Jewish Protest Group Smuggle Fun Loving Palestinian Women Into Israel
TO NAZARETH, Israel, where around 600 Jewish Israelis are smuggling Palestinian women and children into the country from the West Bank. The aim is to give the Palestinians a taste of life over there.
The inspiration is Ilana Hammerman, a Jewish writer who wrote in Haaretz about smuggling three Palestinian teenaged women into Israel for a day out, including a trip to the Mediterranean. Because, as reader Percy says, “girls just wanna have fun”. The woman, aged 18 and 19, removed their hijabs and blended in.
This is illegal. Palestinians need a permit and to pass through a check point. But the girls didn’t blow anyone up so what the harm?
Ofra Lyth, who helped establish an online forum of supporters after attending a speech by Ms Hammerman, says:
“The Palestinians who join us are mainly looking to have a good time after years of confinement under the occupation, but for us what is most important is our act of defiance.
“We want to overturn this immoral law that gives rights to Jews to move freely around while keeping Palestinians imprisoned in their towns and villages.”
Of the women she helps, Lyth says:
“The Palestinian women tell us: Go ahead and make your political point, but for us we’re breaking the law so that we can enjoy ourselves and remember how life was before the checkpoints and the wall.’ One woman told me: ‘I just want to be able to breathe again’.”
Says Ms Hammerman:
“That has really surprised and encouraged me. I did not realise there were so many other Israelis who have had enough of this outrageous law.”
Is Hammerman brave or engaged in an act of stupidity in a country that began imposing restriction in the 1990s in reactions to suicide bombings?
Posted: 20th, September 2010 | In: Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
