Here are some of the headlines that appeared in papers worldwide earlier this week: “Israel introduces ‘Palestinians only’ bus lines, following complaints from Jewish settlers”; “Israeli buses for Palestinians spark accusations of segregation”; “‘A Palestinian Rosa Parks is needed’: Israel’s segregated buses spark outrage.” And here’s the headline that didn’t appear: “Palestinians thrilled: Finally, decent bus service for those who work in Israel!” That missing headline speaks volumes about the superficiality of global reporting on Israel–and also reveals, once again, how the Palestinians’ self-proclaimed champions often wind up making their lives worse.
Here are the facts everyone agrees on: Though Israel has barred entry to most Palestinians (for security reasons) ever since the second intifada erupted in 2000, tens of thousands have received permits to work in Israel after being vetted as low security risks. But for years, they had only two ways to get to and from work–take a shared taxi, which is expensive, or ride an Israeli bus, which is inconvenient: Israeli buses don’t serve towns controlled by the Palestinian Authority, so Palestinian workers had to commute to where they could pick up the bus.
This week, Israel finally took a first step toward solving this problem: It instituted bus service direct to central Israel from the Eyal crossing near Qalqilyah, to serve workers from that PA-controlled city and its suburbs. And as the Israeli daily Haaretz reluctantly reported–even as its editorialist denounced this “racist segregation”–most Palestinians are thrilled: “Thousands pushed onto the Tel Aviv line. There weren’t enough buses to meet the demand.” As one worker explained, the new buses will save him NIS 250 a month, more than a full day’s wages.
Moreover, as Israel’s Transportation Ministry pointed out, Palestinians who prefer to ride the old buses can still do so. De facto, because West Bank Jews and Palestinians don’t live in the same towns, most Palestinians will find the new buses more convenient, whereas Jews will prefer the old ones. But calling it “segregation” to have different buses serving Qalqilyah and Ariel makes about as much sense as saying that America has segregated bus lines because New Yorkers and Chicagoans ride different buses to get to Washington.
The real question, however, is why it took so long to provide this service. A major part of the answer, as with everything in Israel, is bureaucratic inertia and incompetence. But equally important is that the international response to the new bus service was utterly predictable–which constitutes a powerful disincentive to launching it. If every Israeli attempt to offer better service to Palestinians is going to spark cries of “segregation” and “apartheid,” Israel has an obvious interest in refraining from such attempts.
In short, the people who suffer most from the world’s knee-jerk reflex of denouncing every Israeli action are often the Palestinians themselves. But that doesn’t bother their self-proclaimed supporters; they couldn’t care less if Palestinian laborers continue to suffer from inconvenient, overpriced transportation. All that matters to them is denouncing Israel–even if it’s for the crime of providing better bus service.
MORE FROM ARUTZ 7 "On the other hand, Israeli-owned public transportation in all of these places is used by Jews and non-Jews alike. The same bus company, Afikim, which is being accused of running special bus lines -*** also launched special bus lines that suit the needs of the students at the university in Ariel. 80% of the university's 14,000 students are commuting from Israel's more central areas, and need more buses coming in during the morning hours, and more leaving at the end of the day. The university’s Arab students enjoy those buses just as Jewish students do. n nThe rumor that Jewish residents were involved in the new bus arrangement was thrown in by some propagandist to make the story more sensational."
According to Jew hating liberal reasoning, the US should abolish all mass transit to black neighborhoods because too many black people live there to uphold the fiction that their mass transit is 'multicultural'.
It's 'effin hopeless. n nLIke Charleston said, the Jew's worst enemies are those who hold them to what they think are 'high' standards. 'You're better than that' they say, and us pathetic Jews want to live up to that, and cut our own throats, because we don't want to disappoint others, hoping they will like us. n nThey never liked us, and with few exceptions, will never like us in the future. n nAnd yet we sacrifice our brothers and children trying to be liked. n nRemember, 4 guards could separate children from parents, and march 1000 Jews into gas chambers, very peacefully.
Harry's Place huuryupharry.org, which should know better, has fallen for this story lock (step), stock (phrases) and metaphor, and has several threads expressing shame over the existence of this service. Surprising, because Harry/s Place is not exactly a haven for ASHamed Jews.
I think the general tenor of the debate in its entirety has fallen to the level of outright lying. We're not confronted by spin or agenda or differing perceptions – it's just lying. That's all it is. Most of the western media is at this point doing nothing but fomenting and grinding out libel. The difference between this and reading in the Egyptian press about Zionist Death Jellyfish is merely one of sophistication. Egyptians are less sophisticated so they'll fall for that libel. Westerners tout themselves as being more sophisticated so they pound out more sophisticated libels. But rest assured it's only matter of time before the NYT or the BBC or the Guardian starts printing stories about how Jews carry SARS or poison the wells and such. They are literally pretty close to that already.
Your Imperial Majesty, I fully agree. I was just surprised that Harry's Place was spreading the lie; in the past, they have debunked many similar lies about Israel.
No good deed goes unpunished.
The 'intifada' of 2000 did not"erupt"! It was carefully planned by Arafat and his associates( including Abbas).