[Quantum]

Don't worry guys the US will take you side as it always does. Keep on trucking.

Yet America is losing its white majority. Once America inevitably loses its white majority, the country will be fundamentally altered. I wonder how American foreign policy will change to this reality.

[Tailz]

Nice way of ignoring my arguments. What about you address them and explain to us why would Israel allow them in if it doesn't even want them? Why, if sterilization was a state policy, isn't the birthrate among Ethiopians lower?

You didn't provide an argument because you didn't provide a premise backed up by data. First you would need to provide data that actually covers Beta birth rates in order to make an analysis of what the mean ratio is in order to determine a rise or drop below that mean factor in order to even say that that there is any deviation. But such data would anyway no provide good figures since the immigration of Beta Jews has been an ongoing process with new people arriving each year outside of the program that has been uncovered and thus ceased. Regardless of the birth rate, it would not change the fact that some have been given this birth control.

For the purposes of absorption, yes.

Obviously not. And could not be treated the same as Europeans. They needed education and language programs in order to join society. The government has even made religious conversion by some mandatory to even be applicable to move to Israel. The issue I raised, and the article raised, was the nature of some extra measures undertaken with this population...

Tailz wrote: So European Jews are put in transit camps,

Were they rescued in the same way Ethiopian Jews were?

A relevant point, although one would expect that the state setup to be the safe haven for the Jews would be more accommodating towards fellow Jewish people, instead of letting them spend time in transit camps where many of them die? Surely you would agree?

Circular reasoning: You haven't proven the case in the OP was part of a state policy.

When the deed is carried out as a part of state policy to handle special case immigration, as in the case of these people. The responsibility is on you to prove that the deeds enacted as a part of that policy, were not done as a part of that policy.

As a matter of fact, yes, both received reeducation in the absorption process. In fact, they received exactly the same one, which was a mistake as it didn't adequately address the needs of Ethiopian immigrants.

What grounds do you have to assume the immigration absorption process applied to the Beta Jews was the same as that given to other Jews who arrive from developed countries?

[wat0n]

You didn't provide an argument because you didn't provide a premise backed up by data. First you would need to provide data that actually covers Beta birth rates in order to make an analysis of what the mean ratio is in order to determine a rise or drop below that mean factor in order to even say that that there is any deviation. But such data would anyway no provide good figures since the immigration of Beta Jews has been an ongoing process with new people arriving each year outside of the program that has been uncovered and thus ceased. Regardless of the birth rate, it would not change the fact that some have been given this birth control.

...And I'd also have to adjust the birth rate to account for factors unrelated to birth control such as the increase in living standards among Ethiopians so we could see if there's a state policy involved or not.

Perhaps it would be much, much easier if we could find any solid evidence of a state policy as opposed to the act of a rogue official, or at least indications of widespread sterilizations.

Obviously not. And could not be treated the same as Europeans. They needed education and language programs in order to join society. The government has even made religious conversion by some mandatory to even be applicable to move to Israel. The issue I raised, and the article raised, was the nature of some extra measures undertaken with this population...

But they were, Tailz, that's precisely the problem. They didn't get the education they needed

A relevant point, although one would expect that the state setup to be the safe haven for the Jews would be more accommodating towards fellow Jewish people, instead of letting them spend time in transit camps where many of them die? Surely you would agree?

Indeed, but how high was this death rate? Was it around what you would expect in refugee camps?

Keep in mind that the two major migratory waves arrived after Israel picked them up in the respective military operations in Ethiopia, both carried out at times of instability in Ethiopia (famine, civil war, etc).

When the deed is carried out as a part of state policy to handle special case immigration, as in the case of these people. The responsibility is on you to prove that the deeds enacted as a part of that policy, were not done as a part of that policy.

Sorry, but you're again assuming that these forced sterilizations were done as part of a state policy.

What grounds do you have to assume the immigration absorption process applied to the Beta Jews was the same as that given to other Jews who arrive from developed countries?

To prepare for the absorption of tens of thousands of Ethiopian Beta Israel, the State of Israel prepared two `Master Plans’ (Ministry of Absorption, 1985, 1991). The first was prepared in 1985, a year after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants. The second updated the first in response to the second wave of immigration in 1991 from Ethiopia. The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach which assumed that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, created with good intentions and a firm belief in assimilation. As noted in this section, results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.

