23-Apr-12: Does a people really get the leadership it deserves? Ask the Palestinian ruling class as they make their way to Israeli medical centers

Dr Sababa, medical clown extraordinaire,
at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center

Khaled Abu Toameh, the pre-eminent Israeli Arab journalist, has a record of fearless exposure of the hypocrisy and cynical abuse of Arab political leadership against their fellow citizens. A year ago, in "Where Is the Outcry Against Arab Apartheid?" he wrote with passion about

an 11-year-old Palestinian boy [who] died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment. The tragic case of Taha highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon and who are the victims of an Apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care... Can anyone imagine what would have happened if an Israeli hospital had abandoned a boy to die in its parking lot because his father did not have $1,500 to pay for his treatment? The UN Security Council would hold an emergency session and Israel would be strongly condemned and held responsible for the death of the boy. All this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals."

As a family who, for various understandable reasons, spend much more than most people in Israel's pediatric hospital wards, we can testify [see "4-Mar-12: Dealing (or not) with the problems of a sick society", for instance] to the truth of this reality. It's astonishing to us that so little journalistic attention is paid to the experience of Arab families who turn for medical treatment to Israeli hospitals. Read the online journal Arabs Today to learn about Israel's leading role in the professionalization of medical clowning. Ask why the wonderful Dr Sababa, whom we know personally from his great work at Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, speaks a reasonable Arabic, as do most if not all of his Shaare Zedek clown colleagues. A pity the hordes of political journalists who cover this region consistently fail to pick up on this story, or the story behind the story (why do Israeli medical clowns find it so important to learn to speak Arabic?)

Today, writing for the Gatestone Institute, Abu Toameh returns to his theme and asks:

"If the Palestinian leaders do not want their citizens to seek medical aid in Israel, why don't they and their family members also boycott Israeli hospitals? Why do Palestinian leaders keep knocking on Israel's door for help in various fields?"

He characterizes what this 'leadership' is actually doing as "radicalizing Palestinians and eventually dragging them toward another confrontation with Israel".

On the same day that two Palestinian officials met in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority issued an order banning Palestinians from making direct contact with Israeli authorities in the West Bank... The ban, which was issued by the Palestinian governor of Bethlehem, prohibits Palestinians from directly seeking the services of the Israeli District Coordination Committee [DCO]. Established under the terms of the Oslo Accords, the DCO's main mission is to provide various services to Palestinians, especially those who seek to enter Israel for medical treatment and work. Over the past two decades, tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought the services of the DCO also to facilitate travel arrangements and overcome bureaucratic hurdles. But now the Palestinian Authority government has decided to put an end to this phenomenon. Palestinians have warned that anyone who violates the latest ban would be punished...  If the Palestinian government does not want Palestinians to work in the settlements, why hasn't it provided them with alternative jobs or financial compensation?"

His analysis is here.

UPDATE Monday 5 pm: The Palestinian president is a leader in the efforts to break off communications and other dealings with the Israelis. But it appears he's also a leader in breaking off communications with his own prime minister. The idea that politics are advanced by refusing to speak with the party with whom you have a difference of views fits kindergarten squabbles (are you listening, Emma Thompson?) a good deal better than it does the world of grown-up disagreements on political or religious grounds. But what would we know?

9-Mar-09: "I was born into a Bedouin tribe..."

The myth of Israel's discriminatory "apartheid" policies is being aggressively peddled throughout the world by its enemies.

Most of those who buy this popular canard are entirely ignorant of the truth about Israeli society. They have never heard about the equal opportunities and rights enjoyed by Israelis of myriad races, religions and creeds. 

Additionally, most of those who embrace this myth are clueless about the repressive and dictatorial governments ruling in every one of Israel's neighbors. 

Worse, these critics of Israel make no effort to remedy their ignorance. And Israeli Jews who attempt to inject some truth into the "apartheid" debate are often dismissed as biased. 

 Hence, the following defense of Israel's civil rights is invaluable. It is written by a very brave and plain-spoken Arab Israeli. Unafraid of breaking ranks with most of his brethren, he publicly sings Israel's praises.

Lost in the blur of slogans
Ishmael Khaldi
Wednesday, March 4, 2009

For those who haven't heard, the first week in March has been designated as Israel Apartheid Week by activists who are either ill intentioned or misinformed. On American campuses, organizing committees are planning happenings to once again castigate Israel as the lone responsible party for all that maligns the Middle East.

Last year, at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to "dialogue" with some of the organizers of these events. My perspective is unique, both as the vice-consul for Israel in San Francisco, and as a Bedouin and the highest-ranking Muslim representing the Israel in the United States. I was born into a Bedouin tribe in Northern Israel, one of 11 children, and began life as shepherd living in our family tent. I went on to serve in the Israeli border police, and later earned a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University before joining the Israel Foreign Ministry.

I am a proud Israeli - along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose - educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation - Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East.

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

1) You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

2) You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire
society the right to defend itself?

3) Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available?

4) You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say: If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. There are many Arabs, both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories who have taken great courage to walk the path of peace. You should stand with us, rather than against us.

This article appeared last week in the San Francisco Chronicle.