MKs seek ban on East Jerusalem Arabs guiding in the city
Proposal sponsored by Gideon Ezra and seven other MKs, says tourists should get Israeli viewpoint.
By Nir HassonA bill sponsored by MK Gideon Ezra (Kadima ) and seven other Knesset members proposes to ban residents of East Jerusalem from serving as tour guides in the city, potentially putting hundreds out of work. Ezra, who said he was temporarily freezing work on the bill so as not to damage the negotiations with Palestinians, said in the introduction to the bill he believed Palestinian residents of Jerusalem should not be certified guides because they did not represent Israel's national interest well enough "and in an appropriate manner."
Ezra's bill has so far won the endorsement of MKs Uri Ariel (National Union ), Carmel Shama and Danny Danon (Likud ), Avraham Michaeli (Shas ), Nachman Shai and Otniel Schneller (Kadima ), as well as Ilan Ghilon (Meretz ). Ghilon later withdrew his signature, with his aides citing a misunderstanding.
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Education Minister Gideon Saar |
| Photo by: Alon Ron |
The bill proposes that a guide leading a group of over 11 people, or traveling in more than one vehicle, must be a citizen of Israel. Most Arab residents of East Jerusalem have residency status but not citizenship, and so would be banned from guiding a majority of the tourist groups.
"Israel has valuable tourism sites," the text of the proposed bill reads. "Oftentimes there are disagreements on the manner of the presentation of these sites historically, religiously, culturally and more. The city of Jerusalem, with its many historic sites, is an example of a site about which there are such disagreements. Some of the residents of Israel, like those in East Jerusalem, often have 'dual loyalty,' since they vote in elections of the Palestinian Authority.
"These residents often present anti-Israeli positions to groups of tourists that they guide. To ensure foreign tourists are exposed to the national Israeli viewpoint, we suggest ruling that travel agencies, and any organization providing tours for foreign tourists, ensure that the groups are accompanied by a tour guide who is an Israeli citizen and has institutional loyalty to the State of Israel," the bill suggests.
Samir Bahbah, chairman of the association of East Jerusalem tour guides, told Haaretz there are some 300 Palestinian guides holding certification from Israel's Tourism Ministry. All of them could become the target of the bill.
Ezra decided to suspend work on the bill for the meantime, out of concern for the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. "The problem is a problem," Ezra said, "It's clear to me there are tour guides hostile to the State of Israel and to Jerusalem. They are also the cheapest. But I don't want to hurt the talks and I will not be promoting the bill in the near future."
The Jerusalem NGO Ir Amim, which works to promote Jewish-Arab coexistence in the capital, slammed the bill yesterday, saying: "We know all too well which states attach state-sponsored guides to foreign tourists. This bill is just another one bringing us closer to this kind of state. This is not only a dangerous political clampdown, but a desperate economic blow to the tourism resource, possibly the only resource still available to East Jerusalemites."
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Israel is not a democracy. It's a racist police state. Israel's only allies are right-wing, dogmatic, multi-nationals and good-for-nothing nationalist freaks.
This is ridiculous. So much for democracy and freedom of expression. what about Israeli guides who present one side of the situation too? what about the very selected tourist sites, and what you hide from tourists. This is apartheid, this is segregation, this is censorship, and certainly NOT a democracy.
Another attempt to smother all historical veracity with the propaganda of hasbara, reminds me of the recent 60 Minutes program "City of David," or should we say "City of Motke Ganef." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20019752-10391709.html
Welcome to King David's Brain Mikva. When we are through you will have only pure thoughts, dreams given a sacred cleansing. You will not be thinking contaminated thoughts. You will only know ritual purity and what we want. You will learn the truth about the city of David! 2 Samuel 1:26
EU takes note and is shocked and horrified, what are you thinking?
A person I know who became insolvent, grew to resent those who extended him credit because he knew he couldn't repay but because of the dynamics involved he couldn't stop himself. He was actually grateful when a supplier foreclosed on him, In unresolvable circumstances people often escalate the unsustainable behaviours in the hope that somebody will stop them. Israel's disregard for the opinions of others is symptomatic of this.
Did I once hear that there was a functioning democracy in the middle east? Must have been dreaming.
Instead of dealing with the Arab local guides you should have the law applied on clergy who guide in Israel without proper Israeli License for Guiding.They the clergy are showing the country in the wrong way and are cutting the prices. Can I as an Israeli Armenian guide in Italy , Vatican or France? No they will arrest me .
it seems to me that the arabs have been hanging around way longer than the jews. You know what I mean. Yes you do.
