West Bank rights violations on the rise

West Bank rights violations on the rise

Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 29 May 2009

Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. (Mamoun Wazwaz/MaanImages)

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - "I heard voices, I turned around to look, and saw a group of Israeli settlers assaulting my brother Hammad," says Abdallah Wahadin, 82, a Palestinian farmer from Beit Ummar near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

"Three of them surrounded me, while a fourth threw a rock at the back of my head. Lots of blood ran down onto my clothes. Other settlers then joined them," Wahadin told the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

Wahadin and his brother Hammad, 72, had been farming their land, which produces olives, almonds and grapes, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, when they were attacked on their way home. Their land in Beit Ummar is near Hebron, about 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem.

Hammad Abdallah was taken to a local hospital where he received 10 stitches for a head wound and treatment for chest injuries.

Settler attacks against Palestinian civilians, and the occasional retaliatory attacks by Palestinians continue to dominate media headlines on an almost daily basis.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that an increase in settler attacks, as well as Israeli military raids, are part of an overall deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the West Bank.

"During April four Palestinians, including two boys, were killed by [the Israeli army] and another 145 were injured by Israeli soldiers and settlers. The number of Palestinians injured rose by 40 percent compared with the 2008 monthly average," the report says.

"We have noticed a significant increase in the incidents of both settler and soldier violence against Palestinian civilians since the new Israeli government took power at the beginning of the year," says Ronen Shimoni from B'Tselem.

"This is probably related to an increase in settlement activity in the West Bank as the rightist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to establish facts on the ground," Shimoni told IPS.

The expropriation of Palestinian land for enlargement of settlements has proceeded at an accelerated rate since Netanyahu took office. New settlements, and the settler-only bypass roads which service them, are being built.

The full extent of settler violence against Palestinian civilians is uncertain as many cases go unreported.

"Only a small number of complaints is investigated by the Israeli authorities," says Lior Yavne, rights group Yesh Din's research director.

"Conviction rates are less than 10 percent of cases opened due to what we consider unprofessional investigations. Often the police claim to have lost the paperwork or say they are unable to find the perpetrators," Yavne told IPS.

There has also been a sharp rise in the number of Palestinian children in Israeli detention this year, with 391, including six girls, incarcerated at the end of April, a 20 percent increase between December 2008 and February 2009.

Human rights organizations monitoring the situation of child prisoners in Israeli prisons are concerned about the lack of respect for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.

"These concerns are related to consistent allegations of physical and psychological abuse during interrogations; denial of prompt access to lawyers and family visits; substandard conditions of detention, including lack of access to proper health or educational services," OCHA says.

Further fueling Palestinian anger and despair is the tripling of Palestinian homes destroyed by the Israeli authorities in April compared to March. According to OCHA, 286 Palestinians, including many children, have been displaced this year.

Israel says the homes were demolished because they lack building permits. However, it is almost impossible for Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem to obtain the requisite permits. Jewish residents of West Jerusalem obtain permits with ease.

Several foreign governments and Israeli human rights organizations have accused the Israelis of following a deliberate policy of Judaizing East Jerusalem, in an effort to prevent its future division. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their future capital.

Palestinians are also largely forbidden from building on large swathes of the West Bank that fall under complete Israeli control, even though according to international law and UN Security Council resolutions the territory belongs to the Palestinians.

West Bank Palestinians are also getting increasingly thirsty. The World Bank has just released a report, "Assessment of Restrictions on Palestinian Water Sector Development." The report says water allocations, established during the 1995 Oslo interim agreement, fall short of today's needs.

Two-and-a-half million Palestinians survive on less than 20 percent of the West Bank's aquifers, while Israel expropriates the rest.

"Israeli settlers consume up to 200 liters of water daily per individual while Palestinians in the West Bank survive on 30-60 liters per individual daily," Palestinian Environmental Authority (PEA) deputy-director Jamil Mtoor told IPS.

Meanwhile, a number of international projects to fund West Bank humanitarian aid relief are at risk due to economic shortfalls.

The UN's Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) reported that although $254 million had been pledged towards the rehabilitation of Gaza, the level of funding for the West Bank continues to be extremely low, with only about 30 percent of needs covered.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has reported a severe shortage for its projects in the West Bank, while the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has reported financial problems relating to a number of emergency aid programs.

"UNRWA relies on voluntary funding for our projects, with the two biggest donors being the US and the EU," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told IPS.

"The international monetary crisis has not helped the situation, but we are still hopeful that we will be able to meet the shortfall before June so that we don't have to close any of our emergency programs," said Gunness.

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2009). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.

UN: Little change in problems with Palestinian movement in West Bank

UN: Little change in problems with Palestinian movement in West Bank

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said little had been done in the past nine months to remove West Bank obstacles that block Palestinian movement.

closed road on the edge of Jericho, originally uploaded by michaelramallah.
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Here you can see a road in the Palestinian city of Jericho that has been closed by the Israeli military through the use of large concrete blocks. This is a common method of restricting movement in Palestine.

According to a closure survey it completed in March 2009 and released on Tuesday, there are 634 obstacles blocking internal Palestinian movement and access in the West Bank.

closed Palestinian road, Qalandia, originally uploaded by michaelramallah.
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Here you can see a road and underpass in the Palestinian village of Qalandia that has been closed by the Israeli military through the use of dirt and rubble moved via bulldozer.

This is an increase of four obstacles compared with the last report in September 2008. The obstacles include 93 staffed checkpoints and 541 unstaffed obstacles such as roadblocks, earth mounds, earth walls, road barriers, and trenches. Of the 93 checkpoints, 20 so called "partial checkpoints" are only staffed part of the time, including some which are rarely staffed.

To view the complete March 2009 report:

http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_movement_and_access_2009_05_25_english.pdf

For more reports, maps and information from the OCHA oPt:
http://www.ochaopt.org/

Amnesty: Israel repeatedly breached rules of war in Gaza

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 13:53 28/05/2009

Amnesty International has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of armed conflict during its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli forces repeatedly breachd the laws of war, including by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians," the human rights watchdog said in its annual report.

