Quote of the Day
We are not against having Jewish neighbors. I have Jewish neighbors and we have very good relations. But to bring a focal point of the settlements into the Arab population, that is crossing all red lines.
-- Dr. Oni Kachil, Ramle councilman and representative of Muslime residents in Ramle
There is a fight over a building. It was originally promised to be used as a community center for the children of the Arab community, but then the plans were changed and the building was given to a hesder yeshiva that will be opening under the auspices of Yeshivat Shaalvim. Srugim is reporting on the issue, and the suspicion is that because professional committees saw no problem with changing the objective of the building, this issue is being used as a way of stirring up the fight against "Judaization" of the city of Ramle.
That does not bother me, and whatever happens happens. These types of fights happen in every city all the time. What does interest me is that in a city like Ramle, a city within the "Green Line", a city that is considered "mixed" with both Arab and Jewish communities, the opening of a yeshiva can be considered by the Arabs as being part of the settlement industry. "Settlements"? Within the Green Line? I thought the Arabs are ok with us, and have accepted the fact that within the Green Line we are here to stay? It seems like even within the Green Line we are settlers.
I know that tidbit is nothing new, but the leadership of Israel seems to prefer to ignore that fact, that even within the Green Line we are all settlers.
You thought they'd accepted us?
ReplyDeleteHah! x 46.
The "green line" for the Arabs is the line of algae that washes up on the beach in Tel Aviv. We're welcome to all land west of that.
Straw man.
ReplyDeleteThe Arabs associate the Hesder movement with Israeli support for settlements beyond the Green Line, and see the building of a new Hesder yeshiva in Ramle as an expansion of settler ideology--i.e. soldiers who may or may not obey the IDF chain of command, who may or may not see their role as protecting all Israelis, including Arabs, as opposed to Jews, etc.
Anon- you're giving way too much credit to Arabs that they are able to distinguish between Jewish sectors to such a fine degree.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, there has been a strong garin torani in Ramle for years. Small but strong. I'm guessing this this Yeshiva is an outgrowth of that garin. This isn't a "settler invasion" by any stretch of the imagination.
This is a simple case of pulling the politics card, like in a America they would pull the race card. They're angry that they lost this building.