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Ethiopia’s Massive Nile Dam Explained

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 08:08:00 +0000

The subject of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam or GERD has become very sensitive in the Arab social media. In some articles Israel is recognized as an important player in this conflict.

For this purpose a few Israeli journalists were invited to a friendly meeting at the invitation of the Ethiopian Ambassador to Israel, Reta Alemu Nega. Although many subjects were discussed the center of the discussion was about the current situation in North Africa and the Dam.

“Something like what the Turkish government has done to the Iraqis” as one of the journalists interrupted the ambassador while he was describing the importance of the dam to the Ethiopian people.

In response Alemu Nega claimed that this project didn’t start without the green light of the US or notice of the Israeli government. He believes that because of the close relations between Israel and Ethiopia, Israel thinks that it can use the dam as leverage over the Egyptian and Sudanese government in any future disagreement.

“What I’m telling you is pure information, not some sort of analysis. During the negotiations for the Abraham Accords, the US and Israel used the dam as a tool to bring the Sudanese to sign the agreement. Mr. Netanyahu even promised Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, that if they sign the agreement, Israel will form a coalition with Sudan to confront Ethiopia in this regard.” Said Alemu Nega smiling while shaking his head.

When asked if he’s concerned about such a coalition he responded that he had talked to PM Naftalli Bennett’s office on monday and quoted them as saying “although PM Bennett pursues good relations with all countries especially those that have signed the Abraham Accords, he’s committed to deals but not to former PM Netanyahu’s promises.”

Mr. Alemu Nega added that he believes that Netanyahu had misled the Sudanese on this matter. Complimenting Netanyahu he said “the word “magician” is too weak to describe this stunning achievement. We know that Israel will never sacrifice the Jews of Ethiopia over Sudanese Muslims.”

After the meeting with the ambassador we talked to his assistant, Mr. Aaron Getachew. He said that a lot of money and effort has been put onto this megaproject and that the government of Ethiopia has long term economy plans which most of them rely on it. Therefore there’s no way to stop the project especially when countries like the US and Israel fully support it and see benefits in it.

Egypt and Sudan have urged the U.N. Security Council to undertake “preventive diplomacy” and call for a legally binding agreement to resolve a dispute with Ethiopia over the availability of water from its dam on the Nile River, but Ethiopia insisted the matter can be solved by the African Union and many council members agreed.

Egypt and Sudan on Thursday called for the council meeting and sent their foreign ministers to New York to appeal for council action, saying 10 years of negotiations with Ethiopia have failed and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is starting a second filling of its reservoir which not only violates a 2015 agreement but poses “an existential threat” to 150 million people in downstream nations.

The dam on the Blue Nile is 80% complete and is expected to reach full generating capacity in 2023, making it Africa’s largest hydroelectric power plant and the world’s seventh-largest, according to reports in Ethiopia’s state media. Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential to promote economic development and make sure the vast majority of its people don’t lack electricity.

For more information click on the link:

https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-africa-business-egypt-sudan-bb3e5fb7a6f60b20c4f7ca5d8cf2eb2a

Participation of Israeli Space Agency on Strike Against Hashed Al-Shaabi

Sun, 04 Jul 2021 10:08:00 +0000

A commemoration ceremony was held at the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) headquarters for a senior figure in the space industry, CEO of the space agency and Israel Prize laureate Avi Har-Even who died of injuries sustained during a foreign trip.

Professor Isaac Ben-Israel a senior military scientist and the current chairman of the Israeli Space Agency said that Har-Even "laid the foundations to build Israel's current space capabilities, and his contribution is worth its weight in gold."

He added “His contribution to space exploration and Israel’s national security is unknown to most Israelis, and much of his activity will remain a mystery in the future, too. Just look at our satellites, for example with Ofek (Ofek-16), we observe our enemy’s movements day and night.”

