What Israeli settlement bus routes teach us about the occupation

by on July 13, 2012 30
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Below is the new map from Visualizing Palestine. This simple bus map shows how connected both sides of the green line actually are. From the map it’s clear the path of the separation wall is meant as an annexation line and the bus routes clearly delineate how the the Israeli-only roads in the occupied territories are used to seamlessly connect the settlements with Israeli cities west of the wall. A few weeks ago Michael Freund celebrated the settlement enterprise in the Jerusalem Post by exclaiming, “kiss the Green Line goodbye.” This map shows you why.

Sam Bahour comments on the Visualizing Palestine site how the map also implicates the Israeli government:

Speaks volumes about how the settlement enterprise thrives from Israeli state services…settlement products are one thing, but Israeli services to settlements are the EXACT same thing!

(Click on the image below to view it larger.)

West Bank bus map

About Adam Horowitz

Adam Horowitz is Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation

{ 30 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. seafoid says:
    July 13, 2012 at 11:00 am

    Apartheid is when Jews in the West Bank have buses to Jerusalem and non Jews are not even allowed into Jerusalem.

    There is some great graphic and video work coming out of Palestine these days.

    • mondonut says:
      July 13, 2012 at 1:38 pm

      Did you mean to say “Israelis in the West Bank have buses to Jerusalem…”? And I believe that 100s of thousands non Jews are allowed into Jerusalem.

      So apartheid is when Israelis have buses to Jerusalem and non-Israelis do not.

    • Fredblogs says:
      July 13, 2012 at 2:37 pm

      It could have something to do with all the times Palestinians have blown up civilian buses.

      • Woody Tanaka says:
        July 13, 2012 at 3:01 pm

        “It could have something to do with all the times Palestinians have blown up civilian buses.”

        And how bad have you people oppressed them to drive them to want to blow up your buses? Normal people would have said, “Hmmm, maybe we should not treat them as badly as we do and steal their land and murder their children.” But not you zios.

        • Dexter says:
          July 13, 2012 at 3:41 pm

          These are not his people Woody. Fredblogs is an American, and has been brainwashed to believe that Israelis are “his” people.

          This guy is not different than the 19 hijackers of 9-11: weakminded and easily manipulated.

      • edwin says:
        July 13, 2012 at 3:03 pm

        A bomb attack at Damascus gate at 12.40 yesterday morning resulted in the deaths of 15 Arabs and injuries to about 50 more. (…) Riding in a green taxi, three Jews –two of them reportedly wearing tarbushes– dashed past the Arab National Guard at the New Gate, continued down Suleiman’s Way and tossed out a bomb near the bus station. The streets, crowded with Arabs waiting for buses to all parts of the country, were turned into a shambles.

        link to thehasbarabuster.blogspot.ca

        he attack on a Palestinian civilian bus travelling from Haifa to Acre on 5 January 1948, proves that Zionist terrorists are a different “kind of people” than the rest of us (1)…

        …Likewise, the Zionist terrorists who attacked the Hebron bus on the Jerusalem Road seven days after that, wounding one Palestinian (1);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.5 bus in Elijah Street, Haifa, three days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding eight others (1);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.4 bus to Haifa the same day, wounding four Palestinians (1);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked an Arab bus entering Jerusalem two days later, killing one Palestinian (1);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who ambushed farm labourers riding a passenger truck to work in Yazur five days later, killing three Palestinians and wounding twelve (1);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who bombed the Ramle bus as it made a stop at As Safiriya three days later, killing one and wounding two Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the No.22 bus on the Bethlehem Road to Jerusalem the following day (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus to Jaffa near Miqve Israel two days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding three others (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the Haifa bus on the road from Tel Aviv three days later, killing two Palestinians and wounding eight others (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.6 bus near Tall Waqiya the following day, killing three Palestinians and wounding one other (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus from Kafr Yasif near Khirbet Al Aiyadiya the day after that, seriously wounding two Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus travelling through Deir Muheisin two days later, wounding five Palestinians (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the Ramle bus on the road to Aqir three days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked a passenger truck transporting farmers home from the cattle market at Petah Tiqvah three days later, killing seven Palestinians and wounding five (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who shot at the No.6 bus from Talpoith to Meqor Haim two days later, wounding three Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus travelling through Nabi Yusha the same day, killing one Palestinian and wounding another (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus to Safad also on the same day, killing five Palestinians and seriously wounding another four (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus travelling through Miqve, south of Tel Aviv, the following day, wounding four Palestinians (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who threw a bomb into a bus at Ramle the day after that, wounding four Palestinians, then opened fire on the remaining passengers, wounding another three (4, 5);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on the No.21 bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem five days later, wounding five Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus from Lydda to Rarn el Aqir near Kefar Bilu the following day, wounding five Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on the bus from Jaffa to Ramle two days later, wounding two Palestinians (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked a bus near Beit Jirja the following day, killing three Palestinians and seriously wounding two others (4);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the No.45 (Jerusalem-Ramallah) bus near Neve Ya’acov the day after that, wounding at least three Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who the same day attacked a bus travelling along the Bethlehem Road in Jerusalem, seriously wounding two Palestinians (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who also on the same day attacked the No.6 bus on the road from Haifa to Nazareth, killing one Palestinian and seriously wounding another (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorist who, still on 24 February 1948, attacked the No.4 bus near St John’s Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem, killing one Palestinian and wounding three more (20);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who, in the fifth terror attack on Palestinian buses in a single day, fired on a bus travelling the Jerusalem-Bethlehem Road, wounding one Palestinian (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a passenger truck near Bir El Hilu on the Jaffa-Jerusalem Road two days later, killing two Palestinians and wounding five others (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on a bus near Bab el Wad on the Jaffa-Jerusalem Road three days later, wounding four Palestinians and one Russian (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on the bus travelling the Ramallah-Latrun Road five days later (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked two Arab buses the next day near Jaba on the Haifa Road, killing one Palestinian and wounding three others (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a bus travelling the Athlit-Haifa Road near Mazar, later that same day (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a bus travelling through Beit Shugelman on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road two days later, wounding one Palestinian and one Egyptian (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who, one week later, fired on the No.1 bus from Nazareth as it reached Iraq Street, Haifa, killing one Palestinian and seriously wounding another (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who detonated a bomb on the Safad-Acre Road as the bus to Safad was passing five days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others (2);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who fired from Neve Ya’acov Jewish colony at the Jaffa-Jerusalem bus three days later, killing one Greek and two Palestinians (5);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who firebombed a Nazareth Bus Company bus as it approached Haifa two days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding nine Palestinians and one Syrian (5);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus to Beit Hanoun the same day with a landmine detonated near Yad Mordechai, killing one Palestinian and wounding one other (5);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who ambushed a bus at the junction of Allenby Road and Freres Street in Haifa later that same day, wounding three Palestinians (3);

        Or the Zionist terrorists who, in the fourth terror attack on a Palestinian bus in a single day (24 March 1948) fired from Neve Ya’acov Jewish colony on two buses travelling along the Jerusalem-Nablus Road (5)…

        …etc…
        …etc…

        link to lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com

        It could have something to do with all the times Palestinians have blown up civilian buses.

        You might be on to something.

      • Cliff says:
        July 13, 2012 at 5:06 pm

        Excellent Fred. Apply that standard to yourself and your fellow fascist, racist, ethno-religious supremacists.

        The violence you describe has been inflicted by your apartheid, Orwellian nightmare of a ‘Western-style liberal democracy’ in the desert so to speak, several magnitudes more upon the Palestinian people for the entirety of this conflict.

        Not only when Israel was firmly viewed as the dominating occupying power but also when your racist / fascist ideology was mucking around raping Palestinian mothers and daughters (while killing the fathers) and blowing up marketplaces and taxi cabs and all the rest.

        There is a continual trend in Israelo/Zionist brutality and criminality as well as intellectual dishonesty.

        You and whatever the hell generation you hail from are a sad testament to that Big Lie that Israel is the victim in this conflict, even as it steals, murders, rapes, etc. – from the 1940s to the 2000s.

        The Palestinians should thus be allowed to force all Jews through checkpoints, have all Jews implanted with some form of ID / GPS monitoring device, as well as a system of bureaucratic quagmires designed to stifle any kind of meaningful Jewish nationalism in the region by way of institution building (remember to blow them up every few years) and undermining their autonomy or hypothetically speaking, ‘lack thereof’.

