Tag: ICAHD

Jeff Halper of ICAHD is angry, really angry – about 5th demolition of Palestinian home in Anata

Jeff Halper, the American-Israeli director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions [ICAHD] called it a “war crime” — the 5th demolition of Beit Arabiya in Anata on Monday night.

The demolition order was issued by the Israeli military on Thursday. The bulldozers arrived on Monday night.

Jeff Halper + ICAHD have rebuilt this house four times already, after each previous demolition — and he is vowing to do so again.

He’s full of anger + adrenalin, and wrote this for +972 Magazine:

    “In the dark of night this past Monday, January 23, the IDF carried out its own Price Tag assault on ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

    At 11:30 p.m. on that cold, rainy night, I got a panicky phone call from Salim Shawamreh, a Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Anata whose home has been demolished by the Israeli authorities four times and rebuilt as an act of resistance each time by ICAHD. ‘Army bulldozers are approaching my home’, he cried. ‘Now they’re beginning to demolish it!’

    As has become routine, I alerted our activists, plus journalists and foreign diplomats, and we rushed out to Anata. We knew we could not save the homes, but we could resist; stand in solidarity with the families, soaked, with their belongings, in the rain; document what was happening and broadcast this latest war crime to the world. It was another of those thousands of attacks on Palestinians that occur daily but never reach the newspapers – probably because there are so many and they are so routine by now that they are not, in fact, ‘news’.

    By the time we reached Salim’s house – which we rebuilt in 2003 and have called Beit Arabiya ever since, the ‘house of Arabiya’, home to Salim’s wife and mother of their seven children – it was gone. Salim himself was afraid to go down the hill to see it because of the soldiers, but I ran down. Even in the dark and rain I could see the ruins of the home, and the family’s belongings that had been thrown out. But I couldn’t tarry. The bulldozers had moved up the hill and were in the process of demolishing a Jahalin Bedouin enclave there – part of the Jahalin tribe that was being removed and relocated on top of the Jerusalem garbage dump near Abu Dis…”

But, that wasn’t the end of it. Jeff continued:

    “In the end, Beit Arabiya, six Jahalin homes and most of their animal pens were demolished before the army left. The bulldozer, protected by dozens of troops, belonged to a commercial contractor who was paid well for the demolitions by the Civil Administration, Israel’s military government in the West Bank that uses the word ‘civil’ to downplay its military connections, and to make it appear that demolitions of ‘illegal’ Palestinian homes are simply part of ‘proper administration’.

    After staying with the families and promising to rebuild, we finally left to send out press releases; put out information on our website and social media; and begin mobilizing activists abroad and, through them, governments and UN bodies.

    Only when we returned early in the morning did we learn that yet another house had been demolished: that of the Abu Omar family, a family of 17 people who lived in a home that had been demolished last year, which ICAHD had rebuilt in our 2011 summer rebuilding camp. We had thought the bulldozer and soldiers had left for the Border Police base on the hill opposite Beit Arabiya and the Jahalin, but in fact they had only gone around Anata. At 3:30 a.m. they pounced on the Abu Omar family, forced them out of their home, removed their belongings and demolished it. The family was so dazed by the sudden violence, terror, confusion and need to protect the terrified children that they hadn’t even thought of phoning us…”

Information posted hours later on the ICAHD website, here, gave more details on the demolition of this second ICAHD-rebuilt house, and tells us that:

    “This morning, Israeli authorities demolished the home of the Abu Omar family, rebuilt by ICAHD in July 2011. The Abu Omar family home, built in 1990 on privately owned land, was demolished by the Israeli military in 2005. Ahmed Abu Omar (46) had applied for a building permit, but was refused on the grounds that his land was zoned as an ‘agricultural area’. This is a story we hear often, and it reflects Israel’s long-time, unlawful policy of curtailing all construction by Palestinians since 1967. They were offered neither alternative housing nor compensation for the demolition, violating international law. The construction of the Abu Omar family home, long waited since the 2005 demolition by Israel, was completed on July 24th 2011, exactly six months ago … ICAHD staff visited with the family shortly after the demolition of their home took place to find them somber, traumatized, and grief stricken. ICAHD has vowed to support the family in rebuilding their home, once more”.

