Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: le figuracce dell'Economist

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=4&x_article=1836
The Economist, with Al Jazeera hot on its heels, has dug up a new 
Israeli villain: traffic lights.
This joins aphrodisiac bubble gum, poisonous candy, super rats, and 
stripper assassins in Israel's purported arsenal of tools to oppress Arabs.
According to a March 6, 2010 article in the mainstream British news 
magazine, traffic lights in Jerusalem "flick green only briefly for cars 
from Palestinian districts while staying green for cars from Jewish 
settlements for minutes."
When pressed by CAMERA to provide evidence for this wild charge, the 
Economist provided a list of intersections at which drivers from Arab 
neighborhoods are allegedly forced to wait at long red lights to make 
way for those from Jewish neighborhoods. Shortly afterwards — 
coincidentally, or not — Al Jazeera English broadcast a short news 
segment purportedly demonstrating the discrimination at one of the 
intersections named by the Economist.
A CAMERA field investigation reveals that the Economist and Al Jazeera 
claims are absurdly false — the latest examples of how even the most 
benign irritations encountered in quotidian life  are manipulated to 
demonize the Jewish state. In fact, the discrepancy between the timing 
of red and green lights is related, as in cities across the world, to 
street size and traffic flow, affecting cars from both Arab and Jewish 
neighborhoods equally.
The Economist's first example was an intersection in northern Jerusalem 
near the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina and the 
predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev. This 
same area was the subject of the Al Jazeera feature.
According to the Economist, traffic lights for cars approaching 
Jerusalem from the Arab areas remained green for 18 seconds, while 
traffic from the Jewish neighborhoods toward Tel Aviv enjoy the benefit 
of a one-minute-and-30-second green light.
This comparison is highly disingenuous, as it does not compare apples to 
apples.
The image to the right shows the neighborhoods mentioned by the 
Economist. The intersection best matching the magazine's description is 
shown in the highlighted square.
The road from Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov to Tel Aviv is Route 1, a 
major thoroughfare that crosses Israel. Traffic on this busy highway 
naturally has priority at junctions with smaller roads such as Derech 
Shua'fat, which comes south to Route 1 from the Arab neighborhoods of 
Shuafat and Beit Hanina.
A more apt equivalent to Derech Shua'fat at this intersection is Rechov 
Sheshet Hayamim, the road leading north to Route 1 from the Jewish 
neighborhoods of Givat Hamivtar and Ramat Eshkol. At this intersection, 
travelers encounter similar wait times to those on Derech Shuafat — a 
green light for 16 seconds and a red light for one minute and 41 seconds.
Another comparable intersection can be found less than two kilometers to 
the west, at the junction of the road from the Jewish neighborhood of 
Ramat Shlomo and Route 1. Here, motorists encounter a much shorter green 
light then do those at the Derech Shuafat intersection.
Clearly, then, the discrepancy between red- and green-light times at the 
intersection is a function of road size and not ethnicity. Traffic on 
larger roads have priority over smaller roads that intersect it, whether 
those roads are from the Arab neighborhoods or Jewish neighborhoods.
Of course, the major arteries into downtown Jerusalem are open to all 
travelers. Motorists from the Arab neighborhoods are certainly able to 
use any of the larger roads crossing Route 1. For example, it is a mere 
half kilometer detour for Beit Hanina residents opting to skip the 
allegedly-racist traffic light by using the overpass highway crossing 
Route 1 (Route 60/Derech Ha'aluf Uzi Narkis).
The same applies for the other intersections cited by the Economist as 
evidence that Jerusalem traffic lights discriminate.
The magazine claims that cars exiting the Arab neighborhood of Wadi Joz 
to the main highway into downtown Jerusalem encounter a green light for 
17 seconds and a red light for one minute and 30 seconds. They compare 
this to a one-minute-20-second green light for travelers from Ma'aleh 
Adumim.
Again, the Wadi Joz junction is an intersection between a smaller road 
and a large east-west thoroughfare. It is to be expected, then, that the 
larger road from Ma'aleh Adumim, which serves a community with three 
times the population as Wadi Joz, has longer green lights.
The more analogous comparison to the traffic from Wadi Joz is the 
traffic on the road reaching the same intersection from Hebrew 
University's Mount Scopus campus on the opposite side. The motorists on 
that road — mostly Jews — fare worse than those from Wadi Joz. They 
encounter a green light for only eight seconds and a red light for two 
minutes and 12 seconds.
The Economist also claims that for cars exiting the Arab part of Abu 
Tor, the lights remain green for five seconds and red for one minute and 
20 seconds.
What they don't mention is that the Jewish population of Abu Tor uses 
the very same roads to exit the neighborhood. When these roads meet 
Derech Hebron/Route 60, one of the busiest roads in the city, both Jews 
and Arabs encounter the same red lights.
Indeed, every street that connects to Derech Hebron has a very short 
green light. From northern Abu Tor, lights are green for 8 seconds and 
red for one minute 32 seconds. From southern Abu Tor, they are green for 
8 seconds and red for one minute 10 seconds. From the Jewish 
neighborhood of East Talpiot, they are green for 9 seconds and red for 
one minute 30 seconds. And from the Jewish neighborhoods of Arnona and 
Ramat Rachel, they are green for 7 seconds and red for one minute 16 
seconds.
The same Route 60 causes the delay for cars exiting eastern Jerusalem's 
Arab commercial district toward western Jerusalem, which the Economist 
cites as further proof of anti-Arab discrimination. As mentioned above, 
this major road — one, by the way, heavily trafficked by Arab cars — 
takes precedence over smaller roads.
Further demonstration of this non-discriminatory traffic pattern is seen 
at a nearby intersection on Route 60. Cars approach the intersection on 
one side from the Jewish neighborhoods of Mea She'arim (Moshe Sacks St.) 
and on the other side from the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Sheikh 
Jarrah (Van Paassen St). Both encounter a 15-second green light and a 
one-minute-23-second red light.
Clearly, the Economist's allegation that Arabs are impeded because 
"traffic lights flick green only briefly for cars from Palestinian 
districts while staying green for cars from Jewish settlements for 
minutes" is specious.
We provided Economist editors with this documentation. It remains to be 
seen whether they will correct their slanderous misrepresentation.
Unsurprisingly, Al Jazeera bombarded viewers with additional outrageous 
fabrications. Reporter Jacky Rowland alleged:
     The settlers journey to work will soon be even easier, because the 
municipality is building a tramway for them. The rail lines have robbed 
the Palestinians of two lanes of traffic.
The absurdity and hypocrisy of this charge is dumbfounding. The tramway 
is not being built for "settlers," but for all Jerusalem's residents, 
both Jewish and Arab. In fact, there will be numerous stations serving 
Arab neighborhoods. This is precisely why it "robs" Palestinians of 
traffic lanes — just as it robs Jews of traffic lanes where the rail is 
being built in Jewish neighborhoods.

 
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=4&x_article=1836
i poveretti del minculpop israeliani dovevano trovare qualcosa a cui
attaccarsi per dar contro all'Economist il cui vero peccato mortale è
aver dimostrato che è altamente probabile che si stia meglio a Gaza
che nel bantustan retto dai Quisling di Al Fatah