Baruch Dayan HaEmet (Blessed is the True Judge): Baby Adele is no more (May God Avenge her blood)
I am saddened to report that Baby Adele - Adele Biton - passed away this evening as a result of injuries sustained in a terror attack (one of those 'harmless,' 'non-violent' projectiles thrown at passing Israeli motorists by 'Palestinian children') nearly two years ago.
Adele was four years old.
Adelle Biton, the four-year-old child who was critically injured in a
stone-throwing incident near the settlement of Ariel two years ago,
died in Petach Tikva’s Schneider Hospital on Tuesday evening from
complications following a lung infection.
Biton and her family were driving from their home
in the settlement of Yakir to the center of Israel in March 2013 when a
stone thrown at the vehicle caused it to go out of control and crash
into a truck that was parked at the side of the road – also due to
stone-throwing.
Her mother and two sisters were moderately injured
in the attack, but Biton was taken to Schneider Hospital in critical
condition with a serious head wound, and never fully recovered.
From Schneider, Biton was relocated to the
Levenstein rehabilitation center and in September last year she was
released to home care.
Biton began coughing earlier this week and was diagnosed with a lung infection. Her condition deteriorated quickly.
...
Five youths from the neighboring village of Kif el-Hares were indicted
for throwing the stones that struck the Biton car. Their case is
currently being heard in a military court.
May Baby Adele be a
melitzat yosher (an honest supplicant) for her family and friends.
May her family be comforted among all mourners for Zion and Jerusalem, and know of no more sorrow.
And May God Avenge her blood.
Labels: Ariel, Palestinian terrorists, stone throwers, terror victims
#BDSFail A boycott is worth 1,000 words
A fundraiser for the Samarian town of Ariel reports that the recent decision by McDonald's to
boycott Samaria's largest city has been a
benefit for the city's fundraising.
There are times that I travel the United
States raising funds for humanitarian projects in the city of Ariel when
the story line is difficult to convey. First, there are those who never
heard about Ariel and the projects that we promote. Second, our
objectives, which focus exclusively on the well being of Ariel’s
residents and, by extension, the populace of the nearby communities, are
often tangentially confused with time consuming and wholly irrelevant
political discourse. Fortunately, one small McDonald’s boycott
effectively set the record straight, and we have begun to reap the
benefits.
In the last two days alone, as I develop our
network in the New York metropolitan region, McDonald’s global
reputation precedes me. At presentations, I am introduced as the
representative of the city that was boycotted by McDonald’s. In meetings
with prospective donors, Ronald McDonald’s smile is the topic of
discussion. And of course, those who host me get a kick out of offering
to take me out for anything from a Big Mac to a McCaffe Latte. Whatever
the case, Ariel no longer requires a protracted introduction. The
McDonald’s boycott has caused our name recognition to soar, and our
message has subsequently been succinctly simplified.
We learned long ago that boycotts work in our
favor. The historic boycott of the Ariel Regional Center for the
Performing Arts served to increase our popularity among Israelis across
the political spectrum. One of the more popular rejections of the
boycott in socially progressive circles was rooted in the concept that
the arts should be available to everyone, irrespective of race, belief
and political orientation. As polling consistently indicated, that
essential, basic truth, which came under fire by those who launched the
boycott, was taken as a given by Israelis nationwide. The arts are for
everyone, and while they might convey political ideas, they must not
stifle them.
As I’ve learned in the past 48 hours, what was
true for music, dance and theater is even more true for McNuggets,
McWraps and McFlurries. People care about people much more than they
care about politics. Talk about Secretary of State Kerry’s visit to the
West Bank and you begin to lose people. Talk about McDonald’s
withholding fast food from an untapped consumer market and everything
begins to click. A boycott is worth a thousand words.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Ariel, BDS, Judea and Samaria, McDonald's
Boycott McDonald's?
Revenant leaders are calling for a
boycott of McDonald's in response to its refusal to allow a restaurant to
open under its brand name in Ariel. This is from the first link.
Settler groups are urging settlers specifically and Israeli citizens in general to refrain
from entering McDonald’s restaurants around Israel. The move is a
response to a local McDonald’s franchise that announced earlier this
week that it had turned down an offer to open a branch in the town of
Ariel.
The fourth largest settlement in the West Bank, Ariel is a
suburban-style development, home to roughly 18,000 people and a
university that enrolls some 10,000 students. It’s located about 10
miles east of the Green Line, an armistice line drawn in 1949 that
separates Israel from the West Bank, part of the territory on which
Palestinians hope to establish a future state.