That makes two previously-demolished, ICAHD-rebuilt, homes destroyed in the same military operation in Anata on the night of 23-24 January.

Anata is in Area C of the West Bank.

Area C — the largest of three zones determined by agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization — constitutes over 60 percent of West Bank land, and some 124 Israeli Jewish settlements have been built there, which impose severe restrictions on the lives of the diminishing number of Palestinians living there/

Fewer than 6% of the Palestinian population of the West Bank live in Area C, some 62% of the land.

The lack of permission and possibility for Palestinian activity in Area C has recently become a subject of renewed concern by the European Union, whose heads of mission in Jerusalem have just written, in an internal report to their Brussels headquarters, that “The Palestinian presence in the largest part of the occupied West Bank – has been ‘continuously undermined’ by Israel in ways that are ‘closing the window’ on a two-state solution”, as Donald Macintyre reported in The Independent last week, which can be read here.

Macintyre’s report in The Independent continued: “With the number of Jewish settlers now at more than double the shrinking Palestinian population in the largely rural area, the report warns bluntly that, ‘if current trends are not stopped and reversed, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders seem more remote than ever’.”

According to the EU report, Macintyre wrote, the numbers of Palestinians living in Area C has been cut by approximately half since the Israeli occupation following its conquest in the June 1967 war — from perhaps 320,000 at the time to only 150,000 nowadays. Meanwhile, the number of Israeli settlers has grown to replacement level, and stands at 310,000 people.

Macintyre added that the latest Heads of Mission end-of-year internal report “is the EU’s starkest critique yet of how a combination of house and farm building demolitions; a prohibitive planning regime; relentless settlement expansion; the military’s separation barrier; obstacles to free movement; and denial of access to vital natural resources, including land and water, is eroding Palestinian tenure of the large tract of the West Bank on which hopes of a contiguous Palestinian state depend”.

The Heads of Mission report recommended that the EU should “support Palestinian presence in, and development of the area”, according to The Independent.

Amira Hass wrote in Haaretz, here, that: “A newly approved internal report of European Heads of Mission, titled ‘Area C and Palestinian State Building’, cautioned that the chances for a two-state solution on 1967 borders will be lost if Israel does not change its policies in Area C. ‘What’s special about this report is that we are all partners in it and agree on the wording of it’, a European diplomat told Haaretz. ‘The European governments hold a variety of stances regarding the situation – with Holland representing one very pro-Israel side, and Ireland on the other side. But everyone agreed on this document’, the diplomat said, adding: ‘Israel always says it has both enemies and friends in Europe and we say: the friends think this way too about the situation in Area C’.”

Hass added that, in its final version, “the report stated that Israeli policy in Area C ‘results in forced transfer of the native population’.”

Meanwhile, in his article for +972 Magazine, Jeff wrote in anger that this was a “Price Tag” attack on Palestinians, as well as on ICAHD, on the night of 23-24 January:

    “The IDF attack on three sites that for years have been identified with ICAHD’s resistance activities was clearly an official, government-sponsored, violent Price Tag assault on Palestinians in order to ‘send a message’ to ICAHD. Out of the tens of thousands of demolition orders outstanding in the Occupied Territory, they chose these three. In fact, the ‘message’ had already been delivered. Already at the second demolition of Beit Arabiya in 1999, Micha Yakhin, the Civil Administration official responsible for overseeing the demolitions in that part of the West Bank, told me: ‘We will demolish every home you rebuild’.

