It's the boycott that is the injustice, not the existence of Ariel

...Palestinians may think Ariel’s existence is an injustice and intolerable insult to their sensibilities. But so is every other Jewish village, town, and city inside Israel.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
25 August '13..

In this week’s Forward, venerable columnist Leonard Fein imagines he will elicit gasps of shock from his readers when he suggests that they should boycott the city of Ariel. He writes that he can do so in good conscience because there is nothing inherently immoral about boycotts and because shunning Ariel, its people, institutions, and commerce is a blow struck for justice and the cause of peace. He’s right that boycotts can sometimes be appropriate if not a moral imperative. But he’s dead wrong about giving a small city filled with ordinary law-abiding Jews, synagogues, schools, and businesses the same treatment previous generations gave Nazi Germany or segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Doing so is not only morally obtuse it also has not the slightest thing to do with peace.

Fein is pushing on an open door when he suggests there’s something controversial about boycotts. Boycotts that are rooted in moral indignation against a specific policy whether it is Nazi racism, American segregation, Soviet refusal to allow Jews to emigrate, or apartheid were all defensible boycotts since they were aimed at highlighting injustice that could be corrected. But boycotts that are themselves the product of a spirit of discrimination are less defensible. For example, the Arab boycott of Israel and the efforts of the BDS campaign—which aims at isolating it via boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions, is rooted in a desire to eradicate the Jewish state, not to reform it.

Those who oppose the building of Jewish communities in the West Bank feel they constitute an obstacle to peace. That is an argument that is undermined by the fact that the Palestinians make few distinctions between the Jews who live in their midst and those in the settlements that were built on the other side of the 1949 cease-fire lines. But if there is to be a two-state solution to the conflict, do Fein and those who agree with him really think peace will be bought by dismantling Ariel? Is he prepared to take the same position about those Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem that are also on the other side of the old “green line?” Seen in that light, it’s hard to see his attitude toward Ariel as anything but an expression of political venom directed against Israelis whose politics he doesn’t like. Whatever the merits of his arguments about settlements, such a boycott has nothing to do with justice or peace.

(+Video) Ron Nachman built a city - House by house, facility by facility, dream by dream

Politicians will come and go, but true leaders never die. The mark of a great man is in the admiration that his rivals bestow upon him, and the mark of a great leader is in his ability to realize accomplishments that will survive him.

Ron Nachman, 1942 – 2013
(photo supplied by Avi Zimmerman)

Avi Zimmerman..
Times of Israel..
20 January '13..

Although once a Member of Knesset, Mayor Ron Nachman had no plans to run in Israel’s 2013 national elections. After all, he didn’t need to: Ron Nachman built a city.

In 1972 he founded the pioneering “nucleus” (6,000 people instead of the customary ten to twenty families); in 1978 he led the first families atop an empty mountain; in 1985 he became Ariel’s first mayor; and in 2013 he left the world a gift which it has yet to learn to love.

Ron was nominally curious about the upcoming elections, but in no way stirred. As usual, many of the candidates were his friends, while some were his rivals. But when the media is focused on the competition between his longtime partner, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his recent colleague, Naftali Bennett, the main event becomes rather uneventful.

Mayor Nachman’s greatness is not to be measured in the company of his friends, rather through the considered responses of his foes. Ron was both the envy and admiration of his greatest political adversaries. An unstoppable success story, attention gradually mounted as Mayor Nachman continued to create the unthinkable. House by house, facility by facility, dream by dream, Ron Nachman dared to build an Israeli city in what much of the world referred to as “the occupied West Bank” and what he referred to as Israel’s pupik (bellybutton). While international ire grew, Ron remained steadfast with his charismatic simplicity.



There’s nothing Ron enjoyed more than boasting Ariel’s achievements in front of a group of international journalists. He wanted the world to see what they refused to believe. The opportunities were abundant, as there was always something new to report about. The construction of homes, the establishment of industrial parks, mass absorption of Russian olim (immigrants), a boycott of the Center for the Performing Arts and the recognition of Ariel University – to name a few. Ron was always a colorful interview, and an unwavering adversary.

