Could this be referring to the downtrodden and oppressed people who remained in the Holy Land after the Bar Kokba revolt in 135 C.E. [A.D.] when the Romans deported every Jew they could get their hands on, out of the Province of Judea?

There had been five bloody - and expensive - Jewish Revolts, and the Romans, by 135 A.D., were tired of putting down Jewish insurrections in Judea.

One thirty-five, Anno Domini, 135, C.E., was the year that the Romans re-named the Province of Judea. The new name they gave it was "Palestine" - which is a Latin corruption of the Greek, "Philistia" after the Sea-going Greeks from "Caphtor" i.e., Crete, who used to dwell on the "Gaza Strip" on the Sea-coast, back in the time of Saul and David.

In 135 C.E., there were no Philistines left in the Land; but the Romans wanted to divorce the Land from any association with the children of Abraham, to whom it had been given as an inheritance by the God of Abraham.

The Romans renamed Jerusalem "Aolina Capitolina" at that time, and built a Temple to Jupiter on the site of the Temple Mount, where Solomon’s Temple once stood, and the Ezra / Herodian Temple did stand, until 71. C.E. And then, to keep all wandering, homesick Jews out of the holy city, they carved swine's heads in the keystones of the arches of the gates of the city, so that no Jew could enter the city without becoming ceremonially unclean according to the Law of Moses.

The Romans also sowed sea salt on all the fruitful fields, and on all the hills and valleys of Judea at that time. This, of course, had the long-term effect of causing the Land to lose many feet of topsoil, and become much more of a desert, than the fruitful Land of Milk and Honey it had been - and still was - in the days when Yashua walked the Land.

For two years after the Bar Kokba Revolt was put down, the Romans worked very hard to deport every Jew out of the Province; every Jew that they could get their hands on. They sent their Legions through every town, and village, in great sweeps, looking for Jews : men, women and children, to seize and put in irons, and march, two by two, on the roads down to Caesarea, where they were put on Galleys and sent abroad to other provinces of the Roman Empire, and commanded never to return.

According to the eminent Jewish philosopher and scholar, Martin Buber, the Romans were not totally successful in their attempts to drive all of the Jews "into the sea." A Remnant did remain: a simple, peasant folk; drawers of water, and hewers of wood; who were able, for a period of two years, to dodge the Roman soldiers every time they passed by. The Remnant were able to hide in cisterns, in caves, in cellars, in the far recesses of Wadis {canyons,} etc.

After two years, the Romans gave up trying to deport & drive all of the Jews out of their new Province, “Palestine.” They needed a servant class anyway, and conveniently, there was one; already in place.

Martin Buber - at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus - taught that the so-called "Palestinian" people were descended from the Judeans who were left in the Land after the Bar Kokba Revolt. I learned this first-hand from the late Rivka Segal, of Berkeley, {who fought in the Stern Gang; Lehi, during the Israeli War for Independence} and who heard it, first hand from Martin Buber himself, when she was a student at the Hebrew University at Mount Scopus, in or around 1946.

According to Rivka Segal, Martin Buber, who was something of a Zen Master, and who loved to shock his students by parables and similies that upset their preconceptions, would typically say: “Show me a Palestinian Christian from Galilee, and I will show you some of the purest Jewish blood on the Planet.”

The people who were left in the Land after the Bar Kokba Revolt were peasants. Mostly, they were farmers. In Galilee, especially, many of them were Messianic Jews - that is, Nazarenes, or followers of the Way, as taught by Yashua, ben Elohim, blessed be His Name. The rest of the Remnant were either Essenes, or else followers of the Pharisees; which Party was then in the Process of ossifying into Orthodox Judaism. When the Jihad came up from Mecca in the late Seventh Century, many of the peasant folk of the Land were converted to Islam by the edge of the Sword. Over the generations, the children of these Jewish Converts to Islam married into the Arabs from the Peninsula, and eventually, forgot who they were... This is essentially the gist of how Rivka Segal repeated Buber's Account to me. The Blessing is mine.

