Munther Fahmi
Today we received the email below from Munther Fahmi, the 57-year-old bookseller born in Jerusalem but stripped of his residency and threatened with deportation. We helped out Fahmi's petition drive last spring. So now Fahmi gets to stay in the city he was born in. We celebrate, but cannot help noting the savagery latent in this note.
My dear friends and supporters,
I am thrilled to announce that the Government of Israel has accepted the Israeli Supreme Court recommendation that my residency be reinstated. I have been granted 2 years' residence on the basis of a Jerusalem Identity Card, and pending good behavior, shall receive permanent residence thereafter.
I am deeply indebted to all of you and extremely grateful for your kind support during this year of particular uncertainty. There is still much work to be done for resolution in line with international law for the 130,000+ Palestinians whose residency has been revoked by the Government of Israel.
With Best Wishes,
Munther Fahmi
The Bookshop at The American Colony Hotel
“pending good behavior”
ie
- Singing Hatikva to each customer
- Providing a JNF donation box instead of a cash register
- Removing all books that do not comply with the Zionist narrative
- changing his name to Shlomo
If Israelis had the same patronising, contemptuous terms they would all have been expelled years ago. What do Israelis know about ‘good behaviour’ after what they put people like this through, people who were there long before them, and have done nothing except the outrageous crime of existing and being born to the wrong parents? I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they mysteriously find examples of ‘bad behaviour’ (existing, selling books?) not long before the end of the two years, and once the media spotlight has moved on. I hope not, but it would be in keeping with their Kafka-esque laws.
“and pending good behavior” Which would mean what. Shut up, roll over and bark?
Phil Andrea Mitchell provided open space on her program yesterday for Israel’s twisted views on Iran. She continues to help build the stage for an attack.
This past week Matthews brought Adelson, Israel several times.
There was an article on Slate on Adelson’s reasons for supporting Gingrich and they specifically mentioned Israel. I didn’t know he owns several media outlets in Israel. He’s like their Rupert Murdoch or something.
I didn’t know he owns several media outlets in Israel. He’s like their Rupert Murdoch or something.
Yes here is a link to the English language edition of Bibi’s media echo chamber. link to israelhayom.com
Imagine the US being invaded by Bulgaria and occupied for over 40 years and New Yorkers being told they could only stay in New York if they were loyal to the Bulgarian parliament. That is colonialism. The Navajo can explain it.
Pending good behavior = Arbeit macht frei?
RE: ” ‘Pending good behavior,’ authorities grant a bookseller the right to live in the city of his birth for 2 more years” ~ Weiss
MY SNARK: That’s “mighty white of them!”
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
When I last checked the American Colony Hotel was the preferred residence for foreign journalists in Jerusalem. (The history of the “American Colony” speaks volumes about the mid-19th century Christian Zionism that paved the way for Jewish Zionism – but that’s another story.) Munther Fahmi therefore is an exceptional case in his easy access – through the foreign journalist community – to the outside world.
And a two years conditional reprieve is the best we can do for him.
A couple of years ago, while visiting Jerusalem, I saw the ancient reservoir known variously as Lucas Banoream/Hamam el Batrak/Breikhat Hezkeyahu in the Old City’s Christian Quarter. The reservoir was disconnected from its water source in the mid-19th century. The open air reservoir is essentially a rectangular clearing supported on all sides by three story stone buildings. There is no public access to the reservoir floor. Even with the significant overcrowding in the Old City, the old reservoir was never built over because the floor was considered to unstable to support any structure.
This has changed in the last few years. I saw shacks going up inside the reservoir. The ground is still unstable but, as, I was told, were built by Jerusalem Palestinians desperate to stay in Jerusalem and retain their residency rights. As we well know, the Israeli government controls the entry of West Bank residents to Jerusalem and uses every excuse to strip Palestinians of their residency permits.
Munther Fahmi’s case is disturbing because the denial of the rights of a privileged Palestinian tells us of the abuse of the rights of all Palestinian Jerusalemites.
How totalitarian to make “good behavior” a prerequisite for anything.