African World
Ethnic Cleansing in
Worry... It's Happening Now
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.,
BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor
BlackCommentator
May 7, 2009
http://www.blackcommentator.com/323/323_aw_ethnic_cleaning_east_jerusalem.html
The Israeli government often reminds me of a dog I once
owned. My dog was forbidden to enter into the living
room. Nevertheless, she would creep into the living
room, usually moving a few inches at a time in order to
see whether we reacted. If we did not react, she would
move further into the living room. Sometimes, when she
was in the mood, she would move so far into the living
room that she would feel comfortable tearing apart the furniture.
A recently released United Nations report confirms what
many human rights activists have alleged: at least
60,000 Palestinians in
of eviction by Israeli authorities. Yet this story has
received relatively little mainstream attention, and
even less official condemnation.
Ever since the Israelis captured
June 1967 war they have made clear their intent,
despite widespread international protest and in clear
violation of international law, to annex
order to expedite this annexation, the Israeli
occupation authorities have put pressure on the
Palestinians to "vacate the premises." The pressure has
included actions such as encouraging Israelis to settle
in what had been Palestinian
failing to build new and adequate housing for the
Palestinian people.
The current trick of the Israeli government is to move
against Palestinian residents by claiming that the
Palestinians are living in homes that show no proof of
a legal building permit. What is perverse about this is
that the Israelis are not talking about housing built
in the last several years or even housing built since
the June 1967 war. They are discussing housing that has
been occupied by Palestinians in many cases for
decades! In fact, according to the
2, 2009] the dispute even involves searching through
archives from the time of the
ended when World War I ended in 1918) in order to prove ownership.
The Israeli government, of course, denies that they
have any intent to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian
population. How could they, of course, given that they
are supposed to be the model of democracy in the Middle
East??!! The reality is that what the Israeli
government has been conducting in
part of the larger Israeli strategy in its Occupation
of the Palestinian territories: drive the Palestinians
from the best lands and replace them with Israeli
settlers. Insofar as the world does nothing, the
Israeli government behaves much as my dog did; it moves
further and further in, increasing the intensity and
scope of their destructive behavior.
It should surprise no one that the Israelis are
attempting to remove the Palestinian population from
war. The extent of the projected removal - 60,000
people - should, however, outrage any democratic minded
person. Irrespective of one's stand on the history of
the development of
Palestinians, the fact of the matter is that the
Israeli government continues to violate international
law and precedent without having to fear any sort of
international sanctions.
The proposed removal of 60,000 Palestinians increases
the relevance and timeliness of discussions regarding
the need to develop a movement of boycott, divestment
and sanctions aimed at undermining the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories. Since it
seems obvious that most governments, including but not
limited to the
steps to insist upon justice for the Palestinians, then
pressure needs to be brought about by squeezing
corporations and governments that are complicit in the
criminal activities of the Israeli government.
Silence in the face of ethnic cleansing is simply
unacceptable. The Israeli government and its friends
must understand that there is a cost involved when it
snubs its nose at the Palestinian people, and in fact,
at the world as well.
________________
BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher,
Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy
Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica
Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis
in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice
(
crisis of organized labor in the
advisory board of the
Occupation (http://www.endtheoccupation.org/).
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