Arab Palestinians who want the freedom you want to pretend they lack are not impeded by Israel. They find that freedom in Israel. Read the following, recently written by an East Jerusalem resident who can’t help but tell the truth about the freedoms in Israel.

As an East Jerusalem resident, I am struck by a recent trend: many of my friends and acquaintances who hold Jerusalem identification cards — documents of permanent residency rather than Israeli citizenship — are quietly applying for and obtaining Israeli passports.

It’s not immediately clear why. Current (Arab) residents of East Jerusalem — numbering over 350,000, or 38% of the city’s total population — already go about their daily lives, shop at Israeli malls, use Israeli services, frequent Israeli restaurants and bars, send their children to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and receive Israeli social and health benefits. What does “upgrading their status” from East Jerusalem residents to citizens of Israel add? Why did East Jerusalem residents refuse the Israeli offer of citizenship in 1967, and why are they actively seeking to obtain it now, especially given that citizenship requires them to pledge the controversial oath of allegiance to the Israeli state?

972mag.com

Israel is NOT in any way “an equal impediment to Palestinian freedom.” Not even close. If you are looking for freedoms it is time to stop blaming Israel for the region’s problems.

“Israel’s not what’s wrong with the Middle East. Israel is what’s right about the Middle East,”