Silly me, I thought that Bedouins were nomads. If that's the case, how could they ever have had homes from which they could be 'refugees'?
But UNRWA is threatening Israel over a plan to move Bedouin from the area of E1 - between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim - to the Jericho area, which is further east.
"If such a plan were implemented this would ... give rise to concerns
that it amounts to a 'forcible transfer' in contravention of the Fourth
Geneva Convention" banning involuntary population relocation in
occupied territory, UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl said.
"It might also make way for further Israeli illegal settlement
expansion, further compromising the viability of a two-state solution,"
he said in a statement. "I urge the Israeli authorities not to
proceed with the transfer...and I also urge the donor and state
community to take a firm stand against it."
...
UNRWA added that most of those slated for resettlement to Jericho, in
the east of the Palestinian Authority territory, were registered
Palestinian refugees.
The IDF Civil Administration said there were various plans to rehouse Bedouin and they were being conducted in consultation with community leaders. "As part of the effort to draft master plans for the benefit of the area's Bedouin population, whose purpose is to enable the Bedouin to live in places with suitable infrastructure, dozens of meetings were held with Bedouin leaders," the Administration said in a written response to AFP. "Several plans to prepare such places have been advanced, partly through such meetings."
Why don't I hear any Bedouin protesting this plan? Hmmm.
At a protest in Beer Sheva against an Israeli plan to resettle Bedouins in permanent homes, former Arafat aide and current MK Ahmed Tibi had a cup of hot tea thrown in his face.
'Israeli Arab' MK's: Removing Bedouin squatters from Negev land is 'ethnic cleansing.' Removing Jews from Judea and Samaria is...?
As I am sure many of you have heard already, there have been several demonstrations over the past couple of weeks, some of which have turned violent, against something called the Prawer Plan. The Prawer Plan would remove Bedouin squatters from land which is not theirs in Israel's Negev and put them in recognized cities in the area with defined land claims.
It goes almost without saying that the 'Israeli Arab' MK's and the 'Palestinian Authority' have taken up the Bedouins' cause. A group of 'Israei Arab' MK's met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, and told him that the Prawer Plan is 'ethnic cleansing.'
UAL Ta'al MKs Ahmed Tibi, Ibrahim Sarsour, Masoud Gnaim and Taleb Abu
Arar, a Beduin who lives in the Negev, called the plan "discriminatory
and [a] violation of international law," quoting UN and Amnesty
International officials condemning it, and asked for Kerry's "immediate
intervention to halt the proposed plan…designed to expel thousands of
Palestinian citizens in Israel from their existing homes."
The
Prawer-Begin bill is a five-year economic development initiative seeking
to regulate Beduin settlement in the South. The Beduins in question are
Israeli citizens, many of which serve in the IDF. The plan aims for a
compromised solution for tens of thousands of Beduins currently
scattered in unrecognized villages throughout the Negev, legalizing 63
percent of claimed land.
Beduin and their supporters oppose the
bill because they say the legislation would result in up to 40,000
Beduins losing their land.
Opponents on the Right criticize the
bill as being too generous, saying that the state is giving away land
for free, land that the Beduin could not prove to be theirs in court.
"Since
developing this plan in 2009, Israel has destroyed more than 200 homes
belonging to Palestinians in the Negev. Simply put, this plan
constitutes ethnic cleansing. We seek your urgent attention in this
matter," the UAL-Ta'al MKs wrote to Kerry.
Also Thursday, Kalfa
wrote a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein demanding that Knesset
Interior Committee meetings and all votes on the bill be frozen until
the government agrees to more transparency.
Kalfa said he
uncovered an agreement between Doron Almog, director of the Directorate
for Economic and Community Development of the Negev Beduin in the Prime
Minister’s Office, and the Housing Ministry, which is controlled by the
Bayit Yehudi, from July 2013 that was not reported by Almog to the
Knesset Interior Committee.
