In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying

In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying

independent.co.uk< br />

In the richest of the Occupied lands, Israeli bureaucracy is driving Palestinians out of their homes.

Area C doesn't sound very ominous. A land of stone-sprinkled grey hills and soft green valleys, it's part of the wreckage of the equally wrecked Oslo Agreement, accounting for 60 per cent of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was eventually supposed to be handed over to its Palestinian inhabitants.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 30-1-2010 by December_Rain]

[edit on 30-1-2010 by December_Rain]

Few highlights from the article:

Palestinian houses that cannot be permitted to stand, roofs that must be taken down, wells closed, sewage systems demolished; in one village, I even saw a primitive electricity system in which Palestinians must sink their electrical poles cemented into concrete blocks standing on the surface of the dirt road. To place the poles in the earth would ensure their destruction – no Palestinian can dig a hole more than 40cm below the ground.

And as Mr Kasab puts it, that's the least of his problems. Palestinian requests to build houses are either delayed for years or refused; houses built without permission are ruthlessly torn down; corrugated iron roofs have to be camouflaged with plastic sheets in the hope the "Civil Administration" won't deem them an extra floor – in which case "Ro'i's" lads will be round to rip the lot off the top of the house.

In Area C, there are up to 150,000 Palestinians and 300,000 Jewish colonists living – illegally under international law – in 120 official settlements and 100 "unapproved" settlements or, in the language we must use these days, "illegal outposts"; illegal under Israeli as well as international law, that is – as opposed to the 120 internationally illegal colonies which are legal under Israeli law. Jewish settlers, needless to say, don't have problems with planning permission.

A drive along the wild roads of Area C – from the outskirts of Jerusalem to the semi-humid basin of the Jordan valley – runs through dark hills and bare, stony valleys lined with deep, ancient caves, until, further east, lie the fields of the Palestinians and the Jewish settlers' palm groves – electrified fences round the groves – and the mud or stone huts of Palestinian sheep farmers. This paradise is a double illusion. One group of inhabitants, the Israelis, may remember their history and live in paradise. The smaller group, the Palestinian Arabs, are able to look across these wonderful lands and remember their history – but they are already out of paradise and into limbo.

Even the western NGOs working in Area C find their work for Palestinians blocked by the Israelis. This is not just a "hitch" in the "peace process" – whatever that is – but an international scandal. Oxfam, for example, asked the Israelis for a permit to build a 300m2 capacity below-ground reservoir along with 700m of underground 4in pipes for the thousands of Palestinians living around Jiftlik. It was refused. They then gave notice that they intended to construct an above-ground installation of two glass-fibre tanks, an above-ground pipe and booster pump. They were told they would need a permit even though the pipes were above ground – and they were refused a permit. As a last resort, Oxfam is now distributing rooftop water tanks.

I came across an even more outrageous example of this apartheid-by-permit in the village of Zbeidat, where the European Union's humanitarian aid division installed 18 waste water systems to prevent the hamlet's vile-smelling sewage running through the gardens and across the main road into the fields. The £80,000 system – a series of 40ft shafts regularly flushed out by sewage trucks – was duly installed because the location lay inside Area B, where no planning permission was required.

Yet now the aid workers have been told by the Israelis that work "must stop" on six of the 18 shafts – a prelude to their demolition, although already they are already built beside the road – because part of the village stands in Area C. Needless to say, no one – neither Palestinians nor Israelis – knows the exact borderline between B and C. Thus around £20,000 of European money has been thrown away by the Israeli "Civil Administration".

Along one road, I discovered a series of large concrete blocks erected by the Israeli army in front of Palestinian shacks. "Danger – Firing Area" was printed on each in Hebrew, Arabic and English. "Entrance Forbidden." What are the Palestinians living here supposed to do? Area C, it should be added, is the richest of the occupied Palestinian lands, with cheese production and animal farms. Many of the 5,000 souls in Jiftlik have been refugees already, their families fled lands to the west of Jerusalem – in present-day Israel – in 1947 and 1948. Their tragedy has not yet ended, of course. What price Palestine?

If this is not Apartheid I don't know what is. Israel continues to show it has freezed settlement to outside world but infact it hasn't. The Apartheid has continued for so long right in front of World Power's, it's shameful.

independent.co.uk< br /> (visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 30-1-2010 by December_Rain]

[edit on 30-1-2010 by December_Rain]

Don't bother telling the tide not to come, it works on a different level.

