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”.
To bi postavilo zadnji del, da bi Izrael zgradil precejšen blok novih domov za naseljence, da bi Zahodni breg razdelil na dva dela. Te iste naselbine bi tudi zaprle Palestince z Zahodnega brega pred Vzhodnim Jeruzalemom, pričakovano prestolnico bodoče palestinske države, s čimer bi se norčevale iz kakršnega koli mirovnega sporazuma.
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.
Čeprav bi morali uživati zaščito izraelskega državljanstva, so bili Jahalinci prisiljeni zapustiti Negev in na Zahodni breg, ki ga je takrat nadzorovala Jordanija, da bi naredili prostor za nove judovske priseljence.
Generacijo pozneje, leta 1967, ko so se komajda ponovno vzpostavili, so bili Jahalini znova napadeni s strani izraelskih vojakov, ki so okupirali Zahodni breg. Pašniki, kamor so se preselili Jahalini s svojimi kozami in ovcami, so bili zaseženi, da bi zgradili naselje samo za Jude, Kfar Adumim, v nasprotju z vojnimi zakoni.
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.
Izrael je prav tako zavrnil povezavo vasi z vodovodnim, električnim in kanalizacijskim omrežjem, da bi življenje naredil tako neznosno, da bi se Jahalin odločil zapustiti.
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.
Še en pokazatelj hudega položaja Palestincev je pričakovati, da bo Trumpova administracija v svojem dolgo pričakovanem mirovnem načrtu predlagala, da barakarsko naselje Abu Dis namesto Vzhodnega Jeruzalema služi kot glavno mesto prihodnje psevdo-palestinske države – če Izrael se kdaj odloči, da ga bo priznal.
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.
Vrhovno sodišče si prav tako prizadeva sprejeti argument izraelske vlade, da bi bilo treba desetletja prilaščanja zemlje s strani naseljencev retroaktivno sankcionirati – čeprav kršijo izraelsko in mednarodno pravo – če se izvajajo v »dobri veri«.
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, palestinski veteran mirovni pogajalec, je nedavno opozoril, da sta Izrael in ZDA blizu "likvidacije" projekta palestinske državnosti.
Evropska unija, ki je zvenela bolj obupano kot običajno, je ta mesec ponovno potrdila svojo zavezanost rešitvi z dvema državama, hkrati pa pozvala k jasnejši opredelitvi "ovir" za njeno uresničitev.
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.
Različica tega članka se je prvič pojavila v National, Abu Dhabi.
Jonathan Cook je prejel posebno nagrado Marthe Gellhorn za novinarstvo. Med njegovimi knjigami sta »Izrael in spopad civilizacij: Irak, Iran in načrt za preoblikovanje Bližnjega vzhoda« (Pluto Press) in »Izginjajoča Palestina: Izraelski poskusi človeškega obupa« (Zed Books). Njegova spletna stran je www.jonathan-cook.net.
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