Realty Check! Israel cut off the water supply to 45,000 Palestinians this week while Prime Minister Netanyahu was traipsing across the globe signing historic legislation with the governor of my very own state, California, on — you guessed it — water conservation! First Photo: Shuafat refugee camp (Photo: Alexis Thiry) Shuafat refugee camp is within Jerusalem’s municipal territory, completely surrounded by a giant wall. All access roads leading in and out of the camp are manned by Israeli checkpoints. Chen Misgav reporting for +972 says “piles of waste and garbage, the foul smell of sewage rises from every corner” of the camp and that “intervention by the municipal authorities or by government bureaus is entirely absent” which means basic services like education, water, electricity, and other public services are woefully inadequate, if provided at all. Second Photo: Mountain View, California. Bay Area activists protest Gov.Jerry Brown signing ‘pact’ with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, outside Computer History Museum March 5, 2014 (photo sent by Henry Norr) Mountain View, California. Bay Area activists protest Gov.Jerry Brown signing ‘pact’ with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, outside Computer History Museum March 5, 2014 (photo sent by Henry Norr) Finally, quoting from a Jewish Voice for Peace action alert that arrived in my inbox: It is outrageous that now Governor Brown stands ready to give our state’s business to a country that allocates water on the basis of ethnic privilege, lavishing it on Jewish settlers in the West Bank while their Palestinian counterparts receive a fraction of that amount, or are left dependent on rainwater alone. source: BIN
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 05:30:09 +0000