kubic@reed.UUCP (Kubic) (09/22/83)
The Israeli government does not discriminate on race officially, instead they have a found a far more subtle method of discrimination - the military service. In Israel in order to enjoy all the public sector benefits such as the right to housing in the jewish (ie the better neighborhoods) sections of town, welfare, jobs, medical benefits, telephone lines, and almost any other conveniance that Americans are used to you have had to serve in the Israel Defense Force(IDF). However, arabs are not allowed to serve, and thus either are completely excluded from these benefits, or have a very hard time procuring them anywhere near the quality, and quantity level, of the Israelis. Further more the West Bank Arabs are consistantly having their lands confiscated, this is not land kept for purposes of beauty, but this land is their lifeblood. The land that Arabs are farming for a living one day is the site of a future settlement for the Gush Emunim the next. The list of such policies goes on and on, all in the name of "national securtiy", the most blatent of which is the newly enstated "tortur" policy on the West Bank. This is a straightforward policy of harrasment of West Bank residents by the West Bank military command, a policy the IDF is proud of. One of the best examples is in the case of the West Bank University (Bier Zeit), at the U the administration is forced to keep the doors to the campus locked after four in the after- noons, because Israeli patrols have the habbit of wandering onto campus after classes and beating students up. Again these are only some the published and documented incidents, I have lived in Jerusalem for four years and return every year for a visit, I have friends on both sides of this fence, and to an extant the Israelis do have a point about Security, but most my Israeli friends agree that the current attitude toward the Arabs will do very little to solve this problem. jan kubic !teklabs!reed!kubic
kubic@reed.UUCP (Kubic) (10/07/83)
The chayalim don't beat the Arabs up unless they're provoked or that
particular arab is known to be a stone thrower.
Your article makes it seem that the soldiers beat any one they feel
like.I hope you didn't mean that way.
Eli Posner
I am posting this in response to some mail I recieved
regarding my response to the query on Israeli discrimination,
I would have sent this reply via mail, however I was, for
reasons beyond my control, unable to get this aritcle out
through our mail system. Besides it's time to get a good
controversial discussion going on the net aside from
the handgun issue.
yours in anticipation,
jan kubic
I sure do mean it "that way". I was curious to find
out how your average IDF kid is going to know the who
the stone thrower is? I for one have been, along with
the IDF soldiers, on the recieving end of stonings, let
me tell you what happens. Everyone runs away! Why, so
we don't get our heads busted open. By the time we have
all finished running away, the stoners, who were a good
30 or 40 yards away, are now a good 60 to 100 yards away.
Positive identification of any sort is next to impossible
at that distance. Now our heros go on the offense, under
cover they open up fire at the kids, who scatter. Total
time elapsed: 1 to 2 minutes at the most. As far as I
know under such conditions, an ID made for a US Court
would be thrown out, probably even the prosecuter would
doubtthe validity of such an ID.
Now, lets look at the demographical make up of these
stone throwers. The cardinal rule on the West Bank is:
if you are going to participate in any kind of disturbance
you are under 18, and never, never, never, use anything
more nasty than rocks( which can very nasty all the same).
Let us assume that by "provocation" you mean, at worst,
rock throwing, and perhaps name calling or various gestures
being made at the IDF kids about their manhood. This does
not in any way shape or form justify the treatment given
these minors by the IDF. If such things happened amongst
the black community in the states, you'd have the Civil
Liberties people yelling, law suits, and perhaps even a
ferderal inquiry. Heads would roll if minors were being
beaten up for "provocation" of the police.
So, it certianly looks like the IDF go around, beating up
Arab kids at random, in the name of national security, and
are blithely getting away with it and other violations
of what we term our "inalienable rights".
jan kubic