So, Who are the people who are referred to as "Joseph" in Ezekiel 37: verses 16 and 19?
Are they the Palestinians ? Perhaps. If this is so, it would have to be figurative - a Joseph Company – a “Remnant” - from out of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

One thing that may militate against the identity of Joseph as the Palestinians is the fact that the two tribes of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh, were taken captive by the Assyrians, and went up to an area adjacent to Armenia, before "escaping" from the Assyrian captivity by crossing over the Caucasus range, into Europe. At least that's One Story. Thus, in all probability, British-Israelites and other Fundamentalists who insist, always, upon a literal interpretation of every Biblical text, will never, de facto, accept this possibility - {of the Palestinians being the “stick of Joseph” in Ezekiel 37, verses 16 and 19} - because they want it to be themselves.

If, however, "Joseph" in the passage in Ezekiel 37, does refer to this Remnant - the natives, the Palestinians - then this is an amazing and vital truth that should be generally known, and preached from the housetops...

One thing, however, is Certain: Several years ago, the Zionists, in an attempt to prove that they were different from - and perhaps, superior to - the so-called "Palestinians," conducted an elaborate genetic study of the genes of both peoples. The results of the study were suppressed. Why?

Apparently the results of the study proved that the genetic roots of the Sephardic Jews and the "Palestinians" were identical. Ashkenazi Jews also had "Jewish blood." But, strangely and significantly, Less than the "Palestinian" natives. Thus the study, unintentionally, proved Martin Buber's old classroom Axiom, and Zen Koan, to be true.

 

 

 http://www.waccobb.net/forums/showthread.html?83555-Concerning-the-Identity-of-the-people-referred-to-as-quot-Joseph-quot-in-the-Ha-Nevi-im&p=141010

   

 

 

 Education in Occupied Palestine - by Stephen Lendman

 

A 2007 UNESCO/Save the Children UK report titled, "Fragmented foundations: education and chronic crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" addressed issues "in emergency and reconstruction situations, as well as in chronic conflict." It explained that in 1994, the Palestinian Authority established the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) with formal responsibility for the system, including planning, budgeting and coordination throughout the Territories. 

 

Through at least 2007, it administered about three fourths of OPT schools, handled two-thirds of its students, and, as able, requires 10 years of basic education, two additional non-compulsory ones, then higher education for those qualified. See below.

 

UNWRA runs 13% of schools for 24% of the students, the private sector another 11% of schools and 6% of students as of 2006, according to World Bank figures. Israel maintains authority in East Jerusalem although MoEHE supports a number of its schools.

 

In the 1990s, school enrollment increased substantially. A priority was placed on new construction and rehabilitation, and efforts toward greater inclusiveness was stressed, especially for girls and children with disabilities. Technical, vocational, and early childhood education were also addressed, as well as a curriculum reflecting Palestinian history and heritage, culminating the the final year Tawjihi (university entrance) exam that assesses student readiness for higher education as well as their qualifications in certain fields.

 

An education system depends, of course on the quality and number of good teachers, the report saying that under the PA, "teacher training has been relatively piecemeal, with no concrete standards or coordination mechanisms for higher education institutions engaged in teacher training." A number of teacher strikes earlier also took its toll. 

 

The second Intifada especially impacted education, the result of Israel's harsh response and its human and structural toll. Earlier momentum was lost. As a result, educational access and quality suffered, and the more repressive Israel becomes, the more adaptive MoEHE had to be to function under conditions of chronic instability, conflict and crisis.

 

Throughout decades of occupation and dispossession, education has been a bedrock of survival, for youths and the nation. Yet as long as occupation continues in a conflict-plagued environment, normal OPT functions will be severely impeded, including for education. The report drew conclusions but no solutions or condemnation of Israeli practices.

 

Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) on Palestinian Education

 

IMEU asked "What kind of education do Palestinian children receive," then gave a capsule account of its state, explaining that students at all levels comprise over one-third of the OPT population. In addition:

 

-- among the 15 - 24 year olds, literacy is 98.2%, and overall adult literacy is 91.1% - both figures much higher than in America, the National Right to Read Foundation reporting in September 2007 that:

 

-- 42 million American adults can't read at all;

 

-- 50 million read at a fourth or fifth grade level;

 

-- each year, over two million adults swell the illiteracy ranks; and

 

-- 20% of high school seniors are functionally illiterate at graduation.