The report states that 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the offensive - including 300 children - and that 5,000 people were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces, however, says 1,166 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority of whom were Hamas militants.

The report mentions Israel's stated goal in the 3-week campaign: The desire to stem rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants on southern Israel. The report goes on to note that three Israeli civilians were killed during the operation, which was in December 2008 and January 2009, in addition to the seven Israeli civilians who were killed by Qassam rockets and other Palestinian attacks launched from Gaza in 2008.

According to the report, the hostilities erupted after suffering the consequences of an Israel-led blockade on the Gaza Strip for a year-and-a-half.

"The blockade throttled almost all economic life and led growing numbers of Palestinians to become dependent on international food aid; even terminally ill patients were prevented from leaving to obtain medical care that could not be provided by Gaza's resource- and medicine-starved hospitals," Amnesty said.

The report also accuses Israeli security forces of destroying many Palestinian homes in the West Bank on the pretext that they were built illegally.

Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor responded to the report by accusing Amnesty International of focusing disproportionately on Israeli policy in Gaza and of not paying enough attention to the cross-border rocket attacks against Israel civilians.

The watchdog, headed by Bar Ilan University Professor Gerald Steinberg, added that Amnesty's biased and disproportionate obsession with Israel reached its peak during the latest conflict in Gaza.

According to NGO Monitor, Amnesty International published more than 20 declarations during the Gaza offensive, most of them critical of Israel, even while violations of human rights included a massacre of more than 600 villagers by Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo to which Amnesty devoted minimal attention.

MORE INFORMATION:
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 2009 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT:

2009 REPORT ON "ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES:"

2009 REPORT ON "THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY:"

BBC: Netanyahu says settlements can expand

BBC: Netanyahu says settlements can expand
Sunday, 24 May

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says settlements in the occupied West Bank will be allowed to expand despite US objections.

Mr Netanyahu said no new settlements would be built, but natural growth in existing settlements should be allowed.

During Mr Netanyahu's visit to the US last week, President Barack Obama told him all settlement activity must end.

The US regards the Jewish settlements -home to some 280,000 Israelis - as obstacles to the peace process.

"I have no intention to construct new settlements, but it makes no sense to ask us not to answer to the needs of natural growth and to stop all construction," a senior official quoted Mr Netanyahu as telling the Israeli cabinet.

"There is no way that we are going to tell people not to have children or to force young people to move away from their families," he added.

Outposts 'will go'

However, Mr Netanyahu vowed to remove makeshift outposts in the West Bank that the Israeli government itself considers illegal.

"We will take care of them, if possible by dialogue," he said. "There is no doubt that we have committed ourselves to deal with them."

The new Israeli cabinet largely opposes dismantling the outposts despite the fact that Israel agreed to it under the 2003 peace plan "roadmap".

Before the cabinet meeting, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said they would take down 22 outposts.

"The 22... have to be dealt with now in a responsible, appropriate manner, first of all, exhausting all efforts at dialogue and if that proves impossible, then unilaterally, using force if necessary," he said.

Mr Netanyahu was briefing cabinet members on his Washington visit.

President Obama urged the Israeli leader to accept a Palestinian state and said Israel had an obligation under the 2003 agreement to stop Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Mr Netanyahu told his ministers on Sunday that "clearly we need to have some reservations about a Palestinian state in a final status agreement... when we reach an agreement on substance, we will reach agreement on terminology".

It was the first time since his election that Mr Netanyahu has publicly used the words "Palestinian state" - but he stopped short of endorsing the idea.

"If we talk about a Palestinian state, we have to first and foremost verify what kind of sovereignty and rights this state will have. We have to make sure that we are not threatened," the official quoted the prime minister as saying.

Stumbling block

Jewish settlements in the West Bank are one of the major stumbling blocks to a Middle East peace deal.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said there is no point in meeting Mr Netanyahu unless he stops settlement construction and agrees to open talks on Palestinian independence.

Israel has sanctioned 121 settlements over the years and Jewish settlers have put up an estimated 100 outposts since the early 1990s.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8066389.stm

How I Got Gassed in the West Bank

While Barack Obama met with Benjamin Netanyahu, Max Blumenthal was dodging tear-gas canisters in the West Bank, where a two-state solution seems very, very far away.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, he warned the president that time was running out to stop a nuclear Iran. By impressing upon Obama the immediacy of the threat from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu hoped to avoid committing to the two-state solution he and his right-wing governing partners have so far openly and forcefully opposed. While Netanyahu attempts to recalibrate the discussion toward Iran, his government continues a vast expansion of the occupation of the West Bank, creating “facts on the ground” to fulfill the vision of a Greater Israel.

The recognition by the U.S. and the West of a viable Palestinian state in partnership with Israel has never seemed more like a pipe dream. After spending a week on the West Bank, I observed that settlement of the West Bank is being consolidated and expanded. Armed resistance by Palestinian groups lies dormant, while those Palestinians who employ nonviolent means to resist the Israeli government’s plan to divide and annex their land are being met with draconian and sometimes lethal force.

The small Palestinian village called Ni’lin is located just miles outside Israel’s 1967 Green Line, directly in the planned path of the separation wall. Israel’s winding concrete and fence barrier would permanently sever Ni’lin from much of its farmland, effectively annexing the land to several Jewish settlements that surround the village. In May 2008, Ni’lin’s local governing committee declared a popular struggle against the wall, organizing weekly marches and actions to block the path of its construction. While factional divisions between Fatah and Hamas rivet most of the Occupied Territories, the struggle in Ni’lin is one of factional unity against dispossession.

International activists and a small band of Israelis who, after serving jail sentences for refusing to serve in the army, also rushed to Ni’lin, hoping that their presence would mitigate the army’s violence against local Palestinians.

Confronting a fusillade of tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammo with protest signs and the occasional slingshot, the people of Ni’lin and their allies have so far managed to halt the wall. But their momentary success has come with a heavy price; since May, the Israeli army has killed four young villagers and critically wounded an American activist, Tristan Anderson, with a self-propelled tear-gas shell that hit him in the head.

