Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumU.S. warns Israel against evicting Palestinians from Susya
While the Iran nuclear deal captured most of the attention and highlighted continued tensions in the U.S.-Israeli relationship this week, the tiny rural Palestinian village of Susya also managed to get the U.S. State Departments attention. Israel has indicated that it plans to demolish parts of the West Bank village after Ramadan, which officially ended Friday, or after the current Muslim holiday of Eid el-Fitr.
According to Susya resident Nasser Nawajah, who is also a BTselem researcher, the Israeli armys Civil Administration (the military government in the West Bank) notified residents of its intention to demolish about half of the villages structures once the month of Ramadan is over: 10 residential homes, a clinic, eight animal shelters, 12 storerooms and outhouses. A High Court petition appealing the demolitions and a plan to expel Susyas residents is only scheduled for August 3.
Asked about the situation, U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday:
Such actions have an impact beyond those individuals and families who are evicted. We are concerned that the demolition of this village may worsen the atmosphere for a peaceful resolution and would set a damaging standard for displacement and land confiscation, particularly given settlement-related activity in the area.
We urge Israeli authorities to work with the residents of the village to finalize a plan for the village that addresses the residents humanitarian needs.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)A plea that will be ignored.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)with phrases like "we are closely following", and "we strongly urge", and "we are concerned", but the Israelis know that when any US government spokesperson makes statements such as these the statements are for public consumption only and never reflect any real intent by the US government to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and violations of International Law.
How many times has an official spokesperson said the same empty phrases when discussing any of the Israeli land thefts? And what has been the outcome?
Israeli
(4,152 posts)The removal of the fearsome bulldozers which appeared near the village of Susya in the Southern Hebron Hills two weeks ago turned out to be a strictly temporary respite in the military governments plans of destruction. On July 12, the military authorities summoned Susya villagers to a meeting, where an official informed them that postponement of the demolitions had been a humanitarian gesture on the occasion of Ramadan, and that the demolition of nearly half of the buildings in the village would be carried out immediately after the end of the Muslim holy month. The military officials spoke candidly of the "virtually irresistible" pressure put on them by settlers from settlements near to Susya and by the settler association "Regavim" ("Clods of Earth" , clamoring for "the illegal houses" to be destroyed with no further delay.
http://www.btselem.org/press_realese/20150716_susiya_demolition
Thereupon, BTselem and the Rabbis for Human Rights sounded the alarm, activists from Jerusalem called for the continuous presence of Israelis at Susya to try to prevent or at least delay the destruction, and it was resolved to hold there a joint demonstration of Israelis and Palestinians on Friday July 24. In the United States, the call was joined by Donna Baranskis "Rebuilding Alliance" and Jewish Voice for Peace". Signatures were collected on a petition calling upon Secretary of State John Kerry for urgent intervention. Anna Eshoo, Member of the House of Representatives from California - who has a special relationship with the Middle East, being a member of the Assyrian Church based in Iraq added her voice to the call to avert the destruction of Susiya.
And indeed, the US State Department did find time for Susiya among all the hot issues on the international agenda.
"Were closely following developments in the village of Susiya in the West Bank, and we strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village" said U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby. "Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative. Such actions have an impact beyond those individuals and families who are evicted. We are concerned that the demolition of this village may worsen the atmosphere for a peaceful resolution and would set a damaging standard for displacement and land confiscation, particularly given settlement-related activity in the area. We urge Israeli authorities to work with the residents of the village to finalize a plan for the village that addresses the residents humanitarian needs."
http://972mag.com/u-s-warns-israel-against-evicting-palestinians-from-susya/108989/
This should be more than enough to deter Netanyahu, but nevertheless, it is important to maintain a presence at Susiya during the coming weeks.
Source: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.co.il/2015/07/life-and-death.html
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Source: Haaretz
The EU joins Washington in its call to spare Sussia while criticizing construction in the settlements and Israels role in the stalled peace process.
The 28 foreign ministers of the European Unions foreign ministers have called on Israel not to to halt plans for forced transfer of population and demolition of Palestinian housing and infrastructure in the village in the West Bank's South Hebron Hills.
The statement was issues in a communiqué on the peace process, after their monthly meeting in Brussels.
