Monday, August 8, 2011

Israelis protesting for Social Justice? What kind of Social Justice?

Social Justice in Israel - what are they talking about? What INJUSTICE are they fighting for?  No One knows.  Better housing?  Housing like the settlers in the West Bank?  Nice low cost housing built right over the Ancient Palestinian towns.  Right next to Palestinians whose houses are being demolished.  Housing with abundant water while the Palestinians, who are just down the hill, have to ration the little water they have access to (on their own land, mind you).  Housing with easy access roads to quickly go where they want while the Palestinians have to wait in line for hours just to see if they can go to the next city.  When will the Protesters say what SOCIAL JUSTICE they are protesting for?
In the first six months of 2011, this policy (of discrimination) led to the destruction of the homes of 656 Palestinians in Area C in the West Bank, 351 of them children. This figure emerged from the figures of the UN Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA ). Yes, the same Area C to which the Yesha Council wants to tempt the tent protesters, and where it believes the solution to Israel's housing problem lies.
The number refers to 342 Palestinian structures, including 125 houses (the majority of them tents and corrugated tin huts ). OCHA found this to be an increase of almost five-fold over the number of demolitions and the number of people who lost their homes, in comparison with the same period last year. In July, another 100 Palestinians or so whose houses were destroyed were added to these figures.

But in Area C, the single large land reserve for Palestinian villages and cities - or rather, for a Palestinian state - in the West Bank, there are only some 150,000 Palestinians living. Why so few? Because Israeli restrictions on Palestinian development in those areas have been in effect since the early 1970s, long before Oslo and its tracks. In that way, potential population growth was blocked. Here is the "adherence to a path" of the Israeli policy makers.
Read Amira Hass's article: Otherwise Occupied / The spirit of sacrifice - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

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