The only difference it seems was that they were initially assigned specific places to live in (while formerly Soviet immigrants were given money and told to move wherever they wanted to), but this has been undone over time:

The formation of Ethiopian neighborhoods

The housing issue has been a recurring issue with all the various masses immigration waves to Israel, ever since the 1950s. For the Beta Israel community, various solutions have been implemented, particularly in mobile home camps. Satisfactory in terms of comfort, these "provisional" solutions had two main drawbacks. On the one hand, new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society. On the other hand, in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.

Over time, the Ethiopians settled mainly in the various cities and towns throughout Israel, mainly with the encouragement of the Israeli authorities which granted the new immigrants generous government loans or low-interest mortgages. In many cases, extended families of Ethiopian Beta Israel voluntarily decided to settle in the same areas, thus creating many times ethnic enclaves within several Israeli cities and towns. In many cases this tendency contributed to the non-Ethiopian Israeli populations being more likely to leave the neighborhoods which had high concentrations of Ethiopian residents.

[Tailz]

...And I'd also have to adjust the birth rate to account for factors unrelated to birth control such as the increase in living standards among Ethiopians so we could see if there's a state policy involved or not.

Your creating an argument based on data created by your own assumption. Actually in my opinion, my assumption would be that the Ethiopian Jewish community would see a rise similar to that of the Palestinian community with access to better medial services that increases infant survivability thus compensating for any drop in birth rate. Then again, the birth rate would rise as soon as Ethiopians were out of the government immigration plan and thus off the birth control drugs - when then again, comes under the effect of access to medial care and decreased infant mortality.

Perhaps it would be much, much easier if we could find any solid evidence of a state policy as opposed to the act of a rogue official, or at least indications of widespread sterilizations.

So far, you are the only person to make up a story about rogue officials.

But they were, Tailz, that's precisely the problem. They didn't get the education they needed

In the articles you posted, the problems were a result of housing, not education. education was always going to be a major issue that could only be solved over the long term

Indeed, but how high was this death rate? Was it around what you would expect in refugee camps?

Dude! There were Jewish people in danger, and the state created specifically to protect Jewish people, didn't act because it was too busy futzing around trying to make up its mind if Jews can also be black people!

Keep in mind that the two major migratory waves arrived after Israel picked them up in the respective military operations in Ethiopia, both carried out at times of instability in Ethiopia (famine, civil war, etc).

Agreed that the conditions where they were, were not conductive towards survivability. But also, Israel was criticized for not acting as soon as it could because the people in question were not thought to be Jewish enough and black.

Sorry, but you're again assuming that these forced sterilizations were done as part of a state policy.

The program was conducted as a result of state policy, the responsibility is on you to prove your statement.

Tailz wrote: What grounds do you have to assume the immigration absorption process applied to the Beta Jews was the same as that given to other Jews who arrive from developed countries?

Fenster (1998)
To prepare for the absorption of tens of thousands of Ethiopian Beta Israel, the State of Israel prepared two `Master Plans’ (Ministry of Absorption, 1985, 1991). The first was prepared in 1985, a year after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants. The second updated the first in response to the second wave of immigration in 1991 from Ethiopia. The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach which assumed that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, created with good intentions and a firm belief in assimilation. As noted in this section, results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.

The only difference it seems was that they were initially assigned specific places to live in (while formerly Soviet immigrants were given money and told to move wherever they wanted to), but this has been undone over time:

Wikipedia: The formation of Ethiopian neighborhoods
The housing issue has been a recurring issue with all the various masses immigration waves to Israel, ever since the 1950s. For the Beta Israel community, various solutions have been implemented, particularly in mobile home camps. Satisfactory in terms of comfort, these "provisional" solutions had two main drawbacks. On the one hand, new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society. On the other hand, in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.

Over time, the Ethiopians settled mainly in the various cities and towns throughout Israel, mainly with the encouragement of the Israeli authorities which granted the new immigrants generous government loans or low-interest mortgages. In many cases, extended families of Ethiopian Beta Israel voluntarily decided to settle in the same areas, thus creating many times ethnic enclaves within several Israeli cities and towns. In many cases this tendency contributed to the non-Ethiopian Israeli populations being more likely to leave the neighborhoods which had high concentrations of Ethiopian residents.