He also revealed for the first time that Ofek-16 was engaged in an airstrike against Iranian-backed militia’s drone bases in Syria and Iraq on June 27, 2021. The militia group known as Hashed Al-Shaabi claimed four Iraqi fighters died in the strike, carried out by an American F-16 and two F-15 fighter jets.

He claimed satellite pictures that were given to Pentagon played an important role in the strike and according to a before and after picture of the bases a severe damage was done to the drone facilities.

“I am very pleased to inform you that with this satellite technology that we possess even our friends in Pentagon request pictures and information from us and to be very clear, in the recent strike against the Iranian backed terrorists we gave our American friends what they needed. We know very well what was hit and what happened to it.”

It was four weeks ago when Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned that the terrorist organization is working to reach a new equation in which any attack on Jerusalem will lead to a regional war.

Nasrallah stated that Hezbollah is in contact with “anyone who is willing to be part of this regional equation.” Right after his speech Hamas, Iraqi Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Ansarallah group announced that they would act for “the protection of Jerusalem.”

The Israeli Opera, the Abraham Accords and The Issue of Human Rights

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:28:00 +0000

“Mothers,” the original opera by David Zeba, finally premiered at the Tel Aviv Opera House, starring Israeli Opera soloists and actresses from the Gesher Theater, and sponsored by Tova and Sami Sagol.

The opera tells the stories of the book of Genesis from the point of view of its female characters. Following the performance, a reception was held on behalf of members of the Friends of the Opera Association and friends of the Gesher Theater, together with the creators and artists of the production.

Participants in the concert entitled “In One Voice” included the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, its soloists, and Opera singers, and together, through the music, they conveyed a message of coexistence.

Among those at the event was Minister of Culture and Sports Hili Tropper. In his first but short interview with Nirit Anderman a journalist at Ha'aretz Daily Newspaper he expressed his views on feminism and the LGBTQ community rights. Tropper stated that he strongly supports the Abraham Accords and as Minister of Culture, and that he’s dedicated to using the deal as a tool to put pressure on the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco governments to loosen the pressure on the LGBTQ community in their countries.

“I believe that one of our goals or may I say duties is to try to let these governments to realize that women and the LGBTQ communities have the right to live like others and they should never be prosecuted.”

Furthermore, for the first time ever, LGBTQ pride flags will be flown at Israeli Foreign Ministry's headquarters to mark Pride Month.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid instructed his ministry to raise an LGBTQ Pride flag outside its offices for the first time on Monday, in honor of Pride Month.

“The Foreign Ministry and its employees are leading a message of tolerance, brotherhood and freedom,” Lapid tweeted.

According to a preannounced program, Lapid will leave Italy for the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. Some sources say that Jerry Levinson, one of the founders of the Jerusalem Open House (JOH), will accompany him on this trip.

Dazzled in the Desert: Meteor Shower in Mitzpe Ramon

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:18:00 +0000

Monday night, the small desert town of Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev will be the place to be for anyone looking for a starry-eyed night. The Perseids Meteor shower - which occurs every year when dust and ice particles from the Swift-Tuttle comet burn up and enter the earth’s atmosphere - will peak on the night between August 12 and 13.

The impressive display of shooting stars - traveling at around 37 miles per second - will be visible throughout Israel. But the best seat in the house is in Mitzpe Ramon. Why? Because the town's local council turns out all the town’s lights, creating complete darkness and thus enabling optimal star-gazing.

As part of the meteor shower festival in town, there will be lectures on astronomy offered in the local soccer stadium, and guided observations throughout the night.

The Mitzpe Ramon regional council is in the process of being recognized by UNESCO as a “starlight reserve” – the only one in the Middle East – defined as an unpolluted area where natural night sky conditions can be preserved and protected.

Up to 150 meteors are expected to shoot across the sky per hour, with peak hours between 10:30 P.M. and 4:30 A.M.

