Jewish settlers in this story understandably do not want to swim with Palestinians. There are Torah laws against bathing with Gentiles (Kahane proposed making it illegal in Israel for Jews to do this). Why is it so hard to understand that many non-blacks do not want to swim with blacks? Integration often leads to conflict and tragedy.
Chaim Amalek writes: “Sounds like South Africa under apartheid, or perhaps the deep south of the US under Jim Crow. Were I a Palestinian this would enrage me. Fortunately though, I am a liberal of the Upper West Side stripe, who understands these things.”
On the other hand, if the pool was cleared to allow 200 SOLDIERS to bathe, then Israeli soldiers are not allowed to bathe with anyone outside the IDF.
Musa Abu Hashhash: “A Border Police officer ordered me to get out of the water quickly. At first I refused and told him that I wanted to be in the pool and had a right to be there. I said that I had no problem with the settlers swimming along with me. He threatened to use force if I didn’t get out of the water quickly, so my friends and I had no choice but to get out. The soldiers ordered the Palestinians who were around the pool to move back to the edge of the park, to stay there, and not to approach the settlers.”