So you proposed that the Beta Jews received the same kind of treatment as other immergrant Jewish people, but the article you posted states: The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Which leads me to believe that the program was particular to the Ethiopians - as it needed to be.

While the failure of the plan was listed as: ...new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society... ...thus... ...in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.

Thus access to the Job market, and integration into society as a whole - resulting in the current disaffection the Ethiopian community feels, aside from the animosity displayed towards Ethiopian Jews (black) by the majority European (white) Jewish community in Israel.

[wat0n]

Your creating an argument based on data created by your own assumption. Actually in my opinion, my assumption would be that the Ethiopian Jewish community would see a rise similar to that of the Palestinian community with access to better medial services that increases infant survivability thus compensating for any drop in birth rate. Then again, the birth rate would rise as soon as Ethiopians were out of the government immigration plan and thus off the birth control drugs - when then again, comes under the effect of access to medial care and decreased infant mortality.

Actually I was saying how we could test whether your theory has any plausibility whatsoever. If sterilizations were carried out in a widespread manner, it should show in the data.

So far, you are the only person to make up a story about rogue officials.

So far you have just pointed to a conspiracy theory and have provided no evidence to back it up while I showed a more probable explanation for these sterilizations, one that fits the facts better.

In the articles you posted, the problems were a result of housing, not education. education was always going to be a major issue that could only be solved over the long term

Huh? You should read what I posted again.

Dude! There were Jewish people in danger, and the state created specifically to protect Jewish people, didn't act because it was too busy futzing around trying to make up its mind if Jews can also be black people!

Why don't you answer the questions?

Agreed that the conditions where they were, were not conductive towards survivability. But also, Israel was criticized for not acting as soon as it could because the people in question were not thought to be Jewish enough and black.

By whom? Part of the problem Israel faced is that the Ethiopian government wasn't keen on letting its citizens emigrate en masse, which is why it chose a time of instability to act. Keep in mind these rescue operations were technically military incursions in another state's territory.

The program was conducted as a result of state policy, the responsibility is on you to prove your statement.

Sorry but you haven't shown these sterilizations were part of a state policy.

So you proposed that the Beta Jews received the same kind of treatment as other immergrant Jewish people, but the article you posted states: The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Which leads me to believe that the program was particular to the Ethiopians - as it needed to be.

But it wasn't, it didn't take into account their specific needs and treated them as if they were just another major migratory wave from elsewhere: Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach which assumed that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, created with good intentions and a firm belief in assimilation. As noted in this section, results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.

While the failure of the plan was listed as: ...new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society... ...thus... ...in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.

Thus access to the Job market, and integration into society as a whole - resulting in the current disaffection the Ethiopian community feels, aside from the animosity displayed towards Ethiopian Jews (black) by the majority European (white) Jewish community in Israel.

That was only part of the problem. How could a group with a high incidence of illiteracy take full advantage of the hi-tech boom?

[Buzz62]

Oh Lord...what a fine collection of "plausible" excuses...

But we didn't know...
But they can't read...
But it was only 40...
But its not an official policy...

But they are BLACK!!!

As with most of the underhanded crap that Israel dishes out on a regular basis...there is always "plausible deniability" left open for Israel.
It always reminds me of the idea that you don't really know if a baseball bat upside the head will hurt, if you've never been hit upside the head with a baseball bat before...

COMMON SENSE makes it obvious that someone...in this case quite a few someones because I doubt the drug could be gotten and administered without quite a few someones...dislikes the idea of black Jews coming into Israel. A sort of Klu Klux Klan-ski...

More of the same from Israel. No reals surprises. Subterfuge and excuses.
And the clock ticks....

[wat0n]

Oh look, another conspiracy theorist has arrived.

I'm still waiting for you to prove your Nazi-Zionist conspiracy theories.

[Buzz62]

Oh look...the Zionist excuse factory.

Keep waiting dude...and look to the west...where NOTHING will be coming to save your asses when the time comes.

Good Bye...

[wat0n]

Just because I credibly show your criticism of Israel has little to no basis at all every time, it doesn't mean I am the "Zionist excuse factory".

