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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"><font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2020/11/10/Israel-racing-to-destroy-Palestinian-property-while-Trump-is-in-office">https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2020/11/10/Israel-racing-to-destroy-Palestinian-property-while-Trump-is-in-office</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel racing to destroy Palestinian
property while Trump is in office</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Yousef Alhelou - November
10, 2020<br>
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<article id="ltrFullPageDiv"> Last week, Israeli occupation
forces carried out the largest demolition in years in the
occupied West Bank. Some 76 Palestinian-owned properties,
tents, sheds, structures and animal fodder were destroyed
in the occupied Jordan Valley village of Khirbet Humsa.
Almost 80 people, including 41 children, were displaced as
winter approaches in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
<p>
What happened to this community is de facto annexation
facilitated under Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”.
It is also a consequence of the normalisation deals
between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, which
have emboldened the occupation state.</p>
<p>
The Bedouin and herding committees in the Jordan Valley
and Jerusalem areas are the main target of such
demolitions and subsequent expulsion from their land.
Since the beginning of this year, 689 structures,
properties and animal shelters have been bulldozed and
destroyed by the Israelis. This year has seen the most
demolition of Palestinian-owned property since 2016.
It’s a cruel, racist and inhumane policy through which
Israel wants to drive Palestinians off their land. The
Zionist state is greedy for more land for illegal
settlements and military bases, and so the ethnic
cleansing which began in earnest in 1948 to force the
indigenous population off the land continues unabated.</p>
<p>
Condemnations of Israel’s actions, while appreciated,
actually mean little as far as the Palestinians are
concerned. They know that they do not deter the
occupation state from doing what it wants in the absence
of any sense of accountability. It has ignored UN
Resolutions for years, so why should Israel’s impunity
be threatened by a statement from the UN Secretary
General’s spokesman? Such is the level of the double
standards at play in the international community that
Israel can, literally, get away with murder.</p>
<p>
According to the United Nations, Israel has demolished
more than 55,000 Palestinian homes, dwellings and other
structures since 1967. This figure does not include the
destruction caused by the Zionist state’s military
offensives against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Such
demolitions are, the UN points out, a “grave breach” of
international law.</p>
<p>
“I remind all parties that the extensive destruction of
property and the forcible transfer of protected people
in an occupied territory are grave breaches of the 4th
Geneva Convention,” said Yvonne Helle, the Humanitarian
Coordinator ad interim for the occupied territory at the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). “The humanitarian community stands ready to
support all those who have been displaced or otherwise
affected.”</p>
<p>
The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, tweeted that, “While you
were eagerly following the US elections, Israel has
demolished an entire community’s residential compound,
leaving 74 people, 41 of them minors, homeless.” This
was echoed in a message from Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.</p>
<p>
Despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s cosy words of
congratulations for US President-elect Joe Biden, “a
great friend of Israel”, it is my belief that the
Israeli Prime Minister is racing to destroy as many
Palestinian properties as possible while the man
responsible for “bringing the American-Israeli alliance
to unprecedented heights”, Donald Trump, is still in
office. Yet more despicable and illegal facts on the
ground are being established, just in case Biden decides
to change US foreign policy in the region. Coming so
soon after the normalisation deals, Netanyahu knows that
the green light for more illegal activity may soon
change to amber, but probably not red.</p>
<p>
As is often the case, Israel has ready-made
justifications whenever it displays its open contempt
for international law. In the latest demolition case,
the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs
in the West Bank claimed that the “enforcement activity”
was carried out against seven tents and eight pens that
were “illegally constructed” in a firing range. Do such
dwellings and sheds pose a threat to Israel’s security?
And why was a firing range sited where indigenous people
have been living and grazing their animals for
centuries? It’s yet another excuse to drive the people
off their land.</p>
<p>
Joe Biden is apparently opposed to Israel’s planned
annexation of large swathes of the West Bank. It remains
to be seen if he will defend Palestinian rights when he
enters the White House in January, and put an end to
Israel’s ability to act with impunity.</p>
<p>
<em>- Yousef Alhelou is a Palestinian journalist based
in London. His article appeared in MEMO.</em></p>
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