Down By Law

It's encouraging to see a protracted dispute settled in the courtroom, instead of with stones and stun grenades. After nearly three years of weekly clashes, it was through a lawsuit that Bil'in villagers managed to get a security barrier aimed at protecting the settlers at Modi'in Illit dismantled and rerouted. The 1.7 km fence had cut off the farmers of Bil'in from half of their orchards, vineyards and fields.
Confrontations between protestors, soldiers and police took place every Friday at the checkpoint, located 7 km west of Ramallah, and at least 500 olive trees were eventually uprooted. The unanimous verdict by three High Court judges was seen as a victory by Israelis and Palestinians alike. Israeli peace activists joined villagers
and protestors from France, Puerto Rica, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Canada, the US and India.

The reason that Bil'in is an exception is that the demonstrators here are Palestinians and Israelis, a rare mix of people who march and chant and espouse non-violence together. At a time of deadlock in peace negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the weekly protests at Bil'in... are the highest profile joint action between two, often bitterly divided sides.

Near the front of the crowd was Uri Avnery, 83, a former Israeli MP and one of the better known activists on the Israeli left. "This village is unique even in Palestine because it is the only village that has the guts to fight against the wall actively every single week," he said.
-- Guardian, Feb 2007

The celebratory mood in Bil'in was somewhat quashed today by the court's refusal to demolish residential units and retroactive approval of illegal construction.
This gives de facto status to the ultra-Orthodox trespassers who had stayed on after the construction company pulled out. They were victims of fraud. By ruling to keep the western area of Matityahu East within the barrier, the court was bound to legitimize its new residential buildings. Modiin Illit is home to 30,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox settlers, and is projected to expand to a city of 150,000. Each side can claim a court victory, and it remains to be seen if they can maintain a cordial coexistence.

phony kasbahs, righteous gentiles, and oily ice cream

After a hiatus in America, Izzy Bee is back in Jerusalem. Such a buzz.

The nomination of the first Arab "righteous gentile", a Tunisian farmer named Khaled Abd al-Wahad who, according to a Jewish woman's testimony, saved Amy Boukris and 24 of her relatives from Nazi persecution, is huge news here. The Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, reportedly declined to rate the likelihood of its recognising this Arab hero nominated by the American scholar Robert Satloff, although 60 of the more than 21,000 named heroes who risked their lives to save threatened Jews from the Holocaust are indeed Muslims. Yet Khaled would be the first Arab ever to win such kudos, and some analysts predict that the high profile honor would help counteract the trend towards holocaust denial in some Arab countries.

Haaretz, the leftish newspaper which reported this item on its front page, also ran a weird recipe for a Holy Land ice cream containing whipped cream, honey and olive oil. Sprinkle on a bit of rosemary with the drizzled olive oil and you have a Biblical sweet treat. Milk and honey, I can see...but this takes some getting used to. Not a likely prospect for a Baskin-Robbins scoop of the month.

The Jerusalem Post devoted lots of space to the IDF's new American-built war gaming town, erected near Tze'elim in the southern Negev, where mock mosques, a marketplace, and an ersatz kasbah give a hyper-realistic setting for training exercises aimed at countering urban guerrilla warfare. William Arkin, a Vermont-based reporter, had leaked much of this last year, and the inaugural war games were opened up to the press. According to journalists who looked on, the young Israeli Defence Forces cadets were really ready to rock the kasbah. Canine and media handlers also will undergo training in the mock-up Muslim neighborhood, to prepare new tricks for the old dogs of war.