Peace is the natural state of man, war the temporary repeal of reason and virtue.
— Hans F. Sennholz
If only that quote was true. Lately people are going out of their way to keep the wars going, where ever they may be. A nice little visit with Obama last week and a promise to pursue peace, and B. Netanyahu is on his merry way; another friendly, submissive meeting with another American President for Israel, this time Obama. Then the Palestinian home demolitions start up again. Peace can never come from home demolitions. These are not usually reported in the American media, which is odd, because this directly affects our national security. If anything angers some people in the Middle East about the U.S., the cohesive factor behind the anger is the treatment of Palestinians and how the United States evidently supports it. First, below is a report snipped from DemocracyNow, one of the few American media sources reporting this news on a regular basis.
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times 2009 -- Samia al-Hdaidun with three of her children in the site of their East Jerusalem home, which Israel demolished last week.
Israel Resumes Demolitions of Palestinian Homes
The Israeli government has resumed destroying Palestinian homes after a brief freeze. On Tuesday, Israeli bulldozers razed six Palestinian-owned buildings in Jerusalem, including three homes. Israel had informally suspended the demolitions in October following criticism from the United States. The resumed demolitions come just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from the United States after meeting President Obama at the White House. Obama had praised Netanyahu during the talks, saying the Israeli government has shown “restraint.” Standing outside of her demolished home, Jerusalem resident Linda al-Rajabi said she and her five children were forced out with no advance warning.
Linda al-Rajabi: “They emptied the house. They made me take out everything. And then, as you see, they demolished the house without giving a warning or anything. They can build 600 settlements, but I am in a shack made from asbestos, and they demolish it. All I have is children, five small ones, and their father, who sometimes works and sometimes does not.”
The demolitions coincided with the Israeli government’s approval of plans to build thirty-two new settlement homes in East Jerusalem.
Palestinian Woman Killed in Israeli Attack
Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip a Palestinian woman was killed and four other Palestinians seriously wounded Tuesday in an Israeli shelling of the village of Johar a-Deek.
How can there ever be peace in the world as Israel continues to do this, without warning or reason or legal right? Why does the U.S. reward Israel for doing this by sending them $3.3 billion dollars every year?
Another good news source is the ICAHD — the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions, headed by an American Jewish man, Jeff Halper.
Jerusalem Municipality demolishes 6 houses across East Jerusalem
July 14, 2010
Yesterday, 13.7.10, the Jerusalem municipality demolished 6 houses in East Jerusalem claiming they were built illegaly, ignoring the fact the municipality makes it impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits in order to build legally.
Three structures under construction and nearing completion were demolished in Isawiya, another inhabited house was demolished in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina and two more inhabited houses were demolished in Jabal Mukkaber.
The house in Beit Hanina, owned by the Rajabi family, was demolished once before in 2008 and Icahd assisted the family to rebuild that same year. Yesterday four children of the Rajabi family and their two parents lost their home for the second time in less than 2 years.
More than 20 people, including 10 children, were forcibly displaced from the two homes demolished in Jabal Mukkaber.
Their official press release states the following:
ICAHD DENOUNCES ’S ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS
(and American enabling)
After an unofficial nine-month “moratorium,” the Israeli government has returned with a vengeance to its policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. Yesterday, July 13, six homes were demolished in East Jerusalem.
In Jabal Mukaber, the homes of the Tawil family (15 people) and the Masrawi family (six people) were demolished. In Beit Hanina, the municipality demolished the home of the Rajabi family (6 people). And in Issawaiyeh, three homes in advanced stages of construction were demolished: one of the Dari family, another belonging to the Nasser family and a third of the Abu Rameileh family.
Today, in the West Bank, a reservoir belonging to the Jabar family was demolished by the Civil Administration, and other buildings are threatened. (This, despite the fact that the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement, which already has four large municipal swimming pools, is constructing a water park complete with an artificial lake.)
All this, plus municipal approval for the demolition of 22 homes in the Silwan neighborhood, continued pressure to remove Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah – and the approval by the municipality this week of 54 new housing units for the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement.
Despite claims that Palestinian houses, reservoirs and other buildings are “illegal,” demolition is merely another face of ethnic cleansing, since the Jerusalem municipality, the Ministry of Interior and the Civil Administration of the West Bank all deny Palestinians the right to build homes on their own property. Although the pressure to demolish is constant – the Israeli authorities have demolished 24,000 Palestinian homes since 1967 and new orders are issued daily – the current wave of demolitions can only be explained only on the background of Prime minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington a few weeks ago. For the past decade or so demolition orders can be executed only with the approval of the Prime Minister’s Office; these are not municipal-level decisions, even if the municipality presses for demolitions.
Only one of two explanations for the wave of demolitions is therefore possible. Either Israel has received a green (OK, blinking orange) light that the US will not object vociferously to demolitions – and, in fact, the State Department issued a mild statement describing the demolitions as “unhelpful,” the same term Hillary Clinton used when homes were demolished during her visit to Ramallah. Or Netanyahu, flush from his victory over Obama in the Biden affair, when Congress overwhelmingly supported the Israeli position of building settlements over that of their own Administration, felt free to return to his aggressive policies of “judaization.” Basking in the warm embrace he just received at the White House, Netanyahu knows he has nothing to fear from an increasingly weakened Obama Administration.
It is becoming obvious – if it wasn’t already – that the United States will not, or cannot “deliver” a just peace in Israel-Palestine. Even if an Administration tries to pursue a more critical line towards Israel, its hands will inevitably be tied by Congress. The time has come to pursue a “working around America” strategy, mobilizing the civil societies of Europe, Latin America, Africa and perhaps Asia as well to create a global consensus that either presses for a just solution to the conflict on its own, or prods the US to become constructively involved by virtue of its international isolation. The present wave of demolitions demonstrates the bankruptcy and ineffectiveness of the American “approach.” 24,000 demolitions later (and counting), it is time to look elsewhere.
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions is based in Jerusalem and has chapters in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Please visit their websites:
www.icahd.org
www.icahduk.org
www.icahdusa.org
What does the U.S. government do about these home demolitions? Occasionally a mild scolding, that’s all.
We keep sending Israel arms and money and doing what they say. For instance, Israel wanted stiff sanctions on Iran and it now appears that they recently got exactly what they wanted. What’s next? What will Netanyahu ask his U.S. President to do for him next month?
I invite everyone reading this to check out this organization: The global BDS movement. There are a lot of groups now supporting this growing movement and the more people who support them, the better.
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