        Put simply, a) nothing the Palestinians have done to you, compares to what you’ve done to them, hence, b) they should be allowed to be as draconian, if not moreso than you already are and seemingly seek to intensify in the future at the sight of the slightest infraction (I.e. traveling while Arab).

        Super Cliff Notes version: Freddy is once again full of **** and is yet another troll MW keeps around for profile purposes.

      • LanceThruster says:
        July 13, 2012 at 5:19 pm

        The Israelis have regularly used civilian buses to mobilize reserves so unfortunately renders them a legitimate military target. With so many Israeli reservists interspersed throughout the population, I can’t imagine many targets that would not contain reservist or active duty personnel.

        It’s an ugly scenario regardless, but one defined by the laws of war. Israel seem willing to accept any and all collateral damage when it happens to the other side. The destruction of Gaza wholesale was largely based on the assertion that was where the terrorists were and that the civilian population was knowingly shielding them (or the evil terrorists were hiding amongst the civilians).

        It seems you could make a credible argument for those justifications regarding attacks against Israel proper particularly since not taking the battle to the aggressors home turf means ALL the death and destruction takes place on your own turf.

        see: link to en.wikipedia.org

        As Sharon’s division advanced into the Sinai, Egyptian forces staged successful delaying actions at Tarat Umm, Umm Tarfa, and Hill 181. An Israeli jet was downed by anti-aircraft fire, and Sharon’s forces came under heavy shelling as they advanced from the north and west. The Israelis had to struggle through sand dunes and mines while under heavy fire, and took heavy casualties. However, Israeli tanks managed to penetrate the northern flank of Abu Ageila, and by dusk, all units were in position. The Israelis then brought up 90 105mm and 155mm artillery guns for a preparatory barrage, while civilian buses brought reserve infantrymen under Colonel Yekutiel Adam and helicopters arrived to ferry the paratroopers. These movements were unobserved by the Egyptians, who were preoccupied with Israeli probes against their perimeter.[100]

  2. eGuard says:
    July 13, 2012 at 11:25 am

    connect the settlements with Israeli cities west of the wall

    I think that should read: “… with Israel cities west of the green line” (or: cities within Israel proper).

  3. seafoid says:
    July 13, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    the Israeli government and the settlers are one. There is no point in trying to boycott the settlements alone- Israel itself has to be hit. It is the whole Zionist machine that is the issue. It is something as banal as bus routes that exposes the sham.

    They hide behind the fear goys have of being labelled antisemites and they have to be exposed.

    In an ideal world it would be the Jewish diaspora doing this but of course they won’t.

    • German Lefty says:
      July 13, 2012 at 1:27 pm

      In an ideal world it would be the Jewish diaspora doing this but of course they won’t.
      Well, the editors of this site do.

    • Citizen says:
      July 13, 2012 at 1:59 pm

      Yes, seafoid, and to compound the problem of American Jews not getting this information out to the American masses so they can display real informed consent, or not, any Gentile American risks career or job ipso facto if he or she even sends private emails objecting to Israeli conduct and US enablement of same, as Ms Garcia in Florida most recently shows.

    • Mooser says:
      July 13, 2012 at 9:38 pm

      “In an ideal world it would be the Jewish diaspora doing this but of course they won’t.”

      One could get the impression, or even come to the conclusion, from reading the excellent Marc Ellis segments published here, that the elite Zionists won’t be swayed by the diaspora. Why would they listen to powerless Jews, when they have the attention and assistance of Gentile leaders? Our job, in the diaspora, is to do what they tell us, not tell them what to do.

  4. Exiled At Home says:
    July 13, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    Great visuals posted here recently. They are incredibly powerful in opening people’s eyes in a way that even the most impassioned rhetoric is incapable of.

  5. Roya says:
    July 13, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    “Kiss the Green Line Goodbye”? The hypocrisy just makes me so angry. Here they are, telling Gentile audiences that Israel wants a two-state solution, will give the Palestinians the West Bank and Gaza the minute they stop launching homemade rockets, and then to Jewish audiences they admit that’s never going to happen and all but laugh about how gullible we are in believing their lies.

  6. Eva Smagacz says:
    July 13, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    It clearly indicates that the lie “settlements only constitute 1% of West Bank” is just a catchy hasbara meme.