According to NASA, the Perseid meteor shower will produce more sparkles across the sky than any other meteor shower in the world, earning it the title “fireball champion.” One of the best parts is that all you need is a blanket to lie on.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/travel/meteor-shower-in-mitzpe-1.5318086

Tourist Tip #241 / Visiting the Southern West Bank

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:13:00 +0000

You won't find the South Hebron Hills highlighted in any travel guide or advertised by the Tourism Ministry. This area is not even technically part of Israel, though Israelis are free to travel there and a few thousand have settled there. If you are interested in going beyond the headlines and getting a taste of the reality on the ground that virtually no tourists and few Israelis ever see, you can visit the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills.

Located just an hour and a half south of Jerusalem, at the bottom tip of the West Bank, the South Hebron Hills are designated as Area C – part of the roughly 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli sovereignty.

A drive down Route 60 from the Gilo checkpoint will take you on a winding road where the incongruent desert landscape becomes immediately evident. Settlements like Carmel, Ma'on and Otniel speckle the hills amid rural communities like Susya, Jinba and Umm el Heir, where Palestinian shepherds and farmers live in tents and tin shacks.

Some Israelis may have heard of the area, where the settlement of Susya arose in 1983, because of the national archaeological site in Jewish Susya established in 1986 after ruins of a synagogue were discovered. (A number of Palestinian families were expelled then to make way for the site and there are eight villages in the area currently under threat of demolition.)

While the area is beautiful and expansive, few visitors go there because it is a flashpoint in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Yet it is one of the most informative and important areas for those seeking to gain an understanding of Israeli occupation and the acrimonious dynamic between settlers, soldiers and Palestinians.

If you would like a guided tour, one option is to go there with Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran IDF combatants who talk about their experiences serving in the West Bank during the Second Intifada. Tours are offered in English around once a month and dates are listed on their website. They usually depart from International Convention Center (Binyanei Hauma), across from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station.

If you are looking to go beyond information and engage in direct action, join the weekly trips that leave from Jerusalem with a political group called Ta’ayush, active in the South Hebron Hills for over a decade. Bear in mind that such a trip may also include tense confrontations between Palestinians, settlers and soldiers.

Every Saturday for over a decade, a small group of Israelis meets with Palestinian residents and accompanies them to their lands in support of their daily humanitarian needs like grazing and farming. Through their presence and documentation, they try to prevent skirmishes by settlers and soldiers. For example, thanks in part to Ta’ayush activists’ documentation and legal work, the Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that soldiers cannot issue closed military zone orders and evacuate Palestinians from an area because settlers have provoked a confrontation – rather they must do everything possible to enable the agricultural work to continue unabated.

Palestinians welcome Israeli and international activists who wish to learn about their situation. Hot tea with fresh local sage and lots of sugar is always offered to visitors, a soothing respite from the rough terrain and scorching sun that characterize the South Hebron Hills.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/travel/tourist-tip-241-visiting-the-south-hebron-hills-1.5267734

When Violence Comes Home to Roost

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:06:00 +0000

Recent indiscriminate acts of violence against Palestinians - one a firebomb in the West Bank and the other a nearly successful "lynch" of a Palestinian youth by a mob of Israeli teenagers in Jerusalem - are not nearly as uncommon as they are disturbing. Although the latest attacks have received substantial media attention here, and were publicly condemned by government leaders as a "terror attack" and "hate crime," respectively, such acts are not an aberration from the norm, and examining how similar acts in the past have been treated is instructive in understanding an inherent and diabolical bias in Israeli policies.

One could try and argue that the firebomb thrown last Thursday at a Palestinian taxi carrying an entire family was a relatively rare crime carried out by settler extremists who will stop at nothing to lay claim to the West Bank. However such attacks are actually on the rise. According to the Jerusalem Fund's Palestine Center, a Washington, D.C.-based NGO that does educational work on behalf of Palestinians, in 2011 alone, there were an average of 2.6 incidents of settler violence per day against Palestinians, a 39-percent increase from 2010.

