the gathering storm
There is one thing about the Helen Thomas meltdown which I think needs to be implicitly pointed out. Thomas made those statements pre-flotilla outrage. It wasn’t in the heat of anger and it came during the US White House celebrating Jewish heritage month. I think a little of my grandfather’s wisdom is in order – what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh and now we all know what fills Helen’s marrow.
I wanted to post this article from Arutz Sheva before Friday night but I ran out of time. I suppose I could have done it yesterday but I was being held hostage to the washer/dryer/stove and floors in the kitchen. The farmers of Gush Katif are being sued by their former Palestinian employees for dismissal indemnities and other employee benefits available to them as if they remained under the employment standards of Israeli law. The implications of this situation will continue to ripple outward and will loom large if there is every a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians and Israelis which involves the removal of any Israeli citizens from their homes.
What began several months ago as two “test case” lawsuits against a handful of farmers has swarmed into a deluge of over 80 lawsuits, with claims totaling hundreds of millions of shekels. Aharon Hazut, coordinator of the Gush Katif Farmers’ Lobby, told Israel National News that the Knesset Audit Committee has taken up the cause and will meet with the appropriate government figures – but that no answer should be expected in the coming days.
The Gush Katif Committee and the Gush Katif Farmers Knesset Lobby are trying to fight back by raising funds for their legal defense. “We requested that the government find proper solutions for this issue and bear the responsibility for the consequences of the dismissal of the Arab workers following the expulsion,” Hazut said. “In the meantime, however, the farmers are required to respond to the plaintiffs complains within weeks. They need to appoint lawyers, file countersuits, and the like, and it is a costly endeavor. We desperately need NIS 250,000 ($65,000) immediately to help pay part of the farmers’ huge expenses to lawyers!”
The question is whether the government will step in and assume responsibility for the Arab workers whose jobs disappeared together with the liquidation of the Jewish presence in Gaza. “So far the government has not offered to help at all,” Hazut said, “and some of the farmers have already had liens placed on their property because of the suits against them. MK Zevulun Orlev, who chairs the Knesset committee, as well as MKs Uri Ariel, Ze’ev Elkin and others, are taking this very seriously and are helping us – but so far there have been no results.”“We were not the ones to dismiss our workers,” Hazut said. “The government did – and fired us together with them! The situation of my former Arab workers is even better than mine; they at least still live in their homes, whereas I have been living for the last five years in a ‘transit camp.’” Hazut said that of the 400 farmers in Gush Katif, “only 39 have returned to work. Another 80 or so have found other types of work – but 70% of them are still unemployed! At age 50 and up, who can expect people who know only farming to find some other type of work? They’re looking and they’re trying, they volunteer with the police or learn in a Kollel – but they need work!”
Did I mention that five years later all claims for compensation from the Gush Katif refugees have yet to be paid out in full or the fact a substantial number have yet to receive permanent housing? The one thing the Arutz Sheva report doesn’t tell us is who are the Israeli lawyers who are filing suit on their behalf. Frankly, I would be surprised not to learn that any of the Israeli lawyers involved in this suit weren’t tied to Peace Now or the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
Then there is the government’s silence on this issue which is perhaps understandable – given that if the Israeli government settles these claims, it sets a bad precedent. Remember, this represents the forcible removal of less than 10,000 Israelis just image the costs if the Israeli government under took to force the removal from the West Bank which would number anywhere from 50-80,000 people from their homes and businesses.
Then there is Iran. It is like the dogs of war are gathering for a perfect storm.
‘what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh’
I have heard that phrase before, pondered it, but I don’t think I ever actually got it. Until now.
What bothers me the most about the Helen Thomas vidio is her age, and her proffesion.
By now, she should/ would have some facts straight.
I actually remember when the Palestinians were the Jewish people, and the Arabs were, well, Arabs.
You know, Helen’s comments are really rather ordinary and nothing she said would be even remarkable out of the mouths of an Arab/Turk/Persian leader. It’s only shocking when we hear a western educated liberal sprouting the same kind of claptrap.
In fact, it’s a narrative we hear/read regularly and it is done with the idea of deliberately negating any Jewish narrative or claim to the land. This is why it is necessary to for Israel’s detractors to invoke the ‘colonist occupier’ status on Israel in support of the myth the land was Jew-free long before Herzl’s back to Zion movement. This goes a long way to explain the cognitive dissonance of Palestinian leaders in claiming the Dead Sea Scrolls are part of the Palestinian heritage when in fact they are ancient Jewish religious writings.
Of course, if we are forced to acknowledge that there were always Jewish presence in the land from the founding of Hebron right down to the re-birth of the modern state of Israel it gives lie to the myth of ‘occupier/colonist’ and harder not to think of the Jews as indigenous to the land itself…and then, what would that make the Palestinians?
A couple of more things I wanted to add,
I thought the question of the gov stepping in was a huge statement…especially reading what follows.
And Hazut calling his home a transit camp,not a refugee,(with granite counter tops),camp.