I hope you enjoy day-dreaming.

Good bye!

[Buzz62]

Just because I credibly show your criticism of Israel has little to no basis at all every time, it doesn't mean I am the "Zionist excuse factory".

I hope you enjoy day-dreaming.

Good bye!

CORRECTION: You THINK you do...but all you really do is ignore and refute anything that does not fit your narrow, Zionist mind.
Quite sad really...I feel for ya...

[wat0n]

I'll just rest comfortably knowing your arguments are generally based on presumptions or taking things out of context while my refutals are generally based on academic and other comparable sources.

[Buzz62]

You do that wat0n.
But remember...calling a source bullshit is NOT any sort of academic anything.
And knowing the source you dispute...a source of Jewish Israelis I might add...I'll take your "academic" posts with what they are worth...

...a grain of salt.

[wat0n]

So it turns out some Ethiopian women did get the injections of this contraceptive:

Israel admits Ethiopian women were given birth control shots

Health Minister director general instructs all gynecologists in Israel's four health maintenance organizations not to inject women with long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera if they do not understand ramifications of treatment.

A government official has for the first time acknowledged the practice of injecting women of Ethiopian origin with the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera.

Health Ministry Director General Prof. Ron Gamzu has instructed the four health maintenance organizations to stop the practice as a matter of course. The ministry and other state agencies had previously denied knowledge or responsibility for the practice, which was first reported five years ago. Gamzu’s letter instructed “all gynecologists in the HMOs not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.” Gamzu also instructed physicians to avail themselves of translators if need be.

Gamzu’s letter came in response to a letter from Sharona Eliahu-Chai of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, representing several women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants’ groups. The letter demanded the injections cease immediately and that an investigation be launched into the practice.

About six weeks ago, on an Educational Television program journalist Gal Gabbay revealed the results of interviews with 35 Ethiopian immigrants. The women’s testimony could help explain the almost 50-percent decline over the past 10 years in the birth rate of Israel’s Ethiopian community. According to the program, while the women were still in transit camps in Ethiopia they were sometimes intimidated or threatened into taking the injection. “They told us they are inoculations,” said one of the women interviewed. “They told us people who frequently give birth suffer. We took it every three months. We said we didn’t want to.”

...But what Ha'aretz didn't mention neither now nor in the article in the OP is that fertility is restored some 9-10 months after the last shot and that it reaches the same levels of those of former users of other contraceptive methods so it's pretty misleading to claim Israel had a policy of sterilization of Ethiopian women, which is yet another example of shoddy journalism by Ha'aretz. I wonder, now, what's going on with them? They didn't use to be this bad a few years ago, even if they may have made some mistakes then.

Anyway, it is true it remains to be known how many Ethiopian women get Depo-Provera, whether they understood its effects and if they did not, why did they get it anyway. Furthermore it is also necessary to know how many were injected with it after arriving to Israel (it has to be injected every 3 months).

[Tailz]

The continuing struggle to enforce the Jewish character of Israel, this time a little booklet creates a stir from the IDF's top Rabbi...

Ex-IDF top rabbi: Publishing discriminatory Jewish ruling was blunder

Not every principle of Jewish religious law is of interest to the public, says Brig. Gen. (res.) Avichai Ronsky in relation to a new ruling according to which giving non-Jews equal rights in Israel contravenes the Torah.

It was a "blunder" to publish the army rabbinate's ruling that giving non-Jews equal rights in the state contravenes Torah, and that mezuzahs should be put up on doors in army bases even if not all the soldiers are Jewish, said the former chief rabbi of the army in an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday.

The ruling appeared in a book distributed among Israeli soldiers, which had been endorsed by the current chief rabbi of the IDF, Brig. Gen. Rabbi Rafi Peretz.

Brigadier General (res.) Avichai Ronsky, former chief rabbi of the Israel Defense forces, was referring to a report in Haaretz about a book of Jewish law endorsed by the IDF rabbinate. He had asked his friends in the IDF rabbinate to send him the book, said Ronsky.

One ruling on Jewish law in the book, “Laws of the Mezuzah,” states: “The idea that views non-Jews as having equal rights in the state goes against the opinion of the Torah, and no representative of the state is authorized to act against the will of the Torah.”

