Demolitions can doom Israel’s democracy

By Cesar Chelala/New York

Palestinians gather outside a mosque that was torched and vandalised by extremists in the village of Burka near Ramallah on December 15, in the latest vengeance attack

At the end of WW II, many Jews who had survived forced labour camps, concentration camps and death marches refused to go home. After suffering the horrors of the Holocaust, they wanted to rebuild their lives elsewhere. They congregated in Displaced Persons’ (DP) camps, under the Hebrew name She’erit ha-Pletah, a biblical name meaning “surviving remnant.” Now, an international coalition of 20 leading aid agencies and human rights groups have issued a statement condemning the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes, which is proceeding at an accelerating rate.According to the human rights organisations, which include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International, The Middle East Peace Quartet must immediately press the Israeli government to reverse its settlement policies and freeze all demolitions which violate international law. There are several indications that the situation has been deteriorating rapidly, indicate the aid groups. Since the beginning of 2011, more than 500 Palestinian homes, wells, rainwater harvesting cisterns and other important structures have been destroyed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to UN figures, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been displaced, more than double the number of people who have been displaced over the same period in 2010. This represents the highest figure so far since 2005. Displacing people from their homes is a devastating experience, more so if they are children, who constitute more than half of those displaced. In many cases, displacing children from their homes increases the risk of poverty and makes them unable to resume normal schooling.In recent months, there has been an accelerated expansion of settlements on Palestinian land. Over the past 12 months, plans for almost 4,000 new settle housing units have been approved in East Jerusalem. This is the highest number since 2006, according to Peace Now estimates. The approval for new settlement construction comes shortly before the mediators from the Middle East Peace Quartet started efforts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Last Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that he was “deeply concerned” about the Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and called on the Israeli government to “freeze all settlement activity.”At the same time, there has been a significant increase in settlers’ violence against Palestinians. Violent attacks have increased by over 50% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 160% compared to 2009, according to UN reports. Settlers have also destroyed nearly 10,000 Palestinian olive and other trees during this year; such trees provide sustenance to hundreds of Palestinian families. 90% of complaints of settler violence have been closed by the police without indictment between 2005 and 2010. In addition, if reported plans for 2012 proceed, up to 2,300 Bedouins living in the Jerusalem periphery would be forcibly and unlawfully relocated, their houses and livelihoods destroyed. One is reminded of the words in a James Fenton poem about WW II:   It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down.   It is not the houses. It is the spaces between the houses.   It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist.Settlers and right-wing activists have also rioted near the Ephraim Brigade’s base, vandalised vehicles and threw stones at the brigade commander, Col. Ran Kahana and his deputy, who was hit in the head. However, none of the people who conducted the rampage was arrested.Unless the Israeli government adopts a more active policy to stop unlawful demolitions of Palestinian homes and contain the settlers’ violence, it may become a hostage of the settlers’ delirious violence.As Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz, “It is not only the government, as important as that is, that hangs in the balance, but also the very character of the state.”l Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.