Now, the policies you're talking about stem from two different issues. The first is the Israeli government's continuation of a policy established while the British ruled Palestine... the British, realizing that there were major hostilites between the Jews and Arabs, established some towns which were only for Jews, some which were only Arab, and some which were mixed. The Israeli government has maintained such towns, but Israeli courts have decided in the past couple of years that if an Arab really wants to live in a Jewish town, he can do so, and these restrictions are slowly being eased more and more.
The other instance is a fund called Keren HaKayemet (in English, the "Source of Fulfillment"). It is basically an organization which holds a significant of land reserved for Jews. Why is this? Because during the Ottoman era, Jews were severly restricted in the Arab states as to landholding... in many places, they weren't allowed to own land at all. After the British took Palestine from the Ottomans, a number of wealthy Jews saw a window and purchased some tracts of land to give to Jews. The group that presently holds that land is Keren HaKayement. That land was justly purchased, and the group that owns it has every right to give it to whomever they want.
This stuff isn't really racist, IMO.
Z, the above probably appears as special covenants on the land in question. US courts have ruled that special covenants which restrict ownership are indeed deemed racist, no matter what the past histories have been.
ted |
