Israeli Prime Minister Plans 'Zionist Heritage' Trail Through Palestinian Land

by Saed Bannoura

After a recent speech to a Zionist conference in Tel Aviv extolling the importance of building 'heritage sites' and other projects connecting Jews around the world to the Zionist program, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced a five-year plan to construct 'heritage trails' that will criss-cross and annex land throughout the Palestinian West Bank.

Netanyahu announced the general idea of the plan during the Herzliya conference last month in Tel Aviv, a conference known as a focal point for the Zionist movement. At the time, Netanyahu stated that the continued existence of the state of Israel depends less on the strength of its military than on the training of youth and international Jews in creating an emotional connection to the state of Israel, and the Zionist project.

Zionism is a movement that began in the late 1800s in Europe, with the stated intention of creating a Jewish state on the land of Palestine. The movement culminated with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, seizing half of historic Palestine and forcing the indigenous Palestinian population who lived there off their land, and settling Jewish immigrants in their place.

Netanyahu's plan, critics say, will illegally seize Palestinian land for the purpose of creating a false narrative that denies Palestinians their historical identity and long-standing connection to the land.

The plan to construct the heritage trail project has a $200 million pricetag, but the Israeli Prime Minister told his supporters that he believes it is well worth the cost.

37 archaeological sites would receive upgrades with the money, and two new trails would be constructed to connect with the existing 'Israel Trail', which Netanyahu says would be used to emotionally connect schoolchildren and families to the land.

Among the sites to be included in the trail are Tel Lachish, Neot Kedumim, Susia, Qumran, Beit She'an, Tel Meggido, Tiberias, Tel Arad, Tel Dan, and the City of David in Jerusalem.

The same pool of money would also be used to pay for a 'Steven Spielberg movie archive' of Jewish movies.

Source: International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).
Link: http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57979.