Organic and Illegal: Israeli Farms in the West Bank

I've been to the Palestinian villages around Itamar, such as Issawiya.  They suffer everyday from abuse of the settlers and restrictions on their movement from the Army.  They cannot even farm their own land, as it has become part of a closed military zone set-up around these illegal outposts.  Not only is Givat Olam illegal, it's very presence causes suffering and humiliation for their neighbors.  It is a shonda that religious Jews with environmental principals can see themselves as serving God and the natural world while causing such suffering and deprivation to their neighbors.

 Settlement outposts, and the military and infrastructural support they get from the Israeli government, create some of the deepest injustices in this ongoing conflict.

Why is it illegal to discriminate against Jews in places like Grosse Point, Boca, or Greenwich, Connecticut, but Jews living in Giva’ot Olam is illegal?

Right on, Michael. You can't be good to the environment and bad to those surrounding you at the same time. It just doesn't make any logical or ethical sense.

"Why is it illegal to discriminate against Jews in places like Grosse Point, Boca, or Greenwich, Connecticut, but Jews living in Giva’ot Olam is illegal?"

Here's an analysis that's just as brilliant as you'd expect from a person who names himself after a food additive that produces headache and dizziness. 

Hey Ismail

You didnt answer the question. Oh I forgot, in your view Jews living anywhere in Dar al Islam (including Palestine) is illegal, because according to the Koran, Jews were converted into apes, pigs, and dogs. Thanks for bringing this product to my attention. I plan to purchase it and will encourage all of my friends to do so as well

Palestine is just another name for Israel and the phony Palestinians are Arab settlers occupying Jewish land.  This territory was a part of anicent Israel and was never part of an Arab country.  It's part of Israel's homeland but the Arab land thieves have constantly attacked and murdered Jews for land that has never belonged to them.

 Michael Green's fellow anti-Israel and Jew-hater Ismail has nothing better to do than spread his Islamicfacist Arab lies against Israel.  Get a job or life psycho!

"Michael Green's fellow anti-Israel and Jew-hater Ismail has nothing better to do than spread his Islamicfacist Arab lies against Israel."

I don't know Michael Green, but his piece here shows nothing but concern for Israel, a land he clearly loves, and it is obnoxious to call him a Jew hater. The rational observer will note that his piece is conspicuously free of hatred of any sort. 

He and I would probably disagree about all sorts of things-for one, my associations to Israel are primarily negative, while his positive attachments to that country animate his concerns for its survival. I have not a scrap of animosity towards Jews, although I am wary of Zionists. The ones I've known have ranged from misguided to monstrous, and I think that Zionism has been a poor response to the viciousness of anti-Semitism, not to mention a disaster for the Palestinians. From his writing here, Michael appears to have a critical but not fundamentally opposed stance towards Zionism.

What you, Palestineisamyth, seem totally oblivious to is that people like Michael are much more likely to insure Israel's long-term safety and health than are pinheaded, bellicose ogres like you. 

Monosodium Glutamate is a spice used sparingly in Chinese cooking specifically tailored to a tastebud--they believe there is another tastebud--called the Delicious Tastebud. When stimulated, food tastes delicious.

I use it in soups (Accent), just a tad bit, and the reactions are quite predictable--this soup is delicious.

You may resume fighting about how Israelis shouldn't live on Israeli land.

Someone here, not naming names, probably needs to read Jewish history. Conspicuously absent in this 3000 year old tale of survival against all odds is the name Michael Green, who may be one heckuva nice guy, and the first to admit that his guardianship of the Jewish people is vastly overrated.

"...a spice used sparingly in Chinese cooking..."

Not a spice, but a food additive derived from vegetable products via fermentation. Precision. And I make the best Chinese food you'll taste outside of Vancouver or Hong Kong without using a grain of the stuff.

I was referring to the substance's reputation for producing headache, nausea and dizziness in sensitive consumers, an effect that your pal up there has on me. 

Seriously, I like to cook.  My Chinese food is good, but not great.  I think it's because our stovetop can't generate the kind of fire needed to really make a wok really wok upright.  But I don't use MSG in the Chinese, just for soups, a little bit in a big pot.

