Comments on: Israel: Straw and Mud Mosque to be Demolished

By: Aida

Aida — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:36:07 +0000

Josh, you have pointed out some AMAZING points which many people knowing and unknowing ignore. I 100% support each and every point your made. Here are some extremely poor people trying to some a bit of work to save the planet and yet we criticize them unknowingly of the situation there. I wish we all educate ourselves before criticizing the helpless.

Best regards.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:44:54 +0000

Karin:
A couple of things.
First of all, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but from your comment I’m guessing not. For residents of the unrecognized villages, there is no legal process to attain a building permit. Doesn’t exist. There is no office to go to, no form to fill out, no official to talk to, it cant be done.
It goes like this: ‘I’d like a permit to build a mosque.’ ‘Where do you live?’ “Wadi al-Naam.” “That is not a town as far as we are concerned, and you can’t build on state land, so there’s no permit to give you.” Hence the term ‘unrecognized.’
So to say that they need to get permits reflects, actually, how little experience you have in this issue.

“Screaming injustice and name-calling the Israeli government is so wrong.” So, who would you suggest we scream at? The Bedouin for having the audacity to build on their own land? Surely not the state whose blatantly prejudicial policies have created the situation in the first place, and surely not the government who decided to demolish the house.

“Show me another country in the Middle East that gives its citizens such liberties to even criticize its government.” Show me another country in the middle east that routinely destroys the houses of citizens who have committed no crime. And honestly Karin, you want to be compared to Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Iraq? If you talk about how ‘civilized’ Israel is and how democratic we are, lets compare Israel to western democracies.

See, its not that we think that anything non-Jewish is so great. Its that the government seems to think that anything non-Jewish so wrong. Or such a threat to sovereignty. And that is why far more Arab houses than Jewish houses are demolished every year.

And I’m sorry, but I grew up in Canada too, and ‘the good people of Canada’ are, in general, shocked and appalled by the Israeli government’s treatment of the Bedouin, and not the fact that the Bedouin build without permits.

I’m not sure how this argument is ‘one-sided’, but perhaps you could clarify it for me. I really should be more even-handed and show the other side, like those poor paramilitary soldiers who have to leave the comfort of the city to come and knock down this eyesore?

Left wing fanatic? Honey, if you think i’m a fanatic what would you call a centrist moderate, Avigdor Lieberman? And thank you very much, I have a great deal of experience in this world. Please don’t condescend to me because you dont like the fact that i advocate for people who are in the habit of getting stomped upon by their own government.

That being said, please feel welcome to actually come to the villages.

By: Karin from Green Prophet

Karin from Green Prophet — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:19:18 +0000

Hey guys –– whether you build something eco-friendly, historically relevant, religiously sensitive or just plain beautiful –– if you do it without a permit, it should come down. Screaming injustice and name-calling the Israeli government is so wrong. Israel is attempting to grow a civilized and democratic country and contrary to what most people see and read about, the government does demolish Jewish owned structures built without permits. You know why you don’t hear about it???? Because they know they did something wrong.

(I have a friend in Tel Aviv, very rich…She decided to turn her patio into a baby’s room without a permit. Guess what? She returned from work one day and it was demolished.)

I grew up in Canada, a country which reveres the liberties and freedom it bestows on its citizens. Along with such liberties, the good people of Canada know (whether they are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Druize, pagan, treehuggin’ or polluters) that before building ANYTHING, including a bike shed or a fence or a new straw bale home, the proper permits with the authorities (including fire department) must be arranged.

I am truly very very tired of all this one-sided criticism of Israel done by left-wing fanatics who have little experience in this world and think anything Beduin, green or non-Israel or non-Jewish should be held in higher esteem than the values that Israel was built on. Show me another country in the Middle East that gives its citizins such liberties to even criticise its government.

Such comments I see here are made by the people who appreciate civilized societies, but who would never trade places with the ones who are living in tents.

That said –– I welcome you to come and visit mine: http://www.greenprophet.com

Karin

By: Amira Al Hussaini

Amira Al Hussaini — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:09:23 +0000

You are more than welcome Rachel!

By: Rachel Barenblat

Rachel Barenblat — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:32:19 +0000

Thanks for blogging this story, Amira. I’m glad to hear that people are coming together to try to protect the mosque, but sad and frustrated to hear that this is happening in the first place.

By: Two Links « Intern in Israel

Two Links « Intern in Israel — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:36:18 +0000

[...] And Jews and Muslims come together to protect a new straw and mud built mosque from the government sent demolition crew. Read about it by clicking here. [...]