Israeli ethnic cleansing continues

Once again, Israel ignores justice and continues its ethnic cleansing policy. According to The Jerusalem Post, two homes housing 53 Palestinians were seized by Israel and within hours were occupied by Jewish settlers. Reports are currently confused, but it appears that a further seven homes in East Jerusalem have suffered the same fate.

The seizures follow a judgement by the Israeli Supreme Court that although the buildings have been occupied by Palestinian families for over 50 years, they were originally owned by Jewish families. The Israeli law allows for Jews to make such claims going back to 1948, but does not permit Palestinians to make similar claims.

East Jerusalem is not a part of Israel, but is part of the occupied territories seized by Israel in 1967 and is not recognised internationally as Israeli territory.

Although this incident has gained international media coverage, it is not an unusual occurrence. According to the United Nations:

"This week, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished four Palestinian-owned structures, including three residential structures, in Al ‘Eizariya, just outside East Jerusalem, due to the lack of building permits. Twenty-five (25) people, including 15 children, were displaced. The demolitions occurred in Area C, in the vicinity of an area planned for the expansion of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement (E1). Since the beginning of 2009, OCHA has recorded the demolition of 17 structures in the same area, 11 of which were residential, leading to the displacement of 56 people.

Also this week, the Israeli High Court of Justice approved the demolition of a house in East Jerusalem on the grounds that it would serve as a “deterrent” measure, the second such decision taken by the Court in 2009. The house belongs to the family of a Palestinian who killed three Israelis while driving a bulldozer in West Jerusalem in July 2008. In February 2005, the Israeli Minister of Defense suspended this type of demolition after a military commission found that such demolitions did not constitute an effective deterrence. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, between the beginning of the second Intifada and the 2005 suspension, Israel demolished over 600 housing units in the oPt on these grounds."

Ah, bless those nice Israelis, clearing those nasty Palestinian Ghettos - now those evil Palestinians can enjoy the health benefits of living under the stars.

Not all Israelis are bad however. There is an organisation "The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions", which makes an effort to repair an rebuild some of the demolished properties.

Israel's actions have been condemned by the United Nations, the United States State department, the British Consulate in Israel, and several other state representatives from around the world. Only last week the Israeli Ambassador to the US was summoned by the state department and told that Israeli expansion in the occupied territories must cease, drawing accusations by Israeli demonstrators that President Obama was a racist!

I think this is a case of Israel advancing their territorial expansion at the cost of the Palestinian people before sanctions are imposed by the US and the UN. When (if) sanctions are imposed, they will make a token gesture of handing some of their gains back in order to justify the removal of sanctions.