According to a report
in the Israeli financial newspaper Globes, the owner and CEO of
McDonald’s’ Israel franchise chain, Omri Padan, is also one of the
founders of the anti-settlement watchdog organization Peace Now and has
always had a policy of not operating in the West Bank. Padan’s
franchises are independent from McDonald’s’ U.S. corporate headquarters,
which does not have a say in his decision to not expand to Ariel.
Some of those angry at the franchise’s decision not to open a branch
in Ariel urged disgruntled customers to call the local franchise in
protest. They posted the phone number of McDonald’s Israel on the My Israel Facebook group under an image that read, “McDonald’s I’m not loving it.”
On Thursday, leaders of the settler movement argued that McDonald’s had “turned from a business into an organization with an anti-Israel political agenda.”
...
In light of the decision, Israel’s homegrown fast-food chain Burger
Ranch announced it would open a branch in Ariel instead. On Thursday
morning, Finance Minister Naftali Bennett, a former West Bank settlement
council leader, announced on his Facebook page that he would be first customer at Burger Ranch when it opens in the town.
Given that most of the McDonald's in this country are not Kosher (
120 out of 160), and most of the revenants and their supporters probably would not eat there anyway, if there's a boycott, will anyone notice?
Shabbat Shalom everyone.
Labels: Ariel, BDS, McDonald's
Is there policy behind this madness?
Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry announced approval of the
construction of 277 new housing units at the center of the city of Ariel in Samaria. 100 of those units are for Jews who were expelled from the Jewish town of Netzarim (you know - the one Ariel Sharon once
compared to Tel Aviv) in 2005 and still have no place to live six years later and won't for another two years at best. Of course, the Obama administration promptly condemned the construction as '
deeply troubling.' Former Bush administration national security adviser Elliott Abrams tries to figure out whether there is a
policy behind this madness.
But if the fixation on freezing construction in settlements is no longer the main pillar of Obama policy, those old sentiments and statements linger on. Thus did the announcement that new units were to be built in Ariel evoke a new denunciation from Washington. To be sure, it did not come from the President himself and was a pretty low-key affair; it did not suggest that new a crisis in bilateral relations loomed. But this was a reminder that the Administration appears to have learned nothing, and still does not understand the difference between expanding a settlement physically and expanding the population of a settlement by building in already-built-up areas.
Why not? Without dealing with the question of which individual policymakers are responsible for this foolish policy, it does seem that the policy is based on the view that every square foot of land controlled by Jordan before the 1967 war is rightly part of “Palestine,” so that every Israeli action on that land is wrong. This view also explains why the President believes peace negotiations should start from the “1967 borders.” But there are no “1967 borders,” just the 1949 Armistice lines that all sides agreed in 1949 were not to be regarded as permanent. It is reasonable to have the 1949 map on the table when negotiations begin, and to have next to it the 2011 map, and to seek a compromise. It is not reasonable to view it as a violation of international law and a threat to a peace agreement every time bricks and studs and drywall show up at the center of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. In the real world those new units in Ariel do not make a final peace agreement harder.
Abrams is correct as far as he goes: There is no policy behind the madness. However, the only chance that the 'Palestinians' will ever come to the table is if they feel they have something to lose by not coming. And the only way that will ever happen is to stop coddling them by telling Israel to build up and not out. Stop interfering altogether. Let Israel build wherever and whenever it wants. And if the 'Palestinians' still aren't willing to come to the table, let them lose out. Actions
should have consequences.
Labels: Ariel, Barack Hussein Obama, Elliott Abrams, Judea and Samaria construction
'Deeply troubling'
That didn't take long. On Monday, I reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had approved the construction of 277 homes in the city of Ariel in the Samaria region (population 20,000+). Of those homes,
100 are meant for Jews who were expelled from their homes in Gaza six years ago who still don't have a permanent place to live.
And by the end of the day on Monday, the Obama administration announced that 277 Jewish homes are '
deeply troubling.'
The United States and the Palestinians on Monday accused Israel of harming attempts to revive the peace process by approving the construction of 277 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
“We have seen reports of this approval for apartments in the West Bank. We consider it deeply troubling,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
“These kinds of actions are counterproductive to the resumption of direct negotiations.
We have raised this issue with the Israeli government.
We will continue to make our position known,” she said.
