- Israel's population today is about 7,150,000. About 5.4
million are Jews (76%) plus another 400,000 Jewish settlers in over 200
expanding settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank that
includes Palestinian East Jerusalem. They're the chosen ones afforded full
rights and privileges under the laws of the Jewish state for Jews alone.
-
- Palestinian Arabs are another story. Their population
is around 5.3 million (plus six million or more in the Palestinian diaspora).
Around 3.9 million live in occupied Gaza and the West Bank, and another
1.4 million are Jewish citizens of Israel (20% of the population), including
about 260,000 classified as internally displaced. Palestinians get no rights
afforded Jews even though those inside Israel are citizens of the Jewish
state, have passports and IDs, and can vote in Knesset elections for what
good it does them. They're subjected to constant abuse and neglect, are
confined to 2% of the land plus 1% more for agricultural use, and are treated
disdainfully as nonpersons.
-
- Arab Israeli citizens live mainly in all-Arab towns and
villages in three heartlands - the Galilee in the north; what's called
the "Little Triangle" in the center that runs along the Israeli
side of the Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank; and the Negev
desert region in the country's south. These communities aren't geographically
consolidated and are surrounded by established Jewish communities, hostile
to Arab neighbors, and with Israel's full military might backing them.
A minority of Palestinians also live uneasily in mixed Jewish-Arab cities
like Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Jerusalem in the West Bank and others.
-
- The Plight of Palestinian Nonpersons in "Unrecognized
Villages"
-
- The term is Orwellian in its worst sense. How can something
real not officially exist? Around 150,000 or more (accurate numbers are
hard to come by) Palestinian Arabs today live in over 100 so-called "unrecognized
villages," mainly in the Galilee and the Negev desert. They're unrecognized
because their inhabitants are considered internal refugees who were forced
to flee their original homes during Israel's 1948 "War of Independence"
and were prevented from returning when it ended.
-
- These villages were delegitimized by Israel's 1965 Planning
and Construction Law that established a regulatory framework and national
plan for future development. It zoned land for residential, agriculture
and industrial use, forbade unlicensed construction, banned it on agricultural
land, and stipulated where Israeli Jews and Palestinians could live. That's
how apartheid worked in South Africa.
-
- Existing communities are circumscribed on a map with
blue lines around them. Areas inside the lines can be developed. Those
outside cannot. For Jewish communities, great latitude is allowed for future
expansion, and new communities are added as a result. In contrast, Palestinian
areas are severely constricted leaving no room for expansion. Their land
was reclassified as agricultural meaning no new construction is allowed.
This meant entire communities became "unrecognized" and all homes
and buildings there declared illegal, even the 95% of them built before
the 1965 law passed. They're subject to demolition and inhabitant displacement
at the whim of Israeli officials. They want new land for Jews and freely
take it from Arab owners, helpless to stop it.
-
- All Israeli public land is administered by the Israel
Land Authority (ILA) that has a legal obligation to treat all its citizens
fairly. Instead and with impunity, it serves Jewish interests only using
various methods to do it. It restricts and prohibits Palestinian land development
by:
-
- -- putting large Arab areas under its control through
the creation of regional councils;
-
- -- zoning restrictions mentioned above;
-
- -- transferring public land adjacent to Arab communities
to Jewish National Fund (JNF) ownership that mandates it's only for Jews;
-
- -- connecting the cost of leasing land to military service
that discriminates against Palestinians not required to serve and almost
none do;
-
- -- declaring national priority town areas for Jews only;
-
- -- delaying, restricting and prohibiting local development
in Arab communities;
-
- -- ignoring Arab needs in regional and national plans;
-
- -- allowing Palestinians little or no representation
on national planning committees;
-
- -- enforcing a policy of forced evictions and demolitions
of buildings without appropriate permits. In "unrecognized villages,"
no permits are allowed Palestinians on their own land. Entire villages
thus face prosecution in the courts and loss of their homes, land and possessions
through a state-sponsored policy to remove them judicially.
-
- It gets worse. No new Palestinian communities are allowed,
and existing "unrecognized villages" are denied essential municipal
services like clean drinking water, electricity, roads, transport, sanitation,
education, healthcare, postal and telephone service, refuse removal and
more because under the Planning and Construction Law they're illegal. The
toll on their people is devastating:
-
- -- clean water is unavailable almost everywhere unless
people have access to well water,
-
- -- the few available health services are inadequate,
-- many homes have no bathrooms, and no permits are allowed to build them,
-
- -- only villages with private generators have electricity
enough for lighting only,
-
- -- no village is connected to the main road network,
-
- -- some villages are fenced in prohibiting their residents
from access to their traditional lands,
-
- -- in the North, only one school remains open and children
must travel 10 - 15 kilometers to attend another; as a result, achievement
levels are low and dropout rates high.
