I recently spent a bit of time shopping for a home in occupied territory, I thought to myself hey, why not try Re/Max!

I sent an online enquiry to one of the agents and got this reply. This is a message from the Maaleh Adumim branch, Re/Max makes no effort to hide the fact they sell stolen land. I have removed names of agents.

Hi David,

My name is ——————– RE/MAX Atid in Maaleh Adumim.  ——– does not speak English so I am contacting you in his stead.The house that you are inquiring about is a 6 bedroom cottage which is obviously not to your needs.  Please tell me the following information so that we may assist you in finding a suitable property.

What neighborhood of Maaleh Adumim are you interested in?
What is your budget?
New or old?
What floor?

The more information that you can provide, the easier it will be to help you.

Regards,

————————————

I replied the next day.

Hi ———-.

Thanks for your response. I’ve only been to Israel once and spent most of the time in Netanya so my knowledge of the neighbourhoods is limited. €300 000 is the upper limits to what we want to spend, my parents and my wife’s parents will be covering most of the money so I am very lucky and at their will a little. They know Israel better and say that Ma’ale Adumim is great value and a quick drive into Jerusalem. We are wanting one bedroom as it’s just me and my wife, but I have a lot of photographic and computer equipment which takes a large sized room so two bedrooms or a house with large study is essential. We prefer an open plan houses and my wife definitely wants a shower or space to add one. A view would be nice but not essential.

We are planning to fly out to Israel to look at a number of houses and then make an offer. We are also looking at some places more central to Jerusalem but Ma’ale Adumim seems to be better value. Our only worry is safety as we have already left a country (South Africa) because of violence. My wife is especially worried that there will be Arabs in Ma’ale Adumim or that we will end up living in some kind Palestinian state. What is Ma’ale Adumim like in this regard? Are the roads into Jerusalem safe?

We are probably going to be there within 3 weeks and will be staying for roughly 2-4 weeks but may stay longer if required.

David

There was a few days break and then I sent another message, I thought I had scared him off with my overt racism.

Hi ———–

I didn’t get a response to my last email, if you sent one could you please re-send it and I will make sure its not getting stuck in my junk filter.

Wow, stolen land must be profitable enough not to have to bother with decent customer service, a response finally came.

Hi David,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner; hope you enjoyed the Purim festivities.  Your family is right about Maaleh Adumim.  I immigrated ——– from the US directly to Maaleh Adumim and have watched it grow from a small village to a small city that has not lost the small town charm.  There are no Arabs living in Maaleh Adumim and in the 25 years that I am here there has never been an incident in the town.  The roads are safe and I have never had any trouble. There is no chance of Maaleh Adumim being under non-Israeli control; we are basically a bedroom community of Jerusalem and well within the national consensus.

There has been a large influx of residents from Jerusalem coming to our city because of the quality of life and lower housing prices.  Based upon your budget, there are many properties that we can offer you that can fit your needs. Let me know when you are coming and we will assist you in any way that we can.

Regards,

———- ———–

Article 15

All RE/MAX Affiliates shall not deny equal professional services to any person for reasons of race, colour, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. RE/MAX Affiliates shall not be a party to any plan or agreement to discriminate against any person or persons on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

I couldn’t find anything about Geneva Conventions, International Law in general or promises of racial hygiene anywhere in their code of ethics to be fair. I guess its not that important when there is money to be made.

Should you want to buy your own piece of illegal settlement from Re/Max there should be 30 odd on this page.

You will notice that on their main page you can find a proper map of Israel and the West Bank with the 1967 border intact.

Click within the Jerusalem area and new map will appear, this one seems to have not bothered with those pesky borders.

These are the vultures that feed on the carcasses of failed peace processes and Palestinian dreams of equal rights, cast aside for a quick buck.

Tags: apartheid, arab, Israel, Ma'ale Adumim, Palestine, palestinian, race, re/max, remax israel

It is becoming increasingly clear to even the most abundantly stupid observer that Israel is not interested in making concessions towards peace or even halting further land theft, so what comes next?

The settlement freeze announced by Israel a few months back was a half measure at the best of times, it came with a number of strings attached that led to Palestinians rejecting it as to little to late. Not only were constructions that already had their foundations laid allowed to continue, but public buildings like Yeshivas were excluded from the freeze. East Jerusalem was completely excluded from the freeze along with satellite settlements surrounding greater Jerusalem. In February the Israeli government revealed that a number of constructions had carried on regardless of the settlement freeze but there seems to have been little political will to properly enforce the freeze. Now a new twist has been added to the tale, and at a very interesting time.

