Israeli Ethnic Cleansing
by Stephen Lendman
It’s longstanding state policy. It’s what former Israeli politician Yigal Allon called maximum land with minimum Arabs.
It’s dispossessing them for Jewish exclusivity. It’s doing it extrajudicially. It’s doing it without compromise.
It’s claiming all land Israel wants belongs exclusively to Jews. Palestinian rights don’t matter. They’re persecuted for their faith, ethnicity and presence.
They’re ethnically cleansed to make way for Jews. It’s happening one bulldozed Palestinian home at a time. Destroying entire communities reflect it.
Last September, Jordan Valley Khiret Khallet Makhul community homes were demolished. Sixty Bedouin Arab Israeli citizens were affected.
They’ve lived there for many years. They grazed their livestock. They had to sleep outside with no shelter.
Last August, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected their petition. It sought to legitimize their legally built structures.
Since demolition, Israeli soldiers prevented community members and international aid agencies from erecting tents for shelter.
Their fundamental rights were denied. What Israel wants it gets. Ethnic cleansing is longstanding Israeli policy. The Jordan Valley is being systematically Judaized. Most of it is already.
Civil Administration policy denies Arab communities access to their own land. It does so various ways.
Closed military zones are declared. So are nature reserves. Palestinian land is declared state owned. They’re excluded from nearly 90% of the Jordan Valley.
In areas where they live, they’re prohibited from building homes and other structures. They can’t do it without state authorized permits. They’re practically impossible to get.
When Palestinians build on their own land, demolition orders follow. From 2006 through April 2013 alone, hundreds of Palestinian homes were targeted.
Around 1,600 family members were affected. Many were one or more times earlier. Israeli policy reflects its Judaization strategy.
It includes annexing Palestinian land. It’s exploiting its water and other resources. It’s denying homeless Palestinians humanitarian aid.
It’s violating fundamental international laws. It’s doing it repeatedly. It’s ongoing during sham peace talks.
It prevents equitable conflict resolution. It punishes Arabs for not being Jews. Jordan Valley Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah residents are affected.
On January 8, their homes and other structures were demolished. Their only water pipe was destroyed.
Three families were affected. They include 10 adults and 15 children. They’re farmers. They raise livestock.
Their possessions include three tents, six pens, five livestock sheds, two chicken coops and three flocks. They consist of about 750 sheep and goats.
In 1972, IDF commanders lawlessly declared their area a closed military zone. They claimed it was needed as a firing zone.
Residents explained otherwise. Until two years ago, no military activity was present.
In 2003, Israeli Civil Administration officials began ordering residents to evacuate their own land. Some of their homes and facilities were destroyed.
In January 2010, residents were ordered to leave the area within 72 hours. Closed military zone authority was again cited.
Palestinians petitioned Israel’s High Court. At the same time, it issued an interim injunction. It halted evacuations. It did so pending their intention to rule on the issue.
On January 31, 2011, a hearing followed. Residents were denied their legitimate rights. State officials lied saying their land was needed for military training.
They claimed residents had no right to live on their own land. They were offered other sites. They were unacceptable. Palestinians refused justifiably.
It’s their land. It’s their right to live there. Resolution was months in coming. Justice was systematically denied.
On December 3, 2013, High Court justices ruled for Israel. They said Palestinians failed to prove their permanent residency status.
They were given three days to remove their belongings. They were told to resolve their differences with state authorities.
No understanding was reached. It didn’t surprise. Israel is all take and no give. It demands. It does so extrajudicially. It offers practically nothing in return.
‘Ein Karzaliyah families faced imminent dispossession. International law doesn’t matter. Israel does whatever it wants. It does it repeatedly. It does it with impunity.
Palestinians have no rights. They’re systematically denied. On January 8, ‘Ein Karzaliiyah residents were left homeless. B’Tselem director Jessica Montell commented, saying:
“Israel has once again forgotten that control entails responsibility. The Jordan Valley cannot be addressed as a merely theoretical issue, discussing its future while completely disregarding the fate of its residents.”
“At the moment, the authorities must set aside their political ambitions and consider the fate of 25 individuals, who do not know how they’ll get through the night and how their flocks, their only source of income and livelihood, will fare.”
A previous article discussed Israeli plans to perhaps annex the entire Jordan Valley. It’s 30% of the West Bank.
Israel controls nearly 90% of it already. It wants the rest. It wants Palestinians entirely excluded. They’re systematically being removed.
Israel wants the entire area Judaized. It wants Arabs excluded. Nearly all Jordan Valley land lies in Area C.
It’s under exclusive Israeli control. De facto annexation exists. Israel wants it made official.
Many communities were ordered to leave. They have no choice. They’re forced out if don’t leave voluntarily.
Thousands of Bedouin Arab Israeli citizens are affected. Israel wants them all out. Legally the Jordan Valley is occupied territory.
Israel is responsible for the well-being of its residents. It includes respecting their fundamental rights.
They include the right to live, build, and earn a living on their own land. Dispossessing legitimate residents violates fundamental international law.
Israel is obligated to respect it. Other nations are obliged to assure it. Professor William Cook comments about the longstanding plight of Palestinians.
His newest book is titled “Decade of Deceit 2002-2012.” It’s a major contribution toward understanding decades of Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Fifty-five essays explain longstanding Palestinian suffering. They cover indignities imposed by a racist/rogue occupier.
Palestine’s Nakba never ended. State terror is official policy. Israel calls it self-defense. Lawful resistance to live free is called terrorism.
Daily life includes persecution, home demolitions, dispossessions, land theft, targeted assassinations, mass arrests, incarceration, torture, denial of virtually all rights, and living in fear of what’s next.
Palestinians are largely on their own. World leaders able to help turn a blind eye. They support Israel’s worst crimes.
In early January, Fars News interviewed Cook. He called longstanding Israeli persecution unjustifiable, indefensible and discriminatory.
“America’s poor suffer the consequences,” he said. “(S)chools have no money to care for the deprived Americans, and that is but an example of what happens when we dedicate the taxpayers’ money to slaughter and mayhem in a land we claim must defend itself when we can’t even identify the boundaries of that state because it refuses to identify its borders as they are continually growing as they inflict further genocide on the people of Palestine.”
Israel was established “in a pit of intentional deception,” he explained. It was done “to create a false send of legitimacy to justify before the world community its right to exist.”
Its creation came by stealing Palestine. It did so by ethnic slaughter and dispossession. It reflect Zionism’s dark side. It includes high crimes against peace, equity and justice.
Where is the moral outrage? Cook asks: “How can the world communities allow such a state of affairs to exist?”
Why aren’t Israeli leaders held accountable? Why is Palestinian suffering allowed to continue? Why aren’t their legitimate rights respected? Why isn’t international law enforced?
Terrorism’s infrastructure lies in Israel’s occupation, says Cook. Decades of Israeli leaders bear full responsibility. Palestinians are wrongfully blamed for their crimes.
Israel is guilty of slow-motion genocide. World leaders ignore what’s longstanding. According to Jeff Halper:
“The problem in the Middle East is not the Palestinian people, not Hamas, not the Arabs, not Hezbollah or the Iranians or the entire Muslim world.”
The problem is Israel, he stresses. Its leaders bear full responsibility for decades of regional “instability, extremism and violence…”
World leaders able to change things do nothing. They let Israel continue occupation harshness.
They permit high crimes against peace. They let Palestinian suffering persist unjustly. They do it for their own self-interest.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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