In the Occupied Territories of Palestine there are many forms of ethnic cleansing, of getting rid of the indigenous Palestinian Arabs whose birthplace this is. In the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank there is an illegal Jewish settlement called Carmel. It was built almost on top of the village of Umm Al-Kheir whose inhabitants are hillside farmers and sheep herders. On a regular basis the sewage from Carmel pollutes the fields in which the villages grow their crops and sometimes this effluence finds its way into the only well. One of the features of settlements is the security zone which the settlers declare around their settlement and which is enforced by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). In this case the security zone covers the whole of Umm Al-Kheir so the villagers are trespassing even within their own homes. On a regular basis the IDF will descend on the sheep herders and farmers of Umm Al-Kheir, show them a map which declares the area a closed military zone and demand that they leave. On refusal they are arrested, held for a few days, fined 2000 shekels and given an order which bars them from the area for a week or a fortnight. This area includes the fields where they farm and the well which they get their water from. The Israelis hope that this sort of treatment will result in the people abandoning their homes for an easier life elsewhere. If they do this, the Israeli government will then use the 63 year old Absentee Property Law to seize their homes and land for redistribution. This law does applies only to Palestinians. Ask yourself this question - do you have the strength of character, dignity and power of endurance to continue living under these conditions? BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS until this oppression is over ...
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:49:48 +0000
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