A day after Palestinians decided to accept indirect U.S. sponsored negotiations Israel announced 112 new apartments will be built within the West Bank. The cause? Security reasons. What incredible timing, what an amazing coincidence, what are the chances? This is a blatant stalling tactic to keep the Palestinian side out of negotiations.

Palestinians should definitely go ahead with negotiations, its obvious the Israelis are scared at the prospect of U.S. brokered negotiations at this point. There is a square mile between Israeli policy and world, and even U.S., opinion on the basic issues of this conflict. Negotiations will demonstrate just how far Israel has veered from the track and further undermine its international position. Israel has to take the role of peace maker if it wants to garner continued U.S. support but its becoming increasingly more difficult. While Abbas is a bit of an empty suit he has added an air of peaceful legitimacy to the Palestinian cause. Israel’s game of blaming Palestinians is becoming increasingly desperate as we’ve seen today. Some of you may recall a month or two ago there were sounds coming from the Abbas camp that they may be willing to enter negotiations. Anyone remember what happened the next day? Yeah forgotten didn’t you. Netanyahu announced that no matter what, Israel would always have a presence in the Jordan Valley. Hmm, nice timing.

So what do we do? The answer is one-state my friend, and I will tell you why. Firstly the two-state solution is all but dead, it would take a huge Israeli effort to make it work and that does not look likely. If the two-state solution fails there is no other option but a one state solution, and that would probably see the end of Israel as  a Jewish majority country within one or two generations, maybe immediately. Secondly perhaps the one thing that could actually scare Israel into making the required concessions for a two state solution is the idea of a one state solution.

As Israel continues to colonise and annex more land the fight for Palestinian equal rights will become one within a de facto Israeli state. It will increasingly bear resemblance to the fight against Apartheid. We all know how that ended.

Tags: 112 apartments, abbas, indirect, Israel, negotiated, netanyahu, Palestine, peace process, settlement, stall

Denying that American foreign policy creates terrorism, Harvard fellow Martin Kramer calls for an end to aid in order to lower Gazan birth rates instead.

In what many have called a call for genocide Martin Kramer’s comments have sent shudders through many a spine. his quote from Herzliya 2010 goes as follows:

“Aging populations reject radical agenda and the Middle East is no different. Now eventually, this will happen among the Palestinians, too. But it will happen faster if the West stops providing pro-natal subsidies for Palestinians with refugee status. Those subsidies are one reason why in the ten years, from 1997 to 2007, Gaza’s population grew by an astonishing 40%. At that rate, Gaza’s population will double by 2030 to three million. Israel’s present sanctions on Gaza have a political aim, undermine the Hamas regime, but they also break Gaza’s runaway population growth and there is some evidence that they have. That may begin to crack the culture of martyrdom, which demands a constant supply of superfluous young men.”

The logic seems to be this; if we don’t give aid to a besieged people there will be fewer children. The question is how will this strategy lower the population growth, what exactly is the mechanism of this policy? Perhaps people will choose not to have children, perhaps pregnant mothers will miscarry, perhaps the children will be weak and die of disease or simply starve.

There are plenty of sub-animals lurking around this world like Kramer, on both sides, but how many return to cushy jobs in respected universities? A university system that rejects people like Norman Finkelstein, educating a new generation of Americans on Middle East politics.

Tags: aid, gaza, genocide, harvard, herzliya, kramer, martin kramer, neo-natal, starve

Rehabilitation of the Palestinian Refugees

A New Israeli Approach

Overview

The Palestinian refugee problem was born sixty years ago during the War of Independence. As opposed to the other refugee problems created at that time, this one remains unresolved to this day. In fact, it has taken on gigantic dimensions as Arab countries have perpetuated the refugee situation as a tool to de-legitimize the State of Israel.

With the establishment of the State of Israel, hundreds of thousands of Arabs were displaced and since then have remained homeless. The Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza are not their homes, but rather temporary stations.

The question that remains open is not whether they will return to their homes. They will not return to their homes, just as Jews will not return to Poland, Iraq or Morocco. The question is how to rehabilitate and resettle them in spite of the fact that they have been uprooted from their homes.

Amazingly, this question has hardly been asked. For many years, Israel preferred to ignore the refugee problem in the hope that in time, it would resolve itself. Successive governments have chosen to stick their heads in the sand when faced with the looming fear of the refugee issue.

