August 10, 2007

Israel's one state solution: ethnic cleansing both sides of the "Green Line"

Israel often blurs the so-called "Green Line," the pre-1967 border. The ethnic cleansing of Arabs, without which, Israel would not have a Jewish majority, continues to this day on both sides of the line.

Here's a report on the Negev, within the Green Line:
Thousands of residents participated on Wednesday in a conference which comes in solidarity with the "unrecognized" Arab villages in the Negev, and the ongoing Israeli threats to evacuate these villages and displace the 90,000 Arab residents in the Negev living in 45 unrecognized villages.

The participants in the conference stated that Israel is housing thousands of Israeli settlers in the Negev and establishing towns for them, while it rejects recognizing the Arab villages in the Negev and continues to displace their residents.

The participants also called on the Arab countries to act in support of the residents of the Negev and counter the racist Israeli policies against them.

On Wednesday, the Regional Council of the Unrecognized Villages conducted a press conference to expose the Israeli policies against the Arab residents in the Negev, and the continuous demolition of Arab houses there. Several Arab members of the Knesset, and dozens of Arab leaders, in addition to hundreds of residents, participated in the conference.

The participant carried banners written in Arabic, Hebrew and English, reading: "Yes to recognizing our villages" and "Israel wants us out of our land, and wants settlers to replace us."

Arab member of the Knesset, Talab Al Sane’, said that the Negev is 12,000 square kilometers, which it as twice as big as the West Bank, but after the 1967 war Israel displaced 90% of the Arabs there and replaced them with settlements and settlers.

Al Sane’ also said that now there are only 90,000 Arab residents in the Negev, and that those residents are facing displacement by Israel "just because they are Arabs."

He added that the Israeli government is financing the annexation of Arab lands in the Negev, has already annexed graveyards in Be’er Shiva, and has transformed an old mosque into a museum.
And from the officially occupied West Bank:
After Israel demolished structures in at least five Palestinian villages in the Jordan Valley in the last week, Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh called on Thursday for an end to what he termed the "ethnic cleansing" in the area.

Pools, tents and tin structures built without permits and belonging to Palestinian residents, were destroyed in the villages of Bakia, Jeftlik, Beit Dajan and Bardella, which are scattered along the Jordan Valley.

Barakeh said that the demolitions prevent the residents from providing for themselves through working the land and raising livestock. The information was received by the Hadash chairman from the residents - who also turned to Amnesty International - and was verified by Haaretz.
I suppose its only appropriate for Israel to behave that way in this, the sixtieth year of zionist occupation.

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