Among other things the book deals with questions about mezuzahs (which are fixed to doorposts by Jews as a sign of faith) on army bases.

"The question of whether a mezuzah must be installed on the door of a dormitory where both Jews and Gentiles dwell, under Jewish law, is of no interest to the general public," Ronsky said. "This is only one of several opinions among rabbinical authorities. Its appearance in an army publication is a blunder. In the Jewish nation’s beit midrash (academy for Jewish learning), there are many rabbis who dispute that position. Our sages have stated, ‘Rabbinical scholars, be careful what you say.’"

According to Ronsky, the citations presented in Haaretz concerning the book are merely “footnotes.” He continues, “Apparently, there is a rabbinical student at Haaretz who deliberately looks for such things.”

It bears mention that the statements do not appear as footnotes but rather in the body of the text.

In an interview to the right-leaning English-language website, Israel National News - better known in Israel as Arutz Sheva - Ronsky added that “the intention of this newspaper [Haaretz] is to turn Israel into a state of all its citizens."

Haaretz aims "to prevent Israel from being a Jewish state," according to Ronsky. "It will go to any lengths and use anything to further its goal.”

Ronsky said he believes that principles in Jewish religious law such as those discussed in the book should remain in the beit midrash because it is difficult to explain them to the general public.

Regarding the ruling that a woman should not install a mezuzah in a public area, Ronsky noted, “This is the accepted practice. If a decision to the contrary is made, that would present no problems.”

Israeli politicians also reacted to the Haaretz report: MK Zahava Gal-On, head of the Meretz party, called on Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to dismiss the IDF’s current chief rabbi, Brig. Gen. Peretz. “According to the report," she said, "the IDF Rabbinate considers itself bound not by the laws of the State of Israel but rather by Jewish religious law. Apparently, the Torah’s view is gradually beginning to resemble racial theory.”

Gal-On added that this “scandalous rabbinical ruling is no longer a problem of an audacious digression from authority but is rather an attempt to impose upon the IDF norms of humiliation and institutionalized discrimination against non-Jewish soldiers. It is the responsibility of the new defense minister not only to immediately nullify these embarrassing guidelines but also to dismiss the senior officials of the IDF Rabbinate who published them.”

Although it must be added...

IDF rabbinate removes controversial 'Laws of Mezuzah' booklet from website

The pamphlet included a section stating that non-Jews are not equal to Jews in Israel.

The IDF rabbinate has removed a controversial online pamphlet in the wake of complaints from members of Knesset following a Haaretz report on its publication. Haaretz recently reported that the booklet,...

Unfortunatly I could not read the whole article, I would be curious to hear from anyone who has followed this, if the pamphlet was removed as well as denounced?

[Tailz]

This article belongs in two threads, the thread about settlements because of how the new checkpoint and road splits the West Bank. While also in here as the re-drawing of municipal boundaries is beng undertaken to exclude people who don't conform to the ideal of the states character.

So much for the rhetoric and political platform of and undivided Jerusalem...

Israel gearing for effective separation of East Jerusalem Palestinians

State whitewashing construction plans between Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim.

Last week, a new border crossing was opened in East Jerusalem's Shoafat neighborhood, to little fanfare. Two days later, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat asserted that Israel should relinquish Palestinian neighborhoods of the capital that are beyond the separation barrier, despite the fact that their residents carry Israeli identity cards.

Some people view these events as two pieces of the same puzzle. A third piece is the resumption of work on separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

Put the pieces together, and you get a picture of Israel erecting, at enormous expense, a major system of roads and checkpoints that would allow for the total separation of Palestinians and Israelis while also enabling the construction of Mevasseret Adumim, a neighborhood that would connect Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem.

The new crossing at Shoafat, which replaced the old military checkpoint, resembles a border terminal between two countries more than it does a security checkpoint. Its generous proportions include five lanes for vehicles and a lane for pedestrian traffic.

In the days leading up to and following the opening, an intolerable stench hung over the pristine terminal, testimony to the "skunk truck" and its cargo of liquid stink, which the Border Police used to drive away Palestinians demonstrating against the new crossing. But the protesters' efforts were in vain, and the terminal is operating according to plan. It may even improve the quality of life of Palestinian Jerusalemites living in and around Shoafat, by reducing their travel time to and from the rest of the city.

