By Sherine Tadros
Al-Jazeera
"I recently jumped at the chance to take an all expenses paid helicopter ride over Israel and part of the West Bank.
The trip was courtesy of The Israel Project (TIP) which describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan group working to impact world opinion for the sake of Israel's security.
The helicopter ride is meant as an "educational tour" for journalists and was inspired by George Bush, the former US president, who took a similar ride and reportedly said it opened his eyes to just how vulnerable Israel is. The tour operates twice a month and has taken up over 1,400 journalists.....
Throughout the flight, our tour guide used a variety of maps, statistics, pie charts, drawings and graphs to explain the reason for the separation wall (deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice)....
The wall has in fact taken 12 per cent of Palestinian land and drastically changed the landscape of Jerusalem creating a de facto border where Israel would like to see one and not where international law deems one should be.
If we were looking down we would have witnessed this reality, but instead most in the helicopter were busy looking at the diagrams.
What is amazing is that in our 45-minute ride we managed to avoid flying over any of the 120 illegal Jewish settlements that have been built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Not a word was said by our guide about these settlements - neither does it get a mention in our info pack.....
When I asked our guide why Israel is making long-term plans for a border he just finished telling us was only temporary, he answered "because one day it will be permanent".
It's a simple strategy and one Israel uses unapologetically - creating facts on the ground they call temporary (because in theory they are still negotiating over these facts) while carrying out actions that would make a final settlement based on anything other than what they have already created almost impossible....."
Al-Jazeera
"I recently jumped at the chance to take an all expenses paid helicopter ride over Israel and part of the West Bank.
The trip was courtesy of The Israel Project (TIP) which describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan group working to impact world opinion for the sake of Israel's security.
The helicopter ride is meant as an "educational tour" for journalists and was inspired by George Bush, the former US president, who took a similar ride and reportedly said it opened his eyes to just how vulnerable Israel is. The tour operates twice a month and has taken up over 1,400 journalists.....
Throughout the flight, our tour guide used a variety of maps, statistics, pie charts, drawings and graphs to explain the reason for the separation wall (deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice)....
The wall has in fact taken 12 per cent of Palestinian land and drastically changed the landscape of Jerusalem creating a de facto border where Israel would like to see one and not where international law deems one should be.
If we were looking down we would have witnessed this reality, but instead most in the helicopter were busy looking at the diagrams.
What is amazing is that in our 45-minute ride we managed to avoid flying over any of the 120 illegal Jewish settlements that have been built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Not a word was said by our guide about these settlements - neither does it get a mention in our info pack.....
When I asked our guide why Israel is making long-term plans for a border he just finished telling us was only temporary, he answered "because one day it will be permanent".
It's a simple strategy and one Israel uses unapologetically - creating facts on the ground they call temporary (because in theory they are still negotiating over these facts) while carrying out actions that would make a final settlement based on anything other than what they have already created almost impossible....."
No comments:
Post a Comment