Case Studies in Israeli Ethnic Cleansing
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Creation of Israel was a study in ethnic cleansing on a horrific scale, transforming historic Palestine into a Jewish state.
The lives and welfare of its indigenous inhabitants were irreparably disrupted, a massive refugee population created internally and abroad, largely in neighboring states - one of history’s great crimes.
Days earlier, Israel’s High Court OK’d the unlawful ethnic cleansing of an entire community - Khan al-Ahmar School, its 32 families with 173 men, women and children to be forcibly expelled from their homes.
They were uprooted in the 1950s, later to make way for the illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement, now again from their current location.
Community members have been viciously harassed by Israeli authorities - denied access to electricity, water and other essential services.
Israel intends demolishing their homes, a school and other structures, expelling their residents, a high crime against humanity to go unpunished - the way it always is for Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Silwan is an Arab village adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City. Batan al-Hawa is one of its neighborhoods, home to 700 Palestinians.
Ownership of their land was illegitimately given to a Jewish trust, established long ago to provide homes for Yemeni Jews in Jerusalem.
The jealously Zionist Ateret Cohanim NGO controls the trust today, involved in encouraging displacement of Palestinians to make way for Jews.
During a Sunday Supreme Court hearing, Israeli state’s attorney Netta Oren admitted not investigating the trust or long ago outdated Ottoman-era law pertaining to it before land was transferred for settlement construction.
Settlements are flagrantly illegal. Using a late 19th century law to justify removal of Palestinians for Jewish occupancy is one of many examples of how far Israel will go to achieve maximum Jews and minimum Arabs.
Dozens have already been evicted from their own land in their own community. Others are contesting in Israeli courts.
Scores of Silwan village residents attended Sunday’s Supreme Court hearing, petitioning against the illegal decision to permit trust control over their land.
Oren argued against the petition on the dubious grounds of late filing and providing insufficient information, blaming Palestinians for failing to be aware of an illegal land transfer to trust ownership they knew nothing about.
Hundreds of affected Palestinians have been living on their land for decades, at risk of eviction based on a flawed decision having no legitimacy.
Israeli authorities knew about the mistake years earlier. Instead of preventing mass dispossession of Palestinians, they conspired with the Ateret Cohanim trust against them.
It’s unclear how High Court justices will rule, most often supporting wrong over right on issues affecting Palestinians.
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
