Interviewed for a Christmas Story in Trouw

I was interviewed, by telephone, by Mella Fuchs for the Dutch newspaper, Trouw. Incidently, that paper is a bit famous amongst Israelis as way back on March 31, 1977, it published an interview with PLO Executive Committee member Zuhayr Muhsein (see below) with a remarkable admission about the existence of a "Palestinian people".

The headline of the story is "What would Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem have looked like in 2025?" with the Trouw correspondent speaking with residents along the route.

I will present my entire section and then make some comments.

"For Yisrael, it's relatively easy to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, he says. Unlike Palestinians (without an Israeli passport), he's allowed to cross the border between Israel and the West Bank. Entering Bethlehem itself is a different story: he needs special permission from Israel, unless he—a native American—poses as a tourist. Bethlehem is located in Area A.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, which were intended to lead to Palestinian self-government, the occupied West Bank was administratively divided into three zones. Area A (18 percent of the West Bank) is officially administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA). This does not mean the Israeli army remains absent; Jenin, for example, also falls under this zone. In Area B (22 percent), the PA and Israel share control. Area C (the remaining 60 percent) is entirely under Israeli authority. This division was intended as a temporary solution: power would gradually be transferred to the PA. But almost thirty years later, nothing has come of it.

The route Mary and Joseph have traveled thus far is one that Yisrael would never take. After all, it runs through Palestinian urban areas (mostly Areas A and B) in the north, around Jenin. Moreover, there are few settlements in that part of the West Bank. Settlers travel on their own roads, which are often directly connected to Israeli highways, such as Routes 55 and 5, and are (partially) prohibited to Palestinians.

Yisrael himself usually travels by hitchhiking, as he doesn't own a car. He only gets into cars with yellow license plates, avoiding green Palestinian ones. "That's the first check," he says. "The driver's accent is the second." In 2014, three hitchhiking Israeli boys in a settlement were kidnapped and killed by Hamas. "Since then, we've been very categorical," Yisrael says. "We don't get into cars that aren't driven by Jews."

According to Yisrael, the idea that settlers have their own road network is "propaganda" and that "apartheid" is a fabricated concept. But he also says he takes the bus to Jerusalem three times a week, where Palestinians are only allowed with special permits. And that he's never locked out of his settlement, while Palestinians are often confined to their towns or villages.

Yisrael doesn't find it strange that Palestinians have to pass through checkpoints constantly. "If I cross a border in Europe, I have to show my travel documents. There's no Palestinian state, but the principle is the same." Yisrael believes that the nearly 1,000 roadblocks within the West Bank are also necessary. "The army is looking for terrorists. It's not because they're trying to cause problems for people. Yes, they sometimes get stuck. But sometimes I also have to travel long distances to get somewhere."

Yisrael doesn't think it would be dangerous for Joseph and Mary to walk to the settlement where he lives. "They were Jewish, right? Then there wouldn't be any problems."

An overnight stay is likely necessary after traveling 35 kilometers from Nablus. In Shilo, there's a kosher winery, where Joseph might enjoy a glass, unless he were in solidarity with Mary. "We produce hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine a year and win gold medals in Europe," Yisrael says."

My comments:

a. "it's relatively easy to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, he says."

I actually said that it is not at all easy, as a Jew and an Israeli, or safe, as due to most of the route is from Jenin to Shiloh going through PA territory, I would be required to take a detour that would easily double the distance, and more, of the road length.

b. "They were Jewish, right? Then there wouldn't be any problems."

I had also said that at the time of the actual trek, the Romans were the occupiers of Judea and the family would perhaps have been feeling insecure, not to mention King Herod, the Jewish ruler, on the look out for them.

c. "Settlers travel on their own roads"

I specifically said that there are no "settler-only" roads and moreover, most of the traffic on Route 60, for example, was Arab traffic. There is no apartheid transportation phenomenon. Moreover, as noted in the article, most of the actual road kilometers in Judea & Samaria are prohibited for Israelis to travel along.

d. "The route Mary and Joseph have traveled thus far is one that Yisrael would never take."