I arrived in Ni’lin on the 61st anniversary of “Nakbah Day,” or what Palestinians call “the catastrophe.” Joining me was Jesse Rosenfeld, a 24-year-old Jewish-Canadian journalist who has lived on the West Bank and in Israel since 2007. Jesse is one of the few reporters to have covered Ni’lin’s struggle since its inception. He led me up a narrow street toward a crowd of demonstrators attempting to march to the wall. A phalanx of Israeli soldiers flanked on opposing hillsides by heavily armed troops blocked their path. The confrontation grew increasingly antagonistic when a man angrily displayed to the Israeli unit commander a photograph of Ahmed Mousa, a 10-year-old boy shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces when he attempted to remove barbed wire from the separation wall. “You killed him!” the man shouted. “You are responsible for his death!”

With that, the soldiers fired a salvo of tear-gas shells and percussion grenades at the crowd, sending everyone sprinting downhill. As I ran, tear-gas shells landed all around me. By the time I reached the town center, my eyes seared with pain and I struggled to breathe. “This is nothing,” Jesse remarked to me. “This is just soldiers having fun.”

Next, we hustled to join a crowd of demonstrators assembled in a parking lot that offered cover from an Israeli position a block away. Huddled behind a wall and a few cars, the demonstrators found themselves pinned down. A teenage boy tossed an old pair of sneakers a few feet in the troops’ direction, a few others chanted slogans, and I filmed. Within seconds tear gas blanketed the parking lot, driving the crowd into a backyard 20 yards away. Troops then fired self-propelled tear-gas shells, the potentially lethal crowd-dispersal weapon that had earlier landed Anderson in critical condition. Demonstrators rushed for cover, leaping over cinder-block walls and down a warren of streets, reassembling minutes later for another futile push to reach the wall.

At the bottom of the hill, a group of shabab, meaning “the guys” and commonly used to describe adolescent boys engaged in active resistance, began hurling stones at Israeli positions with slingshots. An older man approached me to ask that I not film any of the boys’ faces. The Israeli army would use my footage to identify them, he said, and place them under administrative detention—Israel’s term for imprisonment without charges. Tear gas now permeated the air throughout the town. Without the gasmasks the other journalists sported, Jesse and I withstood the fumes until we collapsed on the floor of a grocery store. By 3 p.m., most of the reporters and many international activists had left Ni’lin. “The army usually gets more violent as the day goes on,” Jesse informed me. “They’ll probably move into the town soon.”

With my head searing with pain and my clothes soaked in tear-gas residue, I drove past a flying Israeli checkpoint blocking Ni’lin’s main entrance and out of town. That evening, I learned that Jesse’s warning had proven correct: With the media and most of the international presence gone, the Israeli army transitioned from tear gas to live .22 caliber bullets. In the process, they shot a 12-year-old girl, Summer Amira, in the arm, sending her to the hospital (she was released later that day). Next Friday, the residents of Ni’lin and their international supporters will try again to block the wall. Ni’lin comprises the opening segment of a video report I produced about my trip through the West Bank.

Besides my footage of Ni’lin, my video presents some of the “facts on the ground” Israel has created: the Netanyahu government plans demolition of 88 Palestinian homes sheltering 1,500 people in East Jerusalem in order to build an archaeological park for tourists; the narrow alleys of the Balata refugee camp, an overcrowded ghetto and center of armed struggle during the second intifada that is raided each night by Israeli forces; the Milken Lowell Family Sports Center, a luxurious sports complex inside the settlement of Ariel created with millions of dollars in donations from Pastor John Hagee and junk-bond baron Michael Milken; the army’s protection of and collaboration with fanatical settlers who routinely attack Palestinian farmers; the discrediting and brutality of the Palestinian Authority, and the incipient rise of Hamas’ influence on the West Bank.

None of the Palestinians I met on the West Bank, representing a range of opinion there, believe that President Obama’s meeting with Netanyahu will alter anything. They wonder when and how change can be achieved. “My grandfather lived in a refugee camp, I grew up in a refugee camp, and my next generation will grow up in a refugee camp. This is not a life,” Mahmoud Subuh, the coordinator for the Yafa Refugee center in Balata, told me. “As a Palestinian, when everything has been taken from you, the only thing to hold on to is hope.”

Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com

Small Flare Up in Gaza Kills 2 Palestinians

following weeks of relative calm between palestinian resistance factions and the israeli military, friday saw the killing of two palestinians.

one day priror, on thrursday, israeli military activities in gaza injured six palestinians in an apparent response to an increased level of projectile attacks, as palestinian fighters launched two homemade projectiles since the 14th of may. following the projectile launches earlier in the week, israeli forces shot and killed two palestinian men on friday.

the men have been identified as Yasin Jabir, 23 and Abdul-Majid Salih, 22 years old. the men were spotted by israeli forces near the kerem shalom crossing in southern gaza and were shot and killed. israeli sources report that the men are fighters with islamic jihad's al-quds brigades, and some reports claim that the islamic jihad movement confirmed the men were affiliated. ha'aretz and the BBC report that there was an exchange of gun fire between the fighters and the soldiers and israeli sources claim that after penetrating into gaza to recover the men's' bodies, they found their weapons as well as grenades.

after leaving gaza with the bodies, an israeli jeep patrol was targeted with an explosive device. the attack was claimed by the abu ali mustafa brigades, the armed wing of the popular front for the liberation of palestine. also on friday, fighters from fatah's al-mujahideen brigades claim to have attacked an israeli military force with rocket-propelled-grenades. the brigades report firing two RPGs at an israeli jeep near the megen military base, east of al-maghazi refugee camp, in central gaza.

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8062994.stm
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37998
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1087464.html
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37992
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38006

Help Support Non-Violent Resistance in Palestine

Funds urgently needed for ISM’s upcoming summer campaign in Palestine

The International Solidarity Movement is in need of urgent donations for the upcoming summer campaign for 2009. This year, international solidarity activists will stand with Palestinian communities in the West Bank, Gaza, and occupied East Jerusalem who are nonviolently and creatively resisting the Israeli occupation. The theme for this years’ campaign is; Defend the land and East Jerusalem!

