Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Biggest Homes In The West Bank Don't Belong To The Jews (Updated)

In her post, Why This Flaming Liberal Is Pro Israel And What Most Don't Understand) Sharon Cobb writes
But there is another issue I want to underscore. Unless you have driven from Jerusalem to Efrat to Tekoa, please don't whine about the conditions of the Palestinians, because what you will see on the drive I just mentioned, are fabulous homes all along the Palestinian territories, and the few Israeli outposts in the area have very very modest homes built with their own hands and that of their neighbors.
To get an idea of what Cobb is writing about, take a look at Arab Mansions, a post by Shiloh Musings written back in March 2007.

She wrote:
It's very annoying and inaccurate that people who aren't familiar with the facts on the ground here in the Shomron, north of Jerusalem, Israel, have such a totally distorted view of things.

My neighbors and I live in small, modest homes. Yes, that's the truth. The large, enormous mansions north of Jerusalem all belong to Arabs. For the longest time, I had been thinking of trying to sell a photo-story showing those elegant structures. Then finally during Succot, I mentioned it to a neighbor who said that he'd love to drive around with me, while I took pictures. thanks ms! So we went off one day and were amazed at how many gorgeous mansions were between Shiloh and Jerusalem.
Here are the pictures she took:








At the time, Jawa Report linked to the Shiloh Musings post and noted:
Not that I'm against Arabs living in mansions--I'm all for anybody living in as large a house as they can afford, restricted only by their conscience--but I do think this is a glaring example of both the media and Palestinian agitator hypocrisy. When was the last time you saw any images of Palestinians which weren't of "refugee camps" or of kids being "oppressed by Israel"?
West Bank Mama linked to the post as well, and in the comments Israel Medad writes:
Pointing out the big, opulent Arab houses was always part of my “preliminary” Hasbara tour, bringing journalists and diplomats out to Shiloh during the 80s, but then Oslo came along and we stopped going through Ramallah where it was a lot easier to see these houses, especially at the southern entrance, along, what else, Palestine Street. In fact, during one of our “making-our-presence-felt” tours in 1989, we walked out of Psagot and down into Ramallah right through an entire neighborhood of houses three times bigger than I could ever afford to build (the rest of the walk we were dodging IDF soldiers who were informed of a bunch of crazy Jews walking through the town. We made it to the Mitzpah, a great archeological site, and half-way to Givat Ze’ev before they caught up with us leaving them with no alternative but to simply walk alongside us as there were no roads in that area to drive us out).
And of course, not to be left out, in Gaza--there's the Aldeira Hotel







And the Roots Club:


Then again, maybe the members of the flotilla just want to try out Gaza's Olympic-size swimming pool

Gaza's first Olympic-standard swimming pool was inaugurated at the As-Sadaka club during a ceremony on Tuesday held by the Islamic Society.

Gaza government ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leaders of Islamic and national governing bodies, as well as club members and athletes were among those at the opening ceremony, where Secretary-General of the Islamic Society Nasim Yaseen thanked the donors who helped realize the project. [emphasis added]
 Good to know that Gaza--The World's Biggest Open Air Prison Camp™--is surviving.

UPDATE: Here is a video of Ramallah in 2006:




Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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5 comments:

Batya said...

Thanks for the mention. Nowadays there are many more and more larger Arab mansions. They build whatever they want, no need for permits etc while our lives are being frozen and strangled.

YMedad said...

I just found this post by A Russian immigrant who was blown away by our neighbors' village, Turmos Aya. Great photos of that and other nearby villages.

Go here.

Garet Benson said...

Most of these points are well taken, but I've seen these huge homes dozens of times and never know what to think. I've heard the construction is often like a barn-raising: they bring in the whole hamula (the ganze mishpochoh), many who have experience working in construction. I've also heard homes are often built to house several generations, meaning there could be 20+ people living in them.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm from Turmus Aya. My parents were born there, and then immigrated to American, where I was born in 1994. In the year 2002, me, my mom, and siblings went back there to build a house and learn our culture, we stayed there for five years. Now I'm back in the U.S, mainly for education.
Main point:
The people of Turmus Aya are rich because many of the towns people live in America, and have their families live in Turmus Aya, because they want to preserve the Palestinian Culture.
I just wish we can get along with the people of Shiloh, however, it's just impossible when settlers deny you for cultivating your olive trees, deny you access to your land, and take pieces of your land little by little to build more buildings on.

Daled Amos said...

In response to a similar post on My Right Word ("Spring at Shiloh's Valley"), Yisrael Medad responded:

The residents of Turmos Aya, as far as we know, own the land of Turmos Aya, including almost all the valley. They have not proven, in over 30 years, despite given the opportunity in court, to prove private ownership of land within the Shiloh village boundaries which were established in accordance with the property lines set back in British Mandate days. As you know, the Jordanian Government never registered in any orderly fashion land in the Shiloh area and in fact, Turmos Aya has disputes with Sinjil as well so it seems land disputes arise becuase of inability to prove ownership either through tax records, actual deeds or other documentation. Planting trees, though, is one way to steal land and that is how Arabs have 'absorbed' land by planting groves.

He also pointed out to me some history:

At the very start of Shiloh in 1978-79, the road led through a part of the village, before a separate approach road was laid (later, a thrid one was developed) that allowed for the cars of our residents to be stoned. In the first inftifada, they moved up to molotov cocktails on civilian cars. The refrigerator bomber in Jerusalem in 1975 was from Turmos Aya--before Jews lived in the area.