Such incidents range from acts of vandalism, such as the desecration of an Arab cemetery with the message "death to Arabs," or the uprooting of olive trees, which can devastate an entire village's livelihood, to direct physical violence. Since the beginning of 2012, over 100 olive trees have been uprooted by settlers in the South Hebron Hills area alone, but such relatively minor acts are seldom reported in the Israeli mainstream media, and even more rarely are the perpetrators brought to justice.

In the case of the vicious beating of Jamal Julani in Jerusalem's Zion Square late last Thursday night, one would be hard-pressed to argue that this was an isolated act by an extremist, considering it was apparently carried out by more than 20 young Israelis, with hundreds more watching on. Just last month, Haaretz reported that the Jerusalem District Court sentenced an Israeli teen to eight years in prison for a similar incident in February 2011 in which the youth used a razor blade to stab to death a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem. The incident took place in the center of Jerusalem, in the same area as Thursday night's attack, and also involved several accomplices and bystanders.

The report pointed out that the same charge (manslaughter ) applied to a crime committed by Palestinian minors against an Israeli man named Aryeh Karp on a Tel Aviv beach in 2009 ended in a sentence of 29 years. This gap in sentencing for the same offense might explain why one of the main suspects in Thursday's murderous attack, who has admitted to his involvement, felt free to tell the press that for all he cares, Julani can die because he is an Arab.

Spokespersons for Israeli human rights organizations often point out that there are two systems of law in the West Bank: one for Israelis, who are subject to Israeli civil and criminal law, and one for Palestinians, who are subject to the jurisdiction of military tribunals (with a near absolute conviction rate of 99.74 percent ). It is not surprising that there are also two approaches to enforcement of the law, depending on whether the victim, or the presumed perpetrator, is a Jew or a Palestinian (whether in Israel or in the occupied Palestinian territories), such that there is a wide gap between government rhetoric on the rule of law and de facto application (or lack thereof ) of that law. We shouldn't be fooled by politicians' rhetoric.

For example, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the torching of a mosque in the Galilee last October, no one has yet been charged with the crime. Neither have any of the assailants in Thursday night's firebomb attack, which left an entire family hospitalized. As of now, Netanyahu and Deputy PM Moshe Ya'alon's condemnations can be seen as little more than lip service.

Such lip service was also provided by Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who characterized the attack in Zion Square as "violent" and "racist," and insisted that an "educational and ethical" statement be issued by his ministry ahead of the upcoming school year. But he is the same minister responsible for initiating regular field trips to Hebron for all Israeli schoolchildren. There, kids can walk down one of the city's main arteries - the segregated Shuhada Street, which Palestinians are forbidden from walking or driving on, and where just last month, a Border Policeman was filmed kicking a Palestinian child; or where just last week, off-duty soldiers were filmed dragging and kicking a Palestinian youth. No statements of condemnation were heard from Sa'ar's mouth - or that of the prime minister - for any of these acts.

How can the education minister send children to a Palestinian-free Hebron and stress "our right to this land" and then be surprised when teenagers feel no remorse for nearly killing a Palestinian? The same can be said for Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who condemned the Zion Square attack by invoking the need for "continued coexistence" in a city divided by a wall, in which he has presided over the continued institutional segregation of infrastructure development, social services and education, as well as the proliferation of hostile Jewish settlements in Palestinian neighborhoods.

With discriminatory policies built into Israel's legal, educational and cultural systems, and with a leadership that fails to step up in cases of more mundane, quotidian acts of harassment and violence against Palestinians, a few cases that went too far should come as no surprise.

https://www.haaretz.com/mairav-zonszein-the-normality-of-hate-1.5290340

The Downside of Unbridled Support for Israel

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:05:00 +0000

In his op-ed "A case of leftist McCarthyism?" (Haaretz English Edition, January 13 ), James Kirchick declares that the tables have turned in the Israel debate in America, now that liberal critics of U.S. support for Israel's rightist government are employing terms like "dual loyalists" and "Israel-firsters." He argues that this is indicative of "just how deep the rhetoric of the far right has seeped into the discourse of the mainstream left," and deems such language to be anti-Semitic because it has also appeared in white supremacist publications.