I think it's a racist bill ! tour guides in E Jerusalem are very professional and qualified. Plus why did they accept us in the Israeli tour guide school and made us pay tens of thousands of Shekels !!
Israeli government is promoting racism
There is no racism. The term "Arab" is not a race. It's just a political term. It's like the Romans who conquered lands and the local population became "Romanized". Don't forget that 20 yrs ago 70% of Israeli Jews were Sephardic who were forced from arab lands. So, don't play the race card. You cannot have your spokesmen to talk trash about you. Many Palestinians who work in Israel hate the Jewish state and want to see all Jews gone. Many muslims still want to see a muslim dominated middle east with Jews and others as "Dhimmis".
The majority of those tour guides were trained by Israelis or had israeli book guides .. Bethlehem university is the only place that had a licensed program among Palestinian .. clearly the project is done in cooperation with a Israeli university .. Meanwhile they tell the story, at least half of it, from the Israeli side view. The Israeli touring guides is one sided story which totally ignore us .. the Palestinians living in Jerusalem. Can anybody tell me how many laws there are and will be to justify and strengthening the occupation over E. Jerusalem .. There is a strong competition among Kennest members .. May be someone can volunteer to make a contest to see who is better in humiliating us. They do not have any thing else except us to worry about .. raise of poverty !! Forget about crowded underdeveloped Arab neighbor I was driving through a TA quarter, for a while i thought it may be one of these Palestinian refugee camps. So knock .. knock ..
Some people want different tours than others. Some might be more interested in religious tours, some into ancient or modern history and some might just want to take in the architecture. Who cares if I want to take a tour that focused on a different angle than you?
There are few Israelis in East Jerusalem which means that only with the correct hasbara can the reality there be spun. The reality of the actual people there, and its relation to Israeli rule, should be ignored and are not relevant.
I expected this to be brought to the table by the likes of Lieberman...Kadima, that's a surprise. Glad to see even the centrist factions of Israel are preparing to protect east Jerusalem. Conversely, I think the Arabs who are enjoying the privilege of Israeli citizenship or residency have much to be worried about.
where are we going for Heaven's sake? what pettyness next? - get on with the wider picture....please
This road is a series of steps which one by one lead to a fascist state. Israel is well on the way. They have banned some arab political parties, arrested arab protest leaders, threatened to expel arab MK members, and now this. It's a disgrace.
What will it take for Israel, and Israelis, to realize that the battle in the Middle East not only takes place in the Middle East - but in the US. Like it or not for both Israeis and Americans - the US is the prime sponsor of Israel, and Israel is dependent on the good will of the US and Americans. While that support for Israel is currently strong in the US - nothing is forever. Just ask the South Vietmanese. Israel must develop a sense for not engaging in conduct that has the potential of doing so much public relations damage in the US for so little gain. Regardless of the intent of this bill, it will presented as another example of continous Israeli racism by the enemies of Israel. And what Americans will not tolerate is supporting a country that is perceived to be racist. Israel needs to pick its carefully - thinking not only locally but also globally,
criticism of israel is verboten in the US. this story will never see the light of day in the US
....this is a great way to further alienate the Arabs among us...
Just shows they have no clue how to govern. Vote Likud. Thank you.
it shows how frighteningly (and self-destructively) israel has lurched rightward
This is just another Israeli effort to censure the Palestinians. Truth will not be allowed by Israel. Propaganda is the only way Israel can try to sustain any credibility. That is a sad state of affairs for a people that throughout their heritage honored truth.
Amazing how far can we sink. Are we so scared for the other story? When are we going to ban left wing Israeli tour guides? Maybe we should screan the tour guides while talking! I'm more than ashamed we are giving up on basic democratic human rights. FAR
What kind of fascism is this? As long as tour guides do not demean the State of Israel or Israelis, they should not fear losing their right to act as guides. If they do.. then there would be reason. Otherwise, the idea is pure fascism.
is israel that weak? are it's Truths on such shaky ground? are the listeners so gullible?
Set up a school-program for certified tour guides who a limited to how they can propogandize on behalf of their ideology. A guilde is allowed to say "on this spot King David....;or the Prophet visited here in ....or this is the gate that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Not permitted are...this is where the IDF in 1967 drove out the Jordanians...or where a successful bombing by Hamas took place in 2002....etc.
That would mean no Christian tour guides. So much for freedom and democracy in Israel! The United Nations should take custody of Jerusalem. It is an international city belonging to all the faiths of Abraham.