And were the Israeli government - in compliance with demands from the 'Palestinians' and Kerry - to remove Jews from land they purchased from the Israeli government in Judea and Samaria, that would be... ethic cleansing?
Led by Minister without portfolio Benny Begin (who will not be an MK in the next government), the lame duck cabinet on Sunday approved the gifting of some 50,000 dunams of Negev land to Bedouin tribes who have been squatting there for years.
The Cabinet voted Sunday to approve changes proposed by Minister Benny Begin in the plan to legalize piratic Bedouin settlement in the Negev. The changes are described by opponents in the pro-Jewish settlement NGO Regavim as "a historic mistake." The
changes still require approval by the Knesset in order to become the law
of the land.
The plan will add more Bedouin settlements to the list of those that
will receive official recognition, and increase the amount of land that
will be handed over to Bedouin as part of an agreement.
MK-elect Moshe Feiglin said that Begin was acting dishonestly
by bringing the plan to the government a short time after elections,
when he is about to leave his office as minister after being voted out
of Likud's leadership. He accused Begin of "abandoning the Jewish settlement enterprise in the Negev."
According to the government, however, Minister Begin's
recommendations were formulated in the wake of "unprecedented
consultations" he held among Negev Bedouin, during which he and the
Construction and Housing Ministry Authority on Formalizing the Status of
Bedouin
Settlement in the Negev officials met with over 1,000 Negev
Bedouin, as well as their relevant groups and organizations..
Regavim noted that Begin did not meet with its representatives.
In its decision, the Cabinet adopted the recommendations of the
commission chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Eliezer Goldberg,
which proposed "to recognize – as much as possible – each of the
unrecognized villages in which there is a minimal mass of residents,
such as will be determined, and which will be able to bear municipal
status, and on the condition that such recognition will not contravene
the district master plan."
Regarding ownership claims, it was decided – inter alia – that
compensation, in land or money, will be given for all of the area in
question (and not just half, as determined by a decision of the previous
government.
The recommendations still need to be approved by the incoming Knesset. Begin's father must be rolling over in his grave at the giveaway of the land of Israel.
Muslim Brotherhood behind rocket attacks on Israel
There were two Grad rocket attacks on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula on Friday night. The remnants of the first one were found near the Ovda army base, south of Mizpe Ramon, while the remnants of the second one were found near Mizpe Ramon.
No one was hurt in either attack. Ynet's military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai noted that the first rocket was apparently fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, adding that the security establishment has ruled out the possibility that it was launched from Jordan.
A senior Egyptian military official denied that the rocket was fired from Sinai, adding that Israel's claims were meant to destabilize Egypt and influence the elections currently being held there.
Israeli security officials say that the rockets that landed on Friday in the area near Ovda and Mitzpeh Ramon, were launched after a request by senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. According to these officials, the rockets were launched from the Sinai Peninsula by a Bedouin unit, according to Hamas orders, even though Hamas itself wasn't the initiator of the launching, but responded to the request of the Brotherhood, who wanted to such an event on the eve of the second round of presidential elections in Egypt. It is yet unclear why the Brotherhood requested such an unusual action, a first military strike against Israel, or whether the strike was aimed at specific sites in the area.
Haaretz goes on to delude itself that the Brotherhood is 'moderate' while presenting abundant evidence otherwise.
So far, the Muslim Brotherhood leaders have presented a moderate stance towards Israel in their talks with the international community, stressing that they had to intention of annulling the peace accords, a position reiterated by presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsi. Still, in the buildup to the elections, Brotherhood speakers have been known to speak fiercely against Israel. In one gathering, in the beginning of May at El-Mahalla El-Kubra, Brotherhood leaders promised, in the presence of Morsi, that the object of the Brotherhood is to liberate Jerusalem. The main speaker at that gathering, Sifwat Hijazi, said that Morsi would liberate Jerusalem and that the Brotherhood's dream was the creation of the "united Arab nations," with Jerusalem as its capital. "Our capital won't be Mecca or Medina, but Jerusalem, millions of shahids will march on the city" shouted Hijazi, "the whole world should know - and we say it clearly - our goal is Jerusalem, we shall pray in Jerusalem, and if not - we shall die as martyrs on its ruins." Another speaker that day said that "tomorrow Morsi will liberate Gaza." A singer sang: "The Jews will not be able to sleep, come, lovers of martyrs, you're all Hamas. Take on arms, and prepare for prayer."
But I guess that the IDF won't be retaliating. We'll wait for the Brotherhood to kill a few Jews first.
Armed Beduin tribesmen kidnapped two American tourists in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian police said on Thursday. The perpetrators are demanding the release of a fellow tribesman recently arrested in a drug case.
The Palestinian Ma'an news agency identified the tourist as Jonathan Shizarlasky and Carter Brabon, both of whom are 31 years old. They were seized while driving near the resort of Dahab.
"There are negotiations now between the security forces and the armed gunmen to release the tourists," a police source said, adding that the Beduin were seeking the release of one of their tribe who has been jailed in a drugs case.
And they're probably safer than a lot of people hanging out in 'resorts' in Sinai.
A lot of Israelis like to visit Sinai (I did too in 1980 before I became an Israeli) and a lot of Israelis believe that warnings don't apply to them. I'd like to urge all my Israelis not to visit Sinai. It's become a no-man's land with no one in charge.
Armed beduin in Sinai kidnapped two police officers and 17 soldiers, Egypt's Al Ahram reported, in the latest in a series of kidnappings by beduin in the Sinai peninsula.
The kidnapping took place in northern Sinai in reaction to the killing of a man that was attempting to smuggle tobacco into bordering Israel, "official sources" told the Egyptian newspaper.
Security in the Sinai peninsula has deteriorated since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak, as beduin long-complaining of neglect from Cairo have kidnapped tourists, foreign workers and taken over a seaside resort, holding the employees hostage.
The natural gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan has also been bombed at least 12 times in the past year, though in that development the Egyptian authorities have hired beduin tribesman to provide security.
Last week, beduin kidnapped two American women in an apparent attempt to hold them for ransom, only to release them to army authorities a few hours later.
While the Egyptian army did not comment on the conditions of the women's release, a beduin source said the authorities had agreed to a demand to free four fellow tribesmen from police custody in exchange for the two tourists.
Yet another reason why the West had to back ousting Hosni Mubarak. /sigh.
But seriously, recall that Israel agreed after Mubarak was deposed that Egypt could station troops in Sinai for the first time since the Camp David accords were implemented. And we see how little good stationing those troops there has done.
I don't see a war on the immediate horizon - the Egyptian army has too many other concerns. But I do see terrorist actions coming from Bedouin in the Sinai - possibly in cooperation with 'Palestinians' in Gaza.
7 Jewish girls abducted by Bedouin in the Negev last month, at least one raped
The girls in this picture have no connection to this story. In fact, it's a sad comment on the state of our people that when I did a Google image search for 'Jewish girls' (no quotation marks), every one that came up before this one was arguably pornographic.
Seven Jewish girls between the ages of 11-18 have been abducted in the past month by Bedouin men in southern Israel. At least one was raped.
Seven victims last month alone are aged 11-18. These are only cases that were reported to police but many others are believed to have taken place without being reported.
Complaints were filed to the police in four cases of such abductions last month in Kiryat Malachi alone, and a fifth case of rape.
Voice of Israel radio said that all four cases of abductions in Kiryat Malachi involved young Bedouin men. The rape took place on the Ashkelon beach last weekend.
In one of the abduction cases, two men from the Bedouin city of Rahat, aged 40 and 24, were arrested, but one has since been released.
In the rape case, the main suspect is a resident of the Palestinian Authority who is illegally staying inside pre-1949 Israel. He has been charged and two other Arabs who were also present at the scene of the crime face lesser charges.
