Author: swing

Azzun cut off from Palestinian infrastructure

International Women’s Peace Service

18 April 2009

The status quo of Azzun – a town with 12.000 inhabitants – is miserable and is getting worse in the distant future. Three big settlements were partly built on Azzun land so that the current city center is now circumscribed from the east, west and north western side. In addition to that there are plans for two new settler-only roads to be built. After completion of the roads Azzun will be completely isolated and surrounded by settlements and settler-only roads.

Azzun consists of approximately 9130 dunams. When the first outpost near Azzun was built, land belonging to the Palestinian Authority and to farmers of Azzun was taken. The first settlement was Qarne Shomron built in 1977 on the eastern part of Azzun. Maale Shomron was established in 1980 to the east of Azzun and Alfei Menashe took was built on the west of Azzun.

Azzun inhabitants suffer from acute water shortages. There are two big springs which supply Azzoun and Jayyus. The pipe system was constructed before 67 and now because the population has grown it has to be renewed in order to satisfy needs. To meet this demand Azzun receives water from Israeli Mekorot.

The villages An Nabi Elyas, Mahattat Tahseen Mansur and Izbat at Tabib which belong to Azzun are no longer recognized by the Israeli government. Inhabitants from these villages were forced to move to Azzun when Israel built two new roads on their land. Both of these roads are settler-only roads (55 and 531) which connect the settlement areas east and west of Azzun.

Israeli authorities are planning changes to road 55 which leads from Azzun to Nablus. This road will be enlarged to 200m and will be called 531 whilst becoming a settler-only road. In addition there are plans for the road 55 to link two big settlements and it will be accompanied by a barrier so that Azzun will be completely encircled by settlers or their roads.

The harassment towards villagers of these three Palestinian villages has already started. They are completely disfranchised paying taxes without having any rights any more. Whilst controlling their IDs soldiers are telling villagers that their villages do not exist anymore and that from now on the would belong to Azzun.

End Palestinian demolitions in Jerusalem, UN tells Israel

Rory McCarthy | The Guardian

1 May 2009

The United Nations has called on Israel to end its programme of demolishing homes in east Jerusalem and tackle a mounting housing crisis for Palestinians in the city.

Dozens of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem are demolished each year because they do not have planning permits. Critics say the demolitions are part of an effort to extend Israeli control as Jewish settlements continue to expand. The 21-page report from the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs is the latest round in an intensifying campaign on the issue.

Although Israel’s mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, has defended the planning policy as even-handed, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in March described demolitions as “unhelpful”. An internal report for EU diplomats, released earlier and obtained by the Guardian, described them as illegal under international law and said they “fuel bitterness and extremism”. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later unilaterally annexed it, a move not recognised by the international community.

The UN said that of the 70.5 sq km of east Jerusalem and the West Bank annexed by Israel, only 13% was zoned for Palestinian construction and this was mostly already built up. At the same time 35% had been expropriated for Israeli settlements, even though all settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law.

As a result Palestinians in east Jerusalem had found it increasingly difficult to obtain planning permits and many had built without them, risking fines and eventual demolition, the UN said. As many as 28% of all Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem were built in violation of Israeli planning rules.

“Throughout its occupation, Israel has significantly restricted Palestinian development in east Jerusalem,” the UN report said. It said 673 Palestinian structures had been demolished in the east between 2000 and 2008. Last year alone 90 structures were demolished, leaving 400 Palestinians displaced, the highest number of demolitions for four years. Similar demolitions are carried out regularly by the Israeli military across the West Bank.

The UN said it was particularly concerned about areas facing mass demolition, including Bustan in Silwan, just south of the old city, where the threatened destruction of 90 houses would lead to the displacement of 1,000 Palestinians.

Families who lose their homes are faced with the choice of moving into crowded apartments with relatives or renting new homes. They face “significant hardships”, including having their property destroyed and struggling with debts from fines and legal fees, the UN said.

A 2007 survey, quoted in the UN report, found that more than half of the displaced families took at least two years to find a new permanent home and often moved several times in the process. Children missed out on school and suffered emotional and behavioural problems for months, with poor academic records over the longer term.

The authorities in Jerusalem challenged the UN report and denied “the accusations and numbers throughout”. Israel’s Jerusalem municipality accepted there was a “planning crisis” but said it was “not just in eastern Jerusalem but throughout all of Jerusalem that affects Jews, Christians and Muslims alike”. It said the mayor would present a new plan for the city.