The bill is about banning non-citizens only. All residents of East Jerusalem, by the way, are eligible for Israeli citizenship, all they have to do is file a request. Most of them REFUSE to take Israeli citizenship. I think this bill is wrong, and should be thrown out, but this is no reason to make up lies about it.
Alex, you will find that it is not that easy to get Israeli citizenship for residents of East Jerusalem. They are kept in this limbo, and are easier to control this way. 'Residents' of the country cannot leave it, and their papers can be taken away at any time. According to international law, this is illegal - no people should be kept stateless. It is, ultimately, Israel's responsibility. Interestingly, some tour guides have had their papers taken away for giving 'alternative' viewpoints in the old city. I wonder what tours this MK has been on...
I was told that I need to give away my US citizenship if I wanted to become an I sraeli citizen !! a lot of "JEWS" carry more than one citizenship but no problem there... And when I asked if my wife and kids could apply for I sraeli citizenship {they are not American citizens} , I was told that they need to go to the US immigration services and bring a document telling the I sraeli ministry of Interior that they will not apply in the future for American citizenship..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are taking over....
All other Israelis living or working there are in violation of international law.
how long until they get hunted down? We are becoming so obsessed, aren't we...
Considering that 20% of Palestinian Arabs are Christians and that they should be the rightful ones to guide Christians through the Christian sites and others from a Christian perspective, I think this piece of news should be broadcasted in the Christian world to show what is going in the this holiest of cities for Christentoom!...
Jews should guide the Jewish and Israeli sites but not Christian and Moslem sites. No doubt Jewish guides will be required in Bethlehem soon.....
The signs of racism are all around us and the majority are proud of it, and the minority bury their heads in the sand like ostriches
This is pure Insecurity and Confidence translated in actions, what have we become.?..How long are we going to sabotaging ourselves? Silencing anyone whom we disagree with.... Deplorable.
Most talkbackers complain about these crazy MK’s, qualifying them and their ideals as fascist, deplorable and many other negative things. They all seem to forget that these MK's are democratically elected, that their ideas are the direct translation of the wishes of their voters. Israel is a democracy so the proposals of its democratically elected representative are a logical result of the elections. So instead of complaining about the MK's you should wonder why these people get elected in the first place. And then you might find a reason to be very afraid: a large part of the (Jewish) Israeli citizens, maybe even a majority, is seriously, honestly convinced of many fundamentally racist ideas. It is not that they are evil or criminal or they have some sort of secret agenda, they BELIEVE that Arabs in general cannot be trusted, the are certain that the entire world is against Israel, they learned all the lies about the creation of the state of Israel being the innocent, small nation of courageous Jews defending themselves against a big majority of Arabs who want to throw them into the sea. More important than to focus on rightist MK's but impractical and absurd plans for tour guides, we should worry about the majority of innocent civilians of Herzelia, Rehovot, Kirat Smona, Kvar Saba, Netanya, Ashdid, etc, etc, those who are the ones who put them into office.
"Israel is a democracy so the proposals of its democratically elected representative are a logical result of the elections" Maybe if you keep saying so, it will come true one day. That is when Israel drops its Fascist, religeocentric ideals.
This is an absolute violation of Human Rights. These people should be ashamed.
"Palestinian residents of Jerusalem should not be certified guides because they did not represent Israel's national interest well enough "and in an appropriate manner." The Palestinian tour guides mistakenly thought that there is a free and open market in Israel, while the free market is only relevent to Jews. Or Arabs, who out of fear of poverty, acccept the neo-zionist outlook curently being propagated as "obvious" or "consensus". This conditioning of day to day life on an acceptance of any ideoligical outlook is dangerous, antidemocratic and worst of all it alienates and marginalizes the very same people that could stay moderate and even, under certain circumstances, become dedicated and good citizens This very specific and very non-liberal version of zionism is being pushed upon some Israelis but, and more importantly, all Arab citizents ("non Jewish" being the common political whitewash term). This new equation, in which rights and basic components of life in a liberal democratic state (i.e. tour guide permits) become conditioned upon the acceptance of a specific ideology or the amorphic idea "national interset" undermines the foundations of a a liberal democratic state and the coinciding free market (both economically and in terms of a free market of ideas and opinions). Putting aside the ideological elements, the idea of conditioning tour guide permits on the demand that they be "mobilized" in the service of "the national interest, is ridicules. First because the business sector should, at least at this level, function under market conditions and not ideolicial ones. At no point in history did the tourist industry recive a a specific political mandate to serve the country, if that would be the case we should also bar any non jewish tours as they could be understood as "undermining the Jewish character of the country" (another popular term popping up lately as a political purgative for almost all unliberal laws).
about settler guides in Jerusalem, who provide a totlally perverted picture for tourists who fall into their hands...