However, this years’ summer campaign, which starts on the 6th of June, will need funding to be a success. Donations are needed to rent and maintain ISM apartments and offices in Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and Ni’lin. Money is also needed to pay for legal fees as Palestinian and international activists will often face arrest as they nonviolently demonstrate against Israel’s Apartheid Wall, challenge military closed zones, and defy house eviction and demolition orders. Finally, funds are needed to pay for phone and travel expenses for ISM coordinators.

Please consider donating to ISM. Alternatively, consider throwing a benefit house party or film screening in order to raise funds. With your help, ISM volunteers will effectively stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and challenge a brutal and illegal occupation.

To donate, please use ISM’s online Paypal account at:

http://palsolidarity.org/donate

Or Checks of any amount may be made out to “ISM-USA” and sent to:
ISM-USA
PO Box 5073
Berkeley, CA 94705

If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation in the U.S., please make your checks of $50 or more payable to ISM-USA’s fiscal sponsor: A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, (with “ISM-USA” on the memo line of the check), and send to the same address above.

Report Identifies 313 Children Killed In Operation Cast Lead

Date: 14 May 2009

War Crimes Against Children: new report on the 313 children killed during Gaza offensive

A new report released today reveals the true extent of child killings by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip during its 23 day offensive on Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is publishing War Crimes Against Children in response to the unprecedented number of children killed by Israeli forces in its latest operation; a total of 313 children under the age of eighteen. Containing numerous eye witness testimonies, the report brings to light Israel’s widespread targeting of unarmed civilians, including children, throughout the offensive.

‘Operation Cast Lead’ was the biggest Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip in nearly 42 years of occupation. 1,414 Palestinians were killed, and PCHR investigations have found the overwhelming majority, 83 per cent, were civilians. One of the cases in the report is that of 18 month old Farah al-Helu, who was killed on 4 January. The al-Helu family had been told to evacuate their house in Zaytoun, eastern Gaza, but while they were attempting to flee, Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Farah was shot in the stomach and bled to death two hours later.

War Crimes Against Children exposes the abject failure of Israeli authorities to uphold international humanitarian law, which provides protection for children in armed conflict and the lack of adequate precautions taken to distinguish between civilians and military targets. The report also details indiscriminate shelling of homes and schools where internally displaced people were sheltering, the psychological impact of the offensive, and the alarming scale of physical injuries inflicted on young people.

“We are calling for an independent full-scale investigation into all documented attacks on civilians during the offensive,” said Raji Sourani, director of PCHR. “Israel must be held fully accountable for the crimes it has perpetrated against Gaza’s civilian population, including alleged war crimes against children. We cannot allow the lives of these children to just be statistics in the history books of the Middle East.”

PCHR is calling on the international community to urge Israel to respect and uphold the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Urgent measures are needed in order to prevent further deaths,” added Mr Sourani.

The Centre is also recommending the urgent establishment of an independent committee to investigate the child killings. The committee must meet international standards of independence and transparency and publish its findings publicly.

To read the complete report:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/Reports/English/pdf_spec/War%20Crimes%20Against%20Children%20Book.pdf

Editor’s notes:
1. War Crimes Against Children is released 14 May 2009
2. PCHR uses the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) definition of a ‘child’ as a boy or girl under the age of eighteen.
3. In addition to the 313 children who lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces, seven Palestinian child combatants were also killed.
4. A list of the names of all 313 children killed is included as an appendix to the report.
5. PCHR was established in 1995 and is a non-governmental organisation based in Gaza City, dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, is an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists-Geneva, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network and the Arab Organization for Human Rights. PCHR received the 1996 French Republic Award on Human Rights and the 2002 Bruno Kreisky Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights.

Annual Report Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

PCBS: Palestinian and Jewish populations to be equal by 2016
Date: 13 / 05 / 2009 Time: 14:23

Bethlehem - Ma’an - The Palestine Bureau of Statistics released a report on the 61st anniversary of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, on the status of the Palestinian population following their explusion from the Homeland in 1948.

The report found that the worldwide population of Palestinians has increased by a factor of seven since 1948, from 1.4 million to 10.6 million.

Of those 10.6 million the total number of Palestinians living in historic Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel and the Gaza Strip) reached 5.1 million by the end of 2008, the report said. The total Jewish population across the same area is 5.6million.

According to PCBS the Palestinian and Jewish populations in historic Palestine will be equal by 2016.

To read the complete report, visit:
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/desktopmodules/newsscrollEnglish/newsscrollView.aspx?ItemID=894&mID=11170

Ma'an: What's Happening at Kerem Shalom [Crossing]?

What's happening at Kerem Shalom?
Date: 10 / 05 / 2009 Time: 19:37

GAZA CITY, 10 May 2009 (IRIN) - Kerem Shalom is currently the only entry point for commercial and humanitarian goods from Israel into Gaza, and as such has become a life-line, but how does it work?

A small crossing without the facilities to allow large numbers of trucks to enter, Kerem Shalom lies inside Israel, 3km from the Gazan town of Rafah on the Egyptian border.

The only people authorised by Israel to physically access Kerem Shalom are employees of Shaiber Company, a private Gaza company with permission from Israel to access Kerem Shalom to retrieve imports. The company declined to comment.

The Gaza authorities cannot access Kerem Shalom. Israeli truck drivers dump pallets of goods in an open area and withdraw, and then Palestinian truck drivers from Gaza enter and retrieve the goods, according to senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad and Gaza traders.

Israeli authorities say they are using Kerem Shalom after closing the much larger and better equipped Karni crossing because of Palestinian attacks on Karni - which left several Israeli soldiers dead - several years ago.

No contact

"There is no contact between the Hamas government authorities and the Israeli authorities," said leading Gaza customs official Mohammed Shaer, stationed at Rafah, adding: "There are still a few officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah working to coordinate between the Ramallah government [in the West Bank] and Israel to allow the goods to enter Gaza."

