The bedouins in Khan al-Ahmar are considered an “existential threat” to the Jewish State; Israel plans to demolish the village and relocate the entire tribe to a location that denies the people their ancient culture. Israel’s Supreme Court has green-lighted the process, which will enable the state to cut the West Bank into pieces – although it may be a war crime.
Israel’s refusal to issue building permits, and calculated policies of expropriation, force Palestinians to build “illegally,” often resulting structures being demolished and families left destitute; meanwhile, Jewish-only neighborhoods spring up on Palestinian land.
Every day of the year, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reports on incidents that Palestinians endure. It isn’t hard to detect patterns: home demolitions, land confiscation, abduction, and mistreatment of political prisoners are daily occurrences. Below are just some of the accounts reported by IMEMC for April 10, 2019. Each includes background information on the issue and part of the article.
With a 4% approval rate on building permit applications from Palestinians, and application costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, a large number of Palestinians make the risky decision to build without a permit. When Hassan Othman’s “illegal” home was discovered, he saved part of the $80 thousand demolition fee by hiring equipment to do it himself.
Israel has demolished over 48,000 Palestinian structures since 1967
Why would 2019 be any different from 2018? Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes goes on unabated, as though it were a completely legal occurrence. In fact, 2018 saw a 21% increase over 2017.
The International Middle East Media Center reports on the ongoing acts of Israeli injustice and violence that most other media don’t bother with. Not a day goes by – including holidays – without abductions, settler brutality, shootings, and often even deaths.
The illegal Israeli occupation continues its illegal collective punishment by demolishing the home of an alleged terrorist’s family and terrorizing the entire neighborhood.
Marc Lamont Hill, in Nazareth 2014. screenshot from Vimeo video. As is often the case with proponents of justice for Palestinians, Marc Lamont Hill was watched closely by Israel partisans as he spoke before the UN last week. They took a phrase – one phrase – from the speech and threw the rest aside, hoping…
The events of December 4, 2018 in the occupied Palestinian territories would startle most of the world, but US mainstream US media won’t report them: a grieving father is unable to get Israel to take responsibility for just 4 of the 1,400 deaths from Operation Cast Lead; an Israeli arms testing facility is about to move in on Bedouin land; a mentally disabled man is killed; 24 Palestinians are abducted; and 5 buildings (and livelihoods of 5 families) are demolished.
Residents of Khan al-Ahmar have been fighting for their existence since 1951, seeking nothing more than basic human rights. Israeli authorities say the village was illegally constructed; the Israeli Supreme Court in May rejected a final appeal against its demolition. Activists are concerned continued Israeli settlement construction in the area could effectively divide the northern and southern West Bank.