(Excellent) Hallel Ariel OR When Boarding A Bus Gets Political - by Sheri Oz

...And there, on a table in the living room, were a number of bottles from the family vineyard, some of which had been bottled with Hallel’s help only the day before her murder. Rina asked that we remember Hallel when we bless the wine. I am not religious but I will certainly say a blessing before I drink from this bottle. It would not feel right not to.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
06 July '16..

I bought a bottle of wine yesterday. Not just any bottle of wine. A bottle of wine from the Ariel B’Yehuda Vineyard that, as Rina Ariel said, “has Hallel’s fingerprints still on it.” You see, I hopped on the train in Haifa yesterday morning and made my way out to the Ariel house in Kiryat Arba, where the family is sitting shiva for their 13 year-old daughter who was murdered in her bed last Thursday morning by a Muslim terrorist. Rina asked for people to come from around the country. So I did.

There I was, a secular Jew from Haifa, travelling almost 4 hours to spend a few moments with a bereaved family in Kiryat Arba, a place that is vilified by most Israelis who dress like I do, who grew up like I did, and who marched with Peace Now and demonstrated in front of the jail where Abie Natan was held so many years ago.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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(+Video) To not be "Obsequious beggars pleading for a little peace and quiet".

Calev..
LOTL..
14 January '13..

Aside from our residing in Kiryat Arba-Hevron, we do a great deal of hosting as well as taking visitors out and about our town. While enjoying this, there is a degree of awareness and responsibility that one must take when moving about with guests unfamiliar with the neighborhood and its nuances. And sometimes, while not a common occurrence, one may have to just step up to the bat, or perhaps with something similar to one.

Those familiar with the area will know that to travel between the neighborhoods of Kiryat Arba above to the the neighborhoods in Hevron below, does require on Shabbat passing through areas that at times have displayed other than a friendly face. During peak hours on Shabbat there is a fairly large security presence. During off-peak hours though you basically fend for yourself, which is also o.k., albeit a bit disconcerting to some guests. The ever present question following the realization is usually, "Do you carry a ..., bet you can fill in the blank, and no I don't. A heavy walking stick more than suffices, and is part of the apparel for the tours.

It's Shabbat, nine young ladies and a mother in tow, and a couple of young Arab men with a reasonable supply of snowballs (although potentially with ice or other material inside) in hand approaching. Aside from ourselves, a few other male residents of the Kirya passed before us and most of what was in the hands of our two approaching, fell to the ground as they understood this was not a wise course of action. Of course they reserved one for our group but which fell short as they still felt the need to put some distance between us before throwing. Wise move, as I requested from our group to stay put and took off after them. The throwers were a bit surprised, ran,  momentarily thought about standing their ground, and when another local with his M-16 joined me, they departed.

Cartoon panel by Shira N.

Kiryat Arba makes the News!

Presspectiva Prompts Yediot Achronot Correction

CAMERA
Middle East Issues
23 October '11




http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=10&x_article=2138

Presspectiva, CAMERA's Hebrew-language Web site, has prompted a correction on an Op-Ed in the Israeli (Hebrew) daily Yediot Achronot, which had falsely accused Kiryat Arba residents of regularly shooting their Palestinian neighbors. CAMERA's English translation of the error and correction follow:

Error (Yediot Achronot, Asaf Gefen, Op-Ed, 9/23/11): Although it isn't clear if this [funding from the Ministry of the Development of the Negev and the Galil for a new cultural center in Kiryat Arba] is because Kiryat Arba is in the Negev or because the residents of the place have a practice of shooting their neighbors with a Galil. [A Galil is an Israeli-made semi-automatic machine gun.] 

Correction (10/14/11): Contrary to what may have been understood from a previous column, the residents of Kiryat Arba do not have the practice of shooting their Palestinian neighbors.

CAMERA and Presspectiva commend Yediot on its clarification, and note that it follows a recent correction regarding a Ha'aretz Op-Ed which had similarly and falsely charged residents of the Anatot of regular attacks on Palestinians and Israeli activists.

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
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'Oxfam aids illegal Palestinian deeds'

Tovah Lazoroff/Yaakov Lappin
JPost
1 November 09

Oxfam International is involved in illegal Palestinian construction and agriculture activity in the West Bank, the Regavim advocacy group says.

The NGO charged on Thursday that Palestinians had illegally siphoned water in the area of Kiryat Arba with the assistance of Oxfam.

The civil administration on Thursday demolished an illegal water-siphoning operation just outside the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, which it claimed was linked to an international organization, but it did not name Oxfam.

It said that Palestinians had illegally linked pipes into the main authorized Palestinian water supply.

Ovad Arad of Regavim, however, said that Oxfam was involved in the project and had posted signs touting its work in the area.

He added that Oxfam also helped Palestinian farmers construct an illegal terraced field in the area, which he said the civil administration also destroyed on Thursday.

Arad alleged that contrary to the civil administration's claims, the Palestinians were stealing Israeli water with the help of Oxfam.

A source in the Kiryat Arba municipality said that the activity occurred within the settlement's boundaries and that the water siphons were connected to larger pipes that serviced both Israelis and Palestinians.

Oxfam International spokesman Michael Bailey in Jerusalem said in response, "We understood that an agricultural well and a field had been damaged and that some irrigation equipment had been removed.

"We are concerned about the impact of that on the Palestinian farmers," Bailey said.

He knew nothing, he said, of any illegal siphoning or of any other illegal activity connected to his organization.

The Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria said its actions were part of a policy of enforcement against pirate water supplies, and that Palestinian civilians were the primary victims of the illegal wells.

"The pirate wells are connected to water pipes and reduce the flow of the legal water supply to Palestinians," the civil administration said.

"International elements have been involved in this activity. We have warned the organization in question that they were partaking in an illegal construction project, but they refused to take heed of our warning," the civil administration added.

It refused to name the organization in question, and would neither confirm nor deny Regavim's allegation that it was Oxfam.

Regavim, created four years ago, operates on both sides of the Green Line, to monitor illegal construction and to preserve state land.

Arad said that its focus has been on illegal Palestinian and Israeli Arab activity, given that left-wing groups have solely focused on illegal Jewish construction.

In a letter that the organization's attorney Amir Fischer wrote to the civil administration, the IDF and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Arad said that Oxfam had intensified its activity in the West Bank and was helping Palestinians build illegally and carry out agricultural activity on state land.
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