There is also no contact between the Gaza finance ministry and relevant ministries under the PA in Ramallah, said Shaer.

"Kerem Shalom is completely controlled by Israel," said Al-Bayari, a field officer with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Fifteen trucks containing carnations are the total exports from Gaza this year."

There is no lighting and containers are prohibited on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom by Israel, according to the logistics cluster led by the World Food Programme.

"We cannot operate Kerem Shalom at night. If we put lights there, snipers can use this to fire against the crossing," Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror told IRIN.

"At Kerem Shalom there is no [physical] connection, we put all the goods in place and then the Palestinians pick them up."

Imports checked in Rafah

Empty Palestinian trucks are lined up from Rafah to Kerem Shalom, waiting to pick up any goods the Israeli authorities may allow through.

Once the Gazan trucks are loaded they trundle off to Rafah where Gaza government officials begin their intake process. There is no scanning equipment; officials check the documentation for each truck and its contents.

Palestinian traders pay taxes to Israel, and the Gaza government collects 14.5 percent value added tax (VAT) on the goods, Shaer said.

Gaza and the West Bank are treated as part of the same customs envelope by Israel, which collects the customs taxes and is supposed to remit them monthly to the PA in Ramallah, according to the Paris Protocol signed in conjunction with the Oslo Accords in 1994.

Import delays

A major trader in Gaza City who preferred anonymity said he was importing mainly electronics via Kerem Shalom "since shoes and clothing are not allowed to enter".

"Products sit at the crossing for weeks, exposed to the environment," said the trader. "The goods are often damaged and all the different pallets are thrown together on the ground. It takes at least a month for the goods to enter Gaza."

"The government in Ramallah coordinates with the Israeli authorities so I can get pharmaceuticals into Gaza," said Nader Shurrab, owner of Gaza Central Company, the largest pharmaceutical importer in Gaza.

Nader said it takes 4-6 weeks to schedule an appointment with the Israeli authorities to get permission for his trucks to go to Kerem Shalom to pick up his imported pharmaceuticals. "Fifty percent of the time my trucks are turned away."

There are five crossings into Gaza - four from Israel and one from Egypt. Rafah and Erez are passenger crossings; Nahal Oz is only for fuel; the Karni conveyor belt is only for wheat and animal feed.

Thirty-two product types allowed in

As of mid-April the Israeli authorities have been allowing 32 types of products to enter Gaza, said the Palestine Trade Centre (PalTrade) in Gaza.

According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT - under the Israeli Defence Ministry), in April, 92 percent of goods allowed to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom were food and hygiene products.

Construction material, spare parts, agricultural inputs including livestock, and IT equipment are on the banned list, according to OCHA.

"The deliveries are disorganised and irregular, and sometimes certain products are prohibited," said Shaer. "Shoes and wood have not entered Gaza in six months, and no livestock have entered since September 2008."

Israeli cabinet decision

The 22 March Israeli cabinet decision to lift restrictions on food items allowed to enter Gaza has yet to be implemented, reports the logistics cluster.

However, Israeli spokesman Dror stressed security concerns: "The restrictions on the types of food allowed to enter [Gaza] have been removed, but the issue is the amount of trucks that can pass [Kerem Shalom]. There are about 50 civilian workers, including truck drivers in the [Kerem Shalom] crossing and it is much easier to protect them by day. To operate the crossing is a calculated risk... Before the recent operation [27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009] Qassams were fired [by Palestinian militants] in the area, and post-operation there has been repeated mortar-fire and sniper-fire in the area [around Kerem Shalom]."

"Massive shortages"

"The lack of imports has halted over 90 percent of Gaza industries and created massive shortages of food and basic supplies," said Hamas's Hamad , who failed to mention the dozens of illegal tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, which however, provide only limited supplies due in part to a clampdown by the Egyptian authorities and damage by Israeli security forces .

"Medical supplies have priority [to enter Gaza], and secondly is food from international organisations. There is a government decision not to allow a humanitarian crisis to occur in Gaza," said Israeli spokesman Dror, adding: "The Palestinians come to us with requests [for certain imports to be allowed in] and we determine if it's necessary - like in the case of animal feed, we permitted it to enter, although it is not absolutely necessary."

"The Israeli authorities allow 80-110 trucks per day to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom," according to Hamad, though prior to June 2007, when Hamas won elections in Gaza, about 475 trucks entered Gaza from Israel daily, according to OCHA.

"In March and April, 33 percent of the trucks that entered Gaza contained humanitarian aid for the UN Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] and other international aid organisations, and about 70 percent [of the trucks carried goods] for the private sector," said Al-Bayari. "The amount of humanitarian aid increased after the war, and is now decreasing."

The Israeli standpoint is somewhat different: "The amount of trucks containing humanitarian aid has been consistent in March and April. There are no shortages of humanitarian aid or other supplies in Gaza. The situation can change, but it depends on Hamas, if they recognise that caring for civilians is their responsibility," Dror told IRIN.


***This item comes to from IRIN, the UN's humanitarian news service. The information in this article was not compiled by Ma'an's reporters and does not necessarily represent Ma'an's views.

If Americans Knew...

Please click on any statistic for the source and more information.

Statistics Last Updated: February 23, 2009

From: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed (September 29, 2000 - February 23, 2009)
123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,487 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israelis and Palestinians Killed (September 29, 2000 - February 23, 2009)
	1,072 Israelis and at least 6,348 Palestinians have been killed since September 29, 2000. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israelis and Palestinians Injured (September 29, 2000 - February 23, 2009)
8,864 Israelis and 39,019 Palestinians have been injured since September 29, 2000. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily U.S. Taxes to Israel and the Palestinians (Fiscal Year 2007)
	During Fiscal Year 2007, the U.S. gave more than $6.8 million per day to Israel and $0.3 million per day to the Palestinians. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UN Resolutions Targeting Israel and the Palestinians (1955 - 1992)
Israel has been targeted by at least 65 UN resolutions and the Palestinians have been targeted by none. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Number of Political Prisoners and Detainees
	1 Israeli is being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 10,756 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demolitions of Israeli and Palestinian Homes (1967 - Present)
0 Israeli homes have been demolished by Palestinians and 18,147 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel since 1967. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Israeli and Palestinian Unemployment Rates
	The Israeli unemployment rate is 7.3%, while the Palestinian unemployment is estimated at 23%. (View Source)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Illegal Settlements on the Other’s Land
Israel currently has 223 Jewish-only settlements and ‘outposts’ built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land. (View Source)

Settlements, Settlements & even more Settlements

Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003
by Amos Harel, Ha'aretz
07/05/09

West Bank construction has been accelerating for several months, putting Israel on a collision course with a U.S. administration taking a hard line on settlement expansion.