Actually, 'these kinds of actions' are the only kinds that MIGHT make the 'Palestinians' come to the bargaining table by giving them something to lose if they don't come. And that's precisely why the 'Palestinians' are furious.
Nabil Abu Rudainah, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the approvals were “an Israeli attempt to obstruct and destroy what is left of any effort to revive the peace process.”
It was an act, he said, that justified Palestinian plans to seek statehood unilaterally at the United Nations rather than through a negotiated agreement with Israel.
“Once again, these Israeli settlement measures represent a strong reason calling on us to go to the United Nations and the Security Council to request membership for the state of Palestine and to halt these Israeli measures,” Rudainah told Reuters.
What? No statement from
Lady Ugliness? Was she on vacation on Monday?
Labels: Ariel, Barack Hussein Obama, Catherine Ashton, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian whining
Israel's de facto 'settlement freeze'
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
You thought that with the end of the 'settlement freeze' building would be unrestricted in Judea and Samaria. Or that it would at least be unrestricted in existing 'settlements.' Or that it would at least be unrestricted in 'settlements' that are within the 'security fence.' Or at least building would be unrestricted in 'settlements' that are part of the 'settlement blocs.' Sadly, you are
wrong on all counts. And we have Ehud Barak to thank for that.
The mayors of the Ma’aleh Adumim and Ariel settlements have asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to break the silent freeze that threatens to choke their cities by authorizing new building.
While building has been allowed to resume in West Bank settlements since the 10- month moratorium on such activity ended on September 26, the mayors of these two cities have said that they are out of construction permits.
Without such permits, they said, a silent freeze is about to descend on their cities.
This week, Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel sent a letter to Netanyahu and called his bureau to ask for a meeting.
No such meeting has been scheduled to date, Kashriel told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Ma’aleh Adumim, along with Betar Illit and Modi’in Illit, the largest three Jewish West Bank communities, have consistently fueled the bulk of settlement growth for the last 14 years.
Last year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 58% of all finished homes in the settlements were in those three cities alone.
But Kashriel has warned, and continues to warn, that this kind of growth is about to come to a halt.
The state budget, which the Knesset approved last week, set aside funds for 200 new homes in Ma’aleh Adumim, but according to the Construction and Housing Ministry, the project cannot move forward until it receives the approval of the Defense Ministry.
Sources in the Construction and Housing Ministry said that such approval was not likely to be granted in the near future, because no approval was being given at present for projects in West Bank settlements.
The funds that were approved for Ma’aleh Adumim construction, the sources said, allow the ministry to do preparatory work so the construction can move forward should Defense Minister Ehud Barak sign off on it.
Read the whole thing.
Netanyahu won't overrule Barak on this because it would cause Labor to leave the government (which they may do anyway), and Netanyahu is afraid of having his government branded as a 'Right Wing' government.
In the meantime, the housing shortage continues and Israel is squandering an opportunity to create many more facts on the ground.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Ariel, Beitar Ilit, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Maaleh Adumim
'Palestinians' seethe: Israel has plan for train line to Ariel
The 'Palestinians' are seething because they have discovered that Israel has a plan on the books to build a rail line from the
Tel Aviv suburbs to Ariel, which is in Samaria.
Transport Ministry spokesman Ilan Leizerovich said the new train line is currently only in the planning stage, along with other train lines, including some in the West Bank, and that there are no plans to actually begin work.
"There is no intention to carry it out at this time," he said
The project was quickly denounced by a spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank.
"This shows not only Israel's short-term illegal activities in terms of settlement expansion, but its long term planning and execution of colonial projects that aim at nothing less than ending the two-state solution," Husam Zomlot said.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had no immediate comment.
The 'Palestinian' Maan website
adds some details:
The spokesman stressed that it was only one of a number of projects under consideration but the right-wing Ma'ariv daily said three million shekels ($800,000) had been allocated for a feasibility study.
The proposed rail line would link the town of Rosh Ha Ayin, east of Tel Aviv, with Ariel and also serve Barkan, another settlement.
The idea was first mooted a few months ago by Transport Minister Israel Katz of the right-wing Likud party of hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"No operational decision has been taken at this stage," the ministry spokesman told AFP. "It's just one among a number of proposals."
Although Ariel lies 17 kilometres from the 1967 border between Israel and the West Bank, and cuts a deep indentation into the territory, successive Israeli prime ministers have insisted on keeping the settlement in any peace deal with the Palestinians.
