[HumanRights] Mayhem in Jerusalem while politicians mumble

Yesterday and while politicians fret over terms like "slow-down" or "restraint" on illegal settlement activities, the Israeli authorities demolished more homes and evicted some 30 people in Jerusalem. One room that is part of a demolished building housed a handicapped women whom neighbors and friends had helped get modifications done to facilitate her life.

Tonight we heard a rather depressing report from an organizer in AlBustan Neighborhood in Silwan (Occupied Jerusalem) where 88 homes (housing 1500 people, 60% of them children) are slated for demolition to create a "King David park". In a normal city, parks are created to serve the residents of the area not to ethnically cleanse them. While just nearby there are spaces for parks to build but Israel's plan for Jerusalem call for cleansing it of its Arab inhabitants so that there is nothing left to negotiate about and it becomes a Jewish city (capital of Israel forever). The political plan for judaicizing this area is actually laid out in the "Jerusalem 2020" plan. After building two rings of settlements around Jerusalem (and now to be connected with light railways that make a network of "facts on the ground"), the plans for this closest ring of settlements, parks, synagogues, and museums is yet the most destructive to the local inhabitants.

That Israel is violating International law (Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council resolutions) seems to be only met with muffled protests from the International community. We are told of a seven year old boy whose mother notices bulging backpack going to school and back, when opened, the bag contained his toys. When asked about it it turns out that the child had overheard his parents talking about the demolition order on their home and he wanted to make sure that if he comes back from school and finds his home demolished, his most valuable toys would be saved. My heart breaks for these families. But I feel sad for the Zionist "believers" who are generating so much pain in a new generation of children suffering under this brutal colonizing state. How is reconciliation to be achieved when 7 million people were made refugees or displaced people so far (and more on the way). Doesn't International law support resistance to colonization? And is this resistance just the responsibility of the victims or also of all decent, thinking human beings regardless of their religion.

In other news, a Jewish American terrorist settler, Jack (aka Yaakov) Teitel who had been on a killing and destruction rampage against Palestinians for over 12 years (he had killed Isa Mahrama in 1997 and was released without any prison term) was arrested now by Israeli police because he is alleged to have planned to target leftist and gay Jews! Palestinian life and property continues to be cheap in this unholy Land.

Action for US citizens: Oppose the AIPAC initiated congressional resolution against the Goldstone report. Demand accountability and support for International law http://www.capwiz.com/adc/issues/alert/?alertid=14280606

Lest we forget: Pictures from the Israeli war crimes in Gaza (Palestinian Center for Human Rights)

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/photos_de-08.html

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/gaza_2008/images.html

Names and pictures of some of the Israeli war criminals responsible for these atrocities:
http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2009/01/26/names-and-photos-of-israeli-war-criminals-in-gaza
Video: Israeli social TV presents: Olives under occupation (on Israeli distruction andf theft of Olive trees) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDHmR59siII

The Jewish National Fund: Confiscating Bedouin Lands; Report by Yeela Raanan, RCUV
http://alternativenews.org/english/2251-the-jewish-national-fund-confiscating-bedouin-land s.html

BTW, the Bethlehem University student I told you about in a previous action alert was handcuffed, blindfolded and transported to Gaza just two months before she was scheduled to finish her degree. Yet, another way Israel makes, per Hillary Clinton, "unprecedented" steps for "peace".

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps