Joseph Dana reports:
Israeli forces demolished Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills today in what seems as a wave of demolitions following yesterday’s demolitions all across the West Bank. Non-violent leaders from Beit Ummar have also been arrested in night raids. Grassroots organizers Mousa and Yousef Abu Maria were arrested from their homes as harassment continues in Beit Ummar
After carrying demolitions in the villages of Qarawat Bani Hassan near Salfeet, al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley and Hizma near Jerusalem yesterday, Israeli bulldozers returned to the Jordan Valley today. At 6:30 this morning, Israeli Civil Administration bulldozers accompanied by soldiers and armored military jeeps entered the Jordan Valley village of Khirbet Yarza, east of Tubas, and demolished the village’s mosque, a houses and four animal shelters. The demolitions rendered eleven people homeless.
Demolitions continued later in the morning in the South Hebron Hills village of al-Rifayaia, east of Yatta, where at 8:15 AM Israeli forces demolished a 250 meter house. The house was home to two families of twenty people, 16 of them minors.
Israel often takes advantage of US holidays to carry out these kinds of operations while minimizing the possibility of unfavorable press coverage in America.
What a shame that the U.S. Government supports this kind of activity. It seems that the Israeli’s only know how to use overpowering tactics against those that are weaker & helpless than they are. As for when they pull off these actions, look at who controls the media in America, will give you the answer of why the American people are kept in the dark. The time to open the eyes as to what is taking place in Israel towards the Arab peoples, is today. The United States Government either has to put a stop to this deplorable behavior, or prepare for the time when it’s too late. This government is supposed to govern the United States best interests, not what the Israeli’s interests may be at the moment. Separate the actions, then ask the American if they still want to support the increasing victimizing of the Palestinians???
One difference, it seems, between arrogant Israeli actions, of this sort, backed up, with attrocities, and other terrorist state actions, (China, in Tibet, etc), is that if those other states ceased to be racist, murderous institutions, they would not cease to exist. Israel, however, depends not only on such racist thuggery, in order to thieve land. But as there can’t be ethnic “cleansing”, without a few massacres, it also, therefore has to depend on racist motivated murder, in order to exist. Such a category of murder has its own, special label, not used by those who seek to use the more comfortable shorthand, non – legal definition. The category is a legal category, as it involves crime. So the an accurate definition should be looked for, in a legal dictionary, (in the U.K., Stones Justice manual / Butterworth’s Criminal Law), or to an international body, such as the International Courts of Justice, the U.N, etc. So, for those of you who still expect the rule of law, to be part of the solution, to the world’s problems, the word to be applied, to the racist motivated murder that Israel needs to exist, is, GENOCIDE.
If people expect that we should try to create a world, where genocide is not tolerated, then we have to create a world where the behaviour is not tolerated, but also, where the very existence a state, and society which depends on genocide to exist, is not tolerated. No matter whether or not, Palestinian victims, might accept some kind of deal, under duress. The rest of us should not.
The rest of us, who don’t need legalistic labels to live by, (Anarchists), should not need permission to oppose the existence of a society, ( with or without a state), which does such things. All states depend on injustice to exist. But surely, the most blatant examples should be tackled first, and in the process, we will prove to the victims of brainwashing, that they need to look elsewhere for what they base their opinions on.