Israel Matzav

United Parcel 'Palestinian' Service

For those who have noticed that posting has been light for the last couple of days, it's an indication of how busy I have been. So much so that someone is going to get a hat tip for this post, despite the fact that it came from a blog whose RSS feed is at the top of my Firefox toolbar.

Debbie Schlussel is reporting this morning that United Parcel Service (UPS) should really be known as United 'Palestinian' Service, because they service Ramallah and Kalkilya and other such locations but they do not service the Jewish cities and towns in Judea and Samaria. Debbie bases her report on a letter from one of her readers, who tried to send a package to her son in Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut - a part of the Etzion bloc, which is one of the least likely places to be gifted to the 'Palestinians' in the unlikely event that we reach a 'settlement' with them before Messianic times. As it happens, I studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion before many of my readers were born (not you Debbie, sorry! :-).

Hat Tip: Toby in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York (a/k/a Cousin Toby)

Yesterday, I received this e-mail from reader Ruth G.:

Dear Debbie:

A friend of mine has a son learning in the Gush in Israel. She wanted to send him a package. She called UPS about shipping her package to Gush Yeshiva [DS: A yeshiva is a Jewish academy] in the Gush EtZion. UPS told her they do not deliver packages beyond the green line. He would have to go the Jerusalem to pick it up. My friend asked if they deliver packages to Ramala. The reply was yes. After further research for a delivery service she called DHL, they had no problem taking her package and delivering it to her son.

Are you aware of this? Why won't UPS deliver in all areas of the State of Israel?

Sincerely,

Ruth G.
Baltimore, MD

Last night, I called UPS to verify this, and, in fact, it is true. Not only is it true, but UPS will not recognize even parts of Israel that are within the "Green Line," such as the Golan Heights. A man from UPS read me the following statement (which is not on the UPS website--perhaps they are too cowardly to acknowledge this online):

UPS service is provided to and from most addresses within Israel and the Palestine [sic] Authority area, except for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a few remote areas in the Golan Hieghts, and the Southern Negev desert.

I asked the UPS employee if I could send a package to "Palestinian" areas of the West Bank. He said yes. I asked him if I could send a package to terrorist-infested Ramallah. He said yes. I asked him if I could send a package to Arab areas in the Golan Heights. Again, the answer was "YES."

I asked the man why UPS would not deliver to Jewish areas of these regions. He responded, "for security reasons. It's dangerous there." A big, fat lie--the Jewish areas are the only safe areas in these regions. In the Palestinian areas, the UPS man might be tortured and/or beheaded and his "package" castrated without anesthetic, as is a traditional form of torture there.

I asked the UPS employee how it could possibly be safer in the streets of Ramallah, where Fatah and HAMAS terrorists are killing each other and Westerners, daily, than it is in Gush Etzion. "I don't know. I just work here. I don't set policy," was the response.

Well, now we know the official "policy" of UPS--giving in to Islamic terrorists and their anti-Semitic views.

Debbie goes on to recount some of the history of Gush Etzion, which I strongly advise you all to read. It's not just some place in Judea!

I do not find this shocking. In fact, when I made aliya in the early 90's, there were issues with the local shippers who refused to deliver appliances beyond the green line (other than within Jerusalem), even to Maaleh Adumim, which is just a few minutes east of Jerusalem. Often, you had to get your lift delivered to Jerusalem, and then have a local mover take it from there out to the suburbs that are over the green line. The difference is that this time, there is a choice. DHL will deliver to the Jewish cities and towns, as will Federal express (according to one of the comments on Debbie's post). I generally use Federal Express myself.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:15 AM