Thursday, July 1, 2010

Israelis & Palestinians Protest Together

In this week's Top Stories, I mentioned the Jerusalem Master Plan, which would demolish Palestinian homes to make way for a new neighborhood. According to one of the Israeli protesters:
"...in Sheikh Jarrah there is no mistaking the good guys from the bad guys. No matter how you look at it or describe it − there is no way the settlers living there can be considered the good guys and the Palestinians the bad guys."
The Haaretz article itself explains some of the legalities behind the situation:
"Israeli law permits people to claim Jewish property abandoned almost a century ago, but does not permit Arab families to claim ownership over property they abandoned during Israel’s War of Independence. Thus, refugee families of 1948 are liable to become refugees again, in 2010 − and this asymmetry is nourishing the struggle in East Jerusalem. "
The article is very long, but really good; I highly recommend it. It has mini-interviews with many of the Jewish protesters helping the Palestinians, who see the settlers as being racist and even non-Jewish in their actions. It really gives one hope for the future to see that there are young Israeli Jews who see what is actually going on, instead of just the propaganda coming from their government.

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