    ICAHD has rebuilt 185 demolished Palestinian homes in the past 15 years, all as acts of political resistance – not humanitarian gestures – all funded by donations. We will rebuild the homes demolished Monday night as well. The coming together of Palestinian families and community members, Israeli activists and international peace-makers to rebuild homes is one of the most significant forms of resistance, solidarity and mobilization. But Israel demolished 200 homes last year alone in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, of more than 26,000 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territory since 1967. Resistance cannot keep pace with the massive Price Tag assault that is the Israeli Occupation”.

Jeff’s account is published here.

An Israeli “Civil Administration” staff member commented that “You should know that these houses were built without permits”.

While the Israeli “Civil Administration” may have civilian Israeli and Palestinian staff, it is run by the Israeli military.

ICAHD reported on its website on [Tuesday] 24 January that they had already invited the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Adequate housing to visit Beit Arabiya during her upcoming visit later this month:

    “As its name suggests, Beit Arabiya is a home belonging to Arabiya Shawamreh, her husband Salim and their seven children, a Palestinian family whose home has been demolished four times by the Israeli authorities and rebuilt each time by ICAHD’s Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, before being demolished again last night. At around 11p.m. Monday, a bulldozer accompanied by a contingent of heavily armed Israeli soldiers appeared on the Anata hills, to promptly demolish Beit Arabiya, along with residential and agricultural structures in the nearby Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin compound. 3 family homes were demolished along with numerous animal pans, and 20 people including young children were displaced, left exposed to the harsh desert environment. While standing in solidarity with Palestinians, ICAHD staff and activists were repeatedly threatened by Israeli soldieries. ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain was beaten and sustained minor injuries.

    Beit Arabiya was issued a demolition order by Israeli authorities back in 1994, following their failure to grant a building permit … Arabiya and Salim [Shawamreh] … dedicated their home as a center for peace in the memories of Rachel Corrie and Nuha Sweidan, two women (an American and a Palestinian) who died resisting home demolitions in Gaza.

    In the past decade ICAHD has hosted numerous visitors at Beit Arabiya, and based its annual rebuilding camp at the house, rebuilding 185 demolished Palestinian homes.

    Only earlier this month, ICAHD extended an invitation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to visit Beit Arabiya during her country visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory scheduled for later in the month. ‘It is our hope, that while we cannot extend the same hospitality to the Special Raporteur, Prof. Raquel Rolnik will visit the ruins of Beit Arabiya, and report on the utter cruelty, and illegality of Israeli policies and practices, and that members of the international community will follow in her footsteps’, said ICAHD Co-Director Itay Epshtain”…

This is posted on the ICAHD website, here.

Two Great Guys

This is what could be called a triumph of substance over style:

Pete Seegar and Jeff Halper - photo from Haaretz

In this photo, American folk singer Pete Seegar and Jeff Halper, American-Israeli head of the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions (ICHAD) wear identical ICAHD t-shirts (photo by Elyse Crystal)

Haaretz today published the photo, along with an article by its correspondent Nir Hasson, reporting that Seeger, 90 years old, has been donating some of the royalties of his song Turn, Turn, Turn to support ICAHD’s work for the past ten years. “The banjo-playing Seeger, 90, is considered one of the pioneers of American folk music. He is known for his political activism no less than for his musical achievements. In the 1930s he was involved in the establishment of worker unions, in the 1940s he opposed the war against Germany and in the 1950s he was interrogated by Senator Joe McCarthy over suspicions of belonging to the Communist Party. In recent years Seeger has been involved in efforts to clean up the Hudson River in New York and performed at U.S. President Barack Obama’s inauguration celebration. The lyrics of the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” are the words of King Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes. ‘All around the world, songs are being written that use old public domain material, and I think it’s only fair that some of the money from the songs go to the country or place of origin, even though the composer may be long dead or unknown’, Seeger said in an interview with Acoustic Guitar magazine in 2002. ‘With ‘Turn, Turn, Turn‘ I wanted to send 45 percent, because [in addition to the music] I did write six words and one more word repeated three times, so I figured I’d keep five percent of the royalties for the words. I was going to send it to London, where I am sure the committee that oversees the use of the King James version exists, and they probably could use a little cash. But then I realized, why not send it to where the words were originally written?’ ” This Haaretz article is posted
here.