Voice of Israel's reporter in southern Israel, Asaf Kuzailov, said that the phenomenon is on the rise and is a well known one – to residents, to police and welfare authorities. It is confirmed by the Center for Assistance to Women in the Negev.
Some of you may recall that a few years ago, I posted the story of a woman whose rescue by the IDF was arranged by Yad l'Achim during Operation Cast Lead. Yad l'Achim is involved here as well:
Police say that they can only get involved in cases where a specific complaint has been filed, and where there is evidence of abduction and abuse. Police and welfare elements note that the cases do not necessarily start as kidnappings. Often the relationships are consensual at first, with the Arabs plying the girls with money, gifts, attention and warmth that they lack at home. In other cases, the contention is that the girls who were taken to the Arab villages later returned home, and so the men cannot be charged with abduction.
The abuse often begins at a later stage and by then it is hard to determine that the girls are not responsible for their actions, they said.
Voice of Israel reported a specific case of a girl they called Tania from Ashkelon, who fell in love with an Arab from Gaza and moved in with him. After she became pregnant she was tied up at home for days on end and beaten. This happened five years ago, and she is now back in Israel, but still suffers from trauma.
Yad L'Achim says about 1,000 cases of Jewish girls being held against their will by Arabs occur every year.
"While separation of buses in the hareidi sector and religious soldiers' requests to be excused from immodest performances receive top headlines for months on end, thanks to militant feminist politicians and journalists, actual rape and abduction of minor girls is swept under the rug by these groups because it is carried out by their Arab darlings," the group's chairman, Gil Ronen, said. "Unfortunately, nationalist and religious women have not made an effort to forge an independent agenda for their groups, and are content to be led by the ultra-leftists, who use them for bashing religious men and Jewish religion in general.
By the way, I believe that Yad l'Achim's annual appeal is in the next couple of weeks. If you're able to do so, you ought to consider making a contribution to them.
If they can't send 'Palestinians' they'll send Eritreans?
On Tuesday, I did a post about the influx of illegal African 'refugees' into Israel. The person who sent me the material for that post also sent me a couple of corrections. First, there are not 20,000 illegal 'refugees' in Israel, but 45,000. And they no longer pretend to be from Darfur (which has now become South Sudan). They pretend to be from Eritrea and Sudan - two countries whose refugees are not sent back. And as noted in my previous post, they're not here because they're persecuted in their home countries - they're mostly (95%) here for economic opportunities.
I'd like to supply you with a few more data points.
You will recall that at the beginning of the month, I posted a video about organ trafficking in the Sinai. I'm going to re-embed the video below to save you all the trip to the previous post.
Let's go to the videotape. Warning - this is quite graphic.
On Wednesday, November 9th, 2011, even if there was no mention of it in the media, another miracle took place. After the story of the prisoners in the Sinai was broadcast by the CNN in a documentary made in collaboration with EveryOne Group and the New Generation Foundation for Human Rights; after the news of the trafficking in human beings and organs was reported in the world’s most important newspapers, along with the killings, the episodes of rape, and the crimes committed by Egyptian border guards, it finally appeared in the Egyptian media (from the Daily News Egypt to the state TV). So much attention was then focused on the North Sinai Governorate that it has made it very difficult for the traffickers to carry out their dirty work. The world's media are all there, at Arish, Gorah and Rafah. They investigate, ask questions, patrol the city in search of the underground containers and groups of sub-Saharan refugees in the hands of the smugglers. The criminals’ names are on a thousand lips: Abu Kahled, Abu Ahmed, Abu Abdellah, the Sawarka family. In the meantime, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, the EU Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Committee against Torture and dozens of MPs and MEPs, NGOs and intellectuals have sent letters of protest and reported the crimes to the Egyptian and international authorities. In this climate, many chief-traffickers were afraid of being pursued by the authorities and on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 decided to release most of the groups of refugees they were holding prisoner.
