The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped Israel’s appetite for land confiscation, settlement building and demolition of Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank while besieging the Gaza Strip, writes Dr Ibrahim Natil.
ISRAEL’S LARGE-SCALE demolition of Palestinian houses, settlement expansions and denial of international human rights activists’ visas have been taking place while claiming peace, security and normalisation with neighbours. On 30 October 2020, Michael Lynk, U.N. special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territory, called on the international community to take action and move beyond condemnation to ensure accountability for Israel’s human rights abuses and international law violations.
Demolition of properties and denial of entry
After two days of destroying the Bedouin village Khirbet Hamsa al-Foqa, near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, leaving its nearly 80 inhabitants homeless, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy/vice-president commission condemned Israel’s action on 5 November 2020.
The Israeli forces destroyed more than 70 structures, including residential, livelihood and sanitation facilities, belonging to 11 Palestinian families with 41 children as the world watched the U.S. Election.
The EU, however, learned that there are currently 52 Palestinian schools under threat of demolition as their statement says:
‘This large-scale demolition confirms once again the regrettable trend of confiscations and demolitions since the beginning of the year. This comes on top of the threat of demolition of the Palestinian school in the Ras Al-Teen community in the central West Bank, which has been co-funded by the EU and several EU Member States.’
Read the article by Ibrahimn Natil in Independent Australia.