Ownership of what many think is private Palestinian land has not been determined by the District Court.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSOne big ‘if’ Sir, – Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (“Rivlin: Knesset will legalize Migron if gov’t doesn’t,” January 13) noted that the government would have to legalize the homes and might reimburse the Palestinians in question if they proved ownership.“If” is the whole point. Ownership of what many think is private land has not been determined by the District Court, the only court mandated with that authority. This misunderstanding has confused politicians and journalists who assume that the State Attorney’s Office, the Civil Administration and the High Court – which does not examine such documents – have decided conclusively.MOSHE DANN JerusalemNefarious and malevolent Sir, – Concluding his report “Critical EU paper draws fire from Israeli officials” (January 13), Herb Keinon cites the Foreign Ministry response. “By focusing on Israel instead of larger problems in the Middle East, the ministry said, the European powers were ‘bound to lose their credibility and make themselves irrelevant.’” Touche! While strongly endorsing this opinion, I would go further and maintain that the vast bureaucracy, namely the EU, has been infiltrated and undermined by Eurabians whose ultimate aim is the dhimmi-zation of Europe.Clearly stymied by their financial ineptitude and inability to resolve crises there or elsewhere, they fixate their nefarious and malevolent intentions, as well as their anti-Semitism, on the only stable and democratic country in the Middle East.GISH TRUMAN ROBBINS PardesiyaVery fortunate man Sir, – In your editorial “Protecting Israel” (January 13) there appear two errors.The Matza Restaurant bombing occurred on March 31, 2002, and not on April 1, as was stated. Further, the suicide bomber blew himself up inside the restaurant and was not the driver of a car bomb.I was lucky enough to have left the restaurant seconds before the explosion. My car, which was badly damaged, saved me from injuries other than mild shock.ROBERT LAX HaifaIs racism overblown? Sir, – I felt that “‘There is no room for Hitlerism or racism in Israel, says Peres” (January 13) does not reflect the real situation in Israel.I have neighbors who are Iraqis, Yemenites, Ashkenazim, haredim, Afghans, Morrocans and Romanians. In addition, we have Ethiopians and Russians who live opposite me. If an Ethiopian attends our synagogue, he is sure to be honored by being called to the Torah.My main concern and question is: “Do our leaders have neighbors like mine? Unfortunately, the politicians talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.They have taken the reaction of the residents of one building in Kiryat Malachi and turned it into a national problem, thereby legitimizing many of the things said by our enemies abroad.YISRAEL (IAN) LASTKiryat AtaSir, – Considering what happened with Ethiopian-Israelis seeking to live in Kiryat Malachi, for the first time since I came on aliya in July 1961 I feel ashamed to be an Israeli.I was born in South Africa. In May 1961, a referendum was to take place to decide whether it would become a republic and carry on with apartheid, or stay in the British Commonwealth and discontinue apartheid. I and some friends campaigned against leaving the commonwealth, and we were detained by the police for “anti-apartheid activities.” We were sentenced to a week in prison and a fine of £100, a lot of money in those days.I never in my life expected that here in Israel, apartheid at its worst would be shown against our fellow Jews. I hope that the Israeli authorities can put an end to this practice and punish those responsible to the full extent of the law.TZEMACH BLOOMBERG Hod HasharonSir, – MK Shlomo Molla (“Ethiopian activists furious over Landver comments,” January 12) should be eternally grateful to Israel for allowing him to be in the position he holds now.Most Ethiopians came here very far removed from the standards of Western civilization, manners and social norms.
Of course, I strongly object to the fact that some people are racists and don’t want to sell houses to them. They ought to be found guilty. But being grateful is a hallmark of Judaism.JENNY WEIL JerusalemSir, – We Jews living in the Diaspora have fought, and are still fighting, the bigots who dislike us only because we are different. Jews in Israel who hold Ethiopian immigrants in contempt only because they have a different skin color and lifestyle have a deleterious effect on every campaign by Jews elsewhere to eradicate the religious and ethnic prejudice and discrimination practiced against us.LEILA CUMBER London Hasbara is for prosSir, – Martin Sherman’s column on Israeli hasbara (“Comprehending the incomprehensible – Part I,” Into the Fray, January 13) is regretfully correct but nothing new.One of the basic principles of great chefs, in addition to their creative talents, is choosing the best ingredients. This is what we lack due to a political system that creates incompetence, to say the least, regardless of political affiliation.For effective hasbara, we require professional, apolitical experts. Maybe – only maybe – this might help.HENRY WEIL JerusalemSir, – Martin Sherman must be commended for getting to the heart of Israel’s suicide process (aka the “peace process”). However, he is not the first to accurately analyze this existential problem.Kenneth Levin, in The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege (2005), documents this phenomenon in great detail. Levin places much of the blame on traditional Jewish selfhate, which derives from an urge to be one-hundred-percent German, Russian, American, etc.Israel’s diplomatic establishment is afflicted by this cancer; its immune system has broken down. Officials and media pundits talk about the “conflict” instead of Arab aggression; “territories” in place of Judea and Samaria; “Abu Mazen” and not Mahmoud Abbas.Worse still, Israeli TV has shown Hamas spokesmen screaming about the “Zionist enemy,” but I have never heard any “enlightened” Israeli refer to the “Arab enemy.”ZVI NOVEMBER JerusalemWhen cops are drivers Sir, – As I was riding my bicycle down Herzl Street in Rehovot, staying next to the curb so as not to take up a lane, I was just behind a police car. As we reached a corner, the police car made a right turn without the driver having signaled.It cut me off and almost caused a collision.On the way home I was riding behind a police minivan. The policeman was driving in the left lane of the two lanes. Suddenly, without signaling, he pulled into the right lane. This time, luckily, I was not close behind.I know that bad drivers are sent to courses to teach them safe driving techniques. Does the police department send its drivers to learn dangerous driving?LARRY ISRAELRehovotCLARIFICATIONRegarding “WIZO convention to debate segregation of women in Israeli society,” (January 15), WIZO, the Women’s International Zionism Organization, says it does not intend to close WIZO Italy House in Jaffa. In an official statement to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, the organization said it is continuing to fund the center and intends to do so in the future.
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