On Friday, November 4, the Israeli Navy intercepted two activist boats in international waters, violently arresting those on board and transferring them to an Israeli jail. The boats, according to the activists, were badly damaged during the operation that was meant to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke with Sari Bashi, the Executive Director of Gisha, an Israeli organization that works with Gazans on freedom of movement about how the siege and blockade evolved since implemented in 2007. Tarachansky also speaks with Gaza- based journalist Safa Joudah.
This video can be found at YouTube
Let's say there would be a State of Palestine. Would Jews be allowed to live in it? Could they become citizens of Palestine? Could they own real estate in Palestine and have complete freedom of worship, including fair access to historical sacred sites and tombs, and the right to construct synagogues and hold public religious services and festivals? Could they serve in a Palestinian army or sit in a Palestinian parliament? Could they preside as justices of a Palestinian supreme court? So far, unless I am missing something, none of the above is happening in Gaza these days.
The entire city of Mecca is off limits to Jews -- even as tourists.
So who exactly is guilty of apartheid?
Palestinians aren't responsible for deciding who can and can't visit Mecca(for the record, the majority of the planet's citizens who happen not to be Muslim can't visit the place, so it's not as if Jews were singled out). Saudi Arabians are, and Palestinians don't run the Saudi government(for that matter, most Saudis don't have a say in it either, but that's another discussion...)
And, as I understand it, the Palestinian leadership has indicated that Jewish people who took Palestinian citizenship would be allowed to live in Palestine. You can't really expect that they'd allow the illegal settlers in the West Bank who hold Israeli citizenship to do so. And if you do expect that, do you equally agree that the Israeli government should stop destroying Bedouin villages?