Well, I hope you realize that I was exaggerating just a bit in crowing so shamelessly about my wok chops. You wouldn't really have to go overseas to have better. 

How? Very good training-my wife studied with a Cantonese guy who owned a restaurant in NYC's Chinatown, and she's passed his wisdom on to me. In graduate school, I moonlighted as an assistant to a guy with with the very Chinese name of Norman Weinstein, a restaurant consultant, all-around foodhead, caterer and absolute killer in Sichuan/Hunan cuisine. 

Also, God graced me with a good palate and my hard work graced me with a honking great semipro range with dedicated wok burner. Won't reach the temps of the real thing, but it ain't too shabby, either.

If you like soup, try this. If you're dietarily observant, forgive references to pork and make the obvious substitutions.

Make a rich broth with chicken necks, backs etc, some pork bones, scallions and ginger.

Julienne the following: Sichuan preserved vegetable (red and yellow can), preserved cabbage (more like bok choy, in thick plastic bag), something crunchy (good quality bamboo shoots, maybe daikon or kohlrabi), protein of choice (julienned pork or chicken-no seitan, or I never speak with you again!), dried shiitakes, reconstituted and julienned, soaked and drained cellophane noodles. Throw everything together, allow meat to poach in hot broth. And sure, throw a couple drops of sesame oil in there.

Enjoy. 

Yes, I'll make the substitutions, although, it might be impossible, since the preserved food would have to be made from scratch.  And I knew it was the fire. 

And just to stay completely on topic, lest we have too many friendly moments, I've always wondered what kind of food the ancient Israelis would have invented had we not be tossed into exile only to return as has been promised in the prophecies.  That and music. 

The farm’s ‘mother’ settlement—Itamar—was authorized by
the Israeli government, but is considered illegal under international
law because it's built on occupied territory. Both Giva’ot
Olam and Itamar are partly
constructed on land privately-owned by Palestinians (and that’s
according to data from the Civil Administration in the West Bank).

The author is fully ignorant concerning international law.  Itamar is legal town and if Giva'ot Olam has absorbed land privately owned by Arabs, this accusation could easily be settled in a court--prone to side with the Arabs.  The argument that Itamar is illegal under international law is simply wrong by any reading of the law and of course, the author makes no claim to document such a myth since there is no documentation.  Indeed, if these kind of stories were actually true, the New York Times would be screaming about it on a daily basis.

Further, it is comical that the author can on the one hand admire the efforts of this tiny community and then on the most important hand, declare its very existence an affront and an "illegality" is very sad.  It is some kind of a joke that he has a conflict between something that is "green" and "organic"  vs. something that is immoral and disgusting.  Alas, the settlement is fine and although "organic" and "green" means very little to sensible people--the first thing to do is stand together in solidarity with legal, peaceful living in Yesha that transfers no Arabs, promotes economic growth and is an inspiration for Jews all over the world.

It is clearly an odd parallel--an Arab teenager blows herself up in a suicide bomb and the Arabs declare that she is a hero and a martyr.  A Jew works a farm and is declared an affront to peace for working that farm in a neighborhood close to where Arabs live.

Ismail: "From his writing here, Michael appears to have a critical but not fundamentally opposed stance towards Zionism."

Not wanting to get too distracted from the original topic of my post, but since you ask... Last year I said goodbye to a well-paid job, nice home, family, friends etc to immigrate to this precariously-positioned little country. I guess that puts me pretty firmly in bed with the 'Zionists'. For all its faults, I love Israel. The Jewish people need this place, we just need to work out its borders, laws and constitution too...

Seems to me the Palestinians are occupying the Jews land, not the other way around. Since Israel has authorized this settlement, it is therefore legal, and should be supported. If Palestinians really do own the land, they can take those papers to court and get a fair hearing. Thanks to David Friedman for clarifying this legal status. To what use had the Palestinian's been putting this land before the
hilltop settler's arrived? After all, part of ownership involves use
and care-taking.Too bad Michael Green's leftist leanings are evidently stronger than his support for environmental sustainability and organic agriculture.