Ha'aretz Repeats 'Jewish-Only Apartheid Roads' Canard

Tamar Sternthal
CAMERA Media Analysis
29 August '10

While former Meretz leader Yossi Sarid, now a columnist at Ha'aretz, is perfectly entitled to his opinions, neither his past nor present positions grant him any immunity when it comes to publishing falsehoods. And yet, in his column today, Sarid repeats the "Jewish-only roads" falsehood propagated several times over the last few years by Ha'aretz. Weighing in on the recent opposition of Israeli theater professionals to performing in a new cultureal center in Ariel, a large settlement over the Green Line, Sarid writes:

The artists can't be dragged to Ariel in blunt contradiction of their political beliefs; they can't be driven on our Jewish-only apartheid roads.

In a certain respect, the former lawmaker is correct. The artists can't be driven on "Jewish-only apartheid roads" . . . . because none exist. As first explained several years ago to Ha'aretz editors, there are no "Jewish-only" roads (apartheid or otherwsie) in the West Bank, though there are a few roads prohibited to Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel's Arab citizens and, indeed, Israeli citizens of any religion or ethnicity, have just as much right to travel on those restricted roads as do Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs frequently use the bypass roads for business and to visit relatives.

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