Indeed, arguing with Ron never took anyone very far. In his 1987 New York Times article about Ron, Thomas Friedman wrote:

As he headed back to his office, the tour over, a cement-mixer truck almost squeezed his car off the road. Mr. Nachman barely flinched. ‘I love those big trucks,’ he said. ‘I love that concrete.’

Like it or not, it’s difficult to argue with big trucks and concrete.

Wash. Post slants coverage of new housing for West Bank city of Ariel

Leo Rennert
American Thinker
16 August '11

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/wash_post_slants_coverage_of_new_housing_for_west_bank_city_of_ariel.html

In its Aug. 16 edition, the Washington Post features a dispatch by Jerusalem correspondent Joel Greenberg about Israel's decision to proceed with construction of 277 homes in the West Bank town of Ariel ("Israel announces new construction in West Bank" page A7).

Here's how Greenberg begins his article:

"Israel on Monday announced approval for construction of 277 homes in a large Jewish settlerment deep in the West Bank, the third announcement this month of building on occupied land.

"Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the construction in the settlement town of Ariel...."

Right at the top, in his lead, Greenberg injects an anti-Israel poison pill -- that Ariel is located on "occupied" land. The clear inference is that this land doesn't belong to Israel, that it belongs to someone else Guess who? The Palestinians quite clearly.

Except that the Palestinians never had sovereign ownership of this land. The last sovereign to rule over the West Bank -- then more appropriately called Judea and Samaria -- was the Ottoman Empire, which vanished after World War I -- nearly a century ago. Since then, the West Bank has been an area waiting for inclusion in a permanent, sovereign country.

And when it comes to a sovereign pedigrees, Israel beats Palestinian claims by a country mile. Not only was there a 3,000-year Jewish presence in this land, including sovereign Jewish rule for one millennium; in more recent times, this was land reserved for a national Jewish home by the League of Nations, with concurrence by the U.S. Congress.

Instead of calling it "occupied" -- a highly charged and unwarranted term -- it would behoove the Washington Post not to carry water for the Palestinians and to use instead a more appropriate adjective for the current status of this land, such as "disputed." Since Israel, under any conceivable two-state solution, will keep Ariel and the Palestinians want it for a state of their own, there's clearly a "dispute" here. It's not the job of Greenberg and the Post to poison the well in the meantime.

Nor should Greenberg, again in his lead, question the legitimacy of Ariel by calling it a "large Jewish settlement deep in the West Bank." The inference here again is that Israeli retention of Ariel would somehow block creation of a contiguous Palestinian state. But a look at the West Bank map makes it quite clear that there still would remain ample territory beyond Ariel all the way to the Jordanian border for a contiguous Palestinian state.

The reality is that Jewish settlements occupy less than 5 percent of the entire West Bank and most of them would be evacuated under any realistic two-state deal. But Ariel, a vibrant city of 20,000 inhabitants would remain on the Israeli side. It's been around since the 1970s and in the meantime has built one of Israel's largest universities with an enrolment of 8,000 students -- Arabs and Israelis, secular and religious. In fact, 70 percent of its student body comes from the Greater Tel Aviv area, Israel's liberal, secular heartland.

Show in Rome; no-show in Ariel

Sarah Honig
Another Tack
08 September '10

By happenstance, just when Muammar Gaddafi staged his recent Muslim-supremacy spectacle (significantly) in Rome, Israeli actors refused to stage anything in well-within-national-consensus Ariel. On the face of it these events were unrelated.

Neither did the resounding refusal from Ramallah to even vaguely recognize Israel as a legitimate Jewish state seem linked to the in-house boycotts promulgated by those showbiz poseurs and their literati cheerleaders.