 

In addition, America ranks low in math and computer skills, and given an agenda to privatize public education, these numbers will grow because millions of kids won't be educated - what the Bush administration called reform and Obama's "Race to the Top" will continue.

 

Education Under Occupation

 

OPT schools face numerous obstacles under occupation. Israel ordered many West Bank ones closed, while checkpoints, free movement restrictions, curfews, and other civil liberty violations impede access to classes as well as a conducive learning environment in them.

 

Since September 2000 (the onset of the second Intifada), hundreds of students and dozens of teachers were killed, many more injured, and over 2,500 others arrested. In addition, Israeli shelling destroyed hundreds of schools and damaged dozens more. More on that below.

 

Gaza Under Siege

 

Over half the population is under age 18. Pre-Operation Cast Lead, over 640 schools operated - 383 government ones, 221 by UNRWA, and 36 private schools for a student population of over 440,000. Under siege, however, university and post-graduate students are impeded from studying abroad, some having to forgo scholarship grants as a result. From July - September 2008, 70 students got exit permission through Egypt, while hundreds of others were denied, the result of Israel's diplomatic escort requirement most can't get and some who do are still rebuffed.

 

Each year, over 1,000 Gazan students apply abroad to study, yet no official body or channel handles their requests or ability to exit so most of them can't go even if accepted.

 

Gaza overcrowding was a problem pre-conflict, forcing most government and UNWRA schools to use a shift system for the growing student population. Under siege and post-conflict, construction of new schools is impossible and repairing damaged ones challenging at best with basic materials unavailable or allowed in only in token amounts.

 

In April 2010, "confidential information" supplied by international groups listed items Israel permits. Among less than seven dozen are wheat, cooking oil, dates, chickpeas, rice, beans, lentils, some fruit, frozen vegetables, canned meat, frozen meat and fish, cinnamon, soap, detergent, toothpaste, toothbrushes, coffee and tea, combs, and potatoes. 

 

All of these are in restricted amounts that can be changed or cut off arbitrarily any time for any reason or none at all.

 

Prohibited items include common ones like jam, vinegar, chocolate, fruit preserves, dried fruit, sage, fabric for clothing, fresh meat, writing implements, notebooks, heaters and newspapers.

 

Pre-siege, thousands of items were permitted (including essential construction materials), and Gazans could export produce and other goods. No longer with rare exceptions under a siege nearing its third anniversary, one so strict that it's strangling 1.5 million people, causing widespread malnutrition, serious illnesses and premature deaths - slow motion genocide affecting the entire Territory, and to a lesser degree the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

IMEU reported that in north Gaza, 9,000 students from 15 damaged schools were accommodated in 73 others, 4,000 in two schools alone. Also, 1,200 secondary school students in north Gaza government schools got no accommodation during the 2009-10 school year.

 

In government schools overall, attendance and performance suffered because of aging, destroyed and damaged infrastructure, overcrowding, and frequent military attacks. Even in the 2007-08 first semester, only 20% of 16,000 sixth graders were able to pass standardized exams in math, English, Arabic, and science because of hardships placed on study.

 

As a result of Operation Cast Lead, hundreds of schools and kindergartens were damaged, and another 18 destroyed (eight government, two private, and eight kindergartens). Six are in north Gaza, affecting 9,000 students, forced to relocate elsewhere if able.

 

In addition, six university buildings were destroyed and 16 damaged. According to the Education Ministry, 98 students were killed in north Gaza, another 454 injured and five teachers. For UNRWA schools, 86 children and three teachers were killed, another 402 students and 14 teachers injured. As a result, the entire Strip is traumatized, especially children. Those who lost family members need psycho-social support under very trying conditions, especially for the numbers in need.

 

Various other problems are endemic from basic nutrition, clean water, sanitation, medical care, shelter, essential goods and services, and the urgency to end the crushing siege and regular Israeli attacks, targeted killings, occasional incursions, and an occupation designed to inflict pain and suffering, besides its harm tp education.

