What can one say to this? How dreadful! Evidently, its time for the power of serious prayer.

The fact that Israel is very much an immigrant country and taking in further immigrants all the time….the constant state of flux as Israel accommodates new people, plus has to cope with the innumerable demands of Western countries re its government policies and its future. Does all of this has a diversionary effect do you think, so that critical issues tend not to be consistently focused on? I know that if I’m working on research and a major paper, rather a lot of stuff gets shunted to the side.

Israel always has a huge amount to cope with. One hears of Israel being” a little Western country plonked down next to a sea of 70 million Arabs” – yet how like a Western country is Israel really? Given its weekly struggles, one has to truly wonder!!

Nothing has really changed in the Bedouin mentality. What has changed is the Israeli mentality where they have lost the political will to do what is right and desperately needs to be done. Israel’s Hasbara efforts are hopeless and as a consequence they are now under assault from both within and without on every issue. These are dire times. The country is in need of real leadership.

Well, quite evidently the State of Israel in its Negev manifestation, is going to have to quit looking the other way or it shall be destructive of an important part of Israel through “merely sitting on its hands.” Y’know there is a perception internationally, of Israelis being such ‘can do people’ and so tech advanced – so one thinks, ‘how can this be happening?!”

Truly a situation which warrants fighting on, in the best Israeli tradition, while remembering the first kibbutzniks clearing the swamps back in the 1920s or 30s – who fought on and on, even tho more than a third could be in bed with malaria at any one time. Then when they had achieved 600 wonderful acres, the Bedou came with rifles, demanding they hand it over. How much has changed, one has to wonder, in the Bedou mentality?

“Last year I went with Ari into Judea and Samaria and saw for myself the way the Arabs are destroying the ancient terraces with the dumping of rubbish down the hill sides. It’s a crime. The terraces were built to stop soil erosion and the destruction of the land. So clear to see they have [no] respect for that land.”

This is just so horrifying. It just makes you feel sick!

Gil, I was at Central shul on Monday night and I have been involved in one way or another with Regavim for way over a year now.

Last year I went with Ari into Judea and Samaria and saw for myself the way the Arabs are destroying the ancient terraces with the dumping of rubbish down the hill sides. It’s a crime. The terraces were built to stop soil erosion and the destruction of the land. So clear to see they have respect for that land.
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/sydneysiders-visit-to-west-bank.html

Look at the website I posted on my first post. On the top bar there is a link “NEWS AND MEDIA” and a drop down menu ‘VIDEOS’ being the bottom one. You’ll find some good information there.

Gil, I know that. I have been involved in one way or another with Regavim for over a year.

If you go to the website http://www.regavim.org.il/en/
Click on the link, then News & Media, you will see a link to Videos. There are some very interesting ones.

Last year I went into Judea and Samaria with Ari and saw for myself the destruction of the ancient terraces by Arabs dumping rubbish. It’s tragic that they cause this damage to what were designed in ancient times to stop soil erosion.
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/sydneysiders-visit-to-west-bank.html

Lizzie,

Then there’s the added problem that I didn’t refer to in my original comments and that is of the ongoing theft of highway signage, massive smuggling and human trafficking going on in these Bedouin villages. All this is well known to Israeli authorities who keep looking the other way.

These people are a law unto themselves. No other country on the face of the earth would put up with this. On the contrary there would be a massive crackdown from day one.

Shirlee,

Then there’s the added problem that I didn’t refer to in my original comments and that is of the ongoing theft of highway signage, massive smuggling and human trafficking going on in these Bedouin villages. All this is well known to Israeli authorities who keep looking the other way.

These people are a law unto themselves. No other country on the face of the earth would put up with this. On the contrary there would be a massive crackdown from day one.

Can I please suggest you check out their web site.

http://www.regavim.org.il/en/

They are also on Facebook and Youtube