Gideon Saar is Education Minister or Propaganda Minister? Maybe the loyalty oath should by compulsory also for turists! We can not allow all kind of possible subversive open minded people walking free in our belowed country. Shame, shame, shame...
As a licensed tour guide it's becoming increasing difficult to guide in Christ Church, the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East by the Messianic Jews guiding there. I was told to leave yesterday with two tourists, one Christian for refusing to sit and listen to one of the Messianic tour guides 'testifying' about how he had become 'saved' by accepting Yeshua as his savior. apparently, its their way or the highway.
Let's clarify what this is all about. I am a licensed tour guide and know a thing or two about the matter. This whole issue has been underexplained. The issue is the legality of the tour guides. In Israel only licensed tour guides are allowed to lead groups whether they be Arab, Jew or other. This licensing is a long process where we are taught to present all views and maintain a neutral status.The illegal guides in Jerusalem for instance are operating against the law primarily to promote a certain agenda. If you listen in to som these guys you will hear atrocious distortions of history and archeology. Clergymen from abroad are also illegal since they dont carry an Israeli license but is rarely enforced. I have many Arab coleagues that are licensed and legal and this issue does not address them. So let's calm down with all the blind anti-Israel bile. Just try to guide illegally in Europe and you'll be herded into the calaboose just as fast as you can say "THE JEWISH TEMPLE NEVER EXISTED".
... is that kosher in you eyes?... or the yeshiva bochers who explain to groups of gullible Jews what it's all about...?
they also specifically refer to 'dual loyalties' of those (arabs I assume) who vote in the Palestinian elections. So no this has nothing to do with 'being licensed' or quality-control
determined by laws that are decided upon by democratically elected representatives voted on by the people who will have to observe these laws such are the rules of democracy. Do the Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem get to vote? Democracy or Dictatorship? Equality or apartheid? The world looks on in disgust!
The bill specifies that east Jerusalem residents should not be certified guides. The bill wants to ensure that only Israeli citizens be guides, and prevent east Jerusalemn residents from doing so. As a Israeli Jewish student in the Minstry of Tourism course where the majority of students are East Jerusalem Arabs, I am horrified by this. Our group has worked together happily in understanding the many contentious issues , and I think both sides understand the perspective of the other much better as a result, and will be better guides for it. To suddenly read that the some MKs would ban most of the class from being guides is appalling
And when you guide tourists do you make sure to let them know that East Jerusalem has been illegally annexed by Israel?
besides all the bigotry and double standards around this subject, I would say that, this is also about keeping the monopoly of Jewish guides going strong! It also helps the cause - then maybe the occupied will just leave in dispair for not being able to make a living in this "democratic" state. There many ways to get to Rome, i.e. one^s objectives, or States^...
I would rather say that the Arab tourists guides are the only legal ones since they are Arabs and do not represent the occupying country called Israel. All others, except those are illegal. The city was taken by force and changes there by the occupier should and must be looked at as illegal.
You say that these Israeli arab guides provide 'atrocious distortions of history and archeology.' I haven't followed one of these tours, but I can say this: Archeology students, here, very early in the cursus, are warned that the conclusions of an archeological report can and often is a weighty political tool. The one case in point that is unvariably given is Israeli archeologists messing up with all the arab layers to reach the Jewish ones, and not bothering to search for the earlier layers! I do know it would be unfair to generalize, but they had that reputation (soviet art historians' publications were quite funny in that respect, too). To conclude, I want to mention the participation of archeologist from the university(!) to the hasty cleansing of the Muslim cemetary in Jerusalem, to make room for a lavish 'Museum of Tolerance'.
And Israel moves a little farther in its imitation of the great dictatorships. This sounds just like the USSR with its Intourist guides who could be trusted to give the official Party line.
Don't visit U.S. Civil War battlefields and think the tour guide is going to tell you about how the Yankees raped the South. Don't visit the USS Arizona monument and think you'll hear from the tour guide the Japanese "narrative" about how the US actually started WW2 and Japan was defending herself at Pearl Harbor.
you are a complete ignoramus. perhaps government employees are required to use an approved script, but that any private citizen can take a group of people to any one of the sites you mentioned and provide any narrative s/he chooses. you always spout off a bunch of fallacies. lol
jerusalem isn' a national park. it's a city with a bunch of different people in it with different perspectives. having this law discriminate based on citizenship isn't just centralizing organization of tour guide licenses, it's a transparent attempt to reduce tourists' exposure to viewpoints the government dislikes, not to mention to put a large number of east jerusalemites out of a job
If you want to be an Israeli-Certified Official State Tour Guide, you play by their rules, and proposal is you have to be a citizen. Anybody can lead tourists around anywhere as a private citizen, or tourists can lead themselves around. Law is for those wearing the Certified Tour Guide badge - again, no different then the official U.S. National Parks Service guides (who also have to be US citizens!!!). Official state-sponsored tour guides in Israel's capital, Jerusalem, no different than Official NPS tour guides in Wash. D.C. Anybody can lead non-official, not certified tours of Washington, but you get what you pay for. You should read the actual article before commenting.