 

Education in East Jerusalem

 

A September 2009 Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) report titled, "The Arab-Palestinian School System in East Jerusalem As the 2009-10 School Year Begins" highlights the plight of Palestinian children because Israel denies them free public education under administered system, although it's required under the Compulsory Education Law and a High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruling to provide it (in The Community Administration for the Development of Beit Hanina et al v. Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Education).

 

Even so, thousands of East Jerusalem's 95,000 school-age children can only partially register for regular schooling. Many others are entirely denied. As a result, in 2008, less than half the youth population attended municipal public schools. If able, parents send them to private or unofficial ones operated by private firms, churches, the Islamic Authority (Waqf), UN, or other Palestinian organizations.

 

Given widespread poverty, tuition is a problem, so thousands lose out altogether. Others able to enter public schools are forced into "unsuitable structures" that are small, overcrowded, unventilated, and lack support classes or playgrounds.

 

In fact, over half of East Jerusalem classrooms are sub-standard, over 200 of the nearly 1,400 total classified "unsuitable" by city authorities.

 

A core problem is overcrowding because of a shortage of public classrooms - for the 2007-08 school year estimated at around 1,000 from pre-school through secondary and special ed. By 2011, an estimated 1,500 shortfall is forecast.

 

Nonetheless, the HCJ ruled that the Education Ministry and Jerusalem municipality are obligated to construct schools for Palestinians as well as Jews. Yet despite repeated promises, they're not built, and no authority compels it. As a result, each year, public schools deny large numbers of children access for lack of space, a problem continuing to grow.

 

The Jerusalem municipality says it's because of a land shortage even though property mapping given the Court showed otherwise with many vacant spaces for construction, enough for hundreds of classrooms. 

 

An earlier 2002 Master Plan for Arab Education lists many lots suitable for school construction. It's no different today.

 

In recent months, some softening will allow 60 classrooms to be built on five lots, and appropriation procedures began for 90 more on another five. In total, up to 650 classrooms may be built on 25 lots if the Ministry of Education approves a proposed appropriation. Even this falls far short, however, of growing needs for at least 1,500 new classrooms by 2011 as explained above. 

 

So given current shortfalls and new proposals, little more than one-fourth of needed classrooms will be available in the new year. Once again, government schools will deny most Palestinian children for lack of space. Jews, of course, come first, and authorities make it hard administratively for Palestinian parents in all respects. As a result, children go on waiting lists and remain there, besides, at times, being charged service fees, an unauthorized practice of up to hundreds shekels, unaffordable for most parents.

 

ACRI calls the situation "a severe violation of (the) fundamental rights (of children) to development and self-realization. Clearly the result will be irreversible damage to the(ir) ability to develop as they grow older. It is imperative to end the ongoing travesty" and injustice. "It is unconscionable that education reforms in other parts of Israel should preempt the most basic obligation - the provision of free public education in East Jerusalem" and throughout the Territories.

 

Preventing Gazan Students from Studying Abroad

 

A November 2009 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) report titled, "An Education Denied: Report on the Impact of the Closure of Border Crossings on Students from the Gaza Strip Studying Abroad," explained that Israel's illegal siege denies a fundamental right and the futures of many thousands of students.

 

As a result, hundreds have sacrificed dreams for limited home opportunities, in Gaza alone as third level study in the West Bank is also denied by travel restrictions.

 

Before the second Intifada, Palestinian students could travel abroad through Gaza's Rafah International Crossing, Ben-Gurion Airport, Gaza's International Airport when it operated, and the West Bank's al-Karama International Crossing to Jordan.

 

During the Intifada, things changed. Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing (the only one to Israel) closed. Gaza's airport was destroyed. Rafah became the Strip's only exit. Then, since mid-2007, it closed under siege.

 

Because of more limited opportunities in Gaza, students depend heavily on studying abroad, especially in  medicine, the sciences, and engineering. In addition, Gazan universities don't offer doctorate level study.