-
- It's worse still when home demolitions are ordered. It
may stipulate Palestinians must do it themselves or be fined for contempt
of court and face up to a year in prison. They may also have to cover the
cost when Israeli bulldozers do it under a system of convoluted justice
penalizing Palestinians twice over.
-
- Discriminatory Israeli Law
-
- Israel is a signatory to the 1966 International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Its Preamble states "the obligation
of (signatory) States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote
universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and freedom."
It then covers what states must observe in 53 Articles that stipulate the
following:
-
- -- "All people have the right of self-determination."
-
- -- "Each state party....undertakes to respect and
ensure to all individuals within its territory the rights in this Covenant,
without distinction of any kind" for any reason.
-
- -- "Every human being has the inherent right to
life," to "be protected by law," and no activity may be
undertaken to destroy any rights and freedom covered under this Covenant.
-
- -- "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
-
- -- "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest
or detention."
-
- -- "Everyone....within the territory (shall) have
the right to liberty of movement and freedom to chose his residence (and)
to be free to leave any country (and not be) deprived of the right to enter
(or return to) his own country."
-
- -- "All persons shall be equal before the courts
and tribunals."
-
- -- "Everyone shall have the right to recognition
everywhere as a person before the law."
-
- -- "All persons are equal before the law and are
entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law."
-
- -- In states with "ethnic, religious or linguistic
minorities (those persons) shall not be denied the (same) right(s)....as
the other members."
-
- In Israel, for all intents and purposes, the ICCPR is
a nonstarter. It applies to Jews alone, not to Arabs and other non-Jews.
Israeli laws allow it by subjecting non-Jews, and specifically Arabs, to
three types of discrimination:
-
- -- legal direct discrimination guaranteeing Jews alone
the right to immigrate and become citizens; it also gives various Jewish
organizations in the country quasi-government status serving Jews only.
-
- -- indirect discrimination through "neutral"
laws and criteria applying principally to Palestinians; government preferences
and benefits are predicated on prior military service most Palestinians
don't perform; the categorization of the country into preferential zones
for Jews provides them privileges and benefits denied Palestinians.
-
- -- institutional discrimination through a legal framework
facilitating a pattern of privileges afforded Jews only; they're allocated
through budgets and resources showing preferential treatment for Jews and
discrimination against Palestinians; Israeli courts enforce the bias by
refusing to hear cases where Palestinians claim their rights have been
denied;
-
- -- even when courts hear cases and rule favorably, Palestinians
get only crumbs; an example was in the early September Supreme Court decision
that Israel reroute part of its illegal apartheid wall and return a small
portion of stolen land to the people of Bil'in; a far greater issue was
ignored by allowing the illegal Modiin Illit settlement on Bil'in land
to remain intact; for anti-occupation Gush Shalom, the court decision message
to settlers is do as you please, build fast and expect court approval retrospectively.
-
- Israel professes to be a democracy. It is not by any
reasonable standard. It defines itself as a Jewish state which contradicts
its claimed democratic credentials. It treats Jews preferentially and entitles
them to special consideration denied non-Jews who are discriminated against
as second-class citizens and denied comparable rights.
-
- Israel has no formal constitution and instead is governed
by its Basic Laws that before 1992 guaranteed no basic rights. That year,
the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom passed authorizing the Knesset
to overturn laws contrary to the right to dignity, life, freedom, privacy,
property and to leave and enter the country. The law states "There
shall be no violation of the life, body or dignity of any person. All persons
are entitled to protection" of these rights, and "There shall
be no deprivation or restriction of the liberty of a person by imprisonment,
arrest, extradition or otherwise."
-
- For a nation committed to violence, the irony is particularly
galling that a section of the Basic Law also deals with "The Right
to Life and Limb in Israeli Law." It states "Israeli law has
abolished the death penalty for murder (and corporal punishment)."