With a population of 18,000 and a higher education college, it is one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Let's go ahead and start building it and let the 'Palestinians' seethe. If they see they have something to lose by staying away, maybe they will actually come to the negotiating table. But don't bet on it.
Labels: Ariel, Israel Railways, Judea and Samaria construction
Painting the town red in Ariel
A group of graffiti artists from the New York City area is
here in Israel this week painting up a storm. They were here once before in November, and painted bomb shelters in Sderot and the like. This trip, they're spending a lot of time in Ariel, where they are trying to counteract the
artists' boycott of the new theater there.
An international group of graffiti artists are in Ariel to break what they call "an artistic siege" against the approximately 18,000 residents, in the midst of the national debate over Ariel's new cultural center. "Graffiti writers are used to making art where people tell them not to," says Craig Dershowitz, executive director of the New York group, Artists 4 Israel, which organized the trip.
The group is creating murals across the West Bank city and giving free painting lessons to school children. On the trip, the artists also painted in Sderot, decorated a community center in Jerusalem and did murals at Intel's corporate clubhouse. After an American Thanksgiving dinner hosted for them by Ariel residents, the group will also visit Beit El and Shilo.
Artists also attempted yesterday to document and paint over hate messages on both sides of the wall in the areas of Bethlehem, but while working on the Palestinian side they were approached by Palestinian men who asked them to leave, according to the group. "Graffiti artists are called 'writers," says Dershowitz. "What we hope to do by organizing trips where American, European, Israeli and Arab artists can meet each other is to write a new story. In graffiti, we will write a better future for the whole region."
One of the things this story doesn't mention is that the group found the time to have dinner cooked by Mrs. Carl and our two younger daughters in our home last week, and did graffiti of most of our children's and grandchildren's names while they were sitting at our dining room table! They're an amazing group. Some of them are Jewish, some of them are not. Most of them are from the New York City area and at least some of them got their start decorating New York City subway cars in the 1970's and 1980's.
The picture at the top is a bomb shelter from the first trip in April. I've seen pictures from the current trip, but they aren't up on the website yet. One of them said to me that the importance of what he was doing hit him when he realized the use of the thing they were decorating. Having those pictures to look at should make them less scary for small children.
Those of you who are able to do so should consider a contribution to Artists4Israel. There's more information on how to donate
here.
And yes, we're hoping our house will become a regular stopping point for them on their trips here.
Labels: Ariel, Artists4Israel, Beit El, Sderot, Shilo
The Zionist answer to Obama
Earlier, I reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu had surprisingly
pushed back against Obama administration objections to Jewish construction in Jerusalem. It turns out that he did even more: The government announced on Tuesday that it will build between
800 and 1,000 new homes in Ariel.
The plan for a new neighborhood in the western part of Ariel has been all but completed after years of litigation. Only the approval of the local planning and building committee is needed for the work to begin. The municipality supports the initiative.
The construction in Ariel has been the center of controversy between Israel and the United States. While Israel sees Ariel as part of a large settlement bloc, the United States sees it as a panhandle sticking into the West Bank, intended to prevent Palestinian territorial contiguity.
Last month Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman met with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv to discuss resuming construction in the city. "You don't know what efforts I'm making to keep Ariel," Netanyahu reportedly told him. "The whole world is against Ariel."
The area earmarked for Ariel's new neighborhood is next to the Palestinian town Salfit. The compound is divided in two - state-owned land and land privately owned by businessman Avraham Shamai. Shamai sold the land a few years ago, but the buyers did not keep up their end of the agreement and the land reverted back to Shamai after prolonged litigation.
Since this is privately owned land, the developer may put up fences and forge paths in preparation for construction with the approval of the municipal planning committee; he does not need the Defense Ministry's approval. Once the committee approves the plan, the construction may begin.
Nachman told the city council last month that "they approved a development contract. It's a very big thing."
He also spoke about building in other parts of Ariel. "We've resumed construction in the industrial area in Ariel west," Nachman said. "Plants that were frozen are being built now .... In the Moriah neighborhood we've begun construction. There are 100 homes there by [construction company] Netzarim and 195 others by another company; together that's 295."
Referring to the construction approval, Ariel council member Yaakov Emanuel told Haaretz that "the city is thriving. This means Ariel will stay part of Israel."
This is good news, of course. But I'm still waiting to hear of approvals for Jewish construction in places that aren't part of the 'settlement blocs.' Then we'll know that the game is over.
Labels: Ariel, Barack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Samaria, settlement freeze