Kirchick's charge of anti-Semitism is baseless and unconvincing. Just because white supremacists used a term doesn't mean everyone who employs it is an anti-Semite. He also fails to mention that many of those employing the term "Israel-firster" are deeply concerned about Israel's future and about regional stability, and are no different from members of the Israeli peace camp - not to mention that some of them are Jewish themselves.

His argument also blatantly ignores the highly divisive role Israel plays in U.S. politics. American Jewish organizations are constantly battling over the definition of "pro-Israel," a term monopolized by powerful groups like AIPAC to mean "Israel right or wrong."

"Israel-firster" is admittedly a deliberately crude response, but use of the term should be understood within the context of decades of American Jewish right-wing rhetoric that has largely silenced dissent on Israeli policies by discrediting those who dare to criticize Israel. Calling rightists "Israel firsters" is not nearly as belligerent and certainly not as preposterous as labeling J Street "anti-Israel" and Thomas L. Friedman an anti-Semite.

This polemic has permeated internal American bipartisan politics, where Israel has taken center stage as a wedge issue. "Pro-Israel" has become political currency in the presidential race, despite bearing divergent connotations. For Newt Gingrich, the term means denying the existence of a Palestinian nation (and thus ruling out a two-state solution ); for Mitt Romney, it means ensuring security at all costs (and thus discounting Israeli settlements as a problem ). For Barack Obama, it means what it has meant for previous American administrations: A secure Jewish nation-state based on the '67 borders, alongside a viable Palestinian state.

Despite this being U.S. foreign policy for quite a while, GOP candidates and mainstream American Jewish groups - bolstered by what is arguably the most rigid right-wing government Israel has ever had - have attacked Obama regularly for what they deem to be his deficient "pro-Israel" record, simply because he has condemned settlement construction. Obama has capitulated under the pressure and reasserted his strong "pro-Israel" (read: Israel right or wrong ) stance, for fear of losing the political and economic support he needs to win another term. Indeed, it is no secret that "pro-Israel" money (albeit, not all of it from Jews ) comprises a substantial percentage of all donations to political parties in the United States. Talking about "Jewish" - or more accurately, "pro-Israel" - money in American politics is therefore not inherently anti-Semitic: It is a given, and the effort to silence such debate is the problem.

When progressive entities like the Center for American Progress and figures like M.J. Rosenberg use the term "Israel-firster," they are attempting to deconstruct and challenge the notion that being "pro-Israel" means demanding unchecked support for Israeli policies, even when they directly conflict with the U.S. administration's stated positions and its declared role as an arbiter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Such people are trying to dismantle the equation between opposition to Israel's current reckless agenda, and concern for Israel's long-term interests and impact on American geopolitics. They are identifying those, whether Jewish or Christian, Democrat or Republican, who, as Rosenberg put it, "consistently - and without exception - thwart the efforts of U.S. presidents to achieve Middle East peace." "Israel-firsters" are not those who put Israel first, but rather those who put an Israeli right-wing agenda first, even at the expense of American interests.

Thus, Kirchick has it backward when he argues that the language of the far right has seeped into the left. It is, rather, Israel's far-right policies that increasingly clash with American liberal and democratic values. Long before Peter Beinart became famous for pointing to a conflict between Zionism and liberalism, academics and policymakers warned that unbridled American support for Israel (spearheaded by AIPAC's bullying influence on Congress ) would backfire.

