Travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem isn't what it used to be

Picture from Facebook - Neil Le Roux

Joseph traveled from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David. He made the trip of about 65 miles with Mary. The trip was probably long and arduous, but they reached their destination.

Luckily, they lived before the modern state of Israel decided that Palestinians cannot move freely in their own land. Today that journey would be very different.

Even the three kings would not be able to present their gifts today. Where are today's wise men? Why can't they bring the gift of peace to the Holy Land?

Picture from Facebook - Irfan Iqbal

Checkpoint Kalandia - Now even bigger

Checkpoint Kalandia, my next novel, may be set a decade ago, but the problems the family face continue today. Kalandia is one of the major checkpoints on the West Bank. It is now a permanent fixture that looks more and more like the entrance to a maximum security prison every year.

Today a Palestinian broke through a checkpoint near Jerusalem. He injured two guards slightly, and the ensuing gunfire failed to stop him. That’s all the news article in the Jerusalem Post says. (http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Palestinian-breaks-through-checkpoint-near-Jerusalem-injuring-2-security-guards-332243).

I wonder what drove the man to run through the checkpoint. What made him so anxious to get to the other side that he was willing to risk his life to get there? Does he have family on the other side? Maybe a sick mother or grandmother?

   Or was it something else entirely—was he at a point where the idea of facing one more checkpoint, one more humiliating experience of being patted down asked to raise his shirt to show his skin, and asked countless meaningless questions just too much for him? Was this act a scream of desperation and despair?
   This is life, not a novel, so we will never know what prompted his actions. We will never share his inner thoughts. We can only imagine what it feels like to live in what may be characterized as the world’s largest prison. No, maybe not. In a prison the prisoners are fed, sheltered, and in most countries given medical care.

There is a very good blog describing a trip through the Qalandia Checkpoint by an American photojournalist. The photos are striking, and the narrative is entertaining. http://holylanddispatches.blogspot.com/2009/06/military-checkpoint-is-one-of-most-well.html

Perhaps you noticed that the spelling is not consistent in this blog or across the internet. The reason is that when words are transliterated from one alphabet to another, the spelling is interpreted by the person doing the transliteration. I use Kalandia, but Qalandia is probably the most common spelling.

The video below is one of the best portrayal of the checkpoint I have seen. It chronicles the history of the checkpoint from temporary to permanent with increasingly restrictive layers of security.

Apartheid—it’s so last century

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article giving the results of a survey conducted on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.  The original headline for the piece was “Most Israelis support an apartheid regime in Israel,” but a search for it today yielded a headline “Survey: Most Israeli Jews wouldn’t give Palestinians vote if West Bank was annexed.”  Under the new headline was a note that supposedly explained what they now consider a headline which “did not accurately reflect the findings” of the poll.  http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/survey-most-israeli-jews-wouldn-t-give-palestinians-vote-if-west-bank-was-annexed.premium-1.471644?block=true

They didn’t say what they called the situation, if not apartheid. 

“The Palestinian minority in Israel: Systematic Discrimination” is the headline of an article in Qantara.de, a German based website.  http://en.qantara.de/Systematic-Discrimination/19419c497/index.html  The article goes on to say:

The Israeli government and its advocacy groups like to boast of the country's supposed democratic, multicultural way of life. In reality, Palestinians in Israel experience systematic discrimination in such a way that calls into question the validity of the "Jewish and democratic" formulation. By Ben White

It has been received wisdom in the West for decades to see Israel as "the only democracy in the Middle East". In recent times, however, Israeli policies have been subject to increased criticism, particularly in Europe – and specifically in terms of military action in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the territories occupied since 1967.

Unfortunately, criticism does not seem to have any effect on the actions of the Israeli government.  As a recent (October 31, 2012) article posted by Stop the War Coalition in the UK says, “The facts speak for themselves:  Israel is an apartheid state.”  The article has links to official UN documents stating the official definition of apartheid, and gives additional information of facts on the ground that support the headlines. http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/palestine-and-israel/1992-the-facts-speak-for-themselves-israel-is-an-apartheid-state%20

 

Separate But Equal—never happened, never will

Back in the days of my youth (yes, I’m that old) bus stations in the southern part of the United States had four bathrooms and two water fountains.  Today my adult children look at me with puzzled expressions on their faces at the idea of segregation.  I might as well be telling them stories about dragons and sea monsters.  I like that.

Yes, I know that racism is still rampant in this country, but now there are so many issues on which to discriminate that any halfway decent bigot can get up a good rant without breaking a sweat.  I’m not even sure race is at the top of the list any more.  Abortion, sexual preference, religion, political preference... the list goes on and on.

The point I’m trying to make here is that we have made progress in this country.  We’re far from perfect, but we’re working on it.  The "Christians Only" sign, posted in the United States, was not dated, although the blogger said that until the late 1960's Jews were still being discriminated against in many places in the southern United States.  http://attendingtheworld.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/blacks-chinese-japanese-blacks-jews-muslims-whos-next/

Racist groups, cults, fanatics, skinheads, etc. do exist in this country and in many other countries, but most people agree that it brings shame on the country and we must continually fight against it.  It is NOT legally sanctioned; it is NOT national policy.

Apartheid is alive and well and living in Israel.

Earlier this year, Israeli courts upheld a controversial marriage law that bans Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs from obtaining Israeli citizenship or even residency rights.  Quoting ABC News:

Under current Israeli law, when an Arab Israeli marries a Palestinian they either live apart or must move to another country to live together long-term.

Various human rights groups challenged the law in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it violates the rights of Palestinian spouses to a proper family life.

But the court has ruled that human rights cannot override Israel's security concerns, with one judge writing that: "Human rights are not a prescription for national suicide."

Human rights groups have attacked the court decision, and accused the court of stamping its approval on a racist law that will harm the lives of families whose only sin is the Palestinian blood that runs in their veins.

"It is a dark day for the protection of human rights and for the Israeli Supreme Court," attorneys Dan Yakir and Oded Feller from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in a statement.   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-13/israeli-court-upholds-controversial-marriage-law/3770458

Reading about a law is very different from reading about an individual whose life has been changed by the law. A wonderful op-ed piece in the New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/opinion/not-all-israeli-citizens-are-equal.html?_r=1tells of a couple who are self-exiled to the United States—far from their respective families because the law prevents them from living in the husband’s home.

This makes me wonder what would happen (Heaven forbid!) if a non-Arab Israeli citizen married a non-Israeli Palestinian. Would the same law apply? Maybe one of my readers can find an answer.