March 4, 2013 17:06
by Pesach Benson
The substance is drearily familiar, though it is particularly gratuitous. It is (yawn) an “Israel-Apartheid” story, and it pegs off moves by the Israeli authorities to take the completely reasonable step of introducing extra Palestinian buses to ferry Palestinian workers into Israel from the West Bank.
There are two reasons for the move. First, there’s the obvious security issue: there is a dreadful history of Palestinian suicide bombing on Israeli buses. Israelis are understandably afraid, especially in the context of mass incitement by the Palestinian Authority, and would rather Palestinians took their trips to Israel on their own buses. (Are you absolutely sure you wouldn’t feel the same way?)
The second reason, which explains why Israel has made its move now, is that due to more generous arrangements for the Palestinians, Israel is now granting more work permits. More workers, more buses. More Palestinian workers, more buses for Palestinians. Not one of life’s great mysteries… unless you smell a conspiracy.
The UK media was far more interested in the story. Keep The Commentator in mind if you look at the Times of London, The Independent, The Guardian or Daily Mail.
Source material can be found at this site.