As Palestinians and the world celebrate Land Day in recognition of the land rights stolen by Israel in occupied Palestine, a new report shows the Apartheid-like discrimination by Israel against Christian and Muslim citizens of Israel and especially against the victims of Israel’s Apartheid-like policies in the West Bank.
By Ray Hanania
A new report by Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, shows that Israel puts almost all of its resources in helping Jewish citizens of Israel than it does Christian and Muslim citizens of Israel, and continues to illegally confiscate lands taken from non-Jews in both occupation wars of 1948 and 1967.
The report shows that non-Jews receive only about 4.6 percent of housing tenders are published in areas where the Arab population is concentrated and that the majority is published in Jewish areas. The report also shows that Israel spends more on Jewish housing in the illegal racist settlements than it does on housing for Arab citizens on Israel.
Land Day was begun in 1976 when Israel launched a massive campaign to expropriate lands owned by Christians and Muslims in Israel and in the West Bank, including and especially around Jerusalem. Land Day in Palestine is recognized internationally as a protest against Israel’s Apartheid-like policies against the Palestinian Arabs.
Israel openly allows discrimination against non-Jews and can deny the rental or sale of a property to a buyer based on the buyer’s religion and ethnicity. Frequently, non-Jews are denied both property rentals in many Jewish communities in Israel and also prevented from buying land or property from Jewish owners.
Adalah is one of only a small handful of Israeli organizations that monitors the civil rights abuses against non-Jews in Israel as most Jews in Israel and in the West like America remain silent. But the racism and discrimination that characterizes Israel has become a focus of attention of the Jewish community and more and more Jews are speaking out against the obvious Apartheid-like discrimination.
The BDS Movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) has targeted Israeli businesses that exploit properties and assets taken through the occupation of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem which Israel is building up Jewish properties.
Here is the release issued by Adalah on the latest discrimination released to compliment the 39th Year of the Land Day commemoration:
Photo of Palestinian village in occupied Palestine provided by Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, as part of their 39th Annual Land Day Report
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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