Area C strikes fear into the heart of Palestinians as homes are destroyed
I find it hard to think of any occupation force in history that could be thought of as popular, but when I read things like this it really brings home the injustice of one group of people lording it over another:
The Israelis can talk forever about whether or not he had planning permission or what have you, but the simple fact remains that this is not Israeli land, this is Palestinian land, and when the Israelis start demolishing houses on this land then one is entitled to ask with what purpose in mind are they doing so?In the end it came down to a single-page letter, written in Hebrew and Arabic and hand-delivered by an Israeli army officer who knocked at the front door. The letter spelt the imminent destruction of the whitewashed three-storey home and small, tree-lined garden that Bassam Suleiman spent so long saving for and then built with his family a decade ago.
It was a final demolition order, with instructions to evacuate the house within three days.
If Suleiman was in any doubt about the Israeli military's intentions he had only to look outside his back door where large piles of rubble and broken concrete mark the remains of the seven of his neighbours' houses that were demolished in the same way last year.
"How would you feel when you've spent 20 years finishing your life's project?" said Suleiman, 38, a teacher. He began moving his furniture out after the letter, from the civil administration of Judea and Samaria, the defence ministry department responsible for the Israeli-occupied West Bank, came on January 31. Now there are just a couple of plastic chairs in his front room and in the hallway the carpets are rolled up and ready to be moved. Clothes are piled on the floor and the shelves are empty, save for a stack of documents charting the story of the impending demolition. His brother, Husam, has already left the ground floor flat but the new washing machine and fridge stand still wrapped in plastic. Suleiman, his wife and two children wait for the bulldozers.
"Everything I did in my life was for what's now inside this house and now it's going to be destroyed," said Suleiman. "It's very hard for me to find somewhere else to live."
Surely, if the Israelis are going to demolish any houses it should be the houses of the settlers, who are in blatant breach of international law, rather than the houses of the Palestinians?
The Israelis would, no doubt, argue that this house was built in Area C, an area designated under the Oslo Accords as being under full Israeli military and administrative control. However, although they may control it, there is no suggestion that it belongs to the Israelis.
At a time when George Bush is supposedly looking for a peaceful end to this conflict, he would do well to look at Israel's behaviour in Area C.Area C covers 60% of the West Bank, home to around 70,000 Palestinians. It is also the area in which most Jewish settlements, all illegal under international law, are built. Compelling statistical evidence shows that while it is extremely hard for Palestinians to obtain building permits, settlements continue to grow rapidly.
Research by the Israeli group Peace Now found that 94% of Palestinian permit applications for Area C building were refused between 2000 and September 2007. Only 91 permits were granted to Palestinians, but 18,472 housing units were built in Jewish settlements. As a result of demolition orders 1,663 Palestinian buildings were demolished, against only 199 in the settlements. "The denial of permits for Palestinians on such a large scale raises the fear that there is a specific policy by the authorities to encourage a 'silent transfer' of the Palestinian population from area C," Peace Now said.
This year there has been a marked increase in demolitions. There were 138 demolitions between January and March, most in area C, compared with 29 in the last three months of 2007, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This year 400 Palestinians have been displaced as a result.
As the occupying force, Israel is increasingly demolishing Palestinian homes in Area C on the grounds that they lack planning permission, which they obviously do as Israel is so very reluctant to ever grant Palestinians the right to build on their own land, whilst turning a blind eye to the increasing amount of illegal Israeli settlements being built on the same area.
How can one believe that the Israelis are remotely serious about the Annapolis peace talks when they continue to flout agreements as blatantly as this? After all, there is no country in the world - not even the USA - who would seriously argue that this land belongs to Israel.One effect of the strict planning curbs is to limit the growth of Palestinian villages. "If you look at the way the Israelis are enforcing planning and construction regulations you see they are being enforced in a one-sided way," said Avi Berg, research director of the leading Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, which has worked on the Far'un case.
Settlement growth continues apace despite the fact that the current peace talks are based on the US Road Map, under which Israel is required to freeze settlement activity. In another report, Peace Now said that since the talks began at Annapolis last November, Israel was still building 500 homes in West Bank settlements and had issued tenders for 750 homes in East Jerusalem settlements. Reports suggest another 1,400 homes will be built in two settlements in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
And yet, they are demolishing Palestinian homes on this land whilst allowing illegal Israeli settlements to be built. This is what Bush encouraged when he foolishly conceded to Ariel Sharon that he would recognise what he referred to as, "facts on the ground". He was the first US president to flout international law in this way by offering to recognise what everyone else regarded as illegal settlements.
Now we see the fruits of that ignorant policy, as Israel seek to create even more "facts on the ground" before any possible settlement can be reached.
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