<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[An afternoon in the Jerusalem studio of GOD TV, the Christian Zionist ethnic cleansing&nbsp;network]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="headline_meta">by <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn" href="http://mondoweiss.net/author/maxblumenthal/">Max Blumenthal</a></span> on <abbr class="published" title="2011-01-24">January 24, 2011</abbr><span> </span></p>
<p>I spent a part of this afternoon in the green room of a Russian news  bureau in Jerusalem. While waiting for my friend Joseph Dana to appear  on Russia TV to discuss the <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/">Palestine Papers</a>,  I looked out the window at a panoramic view of Jerusalem. In the  foreground was the Mamilla cemetery, once the home to the graves of  prominent Palestinian families like the Khalidis, and now the <a href="http://www.alzaytouna.net/arabic/?c=1519&amp;a=116500">desecrated future site</a> of  the Simon Wiesenthal Foudation’s ironically named “Center for Human  Dignity,” which was approved by the Jerusalem municipality.</p>
<p>Now Joseph was on. “What the papers provide us with is the ultimate  confirmation that Israel is not a viable partner for peace and does not  support an equitable two state solution,” he said. “Israel is content  with the status quo, which means a permanent state of war and the deadly  reality of occupation it established in 1967.”</p>
<p>On our way out, I noticed that the studio of <a href="http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/12/god-tv-and-the-jewish-national-fund-plant-the-forest-of-hate/">GOD TV</a>,  the evangelical End Times network, were right next door. GOD TV is the  key funder of the Jewish National Fund’s plan to plant a million trees  directly over the site of the Bedouin village Al-Arakib, a scheme that  has resulted in ten demolitions of the village and untold damage to its  residents. I knocked on the door of GOD TV’s studio and a tall, lanky  producer appeared. He told me he was from the Netherlands and introduced  himself as Klaas. I asked if his network was funding the JNF’s plan to  plant a forest that would permanently displace Al-Arakib, forcing its  residents’ transfer to the Indian reservation style development town of  Rahat.</p>
<p>He told me that while they are planting a million trees to beautify  the land for the Second Coming of Christ, he knew nothing about  Al-Arakib. “The JNF hasn’t told us anything about that and we certainly  wouldn’t be a part of anything that would do what you described,” he  said. Then he demanded I support my claims with evidence.</p>
<span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe class='youtube-player' width='640' height='390' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dg8Y5y73M18?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;' sandbox='allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation'></iframe></span>
<p>Klaas allowed me to go online on one of GOD TV’s computers to show  him my video of the demolition of Al-Arakib. Unfortunately, Google and  YouTube were blocked by a search filter on all of the network’s  computers. Either a wave of porn watching and chronic masturbation has  swept through GOD TV a la AIPAC in the Steve Rosen era, or they are  restricted from accessing outside information like North Koreans. Or  both. I left Klaas with <a href="http://www.redress.cc/palestine/ngordon20101204">an article by Neve Gordon</a> about his network’s collaboration with the JNF.</p>
<p>As I was leaving, Klaas suddenly grew argumentative. “An Israeli  friend who lives in the Negev told me the Bedouins have to be removed  because they steal everything,” he said. “That’s their way of life —  theft.”</p>
<p>I asked if he ever spoken to a Bedouin or gone to the Negev to see  the situation for himself. He said he hadn’t. I then asked if he had  ever met a Palestinian Christian. While our conversation took place, GOD  TV was broadcasting a “report” on the Hebron massacre of 1929 which  featured black and white footage of Arab men jumping around with swords  in a frenzied manner interspersed with interviews with settlers.</p>
<p>“I noticed in Holland a lot of people said they were Christian but  they didn’t even go to church, so I realized that they were not really  Christians. I mean, what kind of Christians are these Palestinians?”  Klaas said. He seemed to be suggesting that anyone who was not  born-again was not an authentic Christian.</p>