  7. eljay says:
    July 13, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    Little coloured tubes that inject the poison of Zio-supremacism into – and drain the life-blood out of – what’s left of Palestine. Nice.

    • Sumud says:
      July 13, 2012 at 5:27 pm

      From the map it’s clear the path of the separation wall is meant as an annexation line and the bus routes clearly delineate how the the Israeli-only roads in the occupied territories are used to seamlessly connect the settlements with Israeli cities west of the wall.

      A Wikileaks US Embassy cable from 2007 has so-called ‘moderate’ Tzipi Livni speaking publicly to Haaretz in December 2006 about an interim agreement that uses the wall route as the dividing line, not the Green line (my emphasis):

      In the same interview, Livni provided an outline of
      her thinking, but not a detailed plan, on the way ahead with
      the Arabs, including negotiating an interim agreement with
      the Palestinians in which the separation barrier would serve
      as the border,       and refusing to engage with Syria unless Asad
      takes steps to end support for terrorism and distances
      himself from Iran. Livni’s policy adviser has confirmed to
      us that she has engaged in her own discrete discussions with
      Palestinians, but very much in an exploratory mode. Livni
      told Senators Kerry and Dodd that she doubted that a final
      status agreement could be reached with Abu Mazen, and
      therefore the emphasis should be on reforming Fatah so that
      it could beat Hamas at the polls. MFA officials tell us that
      Livni is also focused on the need to keep Hamas isolated.
      07TELAVIV64 – SCENESETTER FOR THE SECRETARY’S JANUARY 13-15
      VISIT TO ISRAEL

  8. Fredblogs says:
    July 13, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Hmm. Didn’t that intrepid reporter on 60 minutes say that Bethlehem was surrounded by the wall? Here if just clips a corner of the city. Which is true?

    • Light says:
      July 13, 2012 at 3:30 pm

      FredBlogs, why do you comment about topics which have no knowledge of? Do you think that by pretending the apartheid wall doesn’t exist life is just fine for Palestinians in Bethlehem.

      • Mooser says:
        July 13, 2012 at 5:57 pm

        “FredBlogs, why do you comment about topics which have no knowledge of?”

        A Ziocaine high induces feelings of omniscience. When Ziocaine is singing Hatikvah in your veins and doing a Hora on your synapses, you’re no longer a wondering Jew, now you know!

    • Blake says:
      July 13, 2012 at 3:37 pm

      I bet you could not live a day in their shoes.
      link to godweb.org

    • Djinn says:
      July 13, 2012 at 11:10 pm

      It surrounds it, while yes it doesn’t completely encircle it like in Qalqilya, it makes access to Jerusalem and other Palestinian towns exceedingly difficult. You are ignoring the Israeli only road network which is surrounded with barbed wire, trenches and sensors and is patrolled by the IOF, so no access that way either and you are ignoring numerous checkpoints and no-go areas that ring the city.

      That you think you had a “gotcha” moment with this comment shows how utterly ignorant you are about the situation in the West Bank. Why don’t you try GOING there and seeing for yourself? Go and see how Israel attempts to hoard ALL tourist dollars going to Bethlehem by advising people they must travel with Israeli firms (who bus you straight out again, god forbid you stay in a Palestinian owned hotel) see the HUGE checkpoints and the gun towers. Visit the home of the Anastas family which is surrounded on 3 sides by the physically and morally ugly wall.

  9. talknic says:
    July 13, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    Uh? So it’s not a medical diagram… interesting

  10. jon s says:
    July 14, 2012 at 12:16 am

    What I don’t understand is people who oppose the settlements – as I do – but don’t support a 2 state solution, under which they would be removed.

    • Inanna says:
      July 14, 2012 at 9:37 am

      Israel keeps building more settlements but really wants a two-states. No, really. I mean it. How can you possibly think those two things contradict each other!

      And Israel has really been negotiating in good faith all along. No, really. You see, I know Israel and it’s better than that. It would never just keep building settlements after they signed the Oslo accords.

      And they wouldn’t vote in a government that was offered the ‘biggest Yerushalim in history’ and reject the offer. No, really.

      And they wouldn’t then vote in a government that explicitly supported the settlements, and produced a report that said that there is no occupation.

      No, really.

      Mondoweiss, stop trying to shatter my illusions.