Monday, November 01, 2010

Think About It

Laws should be reciprocal

Sir, – Regarding your editorial of October 29, 2010, “Equitable housing plans for Jews and Arabs”: The rights of both Jews and Arabs should be reciprocal.

It is a capital offense for an Arab to sell his property to a Jew, but it is lawful for a Jew to sell his property to an Arab.

Jews are not permitted to live in or even enter parts of Israel designated as “Area A.” They are reserved for Arabs and non-Jews.

Jews are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, whereas Arabs openly pray there, despite the fact that the Temple Mount area has been holy to the Jews since Temple times, long before the establishment of Islam and certainly long before the Arab presence there was established.

Laws exist in the State of Israel that discriminate against Jews in favor of Arabs. The rule of reciprocity should be applied.

MOSHE BARUCH ZEMEL
Jerusalem

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2 comments:

Devorah said...

Well, to be fair, reciprocity might go both ways. Arabs aren't allowed at the Western Wall either. I'm infuriated that it's a capital offense for Arabs to sell to Jews, but if we start to argue in fairness of where everyone is allowed to go, we might not like the results.

YMedad said...

Devorah,

(a) Arabs actually do walk through the Western Wall Plaza to get from Silwan to the Muslim Quarter.

(b) since the Western Wall isn't a religious site for Muslims and they've never prayed there, why should they now?

(c) Jews, however, have prayed on the Temple Mount.

(d) and there is more than enough room for sharing the TM esplanade.