Halper is the author of several important pieces of analysis concerning the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, including “The Matrix of Control” and more recently “Warehousing the Palestinians”. He was the first Israeli to sail on a Free Gaza ship with the aim of “breaking the siege” that Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip, and tightened severely since an Israeli government decision in September 2007 to label Gaza an “enemy entity” or “hostile territory”, following the Hamas rout of Fatah/Palestinian Preventive Security Forces there in mid-June 2007. Halper was arrested upon his reentry from Gaza to Israel via the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing. He was jailed overnight, posted bail, but has apparently not been charged in court…

Shoafat refugee camp – bursting with life, bursting at the seams

Today I went back to Shoafat Refugee Camp — the only Palestinian refugee camp inside Jerusalem, and inside Israel (excluding the West Bank and Gaza).

It is still part of the “Greater Jerusalem” area that was unilaterally declared by Israel after its conquest in the June 1967 war.

But it is one of the places in “Greater Jerusalem” that Israel has, de facto, unilaterally now decided to sever from Jerusalem, and turn it back to the West Bank, by the construction of The Wall.

There is also an enormous new “terminal” being built at the Jerusalem edge of the camp — nobody has much information, but residents tell me that a Supreme Court decision allowed construction to continue, ruling only that it should be more “aesthetic”.

Speculation is that the size of the “terminal” under construction means that large trucks will be passing through, as well as passenger cars, emergency vehicles, school busses, public transportation — and pedestrians as well. Of course, nobody knows for sure. But, in the warren of narrow streets inside the already over-crowded area, it is hard to imagine a steady stream of huge trucks carrying construction materials getting through, at least not very easily, and without creating a major nuisance.

Now, the Shoafat Refugee Camp, technically part of Greater Jerusalem, is completely, but completely, cut off from Jerusalem by The Wall, and can only be accessed through a horrid and horrible military checkpoint manned by Border Police personnel and private contractors, all carrying big guns.

In the morning rush hour, when employees (mostly men) need to go to work, or when children need to travel to schools outside Shoafat Refugee Camp, the jam of people who must pass through the checkpoints is enormous, and a mess.

Inside the area, there are now tall buildings being built, on almost every inch of land, because there is no more space inside the cramped area. They are building where houses were previously demolished (now that Shoafat Refugee Camp is surrounded by The Wall, the residents figure the Israelis will not bother to come and demolish any more).

Even more astonishing, it seems that people are leaving the Old City of East Jerusalem, because it is too crowded – but where they at least have freedom of movement — and coming to build apartment buildings or to buy one of the newly-created apartments in or just around the Shuafat Refugee Camp.

These people from the Old City who are moving to Shoafat Refugee Camp would still, technically, be living in Jerusalem, at least up until now. But many Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem fear that this will not continue, as long as Israel continues along its present course, without any change in policy. Of course, because this is a situation of occupation (and, more precisely, according to experts in International Law, this is a belligerent military occupation), there is no published information on which people could make decisions about their lives — there are only rumors.

Another factor creating congestion is the fact that people are moving from the nearby village of Anata, in the West Bank, into the “Dahiet as-Salam” that is sandwiched between Shoafat Refugee Camp and Anata. One resident of Dahiet as-Salam said that many West Bankers, even including a number of petty criminals, are moving into his neighborhood in order (1) to be able to claim they are living in Jerusalem because those living in Dahiet as-Salam pay the Jerusalem City Tax, or Arnona, which is one of the requirements to have a “Blue” or Jerusalem ID, and (2) to be able to avoid the jurisdiction of Palestinian Authority security and other law enforcement officials. Of course, the Israeli Army and Border Police can go anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (and between Lebanon and the Egyptian Sinai) — but, now that The Wall is doing part of their job (or so they believe), they generally stay away these days.