Needless to say, this policy has been ineffective. The refugee problem has grown in size and in effect, it has given birth to terror and Palestinian nationalism. Despite everything, Israel decided to legitimize Palestinian nationalism as part of the “two states” solution. Israel’s choice to recognize Palestinian nationalism has brought her to endure countless terrorist attacks and a diplomatic process where Israel is constantly pushed to capitulate on issues that cost lives. This will to capitulate has lead to tragedies that continually repeat themselves.

Israel must disentangle itself from this trap and examine new avenues that deal with the root of the problem. If Israel can succeed in overcoming its fear of directly dealing with the refugee problem and assertively adopt a clear initiative that deals head on with this issue, then Israel will be able to neutralize a very substantive part of the explosive material in its conflict with the Palestinians. We must radically change our way of thinking about the matter and boldly deal with the issue of the refugees from a long-term perspective.

This initiative is the first step.

Thanks for your attention and interest,

Sincerely,

Benny Elon, MK

Tags: Benny Elon, ethnic cleansing, mk, Refugees, the israeli initiative, the right road to peace

With a reported racial purity of 97% and land that only belongs to lowly Palestinians who wouldn’t want to build in Pisgat Ze’ev?

Yup, those crazy Israeli’s are at it again in ‘eastern’ Jerusalem. Israel has announced the approval of 600 new homes in Pisgat Ze’ev, much to the chagrin of the United States. The U.S. has called for both sides to cease from any unilateral actions. That’s about as harsh as it will get for Israel of course, directly confronting Israel about anything would get the U.S. government in big lobby trouble.

The U.S. also never forgets that Israel’s security is non negotiable, even the security of people who decided to move directly into an occupied military land belonging to other people. Palestinian security on the other hand is very negotiable and almost non-existant.

Tags: colonial, colony, map, Pisgat, Pisgat Zeev, racial purity, settle, settlement, stolen, Ze'ev

A new pamphlet from Stand With Us is preempting Apartheid Week by claiming Middle Eastern countries other than Israel are the real Apartheid Regimes.

Stand With Us describes itself as

an international education organization that ensures that Israel’s side of the story is told in communities, campuses, libraries, the media and churches through brochures, speakers, conferences, missions to Israel, and thousands of pages of Internet resources.

The new booklet (click here to download) claims that many Middle Eastern states practice Apartheid policies but only Israel is singled out. To be honest I agree.

Many Middle Eastern countries do practice Apartheid like policies, with intolerance shown against non Muslims, women, homosexuals and minorities. What I find interesting is Stand With Us makes no attempt to excuse many of the practices it mentions that are occurring in Israel daily.

The pamphlet mentions many of Apartheid’s policies but doesn’t seem to deny the similarities in Israel. It mentions the Apartheid pass system and explains that

It designated him a “colored” and denied him access to white schools, hospitals, and even entire cities.

It sounds a lot like the Palestinian documents that deny tax paying Palestinians from entering Israeli or other Palestinian towns and cities. It mentions that many South Africans were denied the vote but never mentions that Palestinians that were driven from the land in 1948 were never allowed to return or vote in there ‘new’ homeland, they were denied reentry due to their race and religion.

South African blacks who protested and demanded equal political and civil rights met police violence, indefinite detention, torture, and even execution.

Well let me think, hmmm, Bil’in anyone? Israeli torture prisons? Indefinite incarceration?

Palestinian refugees have been denied citizenship for two generations or more (Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq).

Im sure I remember one other country that denied Palestinians citizenship, maybe one of my readers can remind me, I’m so forgetful.

Palestinians have been expelled from many Middle Eastern countries (Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, and Iraq).

Again I remember another country on that list. Oh well, old age and all of that.

Much of the report focuses on the treatment of women which is a lamentable case in most Muslim countries. Its an outrage and cannot be justified by simply listing Israel’s faults as if that excuses one’s own.

As I stated in my last article I don’t like the idea of using catch all phrases for complex issues that deserve their own terms. Israel Apartheid Week will continue on though, and it is up to us to make it about equality for all.

Tags: apartheid, apartheid week, arab, Israel, middle east, middle east apartheid, muslim, stand with us

I grew up in Apartheid South Africa and watched it fall apart, what I see in Israel today might be Apartheid, but that depends on Palestinians, not Israeli’s

Israel’s occupation has lasted for the last 42 years, a majority of Palestinians were born under occupation and have known nothing more than a life as stateless and second class citizens. The comparisons between their plight and that of non-white peoples in South Africa can be striking but there is also an important difference that is not mentioned among the anti-Apartheid movement.

