Look at the Scoreboard

By Bar Kochba
February 22, 2008

Interior Minister Sheetrit is planning to build a modern Arab city in the Galilee. (I would suggest to him that he first deal with our enemies cities in Gaza before building them new ones.) What exactly does an "Arab city" mean though? Are there "Jewish cities" in Israel? Let's take a look at the scorecard:

Jerusalem: 30% Arab

Haifa: 15-25% Arab

Tel-Aviv: 4.2% Arab

Arabs are equal citizens in Israel with the same political rights as Jews. Arabs can live anywhere they want in Israel without restrictions. Even illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem is rarely contested.

Shechem (Nablus): 0% Jewish
Shechem is the burial place of the Biblical patriarch Yosef. In the early days of Oslo, when Israel handed Kever Yosef over to the Arabs, it was desecrated by a fanatical mob. Now, Jews are forbidden from going to Kever Yosef to pray.

Bethlehem: 0% Jewish
Rachel Imeinu is buried in Bethlehem and King David's line originated there. It is currently judenrein and Kever Rachel is frequently harassed by Arabs. Jews who go to pray there are severely inconvenienced as reaching the kever requires heavy security, passing fences and walls, and hiring armed guards.

Hebron: 0.004%
There are about 400 Jews living in Hebron around Mearat HaMachpela, the tomb of the Patriarches. They live under siege in severe conditions with heavy army presence. Thousands of Jews are able to pray at the gravesites of our nation's founders only because of the perseverance of these handful of Jews.

No Jews live in any Arab-majority city. Entire swaths of the country are judenrein. A Jew could not walk into Ramallah or Nazareth without being stoned, beaten or lynched. 7 000 Jews were thrown out of Gaza at the behest of the Arabs and hundreds of thousands more are set to be expelled in Judea and Samaria (G-d forbid). What could possibly by gained with the creation of a new terrorist camp, an Arab city, which will certainly become a hotbed of anti-Israel activity and hatred, as have all other Arab cities?