It is a really amazing and disturbing sight — the people inside are full of life, and living lives of quiet joy (thought young men are having a particularly hard time, see below, as are the even younger women they are marrying). From what I saw, many camp residents are there because they are loving their family and friends, and defying what fate has dealt them so far.

Yousef M., who kindly agreed to show me around his community, said that he did not want to leave, because the human solidarity that he finds within the camp does not exist outside.

Yet, tomorrow, there will be an event at the camp’s Women’s Center. Diplomats are expected. Palestinian notables are expected. Many invitees will be there. And they will hear that in a survey of women’s needs, 70% of the respondents said that drug rehabilitation programs are their number one priority. There is a serious drug problem in the camp. It’s not hard to wonder why. The young men are so frustrated, there is no where to go, the future is so uncertain, the injustice is so enormous, and the pressure is so great.

And, residents of Shoafat Refugee Camp report, though drugs most often are coming from the West Bank, drugs sales go on right in front of the Israeli checkpoints, with absolutely no control or interference from the armed Israeli personnel on the spot.

Meanwhile, two Israeli human rights organizations — the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICHAD), and Rabbis for Human Rights — issued a statement today noting that “twenty thousand (20,000) Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem housing 180,000 people currently have demolition orders”

That means that two-thirds of all Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are living in fear that their houses might be demolished.

The joint statement noted that “The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem himself, Yakir Segev, revealed that in 2008 only 18 permits were issued for building in the Palestinian parts of the city, home to some 270,000 Palestinians. It was the Municipality’s policy of granting so few permits that was driving Palestinians to construct illegally. ‘To get a construction permit in East Jerusalem you have to be more than a saint’, said Segev”.

Even more shocking are these figures, particularly the amount of the fines, according to the joint statement: “In 2008 the Municipality demolished 87 Palestinian homes, issued 959 demolition orders and collected $3.6 million/€2.5 million in fines from Palestinians, 70% of whom live below the poverty line“.

The joint statement was issued in response to an announcement, yesterday, that the Jerusalem Municipality is considering a freeze on the demolition of 70% of “the so-called ‘illegal’ Palestinians homes built without a permit”.

The joint statement added that “While we welcome any change of policy that reduces home demolitions, we must protest the continuation of that policy, even if parts of it are ‘frozen’.

The two human rights groups noted that “Freezing the demolition of 70% of them means that 6,000 homes would still be slated for demolition. In fact, the Municipality has indicated that it intends to remove completely those 6,000 homes. It seems to believe that offering compensation will legitimize that action … This is not merely a game of numbers. Lying behind the plan is the intent to leave intact ‘unauthorized’ Palestinian homes in areas of East Jerusalem of little interest to Israel – those on the periphery of the city in particular – while targeting those in areas that Israel wishes to annex. The targeted 30% are therefore in the most politically sensitive areas subject to conflict: the Old City, the Silwan area adjacent to the al-Aqsa mosque (already renamed the ‘City of David’), the Mount of Olives, Sheikh Jarrah and other strategic locales … We call on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Government of Israel to end their policy of demolishing Palestinian homes altogether, whether in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza – or inside Israel, where the homes of Palestinian and Bedouin citizens of Israel are also targeted”.

"Jerusalem unification" day – but is Jerusalem united?

Today, Israel mark’s “Jerusalem unification” day.

However, According to Gershon Baskin, co-chairman and founder of the Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) — who ran in the last Knesset elections as a candidate from a green party which did not gain the minimum number of votes for a seat — Jerusalem is one of the most segregated cities on earth.

Demonstration at Damascus Gate - Jerusalem Day 21 May 2009 - Amir Cohen for Reuters

Some 50,000 Israelis of one or the other nationalist tendencies are expected today to make their annual triumphalist entry under heavy police and Border Police guard into the Old City of East Jerusalem via the Damascus Gate, which is used mainly by Palestinians.