The Shoafat crossing joins other big crossings built in the Jerusalem area over the past several years. They mainly serve the 70,000 or so Palestinians with Israeli residency who were cut off from the city by the separation barrier. These neighborhoods turned into pockets of crime and anarchy, with no government and crumbling infrastructure. It is their inhabitants that Barkat wants to sever from his city.

"The municipal boundary of Jerusalem and the route of the separation fence must be identical to allow for proper administration of the city," Barkat told a conference at the National Security College last week.

On Thursday, the mayor's office announced a plan "for the municipality and the Civil Administration to trade responsibility for providing services to residents in the area between the security barrier and the municipal boundary." Until now, the Civil Administration's domain has been confined to the West Bank.

On the face of it, excising these areas would be relatively simple. Palestinians in East Jerusalem are Israeli residents because Israel defines their neighborhoods as part of Jerusalem; thus in theory, changing the city's municipal boundary would simultaneously cancel their residency. It would also do wonders for Jerusalem's demographic balance, from the perspective of the city's Jewish majority.

But anyone familiar with the situation knows it is not so simple. The announcement would be followed by a rapid migration into Jerusalem of tens of thousands of Palestinians who do not want to lose their residency, and the rights to receive social services and to work and study in Jerusalem that go with it.

"We are Jerusalemites, we're used to Jerusalem," said the director of a maternity hospital in Kafr Aqab, which lies on the other side of the separation fence. "If something like that happens, everyone will want to move to within the city. People will live on the street if they have to."

Some observers view the Shoafat terminal and Barkat's recent remarks as just a small part of the broader picture being sketched out in Jerusalem's West Bank hinterlands. According to Col. (res. ) Shaul Arieli, a member of the Council for Peace and Security and one of the leaders of the Geneva Initiative, the Israeli government is spending hundreds of millions of shekels on plans to establish Mevasseret Adumim in the area known as E1.

Roads, electricity lines, traffic circles and lots for development have already been put in place in E1. Everything needed for the neighborhood's construction is there, but because of American pressure, all work in the area halted in 2007. Both the Americans and the Palestinians claim that building in E1 would in effect cut the West Bank into two sections and make it impossible to establish a Palestinian state with any kind of reasonable territorial contiguity.

Arieli and others argue that Israel seeks to solve the problem by means of an advanced traffic control system that would provide rapid travel between Ramallah and Bethlehem on one hand and between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem on the other. In the last few months, work was resumed on this road system in two places: the new access road to Ma'aleh Adumim, and in the vicinity of Metzudat Adumim, where a few years ago a highway was built with a wall in the middle - the eastern side for settlers, the western side for Palestinians.

The roads meet up at Hazeitim Interchange, on the Jerusalem-Ma'aleh Adumim road. The interchange, which is nearly complete, is designed to fulfill three purposes: to enable people from Ma'aleh Adumim to reach the capital without having to stop at a checkpoint; to enable settlers from the northern West Bank to do the same, and to enable Palestinian travel between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.

That final point will enable Israel to claim that building in E1 does not harm Palestinian territorial contiguity. "They're preparing the ground for this possibility," Arieli said. "It's not clear when they'll decide to carry it out. But it's enough for there to be a terror attack on the road: They'll close the road and say it's for reasons of security.

"This [road] complex is burning through a sea of money and a sea of people to serve a plan based on a delusional working assumption: that [East] Jerusalem will remain under our sovereignty, and greater Ma'aleh Adumim, including E1, will as well," Arieli added.

According to Ahmad Sub Laban, who works for the non-profit organization Ir Amim, the only way the roads system could be understood is that it serves to enable the division of the West Bank.

"They did not build it in order to divide the West Bank, they built it to maintain the territorial contiguity between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem and to give the settlers a road to Jerusalem without any checkpoints. In practice, they divided the West Bank into two," he said.

[Tailz]

I created this discussion thread a while ago, into which to post articles and other material regarding acts, policies, or deeds that are undertaken in order to... "...maintain the Jewish majority of the Jewish State of Israel - some rather disturbing policies will slowly come into effect. Not all at once, but, little by little, and that no one would see it, till it is too late."

