[GushShalom] University to keep Arabs out + alerts & translated mustread

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[] Universities return to aptitude exams to keep Arabs out  
[] Translated: Barbed-wire Screen, Smoke Screen - B. Michael in Yediot
[] reminder weekend activity

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[] Universities return to aptitude exams to keep Arabs out   

By Relly Sa'ar 

Thu., November 27, 2003 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/365572.html


There's no politically correct spin to put on it,
and the facts speak for themselves: As soon as
Israel's top university administrators noticed
that the big winners from admissions policy
changes were not Jewish youngsters from low-income
towns, but rather Arabs, they reverted back to the
old admissions system. 

This year, the universities instituted a policy change -
the abandonment of psychometric aptitude tests
as a requirement for admissions. However, once
university officials realized that the main beneficiaries
were Arabs, they decided to reinstate the exams. 

During the upcoming academic year, university
admission candidates will be judged according
to the old system, which is based on a
combination of high school matriculation exam
results and the psychometric tests. By
reinstating the old system, the universities
apparently intend to guard against high
enrollments of Arab students in selected
departments. 

One of the country's universities studied the
results of this year's new admissions policies
- candidates had to submit their results from
various high school matriculation exams rather
than take the aptitude tests. However, the
university discovered that the new admissions
system benefits Arab candidates. For example,
the percentage of Arab students who were
supposed to be accepted to the university's
faculty of dental medicine under the new system
was 52 percent; in the previous academic year,
when psychometric results were part of the
admissions policy, Arab students comprised just
29 percent of the first-year class. The same
held true for the university's occupational
therapy department: under the new admissions
system, 56 percent of first-year students were
to be Arabs; under last year's old admissions
system, the figure was 19 percent. 

To prevent a heavy influx of Arab students in
fields such as dental medicine and occupational
therapy, the university instituted what one
department head described as "revisions" in its
admissions policy. "We set the [minimum] entry
age for studies at 20, instead of 18, and we
also gave added weight to personal interviews
with candidates," the department head said in
describing the "revisions." The Arab candidates
do not serve in the Israel Defense Forces, so
the previous minimum entry age, 18, worked to
their advantage, while increasing the
importance of personal interviews worked to the
disadvantage of Arab candidates, partly because
the interviews are not conducted in their
native language. As a result, the "revisions"
helped the university departments maintain the
same Jewish-Arab demographics that had been
obtained in previous years. 

The universities did little yesterday to conceal
the fact that admissions policies are being
altered to benefit Jewish candidates.
"Admissions policies based on [high school]
grades do not make studies more accessible to
[Jewish] students from the periphery. The
opposite is true," declared the committee of
university heads. In its statement, the
committee was careful not to use the words
"Jews" and "Arabs," but its intention was
clear. In a euphemistic idiom, it wrote: "since
the number of places available in university
enrollment has not risen, the acceptance of one
population [that is, the Arab students, R.S.]
nudges out another population [Jews, R.S.]" 

Based on cold statistics, it remains unclear
how this year's new admissions policy, which
took into account matriculation exam results,
unwittingly instituted an affirmative action
program for Arab youth. For years, the Arab
secondary school system has notched poor
matriculation exam results due to chronic
discrimination in budget fund allocations. 

Two weeks ago, the heads of the universities
worked out an arrangement with Education
Minister Limor Livnat and Knesset Education and
Culture Committee Chairman MK Ilan Shalgi
(Shinui) whereby the system of considering
matriculation exam results in lieu of
psychometric exams is to be "suspended for one
year" rather than be scrapped permanently. At
the end of the current academic year, the
universities are to submit to the Knesset
committee empirical research studies that
address the correlation between academic
performance in higher education and
psychometric exam or matriculation test
success. Since the universities vehemently
opposed adoption of the system used this year
and claimed that psychometric exam results are
the most reliable indicator of success in
higher education settings, it can be expected
that the research will point to the need for
reinstating the psychometric tests as an
important factor in admissions decisions. 

[] Translated: Barbed-wire Screen, Smoke Screen - B. Michael in Yediot

Yediot Ahronot, 31/10/03

B. Michael

Translation: Tal Haran

A lot of “separating” can be achieved with 3,000 km of barbed-wire: 
separating livestock from its owners, olives from their harvesters, vines 
from their pickers, a doctor from his patients, a worker from his place 
of work, a teacher from his students. Especially the farmer from his 
land. One kind of separation will not be obtained by the thousands of 
barbed kilometers: Separating the suicide-bomber from his victims.

