[Peace-discuss] Fwd: ZNet Daily Commentary: Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem is Not a Paranoid Worry... It's Happening Now by Bill Fletcher Jr.

[C. G. Estabrook]

And who finances it, has the power to prevent it, and chooses not to?


Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> FYI. The turpitude of Israeli policies towards Palestinians is bottomless.
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> *From: *zhelp at zcommunications.org <mailto:zhelp at zcommunications.org> *Date:
>> *May 10, 2009 10:20:03 PM CDT *To: *brussel at uiuc.edu
>> <mailto:brussel at uiuc.edu> *Subject: **ZNet Daily Commentary: Ethnic
>> Cleansing in East Jerusalem is Not a Paranoid Worry... It's Happening Now
>> by Bill Fletcher Jr.* *Reply-To: *zhelp at zcommunications.org
>> <mailto:zhelp at zcommunications.org>
>> 
>> ZNet <http://www.zcommunications.org>
>> 
>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/viewCommentaryPrint/3860> Print 
>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/viewCommentaryPrint/3860>
>> 
>> 
>> Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem is Not a Paranoid Worry... It's 
>> Happening Now
>> 
>> 
>> May 10, 2009 By *Bill Fletcher Jr.*
>> 
>> 
>> Bill Fletcher Jr.'s ZSpace Page 
>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/billfletcher> / ZSpace 
>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace>
>> 
>> The Israeli government often reminds me of a dog I once owned. My dog was
>> forbidden to enter into the living room. Nevertheless, she would creep into
>> the living room, usually moving a few inches at a time in order to see
>> whether we reacted. If we did not react, she would move further into the
>> living room. Sometimes, when she was in the mood, she would move so far
>> into the living room that she would feel comfortable tearing apart the
>> furniture.
>> 
>> A recently released United Nations report confirms what many human rights
>> activists have alleged: at least 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem face
>> the prospect of eviction by Israeli authorities. Yet this story has
>> received relatively little mainstream attention, and even less official
>> condemnation.
>> 
>> Ever since the Israelis captured East Jerusalem in the June 1967 war they
>> have made clear their intent, despite widespread international protest and
>> in clear violation of international law, to annex Jerusalem. In order to
>> expedite this annexation, the Israeli occupation authorities have put
>> pressure on the Palestinians to "vacate the premises." The pressure has
>> included actions such as encouraging Israelis to settle in what had been
>> Palestinian East Jerusalem, while failing to build new and adequate housing
>> for the Palestinian people.
>> 
>> The current trick of the Israeli government is to move against Palestinian
>> residents by claiming that the Palestinians are living in homes that show
>> no proof of a legal building permit. What is perverse about this is that
>> the Israelis are not talking about housing built in the last several years
>> or even housing built since the June 1967 war. They are discussing housing
>> that has been occupied by Palestinians in many cases for decades! In fact,
>> according to the Washington Post [May 2, 2009] the dispute even involves
>> searching through archives from the time of the Ottoman Empire (which ended
>> when World War I ended in 1918) in order to prove ownership.
>> 
>> The Israeli government, of course, denies that they have any intent to 
>> ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population. How could they, of course,
>> given that they are supposed to be the model of democracy in the Middle
>> East??!! The reality is that what the Israeli government has been
>> conducting in East Jerusalem is part of the larger Israeli strategy in its
>> Occupation of the Palestinian territories: drive the Palestinians from the
>> best lands and replace them with Israeli settlers. Insofar as the world
>> does nothing, the Israeli government behaves much as my dog did; it moves
>> further and further in, increasing the intensity and scope of their
>> destructive behavior.
>> 
>> It should surprise no one that the Israelis are attempting to remove the
>> Palestinian population from Jerusalem. This has been consistent since the
>> June 1967 war. The extent of the projected removal - 60,000 people -
>> should, however, outrage any democratic minded person. Irrespective of
>> one's stand on the history of the development of Israel and its conflict
>> with the Palestinians, the fact of the matter is that the Israeli
>> government continues to violate international law and precedent without
>> having to fear any sort of international sanctions.
>> 
>> The proposed removal of 60,000 Palestinians increases the relevance and
>> timeliness of discussions regarding the need to develop a movement of
>> boycott, divestment and sanctions aimed at undermining the Israeli 
>> occupation of the Palestinian territories. Since it seems obvious that most
>> governments, including but not limited to the US government, are unwilling
>> to take steps to insist upon justice for the Palestinians, then pressure
>> needs to be brought about by squeezing corporations and governments that
>> are complicit in the criminal activities of the Israeli government.
>> 
>> Silence in the face of ethnic cleansing is simply unacceptable. The Israeli
>> government and its friends must understand that there is a cost involved
>> when it snubs its nose at the Palestinian people, and in fact, at the world
>> as well. ________________
>> 
>> BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior 
>> Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president
>> of TransAfrica Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in
>> Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of
>> California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA.
>> He is also on the advisory board of the US Campaign to End the Israeli
>> Occupation (http://www.endtheoccupation.org/).
>> 
>> Source: BlackCommentator, May 7, 2009 
>> http://www.blackcommentator.com/323/323_aw_ethnic_cleaning_east_jerusalem.html