In Ze’evi’s footsteps

Amira Hass, Haaretz, February 15:

“Someone who apparently had an especially sarcastic sense of humour decided to officially name the Jordan Valley Road, Route 90, the “Gandhi Road.” The reference is not to Mahatma Gandhi, but to Rehavam Ze’evi, who advocated ‘transfer’ – the expulsion of the Palestinians from their land. Perhaps he understood that this was indeed the appropriate name for the eastern road. For not only on this road, but throughout the enormous and beautiful expanse of the Jordan Valley and the eastern slopes of the hills, there is an oppressive sense of absence, loss, and emptiness.

The Palestinians have disappeared from the valley, aside from a few thousand who live there plus some to whom Israel agrees to give daily entrance permits for various reasons. It is not even possible to include the approximately 35,000 residents of Jericho among those remaining, because the Israel Defense Forces forbids them to travel northward of Area A, where they live.”

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