousands of Israeli civilians were being blasted apart by arab bombs placed in markets, hotels, coffee bars and night clubs, even a passover celebration for pensioners. No mention is made of the hundreds of attempted attacks on Israelis every month from Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. In Gradstein's article terror is mentioned in passing, by a suffering arab to negate this argument:
“It will be a prison here,” he says angrily. “The Israelis want me to leave my land but I refuse to. They say it’s for security – what security do they need here?” He said that in the past ten years there has been one terror attack in the area.And when referring to an IDF statement Gradstein mentions only the relatively anodyne "Palestinian attackers" who could be anyone, stone throwers as seen on TV. The really lethal knifings and pipe bombing attacks which are constantly being prevented she does not mention.
This argument about no attacks at the moment is the same argument detractors used against France's after World War I building the defensive Maginot line to prevent new German aggression. Of course the attacks came, but the Linda Gradsteins of those days had made sure that the line was useless. For diplomatic reasons the Line was not extended along the Belgian border. The Germans just went around it in the north.
And the reason why there has only been one successful attack from the Battir area for a while with no security barrier there is that Israel has maintained heightened security precautions and patrols to make up for the lack of one. That only one attack on Israel succeeded is testimony to IDF vigilance and operations, not its arab enemies lack of will to perpetrate them.
The barrier has been slowly erected as
an answer to the massive wave of suicide bombing from 2001 onwards.
Along with Operation Defensive Shield the barrier has helped defeat
the infiltration of suicide bombers into Israel from Palestinian
Authority controlled territories.
Instead Linda Gradstein dedicates her
article explaining how arabs will be affected, depicting arabs as
indigenous inhabitants whose 'ancient farming traditions' are under
threat. She goes into overdrive when describing Palestinian arabs as
having a 2,000 year history. The overwhelming number of arabs are
not indigenous but newcomers to the land, witness there being no palestinian arab family having as
surname 'Palestini'. There are however many surnames denoting foreign
origin such as Masri (Egyptian) and Shamsy (Damascene).
“Israel intends to construct barrier through the village of Battir, which some fear could end ancient farming traditions.West Bank barrier in Battir Photo: Linda Gradstein/The Media LineBATTIR - Water from natural springs burbles in the ancient Roman stone aqueduct as it carries water downward to this village’s ancient terraces. Palestinian families grow olives, cabbage and eggplant today the same way they did more than 2,000 years ago.”
Gradstein repeats all the tropes about
vineyards and olive groves and even of ancient terraces tended by
their loving and caring indigenous people, the palestinians of
course. She can not resist bringing in the word 'apartheid' in
relation to the barrier even though the BBC itself no friend of Israel is nowadays wary of using
this disgusting term that in no way applies to Israel or the security barrier.
Gradstein is not an unknown journalist.
She has a record of misreporting events with thinly disguised attacks
on Israel.
So the question is, why does the
Jerusalem Post post articles by this journalist working as propagandist for
arabs?
Jewish advertisers should begin to
think about supporting sites such as Arutz 7 (admittedly sometimes
something of a belts and braces affair), or Israel Hayom rather than
the Jerusalem Post.
Even Ynetnews seems better than the
constant spoon feeding of arab propaganda now dished up by the JP.
Understanding that arabs and all
minorities have rights in Israel is one thing, and which I support
(as long as they do not participate in terror attacks or inflammatory
propaganda against Israel such as that of the Northern Islamic group
of islamists led by Raed Saleh), but journalists such as Gradstein knowingly peddling
deceptive enemy propaganda (both of the above journalists are not
innocents abroad, they know the issues) in order to gain enemy coin
should mean that they are not welcome in loyal Israeli publications.
I would much rather read the odd article by
Raed Saleh, Abu Hamza or Tewfik Toubi in the Jerusalem Post than articles by dishonest journalists. At
least then we know who we are dealing with, whether their arguments are valid or not.
With the publishing of an NIF anti-Israel attack in league with the rabidly anti-Israel Catholic Franciscan Order means that the JP has crossed the line.
------------
West Bank barrier could damage Roman Aqueduct
10/06/2012 09:07
BATTIR - Water from natural springs burbles in the ancient Roman
stone aqueduct as it carries water downward to this village’s ancient terraces.
Palestinian families grow olives, cabbage and eggplant today the same way they
did more than 2,000 years ago.
“Each family here gets water one day a week, but the week lasts eight days since there are eight families,” Kayan Manasra, the Palestinian Coordinator of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian NGO, told The Media Line.
“There are 13 springs and seven are still in use. We farm here the same way we are doing for thousands of years.”
Battir, with its 6,000 residents is in Area B of the West Bank, meaning that Palestinians provide municipal services such as garbage pickup but Israel is responsible for security.
Most crops are grown on terraces -- small plots surrounded by stone walls on the slopes of the hill. Conservationists say the farming methods are the same as those used in ancient times. Residents here are hoping that the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will designate the village a World Heritage Site. Earlier this year, UNESCO gave Battir the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes.
Battir also has a Jewish connection. Once a Jewish village, it was the site of the defeat of a Jewish revolt against the Romans led by Bar Kokhba in the Second Century. Archaeological artifacts show the site was inhabited since the Iron Age. Today, some 4,000 residents live mostly by farming.
