Not greening, but weeding the Negev

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"In the Negev, when it comes to building Jewish settlements and demolishing Bedouin ones, a few "making the desert bloom" references can go a long way. And when it comes to Arabs, when the Israeli government "thinks Green," it is often in the militaristic sense more than the "greening the desert" sense.

As a point of departure, consider the dissonance between two recent events. Just prior to Tu Bishvat, 2,500 dunams of Bedouin fields were destroyed by the Israel Land Authority's (ILA) "Green Patrol." On Tu Bishvat itself, a small group of politicians aced a smattering of saplings in holes dug by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), in the Negev. The candidates, planting for PR purposes, had permits; the Bedouin villagers, engaged in self-subsistence, did not. The Bedouin "broke the law." The Jews "made the desert bloom."

Even when the Bedouin go about their business with full permission, their rights can be revoked at any time. This week, Haaretz reported on the IDF's sudden decision to rescind Bedouin rights to graze their herds on the fringe of Negev training grounds. In effect, the state has expelled two-thirds of Bedouin herds from their former range, placing army priorities above all other considerations."

<snip>

"For Arab citizens, the ironic practice of uprooting on the verge of the planting festival reinforces a perception that Ben-Gurion's vision of "making the desert bloom" is a transparent code for "seeding" Jewish settlement and "transplanting" Arab villages. For most Jewish Israelis, the "green" language used by the Israeli government appears neutral, carrying humanistic connotations imbued with seemingly benign national memories. Our government has learned to take advantage of these positive associations, and become highly skilled at employing green rhetoric to conceal hegemonic political goals to demarcate and claim contested space."


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/689851.html

[Wordie]

1. Yes, this sort of propaganda has been used for a long time.

Years ago, I got into an argument with a Zionist (historical, expansionist Zionist whose family were among the early settlers) who told me that the taking over of Palestinian lands was justified because the Israelis were so much more technologicially advanced in terms of their agricultural techniques. I'm not certain the person even realized how that sounded - the need to justify the unjustifiable was just to strong.