 

Cast Lead delivered another blow, destroying or damaging many facilities and buildings, preventing reconstruction for lack of materials, and inflicting numerous other acute hardships, in all, more than ever impeding education. Gazan students had to cancel foreign registrations, give up scholarships, and stay home. Some examples include:

 

Rashid Jamal Hmeidan Sha'at, hoping to become an engineer, joined the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Egypt. But under siege, he changed fields and longtime ambition, explaining:

 

After high school in 2009, he applied to the faculty of engineering at the Egyptian Academy and was admitted. He immediately applied for the right to travel but couldn't through closed borders. As a result, "I joined the Faculty of Commerce at Al-Azhar University. (There, he) found many students who preferred to study majors available in Gaza to waiting for an unknown future."

 

Osama Al-Jadi was admitted to Cairo University to study medicine, attended for four years, then returned home for three months "due to urgent family circumstances." He now fears that his "future will be devastated because" he missed two months of the new semester of his fifth year, and has to deal with border closures that may prevent him entirely, besides not having returned to Cairo before his residency permission expired.

 

Asma' Emadeddin 'Awad Shhada "was admitted at Damascus University, Faculty of Law," but can't leave Gaza to attend despite having "all required documents (and) fulfilling travel conditions." Now she fears having to forgo her education entirely.

 

Mohammed Mahmoud Tabasha received "a scholarship to study medicine at Hodeidah University in Yemen," then obtained a visa through its embassy in Cairo. He registered at the Interior Ministry to travel but so far has been denied. This "means destroying my future as I will lose the scholarship and I will lose the chance of studying my favorite major."

 

Many other students expressed the same fears - lost scholarships and futures in their chosen careers, some in fields Gaza vitally needs like medicine, engineering, and the sciences.

 

Israeli harshness even prevents them from studying in the West Bank, and those there fear expulsion under Israel's new military Orders No. 1650 (Prevention of Infiltration) and No. 1649 (Security Provisions) that subject anyone in the Territory without a permit to arbitrary deportation. 

 

Effective April 13, 2010, they're presumed to be unlawful "infiltrators," and may be told to leave on short notice or be fined and/or imprisoned, then expelled. Some have already been deported.

 

Prior to military restrictions, thousands of Gazan students studied in the West Bank. Then on March 12, 1996, a military order expelled 1,200, at most let a few dozen remain, before during the Intifida Israel tightened restrictions further. Then the siege sealed off Gaza entirely, allowing only small numbers to leave, and now West Bank Palestinians may be arbitrarily expelled.

 

Berlanti Jaris Boulus 'Azzam was one, deported to Gaza on October 28, 2009 after she was stopped at a military checkpoint, detained many hours, then charged with illegal West Bank residency. She was arrested, interrogated, handcuffed, blindfolded, detained, then taken to the Erez crossing and expelled to Gaza. Since 2005, she's been a Bethlehem University business administration student, in her last semester, two months short of graduation.

 

Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, intervened in her behalf to Israel's High Court of Justice (HCJ) to no avail, even though it ruled that the IDF failed to follow proper procedures by not letting her present her case. Israel's government and military routinely disregard Supreme and other court rulings. Follow-up judicial action is absent.

 

Yet denying Palestinians their right to education violates fundamental international human rights and humanitarian laws, including Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating:

 

"Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. (Higher) education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."

 

Also, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) stating:

 

"The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. (It) shall also enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society (and) be made equally accessible to all...."

 

As a signatory, Israel is legally bound to ICESCR provisions, yet its actions defile it like other human and humanitarian rights laws. As the occupying power, it's legally obligated to fulfill its responsibilities. Yet as a belligerent, it refuses in all respects, so far with impunity. 

 

Not condemned or opposed, Israel not only denies Palestinians education and other vital services, it's unaccountable for high crimes and abuses, including mass incarcerations, murder, torture, slow motion genocide in Gaza, and to a lesser degree in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

PCHR calls on other nations to fulfill their obligations "to immediately act to stop the policy of collective punishment" against defenseless Palestinian civilians - so far not achieved, but with continued pressure, it's coming.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

 

effects of occupation on education