The Gaddafi extravaganza was all but overlooked by our media as a no-account eccentricity. The Ramallah reiteration of immutable nay-saying was mentioned in passing as an almost acceptable, incontestable fact of life. The out-of-left-field onslaught on Ariel, however, was ballyhooed by leftist scribblers and talking heads as heralding the moral imperative of further shrinking (anyhow precariously tiny) Israel.

Those who ignore or downplay the news from Rome and Ramallah, yet amplify the anti-Ariel offensive, obscure the fundamental connection. The aforementioned are all jigsaw pieces in the same puzzle. The removal of any piece leaves a gaping void which renders the picture meaningless. Separating and isolating constituent elements distorts the context. The upshot is that, systematically blinkered, we’re left defenseless.

LET’S TRY to piece together the puzzle despite the assiduous efforts of our enlightened pseudo-intellectual cliques to limit our vision to scattered fragments.

(Read full story)

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The new kulturkampf

Yisrael Medad
Green-Lined/JPost
29 August '10

A new kulturkampf is upon us.

Ariel's soon-to-be-inaugurated cultural center will not benefit from the services and talents of at least 36 Israeli actors.

Before we delve into this phenomenon of left-wing Israelis so excited to engage in boycott activities, let's recall a recent event in Ramallah. There, the rock group Boney M appeared but agreed to drop one of the greatest hits, "By the Rivers of Babylon." If you can't figure that one out, well, read the lyrics. They originate in Psalm 137. Theodor Herzl famously quoted on of its verses: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

Maybe these actors could eliminate certain elements of the performances or even refuse, at least, to sing HaTikva. That would be so more symbolic. On the other hand, there is always the option for the Minister for Culture to cut back taxpayers' finances that are transferred to these various actors' places of employment. Sort of a tit for tat, or dime for dime. After all, if the actors claim the privilege of conscience, they surely can understand that others also possess a conscience, and a commitment to national values.

(Read full post)

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Shabbaton in Ariel

Pesky Settler
In the Middle.On the Right
03 March '10

Looking for that perfect place? Trying to find the best fit for you and your family?

Young, central, and affordable, these have made Ariel a very attractive city for those in search of a place they can call home.

Ariel is a city with stunning views and a great climate located in the center of Israel- half an hour from Tel Aviv and 20 minutes from a large Hi Tech area. With a population of 20,000 and a large university with over 11,000 students, Ariel is a microcosm of Israel with religious and secular, young and old, Israelis and immigrants. It is a model of Israeli society all embedded in a warm and welcoming English speaking and Israeli community.

If you are looking for the right place for your family- Ariel is the city to consider!

In a good location and with a wonderful community it can become your home in Israel.

To fully experience Ariel come join us for Shabbat on April 23 and 24th.

Interested?

For more information and to RSVP: arielshabbaton@gmail.com

(Please help spread the word and let folks know about this in your own blog... thanks!)

Yahoo Wipes "Ariel, Israel" Off The Map, Replaces It With "Jenin, Palestinian Occupied Territories"

Omri
mererhetoric.com
29 January '10

Kudos to whatever seething, obsessive anti-Israel organization managed to sneak this in under the radar. Drip drip drip delegitimization of the Jewish State is after all the strategy du jour. But seriously? This is what we're doing now?

Apparently someone has convinced Yahoo to go into their News Weather data, erase "Ariel, Israel" as a valid location, and replace it "Jenin, Palestinian Occupied Territories." The 20,000 residents from Ariel, where the relevant weather station is built, apparently don't deserve their own weather. Yahoo has decreed that it belongs to the residents of Jenin, which is 25 miles north and 850 feet lower. It's absurd that this kind of petty crap even has to be addressed, but inasmuch as it's part and parcel of a broad-based replacement geography campaign it's unfortunately not trivial.

Someone should ask Yahoo if there's a list somewhere: which Israeli cities are Israelis allowed to keep, which do the Palestinians deign to let them share, which are entirely Palestinian, and which are simply unworthy of existing? Because given how they've gone out of their way to divide up Weather Channel data - more on that in a sec - apparently Israel's capital, the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, and the city of Ariel are all in play.

(Read full article)
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