Contrary to what you may have been told, Israel is not conducting ethnic cleansing or the genocidal destruction of the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria. How can this be proved? Just look at the population statistics for the number of Arabs in the Territories (2.4 million). Even allowing for claims of PA double-counting, this still represents at least a two-fold increase in the numbers of Arabs in 1967. So if Israel was trying to eliminate these Arabs, they’re doing a pretty poor job of it. In any case, the Palestinian Authority rules in the West Bank Territories, and the Hamas terrorist organization runs Gaza.
So where does Israel really get involved? Since July 2010 I’ve been collecting individual items of news where Israel’s path crosses with that of the Palestinian Arabs. There were plenty of reports of violence, but I was astonished to discover over 60 positive news stories that never appeared anywhere except in the Israeli press. In this issue, I have just selected the areas that Israel has helped the Palestinian Arabs in providing Medical assistance.
In June this year, Israeli paramedics reported that they deliver at least one Palestinian Arab baby every single month. The Israeli organization “Save A Child’s Heart” announced that their surgeons perform nearly half their operations on Palestinian Arab children, whose parents can hardly believe it.
In May, when a delegation of senior physicians and medical technicians from the Palestinian Authority arrived for a study program at the Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, they were so impressed that their leader stressed that “Peace must begin among us.” And that was while Israeli Arabs elsewhere were demonstrating for “Nakba” day. In the Wolfson Hospital, SACH surgeons were busy treating seven children from the Palestinian Authority.
Back in March, it was “fun in the snow” when Israeli soldiers took Palestinian Arab children cancer sufferers and their families for a day-out, playing on Mount Hermon.
In February, brain surgery saved the life of a Gaza toddler. Surgeons at Rambam hospital in Haifa removed a tumor the size of a large orange. The hospital had treated 200 Gazans in the previous six months alone. In the same month, Israeli soldiers successfully delivered a baby boy in a military ambulance when his Palestinian Arab mother went into labor in the Jordan valley. They then performed CPR to save his life.
In November, the IDF announced that 180,000 Arabs from the Palestinian-controlled territories had been treated at Israeli hospitals during the previous 12 months. One of those was a baby from Gaza who suffered from a life-threatening genetic disorder. An Israeli documentary about the baby entitled Precious Life was short-listed for an Academy award.
In October, I learned that there are 325 million Arabs in 22 Middle Eastern countries and other lands. Those statistics are available in many Internet sites, but none would have given me the following information. The first, and so far only, registry for potential unrelated Arab donors of bone marrow or stem cells – which have the ability to cure cancers and other serious disorders – is at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.
Back in July last year, when I started my mini-project, I read that Rami Hariziat Hassan, a 20-year-old Palestinian shepherd was saved by Border Police officers after being bitten by a viper on Sunday night. His friend Raja Talam Va’ada said ‘Suddenly, a snake bit him on the foot. We rushed to a local checkpoint and asked the soldiers for help. They really helped us,’ adding ‘He nearly died. He wasn’t breathing.’ We want to thank everyone – the border policemen and the hospital doctors,’ Va’ada said. ‘Well done to everyone.’ Before Hassan was released from the hospital, Border Police officers came to check on his condition and bring him candy (sweets).
Finally, here perhaps are some surprising statistics. Infant mortality in Gaza is 17.7 per thousand whereas in Turkey it is 24.8. Life expectancy figures are also better in Gaza. So maybe those so-called “aid flotillas” should be seeking a new destination.
Look how Israel treats the Palestinian Arabs: Part 2
I was astonished to discover over 60 positive news stories since July 2010 that never appeared anywhere except in the Israeli press. In this issue, I have just selected the areas that Israel has worked to bring environmental and economic assistance to the Palestinian Arabs.
In the Middle East, water is sometimes more important than blood. In Arab-Israeli peace talks, a whole track is devoted to the issue of fair distribution of water rights. Prior to the six-day war in 1967, most Arabs living in Judea and Samaria had no main water as Jordan was uninterested in providing them access to this vital resource. By 1991, 210 Arab towns in the territories had been connected to a running water system and Israel had transformed their farming using modern irrigation techniques. Just last month (June), Israelis, Palestinian Arabs and Jordanians built EcoCentres to make the most of scarce water supplies. Students from Israel, the PA, Malta, Lebanon, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Turkey and the UK are working together currently on a project to protect their unique shared ecosystem.
In an effort to reduce the ‘bitterness’ of any water dispute, Israel ran a weeklong seminar in February to educate thirty participants from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on desalination technologies, covering design, operation and maintenance of water desalination plants. Since October, scientists from Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been working together to improve water purification for the region and beyond. And since December, Israel and the PA have been working together on a project to clean up sewage in Jordan Valley. Things have been working so well that in August the Arab-Israeli Eco group (Friends of the Earth Middle East) won the “Intercultural Dialogue for Ecological Sustainability” award. The group consisting of Jordanian, Palestinian Arabs, and Israeli environmentalists seeks to advance “sustainable regional development and the creation of necessary conditions for lasting peace in our region.”
Turning to economic growth, despite the signing of the agreement between Fatah and the Hamas terrorist organization, Israel continues to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority and to help it prosper. When Arabs work for Israelis, their employers are recognized as the best compared to every alternative. This research reportwas produced by the Palestinian Arab news agency. Palestinian Arabs have one of the world’s highest percentages of home ownership – over 80% - even in Gaza. Again, these are the PA’s own figures. Improved relations have led to an economic boom in the territories, with growth estimated at an annual rate of 8 percent. Ramallah’s construction boom is one of the most obvious signs of this benefit.