This concern first surfaced in 1982 during the first Lebanon War, when many Americans began to wonder whether Israeli values were in line with American ones. It is reappearing again now within the context of a possible attack on Iran, on top of the incessant Israeli settlement project in the West Bank - a relentless policy that not only undermines Israel's claim to being a democratic state, but undercuts America's ability to be an honest broker of a two-state solution; all of which makes it much harder for American progressives, Jews and non-Jews alike, to cheerlead for Israel - that is, to be "pro-Israel."

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5176181

Signs of Authoritarianism

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:04:00 +0000

This week, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ordered the police to pay NIS 25,000 in compensation to four Israeli activists from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, whom they arrested without due cause while they were protesting peacefully in front of city hall in February. Many called the decision a victory for democracy, but an examination of how the police and the Israel Defense Forces have been behaving in the face of civil disobedience reveals a frightening pattern in which these state institutions repeatedly break the law in order to suppress political activism - and for the most part get away with it.

Over the last year and a half, the police arrested over 160 Israeli protesters from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement during demonstrations in Jerusalem, usually on a claim of illegal assembly.

In January 2010, after the Association for Civil Rights in Israel director Hagai El-Ad was arrested in Sheikh Jarrah along with 16 other activists, the courts ruled that the police could no longer require a permit for such protests. By law the police are also authorized to disperse a protest at any time if they deem it to pose a threat to public security. However, the protests - which have been going on weekly since November 2009 in opposition to the displacement of Palestinian residents of the neighborhood by Jewish settlers - have repeatedly proven to be peaceful and harmless, as evident from footage filmed by the police, and shown in court.

When the four activists were arrested two months ago, the police offered to immediately release three, but asked Sara Benninga, one of the leading figures of the movement, to sign an agreement accepting certain conditions: in this specific case, a 180-day ban from participating in any demonstrations in Jerusalem, although by law the maximum number of days the police can demand is only 15. Knowing this was an exorbitant amount of time aimed at stifling her political activism, the other three refused the terms and all four faced a judge under threat of a six-month ban.

Arresting protesters is a tactic often used by the police to keep activists away from demonstrations for a substantial period of time, and by doing so, effectively stripping them of their right to protest and weakening the entire movement.

These tactics have been used against Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem as well, specifically in the neighborhood of Silwan, where tensions have been high between them and both Jewish settlers and members of the security forces. Since January, Silwan resident and community organizer Jawad Siyam has been serving repeated sentences of house arrest for alleged assault of a fellow Palestinian resident - this despite the fact that the Magistrate's Court has already ruled that the state does not have sufficient evidence to convict him. Jawad is director of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, which aims to raise public awareness about Jewish settlement in the heart of Silwan, seen by the center as a deliberate effort to erode the Palestinian character of East Jerusalem. A leading figure in the community who openly opposes the settlement project, Jawad, even more so than his Israeli counterpart protesting in Sheikh Jarrah, is apparently seen as a threat by the police, who continue to arrest him under dubious pretenses in an effort to silence him.

The same tactics are also applied in the West Bank, when Israeli activists are arrested - often without due cause and in direct breach of Supreme Court rulings - and are asked to sign a release form stating they will not return to the area for 15 days. While the army claims the activists pose a threat to public security, this assertion has yet to be substantiated in a court of law.

In some cases, as happened recently in the southern West Bank near the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on, 16 Israeli anti-occupation activists were arrested and asked to sign a release form that would prohibit them from entering the area for 15 days. Most of them refused, not only because they did not want to accept the ban, but also because they knew that the law was on their side and that if the case was brought to court, they would win. Indeed, after spending a night in jail, the activists faced the judge - who announced that the IDF had used erroneous judgment in declaring the area a closed military zone - and then released them all.

In all these cases, the courts have deemed the police and army's management of acts of civil protest to be in contempt of the law; in only one case has a handful of activists been compensated. Hopefully the threat of having to pay legal fees will compel the security forces to think twice before making illegitimate arrests. However, there is no sign that they are internalizing judicial rulings. In any event, it should not be the job of the courts to regularly correct the behavior of the very state apparatuses that are supposed to protect, not infringe upon, civil rights. Moreover, members of civil society should not be required to risk criminal records and enter expensive legal battles just to remind everyone what the law is and whom it is designed to protect.

