'Thousands' of Israeli Arab homes threatened with demolition

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

Why and how have we been so tricked and manipulated in America to also be in favor of this?

http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-israeli-arab-homes-threatened-demolition-203434489.html

'Thousands' of Israeli Arab homes threatened with demolition
AFP By Majeda El-Batsh
6 hours ago

Ramle (Israel) (AFP) - "Where will we go," asks eight-year-old Tiba Qeren, saying goodbye to the family home that, like those of many other Israeli Arabs, is condemned to demolition for failing to meet planning rules.

"I'm afraid," she tells AFP. "I know that they are going to destroy our home as they have others in Ramle," the mixed Arab and Jewish town where they live, about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Tel Aviv.

"I'm annoyed because I tell myself: who gives them the right to destroy our house," she says, her young voice shaking with anger.

"The land is not theirs, it belongs to my family and the house is not theirs because it is my family who built it! "

The Israeli Arab community has its roots in the 160,000 Palestinians who stayed on their land after the creation of Israel in 1948.

Today they and their descendants number around 1.3 million.

While Israeli law guarantees them full equality with other citizens, in practice there are claims of discrimination in government funding and a raft of other issues.

Israeli Arab rights group Adalah says only 4.6 percent of new homes built in Israel are in Arab towns and villages although Arabs make up 20 percent of the population.

Jewish settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, who number around 580,000, receive four times as many housing units as Arabs in Israel, the group's website says.

On Wednesday, five apartments in the Arab village of Dahmash, between Ramle and Lod, were demolished for having been built without construction permits, a villager told AFP.

On Monday, a home in the Galilee village of Kfar Kana -- biblical Cana -- was razed for the same reason.

In Ramle, 11 families last week received demolition notices.

Arab community leaders Wednesday called for a general strike in protest

Across the country the potential threat is huge, Arab former MP Hana Sweid said.

"About 25,000 Arab homes fall under the scope of demolition orders," he told AFP.

"Police came a week ago and told us that he must leave the house quietly, without resistance," said Tiba's father, Yusef Qeren, 49.

"I told them, there are 12 people living here."

He said that four times he submitted applications for building permits and four time he was rejected.

His son Abdelrahman, 14, does not believe his home could soon be rubble.

"If they destroy it, we shall rebuild it!" he vows.

Yusef Qeren is convinced that the local authorities are anti-Arab in their policy on planning permission.

"In Ramle the law only applied to Arabs," he said.

A local committee opposing the planned demolitions has set up a protest tent, with a large banner in Arabic and Hebrew.

"They are destroying Arab homes and building houses for settlers," it reads

 

[Johan]

This is how Netanyahu deals with the people that almost make his loose the election.

 

[assari]

The biggest joke ever:

Peace in the Middle-East

 

[Johan]

The biggest joke ever:

Peace in the Middle-East

Actually, the biggest joke ever is :

great post by assari

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

Appreciate the good fellas from France and Finland for your comments. Thank you.

 

[Jagger69]

I was going to make some Jewish/Nazi analogy but thought better of it. Funny how making light of the Holocaust is taboo yet the Israeli government (emphasis on the word government) feels like they can abuse and mistreat Arabs with impugnity.

I support Israel, but I don't support this. Disgraceful.

 

[assari]

Actually, the biggest joke ever is :

great post by assari

You're probably the only one who believes that Arabs and Jews can live in peace.

Both sides have sown hatred for decades, now is the time of harvest and the harvest is very impressive.

Appreciate the good fellas from France and Finland for your comments. Thank you.

Thank you belongs to you my American friend.

I was going to make some Jewish/Nazi analogy but thought better of it.

If you criticize Israel's policies you're a Nazi, if you criticize Arabs policies you're a racist. :dunno:

 

[Mr. Daystar]

I was going to make some Jewish/Nazi analogy but thought better of it. Funny how making light of the Holocaust is taboo yet the Israeli government (emphasis on the word government) feels like they can abuse and mistreat Arabs with impugnity.

I support Israel, but I don't support this. Disgraceful.

Good post...to many people fail to realize that Israel is just as much to blame for all of the shit that goes on over there. How often have they acted aggressively, and chalked it up to defending their people, and religion? I agree with them as allies, but as far as financial support, and blind dedication, we should have ended that shit long ago.

And I hat to say it, but assari is correct, not to mention, criticize, or speak out about policies, you're anti Semitic.

 

[GodsEmbryo]

You're probably the only one who believes that Arabs and Jews can live in peace.

As an idealist I'd say we have too. Otherwise we might as well just send coffins instead of humanitarian aid and complicated peace talks. Cynical enough that's not far from the truth. As long as the West fails to understand Israel is as much to blame for this misery, as long as we are afraid to speak out against Israel because of the past, and as long as some powerful allies keep protecting them, we're actually taking a side and let them do whatever they want. Both sides are to blame, and both sides need to stop.

I'm not afraid to say Israel is evolving into a fascist state, abusing the holocaust as an excuse to justify their own violence, and yes I dare say it, having their own holocaust on Palestinians. The article in the OP is just one of many of the past 60+ years. And they need to stop.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

Baby steps but at least in the right direction. At least no one defended the homes of innocent people getting smashed. If some Mexican came in my neighborhood waving his Aztec Holy Book demanding me to leave my property I'd also want to scruff him by the neck and remove his head.

Definition of the word "friend".

a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.

Definition of the word "parasite".

an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.