In a specific example of co-operation, in the Palestinian Authority controlled city of Hebron – where the world’s media only ever reports conflict – the Israeli Kibbutz Afikim has used its world-leading technology to build a dairy farm for the Arabs. This will combat the milk shortage in the Palestinian Authority. At an international agricultural fair in Tel Aviv in March, some 400 Palestinian Arab farmers joined thousands of Israelis and received help from Israeli farming innovations. The cooperation has extended into the hi-tech arena. Palestinian Arab software engineers at Asal Technologies in Ramallah are coding software as outsourcers for an Israeli life sciences software firm.
In Gaza, its Hamas terrorist rulers stifle co-operation, however despite this, Israel transfers 15,000 tons ofsupplies to Gaza every week. In two months Israel transferred 133 million liters of fuel to Gaza – enough to power every car and truck in Israel! Read this about medical aid. There are no construction problems either. In June, Israel approved the delivery of $100 million of materials needed to build 1,200 new homes and 18 new schools in Gaza. As a Sudanese official stated in the Palestinian Arab press before the first flotilla “Where is the siege? I don't see it in Gaza. I wish Sudan's residents could live under the conditions of the Gazan siege.”
Finally, an Israeli plastics factory employs 50% Israelis and 50% Palestinian Arabs to manufacture (among other things) toilet seats. It gives another meaning to “low-level co-operation.” Perhaps the intransigent PA could learn from them and discover the secret of how to sit down to peace talks!
In the final part of this series, you will see some of the examples of where Israelis and Palestinian Arabs get together outside of the working environment; plus some facts about co-existence that you may be unaware of.
Look how Israel treats the Palestinian Arabs: Part 3
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I was astonished to discover over 60 positive news stories since July 2010 that never appeared anywhere except in the Israeli press. In this final part, I have selected some of the stories where Israelis and Palestinian Arabs get together outside of the working environment; plus some facts about co-existence that you may be unaware of.
Israelis are mad about sports and they are keen to mix together with their neighbors on the playing field. In May, a team of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs were narrowly beaten by an ex-pat Aussie team in a practice for the Australian Rules International Football Cup later this year. In September, a Jerusalem team of Israelis and Palestinian Arabs put aside their differences and teamed up to compete in Israel’s amateur American tackle football league. By March there were two teams, each containing both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, that battled out the final of Israel Bowl 1V. Israel's first NBA player, Omri Casspi, ran a basketball clinic for 100 Israeli and Palestinian Arab children in the annual event of the Twinned Peace Basketball Schools project. Whilst on the subject of sports, it is interesting to point out that in February, in the Palestinian territories, Arab womencelebrated the inauguration of the new women’s football league.
Turning to culture, in November there was a groundbreaking exhibition of selected paintings by 120 Israeli and Palestinian Arab children in the foyer of the Allsaraya Arabic-Hebrew theatre in Jaffa. In education, Ariel University may be over the “green line” and boycotted by biased academics, but Ariel University is extremely popular with hundreds of Arab students. Joana Moussa, a 20-year-old behavioral sciences student from Abu Snan, an Arab village in the Galilee region, said “there is no racism here.”
In entertainment, an Israeli company has launched an Arab talent show. Yagur Studios in Haifa is responsible for the Palestinian Arab equivalent of “A Star is Born” and “X-factor.” The program is even shown live on Saudi Arabian TV.
Shopping is a more serious business, however a wonderful supermarket has opened in the territories, thrilling both Israeli and Arab shoppers. Palestinian Arab families and Israeli "settlers" mingle in the aisles - one checkout cashier was a Jewish woman from Kiryat Arba of Moroccan descent; on the cash register next to her was a blue-eyed Muslim woman from Halul, and on another register was a member of the Bnei Menashe tribe from India.
Of course, Israel is completely supportive of the religious traditions of Palestinian Arabs. So it was natural that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat wanted to wish the Muslim residents of the capital, across Israel and throughout the world a "Ramadan Kareem" last year. He fired-off a cannon heralding the end of the day's fast at the ancient Salah al-Din cemetery in east Jerusalem. Note that when other countries abandoned its citizens living in Libya, Israel allowed 300 ex-pat Palestinian Arabs to return to the territories following a request from Mahmoud Abbas
When it comes to relaxation, Israelis and Palestinian Arabs are happy to let their hair down together. At the annual Oktoberfest beer festival in the Palestinian Arab village of Taybeh, Israeli Jews joined Christian Arabs to ‘check’ the merchandise.
The Peres Center for Peace marked the International Day of Peace with events at the Peres Peace House on Jaffa beach. Hundreds of Israeli Jewish and Arab families, children and young people, as well as Palestinian Arab families attended the events, which was open to the general public, free of charge. Finally, there was a big splash at Kalkilya zoo. Arab and Israeli vets navigated a six-year old 1.5-ton hippo into its new home in the Palestinian Arab city.
These news stories do not follow the standard perception that Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews will always have a violent relationship. It backs up those who say that once PA leaders stop their belligerence there can be peace between our peoples. It supports PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s admission in an Arabic interview, that his family was forced to flee in 1948 due to threats by Arab leaders. Jews were not responsible.
So it explains whyArab residents of east Jerusalem are lining up to request Israeli citizenship. And why a poll of east Jerusalem Arabs, conducted by a joint American / Palestinian Arab organization came out against PA control of east Jerusalem, preferring Israel to retain control. In fact many Palestinian Arabs view Israel very favorablywhen compared to Arab states. They know that Israel is the best country in the Middle East for Palestinian Arabs.
Dubai journalist Maisun Azzam declared that ‘Ramallah is like Europe’ and that the world’s media has completely distorted the image of life for Palestinian Arabs. She admitted that bad news is newsworthy, but good news isn’t. Now where have we heard that before?
