[News] Israeli revenge demolitions leave 2 dead, dozens homeless
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Nov 20 16:29:18 EST 2015
*https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-revenge-demolitions-leave-2-dead-dozens-homeless*
Israeli revenge demolitions leave 2 dead, dozens homeless
Shadi Hatem
November 20, 2015
Israeli occupation forces wrought death, injury and destruction this
week as they carried out revenge demolitions of Palestinian homes and
fired on protesters.
More than 85 Palestinians have been killed in escalated violence since 1
October, dozens in what human rights organizations and international
monitors have condemned
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-executions-palestinian-teens-must-end-amnesty-says>
as summary executions.
Sixteen Israelis were slain in the same period.
More than 9,000 Palestinians and 133 Israelis were injured, according
<http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx> to the
United Nations monitoring group OCHA.
On Thursday, a Palestinian and two Israelis were killed in a shooting
attack near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the occupied West Bank.
According <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.687133> to Israel’s
/Haaretz/, a Palestinian driver opened fire toward cars near the
settlement of Alon Shvut, killing three people.
The alleged assailant was arrested after he crashed his car into another
vehicle.
Those killed in the attack have been identified
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728385,00.html> as Shadi
Arafa, a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank city of Hebron; Ezra
Schwartz, an 18-year-old US citizen; and Yaakov Don, a 49-year-old West
Bank settler.
Earlier, two Israelis – 51-year-old Reuven Aviram and Aharon Yesayev, 32
– were killed in a stabbing attack at an office building
<https://www.rt.com/news/322708-tel-aviv-stabbing-rt/> in Tel Aviv.
The alleged assailant was taken into custody. He was identified as Riad
al-Masalma, a Palestinian from Dura village near Hebron.
That occupied West Bank city has borne the brunt of recent Israeli
violence, including 29 killings
<http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx> since the
start of October.
Last Friday, two Israeli settlers – a father and his adult son – were
killed <http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.685904> after an unknown
assailant opened fire on their car in southern West Bank.
Killings and revenge demolitions
Thursday’s killings follow a wave of Israeli violence against Palestinians.
Israeli forces blew up six homes in the occupied West Bank belonging to
families of Palestinians who allegedly committed attacks against Israelis.
At least 16 additional homes in the same buildings or adjacent to those
targeted were damaged or destroyed.
The demolitions made 47 people, including 20 children, homeless, from
both the targeted and adjacent structures, according
<http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx> to OCHA.
Israel carried out the revenge demolitions after its high court rejected
an appeal
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-cruelest-punishments-reserved-palestinians/14989>
by human rights organizations.
Israel claims that the policy, used exclusively against Palestinians and
never against Jews, deters attacks, but even its army has refuted this
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-high-court-champions-revenge-against-palestinian-families>.
OCHA affirmed that the demolitions are “a form of collective punishment
and as such are illegal under international law.”
“Vindictive”
Shortly after midnight on 16 November, Israeli forces invaded Qalandiya
refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, to destroy the family
home of Muhammad Abu Shahin.
Abu Shahin is accused – though has not been convicted – of killing an
Israeli
<http://www.btselem.org/israeli_civilians/20150621_ein_bubin_shooting>
in the West Bank last June.
Israeli forces “called on loudspeakers to the residents of nearby
houses, instructing them to leave their homes and move about 100 meters
away,” the human rights group B’Tselem reported
<http://www.btselem.org/punitive_demolitions/20151117_security_forced_demolish_14_homes>.
“When Abu Shahin’s apartment was blown up, the apartment on the floor
below it was also damaged, as was an apartment in a nearby building that
was home to four people, including two minors.”
Abu Shahin’s wife and children lived in the targeted house.
Palestinian residents confronted the Israeli forces invading the camp.
Israeli soldiers shot dead Laith Assad Manasra, 21, and Ahmad Abu
al-Aish, 28, in the densely populated refugee camp.
Dozens more were injured, including 17-year-old Yousif Abu Latifa, who
was critically wounded. Witnesses told the Ma’an News Agency
<http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768844> that Israeli forces
fired tear gas at ambulances attempting to reach the wounded.
On 14 November, Israeli forces used explosives to destroy four
apartments in Nablus <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nablus> that
were home to relatives of Palestinians accused, but not convicted, of
killing two West Bank settlers on 1 October, leaving 14 people homeless,
according to B’Tselem.
The force of the explosions destroyed six other apartments that were not
targeted, making 16 more people homeless.
In the Ramallah-area village of Silwad
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/silwad>, Israeli forces blew up the
home of the mother and brother of Muaz Hamad, who Israel accuses of
killing a West Bank settler in June.
The explosion damaged eight nearby houses, according to B’Tselem.
In addition to being illegal under international law, the group says
that Israel’s policy of punitive demolitions
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/punitive-home-demolitions> is “a
draconian, vindictive measure directed at entire families who have done
nothing wrong nor are they suspected of any wrongdoing.”
Another 27 Palestinians, including 12 children, were also made homeless
as Israeli forces demolished another 17 homes and other structures in
across West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under the pretext that they
lacked building permits, OCHA reported
<http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx>.
Killing and raids
On 17 November, Israeli forces killed 24-year-old Muhammad Saleh, from
Aroura village, near Ramallah.
Israel stated that Saleh opened fire on a military jeep, but the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) notes
<http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11373:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-12--18-november-2015&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183>
that there “was no eyewitness to confirm or deny the Israeli claim.”
In what appears to be standard practice, Israeli forces prevented
Palestinian medics from reaching Saleh, PCHR said.
Palestinians confront Israeli forces following the funeral of Ahmad Abu
al-Aish and Laith Manasrah, near Beit El settlement on the outskirts of
the West Bank city of Ramallah, on 16 November.
In the last week, OCHA said more than 1,100 Palestinians, including 203
children, were injured amid ongoing confrontations with Israeli forces
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces raided almost 80 Palestinian communities in the West Bank
and arrested more than 100 Palestinians, including 38 children,
according
<http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11373:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-12--18-november-2015&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183>
to PCHR.
Slap on the wrist
Another event this week highlighted the stark contrast between the
brutality Israel directs towards Palestinians and the impunity it
affords its own citizens.
An Israeli Border Police officer convicted for the savage beating of
Palestinian American teenager Tariq Abukhdeir
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/palestinian-american-teen-recounts-israeli-assault-packed-room-capitol>
was given a slap on the wrist – six weeks of community service.
The attack – in which one officer held the boy down while another
methodically kicked and pummeled him in the head – was recorded on video
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-holds-us-boy-without-charge-after-police-nearly-beat-him-death>.
This week two UN special rapporteurs called on Israel
<http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16759&LangID=E>
to end its policy of summary executions of Palestinians.
The independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights
Council said that the current escalation of violence is “occurring
within the existing context of policies and practices under the
longstanding Israeli occupation which entail violations of Palestinian
human rights.”
For their part, Israeli leaders continue to exploit the attacks in Paris
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-leaders-exploit-paris-attacks-justify-atrocities-against-palestinians>
by insisting that Palestinians are driven by the same motivations as the
suspected Islamic State gunmen and bombers who killed 130 people last
Friday.
Meanwhile Israel announced plans for 454 more settler homes in occupied
East Jerusalem, a move even Israel’s staunch allies the United States
and Germany criticized
<http://news.yahoo.com/germany-criticizes-israels-east-jerusalem-settlement-plans-135638794.html>.
--
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