I related to her that until the Oslo Accords of 1993, we indeed drove through much of the area. Bus 955 drove from Jerusalem to Afula (near Nazereth) straight through Ramallah and Shchem until the First Intifada [I maintain, as do the Arabs, that 1936-39 was the true first intifada] and its violence cause route changes.

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The words of Zuhayr Muhsein:

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

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Those "Apartheid Roads", Take Two

Over a decade ago, I tried to counter the propaganda line then popular hat there are "apartheid roads" in Judea and Samaria. I think this was my first blog attempt. I even brought a PowerPoint to show at Limmud UK on the theme and to disprove it.

Then in 2015, after the NYTimes' Roger Cohen spoke of Jews driving down highways in fancy cars while Arabs drive donkey carts, my friend Ezri Toubi did this.

And now, my friends Josh and Caleb Waller have done this fabulous clip.

But I am sure the pro-Pals will come up with some other theme soon.

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Danger: Olive-Picking Season

The explanation to this picture follows

It is now olive harvesting season and you have been reading, as you do every year, of attacks by Jews against the harvesters, or against the trees or the harvested crop. Some of the news is true. Some not. Some substantiated, some exaggerated, some made up. The Palestinian Authority has one man in charge of disseminating the "news", Ghassan Daghlas who "monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank".

He once was the source for the claim that settlers "burned over 300 cars".

As it is, it surely is dangerous during olive harvesting season.

In more ways than one.

For example, on Friday, I had to be at Ariel's Eshel HaShomron Hotel to address a group and passing along on Highway 60, I noticed many cars parked at the side of the road.  Many were even still on the paved section, being a traffic interference (see circled vehicle).

They belonged to olive harvesters.  Arabs harvesters.

I managed to snap the above photograph to illustrate the danger posed.

And you'll notice also the car in front.  PA license plates, i.e., no "apartheid roads".

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Rabbi Cosgrove's Educational Message

I had posted on March 30 at 3:15 PM a Facebook comment that reads so about this event:-

Stupid is as stupid does.

"Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue says that speaker after speaker at AIPAC said that Israel is not an apartheid state, but his own daughter squirmed and pointed out, If Palestinians can't vote, doesn't that make it an apartheid state?"

They can vote. For Palestinian elections. But Abbas won't hold them. Undemocratic Palestinian Authority, not apartheid Israel.

That comment originated from this post which related the Rabbi's words at this event.

Here:

My point was that this is a charge that is quite easily dismissed.  If the daughter was referring to Israel, which I do not think she was, it is a ridiculous charge.  One place to learn the truth, among many, is EOZ's posters.

My presumption, however, is that she was referring to the situation of Arabs in Judea and Samaria who live under a military government (surprise, so do the Jews) and cannot vote for that administration which, to an extent, is an outreach of Israel's government for which we Israelis do vote.  And that is why is added:

They can vote. For Palestinian elections. But Abbas won't hold them. Undemocratic Palestinian Authority, not apartheid Israel.

When was Abbas last elected to the position of President of the Palestinian Authority?

January 9, 2005.  That is, er, more than 11 years ago.

If she was referring to a charge of "apartheid roads", I ask the Rabbi to show her my post
and my video (explanation here).  And he should ask here: how come Jews are killed by Arab terrorists in drive-by shootings if the roads are prohibited to be driven on by Arabs?

David E Y Sarna‏ was quite upset and on Mar 31 tweeted to me:

No evidence Rabbi did not teach his daughter. Just your own lashon hara. Apologize to him.

I replied to the former entrepreneur, blogger and almost author:

You ask him (if he taught his daughter). If he did, let me know and I'll apologize. Have you asked him? I am waiting to apologize. Or not.

I am still waiting. 

In the meantime, I see that Rabbi Cosgrove, the Senior Rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue, Manhattan, back in December published this:

...far too often for far too many American Jews, we are left to wonder whether Israel loves us as much as we love Israel. We see an Israel that does not recognize the Judaism we practice...there is a moment, a moment in which we are living right now, that American Jewry’s historic reflexive support of Israel will no longer be a given.

American Jewry isn’t able to reconcile the dream of Israel as a liberal democracy and the death of the two-state solution; it is unable or unwilling to defend Israeli actions in the court of world or campus opinion. God help the person who criticizes a member of my family whom I love and loves me unconditionally, but for someone whose love for me is in question – well, that person, or in this case, that country will have to learn to fend for itself.