It notes this penalty exists in principle but only under limited circumstances
such as for treason during war and under the Law for the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide. It further notes Israel's 1998 Good Samaritan Law
requires assistance be given in situations "of immediate and severe
danger to another." Omitted from the Basic Law is the right to equality
so all rights in it apply to Jews only.
-
- Palestinian Arabs have none, yet can stand for public
office in the Knesset. Some do, a few are elected but have no power beyond
a public stage to state their views and be shouted down or ignored. They're
also constrained by the 1992 Law of Political Parties and section 7A(1)
of the Basic Law that prohibits candidates for office from denying "the
existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people."
No candidate may challenge the fundamental Jewish character of the state
or demand equal rights, privileges and justice under the law for Arabs
and Jews. The essential Zionist identity is inviolable, the rule of law
works for Jews alone, and Palestinians are denied all rights, equal treatment
and justice under a legal system for Jews that discriminates against Arab
Muslims. In South Africa it was called apartheid.
-
- The Current Plight of Palestinian Israeli Citizens in
the Negev
-
- About half the 160,000 Bedouin Arabs today face forced
displacement in the Negev. Why? Because they live in dozens "unrecognized
villages" making their homes illegal under Israeli law. They face
imprisonment and fines if they refuse to leave so their land can be cleared,
homes demolished, and the area Judaised for a Negev development plan. It's
described as "A Miracle in the Desert" that aims to populate
the area with a half million new Jewish residents in the next decade. Plans
are for 25 new communities and 100,000 homes on cleared Bedouin lands.
For the past two years, Israel has been ethnically cleansing the Negev
and erasing Bedouin villages to make it possible.
-
- All Bedouin Arabs in "unrecognized villages"
face what those living in Tawil Abu Jarwal endured in January. The entire
village was destroyed when the Israeli military (IDF), a large police contingent
and special task forces, a helicopter and bulldozers came in January 9.
They demolished all 21 of its homes that consisted of shacks, brick rooms
and tents. It followed a month earlier assault when 17 other homes were
destroyed and their residents forcibly displaced. The people became homeless,
and 63 of them in January were children. In late 2006, Israel's interior
minister, Roni Bar-On, announced his intention to destroy all 42,000 "illegal
structures" in the Negev in a bandit declaration of planned forced
ethnic cleansing against people helpless to stop it.
-
- It's happening in Al-Sadir, Tel-Arad, Amara-Tarabin and
on June 25 to Bedouin families in the small villages of Um al-Hiran and
Atir that are homes to about 1000 people. Hundreds of police and Israeli
security forces destroyed over 20 of their homes to make way for a Jewish
community called Hiran to replace them. People living in them lost everything
including their possessions they had no chance to remove. Haaretz reported
Atir villagers lived there for 51 years after being transferred to the
area in 1956 under martial law. The article continued saying the Israeli
Regional Council of "Unrecognized Villages" will move displaced
families to a refugee camp in the center of Jerusalem (where Bedouins don't
wish to live) "as part of the government's (forced ethnic cleansing)
relocation project" to make the "desert bloom" for new Jewish
only communities.
-
- This is what all Negev Bedouin Arabs now face unless
something can stop it. Large numbers of them attended an early August protest
conference. It was held in solidarity with unaffected Palestinians who
together called on Arab and other countries to support their right to remain
in their homes and denounce Israel's racist apartheid laws.
-
- Arab Knesset member, Talab Al Sane, spoke on their behalf.
So did Hussein Al Rafay'a, head of the regional council of the "unrecognized
villages," who said Israel wants Palestinians to be refugees in their
own lands and has been forcing them into this status by a policy of home
demolitions and continued displacement. Arabs once owned 5.5 million dunams
of land (550,000 hectares) in the Negev, he said. They now own less than
200,000 (20,000 hectares) and are threatened with losing all of it. "We
will resort to the Security Council, and the international court (in the
Hague) to provide the residents and their lands with needed protection."
-
- With an assured US veto in the Security Council and Israel's
record of ignoring UN resolutions and World Court rulings against it, there's
little chance for success and every likelihood legal Israeli Arab citizens
will continue being displaced from their own land.
-
- Advocacy for Palestinian Arabs in "Unrecognized
Villages"
-
- Israel denies all Palestinians their basic rights. However,
those living in so-called "unrecognized villages" face a special
threat - demolition of their homes, loss of their land and possessions,
and frightening displacement that will make them refugees along with millions
of others in their own land. Few organizations advocate on their behalf,
but a group that does is called The Association of Forty.