Senior Foreign Ministry officials said Jerusalem viewed the use of terms like transfer very gravely, but they would forgo an official response and instead raise the issue with EU officials.
The foreign ministers message comes only a few days after a similar warning by the U.S. State Department. We strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.667005
Note: Premium article. May Google be with you...
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)I'm sure their upbraiding of EU foreign ministers will go over amazingly well.
Israeli
(4,152 posts)By Amira Hass
The United States and Europe in recent days made out a check in the name of Sussia. Once again they have raised expectations about their ability to put the brakes on Israels colonizing madness. The temptation to be optimistic is great. The fear of bitter disappointment (and the joy of the enemies of logic) are even greater.
Although Sussia is not a story that moves the Israelis as a whole, the bleeding hearts among us draw encouragement from the fact that at least this particular check might be cashed. That is, that the plans to destroy the village might not be carried out. Sussia has become a symbol. And that is precisely the trap.
The European foreign ministers know the name of this village in the southern Hebron Hills as if it were a suburb on the way from the airport to Brussels. The spokesman for the U.S. State Department rolls the name off his tongue as if he had drunk coffee in one of the tents slated for demolition. The call on Israel not to uproot Sussia (and the generally unnoticed Bedouin community of Abu Nwar) is specifically included in the conclusions of this weeks monthly meeting of the EU Foreign Council. It is very unusual that such a small place is mentioned in the written conclusions. The State Department spokesman knew to say that the implications of demolishing the village were greater than the impact on its inhabitants. He also said the demolition would set a damaging standard for displacement and land confiscation.
But if Sussia is destroyed (again), perish the thought, that will not be a new standard. Even if we start counting from 20 years ago, Israel had already set the standard for uprooting and destroying Palestinian communities in the West Bank at the height of the peace process.
How many harsh documents by the European Union have we read in recent years, including a sharp analysis of the danger in which Israels policies place the fate of the two-state solution? True, with modest European funding, various services were and are provided to tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of Area C (water, prefabricated structures, solar-heating systems) which makes it easier for them to wage their heroic struggle against Israeli displacement plans. The European Union regards the cautious funding as a broad hint that it does indeed envision Area C (60 percent of the West Bank) as an inseparable part of the future Palestinian state. But Israel does not understand hints, it only benefits from the flow of European charity that prevents the humanitarian disaster from growing worse.
Because Sussia has become a symbol, along with its courageous and stubborn inhabitants who have so far thwarted plans to wipe out their community (supported for many years by Israeli organizations, chief among them Taayush and Rabbis for Human Rights), it might be saved. Then the Western foreign ministries will note with satisfaction that their warning worked. But Israeli bulldozers will quietly turn, helped by Israeli public support, to continued destruction of lives and homes in other Palestinian communities, no less courageous and stubborn just less well-known. Or, on the other hand, perhaps precisely because Sussia is a symbol, Israel will decide to arm wrestle over it, treat it as a special case, and demolish it.
And what will Europe and the United States do then that they have not done yet? Will the United States cease its security cooperation with Israel? Will Europe recall its ambassadors and close its airports to Israeli tourists?
Perhaps the statements about Sussia do show a change of approach, and that Western patience, even that of the United States, is eroding for the Israeli pyromaniac. But the pace of change and erosion is much slower than the fire.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.667141
Israeli
(4,152 posts)By Mairav Zonszein |Published July 22, 2015
Deputy Defense Minister and new head of Israels Civil Administration Eli Ben Dahan openly denied the existence of Susya, a West Bank village under threat of demolition, while speaking to the Knesset on Wednesday.
There has never been an Arab village called Susya, Ben Dahan said, calling the village a ploy by leftist organizations to take over Area C [of the West Bank].
Ben Dahan, a Rabbi from the Jewish Home party who previously said that Palestinians are sub-human and that even homosexual Jews are superior to non-Jews was responding to a formal query lodged by Joint List Member Dov Khenin, who inquired as whether it is true that the Civil Administration plans to demolish half of the villages structures.