<p>I told him that most of the Palestinian Christians are Orthodox, and  that some are direct descendants of the Apostles. I explained that the  Christians of Bethlehem have been <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1uBMnPBFCQ">physically assaulted</a> by Israeli troops for attempting to celebrate Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, that Christians in Gaza are <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11719.shtml">blocked by Israel</a> from celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem, and that the mayor of Nazareth Illit <a href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=344855">banned</a> the  public display of Christmas trees this year because he considered them  “provocative.” “You can freely walk where Jesus walked because you’re an  international,” I told Klaas, “but what if you were a Palestinian?”</p>
<p>He seemed disturbed by what I had just told him. “They really banned  Christmas trees in Nazareth?” he asked. “Yeah, it was widely reported,” I  replied. He paused, then came back at me: “Well, I’m not going to just  stand here and believe what you say. If you approach the situation in  one way, then you can fit everything into your point of view.”</p>
<p>I responded that that was exactly what GOD TV was doing with its  broadcasts. He said, “Yeah, well you have to remember that we are a  pro-Zionist network.” Then he added, “I’m happy to talk to you, but  you’re not going to convince me.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>A Day In Kangaroo Court</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1688"><img title="alarakib-protest" src="https://i0.wp.com/maxblumenthal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/alarakib-protest-1024x576.jpg" alt="Youth from Al-Arakib and Rahat demonstrate outside the Beersheva courthouse" width="600" height="338" /></p>
<h5>Youth from Al-Arakib and Rahat demonstrate outside the Beersheva courthouse</h5>
</div>
<p>Yesterday, I took a bus to Beersheva with a group of Israeli  activists and the Bedouin residents of Al-Arakib and Rahat. The city’s  courthouse was our destination. Inside, lawyers for Al-Arakib were  contesting the JNF’s plan to plant a forest on their land. Deeds of  ownership were presented proving the rights of the residents to remain  in Al-Arakib. “This is our land and our grandfather’s land,” a  24-year-old resident of Rahat named Mohammed Abu Hamid, told me. “They  have already taken so much from us. If they take everything, where else  can we be?”</p>
<p>Gadi Algazi, a professor and activist who was <a href="http://www.hahem.co.il/slipperyslope/en/">arrested</a> during  the 10th demolition of the village, an episode in which Israeli police  fired rubber bullets, told me that the plaintiffs are expected to lose.  “We have a supposedly independent judge but the court system is  completely stacked against the Bedouins,” Algazi said. “They almost  always lose these cases. But this is one of the last chances to stop the  JNF so they invested heavily in the case.”</p>
<p>Were it not for the wave of sustained activism against the JNF’s  plans, the people of Al Arakib would have already been swept away like  dust — like so many of the Bedouin tribes who were expelled to Gaza in  ‘48 and after. The court cases and demonstrations have at least  postponed their cruel fate. But the demolitions and attendant violence  have taken their toll.</p>
<p>Samia Al-Touri, a resident of Al-Arakib who has served as a key link  to international and Jewish Israeli activists, told me that many of  Al-Arakib’s children are suffering from bedwetting, nightmares and  general trauma. I heard rumors that some fear returning to their village  so much they have already been resettled in Rahat — a quiet transfer.</p>
<p>Today I learned that Al-Arakib has lost its case in the Beersheva  court. The JNF and GOD TV’s plans will move ahead. In a few minutes, Al  Jazeera will air a special report on Palestine Papers detailing Israeli  proposals to transfer large numbers of Palestinian Israelis into the  West Bank, showing how the state uses its own non-Jewish citizens as  bargaining chips. To anyone who has visited an unrecognized village like  Al-Arakib, this revelation would not come as a surprise.</p>
<p><em>The post originally appeared on Max Blumenthal&#8217;s </em><a href="http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/01/an-afternoon-in-god-tvs-jerusalem-studio-a-base-of-ethnic-cleansing-in-the-negev/"><em>blog</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/an-afternoon-in-the-jerusalem-studio-of-god-tv-the-christian-zionist-ethnic-cleansing-network.html">An afternoon in the Jerusalem studio of GOD TV, the Christian Zionist ethnic cleansing network</a>.</p>
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