Israeli Settlement Construction in the West Bank

A tense situation exists surrounding the 10 month freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, which expired Sunday, September 26.  Despite calls from the Palestinian National Authority, the United States and others that the freeze be extended, so far it appears that the construction will carry on.  Haaretz reports that the planned construction of 2,000 new homes is scheduled to begin Tuesday across the West Bank in areas such as Shavei Shomron, Adam, Oranit, Sha'arei Tikva, Kedumim, and Karmei Tzur.

According to the Haaretz article,  "The number of housing units put up in the West Bank during the Netanyahu government is the lowest under any prime minister since the first Rabin government."  This move toward moderation, however, has not appeased either side of the debate, and the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a politically charged issue with local Israeli pressure from the right advocating increased settlements, while many leftist Israelis vehemently protest the renewed construction.   

 
This contemporary issue can be seen as an extension of the problem of Jewish dispersal and homeland rights dating back as far as the first diaspora.  It was certainly a series of complicated, multinational proceedings which resulted in the 1948 declaration of the state of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war that established most of Israel's modern borders.  At that time, as now, both "The People of Israel" and Palestinian Arabs had equally compelling claims on the land.  Both then and now, there exist persuasive arguments on that topic amongst Jews and Arabs.

The Jewish settlers feel they have a right to the land and see Netanyahu's construction moratorium as a severe injustice.  This image (taken from the Boston Globe's website) of  "a settler's baby [sitting] in the ruins of a playground at the outpost of Maoz Ester after Israeli policemen demolished it for the 2nd time on June 3, 2009 in Maoz Ester, east of Ramallah" is an illustration of the plight of these Jewish settlers.  There are several images from the Globe's story which are worth taking a look at.

On the other side of the debate are the Palestinian National Authority (headed by President Mahmoud Abbas), the United States, and so-called "leftist" elements within Israel who call for a continued moratorium on settlement building (as well as an end to those West Bank settlements that are internationally recognized as illegal) in the interest of promoting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.  President Abbas had threatened to walk out of peace talks should the moratorium not be extended, but since the recent announcement that construction would resume, he now says he must consult with the Arab League before deciding how best to proceed.

The United States (via State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley) has announced its disappointment over Israel's allowing of the partial construction moratorium to expire.  Although no "direct negotiations" are scheduled, the U.S. Middle East envoy and his team are currently in touch with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities and realize that the situation presents a very real dilemma.  

 The situation is a complicated one involving many interests.  A degree of this complication is illustrated by this Arutz Sheva article outlining French President Nicolas Sarkozy's increased involvement in the international pressure on Israel to slow expansion into the West Bank.  The tone of this and other Arutz Sheva articles suggest that the 10 month moratorium was more than enough to appease Abbas (who demanded it in the first place and who, according to the articles, has since been uncooperative regarding peace talks), and furthermore that peace talks cannot proceed if Abbas refuses to recognize the existence of a Jewish state. 


The Arutz Sheva articles (written by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Hillel Fendel, respectively) appear to have a slightly more "pro-Israel" slant, as they seem to be portraying President Abbas as the main obstacle in the negotiation process.  Chaim Levinson and Barak Ravid's article for Haaretz is in my opinion more objective with its presentation.  


In light of these recent events, it is obvious that an effective and mutually acceptable solution will be exceedingly difficult to come by.  In Netanyahu's words, it will be "an historic peace" between Arabs and Israelis if indeed a compromise-- and with it a measure of peace-- is achieved. 
 

Drora Spitz

Take a look at Drora Spitz's website.  She's a photographer who took the picture at the top of this blog.  I came across her through the Israelity blog which chronicles "the reality of daily life in Israel". 

Israeli Scientists Make Breakthrough In Genetic Research

A team of Israeli scientists led by Dr. Karl Skorecki have made a major discovery which links a specific genetic mutation to kidney disease.  The full article can be found here on the Arutz Sheva website.

Dr. Karl Skorecki was born and raised in Toronto.  He earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1977 then moved to the U.S. for his post-graduate clinical and research training.  In 1995, Dr. Skorecki moved with his family to Israel where he joined the Technion Faculty of Medicine and has been conducting research in the field of population genetics, both in general and as it pertains to specific diseases.

According to Dr. Skorecki, about five thousand patients in Israel are affected with end stage kidney disease (ESKD), which is the most lethal stage of the disease.  He estimates that there are about 50,000 patients in Israel who suffer from lesser stages of the disease, which, although not as lethal, still result in complications.

Currently, treatment options for kidney disease include dialysis and transplant, neither of which are completely effective.  In both cases, the patient suffers a lower quality of life and reduced life expectancy.  Because of this, Dr. Skorecki and his team set out to find a genetic link to the cause of kidney disease in the hopes that they could develop techniques for its prevention.

Dr. Skorecki observed that there is a notable variance in the rate of kidney disease depending upon which ethnic group is considered.  This led them to suspect that there may be a genetic connection to the disease.  Groups from the Technion Faculty and the Rambam Medical Center began researching this link and published a paper in 2006 with their findings.  What they discovered was that a mutation of the APOL-1 gene is responsible for up to 70% of kidney disease.  According to Dr. Skorecki, if the cause of this mutation could be isolated and prevented, this would in turn prevent a majority of kidney disease.

Dr. Skorecki has also done research in the field of population genetics as it pertains to Jewish people.  He found that the Jewish genome is remarkably similar to the peoples of the Levant (Lebanese, Palestinians, Druse, and Cypriots).  Skorecki notes that this stands in sharp contrast to the notion that Jews have little or nothing to do with the Near East.

The article is written by Eli Stutz and was published on the Arutz Sheva website on September 12, 2010.    As it is a science article, it is fairly unlikely that there is some kind of bias in it.  It chooses to focus on a prominent scientist who made aliyah to Israel, probably in large part due to the fact that Arutz Sheva is considered a Zionist media outlet, but I do not believe this compromises the validity or integrity of the article.  It was well written, very concise and organized.  The quotations it included were relevant and well chosen.

The main criticism I would make of the article is that, although it was published very recently, it is somewhat unclear as to when these discoveries were made.  The article does mention that the research paper produced by the Technion and Rambam Centers was published in 2006, but it is slightly ambiguous as to whether it was that paper or subsequent findings by Dr. Skorecki that solidified the link between the APOL-1 gene and kidney disease.  The reason for this ambiguity is that the language of the introduction (as well as the lead-in to the section on the Jewish genome which mentions "another recent discover...") makes it sound as if this is breaking news, but upon further reading of the article it appears that the 2006 paper may have been the foundation of the new discovery.  Overall, however, this is fairly insignificant shortcoming of the article.

Hopefully Dr. Skorecki and his team are successful in their attempt to block the APOL-1 mutation.  Perhaps further coverage will follow.