-
- It's a grassroots NGO in Israel committed to promoting
social justice for Israeli Arabs and to gain official recognition for their
"unrecognized villages." It was formed in December, 1988 when
Arab and Jewish residents from several of the affected villages and other
areas formed the Association. It now "represents the residents of
the 'unrecognized villages' and their problems, and promotes support locally
and internationally" on their behalf. It seeks official recognition
for the villages, an improvement in their living conditions, and "full
rights and equality for the Arab citizens of the state" of Israel.
-
- Its work consists of initiating "the preparation
and implementation of active projects within these villages such as paving
roads, improving existing roads and helping the residents to achieve their
rights, to connect their villages to the network of water, electricity
and telephones, to establish and operate kindergartens and clinics for
mother and child care, and to obtain educational non-curricular activities
for the schoolchildren...." It publishes a monthly newspaper, Sawt
Al-Qura, has photographic exhibitions, films and documentaries that reflect
the plight of the villages. It also organizes study days, holds local and
international conferences, and participates in other international ones.
-
- The Palestinians Enduring Struggle for Freedom and Justice
-
- Palestinians today live under horrendous conditions.
By any standard, they're appalling, repressive and in violation of fundamental
human rights principles under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
stating:
-
- -- "All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights."
-
- -- "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms....in
this Declaration, without distinction of any kind."
-
- -- "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and
security of person."
-
- -- "Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere
as a person before the law."
-
- -- "All are equal before the law and are entitled....to
equal protection."
-
- -- "Everyone has the right to own property (nor
shall anyone) be arbitrarily (be) deprived of his property."
-
- Israel offers these rights to Jews alone. It denies them
to Palestinian Arab Muslims in violation of its own Basic Law professing
"Fundamental human rights....founded upon recognition of the value
of the human being, the sanctity of human life, and the principle that
all persons are free." It continues stating the Basic Law of Israel
"is to protect human dignity and liberty....(that) There shall be
no violation of the property of a person....(that) All persons are entitled
to protection of their life, body and dignity....(that) All government
authorities are bound to respect the rights under this Basic Law."
-
- The Basic Law also states Israel is a Jewish state, and
the message is clear. All rights, benefits, privileges and protections
are for Jews alone. All others are unwelcome, unwanted, unprotected, and
unequal under the law. For them, justice unrecognized is justice denied
and for Palestinians it's willful and with malice.
-
- They face constant harassment, abuse and near daily assaults
in the West Bank and even worse treatment under virtual imprisonment in
Gaza. Their democratically elected government was ousted by a US-Israeli
orchestrated coup in June to the shameless applause of Western leaders
and silence from Arab ones. They're now isolated, surrounded and dangerously
close to a humanitarian disaster affecting 1.4 million people.
-
- It's no better for Israeli Palestinian citizens. They're
nonpersons in their own land, are treated like intruders, given no rights,
face constant harassment and mistreatment, get no justice, and face imminent
loss of their homes, land, freedom and lives any time Israeli authorities
wish to act against them. Yet they persist and endure as do their brethren
in the Occupied Territories. They reach out to the world community, press
their case, and a delegation from occupied Palestine stated it at the World
Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya in January.
-
- It was a call to action and cry for help for "freedom,
justice and (a) durable peace" and an end to six decades of repression.
It called for a "global Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
against Israel until it ends its apartheid-like regime of discrimination,
occupation and colonization, and respects the right of return of Palestinian
refugees and internally displaced persons."
-
- It called for "Consumer boycotts of Israeli products;
boycott of Israeli academic, athletic and cultural events and institutions
complicit in human rights abuses; divestment from Israeli companies (and)
international companies involved in perpetuating injustice, and pressuring
governments to impose sanctions on Israel...."
-
- Silence is not an option, and people of conscience can
help. Noted author and documentary filmmaker, John Pilger, believes "something
is changing," and he saw it in a recent full page New York Times ad
having a "distinct odour of panic." It called for boycotting
Israel, and Pilger senses the "swell....is growing inexorably, as
if an important marker has been passed (and it's) reminiscent of the boycotts
that led to sanctions against apartheid South Africa.....once distant voices,"
notes Pilger, have "gone global," it caught Israel off guard
and may signal change. But not easily or fast and may not happen at all
unless global pressure becomes mass public outrage that this injustice
no longer will be tolerated by people of conscience anywhere.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to the Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com
Saturdays at noon US central time.
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