Now, they fear that Israel is about to construct the barrier it is building in and around the West Bank right through the village lands, which some fear could end this way of farming.
“The barrier will disconnect part of the farming lands from their owners and disturb the landscape,” Gilat Bartana of FOEME, told The Media Line. “An appeal against the barrier was rejected so building could start anytime soon.”
Building the barrier has already begun in the neighboring village of Wallaje. The Israeli Supreme Court rejected several appeals and the planned route of the barrier will completely surround the village. Omar Hajableh, 47, told The Media Line that the barrier will run very close to his house on the outskirts of the village. He says he will not be able to reach his 450 olive trees.
“It will be a prison here,” he says angrily. “The Israelis want me to leave my land but I refuse to. They say it’s for security – what security do they need here?” He said that in the past ten years there has been one terror attack in the area. Hajableh also said that Israeli officials told him would build a special agricultural gate in the barrier to enable him to reach his farmland. Hajableh says this is not a solution.
“They said I can cross in twice a year to farm my land,” he said. “I work alone. I can’t take care of even one tree, let alone 450. They are simply trying to find a way to take the land.”
Israeli officials defend the route of the separation barrier, which Israel calls a “security fence” and Palestinians an “apartheid wall.”
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the route of the barrier is based only on security considerations and Israel tries to minimize the damage to the Palestinians. They say the numbers speak for itself, that the construction of the barrier has made a major contribution to Israel’s security, and that Palestinian attackers have not been able to enter Israel since it was erected. The barrier costs an estimated $1.4 million dollars per mile to build. Some 90 percent of it is a fence with trenches on both sides, while ten percent, in heavily populated areas, is a 26-foot high concrete barricade.
Part of the barrier runs along the so-called “Green Line”, the demarcation line between Israel and the West Bank that was agreed to in the 1949 armistice agreements, but part also dips into the West Bank. The Israeli human rights group B’tselem says the barrier effectively annexes 8.5 percent of the West Bank to Israel, by keeping that land on the Israeli side of the barrier.
Back in Battir, the view from the top of the hill is breathtaking. A donkey ambles by, led by a farmer on the way to his plot. Palestinians here say they fear that the Israeli bulldozers will come, and permanently change their way of life.
“Each family here gets water one day a week, but the week lasts eight days since there are eight families,” Kayan Manasra, the Palestinian Coordinator of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian NGO, told The Media Line.
“There are 13 springs and seven are still in use. We farm here the same way we are doing for thousands of years.”
Battir, with its 6,000 residents is in Area B of the West Bank, meaning that Palestinians provide municipal services such as garbage pickup but Israel is responsible for security.
Most crops are grown on terraces -- small plots surrounded by stone walls on the slopes of the hill. Conservationists say the farming methods are the same as those used in ancient times. Residents here are hoping that the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will designate the village a World Heritage Site. Earlier this year, UNESCO gave Battir the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes.
Battir also has a Jewish connection. Once a Jewish village, it was the site of the defeat of a Jewish revolt against the Romans led by Bar Kokhba in the Second Century. Archaeological artifacts show the site was inhabited since the Iron Age. Today, some 4,000 residents live mostly by farming.
Now, they fear that Israel is about to construct the barrier it is building in and around the West Bank right through the village lands, which some fear could end this way of farming.
“The barrier will disconnect part of the farming lands from their owners and disturb the landscape,” Gilat Bartana of FOEME, told The Media Line. “An appeal against the barrier was rejected so building could start anytime soon.”
Building the barrier has already begun in the neighboring village of Wallaje. The Israeli Supreme Court rejected several appeals and the planned route of the barrier will completely surround the village. Omar Hajableh, 47, told The Media Line that the barrier will run very close to his house on the outskirts of the village. He says he will not be able to reach his 450 olive trees.
“It will be a prison here,” he says angrily. “The Israelis want me to leave my land but I refuse to. They say it’s for security – what security do they need here?” He said that in the past ten years there has been one terror attack in the area. Hajableh also said that Israeli officials told him would build a special agricultural gate in the barrier to enable him to reach his farmland. Hajableh says this is not a solution.
“They said I can cross in twice a year to farm my land,” he said. “I work alone. I can’t take care of even one tree, let alone 450. They are simply trying to find a way to take the land.”
Israeli officials defend the route of the separation barrier, which Israel calls a “security fence” and Palestinians an “apartheid wall.”
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the route of the barrier is based only on security considerations and Israel tries to minimize the damage to the Palestinians. They say the numbers speak for itself, that the construction of the barrier has made a major contribution to Israel’s security, and that Palestinian attackers have not been able to enter Israel since it was erected. The barrier costs an estimated $1.4 million dollars per mile to build. Some 90 percent of it is a fence with trenches on both sides, while ten percent, in heavily populated areas, is a 26-foot high concrete barricade.
Part of the barrier runs along the so-called “Green Line”, the demarcation line between Israel and the West Bank that was agreed to in the 1949 armistice agreements, but part also dips into the West Bank. The Israeli human rights group B’tselem says the barrier effectively annexes 8.5 percent of the West Bank to Israel, by keeping that land on the Israeli side of the barrier.
Back in Battir, the view from the top of the hill is breathtaking. A donkey ambles by, led by a farmer on the way to his plot. Palestinians here say they fear that the Israeli bulldozers will come, and permanently change their way of life.
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