Israel Perpetuating Its Occupation

By Musa Keilani

This commentary was published in The Jordan Times on 17/04/2011 

As the direct and indirect players involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continue to argue back and forth, Israel has been pressing ahead with its campaign to get rid of Palestinians from occupied Arab Jerusalem and change the geographic features of the city to suit its interests.

The Jordanian media have been raising the issue and calling for international action to prevent Israel from systematically violating international law, but while the issue remains under international attention, no one seems willing to take concrete action to challenge and foil the Israeli moves.

If only for technical purposes, the question that has to be raised is why Israel granted only “residence” permits to the Palestinians of Arab East Jerusalem although it declared that it was “annexing” the eastern half of the holy city after occupying it through military force in 1967.

Well, not that Israel could be expected to respect international law or the Geneva Conventions that prohibit the occupying power from changing the geographical or demographic features, or the cultural balance, of the land under its occupation. If anything, Israel has been engaged in a well-orchestrated effort to alter these features of the occupied territories since 1967.

The situation is even more ironic when we note that the suffering of the Jews was the reason for the Fourth Geneva Convention. A United Nations committee has observed that “the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 may be considered as the expression of the international community’s sense of revulsion at the treatment accorded to Jews who came under the Nazi regime during time of war and occupation and who were subjected to indignities, abuses and deprivations in gross denial of human rights”.

While Israel took advantage of this “positive” aspect of the international approach to Jews, it is not only denying the same benefits to the Palestinians under its occupation but also engaging in subjecting them to “indignities, abuses and deprivations in gross denial of human rights”.

The Israeli measures in Arab East Jerusalem clearly show that Israel is determined to hold on to the eastern part of the holy city, which it claims to be part of its “eternal and indivisible capital”. Israel clearly declared that it would not entertain any compromise over Arab East Jerusalem and it could be expected to maintain this position until one or another dramatic element is induced into the equation.

Latest figures indicate that Israel has expelled nearly 15,000 Palestinians from Arab East Jerusalem and is strengthening the eviction drive that is aimed at reducing the Arab population of the city while increasing the number of Jews by building more settlements there.

It is known that Arabs have a far higher population growth rate than Jews and Israel fears that the demographic features will act against its interests in a decade; hence its campaign to reduce the Arab population in areas that it is determined to keep in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians (not that there is any prospect for such an accord in the near future).

There are many laws and measures that Israel has devised to arbitrarily expel Arab Jerusalemites and to prevent the return of others who live abroad. These include the “absentee law”, which it uses not only to deny Arabs the right to live in Jerusalem but also to seize properties of Arabs in the occupied territories. The law “permits” Israel to strip Jerusalem Palestinians of their right to enter and live in the holy cityif they spend at least seven years abroad or acquire a foreign passport.

Israel would love to use such moves against its own Arab citizens, but is holding back because of fears of the political backlash the step would bring about.

One can easily imagine people like Avigdor Lieberman and others sigh in desperation because they are unable to realise their goal of an Arab-less Israel. To compensate, they opted to step up the campaign to evict as many Palestinians from Arab East Jerusalem as possible.

Another measure Israel has adopted in the demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings in Arab East Jerusalem, on the ground that they were constructed without permits, needed to be issued by the occupation authorities. Again, it is a measure that blatantly violates the Geneva Conventions which say that an occupying power should not build or demolish structures in the occupied land.

The increasing number of Palestinians being denied their right to enter and live in Arab East Jerusalem, the seizure and demolition of Palestinian property in the holy city and the stepped-up building of Jewish settlements there add a greater urgency to the need to arrive at a fair and just solution to the Palestinian problem.

Such prospect seems next to impossible under the geo-political considerations in the situation. 

The US, the key player in the peace process, is reported to have thwarted a European initiative to have the UN and the European Union, under the auspices of the Quartet of mediators, outline the basics of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Obviously, the US acted upon the realisation that the European approach would complicate, rather than facilitate, the final outcome of any peace negotiations. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that President Barack Obama was to outline a new approach to the peace effort soon. One wonders what the new infusion in the effort could be, but the US should know that the Palestinians have sacrificed too much to accept anything less than full independence and statehood.

In the meantime, the Arabs, preoccupied as they are with the recent wave of unrest, should not let their attention shift away from the need to counter Israeli practices in the occupied territories.

It might not have an immediate effect on the facts on the ground, but the world should be continuously reminded of how Israel is trying to perpetuate its occupation of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim lands. The more time is wasted, the more assets Iran and other radicals gain in the region.