Dimi Reider at +972mag, yet another report on the meaninglessness of the old Green Line in Israeli consciousness:
A poll conducted by our esteemed Dahlia Scheindlin (for ACRI’s Action a Day campaign) indicates a sweeping majority of Israelis – 63.5%, to be exact – think the Jordan valley is part of Israel; in other words, not part of the West Bank; or, in plain words, don’t understand why or how Israeli presence there is being called into question.
The special status of the valley in the Israeli collective consciousness is nothing new.
Israelis don’t see anything but what they want to. Bernard Avishai (TPM) highlights Uri Avnery’s great piece. It’s worth reading.
MRW
Link doesn’t seem to work!
Try this link:
link to zope.gush-shalom.org
Thanks edwin.
“The Jewish Republic of Israel”
….
Is it 63% of Israelis or Israeli Jews? I can’t see any 1948 Palestinians saying the Jordan Valley is Isghaeli and they are 20% of the population.
It’s the latter. Via Google translate:
It’s even worse than reported since only 18% knew the right answer. Funny, when we were traveling down Highway 90 and passed the checkpoint our guide gleefully said we were in the West Bank and see how peaceful it is. Of course, I didn’t find out about Area C and bypass roads until I came home. As an Israeli I could see how it feels like Israel when they vacation at the Dead Sea resorts since there are none of those pesky Palestinians to be seen. Since they are not allowed in the “West Bank” but can travel on the bypass roads, ergo the Jordan Valley is not the “West Bank”. This reveals the real purpose of the walls, make the Palestinians invisible. This in turn makes for no ethical dilemmas caused by those pesky facts and allows for a more comforting narrative that a great evil is not being done in their name. This is why names are important in constructing fantasy narratives. Judea and Samaria connotes Jewish ownership while the West Bank is the west bank of what river?
If it’s not occupied but part of Israel, perhaps those covetous Israelis would like to explain why there are millions of people who live there, and have lived there for generations, far longer than Israeli Jews, who are not citizens of the state they live in and are ruled by, and therefore are not granted any civil or human rights, and consequently are mere sport for IDF and settler gun crazy thugs.
“perhaps those covetous Israelis would like to explain why there are millions of people who live there, and have lived there for generations,”
It’s simple: to the Zionist, Palestinians aren’t people, aren’t human beings whose rights have to be respected. The Zionists share this trait with other infamous racists throughout history, such as white slaveholders and Nazis.
“It’s simple: to the Zionist, Palestinians aren’t people, aren’t human beings whose rights have to be respected. The Zionists share this trait with other infamous racists throughout history, such as white slaveholders and Nazis.”
How can you say that, Woody, when both “Guilty Feat” and “Clenchner” have disavowed this point of view? I mean, after they have offered their personal disavowal of these things, is it even right to bring them up? Or are you just trying to embarrass them? That’s not fair!
There is an important sidebar here. Take a look at satellite photographs of the Jordan Valley. North of the West Bank, in the stretch of the river valley to which Israel does have legal claim, there is a huge array of artificial ponds. Cross the border into the West Bank — more arid land, few if any such ponds. Likewise, cross the border from Israel to Jordan and there are like wise far fewer such ponds in Jordan.
Israel is draining away a huge percentage of the Jordan River’s water before it even flows into the border between Palestine and Jordan. The valley in Palestine remains an important source of new water flowing into the Jordan, but Israel is doing something it would call an act of war if done by Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan. Indeed, Israel has threatened Lebanon over Lebanese irrigation projects that would reduce water flow into Israel.
One could argue that a water war has been under way for over 40 years.
This is done through the so-called National Water Carrier. The pipe is so big you can walk in it standing up. So much water was diverted the Dead Sea split in two. Over the last 20 years the level of the Dead Sea dropped 25m.
No “one could argue” about it. The Zionists are like locusts in their consumption of the resources of Palestine.