Recently a few articles came to my attention regarding policy and law debated by the Israeli government. Policy and law that deliberately seeks to give Israeli Jewish citizens a special set of rights and privileges, over other non-Jewish citizens of Israel.

The first article that caught my eye was...

Jewish identity bill returns to Knesset || Lawmakers to debate proposal giving Jews 'unique' right to self-determination in Israel

MK Yariv Levin submits extreme version of existing proposal that would give courts the right to prioritize Jewish identity over democracy in rulings that address issues of religion and state.

An Israeli lawmaker on Monday submitted a highly controversial proposal that would make Judaism superior to democracy in the State of Israel, amending a previous bill that was tossed by the Knesset before the last general election.

Unfortunately I can no longer see the full article, but it lead me to the next article which it referenced in regard to the re-drafted bill of law...

New 'Jewish identity' bill will cause chaos in Israel

The bill for a Basic Law on Israel - the Nation-State of the Jewish People is unnecessary and merely deepens tensions between Jews and Arabs; it should be shelved completely.

In response to the scathing criticism and pressure within his Kadima party, MK Avi Dichter retreated from his original proposal for a Basic Law on Israel - the Nation-State of the Jewish People. Instead, he proposed what was ostensibly a softened version. But anyone who opposes the first version will oppose the second. In the new version, too, the bill is unnecessary and merely deepens tensions between Jews and Arabs, as well as among various parts of the Jewish population. And it will give Israel a bad name. There is only one remedy for this bill - to shelve it completely.

One of the phrases in the amended version attests to a kind of basic insecurity. One can only be amazed that a person like Dichter, who once headed the Shin Bet security service, would be afflicted by it. Paragraph 2 states that the bill aims "to protect Israel's status as the nation-state of the Jewish people." Anyone who thinks legal wording like this or some other wording - rather than a political reality - will protect Israel is suffering from a moral eclipse. And anyone who claims, as does paragraph 1b, that "the right to realize national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people," is apparently cut off from the world.

On the major issues, the flaws in the original version have remained intact. The Arabic language's status has been harmed and it makes no difference if Hebrew is now called "the language of the state" and not "the official language." Arabic would lose its current equal status as Israel's second official language.

Paragraph 9b repeats the attempt to circumvent the ruling by the High Court of Justice in the case of the Ka'adan family and to reinstate the existence of Jewish communities closed off to Arabs. On the other hand, the paragraphs stipulating that "the state will work to gather in the exiles" (Paragraph 6 ) and "the state will act to strengthen the bond between Israel and the Jews in the Diaspora" (Paragraph 7 ) are mere rhetoric and certainly have no place in a Basic Law.

Yet the bill's supporters do not realize that their proposal will, paradoxically, grant the widest authority to the Supreme Court. An all-inclusive paragraph like 9a - "any citizen of Israel, regardless of religion or nationality, has the right to preserve his culture, heritage, language and identity" - provides a wide opening for petitions to the High Court of Justice from communities around the country, and certainly the Arab community or parts of it. These communities and others would be able to flood the judicial system with incalculable claims based on the Basic Law's vague wording.

This is true too of the statement in paragraph 8a that "the history of the Jewish people, its heritage and tradition will be taught in all the educational institutions that serve the Jewish public." Since these terms are far from being obvious or acceptable to everyone, it's fairly certain that the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, would amend the school curriculum.

Presumably, Paragraph 14, which turns freedom of access to the holy places for members of all faiths into a constitutional right, would prevent the police from limiting the entry of Jews to the Temple Mount. Alternatively, it would prevent the restriction of entry by Muslim worshippers to the mosques based on age.

In short, the chaos that will reign here if the bill is passed reflects the amateurishness and hastiness of the proposal that seeks to assuage populist inclinations and ignores a long list of expected and unexpected side effects. The bill tries to create facts regarding the complex Israeli reality's most sensitive issues. That's exactly why Israeli parliamentarians have had difficulty legislating a constitution. There is no benefit in the bill, but its damage is enormous.

It's understandable that Dichter is having a hard time giving up his proposal altogether. But since he's a patriot, he hopefully will swallow his pride and take the bill off the agenda. It has no place in Israel's parliament. Israel is the Jewish nation-state and it's a democratic state, even without this damaging bill.

