More Palestinians made homeless in the wake of home demolition by Israel

Activists hold flags as they protest latest demolitions

Today another Palestinian village has been hit by devastating home demolitions. Sixty-six people were made homeless, including 36 children in the community of Ain el-Helwe in the Jordan Valley. The Jordan Valley has been continuously inhabited for 11,000 years. It has been home to Canaanites for thousands of years, and now many of their descendants are being forced from their ancestral homes. 

On Saturday, 1 February 2014, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories said, “I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and dispossession of Palestinians… along the Jordan Valley where the number of structures demolished more than doubled in the last year.” (Picture and quote from: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/02/01/U-N-slams-Israel-destruction-of-Jordan-valley-homes-.html)

The Jordan Valley is only the latest of the home demolitions to be publicized on the internet. The demolitions in and around Jerusalem continue in near-total silence. The two videos below show recent activity in home demolition. You Tube has videos documenting home demolitions that date back seven years and more.

The short video shows how one man salvaged what he could from the wreckage of his home and moved his belongings into a nearby cave. In the short interview, he says that a judge forbid him from rebuilding. The man asked the judge where his family was supposed to live. The answer—that’s not my problem.

The next video talks about the very real possibility of new recently constructed apartment buildings being demolished. One local resident claims that no one will leave and the Israelis will have to demolish the building with the residents inside. A representative of a local NGO is quoted as saying, “That’s the way they clear land for future settlements.”

Travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem isn't what it used to be

Picture from Facebook - Neil Le Roux

Joseph traveled from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David. He made the trip of about 65 miles with Mary. The trip was probably long and arduous, but they reached their destination.

Luckily, they lived before the modern state of Israel decided that Palestinians cannot move freely in their own land. Today that journey would be very different.

Even the three kings would not be able to present their gifts today. Where are today's wise men? Why can't they bring the gift of peace to the Holy Land?

Picture from Facebook - Irfan Iqbal

A New National Park in Israel

Today, December 29, 2012, Israel declared a new national park.  Interestingly enough, as with most of the parks in Israel, this park is complete with “historical ruins,” including a lovely old stone church.  Where do they get the land for national parks when Historical Palestine is about the size of Massachusetts, and is home to two nations?  The simple answer is, the land came from the same source as all of the land in Israel—it is land that belongs to Palestinians.  The land for this park once hosted a thriving village, called Biram.  The residents of the village were forced out by the Israeli army in 1949 and were not allowed back, in spite of a 1951 Supreme Court decision upholding their right to return. (http://www.facebook.com/welcometopalestine)

 Unfortunately, this is just the latest of the national parks that Israel has established at the expense of prior residents.  Canada Park, a centerpiece of the national park system, was established at the expense of three Palestinian villages.

The Wikipedia entry for Canada Park reads as follows:

Canada Park (Hebrew: פארק קנדה, Arabic:كندا حديقة) (also Ayalon Park)^[1] is a national park stretching over 7,000 dunams, mostly in the West Bank, with a portion in the region that was a no man's land before 1967 and incorporated into Israel in 1967.^[2] It is maintained by the Jewish National Fund of Canada. Canada Park is located west of Jerusalem, to the north of Highway 1 (Tel Aviv - Jerusalem), between the Latrun intersection and Sha'ar HaGai.^[3] The park attracts some 300,000 visitors annually.  Canada Park ... is filled with wooded areas, walking trails, water features and archaeological sites. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Park)

Although Wikipedia says that the park is “mostly in the West Bank,” it does not mention that before Israel captured that land during the 1967 war, the land was the site of the Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu, and Beit Nuba.  The people who lived on this land for generations are now refugees.

According to Eitan Bronstein, director of Zochrot (Remembering), 86 Palestinian villages lie buried under Jewish National Fund parks. A further 400 destroyed villages had their lands passed on to exclusively Jewish communities.  Zochrot is trying to educate people to the hidden history behind the establishment of the national parks in Israel.  http://electronicintifada.net/content/canada-park-and-israeli-memoricide/8126

This video shows rare footage of the villages and interviews several people with first-hand knowledge of the destruction of the villages.

Palestine Wins World Recognition as a State

On November 29, 2012 Palestine asked to be admitted to the United Nations as the 194^th nation.  In this age of self-determination, where nations go to war under the banner of making the world safe for democracy, Palestine continues to be denied independence. 

In a vote that showed overwhelming support by the nations of the world.  Palestine was granted “non-member observer status.” It was an admission that Palestine is indeed a state.  (All pictures from: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/welcometopalestine)

On the floor of the UN General Assembly, a Palestinian flag was unfurled as the vote showed on the electronic board.  Although this shot does not show it, there were 41 abstentions.  I watched as UN Web TV streamed the proceedings, and picked up a couple of quotes I’d like to share.

         “Palestine is an open wound in the

               conscience of the world.”

                              --Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs

After the vote, the American ambassador to the UN said, “Tomorrow Palestinians will wake up and find that nothing has really changed.”  Almost true.  One of the intangible benefits is being able to stand just a little taller, knowing that most people in the world recognize the injustice that has been done to them.  Celebrations throughout the West Bank were more a sense of satisfaction, and they were even more subdued in Gaza, where thousands have not yet recovered from the latest violent attacks.

This photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org taken from The State of Palestine 194 facebook page, along with another picture showing a young man daring to scale the wall to plant the flag above the picture, shows a crowd in Bethlehem, watching the proceedings projected on the apartheid wall—right next to one of the watchtowers.  At least they found one use for the wall.  As one person commented, "In an honest world...this would be on the front page of every newspaper."

Speaking of the Apartheid Wall, several years ago the UN General Assembly, at the request of [non-state] Palestine, asked for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice concerning the Wall.  The Court condemned it, but it was only an advisory opinion.  Now that the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a state, it can bring suit in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. 

Watch this space as more develops on this front.

Other articles of interest:  http://www.france24.com/en/20121128-palestinians-face-intense-pressure-not-sue-israel

http://www.palestinestate194.com/index.php/en/