A new outpost, new roads, and other building projects have raced ahead in and around the settlements, often without legal permits, producing the biggest construction drive since 2003, according to Dror Etkes of the Israeli advocacy group Yesh Din. That group monitors construction in the West Bank.

The construction, which has sped up even more since Benjamin Netanyahu's government took office this spring, is to be a main issues in U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with Netanyahu at mid-month.

Vice President Joe Biden called on Israel on Tuesday to stop building in the settlements and to dismantle existing illegal outposts. However, left-wing groups monitoring events in the territories say the construction has accelerated in recent months, not halted.

Examples include the following:

Construction in outposts: Between Talmon and Nahliel, west of Ramallah, a stone house and another structure have been built without a permit, next to a vineyard set up by settlers a year and a half ago. The Israel Defense Forces' civil administration has recently issued an order to stop the project.

Illegal construction has been carried out on Palestinian land at the outposts Mitzpeh Ahiya and Adei-Ad, north of Ramallah. A mobile home has been set in an outpost near Susia south of Hebron. An outpost that was vacated near Hebron has been reinstated.

Construction east of the separation fence: New houses have been built in the Eli settlement, Rechelim, Ma'aleh Michmash and Kochav Hashahar (north and east of Ramallah). In addition, a neighborhood has been built in Na'ale, and there are at least 10 houses in Halamish and new houses in Talmon (all west of Ramallah).

Construction west of the planned fence route: Land has been prepared for building in the Kedar settlement, and 30 houses have been built in Ma'aleh Shomron. There is also a new neighborhood in both the Elkana and Zofim settlements.

Road construction and farmland: This has gone on near the Bracha settlement south of Nablus, near Tapuach, in the Eli and Shiloh area and in the Amona and Elazar settlements.

The accelerated construction stems mainly from the reduced supervision of events in the territories in the last stages of the Olmert government, while Netanyahu's right-wing government, part of which supports the construction, hasn't begun to address the issue.

The settlers also took advantage of the public and media attention's focus on Gaza during the IDF offensive in January to continue the settlements and outposts' expansion in the territories.

Israel is officially committed to the promise made by former prime minister Ariel Sharon to the Bush administration to evacuate all illegal outposts built after March 2001. But evacuations have been carried out languidly and with long intervals.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently reached an agreement with the settlers to evacuate the largest outpost, Migron, and transfer it to the nearby settlement Adam. But the agreement has yet to be implemented.

The Mitchell Report of May 2001 and the Bush administration's road map of 2003 called on Israel to halt all construction in the settlements. This implies stopping construction for natural growth as well. Israel, however, has never stopped this kind of construction.

Sharon's government reached a tacit agreement with the Bush administration to reduce construction east of the separation fence. Israel kept this promise until recently, when building resumed there as well, mostly without legal permits.

The extensive and often illegal construction west of the fence and in the large settlements has been going on continuously. The authorities have not tried to stop it even in cases of illegal construction, says Etkes.

The defense minister's bureau said Barak supports evacuating outposts not because of promises to the Americans but to maintain the rule of law. Every new outpost is evacuated immediately, Barak's aides said. The minister is not under the impression that the construction of illegal outposts and settlements has accelerated, they said.
----------------------------------------------------
Date: 04 May 2009
Time: 10:45 GMT

PCHR Strongly Condemns Israeli Plans to Confiscate 12,000 Donums of Palestinian Land in Order to Link the Illegal "Ma'ale Adumim" and "Qedar" Settlements

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of the Interior’s decision to expand the illegal West Bank settlement of “Ma’ale Adumim” and to confiscate 12,000 donums (12 million square meters) of Palestinian land.

In the context of policies aimed to establishing a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem – thereby consolidating its illegal annexation – the Israeli Minister of Interior, Elli Yishai, decided to adopt the recommendations of a special committee established by his ministry to link "Qedar" settlement with the larger "Ma'ale Adumim" settlement, east of Jerusalem. Under the Israeli Ministry of Interior's plan, at least 12,000 donums of Palestinian land will be annexed to "Ma'ale Adumim", linking it with the smaller "Qedar" settlement, which is located nearly 3 kilometers to the east. A few months ago, the Israeli media unveiled another plan to construct 6,000 new housing units in "Qedar" settlement. The implementation of these plans will disrupt geographical contiguity between the north and south West Bank, and will isolate Jerusalem from the West Bank as a whole. These decisions fundamentally undermine the viability of any future Palestinian State.

Israeli occupation authorities have recently started to establish a new settlement neighborhood in the densely Palestinian-populated al-Sawahra area, southeast of Jerusalem. They have also continued to undermine Palestinian construction in the city, in an effort to impose forced migration on the Palestinian population. Dozens of Palestinian families have been ordered to evacuate their homes under various pretexts, related to, inter alia, the lack of construction licenses and the construction of homes on lands allegedly owned by Israeli settlement associations. Recent orders targeted two floors constructed atop the Armenian Church in the Old Town, which was built more than 150 years ago.