Khenin, who was visibly enraged by Ben Dahans remarks (you can view a video of the exchange here, in Hebrew), responded: I have not heard such a response so detached from reality in a long time. He then went on to quote Plia Albeck, a pro-settler former government official who oversaw legal decisions regarding West Bank land, and who herself admitted in 1982 that the old synagogue in what is now the Jewish settlement of Susya is surrounded by an Arab village, and that the land is registered in the Israel Lands Authority as being privately owned by Arabs.
Susya made headlines earlier this week after both the U.S. State Department and the EU warned Israel against any demolitions there. Israels Civil Administration notified residents of its intention to demolish half of the villages structures following the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The story of Susya, however, did not begin last week. Israel first expelled Susyas residents from their land in 1986 in order to build a Jewish settlement of the same name, and to establish an archaeological site on top of the Palestinian village. The displaced Palestinians moved the village to their adjacent agricultural lands and have been fighting to subsist there ever since.
The Israeli army, however, never gave Susyas residents permission to build their homes on the current location. Susya is located in the south Hebron Hills, in Area C of the West Bank, which according to the Oslo Accords is under full Israeli control.
The reason Palestinians in the south Hebron Hills build illegally is because Israeli authorities systematically refuse to grant them building permits or recognize any planning rights. The Israeli army rejects 90 percent of Palestinian planning requests in Area C, and most villages in the area face almost identical restrictions and demolition threats. Settlements for Jewish Israelis, however, continuously pop up in the area.
Last May, the High Court of Justice gave the state the green light to destroy the village at any moment by refusing to issue an injunction until an appeal is heard.
Source: http://972mag.com/deputy-defense-minister-embattled-palestinian-village-doesnt-even-exist/109133/
Israeli
(4,152 posts)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained silent about plans to destroy the West Bank village of Susiya despite calls by the United States and the European Union to rescind the demolition orders.
Author Akiva Eldar
Translator Ruti Sinai
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/village-susiya-demolition-palestinians-expelled-settlers.html#ixzz3ghEstq7N
This time as well, Meretz was the sole Zionist party to rush to the defense of the downtrodden. This time, too, a handful of Israeli peace activists led by members of the organizations Taayush (Living Together, in Arabic), BTselem and Rabbis for Human Rights are standing by the weakest group among the occupied Palestinian population. A chosen few among them, like professor David Shulman, serve as voices delivering the shepherds and farmers messages to air-conditioned administrative offices in Washington and at European Union headquarters in Brussels.
The well-oiled mechanism of the major powers proved in reaching an agreement with Iran in Vienna on July 14 that it can use its power to achieve compromise, to bridge, to rehabilitate and to build. Now this mechanism is free to focus on dismantling the ticking time bomb on the heights of the Hebron Hills.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/village-susiya-demolition-palestinians-expelled-settlers.html#ixzz3ghGldgjS
Israeli
(4,152 posts)....and to let your opinions be known where it counts :
ref :
Apologies ....we are having problems with our web site .
see : Demonstration - save Susya from destruction!
@ : http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1437552644
Israeli
(4,152 posts).....our problems with our English web site have so far not been resolved .
However .....I have just been informed that ' Rabbis for Human Rights ' have the same info up and so far they are getting the message out without any problems :
ref : http://rhr.org.il/eng/2015/07/susya-needs-you-now-demolitions-expected-between-july-18th-and-august-3/
Israeli
(4,152 posts)By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man |Published July 24, 2015
Despite a pending High Court case, the village is facing imminent destruction and forced population transfer. State Department, EU foreign ministers have all called on Israel to let the villagers stay on their land.
Hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists march into the Palestinian village of Susya, demanding that Israel not demolish it, Suysa, South Hebron Hills, July 24, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
Over 500 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists descended on the tiny Palestinian tent-village of Susya on Friday to protest its imminent demolition and the forced transfer of its residents.
The activists marched through the village, stopping at various homes along their way to hear the stories of families facing eviction and transfer.
At the end of the demonstration activists hung a massive banner in view of passing settlers, declaring that Susya is here to stay.....
Activists hang a massive sign on the main road leading to the former site of the village, to ensure that Israeli settlers see it, July 24, 2015. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Palestinian parliamentarian Mustafa Barghoutti, one of few politicians who attended the protest, praised the non-violent popular resistance model adopted by the residents of Susya and many other Palestinian villages. Combining popular resistance on the ground, international solidarity and boycott, divestment and sanctions against israeli policies, Barghoutti said. Is very productive and very effective at this stage.