Where South Africa was a struggle for equality the Palestinian cause is a struggle for separation with sovereignty. A majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution, a de facto ‘apartness’ from Israel. The equality Palestinians seek and deserve is an international equality, the right to a state of their own.

To embrace the Apartheid theory is in some way to embrace the one state solution. How can the opposite of Apartheid be the separation of a people’s?

The question is do Palestinians want to be separate from Israel and the resounding answer is yes. Until they do want equal rights within a single state one can never fully call the situation within the occupied territories Apartheid. Certainly the occupation is Apartheid like but it is also something more and something less than Apartheid.

Its sometimes alluring to use emotionally charged catch all phrases to quickly convey a complex set of policies and histories but there needs to be a respect for the unique suffering of Palestinians.

42 years of occupation is its own crime worthy of remembrance, there is no need to create a historic equivalence to what is happening. There is a need though for clear and unquestionable public conversation on this issue. If you, like me, know in your heart the suffering of Palestinians is unjust there should be no need to draw a vague equivalence, just the facts.

Tags: apartheid, flag, Israel, occupation, one state, Palestine, palestinian, solution, South Africa

The Israeli Apartheid Video Contest

Any budding young directors out there? Well there is a new competition out for a video no longer than five minutes that deals in some way with Israeli Apartheid. Im thinking maybe The Never Before Campaign should enter? Im struggling with time at the moment and saving up for a camera, perhaps I should just send in the Yisrael Beiteinu TV advert

Visit the site if you are intrested in entering and let me know if you do enter and I will host your videos here.

Tags: apartheid, competition, contest, download, Israel, israeli, Israeli Apartheid Video Contest, upload, Video

The United States wants the Goldstone Report dead.

The United Nations is a complex organisation but it is the forum in which collective action can be taken against rogue states. There is an open policy of United States hostility against the Goldstone Report or any legal means that would end the age of unaccountability for it and its allies. The United States recommended that the Goldstone Report remain within the United Nations Human Rights Council, essentially a death sentence as all the Human Rights Council can do is refer the report. The United States failed and the Goldstone Report was overwhelmingly accepted by the General Assembly. It has yet to reach the Security Council but it will be still born due to the U.S. veto.

What we know is that there is massive world support for the Goldstone Report we also know that the Security Council, traditionally the only U.N. organ able to refer to the ICC, is crippled by the veto power of a single rogue state.

There is a way through this quandary though.

Page 458 of the Goldstone Report, under the recommendations section for the General Assembly:

The General Assembly may remain appraised of the matter until it is satisfied that appropriate action is taken at the domestic or international level in order to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators. The GA may consider whether additional action within its powers is required in the interests of justice, including under resolution 377 (V) Uniting
for Peace.

Those of you not aware of Resolution 377, it states that:

“Resolves that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

Essentially if the Security Council continuously fails to maintain peace the General Assembly can override the Security Council and issue actions and binding resolutions in its place. This action could be used to push the Goldstone Report through to the ICC or, as was the case in South Africa, initiate sanctions.

It is high time for sanctions against Israel. We see numerous sanctions against Iran but why not Israel? Iran ’seeks’ nuclear weapons, Israel already holds many illegally. Iran funds terror? Israel is the terror. How many countries does Iran occupy? How many wars has it started? How many U.N. resolutions has it ignored? But who is the ‘rouge state’? Who must we be scared of? The only ‘terror’ Iran exercises is the terror American strategists feel due to not owning all of the Middle East’s oil.

Tags: general assembly, Goldstone, Goldstone Report, International Criminal Court, Israel, Resolution 377, sanctions, security council, veto

Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance and Human Dignity

[tol-er-uhns]
–noun
Interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one’s own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

The Never Before Campaign has released a new video focused on the sick joke that is the Simon Weisenthal Museum Of Tolerance. Tolerance it would seem, is truly only an ancient museum piece in Israel today. You will not find it on the occupied streets in the checkpoints of the roads, in the racist halls of politics. Tolerance is something that can only be remembered in museums.

There are arguments in support of the Museum and its placing but what can one honestly say resembles anything like tolerance in building a Jewish museum on a Muslim graveyard? Israel’s politicide has claimed a new victim and made this little country a greater joke in the worlds eyes. Click on to watch a video from the Never Before Campaign.

Keep reading…

Tags: Jewish museum, Mamilla Cemetery, never before campaign, Simon Weisenthal Museum Of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal, Tolerance