Three thousands kilometers of barbed-wire have been stretched along the 
“first phase” of the “separation fence”. Three million meters. Equal to 
the distance between Israel and Switzerland. A lot of “separating” can be 
achieved with 3,000 km of barbed-wire: separating livestock from its 
owners, olives from their harvesters, vines from their pickers, a doctor 
from his patients, a worker from his place of work, a teacher from his 
students. Especially the farmer from his land. 
Only one kind of separation will not be obtained by thousands of barbed 
kilometers: separating the suicide-bomber from his victims. He – as we 
have learned from the State Comptroller’s report on security procedures – 
will continue to reach his objective as he does today: through the 
checkpoints, usually in a motor vehicle, in appropriate disguise, in 
possession of false identification. And he will continue to storm his 
way towards his wretched loss, taking with him the lives of innocents. 
The fence will not stand in his way. Quite the contrary: the criminal 
will go to his death reassured that thanks to this fence, his dispatchers 
will easily locate his potential successors. The fence will supply them 
with the infrastructure of despair, loss of hope, and fortify hatred, 
frustration, madness. It will hand them the infrastructure for terrorism.

No need for anger at the separation-wire that does not separate the 
suicide-bomber from his murder victims. This has only been its alleged 
aim. In reality, its aim is very different. In reality, its purpose is 
invisible. In reality, the barbed-wire screen is enveloped in a 
smokescreen. 

But if the purpose of the fence is invisible, its deeds are quite 
visible. And one can no longer turn one’s eyes westward only, and 
stubbornly continue to ignore the horrors taking place in the east.

For clarity’s sake: an honest-to-goodness fence, reasonable and humane, 
would be received with relief and open arms by people on both sides. 
Israelis and Palestinians. It would not have robbed anyone of anything. 
It would not have shut tens-of-thousands in cages. It would not have 
suffocated the livelihood of tens-of-thousands. And who knows, perhaps 
it would have helped to create neighbors who are just a wee-bit better, 
the way high fences are supposed to (although one could continue to doubt 
its effectiveness in blocking suicide-bombers). Only the route imposed on 
it, the snaking, evil line that has been laid down for it by the cult of 
zealots holding the country by the throat and their servile footmen in 
the government, turns it into such a loathsome abomination.
About 200,000 people live in the immediate vicinity of the northern part 
of the fence. Hardly any of them have not been hurt by it. The entire 
town of Qalqilya, with a population of over 40,000, is hermetically 
sealed off. Only one gate connects it to the world. Tulkarm is cut off 
from the west by a wall, and from the east by closure checkpoints. 18 
villages, with all their inhabitants, are completely surrounded with 
barbed-wire fences. Their residents live in a gunuine pen. 3,000 families 
(at least) have already been separated from their lands. The “farming 
gates” which they were promised – do not exist.
About 25 wells have been destroyed, another 14 face destruction. 36 
other wells have been separated from the communities that used their 
water. These wells would yield 6.7 million cubic meters of water.

The entire system, consisting of double razor-wire coils on both sides, 
an “intrusion tracking path”, a lurking path, a petting path, an obstacle-
ditch and watchtowers, is at least 50 meters wide. It runs through 
15,000 dunams of confiscated land, and the route assures another 120-
150,000 dunams that have suddenly attached themselves to the State of 
Israel, separate from the West Bank.

Annexation? God forbid. Why annex when you can simply snatch?

The Tulkarm-Jenin-Qalqilya region is the “fertile basin” of the West 
Bank. About 45% of its farm produce used to be grown there, according to 
the World Bank. No longer. At least half of this produce, perhaps much 
more, will not grow there now. Tomatoes have a hard time growing among 
fences and soldiers, checkpoints and non-existent gates.

About 4,000 of Qalqilya’s residents, nearly 10% of its population, have 
already left. Hunger and unemployment have done their share. About one-
third of the 1,800 teachers living in this besieged city and teaching 
throughout the region, are not likely to be able to reach their 
classrooms (this too, follows World Bank data).

About 200 houses, mostly shops, have been demolished by bulldozers. 
Several hundred more have demolition orders pending. The entire market of 
the village Nazlat Issa, known far and wide for its lively trade, has 
been razed to the ground. The pretext, as usual, is illegal 
construction. This is a highly useful pretext, since the Palestinian 
villagers have not a chance in a million to ever receive construction 
permits, and whatever they build is “illegal” and demolishable at any 
given moment, to begin with.

So far, about 110,000 olive and fruit trees have been uprooted along the 
northern path of the fence. One-hundred and ten thousand. For centuries 
olive trees have grown there, yielded fruit and livelihood for their 
harvesters.No longer. The separation fence has separated them from their 
land. One-hundred and ten thousand trees.

And this is just the tip. And only the beginning.

In the Jerusalem area, the fence has gone completely haywire. According 
to the planned route, it will cut villages and communities in half, 
separate students from their schools, congregations from their mosques, 
village residents from their own cemetery, bedrooms from living rooms. 
Half a neighborhood will be cut off from the east, its other half cut off 
from the west, and both cut off from each other. As though some blind 
Parkinson-stricken sadist has drafted this route. 