Susya has been the recipient of seemingly unprecedented international diplomatic and media attention in recent weeks and months. European foreign ministers, the U.S. State Department, and activists around the world are all demanding that Israel refrain from destroying the village and to legalize its status.
The Israeli army first demolished the village of Khirbet Susya, deep in the desolate south Hebron Hills, three decades ago, on the grounds that it was located on an archeological site. Susyas residents, many of whom lived in caves on the site for generations, packed up and moved a few hundred meters away, onto their adjacent agricultural lands.
The IDF, which as the occupying power controls nearly every aspect of Palestinians lives in the West Bank, never recognized the validity of the move. To this day, the village has no connections to electricity or running water, and its access roads are not paved.
On the other hand, when it comes to unauthorized Jewish settlements, all of which squat on Palestinian land, Israeli authorities supply electricity, water, security and more. The terms double standard or discrimination dont even begin to describe the dual realities in that part the West Bank.
The Israeli army has issued repeated demolition orders against the village on the grounds that none of its tents and tin shacks were erected with the proper permits. The armys Civil Administration, however, rejects 90 percent of Palestinian planning requests.
The army has made no attempt to find a legal solution that would allow Susyas residents to stay on their land. It intends to transfer them to the nearby city of Yatta, which is in Area A under Palestinian Authority rule. Susya is in Area C.
Twenty years ago, on an explicitly temporary and transitional basis, the Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three Areas: A, B and C. Area C, which comprises over 60 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control. A significant portion of the current Israeli government has explicitly stated its desire to annex this area to Israel, in contravention of international law.
In such a scenario, Israel would want to annex as much land as possible with as few Palestinians as possible hence, efforts and plans to transfer and dispossess Bedouin and Palestinian residents of the south Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley.
A view of the tents that comprise most of Susya, July 24, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org) Israeli authorities reject 90 percent of Palestinian planning requests, which means that almost all new Palestinian homes in the area are built without permits, putting them at risk of demolition.
Speaking during a solidarity visit to Susya with other diplomats last month, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Daniela Owen said that Israeli plans to destroy the village could amount to forced transfer. Such a move would be contrary to Israels obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, International Humanitarian Law and human rights law obligations.
Susyas residents are currently fighting in the Israeli High Court of Justice in one last bid to stay on their land. That case is pending, but two months ago a High Court justice, who just happens to be a West Bank settler himself, refused to issue an injunction against the demolition while the case is pending.
Military bulldozers have been parked adjacent to the village of Susya for some weeks now and residents were reportedly told that the demolitions would take place after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended last week.
Villagers are hoping that the international spotlight put on their struggle might be enough to save their homes from what otherwise appears to be imminent destruction and forced population transfer of its roughly 300 residents.
Source: http://972mag.com/hundreds-protest-forced-transfer-destruction-of-palestinian-village-of-susya/109250/
Israeli
(4,152 posts)Over 200 prominent Israelis, including novelists David Grossman, A.B. Yehoshua, and Etgar Keret, sign a public statement published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz (July 20th) against the demolition of Susya!
From the NGO BTselem
Over 200 women and men from a wide variety of fields including arts and culture, education, academia and law, to name but a few signed a public statement we [B'tselem] ran in this mornings edition of Israeli Hebrew daily Haaretz. They are saying No! in a loud and clear voice, speaking out against the planned demolition and effective expulsion of the residents of Khirbet Susiya, a small Palestinian village in in the South Hebron Hills. Below is a translation of the Hebrew text:
NO to Expulsion:
The Israeli Civil Administration and military informed the residents of Khirbet Susiya that they plan to demolish half their village this week, effectively expelling the villagers from their land.
The planned demolition and expulsion are cruel, immoral and unlawful.
Implementation would be both shameful and heartbreaking.
Source: http://rhr.org.il/eng/2015/07/200-prominent-israelis-sign-statement-in-support-of-susya/
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Now, I'm cautiously optimistic about Susiya.
Israeli
(4,152 posts)ref : http://972mag.com/has-the-idf-found-a-way-to-climb-down-the-susya-tree/109302/