Jerusalem Unification Day marks the moment, according to the Jewish calendar, when the Israeli Army first entered the Old City of East Jerusalem during the June 1967 war.  Previously, from the time the British Army evacuated in May 1948, East Jerusalem and the West Bank had been under Jordanian administration.

Three Israeli human rights organizations are joining Palestinian members of various East Jerusalem neighborhood committees and residents in what they have announced will be “a Jerusalem Day protest demonstration, which is to take place at the same time as the traditional Jerusalem Procession on Thursday, May 21st, 12:00-15:00, near the entrance to Damascus Gate in the Old City. The demonstration will take place on the same day of the Jerusalem Day Procession, which marks 42 years to the ‘unification of the city’, in order to send out a clear message: The city is not united. East Jerusalem had been annexed by Israel against the will of its residents, who have since been suffering discrimination, neglect and abuse in all walks of life. We will protest and demand they be allowed to live in dignity and peace in their hometown“.

According to the announcement, “The demonstration is organized by East Jerusalem neighborhood committees and residents, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Shomrei Mishpat – Rabbis for Human Rights, and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions”, known as ICHAD.

A lawyer for ACRI told journalists this week that the proper and required permits have been granted by the Israeli police, but she said she was not sure how many Palestinian East Jerusalemites would participate in the end — not only because of the potential for violent flare-ups, but also because they fear reprisal in the weeks and months ahead, at home, in their neighborhoods of what is (or, because of route of The Wall, which has cut them off from the city and exiled them to a no-man’s land in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank) what was East Jerusalem.

But they did come – about 400 Palestinians, participating for the first time in one of these Jerusalem Day protest demonstrations, and about 100 to 150 Israeli Jews.

Tali Nir, a lawyer for ACRI who participated in the demonstration, said that the Border Police were upset when they say a lot of Palestinian flags flying, “and they asked us not to do it, so we took some down”, to cool the situation, she said.  But they did not remove all the Palestinian flags, because the Israeli Supreme Court has recently ruled that Palestinian flags could be waved during demonstrations.

Rabbi Arik Aschermann of Rabbis for Human Rights was very satisfied by the Palestinian participation.  “For 14 years we’ve been saying it’s a pity they don’t come”, he said, “but now they are here.  Yes, it’s good”.  He attributed the previous non-participation to internal fighting between different Palestinian agendas as much as to fears of violence and/or Israeli reprisals.

One of the signs held up by a young Palestinian participant read: “Number of residents per trash cans: (Palestinian) East Jerusalem = 760, (Israeli) West Jerusalem = 291“.

A group of young Israeli men gathered in front of the demonstrators and did their own rousing chant, before heading through the Damascus Gate into the Old City, where they immediately quited down.  They were headed across the Old City to the other side, where the Western Wall stands.  A few Border Police soldiers in olive green uniforms and carrying large black weapons followed them, but did not provide a close escort.

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch made separate appearances, and spoke in Arabic to Palestinian journalists.

Hatem Abdel Qader, a Jerusalemite who was until recently the advisor of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who this week has become (he has been sworn in as) the newly-appointed PA Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in the new Palestinian government, was also at the demonstration. He said that he was working on a new strategy, despite the Israeli prohibition against PA activity in the city: “We want to make something to support our people, to end house demolitions, to face the high Jerusalem taxes.  We are developing a plan to try to make the life of our citizens better …. We hope to open other institutions in East Jerusalem by working with some NGOs who have permission, in the fields of women, children, culture, education and law.  We are facing a very big problem of building without permits, and we need lawyers and engineers to help make a [zoning or development] plan so that we can try to solve this problem”.

