Saturday 7 July 2018

The forcible transfer of Palestinians is a war crime


The state of Israel  is currently attempting to raze to the ground the  villages of Khan al-Ahmar  and Avu Numar which is home just around 2,000 Bedouins  but the impact of their removal would be long lasting.People who live in these villages threaten no one. Their crime is to have homes on land that Israel wants, in order to expand the illegal settlements of Kfar Adumim and Ma'ale Adumim.. In what many see as state sponsored theft, a theft that will cut the West Bank in two making a contingous Palestinian state no longer possible,  and the prospects of a  two-state solution still more remote., and  is yet  another testament to Israel's culture of impunity that allows it to continue endangering the very existence of the Palestinian people on their land  and to commit further grave violations of international law.
On Wednesday bulldozers demolished nine homes and three farm buildings in Abu Nuwar and clashed with Bedouin residents in Khan al-Ahmer. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society Israeli police injured 35, of whom 4 were hospitalised. Amit Gilutz of human rights organisation B'Tselem said ;No military order or court ruling can make the transfer of these residents lawful or moral. Forcible transfer of Palestinian communities is a war crime, and all who are involved in approving or implementing it bear personal liability." https://www.btselem.org/
Amnesty International have said  that Israels continuing policies of settling Israeli civilians in the Occupied Palestinian territories, wantonly destroying property, and forcibly transferring Palestinians living under occupation violates the Fourth Geneva Convention are war crimes listed in the statute of the International Criminal Court. Since 1967, Israel has forcibly evicted and displaced entire communities and demolished more than 50,000 Palestinian homes and structures.
Meanwhile the top Palestinian political bodies have accused the United States of giving the green light to Israel. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the EU's acquiescence pushed the Israeli government to advance its annexation plans which affect  vast occupied areas of vital importance for Palestine. http://mondoweiss.net/2018/07/demolishing-jerusalem-netanyahu/"
Furthermore, building permits are nearly impossible to obtain for Palestinians in Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank and despite Israel pledging to resettle the residents, one of the alternative locations is near a garbage dump in the nearby Palestinian town of Abu Dis which Bedouin villagers say the location is  unsuitable for their way of life. Israels's actions are not isolated, but part of a systematic plan to take the whole of Palestine from the rivers to the sea.
At the same time companies with headquarters in the UK are directly supporting the destruction of Palestinian homes, companies like CAT and JCB  who continue to profit from illegal activity and directly contribute to ongoing war crimes, whilst aiding and abetting the criminal activities of the Israeli government.
It's time for the UK government to step up and hold complicit companies to account over their involvement and to end its complicity in Israel's systematic violation of Palestinian rights.At the same time Israel must be held accountable for its grave violations of the International Humanitarian Law, UN resolutions and the human rights of the Palestinian people I would urge you after reading this to ask your MP to suspend arms exports to Israel

https://www.waronwant.org/ask-your-mp-suspend-arms

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