International law explicitly prohibits the annexation of land consequent to the use of force (Article 47, Fourth Geneva Convention), a principle confirmed in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. International humanitarian law is unambiguous in this regard: occupation does not imply any right whatsoever to dispose of territory. Annexation is straightforwardly illegal.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention also explicitly prohibits the transfer and settlement of parts of the Occupying Power’s population in occupied territory. PCHR wish to highlight the underlying purpose of this provision, as noted in the authoritative commentary to the Geneva Conventions: “It is intended to prevent a practice adopted by during the Second World War by certain Powers, which transferred portions of their own population for political or racial reasons or in order … to colonize those territories. Such transfers worsened the economic situation of the native population and endangered their separate existence as a race.”

The United Nations estimate that there are currently between 480,000 and 550,000 illegal settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

PCHR strongly condemns all Israeli policies and measures aimed at consolidating the annexation of occupied East Jerusalem, and:

1) Emphasizes that East Jerusalem is an integral part of Palestinian territories that have been occupied since the 1967 war.

2) Asserts that measures taken by Israeli occupation forces following the occupation of the city, especially the Israeli Knesset's decisions on 28 June 1967 to annex the city to Israeli territory and on 30 July 1980 declaring that the “complete and united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel”, and the decision to expand the boundaries of Jerusalem, violate international law and United Nations resolutions.

3) Stresses that all decisions, plans and measures implemented by Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied city do not alter the legal status of the city.

In light of the above:

1) PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties, individually and collectively, to fulfill their legal and moral obligation under article 1 of the Convention to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the OPT.

2) PCHR believes that international silence serves to encourage Israel to act as a state above the law and to continue violating international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

3) PCHR calls upon the international community to immediately act to force the Israeli government to stop all settlement activities in the OPT, especially in occupied East Jerusalem.
4) PCHR calls upon the European Union and/or its State members to activate article 2 of the Euro-Israeli Association Agreement, which affirm Israel's respect for human rights as a condition for continue economic cooperation. PCHR calls also upon State members of the European Union to boycott Israeli goods, especially those produced in illegal Israeli settlements established in the OPT.

End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law

Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights Organisations Release Joint Fact Sheet Calling for an End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law

On 2 March 2009, major international donors convened in Sharm al-Sheikh to collectively respond to the destruction caused by Israel’s 23 day military offensive on the Gaza Strip. During the conference, a total of $4.5 billion was pledged in reconstruction funds for Gaza. In light of the extensive destruction across the Gaza Strip, especially the destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure, reconstruction is urgent.

However, as Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, we must note that by agreeing to reconstruction without specific, binding assurances from the State of Israel, international donors are effectively underwriting Israel’s illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). International law – including, international human rights law, international humanitarian law (IHL), and the law of state responsibility for wrongful acts – places specific, binding obligations on the State of Israel (based, inter alia, on its duties as an Occupying Power) with respect to the maintenance and development of normal life in occupied territory. By repeatedly restricting their action to providing aid, without holding Israel accountable for its specific obligations, international donors are relieving Israel of its legally binding responsibilities.

Individual donor States – as High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions – are under an obligation to ensure respect for the Conventions at all times. They are also bound by international law which prohibits complicity in internationally wrongful acts. By repeatedly covering the cost of the occupation, without demanding accountability from Israel, the international community is implicitly encouraging violations of international law perpetrated by Israeli forces in occupied territory: individual donor States may thus be acting contrary to their own legal obligations.

We are concerned that such action negatively impacts upon respect for the rule of law, and is in violation of States’ legal obligations. Ultimately, the continuation of this policy may reduce the protections afforded to civilian populations, further exposing them to violations of the laws of war.

The legal and contextual situation relating to this issue has been outlined in a joint fact sheet, ‘Human Rights Organisations Call for an End to International Donor Complicity in Israeli Violations of International Law’, released today.

As human rights organisations we are calling for international donors to demand specific, concrete assurances from the State of Israel. These assurances, and the political will necessary to ensure their compliance, must form an integral part of international assistance to the Palestinian people. As the responsible party, Israel must accept the consequences of its actions. As illustrated in the fact sheet, the State of Israel is subject to explicit legal obligations: it bears the responsibility for reconstructing and maintaining the Gaza Strip. Bank rolling the occupation without demanding an end to its violations is equivalent to tacit complicity on the part of the international community

Reconstruction aid must be accompanied by strict conditions and assurances from the State of Israel. Otherwise, the taxpayers of the international community will continue to support an endless cycle of aid-destruction-aid-reconstruction. The Palestinian people will continue to suffer at the hands of a brutal and illegal occupation.

International assistance is most appropriate at the political level. It has become increasingly evident that international aid alone cannot resolve the conflict. In order to facilitate long-term development and recovery, political will and political action are required. All potential avenues that accord with humanitarian and human rights law must be pursued in order to ensure the State of Israel's compliance with international law. We call on the taxpayers of the international community to exert pressure on their governments, to lobby on behalf of the rights of the Palestinian people, and to ensure that their money is no longer wasted by governments willing to fund a school but not willing to take action in response to that school’s destruction, or to ensure that the cement necessarily for its reconstruction is permitted to enter Gaza.

Signed on behalf of:

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)

Al Dameer Association for Human Rights

Al Haq

Al Mezan

BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP)

Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

ITTIJAH – Union of Arab Community Based Organisations

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR)

Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI)

Women’s Affairs Centre (WAC)

Israel at 61: Denial of Catastrophe is at the root of the 'conflict'

http://rabble.ca/news/2009/04/israel-61-denial-catastrophe-root-conflict

Israel at 61: Denial of Catastrophe is at the root of the 'conflict'

By Lia Tarachansky

| April 30, 2009

As we celebrate the sixty-first anniversary of the creation of our state, Palestinians commemorate their Catastrophe, al-Nakba in Arabic. After all these years, it is time for us to recognize what has happened, and continues to happen in our name, and by hour hands.

Our national denial of the events of 1948, of the dispossession of at least 418 Palestinian villages, is at the root of our so-called conflict. Many historians have uncovered what has actually happened, though the Israeli state and its educational system refuse to change the denial narrative.

Until it is recognized, no peace talks can take place in good faith. Maram Massarweh, a Palestinian descendent of survivors of the 1948 expulsion from al-Haram (Sidna Ali) illuminates this in a testimony to Zochrot, an Israeli organization dedicated to the commemoration of the uncovered events of that year.