The entire history of the world has been one thing dying and being consumed by another thing. Its not just on a biological scale. One territory dies to be consumed by another, its the expansion of the Chinese Empire, Russia, America, Europe, and so on. If that wasn't the way then we'd still mark Assyria on our maps and it would still be a country, the only difference is that today we're so interconnected with "what affects you affects me" or "since you won't do anything I will" and it all doesn't work.

This is just what happens, you think the Romans liked having their Empire broken up? Doubt it. How about the indigenous people of South America as the Spanish cleaved their territories apart with the sword? They didn't like it. How about being forced out of a land by Romans and spreading across the continents? Yeah, people can get touchy on that topic. Just like the topic of moving back in.

If you caught that last comment and you start flaming me, don't bother hitting reply since your words won't do anything. You can say what you want but unless you're actually there trying to find an amicable solution, you're just wasting everybody's time.

Originally posted by Dnevnoi
One territory dies to be consumed by another, its the expansion of the Chinese Empire, Russia, America, Europe, and so on.

Very true, can anyone name one country that was not conquered and taken over by another?

reply to post by dereks


Mesopotamia? I don't know, that seems like a pretty good guess.

Mesopotamia was a long time ago so it may fit the description of non-conquered territory since there was nothing there to begin with (to our knowledge)

reply to post by Dnevnoi


If people have moved out in history, then there are other examples too of crimes being stopped in it's tracks in history such as stopping of Nazi Germany expansion, ouster of British colonization from India, end of Apartheid in S. Africa etc. Committing crimes on basis of story books is no excuse and will remain as a crime. On the contrary, I myself am devoting my own time bringing attention to the plight of region and crimes, it's not wastage for me.

[edit on 1-2-2010 by December_Rain]

Here is a decent BBC documentary on this.

Originally posted by December_Rain

If people have moved out in history, then there are other examples too of crimes being stopped in it's tracks in history such as stopping of Nazi Germany expansion, ouster of British colonization from India, end of Apartheid in S. Africa etc.

Still, letting all the unpunished war crimes and crimes against humanity go unpunished makes precedents. Let's say Israel wipes out a couple million people, is it a war crime? I don't know, Japan got away with it from World War II.

When Israeli fighters soar across Gaza, aid still gets through the borders and journalists are safe. When Soviet fighters soared across Chechnya, no aid got through and journalists were at constant risk of deliberate action against them. No prosecution for the country that flattened an entire city yet you're willing to go after a small strip of land that hits a few blocks? That's certainly fair.

Committing crimes on basis of story books is no excuse and will remain as a crime. On the contrary, I myself am devoting my own time bringing attention to the plight of region and crimes, it's not wastage for me.

[edit on 1-2-2010 by December_Rain]

Story books? What are these story books you talk of? Do you mean history books are fake? Just like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? Surely you must be incorrect. I guess the Atlanteans really did start civilization.

Its clear that your mind is already made up, you see the heads so I guess I'll have to see the tails to make you view the edge. I clearly can't so I'll have to cite Mazzi and Sneakas of Most Hated to illustrate this issue. Two sides to every story.



In the words of Mazzi and Sneakas: Shalom and Salaam.

[edit on 1-2-2010 by Dnevnoi]

Originally posted by Dnevnoi
Still, letting all the unpunished war crimes and crimes against humanity go unpunished makes precedents. Let's say Israel wipes out a couple million people, is it a war crime? I don't know, Japan got away with it from World War II.

Actually not only Japan but lot of countries got away with it. That being said, crime is still a crime. The countries that got away with it nothing can be done about that but the crimes being committed in present can be dealt with and should be.

When Israeli fighters soar across Gaza, aid still gets through the borders and journalists are safe.

Not as per the journalists and peace activists. I am sure a normal search can show you how many peace activist and reporters have been killed by IDF. It will also show you that Israel severely restricts International reporters from visiting Palestine. A normal search will also show how Aid is severely restricted from Gaza and just last month Israel also started removing aid relief workers and restricted issuing visas to them. I won't bother posting links as I have done it numerous times on ATS.

Story books? What are these story books you talk of? Do you mean history books are fake? Just like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? Surely you must be incorrect. I guess the Atlanteans really did start civilization. @@

Nope, story books = religious books aka fantasy books.