Israel finally built an access road to the West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar last week, after half a century of delays. But the only vehicles allowed along it are the bulldozers scheduled to sweep away its 200 inhabitants’ homes.
If one community has come to symbolise the demise of the two-state solution, it is Khan al-Ahmar.
It was for that reason that a posse of European diplomats left their air-conditioned offices late last week to trudge through the hot, dusty hills outside Jerusalem and witness for themselves the preparations for the village’s destruction. That included the Israeli police viciously beating residents and supporters as they tried to block the advance of heavy machinery.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have submitted a formal protest. Their denunciations echoed those of more than 70 Democratic lawmakers in Washington in May – a rare example of US politicians showing solidarity with Palestinians.
It would be gratifying to believe that Western governments care about the inhabitants of Khan al-Ahmar – or the thousands of other Palestinians who are being incrementally cleansed by Israel from nearby lands but whose plight has drawn far less attention.
After all, the razing of Khan al-Ahmar and the forcible transfer of its population are war crimes.
But in truth Western politicians are more concerned about propping up the illusion of a peace process that expired many years ago than the long-running abuse of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Western capitals understand what is at stake. Israel wants Khan al-Ahmar gone so that Jewish settlements can be built in its place, on land it has designated as “E1”.
Sa ta mete dènye pyès la an plas pou pèp Izrayèl la bati yon blòk sibstansyèl nan nouvo kay kolon yo koupe West Bank la an de. Menm koloni sa yo ta tou fèmen Palestinyen West Bank soti nan Jerizalèm lès, kapital la espere nan yon eta Palestinyen nan lavni, fè yon betiz sou nenpòt akò lapè.
The erasure of Khan al-Ahmar has not arrived out of nowhere. Israel has trampled on international law for decades, conducting a form of creeping annexation that has provoked little more than uncomfortable shifting in chairs from Western politicians.
Khan al-Ahmar’s Bedouin inhabitants, from the Jahalin tribe, have been ethnically cleansed twice before by Israel, but these war crimes went unnoticed.
The first time was in the 1950s, a few years after Israel’s creation, when 80 per cent of Palestinians had been driven from their homes to clear the path for the creation of a Jewish state.
Malgre ke yo ta dwe jwi pwoteksyon nan sitwayènte Izrayelyen an, Jahalin yo te fòse soti nan Negèv la ak nan West Bank la, Lè sa a, kontwole pa lòt bò larivyè Jouden, fè plas pou nouvo imigran jwif yo.
Yon jenerasyon pita nan 1967, lè yo te apèn re-etabli tèt yo, Jahalin yo te ankò anba atak nan men sòlda Izraelyen ki te okipe Bank la. Yo te sezi tè paraj yo kote Jahalin yo te deplase ak kabrit yo ak mouton yo pou yo te bati yon koloni pou jwif sèlman, Kfar Adumim, an vyolasyon lwa lagè yo.
Ever since, the Jahalin have dwelt in a twilight zone of Israeli-defined “illegality”. Like other Palestinians in the 60 per cent of the West Bank declared under Israeli control by the Oslo peace process, they have been denied building permits, forcing three generations to live in tin shacks and tents.
Pèp Izrayèl la te refize tou konekte vilaj la ak dlo, elektrisite ak dlo egou, nan yon tantativ pou fè lavi konsa ensipòtab Jahalin a ta chwazi pou yo kite.
When an Italian charity helped in 2009 to establish Khan al-Ahmar’s first school – made from mud and tyres – Israel stepped up its legal battle to demolish the village.
Now, the Jahalin are about to be driven from their lands again, as though they are nothing more than wayward cattle. This time they are to be forcibly re-settled next to a waste dump by the Palestinian town of Abu Dis, hemmed in on all sides by Israeli walls and settlements.
In the new location they will be forced to abandon their pastoral way of life. As resident Ibrahim Abu Dawoud observed: “For us, leaving the desert is death.
Nan yon lòt endikasyon sou sitiyasyon tèt chaje Palestinyen yo, administrasyon Trump espere pwopoze nan plan lapè li te tann depi lontan ke Abu Dis, ki sanble ak bidonvil, olye ke Jerizalèm lès, sèvi kòm kapital yon fiti eta pseudo-Palestinyen - si Pèp Izrayèl la toujou chwazi pou rekonèt youn.
Khan al-Ahmar’s destruction would be the first demolition of a complete Palestinian community since the 1990s, when Israel ostensibly committed to the Oslo process.
Now emboldened by Washington’s unstinting support, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is racing ahead to realise its vision of a Greater Israel. It wants to annex the lands on which villages like Khan al-Ahmar stand and remove their Palestinian populations.
There is a minor hurdle. Last Thursday, the Israeli supreme court tried to calm the storm clouds gathering in Europe by issuing a temporary injunction on the demolition works.
The reprieve is likely to be short-lived. A few weeks ago the same court – in a panel dominated by judges identified with the settler movement – backed Khan al-Ahmar’s destruction.
Tribinal Siprèm lan te tou ap deplase nan direksyon pou aksepte agiman gouvènman Izraelyen an ki fè konnen plizyè deseni nan pwan tè kolon yo ta dwe retwoaktif sanksyon - menm si yo vyole lwa Izraelyen ak entènasyonal - si yo te fè nan "bon fwa".
Whatever the judges believe, there is nothing “good faith” about the behaviour of either the settlers or Israel’s government towards communities like Khan al-Ahmar.
Saeb Erekat, veteran negosyatè lapè Palestinyen yo, dènyèman te avèti ke pèp Izrayèl la ak Etazini yo te toupre "likidasyon" pwojè eta Palestinyen an.
Sonn plis dezespere pase nòmal, Inyon Ewòp la reyafime mwa sa a angajman li nan yon solisyon de eta, pandan y ap mande pou "obstak yo" nan realizasyon li yo dwe idantifye pi klè.
The elephant in the room is Israel itself – and its enduring bad faith. As Khan al-Ahmar demonstrates all too clearly, there will be no end to the slow-motion erasure of Palestinian communities until western governments find the nerve to impose biting sanctions on Israel.
Yon vèsyon atik sa a te parèt premye nan National, Abu Dhabi.
Jonathan Cook te genyen pri espesyal Martha Gellhorn pou jounalis. Liv li yo enkli "Izrayèl ak eklatman sivilizasyon yo: Irak, Iran ak plan pou refè Mwayen Oryan an" (Pluto Press) ak "Disappearing Palestine: Eksperyans pèp Izrayèl la nan dezespwa imen" (Zed Books). Sit entènèt li se www.jonathan-cook.net.
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