“This denial has been the method chosen by Jewish society to cope with the story of the Nakba in general.” She then poses two questions we have been running away from for more than six decades. “Is Israeli-Jewish society so immersed in its own pain that it is emotionally unavailable to deal with or acknowledge the suffering of others? Is there a competition here on degrees of pain, as if pain is a monopoly, or has the right to be a victim been appropriated?” I hope not.

Al-Nakba, I think, is not the right term. At least not for the Israelis. I agree with historian Ilan Pappe, who in a 2006 article wrote, “The term Nakba does not directly imply any reference to who is behind the catastrophe -- anything can cause the destruction of Palestine, even the Palestinians themselves. Not so when the term ethnic cleansing is used. It implies an accusation and reference to the culprits of/for the events that took place not only in the past but happen also in the present.”

On November 4, 1995, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right wing Jewish Israeli for “compromising” with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over the Oslo Accords.

While their historic handshake may have win them the Nobel Peace Prize, illegal Jewish settlements continued to expand in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Rabin has thus become remembered as Israel’s most “dovish” leader, but in early July 1948, he gave Moshe Dayan the order to expel the Palestinians of al-Lydd and the surrounding Ramla region.

Today, al-Lydd doesn’t exist. Its symbols and names have been erased and replaced. It is renamed Lod and is a Jewish-majority town with a large Arab minority of 1948 refugees, most from neighbouring areas.

In school, we were taught that in April 1948, surrounding Arab nations went on the offensive against the Jews and that we miraculously withstood their wrath in an attempt to “drive us into the sea,” thus creating the State of Israel.

In The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe draws a different picture. Writing on the Arab League Army, he notes that, “In general, the [ALA] adopted a defensive policy and focused on organizing the people's fortification lines in cooperation with the national committees.”

Another Israeli claim is that the infant country was faced with massive militaries, but Pappe illustrates that by the end of May, 1948 (only nine days after Israel declared itself independent) this wasn’t the case. Thanks to arms deals with the USSR and the Eastern Bloc, he reports Israel “possessed artillery unmatched not only by the Arab troops inside Palestine, but by all the Arab Armies put together.”

Instead, Pappe goes on to illustrate how David Ben Gurion, the leader of the pre-state Jewish Agency, and Israel’s first Prime Minister developed a plan by which the Jewish militant forces, Haganah, Irgun, and Palmach, would ethnically cleanse the areas the Agency coveted for a Jewish State by force. They were nearly entirely successful.

Al-Lydd wasn’t a tough fight for the Israeli forces. Roughly 5000 faced-off with a resistance of 1500 local men who surrendered after a few short hours.

Al-Lydd was the sight of one of the first Israeli air bombardment. It was also the site of the biggest massacre of the war. The Israeli troops left behind them a depopulated town, and 426 dead men, women and children. One hundred and seventy-six were machine gunned in a mosque for attempting to resist the expulsion.

Another Israeli historian, Benny Morris, argues this expulsion was strategically calculated to secure to route from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Today, driving along this route, one can still see rusting tanks on the countryside.

Turning the truth upside down “is typical for a young nation, and it's part of nation-building, that the establishment would try to shape history and dictate history, and provide some kind of national mythology,” says Tom Segev, Israeli historian and journalist. It is time we turn the truth right side up.

In 1948, as Israeli forces expelled the residents of al-Lydd, they set them marching East, towards the West Bank and Jordan. Hundreds died on the way. Today, ethnic cleansing in Israel is far less dramatic, and far more systemic and invisible.

Through legal tools (such as the Building and Planning Law), Israel has institutionalized the restriction of housing sales to Arab citizens in Jewish areas. It prevents Arabs from building homes by denying them building permits, and if they build regardless, demolishes them. Since 1967, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions reports that 24,145 houses have been demolished in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Last year, on the 60th anniversary of 1948 the Committee’s founder and director, Jeff Halper, asked, “Can we really expect to 'win?' To frustrate the Palestinian aspirations for freedom in their homeland forever? And if we do, what kind of society will we have, what will our children inherit?”

Back in Lod, a Palestinian municipal council member, Aaraf Muharab, attempts to answer this question in his testimony to Zochrot. “Jews here think that they are continuing the path of [Zionism founder, Theodor] Hertzel … You're talking here about a demographic problem and that is the basis of racism. If Jews don't relate to the Nakba as a one-time event, maybe they will understand what is happening today."

A peace agreement cannot begin to take shape until the systemic denial of history is reversed. As our first Prime Minister put it, "If I were an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. This is natural, as we have taken their country. There has been anti-Semitism, Nazis, but was that their fault? They see only one thing, we have come here and stolen their country, why should they accept that?"

In another 1948 testimony to Zochrot, Ziyad Mahajneh, a survivor of the al-Lujjan expulsion makes a plea that brings to mind a metaphor once told to me by an indigenous Haudenosaunee woman in Canada. She described the white man’s occupation of North America as a guest who entered her home, but then took over the living room. He then took over her kitchen, and bedroom, until her family was forced to live in the moldy basement. The white man would then store his garbage in the basement, and so her family developed illnesses. When they protested and sued, the white man’s courts forced him to build floors and refurnish the basement. When he was done, he demanded her family be grateful for all he has done for them. But in the end of the day -- the garbage was never thrown out, and her family is left living in the moldy basement of the home they once knew.

“I imagine that my plot there is a few tens of dunums, or a few hundreds maybe, because my father had six sons,” says Mahajneh. “But take everything. Give me just a room.”

Today, Israel’s idea of a room for Palestinians is a seemingly never-ending project of ethnic cleansing. It takes shape in the form of a fragmented West Bank, divided by Jewish settlements and ethnically restricted roads.

This cannot change until Israel admits the house it occupies must be shared.


Lia Tarachansky is a producer and journalist for The Real News Network. She grew up on a Jewish Settlement in the West Bank, and today reports from Washington D.C.