“Recent events indicate that the Jerusalem municipality will maintain, and possibly accelerate, its policy on house demolition,” the UN report said. “Israel should immediately freeze all pending demolition orders and undertake planning that will address the Palestinian housing crisis in east Jerusalem.”

Last week, Barkat, who won election five months ago, rejected international criticism of demolitions and planning policy as “misinformation” and “Palestinian spin. There is no politics. It’s just maintaining law and order in the city,” he said. “The world is basing its evidence on the wrong facts.The world has to learn and I am sure people will change their minds.”

Barkat said he wanted to improve the life of all the city’s residents, Jewish and Arab, but that he was committed to maintaining a Jewish majority. Jews make up around two-thirds of the city’s population.

The UN said nearly a third of east Jerusalem remained unplanned, meaning there could be no construction. Even in planned areas there were problems, including the number of small privately held plots, poor infrastructure and few resources.

Although the number of permit applications more than doubled between 2003 and 2007, the number of permits grants remained relatively flat, the UN said. There was a gap between housing needs and permitted construction of 1,100 housing units a year. “Due to the lack of proper urban planning, the under-investment in public infrastructure and the inequitable allocation of budgetary resources, east Jerusalem is overcrowded and the public services do not meet the needs of the Palestinian population,” the report said.

12 Palestinians injured after settler rampage in Urif village

24 April 2009

At around 5pm on Friday, the 24th of April, nearly 30 masked settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yizhar rampaged through the Palestinian village of Urif, southwest of the city of Nablus.  The armed settlers first gathered at the boys’ high school in the village and proceeded to break doors and windows with metal sticks and farm tools.  They then moved towards the center of the village and began to beat Palestinian residents.  The settlers also shot at the water tanks on top of the roofs of residences, damaging several. Villagers soon gathered in the streets in an attempt to defend themselves.  The settlers opened fire on the villagers with live ammunition.

At this time, the Israeli military arrived and also began shooting at residents with rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition.  Israeli forces also prevented ambulances from entering Urif to treat the wounded, and villagers were forced to evacuate the wounded in private cars.  Most of the wounded were taken to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.  At least 12 Palestinians were injured from weaponry used by settlers and the military. Among the injured include:

Maher Ghassan Safadi, shot in the shoulder with a live bullet

Noor Mustafa Safadi, shot in his leg with a live bullet

Ibrahim Rahdi Sabah, shot in his head with a rubber bullet

Issam Majah Safadi, shot in his hip with a live bullet

Mahmoud Abdel Rahim Safadi, shot in his foot with a live bullet

The father of one of the injured describes the routine violent behavior from Yizhar settlers:

I’m afraid from the continued settler attacks.  The settlers from Yizhar are racist and very violent.  The settlers also continue to uproot our olive trees and the army does nothing to stop them.  The world must act to secure our lands from this violent harassment.

Attacks from settlers from Yizhar on surrounding Palestinian villages is increasing.  On the 27th of April, 17-year-old Mohammad Farraj from Madama village was shot in the shoulder by a settler from Yizhar as he was working his lands.

Boycott this Israeli settlement builder

Abe Hayeem | The Guardian

28 April 2009

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office must be commended for its decision to cancel renting premises for the UK embassy in Tel Aviv from the company Africa-Israel, owned by Israeli businessman and settlement builder Lev Leviev. This is an encouraging step that should now be backed by stronger sanctions against the building of the separation wall and the building of illegal settlements by Israel. Furthermore, the governments of Norway and Dubai should emulate the example set by the UK and sever their relationships with Leviev’s companies.

The Israeli paper Ha’aretz reported on 3 March 2009 that “Due to the public pressure” several months ago in a special debate in parliament, Kim Howells of the Foreign Office was asked to explain plans to rent the embassy from Leviev.

This pressure, by a letters campaign to the FCO, was initiated by Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine with human rights organisation Adalah-New York, followed by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, former BBC correspondent Tim Llewellyn and hundreds of others.

Further voices included Daniel Machover of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, Palestinian notables including Hanan Ashrawi, Mustafa Barghouti and Luisa Morgantini, vice president of the European parliament.

The move was frozen after ambassador Tom Phillips requested details from Africa-Israel about its activities in the settlements.

Subsequently, on 5 March, the BBC reported the FCO’s Karen Kaufman saying that: “We looked into the issue of Africa-Israel and settlements and settlement holdings and we asked for clarification …. The UK government has always regarded settlements as illegal, but what has happened in recent months is that we are looking for ways to make a difference on this issue.”

