Israel destroys Bedouin homes to make way for Jewish town

Dont you understand.. its a BRUTAL occupation. If this were arab land, all religions would be welcome with zero discrimination. But these evil Israeli Zionist evil jews only wish to conquer the world and drink the blood of young arab babies.

Spread the hate baby, spread the hate

 

I don't care that 18 tin shacks were razed when the people occupying them will be relocated elsewhere with probably more compensation than the dwellings were worth. Make any mountains out of molehills lately?

 

So you think the only value of a home is the financial value of it?

 

You know sometimes its not all about material wealth and since this is an offer no sane person would refuse (according to you), would it have hurt the Israelis to ASK first before they tear down this neighborhood.

 

Didn't they offer lots of nis + alternative housing....? that implies they asked to me...

 

No amount of money is worth allowing the evil jewish zionist empire from expanding.

 

Question: Is this worse, less bad, or the same as New Jersey or Florida taking middle-class homes and land with trailers so developers could build condos? How does it compare to a city taking middle-class homes and turning the land over to build a plant or factory?

 

they're doing the exact same thing in new York and many other places in the U.S.

in NYC they condemend an entire stretch of commercial land to make room for the new mets stadium. Likewise there's been a furor over the relocation of a couple of thousand of people from Downtown Brooklyn to make way for the Nets arena and other development. Those people have more than just shacks BTW.

 

I don't think Israel is breaking any international law here. They can do what they want within their own border. I'm not saying the Bedouins are being treated well but incidents like this occur all the time in many countries and I don't see why Israel should be singled out for this particular incident.

The problem arises when Israel does this sort of thing in the West Bank to appease their religious extremists (and sadly many of ours as well).

 

If this were happening in Venezuela the bleating about Chavez the dictator would be deafening.

 

It is happening in Venezuela. But nobody cries for wealthy ranchers.

 

Ok...

there's a lot more to this. The bedouin in Israel are more integrated in society here. Most volunteer for the army (Bedouin and Palestenians = not friends), and from a treaty with Ben-Gurion in the 50's have special rights recognizing something akin to tribal sovereignity.
Except...when like...they want to build an artillery range or an airstrip. It's a matter of "national defense" but yeah...it's pretty ****ty.

The government has tried to get Bedouin to move to prefab houses and build communities, but they don't want to do that. They've lived in the Negev longer than than all three Abrahamic religions and they tend to build their own houses in the middle of nowhere. House is kind of a misnomer; they are more like lean-to's. It's usally a hodge podge of whatever is around. Problem is, they aren't to code, and they are illegally built, and they don't have permits to build. Same thing happens to squatting hippies who try to do the same thing in the middle of nowhere. It just doesn't make the news. It's also important to note...even if you buy a house here, you don't actually "own" the land. Land is owned exclusively by the state (it's a socialist country, land rights are not the same as the US, even to people who paid for plots of land).

The government doesn't have the time or resources to go around knocking down Bedouin houses. It usually happens when they want to build something on land bought for the purpose and find them there. The Negev isn't in the West Bank or Gaza, and Bedouin are full Israeli citizens. It would be wrong to call the town being built a "settlement." It's western expansion versus the old world. The only complaint anyone has with Bedouin is their illegal houses and the cutural acceptance of theft (usually livestock). That and what we would call "domestic violence" is common amongst them, which runs a bit afoul of western law.

I've actually been to some of these "illegal houses" and hung out with Bedouin I've met. One even had a sattelite dish and watched NBA. I've spent a lot of time with the Bedouin both here and in Egypt and despite the stereotypes as nomads, many live in the cities and hold positions of prominance in government and business and sports and the military (where they have some very famous units).

They are a minority group, and by that nature are discriminated against, as is their way of life, but the same is true in all countries they inhabit. The ones across the border in Egypt are treated worse.

But these are different people altogether. You've got at least 5 different groups here: Bedouins (live in the south, volunteer for the army, are citizens), Ciracassians (Muslims, live in the North descended from Russians, came during Ottoman years, also volunteer for the army and are citizens), Druze (some would say they are not technically muslims, but are ethnically Arab and practice a religion derrivitaive of islam; they are all subject to the draft and are citizens, and live in the north), Israeli Arabs (everyone else, live in Jaffa, Akko, and in the north...do not serve in the military, many identify with Palestenian cause but are citizens -- and many are Christians) and finally, Palestenians, who live in the occupied territories (and to the chagrin of many Israelis, East Jerusalem)and pretty much have have no rights unless they posess Jerusalem ID's.

Except for Israeli Arabs as previously described, the other groups hate them more than Jewish Israelis, and are some of the most enthusiastic combat soldiers in the IDF.

Welcome to the Middle East...there's always a whole lot of grey in every story you read, and if you aren't familar with all of this, it can sound very far from the truth. I think many journalists take advantage of the ignorance to advance their own cause, no matter what their political stripe.

But trust me...Bedouin have better social and medical entitlements than Americans do. No one is out to get them. The only people who hate them are developers, ranchers and Palestenian fighters, and all with good reason.

What happens in the West Bank is something very different. There, its an Israeli occupation, ruled internally by fueding corrupt Palestenian warlords.

Hope that clarified things.

 

Great post. Very informative.

 

Hey...someone who actually knows what they're talking about! What the hell are you doing in here? This is D&D, we don't need that crap!

 

if hate hate israel so much im sure iran would be happy to have more people for the effort to whipe them off the map.

 

You have to appreciate the notion of Iran's "sacrifice." Israel is about the size of Wales or New Jersey. Nuking it would sort of kill several million Muslims (not to mention screw up Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria) and render Al Aqsa uninhabitable.

But then, they aren't Shi'ite so I guess it's "OK."

 

oh no, you've just said something about about Iran. prepare to be nuked!!

by other D&D people

 

its hard to rationalize what they do and dont think. But they dont mind muslims killing themselves, i'm sure they'd be perfectly fine with forced sacrifice on others.