I guess Doc Brnd believes the US National Parks are a hot bed of international geopolitical issues eh? What you don't say in your straw man argument is that the certification mentioned deals in the main with ensuring Tour Guides pass certain security and awareness training eg safety, routes to take, security check (especially around children) and basic knowledge of the subject matter - nothing to do with the actual content and style of delivery. For example, do Uni lectures have to read from a prepared script? Na...your straw man has 'fail' written over it mate. Build another one.
Reminds me of the good old days in the USSR, where every tour guide had to be approved (if not working for) the KGB. To present the correct viewpoint of course...
... would be somewhat difficult to even find a Jewish guide, even though Gaza has a rich Jewish history. Now why do you suppose that is true? It seems natural enough to require some kind of quality control over public functionaries.
...it is illegal for Israelis to enter Gaza maybe? Or because it is illegal for anyone else to enter Gaza without an Israeli permit - which are impossible to get. Yeh? Understand? Eh? Eh? Yeh? I wasn't aware getting Israelis to do the job ensured quality control, did I not just read an article about how Israeli forensics mixed up body parts from a plane crash? That's not very highly controlled quality is it? Eh? Eh?
What "public functionaries"??? Their are people working on independent basis. They are not public persons like Ely Yishay general director who work under 'quality control'! :-)
If you were touring Washington DC, would you like to listen to some authoritative and relevant history concerning each of the monuments, or would you think it fine to listen all day to some undocumented Honduran cabbie whine about the difficulties of getting welfare this city?
Welcome to the only democracy in the middle east!!! We are democartic and we are free but you must not know other than what we dictate on you.
Is this what we want to become???? The only democracy in the middle east. Hahaha, good joke. A theocracy or etnocracy like all others in the region. And at least the others don't claim to be what they are not.
some groups travel with their own guides from abroad...This is just another example of extreme ideology getting in the way of any sense of dealing with reality. it is morally and politically deplorable, and practically impossible to implement. Any other small minded ideas? NOT IN MY NAME!
give them some power and they act as thuggishly as everyone else. shalom to a long history of jewish humanism. so sad.
appear to have lost their minds. Not long to the mid terms in the United States, then the far right coalition will fall
What are we becoming like North Korea or Iran - dictatorships that try to control everyone's thoughts and beliefs. Just do the right thing, and the truth will win out in the end. That is, if you have nothing to hide!
The sheer arrogance is breathtaking.
And the world can see this propeganda ploy
oh snap !! they are already doing that
Just when you think that the government can't sink any lower, some MK comes up with a new idea for a law or regulation that defies all standards of democracy and human decency. It is not through a violent revolution that this country will become a fully fascist state but through slow, drip-drip measures such as this and the completely repulsive Loyalty Oath.
Mr Amim says it all. Plus, how welcoming to tourists would be a one sided Israeli view whose premises will be a clampdown on dissenting views and the making of third rate citizens? The tourists want to be respected. Seen from here, it's odd that such obviously self-damaging bill would garner backings from a number of parties. Political and cultural isolations are ahead.
europeans also need to stop fueling their planes.
this reeks of racism. true, guides should not be political agitators, and could be monitored to see they present an objective point of view, but if israel is to be a democratic state it cannot attempt to stifle political expression of arabs in this outrageous way. liscened guides should be professional and stay away from advocating political view points, but could indicate where they exist.
There is no such thing as an 'objective' point of view when it comes to Israel/Palestine. In fact, whenever somebody claims they're being 'objective,' I get ready to lose my lunch.
monitoring tour guides to see if they present an objective point of view?? that doesn't strike me as much better than the proposed ban on arabs. so now israel is banning the free exchange of ideas/viewpoints. coming soon: book burning.
book burning has already been preceded by book banning.
Holy Moses mother of god When will the world wake up to this place of hate
Messed up state, Israel is.
so we can welcome them. hint hint
How can Israel purport to celebrate a "united " Jerusalem with such proposed legislation?