A wide range of Israeli dissidents who oppose their government’s 40 year old policies toward Palestinians are practicing Gandhian non-violent strategies in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Tonight (Saturday, June 9) Peace Now is mounting a popular demonstration against the occupation in Tel Aviv. On a daily basis scores of women belonging to Machsom Watch monitor Israeli check points and barriers with the aim of preventing soldiers and police from abusing and harassing Palestinians moving from place to place. These volunteers also accompany Palestinian children to school in West Bank town of Hebron, where settlers and their children often attack Palestinians. And, the Leftist Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) rebuilds Palestinian homes bulldozed by the Israeli government in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
While most of these groups plan to carry on as usual in this, the 40th, year of the occupation and the 60th year of Israel’s existence, Dr Jeff Halper, ICAHD founder and coordinator, has decided to mount a major challenge to Israel by reconstructing all Palestinian homes demolished from the June 11, 2007, until June 10, 2008. The average annual demolition rate is 250-300 while the ICAHD has previously rebuilt three-to-four houses a year and a total of 35, although some have been rebuilt three or four times. Wealthy Jewish donors contributed $1.5 million for this campaign, which has been advertised in US and British press.
Halper told Deccan Herald that the group intends to launch the new effort on June 11 at a gathering at the plaza in front of the Western (Wailing) Wall, the sole remnant of the outer wall of the Jewish temple of Solomon, which was destroyed by Romans in 70-72 AD. He explained that the ICAHD had chosen this site because “the first act of the occupation was house demolitions”.
The initial 500 bulldozed were in the historic Mughrabi quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem on the night of June 11, 1967. This coincided with the end of Israel’s six-day offensive against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. One hundred and thirty five Palestinian families, many refugees from territory captured by Israel in 1948, were awakened from sleep and ordered out of their homes which were flattened along with all their possessions.
An elderly woman, Rasmia Tabaki, was crushed to death when the walls of her house collapsed on top of her. Once the area was cleared, Israel built a wide plaza to accommodate Jewish worshippers visiting the Western Wall. The evictees either found accommodation in a refugee camp or were put onto buses by the Israeli army and expelled into Jordan.
Halper said that the ICAHD’s efforts have, so far, gone largely unnoticed by the Israeli authorities which did not attempt to stop the organisation from carrying on its mission. However, he said the aim of the new campaign is to challenge the government and the military.
Homes built during the new campaign will consist of two-to-three rooms, kitchen and bathroom. They will be simple but functional and cost $10-15,000 each. “We will replace every house on the spot where it was demolished. This amounts to a political act of resistance and civil disobedience,” stated Halper.
“Our idea is to push it to the end. Our lawyer says there is a very good chance they (the Israeli police) will close us down or, even, arrest us. We’ve had 40 years of this: Enough! We’re willing to do what we gotta do to end the occupation. We’re not going to move the Israeli public. It doesn’t care. We’re plugged into the international peace network. Now is the time to parley (our effort) into an international campaign.”
The campaign “is very meaningful, not just symbolic,” he asserted. “Israelis are doing it, we raise the money for it, we do the work. We see this as our part in taking responsibility (for what Israel has done to the Palestinians)”.
“Our campaign gets to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, which is dispossession. We want to develop awareness of the concept of “nishul”, the Hebrew word for “dispossession”. The nishul of 1967 is an extension of 1948.
Military rule (over Palestinians living in Israel) ended in 1966 and moved seamlessly into the (occupied) West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the process of dispossession, home demolitions play a key role. Once you demolish a house, you tell the owner to “get out”.
Since 1967, 18,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Furthermore, Israel demolished more than 400 Palestinian villages which were incorporated into Israel in 1948. Halper revealed that 20-40,000 homes of Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin (who live within the 1948 borders of the state) are today designated for destruction under a “demolition administration established in 2003-04 in the ministry of interior by the Sharon government”.
Last May Israel demolished 30 structures in two bedouin villages in the Negev and bulldozed two buildings in East Jerusalem. Israel plans to continue such demolitions gradually, so they do not attract attention. Halper and his movement hope that their drive will expose Israel’s policy of demolition and dispossession and the international community will force Israel to desist.