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”.
Éta bakal nempatkeun potongan ahir pikeun Israél ngawangun blok ageung bumi padumukan énggal pikeun misahkeun Tepi Kulon dina dua. Patempatan anu sami ogé bakal ngégél urang Paléstina Tepi Kulon ti Yerusalem Wétan, ibukota anu dipiharep pikeun nagara Paléstina anu bakal datang, ngahina kana sagala perjangjian perdamaian.
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.
Sanajan aranjeunna kedah ngarasakeun panangtayungan kawarganagaraan Israél, Jahalin dipaksa kaluar ti Negev jeung ka Tepi Kulon, lajeng dikawasa ku Yordania, sangkan jalan pikeun imigran Yahudi anyar.
Generasi saterusna di 1967, nalika maranéhna geus bieu deui ngadegkeun sorangan, nu Jahalin deui dina serangan ti prajurit Israél occupying Tepi Kulon. Tanah-tanah penggembalaan anu dipindahkeun ku Jahalin sareng embe sareng dombana dirampas pikeun ngawangun pakampungan pikeun urang Yahudi wungkul, Kfar Adumim, anu ngalanggar hukum perang.
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.
Israél ogé nampik nyambungkeun désa éta kana jaringan cai, listrik sareng limbah, dina usaha pikeun ngajantenkeun kahirupan anu teu kaampeuh yén Jahalin bakal milih angkat.
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.
Dina indikasi sejen tina predicament pikareueuseun urang Paléstina, administrasi Trump diperkirakeun ngajukeun dina rencana karapihan lila-tunggu na yén kumuh-kawas Abu Dis, tinimbang Yerusalem Wétan, ngawula salaku ibukota nagara pseudo-Paléstina hareup - lamun Israel kantos milih ngakuan hiji.
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.
Mahkamah Agung ogé geus pindah ka arah narima argumen pamaréntah Israél urang yén puluhan taun rebutan lahan ku padumuk kudu retroactively sangsi - sanajan maranéhna ngalanggar hukum Israél jeung internasional - lamun dilaksanakeun dina "iman alus".
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, negosiator perdamaian Samaun Paléstina, nembé ngingetkeun yén Israél sareng AS caket "ngacairkeun" proyék kanagaraan Paléstina.
Sora langkung nekat tibatan biasa, Uni Éropa negeskeun deui bulan ieu komitmenna kana solusi dua nagara, bari ngadesek yén "halangan" pikeun realisasina langkung jelas.
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.
Versi artikel ieu mimiti muncul dina National, Abu Dhabi.
Jonathan Cook meunang Martha Gellhorn Hadiah Husus pikeun Jurnalisme. Buku-bukuna kalebet "Israél sareng Clash of Civilizations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) sareng "Disappearing Palestine: Israél's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). ramatloka na www.jonathan-cook.net.
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