Although the ruling handed down this week does show the ability of Israel's judiciary to step in when the state commits illegal and undemocratic actions, it is not so much a victory for democracy as it is a frightening indication of just how authoritarian a state Israel has become: A state where the security apparatus is regularly breaking the law in order to suppress individuals who oppose the government's particular political agenda.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5000286

Birth of a Settlement

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:01:00 +0000

Hilltop 26 is the name of an illegal settlement outpost atop a tranquil, windswept hill just outside Kiryat Arba, in the southern West Bank. From its top, one can see the red roofs of the Jewish settlement to the south and, in the distance, the outskirts of the holy city of Hebron. Over the past two months, adolescent settlers from Kiryat Arba have built a structure atop Hilltop 26 that they use as a clubhouse for eating, studying and hanging out. Although Hilltop 26 was dismantled in 1999, it has been consistently inhabited by settlers, whose ultimate aim is for it to be incorporated into the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Despite being classified by the Israeli government as an "illegal outpost," Hilltop 26 is actively protected by the Israel Defense Forces.

In this time of heightened discussion regarding Israeli settlement expansion, a topic that figured prominently in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Barack Obama earlier this week, the conversation often centers on the challenge of removing settlers from settlements and outposts. This focus is misleading. Instead, attention should be drawn to how the IDF is both actively and passively involved in the creation and maintenance of outposts throughout the territories, as the body implementing decisions on the ground. Ta'ayush, the Arab-Jewish partnership group based in Jerusalem, has been documenting the expansion of illegal outposts throughout the southern West Bank.

One recent example is Hilltop 26, where over the past six weeks, Ta'ayush activists have observed a consistent settler presence and the IDF's active participation in defending their claim to the outpost. Every time we approach the site, an IDF patrol promptly arrives and declares it a "closed military zone," forcing us to evacuate the area, but permitting the settlers to remain. This order is an oft-used IDF method for removing peace activists intent on documenting settlement expansion and settler violence. Sometimes the IDF is so concerned with our efforts that the soldiers bar us from entering the West Bank itself, citing only that they have the discretion to decide who enters and who does not.

The land that the Hilltop 26 outpost sits on belongs to the Palestinian Ja'abar family, but was expropriated by the Israeli government under an anachronistic land expropriation law dating back to the Ottoman era (which cites that all land not populated or worked by its owners for three consecutive years is to be reclaimed by the government). This is a deliberate land grab being committed not just by settlers, but by the state itself and its various institutions, which are collectively paving the way for this outpost to become part of Kiryat Arba.

On May 8, after weeks of being repeatedly evacuated by the IDF upon arrival at the hilltop, Ta'ayush activists and Palestinians residents of the area constructed a protest structure there. Our logic was that if our presence there is illegal and requires our removal, the settlers' presence is also illegal and they, too, should be forced to leave. However, despite the IDF and police instructing all people in the area to evacuate within three minutes, no settlers were actually forced to leave. Our day of peaceful protest ended with our being physically assaulted by settlers, and with eight Israeli members of Ta'ayush detained for violating the "closed military zone" order. The settlers were not arrested, despite clear videotaped evidence of them assaulting the peace activists as well as attempting to burn our structure to the ground.

Since we broke no laws and posed no threat of violence, the only logical explanation is that the IDF was trying to prevent us from observing and documenting illegal settlement expansion.

The IDF and Israeli government have clearly made a decision to actively support the outpost of Hilltop 26. While it is still a small structure, the time-honored pattern of land grabs is clear: It starts with a clubhouse, then a mobile home and pretty soon the settlers will have built a house equipped with running water and gas. Hilltop 26 is only one example of the 100 or so outposts of this kind throughout the West Bank.