Yet what is the logic of such an evil, mad fence? Allegedly it tries to 
separate “us” from “them”. But in reality, it connects tens of thousands 
of Palestinians to Israel. It allegedly tries to stop murderous suicide-
bombers, but in fact it creates for them a magnificent hothouse and does 
not impede them in any way from their current mode of action.

And to what purpose are billions of shekels, 3 billion so far (nearly 
three times the price of a fair and reasonable fence), spent – all 
dedicated to ruin the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians, to 
crush their dignity, destroy their property, dispossess them of their 
land?

Tragically, this is probably the idea. This is the secret of the wall: 
not security, nothing like it. Not war against terrorism, war against 
reason. A slow-motion nakba (catastrophe, the 1948 Palestinian 
expulsion, tr.). Gradual strangulation. An evil illusion that an entire 
people can be made to surrender and become a nation of slaves, to make 
Sharon and Mofaz’ wet-dream come true.

In this week’s paper (Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 28.10.03), we read that the 
first villagers living on the eastern part of the “separation fence” have 
received demolition orders for most of the houses in their village. The 
mosque and kindergarten are to be demolished as well. Of course they may 
appeal within three days, but they better have the moving trucks ready. 
For the first time one can establish with amazement that the nightmare is 
indeed coming true: an eastern fence that will turn the future State of 
Israel into the past South Africa. A mono-ethnic community in control, 
and surrounding townships of another people. Gigantic prisons of cheap 
labor. Soweto-south, Soweto-north. Privileged masters, transparent 
slaves.

That’s the target. That’s the objective.

But such an objective is hard to market. Even Israel’s indifferent and 
exhausted people would start to bubble if it were told outright that 
billions of its shekels are not invested in its security, but rather in 
fulfilling the impossible hallucination of a Messianic cult and an aging 
general. No wonder, then, that a combination of deceit and subterfuge is 
doing its best to camouflage the real reason and rhyme of the “separation 
fence”.

It seems that since the days of the war in Lebanon, no one has tried to 
sell Israel’s citizens such a bluff. Seeming “security”, seeming “war on 
terrorism”, seeming limited tactical objective, seeming general accord 
between coalition and opposition. In fact – another attempt to 
reorganize the world according to Arik Sharon. Another attempt to hide 
behind ambiguity, blurred maps, snaky deals and endless doses of 
brutality, in order to do away with the Palestinian issue and extend the 
longevity of the “settlement mission” at any price. Total deja-vu.

The Comic relief of the blurring efforts is supplied by the web site of 
“The Seamzone Administration”. It instructs us that the entire project 
has been conducted in a “humanitarian and environment-friendly spirit”. 
Landscape architects have joined the team and utmost attempts have been 
made to protect nature and vegetation. Indeed 60,000 olive trees have 
been uprooted, (in fact, that is half the real number), but “an inner 
mechanism has been set up to replant them in appropriate sites”. “Inner 
mechanism” indeed: an external contractor received money for the 
uprooting job, then most of the trees were stolen and sold to the nobles 
of Kfar shemaryahu, Hertzliya-Pituach and other posh communities. The 
trees certainly enjoyed their upgraded residence.

And when bulldozers crushed tens of thousands of dunams and destroyed 
entire groves, “The Seamzone Administration” did not fail to delicately 
pick some thousands of irus bulbs and send them (in an ambulance?) to 
another meadow, so that the beauty of the land shall not be spoilt.

But the most instructive and explicit of messages is the section in the 
English version of the site, proudly declaring that this land 
expropriation is absolutely legal and conducted according to clause 23G 
of the Hague Convention that has laid down rules and procedures of war 
since 1907. The world will surely be delighted to learn that Israel is 
so meticulous about war procedures. In the Hebrew version there is no 
lingering on such folly. War procedures and international conventions 
are worthless to Hebrew speakers. And the clause, according to the site, 
allows the seizure of “private land” if this seizure be absolutely 
crucial for “self defense needs”.

I, however, am a suspicious creature. So I turned to the Hague 
Convention, and to my great un-surprise, discovered that the legal 
wisemen of “The Seamzone Administration” did to this clause what they do 
so well with Palestinian property: they fixed it with a bulldozer. To be 
more exact – they simply falsified it. The clause does not refer to land, 
certainly not private, and does not even mention “self defense”. It only 
says that enemy property must not be seized or destroyed unless this is 
absolutely necessary for the needs of war. This is also the clause that 
forbids the use of poison, execution of war prisoners, the use of 
outlawed ammunition, and other such matters that regard conduct in the 
storm of war. Perhaps it permits the crushing of an old Fiat in the 
kasbah, when there is no other way to get to the target, or temporarily 
take over a balcony and turn it into an observation post. But to 
conclude from this clause that hundreds of thousands of dunams may be 
expropriated, probably permanently, for the needs of “self defense”
 For 
this a special capacity for historic counterfeit and legalistic trickery 
is required.

