Hass Takes ‘Jewish-Only’ Claims to New Heights
Ha’aretz journalist Amira Hass today outdoes herself. In November 2005, she falsely claimed that there are West Bank roads, including highway 443, that are “Jewish-only.” Today, she takes her Jewish-only fiction to a new level, writing:
This is a bureaucractic machine acting in an atmosphere that calls for increasing the close surveillance of all Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line, using excuses of secuity. It is acting in a society obsessed by demographic calculations and demographic separation. The roadblocks, the separate roads, the fence and the prohibitions against entering the country for everyone who is not Jewish are different levels in this system of separation.
Her intention here, like many other places in her op-ed, is unclear. Only Jews are allowed to enter Israel? Or only Jews are allowed to enter the Palestinian areas? In either case, Hass is obviously wrong.
As Hass’ own Ha’aretz reported in December 2006, Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport is opening a mosque for the benefit of its Muslim passengers traveling in and out of the country. The Israel Airports Authority has also launched an Arabic Web site to better service Arabic speaking travelers.
As for entering Palestinian areas, it is illegal for Israelis to enter. Yet, as documented by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, tourists, including Palestinians living abroad and others, can and do come.
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