They were released on the border with Israel. They came from Arish, Gorah, Rafah and other cities of the Sinai, a total of 600 people according to numbers released by the UNHCR, and reported in the Italian newspaper L'Avvenire (http://www.avvenire.it/Mondo/Pagine/ Eritrean-reserves-to-organi.aspx). EveryOne Group is trying to verify the accuracy of these numbers.
Hamdy Al-Azazy, the human rights activist, told Everyone Group that after being freed by the traffickers, at least 100 Eritrean refugees reached the state of Israel. Hundreds of human beings destined for a terrible future, often death, are now free thanks to humanitarian activism and the human rights activists who never gave up, not even in the face of silence and indifference that lasted far too long.
EveryOne Group has now asked the High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure that the refugees are protected and resettled in the EU, without the threat of deportation. There will be no security for them while the possibility of deportation still exists. Although we must not lower our guard, we can be satisfied with the results this new form of activism (which uses the Internet, but also exposes itself on the frontline, running serious risks to save human lives) can achieve in today’s troubled world, a world that is still far from the ideal of peace and social justice.
But none of those refugees is in the European Union. 611 of them are in Israel (link mostly in Hebrew). And according to the website I just linked, they're there through the efforts of an Egyptian in El-Arish, Hamdy Ahmed Al-Azazy, who 'instructs' Muslim refugees how to reach Israel with the help of his assistant and with the guidance of one Ellen Rosser, a California English professor and 'peace activist,' who took part in Code Pink's 'Gaza Freedom March' in January 2010.
By the way, if Hamdy looks familiar, it's because he should. Go back and watch that CNN report again.
Is Israel being forced or encouraged to save African 'refugees' from Egyptian Bedouin as part of a plot to increase our Muslim population? 45,000 people is an awful lot in this country. We have a population of about 7,000,000, so that works out to be equivalent to 1.93 million 'refugees' like that in the US. Do you think that's a lot of people for our government to support? Do you think that's got the makings of a recidivist minority?
There is organ theft in our region and it goes on along the Egyptian-Israeli border. You knew it all along, didn't you? Oh wait - you didn't because you listened to Carl Bildt and Donald Bostrom and you thought it was the Jooos who steal organs. Well, it's not. It's the Arab Bedouin residents of the Northern Sinai peninsula. And they're stealing organs from African refugees.
Let's go to the videotape. Warning - this is graphic.
Bedouin smugglers involved in people trafficking are also believed to be stealing organs from refugees who are unable to pay their demands for large amounts of cash to take them into Israel.
...
The Sawarka Bedouin tribe, one of the largest in the Sinai, was named by one Bedouin source as being involved in organ thefts.
A Sawarka leader said he was aware that people trafficking was going on in Sinai and that in some cases refugees were held in bonded labor and tortured. But he added only rogue elements of his tribe were involved.
According to rights groups, refugees -- from places like Ethiopia, Eritrea or Sudan -- are enslaved and tortured and the women raped if they cannot come up with the large sums of money the Bedouin try to extort from them and their families to smuggle them into Israel.
Among Bedouin leaders in the Sinai, no one was willing to speak openly about the organ theft. Tribal leaders said they knew nothing about it or had only heard rumors.
...
"Organ trade is the second most profitable trade behind only weapons trade," he said. "It brings in more money than drug dealing and prostitution."
One Bedouin tribal chief did put CNN in touch with a Bedouin who used to be involved in people smuggling and who was close to the organ theft scheme. The source spoke on condition of anonymity but offered insights into the scheme.
"The doctors deal directly with the Sawarka family, and they buy the organs starting from $20,000," the source said in a phone interview.
He offered further details of the logistics required to keep the organs fresh for the transplant into their new owners' bodies: "The doctors come with some sort of mobile fridge where the organs can be stored for six to eight hours and resold in Cairo or elsewhere."