Is that the education he imparts to his family, not to mention his congregation?

If he would relay to me her email, I'll be in direct contact to assist her as to her concerns.


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UPDATE:


See also Caroline Glick:

Can we draw a line when seemingly mainstream leaders join the ranks of Shifrah and JVP in libeling Israel? Can we walk away from prominent American Jews who indicate that as far as they are concerned, Israel is a moral burden that they are having a hard time carrying because they believe – and propagate – slanders of Israeli society and of the IDF? Consider the case of Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove. Cosgrove is the rabbi of the toney Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue in New York.

Last week Cosgrove joined the radical chorus of voices advancing the Israel is Apartheid slander.

According to Mondoweiss, in an event at his synagogue following the AIPAC conference, Cosgrove spoke of his daughter’s uneasiness at the sound of speaker after speaker rejecting the false allegation that Israel is an apartheid state.

Cosgrove said that his daughter pointed to the fact that the Palestinians do not vote for the Knesset as proof that Israel is in fact apartheid.

As Yisrael Medad noted on his website, Cosgrove’s daughter’s statement was utter nonsense.

Why would Palestinians vote for the Knesset when they have the right to vote in the Palestinian elections? The Palestinian Authority, not Israel, is their governing body.

It isn’t Israel’s fault that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas has failed to hold an election since 2006.

The fact that Rabbi Cosgrove was unwilling to point this obvious truth out to his daughter, and indeed, the fact he thought her ignorant slur was worth repeating publicly and supportively to his congregants speaks volumes about his own anti-Israel prejudices.

Medad also noted that in an article in The Jerusalem Post last year, Cosgrove threatened Israel with a withdrawal of American Jewish communal support.

Cosgrove wrote, “American Jewry isn’t able to reconcile the dream of Israel as a liberal democracy and the death of the two-state solution; it is unable or unwilling to defend Israeli actions in the court of world or campus opinion.”

There is a straight line between Shifrah’s false claim that Israel needlessly and maliciously killed 2,300 Palestinians in Gaza in the 2014 war with Hamas and Cosgrove’s insinuations that Israel and its military actions are to blame for the absence of peace with the Palestinians.  Both are slanderous attacks against Israel. Their goal is not to cultivate a dialogue but to justify condemnations and opposition to Israel.

P.S.

And I again asked Sarna if Rabbi Cosgrove has denied, explained or admitted to his quoted words.  No reply still. ^ 

What 'Apartheid Roads'?

Spotted by me while on our bus home at the T-Junction, off of Highway 60 leading into Bet-El:

Notice the license plates

That looks like pluralistic traffic to me.

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Apartheid Road Evidence

"Apartheid Road" evidence, not.

Recently at the Adam Traffic Circle, where you turn into the community of Adam-Geva, and can continue west to Ramallah, east to Binyamin and further north to Kedumim and on:

You'll notice both Israeli and PA license plates and an Egged bus and trucks, all together on a road that some nasty people would wish you to believe to be an "apartheid road" in Judea and Samaria.

Don't believe them.

Read this sign and realize that there are roads that cannot be traveled in the area - by Jews.

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New "Apartheid Road" Video Clip

Watch and see the lie of the "apartheid roads reserved exclusively for the use of settlers":-

Highway 60, traveling north from Ofra to Shiloh.

Note the license plates of the vehicles in front and passing us.

Thanks to driver Shelly.

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The "Apartheid Roads" Clip Is Back

I was informed that a clip I had posted some two and a half years ago, showing that the claim of the existence of "apartheid roads" is patently false in that you saw Israeli-licensed cars and Palestinian Authority-licensed vehicles traveling on the same road was gone (how, I do not know).

So, here's a new one from today. that I shot:

DSCN1898 from Yisrael Medad on Vimeo.

Okay, it's too shaky and a bit amateurish, but I was in the backseat and this is what one gets.

Jews and non-Jews on the same road, Highway 60, from Shiloh towards Jerusalem.

If you watch closely, or stop the clip to check, you'll notice that the three cars in front of us have PA plates and half the cars passing us going north are also with PA plates.

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