Still, despite the FCO decision, Leviev’s companies persist in their goal, backed by the Land Redemption Fund to which Leviev is one the largest donors, of “blurring the Green Line” and connecting the illegally built Zufim settlement with Israeli communities inside the Green Line, retaining 6,000 dunams of the village Jayyous’s land sequestered by the wall. This land grab is being facilitated by the enforced construction of the apartheid wall, which the International Court of Justice firmly judged to be illegal under international law in 2004, and demanded its removal.

There are weekly non-violent protests by the Jayyous villagers, Israeli and international peace groups, together with Bil’in to stop their precious land from being taken to expand settlements and build the wall. These are being suppressed by Israeli forces on a terror rampage with live fire, beatings, tear gassings, mass arrests, house occupations and, more recently, threats of home demolitions, and pogroms.

Following an Israeli supreme court ruling that the route of the wall in Jayyous should be moved slightly, Israeli authorities are trying to blackmail Jayyous’s mayor, saying if he doesn’t accept the new wall route, there will be no gates in it for the village’s farmers to access their lands. The mayor has refused to sign. Without international intervention, Jayyous will not be able to hold on to its lands behind the wall, which contain their four vital agricultural wells and most of their greenhouses. Leviev will then be able to freely expand Zufim on to Jayyous’s stolen lands. Currently, Leviev is building 35 new housing units in Zufim.

At Bil’in, where Leviev companies are also building settlements, mainstream media failed to cover the 17 April murder of Bil’in non-violent protester Bassem Abu Rahmeh, 29, by Israeli forces. A soldier shot him with the same new type of “rocket” tear gas round, as fast and lethal as live ammunition that left US activist Tristan Anderson in critical condition.

The brutal crackdown in Bil’in continues despite three Israeli supreme court orders to move the wall in Bil’in closer to the Matityahu East settlement “outpost” where Leviev’s Danya Cebus built about 30% of the units. Israel’s court has shown itself to be the accessory of this land grab. Israel’s architects, designing these settlements, are also in breach of professional ethics, and will be held to account by their international peers.

While the US, UK and the EU seem to be keen to join Israel, the perpetrator of war crimes, in boycotting the Palestinians who are the victims of crippling sieges, deadly incursions and a prison-like occupation, they are reluctant to take any positive action to stop Israel’s breaches of international law. For instance, the Norwegian government has invested €875m in 2008 in Africa-Israel. By investing its populace’s pension fund in a company at the heart of illegal Israeli settlement building, the country that sponsored the Oslo accords violates its spirit. Norway should follow the precedent set by the UK’s FCO, in one of the latter’s few bold moves, and divest from this company.

The United Arab Emirates is also shamefully equivocating after a year-long campaign against Leviev selling his diamonds in the emirate of Dubai. Dubai’s government, despite repeated assurances that Leviev would not be allowed to open two diamond boutiques in the emirate, has allowed Leviev to open stores under another name while his website advertises a Leviev store-in-store at one of the “Levant” shops of his Dubai partner, Arif bin Khadra. A second Levant store in Dubai’s Atlantis hotel boldly touts the Leviev brand.

If Dubai does not wish to be become known as the “emirate that supports settlements”, it should take immediate action, and follow the UK’s lead and demonstrate it will not allow Leviev to profit from this indirect funding of his settlement building, that steals the future of Jayyous’s children who are growing up in the shadow of Leviev’s ever-expanding Zufim settlement.

While the new Netanyahu/Leiberman government is doing all it can to obfuscate the issue of a proper peace settlement to establish a viable Palestinian state, a clear message must be sent to Israel. The sanctions against Leviev should be the start of a wider boycott of all who profit from the enforced acquisition of Palestinian land.

Israeli forces raid Awawi home in Hebron

26 April 2009

In the early hours of Sunday 26th of April, the house of the Awawi family in the old city of Hebron was raided by a group of 10 Israeli soldiers.

Arriving at midnight, the soldiers ruthlessly searched the house, noting all the families’ possessions before throwing them on the floor. They made drawings of the layout of the house and photographed the 9 young children who live in the small, compact house. After three hours, they left, finding nothing of note.

The Awawi family has frequently been harrassed by settlers and army, due to living in a house which provides good access to the old city for the settlers. On one occasion the room on the roof of the house was even set on fire by settlers and the water tanks destroyed.