The source claimed doctors from Cairo are involved in the organ theft, a claim that has proved impossible to verify.
"It's like spare parts for cars," the Bedouin, who later agreed to meet one member of the CNN crew in person, said sarcastically toward the end of the interview.
A second Bedouin, who also refused to be identified, later gave a similar account.
The police general in charge of security in Northern Sinai tells CNN that his forces are aware that organ trafficking and theft are going on in their area of operations but that the authorities have not identified who is behind the schemes.
I trust we will hear howls of protest about this from the Swedish government.... On second thought, we probably won't. There are no Jews involved.
LATMA tribal update: Israel's anti-boycott law, the art of protest, and Bedouin princes steal water pipes
Here's the weekly LATMA update, which talks about Israel's new anti-boycott law, shows how to protest and shows how Bedouin princes are stealing water pipes. And there's a good Hillary Clinton joke (make sure to WATCH or you will miss it).
This would include boosting economic ties, for example, expanding the “Bridging the Rift” science center, a joint Israeli-Jordanian-American center backed by Stanford and Cornell where the focus lies on science providing a common language between Israeli and Jordanian students. More Israeli support would come via shared intelligence as it relates to fighting terrorism and Islamism in both countries. Both forms of support would serve Abdullah well as he attempts to illustrate how Jordan is stable and economically viable.
Beyond the above, Israel has some leverage as it relates to the shared national interest of the Jordan Valley water, which both countries deeply depend on. Israel could expand its desalination efforts in a way that benefits Jordanians. Expanding this collaboration is something Abdullah can use to stress the added value the monarchy and the peace bring to both countries.
If East Bankers and West Bankers unite under an umbrella of hatred towards Israel and the United States, the ongoing asymmetrical warfare Israel faces will only intensify. Abdullah and his monarchy are not perfect, but they remain an island of stability in a region where no one yet knows what the future holds.
I'm not feeling very warm and fuzzy about King Abdullah. I find him much more difficult than I found his father. Perhaps that is why Romirowsky - a former IDF liaison to Jordan - wrote this article.
Abdullah is making problems for Israel. He is revoking Jordanian citizenship from 'Palestinians.' He has become one of the most hysterical advocates for 'Palestinian statehood.' He insists on keeping the 'Palestinians' out of the military, while the Bedouin become more and more disenchanted with both Abdullah and the 'Palestinian' majority. He has fostered closer relations with Tehran (yes, I know, Obama is to blame for that). After 17 years of 'peace' with Israel, his media still believes that the struggle between Israel and the Arabs is existential, and the 'peace' with Jordan is about as cold as it can get.
In sum, Abdullah is a real obstacle to peace, and while that doesn't make Jordan like Syria - where anything would be better than the current government - it does mean that we ought to be open to change to a government that might improve relations with , as much of a longshot as that may be.
Israelis are being urged to return home, as Egypt is on the verge of losing control of the Sinai to Bedouin tribes.
According to information that has arrived in Israel, Egyptian police authorities have abandoned dozens of police stations throughout the peninsula after they were attacked by Beduin armed with missiles and assault rifles.
...
The Egyptian military has for years encountered difficulty in controlling the Beduin population, which does not hold allegiance to the Egyptian government in Cairo.
“The Sinai is already known as a lawless land,” a senior defense official said over the weekend. “There is real concern that if the Egyptians don’t get the Sinai back under their control, it could develop into a major threat to Israel.”
Israel, which has urged all its citizens to leave the Sinai immediately, is particularly concerned about the possibility that Hamas will take hold of parts of the peninsula and use it to launch attacks into Israel via the 240-kilometer long Israeli- Egyptian border, with an emphasis on Eilat.
There is also concern that without a real Egyptian security presence in the Sinai, Hamas will be able to increase the amount and quality of weaponry and explosives it smuggles into the Gaza Strip via Egypt.
Aren't you glad we gave every last grain of sand in the Sinai to Egypt? What could go wrong?
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