And the extent of truth in this section mirrors that of the entire site 
and the entire fence.

No few politicians, some innocents, others cynics, have lustily fallen 
into the “security” trap laid down for them. And every time some 
bulldozer stalls for a moment, they quickly raise a bitter cry over 
“neglecting security”. Not a few figures in the media, too, gladly and 
dedicatedly chew this tale, and share their cud with their audience. 
Most of them have always been inclined to lose professional and public 
consciousness to the sound of the word “security”.

But all of these may finally come to. One cannot go on looking away, 
shutting eyes, ears, mouths, and wallowing hypocritically in acquired and 
insistent unknowing. Because the State of Israel, on the other side of 
its eastern border, is conducting a harrowing sequence of evil deeds, 
callous deeds, robbery, deceit and barbarity. According to the Geneva, 
Hague and Rome Conventions many of these deserve the label of Crimes of 
War and Crimes against Humanity. And rightly so. 

[]
# MARK THE BORDER
# Protest against firing of Arab hotel workers
# Weekly J'lem Peace Now vigil with MachsomWatch speaker

# MARK THE BORDER

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"ram & michaela rahat" <rahat at bezeqint.net>
Subject:        	[Yesh-Gvul] marking the border
(was shortened)

Bloodshed without end?
Only if we blunder on without purpose!

Confronted with a government that:

Insists on building settlements and giving a stamp of legality to 
"outposts"; 
Seeks toimprison the Palestinian populationwithin enclosed ghettoes;
Continues to post soldiers at roadblocks where they are sitting ducks;
Erodes education, health and welfare, out of a preference for stones and 
soil over human beings -

We proclaim that there is another way!

Friday 28/11, at 12:30, we shall MARK THE BORDER (in central Israel) to 
remind Israelis heading east of there that they are crossing the border 
and entering occupied territory. Join us, because change is possible, 
but not from your armchair.

Transportation:
Jerusalem (Binyanei Ha'umma)11:00
Tel Aviv (El Al terminal, northern railway station): 11:00
				***

# Protest against firing of Arab hotel workers

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"Yeela Livnat" <ylivnat at bgumail.bgu.ac.il>
Subject:        REMINDER -  Protest against firing of Arab hotel workers, 
(was shortened)

Sat Nov 29th, 11:00am at the Dead Sea
Date sent:      	Thu, 27 Nov 2003 09:49:50 +0200


Reminder - Join the Demonstration! Your Participation is Crucial!!!


Life is getting nasty in the Negev

  a.. Houses of Arabs are being demolished
  b.. Their fields are being poisoned
  c.. Discriminating laws are being brutally enforced
  d.. And now - hotel workers are being fired because they are Arabs

The Negev Coexistence Forum and Saut el-Amel for the protection of worker
's rights Invite you to join a

Protest in front of Nirvana Hotel

Saturday, Nov. 29th at 11:00am

Against the policy of firing and non-employment of Arab workers in the
hotels

"Because it bothers the Jewish guests..."

Departure and rides from Tel-Aviv,"Rakevet Tsafon", and Jerusalem "Gan
HaPaamon" at 8:15am, Beer Sheva, main post office at 9:30. Shoket 
Junction at 9:45. Arad, towards the Dead Sea at 10:30. If you need a 
ride, phone Amos Gvirz at 09 952 3261

Muhammad el-Amur was fired from his position as manager of foods and 
drinks at the Nirvana hotel because of his refusal to fire all Arab 
workers under him that worked in the 'front' (in contact with customers.) 
For more information, an article in Ynet (in Hebrew)

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2811858,00.html

or on the Negev coexistence website, in English (including a letter of
protest)

http://dukium.org/modules.php?name=3DNews&file=3Darticle&sid=3D44

Don't remain silent! Jews once were treated this way...

Contacts:
Yeela Livnat, Coordinator
The Coexistence Forum in the Negev
051 701118
www.dukium.org

Wahabe Baderna, The Workers Voice, 051 770134
				***

# Weekly J'lem Peace Now vigil with MachsomWatch speaker

---------Forwarded message follows----------------
From:           	"Sylvia Piterman" <oritp at inter.net.il>
Date sent:      	Thu, 27 Nov 2003 12:13:12 +0200
(was shortened)

Come to protest with us on Saturday 
22.11.03, at 20:00 
at Paris (Hagar) Square

Among the speakers 
Victoria Buch
from Machsom Watch 
         * * *

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