efratti (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} efratti) wrote,@ 2008-07-27 14:41:00 |
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Land for Peace, according to Eldan Rental Car Company
In anticipation of the upcoming US elections, journalists are bemoaning the underinvolvement of Americans in the political process. In contrast, one can argue that Israelis are overly engaged in politics. This is somewhat logical, given the stakes of the issues and the exposure and vulnerability regular citizens feel toward the outcomes. However, I really never expected a car rental company to have their own Land for Peace platform. On second thought, it makes sense that a car rental place would care where their car is being driven.
Last week I had the need to rent a car, the first such opportunity while I am ~7 weeks shy of my three-year aliyah anniversary. I did some comparison shopping via rental car websites, soclitied a recommendation from a friend, and placed a reservation via phone with Eldan car rental.
Need for car: My younger sister is in Israel on a study abroad program and wanted to visit Masada, something she has not managed to do on her previous visits to Israel. Given the limited bus service and our job/summer school schedules, renting a car was the only viable option. The hike up Masada was planned for post-sunrise Fri am, with the expectation that we would return to J-m after the car rental place closes at 13:00 and would miss the last buses to our shabbat destination, Beitar Illit, a settlement due South of Jerusalem. Alas, the car would take us where we needed to go.
When retrieving the car, I had to fill out forms and sign a waiver that I would not drive on Highway 6, the toll road that photographs the car's license plates and mail's a bill to the car owner's home. Rental cars are charged a higher toll and the rental company adds a 50 NIS fee (~$14.33) in exchange for the nuisance of tracking down the car driver two months after returning the rented car.
I then recalled that in addition to indicating whether I would be driving on Highway 6, the website wanted to me to check a box if I planned to cross the Green Line (i.e., post-1967 Israeli borders). I asked the attendant about crossing the Green Line.
Lady Attendant: No, not in this car.
Me: But that's so restrictive and ridiculous. And, I need the car to reach my shabbat destination.
Lady: I'm sorry, but this car does not have the extra level of insurance need to cross the line. Arabs will see that you're driving a rental and they might stone you. We can't protect you.
Man Attendant: Where do you want to go to?
Me: Beitar Illit.
MA: Oh, that's not a real settlement. That's a well-populated, well-established city [that is very close to the J-m city limits]. Beitar doesn't count.
LA: I thought you wanted to travel to Arab cities, like Bethlehem or Ramallah. No one will stone you if you drive to Beitar (on the Jewish road that is protected by the separation fence).
Me: Phew, what a relief. So, when you refer to "crossing the Green Line" [a well-defined border], you are really referring to entering Area A, land controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Moral: One can debate the future of the settlements, whether they are really "inside" or "outside" of Israel, but the Green Line itself is pretty straightforward. It is an identifiable border and you know when you have or have not crossed it. For Eldan to tell me that driving outside of Israel's '67 borders to a well-established settlement does not constitute crossing the Green Line is a revisionist-nationalist policy towards Israel's borders.
Who ever thought that a rental car company would take such a bold stance on politics? I bet the mayor of Beitar would love to hear that he is now inside the Green Line. I think the US Foreign Service would be less pleased.
In anticipation of the upcoming US elections, journalists are bemoaning the underinvolvement of Americans in the political process. In contrast, one can argue that Israelis are overly engaged in politics. This is somewhat logical, given the stakes of the issues and the exposure and vulnerability regular citizens feel toward the outcomes. However, I really never expected a car rental company to have their own Land for Peace platform. On second thought, it makes sense that a car rental place would care where their car is being driven.
Last week I had the need to rent a car, the first such opportunity while I am ~7 weeks shy of my three-year aliyah anniversary. I did some comparison shopping via rental car websites, soclitied a recommendation from a friend, and placed a reservation via phone with Eldan car rental.
Need for car: My younger sister is in Israel on a study abroad program and wanted to visit Masada, something she has not managed to do on her previous visits to Israel. Given the limited bus service and our job/summer school schedules, renting a car was the only viable option. The hike up Masada was planned for post-sunrise Fri am, with the expectation that we would return to J-m after the car rental place closes at 13:00 and would miss the last buses to our shabbat destination, Beitar Illit, a settlement due South of Jerusalem. Alas, the car would take us where we needed to go.
When retrieving the car, I had to fill out forms and sign a waiver that I would not drive on Highway 6, the toll road that photographs the car's license plates and mail's a bill to the car owner's home. Rental cars are charged a higher toll and the rental company adds a 50 NIS fee (~$14.33) in exchange for the nuisance of tracking down the car driver two months after returning the rented car.
I then recalled that in addition to indicating whether I would be driving on Highway 6, the website wanted to me to check a box if I planned to cross the Green Line (i.e., post-1967 Israeli borders). I asked the attendant about crossing the Green Line.
Lady Attendant: No, not in this car.
Me: But that's so restrictive and ridiculous. And, I need the car to reach my shabbat destination.
Lady: I'm sorry, but this car does not have the extra level of insurance need to cross the line. Arabs will see that you're driving a rental and they might stone you. We can't protect you.
Man Attendant: Where do you want to go to?
Me: Beitar Illit.
MA: Oh, that's not a real settlement. That's a well-populated, well-established city [that is very close to the J-m city limits]. Beitar doesn't count.
LA: I thought you wanted to travel to Arab cities, like Bethlehem or Ramallah. No one will stone you if you drive to Beitar (on the Jewish road that is protected by the separation fence).
Me: Phew, what a relief. So, when you refer to "crossing the Green Line" [a well-defined border], you are really referring to entering Area A, land controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Moral: One can debate the future of the settlements, whether they are really "inside" or "outside" of Israel, but the Green Line itself is pretty straightforward. It is an identifiable border and you know when you have or have not crossed it. For Eldan to tell me that driving outside of Israel's '67 borders to a well-established settlement does not constitute crossing the Green Line is a revisionist-nationalist policy towards Israel's borders.
Who ever thought that a rental car company would take such a bold stance on politics? I bet the mayor of Beitar would love to hear that he is now inside the Green Line. I think the US Foreign Service would be less pleased.
