Were Palestinians expelled or fled?

[Captain Oates 911]

So that's why the Palestinian's fled !

Want one

Want 10

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

2be1ask1

Edited September 13, 2011 by Crusty Old Perv

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Palestine is still famous for its vineyards - Hebron is especially known for its grape production. Palestinians consume them as table grapes, and some are made into raisins, jam or molasses.

As far as the alcohol issue... yes, drinking is forbidden to Muslims. However, Palestine has historically had a diverse society including Muslims, Christian and Jews. Palestinian Christians produce a number of types of beer at the Taybeh microbrewery not far from Ramallah (they also produce a non-alcoholic version.)

And wine and brandy are produced at the Cremisan winery near Bethlehem (built in the 1800s, now run by Italian Selesian fathers using a Palestinian workforce.)

Sadly, illegal Israeli settlements have been built up on either side of this historical treasure, with The Wall being built to annex those settlements into Israel "proper." So this winery will likely soon be cut off from its Palestinian workers, and the property seized as part of Israel. The Vatican has intervened to try to prevent that, but the legal issue has not yet been determined in Israeli courts. Although it is a Palestinian product produced in the West Bank, the Israeli government has insisted that the wine be labeled as a product of Israel, or it will not allow the wine to be exported.

Anyway, due to the various cultural groups in Palestine, attitudes are rather more relaxed than in Saudi Arabia. Alcohol is readily available at restaurants and even liquor stores in Ramallah and Bethlehem, and even small villages with a significant Christian population usually have a beer or wine shop. And yes, there are some Palestinian Muslims who have been known to make a "beer run" to such shops

An update on the Cremisan Winery...

West Bank convent loses appeal over Israeli separation barrier route

Catholic group criticises ruling after seven-year legal battle over barrier that will separate Cremisan nuns from most of their land

Palestinian protesters fix flags on a fence opposite Israel's separation barrier in Beit Jala, in 2010. The barrier is to be extended past a convent. Photograph: Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images

Israel is expected to press ahead with construction of the vast West Bank barrier around a convent near the Christian town of Beit Jala, following a ruling from a special appeals committee.

The route of the barrier will separate a small community of elderly nuns at the Cremisan convent from 75% of their land and from a nearby monastery with which it has close ties. The playground of a nursery and a school run by the Cremisan sisters will be bordered on three sides by the wall.

More than 50 Palestinian families will lose free access to their agricultural land, causing economic hardship to the dwindling Christian community.

The campaign against the route of the barrier at Cremisan was taken up by the UK foreign secretary, William Hague, and the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. In a letter disclosed by the Guardian last year, Hague told Nichols that he shared his "concerns about the problem of land confiscation by the Israeli authorities affecting the people of Beit Jala and similar Palestinian communities in the occupied territories".

Following a seven-year legal campaign, Israel's special appeals committee this week ruled in favour of the route, which leaves the convent on the Palestinian side of the barrier and the monastery and land belonging to the convent and local families on the Israeli side.

According to the Society of St Yves, a Catholic human rights organisation that represented the nuns, the committee decided that the proposed route was "a reasonable solution that balances Israel's security needs on one hand and freedom of religion and the right to education on the other".

However, the society said the ruling was "highly problematic and unjust". It failed to properly address "the violation of freedom of religion, the right to education as well as the economical damage caused for a unique Christian minority in Beit Jala by the construction of the wall," it said. It is considering an appeal to Israel's supreme court.

The UK government provided indirect funding for the legal case. It says Israel is entitled to build a barrier but it should lie on the internationally recognised 1967 Green Line, not on confiscated Palestinian land. About 85% of the barrier is inside the West Bank. The route is harming the prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Britain.

In his Christmas Eve homily in 2011, Nichols offered prayers in support of the community's "legal battle to protect their land and homes from further expropriation by Israel".

Last year Israel's defence ministry told the Guardian: "The route of the security fence in the Beit Jala region is based purely on security considerations. This portion is there solely to keep terror out of Jerusalem."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/west-bank-convent-israeli-barrier

As you can see, the monastery and winery will be cut off from the convent and school, as well as most of the local Christian community that it serves, and its land split and partially destroyed by the path of The Wall:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16656978

[Darnell 8,479]

Thanks for the update !

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Thanks for the update !

You're welcome.

So the upshot is: Israel will slice off yet another chunk of Palestinian land, and then give it to various real estate developers who will then "sell" it to setters. Such a deal - everybody wins ! Except the owners of the land, of course - they get nothing.

The Special Appeals Committee of the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court approved land appropriation for the barrier along a route that would annex about 75 percent of the convent's property and enclose it on three sides, the convent’s lawyer, Manal Hazzan abu Sinni, told Haaretz.

The route will also annex farmland of 58 Palestinian families to Israeli territory, she claims, vowing to appeal to the High Court of Justice.

...

In the Cremisan Valley, residents of Beit Jala, whose village abuts the valley, say there has not been any violence there in many years, without any barrier. They believe that the real reason for the planned route cutting through the village is that Israel wants to connect the West Bank Jewish settlement of Har Gilo to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

Gilo was one of the first Jewish neighborhoods built on the land annexed to Jerusalem after 1967. The Jerusalem planning authorities have already approved plans to expand Gilo toward Cremisan, Hazzan abu Sinni says.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/putting-cremisan-valley-on-the-pope-s-agenda.premium-1.518047

This same process is repeated over and over all across the West Bank, as Israel helps itself to more and more Palestinian land, piece by piece.

The part you don't hear about too much is: what is the connection between the Israeli government's settlement policy - its willingness to expend a huge amount of money and military effort to enable, protect and expand the illegal settlements, despite decades of deadly violence and international condemnation - and how much money certain well-connected Israeli real estate sharks are making off the whole scam.

As all gangsters know, the stolen property business can be extremely lucrative.