Subsequently I noticed this issue raised again in the following article...

The Jewish identity obsession

The bill for a proposed Basic Law on Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is another aspect of this obsession.

The Religious Services Ministry's Jewish Identity Administration should never have been established. The identity of a person, society or state should not be based on the instructions of an ideologically biased bureaucracy that is the spoiled fruit of a coalition agreement.

The Jewish Identity Administration is a parody of the way a certain group - in this case the national-religious community - tries to force its values on people who do not share its beliefs. It is based on ideological violence cloaked in emotional rhetoric, whose real goal is to transform the consciousness of Israel's schoolchildren and bring them closer to a certain interpretation of Judaism - a patronizing interpretation with fascist elements.

It turns out that for high school students, the main goal is to "strengthen love for the Jewish homeland, for the Jewish people and for historical Jewish tradition. This will be achieved by creating "a living, meaningful encounter for Jewish youth with the treasures of Jewish thought throughout the generations and with the historical legacy of the Jewish people." All this is meant to "restore the Jewish soul to the State of Israel."

A person's Jewish identity is manifested in many ways, and each of us decides this for ourselves and our children. Jewish secularism is also a rich and complex world, certainly more advanced and enlightened, yet it has no "identity administration." The one-fifth of Israeli citizens who are Arab do not have an identity administration. On the contrary, Israel is not the least bit interested in fostering "love for the homeland" and "Arab heritage" among Arab youth.

It is completely improper for an agency to be established at the Religious Services Ministry that goes around the Education Ministry. This recalls the military rabbinate's scandalous takeover of work better done by the Israel Defense Forces Education Corps.

The Education Ministry said there had been no discussions on the matter, but the administration's head, Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, said schools "are totally free to decide what external groups they wish to work with." The education minister must stop this invasion of the education system, which has much more urgent matters on its plate.

The administration is part of an all-out assault by a government obsessed with Jewish identity. The bill for a proposed Basic Law on Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is another aspect of this obsession. So is the demand by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The pieces of the puzzle form a sorry portrait of an insecure government.

Is the state of Israel setting itself up to have a basic law that grants special benefits to Jewish citizens, while combining that aspect with a Jewish Identity Administration? Surely I can not be the only person to see how that will seriously damage equality and equal rights in the state of Israel?

[Oxymoron]

There should not be equal rights in Israel. There should be the rights of the Jewish people. Everyone else can take a hike, Israel is a Jewish state.

[Tailz]

There should not be equal rights in Israel. There should be the rights of the Jewish people. Everyone else can take a hike, Israel is a Jewish state.

So Oxymoron, I take it that your in favour of a Law for the Protection of Jewish Blood and Jewish Honour?

[ThirdTerm]

A genetic study (Campbell et al. 2012) showed that Jewish founders started the Ethiopian Jewish community more than 2,000 years ago and they remained a distinct population despite some degrees of admixture with local women. The Ethiopian Jews are genetically related to the Israelis as is the case with other North African Jews and it's not accurate to say that they are mostly recent converts to Judaism. The Jewish Identity Administration would help those recent immigrants who had lost touch with their Jewish heritage while living in exile and its main objective is the promotion of educational and community activities which focus on the legacy and the traditions of the Jewish people.

The observations for the Yemenite Jews are even more surprising. Like the Ethiopian Jews, this population was founded >2,000 y ago and was thought to be comprised mostly of local proselytes, which is reflected in the distinctive clustering of the population away from other Jewish groups and the mostly Middle Eastern ancestry present in this group. However, the observation of comparable FST and IBD sharing with other Jewish communities implies significant common Jewish founders in the absence of more recent genetic flow into the community. Thus, although Jewishness was transmitted by the flow of ideas and genes, both appear to have been under selection for long periods of time.
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/34/13865.full

[wat0n]

Given the controversial nature of these drafts, I highly doubt they will be passed anytime soon.

Also, given the importance therein, I would not be surprised if something like that were put to a referendum (just as it will happen with a prospective peace deal with the Palestinians and for the same reason, i.e. it's an important matter for everyone). In fact, it should be put to referendum as it could be the most important law in the country.