The settler movement is not as strong as it is portrayed in the Israeli and international media. Without the active and passive support of both the government and the armed forces, the settlers' efforts would be rendered useless. Without it being possible to freely document and expose these matters, Israel's government will continue to use the image of the settlers as a cover for its own overt policy of support for settlement creation and maintenance in the West Bank.

https://www.haaretz.com/1.5055626

Accidental Immigrant Fighting to Overcome Leukemia

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 06:59:00 +0000

When Gideon Prodgers, a 19-year-old South African, arrived in Israel on a yearlong Habonim Dror program, he never imagined a health emergency would bring him to make aliyah.

Prodgers - or Gid the Fighter to his friends and family - arrived here in February for a leadership program, along with fellow South African members of the international youth movement. Gideon has been a Habonim Dror member since age 12 in his native Cape Town.

In June, he checked into Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, complaining of nausea and dizziness. Days later, doctors diagnosed him with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, characterized by malignant and immature white blood cells in the bone marrow.

Because of his health, doctors said he could not return to South Africa. However, Prodgers' insurance in Israel was limited to emergency tourist coverage. The hospital staff suggested to Prodgers that he make aliyah, which would entitle him to the state health insurance offered free for new immigrants. Within days of the diagnosis, Prodgers applied for and was granted Israeli citizenship.

"The Shaare Tzedek medical team was the first to suggest Gideon take advantage of his right to become an Israeli citizen and benefit from comprehensive medical coverage," said Laura Prodgers, Gideon's mother, who flew to Israel five days after his diagnosis. Her son had not thought about making aliyah beforehand, and she said his decision was purely based on health considerations.

Prodgers has since gone through two "protocol stages" of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and now must undergo a bone marrow transplant, to be conducted at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. His mother, his sister Kayda and his father Rod - who have temporarily relocated to a tiny two-room apartment in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Karem - are undergoing tests to see whether they can be his donor.

"There is still no clarity as to who will be the bone marrow donor, but Laura seems to be the most likely," Rod Prodgers wrote on a Web journal the family set up to update friends on Gideon's status. "He is courageous and stoic, knows that there is more to come, yet is determined to carry on a normal life after all this is done."

In between the headaches, nausea, weight loss and fatigue, Prodgers - who hopes to enroll in the University of Cape Town next year - has kept himself entertained by listening to music, keeping in touch with friends on Facebook and taking care of the fish his friends from Habonim Dror gave him. The other program participants have been visiting Prodgers and speaking with him regularly by phone, and telling him about their summer on Kibbutz Ein Shemer, where they are working as camp counselors for Arab and Jewish youth.

His doctors say Prodgers will need to spend at least three to six weeks recovering in isolation, provided there are no complications, so that doctors can observe him to ensure his body has accepted the transplant. In the meantime, Gideon has been injecting himself with medications to combat his loss of appetite, and to prevent and control possible thrombosis.

"Good thing he's had some experience with body piercing," his father noted in a recent online posting.

The Cape Town Jewish community, among others, has established the Gideon Prodgers Fund to provide the Prodgers family financial assistance while in Israel. The fund has raised 630,000 Rand (approximately NIS 378,000, or $87,000). An upcoming fundraiser to be held in Cape Town will charge 250 Rand (about $35) per participant, says Moshe Lederman, the Jewish Agency emissary in South Africa. Prodger's story has made headlines in Cape Town Jewish press, and the appeal for donations has been circulating through the 15,000-member Jewish community there.

Meanwhile, Prodgers has been receiving uplifting messages through his family's Web site, wishing "the fighter with credentials of intergalactic proportions" a speedy recovery. "Everyone's continued support is an unbelievable source of comfort," Laura Prodgers wrote in a recent posting, "not forgetting all the Israelis that just crawled out of nowhere to be at our side, total strangers, who have all gone the extra mile and more, to make it all happen for Gid."

https://www.haaretz.com/1.4966989