Palestinian Homes Demolished in Jerusalem - Btselem

by Charles Lenchner

category: Middle East

Published November 30, 2008 @ 05:14AM PT

B'Tselem released a rather shocking video this past week. It was filmed in the Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, part of Arab East Jerusalem. The video showed an Israeli policeman head-butting first a Palestinian woman, then a man, though they had made no obviously provocative moves, at least on the film.

The incident elicited shock and outrage in Israel, and an investigation was has been launched thanks to the release of the video. But as appalling as that behavior was, it pales before the larger problems in Silwan.

Bustan's ninety or so houses all exist under demolition orders. The disturbance last week was due to one house being demolished and another being partially taken down. The residents of Bustan all live with the threat of that happening to their homes every day. Not surprisingly, then, they're a bit touchy about one of the homes being destroyed.

There is no security or military reason for these orders, not even a pro forma one that exists as PR cover. The orders are in place to make way for an expansion of the City of David archaeological site under the auspices of ElAd, an organization dedicated to the "judaization" of East Jerusalem.

The radical religious group, Ateret Cohanim, has also set up a building seven stories tall (the law mandates that buildings in this area may not be more than two stories). They built without a permit, and, rather than issue a demolition order, the municipality simply issued one four years after the building was built.

This is emblematic of the various methods used to legalize settlement projects. For fuller expositions of these methods see, in particular, Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal's Lords of the Land: The War for Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007 and also Gershom Gorenberg's The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977. There are many other sources as well.
The constant threat from ElAd and the presence of Ateret Cohanim and other Jewish families would be bad enough, but the Israeli government's and Jerusalem municipality's complicity in all of this is particularly concerning.
A democracy cannot hold to its own laws only when they are convenient, nor is it acceptable for a democracy to find ways to legalize what is obviously illegal. Most important, a democracy cannot value the human rights of those under its control, whether citizens or not, as mere obstacles to be overcome.
The right of people to remain in their homes is basic in any democracy, and to any conception of human rights. That right is being terribly violated in Silwan. Moreover, the Israeli government is acting here on behalf of the settler movement, rather than out of any concern for the well-being of its citizens.
This behavior is a political mistake, as Silwan is clearly in that part of Jerusalem that would be considered Arab in any negoitiation. But what's worse is that Israel is trampling on the rights of the people of Silwan not for its citizenry as a whole but for an extremist segment of the ideological settler movement. Thus, it is not merely one isolated human rights violation, but part of a larger system of disregard for human rights, spearheaded by the settlement movement, but with extensive complicity by Israeli governmental decisions and bureaucracy.
Wherever the future might lead in terms of diplomacy, any real hope has to begin with maintaining some basic standards of human rights and civility. The transgressions of one side in this regard do not excuse the transgressions of the other. If there is to be hope, this behavior must change. If Israeli democracy is to grow, these situations must be confronted forcefully and without compromise. It's a matter of law, and it's a matter of morality.

[This has been a guest post from Mitchell Plitnick, Director of Outreach - USA for B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Also a great guy!]