Abdullah Kmeil, the Palestinian Authority Governor of the Salfit district in the central West Bank, on Thursday issued a “strict decision” obligating all commercial installations and shops in the area to remove signs and billboards written in Hebrew.
Kmeil,
who is also a senior official with the ruling Fatah faction headed by
PA President Mahmoud Abbas, ordered the businesses to replace the signs
and billboards with ones written in Arabic.
The decision came after many Palestinian businesses in the West Bank, especially those close to settlements, started hanging signs in Hebrew to attract Jewish clients.
Kmeil
gave the businesses one week to comply with the decision, according to
the Salfit Governorate Public Relations and Media Department.
Kmeil
said that the measure “comes in light of a decision that was taken
previously and confirming that the occupation is exploiting the scene of
the signs in Hebrew for purposes that serve its racist and fascist
policy.”
Or "Businesses with Hebrew signs were found to be profitable and tolerant and we want our people poor and angry"
ReplyDeleteOr: "We want our territory to be "Judenrein", ethnically cleansed of Jews, or anything that reminds us of the Jews.
ReplyDeleteAlso: It is "haram" to own Israeli Sheqels, as they have Hebrew wording on them. All Sheqels should be handed over to us ASAP, and we'll take care of them for you, so that you aren’t defiled by having them in your possession.
I've come to the conclusion that the path the State of Israel is on is to expand the State to incorporate Gaza and the West Bank and along the way to incorporate the Arabs there into the State.
ReplyDeleteThis policy may not be be explicitly stated anywhere, and no one actually in the government may actually be concious of this policy. But there really is no other future path that is consistent with the actions of the government.
For example, rockets from Gaza rain down on communities. The response? Attack those shooting the rockets while minimizing collateral damage.
So the Palestinian Arabs remain in their Gaza reservation. For all practical purposes, due to their location, they are already citizens of a sort of the State of Israel, albeit with limited rights.
Given that context, the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank prohibiting Hebrew signs may be their way of trying to retain their identity. The Palestinian Arabs may reflect on what has happened to many of their brethren who are already full-fledged citizens of the State of Israel.
Many of these so-called Arab Israelis have degrees in professions and are working in the State of Israel.
Some of the Palestinian Arabs may react with horror at this. They may think, "That will be my fate and the fate of my children unless I resist assimilation with all my might. For if I lay down my hatred, one day I will wake up to a headline that the State of Israel has unilaterally declared me and my family to be citizens as they did to those hapless Arabs who ended up with within the political borders of the State of Israel when David Ben-Gurion declared its establishment 73 years ago."
Many Jews historically clung to the Shabbos even if it meant living in poverty. Those Jews were the ones who, generally, did not end up assimilating. Some Arabs are willing to forego the benefits that may come with Hebrew signs in order to remain true to themselves.
It's almost like the so-called Palestinians are going to Quebec for lessons in this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI second your motion in your closing paragraph.
ReplyDelete