Israel cracks down on dissent, and demolishes Bedouin village

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http://english.aljazeera.net/video/m...515308172.html


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...151458970.html

It's very saddening to see that Israel can continue to carry out these enormous crimes and yet not have to face any significant international opposition.

It's another step in the same direction seen when hundreds of Arab villages were either totally decimated or cleansed of Arabs and re-populated by Jewish settlers in 1948 and onwards. Same can be said for the large number of recent forced evictions in occupied Jerusalem.

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With regard to the second link- occasionally a UK council will get its act together and move on a settlement of Travellers who have set up a permanent settlement in a field with hardstandings, water supplies etc. in contravention of planning laws. I don't recall any complaints to the UN or international protests about that, yet it's essentially the same thing. The Bedouins are Israeli citizens who have established a settlement without permission. It's now been destroyed and they've been sent back to the city (within Israel) that they originally came from.

The issue here is that the Israelis seem to be far less keen to take the same action against their Jewish citizens who have done essentially the same thing, except in a far more organised fashion. But it does ocasionally happen, and IDF forces have been assaulted by Jewish people as a result. I have to go to bed so haven't extensively read this link, but I'll post it here anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement

As for the second link, again I ain't got time to watch the vid, but I read the caption:

"Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, recently admitted to spying on a young Australian activist in the West Bank."

Erm...and? I don't expect MI5 to spy on me as a British citizen, but TBH I wouldn't get worked up if they spied on a foreigner who came here with the specific intent of agitating against our government.

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The issue here is that the Israeli excuse of illegal construction is only a false cover for their ethinic cleansing.

When I visited the West Bank, I saw cases of people being forced to live in UN tents after having their homes demolished (in some cases, being forced to pay for the demolition of their own home). In a number of these cases, the situation was that Israeli bulldozers had demolished the home due to them being build illegally. My initial reaction was that it was silly to go ahead without permission to built, but it turned out these people had been waiting for years to get permission to build a home. A very very small number of Palestinians are allowed to build homes in the occupied West Bank each year, whereas thousands of homes can be built for Israeli settlers no problem.

Sometimes, there is simply no cover at all and Israel steal or demolish homes as they please. Look here:

http://www.icahd.org/

There have been huge amounts of civilian dwellings destroyed over the years. Israel can basically label anything it likes as illegal and use it as an excuse to demolish homes.

You only have to look at the recent evictions in Jerusalem to get a feeling for how unjust the situation is. Since when has it been OK for Israeli security forces to escort Jewish settlers to Palestinian properties, and force the occupants to leave their home - for no valid reason whatsoever?

http://www.j-c-w.org/factsheets/Effe...on%20women.pdf

Looking at the bigger picture, it is painfully obvious what Israel is trying to do - to clear territories of Arab occupants to be replaced by Israeli settlers.

Regarding the other link, if you'd watch the video you'd see the main issue is Israel's attempts to crack down on any dissent and criticism of the state's inhumane methods against the Palestinians. They've always made it very difficult for any kind of political activist to protest peacefully, but it has become much worse recently. Do you think it's OK for Israeli forces to try and arrest aid volunteers in the middle of a night under baseless excuses?

Erm...and? I don't expect MI5 to spy on me as a British citizen, but TBH I wouldn't get worked up if they spied on a foreigner who came here with the specific intent of agitating against our government.

I really do urge you to have a look at that video. Since when has it been ok for peaceful protesters to be a legit target for Israeli security forces? As they said in the video, it is common for any kind of activists that show the slightest bit of criticism of Israeli methods to be detained and treated harshly for days.

If I happened to be a foreigner who came here, entered legally, and joined a peaceful protest against, say, the war in Iraq, do you think it would have been OK for British security forces to arrest me and detain me for days on end?

The media get worked up into a frenzy every time a protester is the slightest bit manhandled - what would happen if people were arrested (and in some cases abused) for criticism of the government?

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http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...292506226.html