Photos of joint Palestinian-Israeli demonstration at Damascus Gate for Jerusalem Unification Day

courtesy of ACRI

Palestinian school girs at Jerusalem Day demonstration - Photo courtesy of ACRI

Jewish groups demonstrate at Damascus Gate on Jerusalem Unification Day - photo courtesy of ACRI

Jerusalem Day demonstration at Damascus Gate - photo courtesy of ACRI

This “Jerusalem Unification Day” was the first time that these groups made a collective public appearance, working together.

"Some 24,145 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories since 1967"

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICHAD) “estimates that some 24,145 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories since 1967, based on information gleaned from the Israeli Ministry of Interior, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Civil
Administration, OCHA and other UN sources, Palestinian & Israeli human rights groups, Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch, our field work and other sources. Last updated on 7 April 2009″. The ICAHD report can be read in full here.

ICAHD says, in that report, that punitive demolitions are when “houses [are] demolished as punishment for the actions of people associated with the houses. The actions in questions have been everything from political organizing to attacks on Israeli civilians. This policy was suspended by the IDF in February, 2005 after it reached the conclusion that rather than deterring attacks, punitive demolitions only enflame the people and lead to more attacks. The practice was resumed on 19 January 2009”.
Continue reading "Some 24,145 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories since 1967"

European States criticize threatened Israeli house demolitions in Silwan

Is the Quartet coming apart?

One of the Quartet’s four members — the European Union — is keeping up a sustained post-Gaza-war resistance to Israeli policies in East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Israeli threats in recent weeks to demolish over a hundred Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem (88 in Silwan, 55 in Shua’fat refugee camp, 27 in Wadi Joz/Sheikh Jarrah, 5 + 10 more in Abu Tor) makes the situation look like the Gaza war, but in slow motion.

Some Palestinians are annoyed at the attention being showered on the continuingly-awful situation in Gaza, complaining that it is designed to distract attention from what is happening in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Both situations are equally compelling, of course.

There are also mutual recriminations between West Bankers and East Jerusalemites, each accusing the others of doing nothing effective to stop the encroaching threats.

Or, perhaps the Quartet is not divided — maybe the members are simply dividing up their responsibilities — the U.S. is taking the lead on Gaza (sort of, and very conditionally — only $300 million of the recently-pledged money for rehabilitation and reconstruction would go to Gaza, and only if U.S. policy aims are respected … while $600 million would apparently go to the West Bank), while the EU is taking the lead on East Jerusalem… [However, the U.S. has held a couple of meetings with Palestinian Authority figures in East Jerusalem.]

The EU today issued a statement today saying that it is is “deeply concerned” about the threat of demolition to 88 homes in Silwan, just outside the walls of the Old City in East Jerusalem. The EU said that this “would be the largest destruction of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem since 1967 … Demolition of houses in this sensitive area threatens the viability of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement, in conformity with international law”.

A document recently obtained by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICHAD), which is described as a statement [it looks like a draft] by EU heads of mission in Ramallah and East Jerusalem, says that “East Jerusalem is of central importance to the Palestinians in political, economic, social and religious terms. Several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem, and demonstrate a clear Israeli intention to turn the annexation of East Jerusalem into a concrete fact: (1) the near-completion of the barrier around east Jerusalem, far from the Green Line; (2) the construction and expansion of illegal settlements, by private entities and the Israeli government, in and around East Jerusalem; (3) the demolition of Palestinian homes built without permits (which are all but unobtainable); (4) stricter enforcement of rules separating Palestinians resident in East Jerusalem from those resident in the West Bank, including a reduction of working permits; (5) and discriminatory taxation, expenditure and building permit policy by the Jerusalem municipality … Israel’s activities in Jerusalem are in violation of both its Roadmap obligations and international law. We and others in the international community have made our concerns clear on numerous occasions, to varying effect … Palestinians are, without exception, deeply alarmed about East Jerusalem. They fear that Israel will ‘get away with it’, under the cover of disengagement. Israeli actions also risk radicalising the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population in East Jerusalem”.
Continue reading European States criticize threatened Israeli house demolitions in Silwan