High Court closes off use of major highway to Palestinians

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

The interim decision issued 10 days ago by the High Court of Justice on the use of Route 443 marks the first time the justices have issued a ruling to close a road traversing occupied territory to Palestinian use, for the convenience of Israeli travelers.

The interim ruling on a petition by six Palestinian villages adjacent to the highway, which links the coastal plain to Jerusalem, gave the state six months to report progress on the construction of an alternative road for Palestinian use.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which submitted the petition on behalf of Palestinians who have been injured by the travel ban, noted that had the justices sincerely sought to consider opening the road to all, without regard to race or nationality, they would not have requested details on the building of an alternate route, which entails the destruction of additional land and costs tens of millions of shekels.

The decision was issued after both parties argued their positions. According to ACRI, the ruling marks a High Court precedent in upholding a policy of separation and discrimination with regard to movement that has already earned the name "road apartheid." It violates international law, ACRI holds, permitting the expropriation of land from the local population for the protection of the occupying power.

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=966013

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. I'm so glad Israel isn't an apartheid state. nt

[angstlessk]

2. hell, I don't think even South Africa had separate highways for blacks??

this is beyond believable!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

3. This is a tiny piece of the overall occupaton package. nt

[angstlessk]

4. I know, but if I complain I am an anti semite..which I ain't. n/t

[Shaktimaan]

7. you know, I am so sick of this accusation.

I have seen this same statement angrily made about ten times as often as I have actually seen anyone accused of anti-semitism.

I am sure it probably does occur, I am sure that people exist who blindly accuse any critique of Israel as anti-semitism, just as people exist who slam any Israeli action as anti-Arab and racist. But who cares what idiots like that think anyway? They are not the status quo.

Just as bad however, are those who disregard any possibility of anti-semitism as the motive for some clearly anti-semitic statements veneered as anti-Zionism, based on the above. Believe it or not, criticism of Israel is extremely common amongst anti-semites. And while not every critique of Israeli policy is anti-semitic, neither is every charge of anti-semitism baseless.

Plenty of people criticize Israel without ever being accused of anti-semitism. Most of them in fact. The only trick to it is to not make any anti-semitic statements in your critique. Which is somewhat easier said than done. As is the case with all forms of racism and discrimination, sometimes people have biases or assumptions that they fail to recognize for what they are. You need not be a proud anti-semite to make prejudiced or offensive statements, as your above comment illustrates beautifully.

[henank]

8. Hell, I don't thinkSouth Africa had such a thing

http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec_0082.htm">shooting at the whites http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2006/06/murder-on-route-443.html">on their major http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150035830533&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">intercity highways.

Your apartheid comparisons are really getting tired.

[subsuelo]

5. First there was the Apartheid Wall, now the Apartheid Road

What's next?

[Shaktimaan]

9. Can you explain something to me?

While offensive and probably illegal, I fail to see how this is apartheid.

I understand apartheid as being the separation and disenfranchisement of a state's citizens from each other based on race. This example is of a state limiting use of a road to its own civilians, regardless of their race, religion or ideology.

Restricting people of a specific nationality because an ongoing conflict between the two nations exists seems to be a very different scenario than South Africa's apartheid government. Why do you think the term applies?

[breakaleg]

6. Let's all applaud Israel's "democracy"!