Good Guinness, deliver us! Israel demolishes Arab village 38 times

[lem34]

Good Guinness, deliver us! Israel demolishes Arab village 38 times

Published: 15 June, 2012, 15:11

Palestinian villagers have addressed the Guinness Book of World Records to register a ruinous “record”. A Bedouin village in Israel has been demolished 38 times by Israeli authorities, who say people in the village do not have building permits.

*Al-Araqeeb village with population of 500 residents in the Negev claim their some 40 homes have been destroyed over three dozen times by Israel Land Administration. Residents of the Al-Turi Arab Bedouin tribe insist they are being pushed off their own land.

“We have ownership documents that go back to the Ottoman era,” the head of the Committee for the Defense of al-Araqeeb, Awad Abu Farih, stated to Anatolian news agency.

The residents believe that the village’s centuries-old cemetery could serve as strong evidence of their historic rights.

But since Israel was created 63 years ago, when the Ottoman Empire had already pushed up the daisies, Israeli officials have disregarded the antique documents and called for demolition teams over and over again.

Despite the unceasing governmental acts of destruction, the villagers remain firm and full of self-righteous belief, continuing to resist Israeli authorities.

“Every time they demolish our houses, we rebuild them and we will keep doing that even if the demolitions reach 99. We will never leave our land,” Abu Farih said.

With the Arab Spring raging in the Middle East, the world seems to have forgotten about Israeli-Palestinian tensions, which certainly are still there to stay.

It is likely that Israel is unwilling to create a precedent by allowing Bedouins of Al-Araqeeb village to stay and build. The whole territory of Israel was once carved out of Palestinian lands. After the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 up to 700,000 Palestinians had to flee their land, which officially became Israel in 1949.

Thus, if Israel recognizes the Al-Araqeeb inhabitants' rights to this land, it could potentially inspire thousands of Palestinians to follow suit.

Confrontation has been lasting for years. The latest demolition of villagers’ dwellings happened on May 23. All possessions that were inside the houses were confiscated.

Despite their determination, the villagers are living lives full of fear that their habitations could be destroyed any day.

“Our village has become a living example of the flagrant violations committed by the Israeli authorities against its Arab population,” Awad Abu Farih stated.

Since they cannot expect assistance from anywhere else, the villagers are considering an official address to the Guinness Book of World Records to draw international attention to their case.

*Jeff Halper, executive director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, told RT that this application is an act of desperation.

“[The villagers] have turned to Israeli courts for years and years. Israeli activists have gone down and tried to resist the acts of demolitions. There has been an international campaign against the Jewish National Fund, which is behind the demolition of these homes and nothing has helped,” he explained.

The activist believes that world’s attention is the last resort the villagers can rely on, saying that there is a chance to force Israeli government to do just through public opinion and international law.

Good Guinness, deliver us! Israel demolishes Arab village 38 times — RT

 

[W.11]

i hope solomon2 and indians read this

 

[Pakistanisage]

i hope solomon2 and indians read this.

where is solomon2 now??

He is in deep consultation with SOLOMON-1...

 

[W.11]

way old video

 

[Solomon2]

From Wikipedia:

The Bedouin families of Arakib say they own about 4,600 acres of the Negev desert,[3] and that they paid property taxes to the Ottoman Empire and later to the British Mandatory authorities in Palestine.[3] Community leaders say they were forced by Israel's military into settlements along the border of the West Bank in 1951 and that they have been pushed off their land whenever they have tried to return since.[3]
Israeli officials say the property was taken over by the state in the early 1950s because it was abandoned and because its inhabitants were unable to produce deeds.[3] They maintained that the Bedouins have been squatters who refused to pay rent and cultivated land that did not belong to them, as well as raising animals without livestock permits.[3] Authorities claim that there has never been a permanent Bedouin settlement in the area. The Ottoman authorities although permitted the clan members to graze their sheep and cows on this land, but has never given them an ownership over it.
According to the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), Bedouins began illegally settling in the area in 1998 and several dozen families built homes in the area in 1999 when it appeared the government was attempting to seize the land.[3] The ILA offered to rent the land for 2 NIS per dunam, but the inhabitants refused to pay and "continued to infiltrate the land year after year."[4][5] In 2000, an Israeli court order banned the Bedouins from entering the area. The ruling was disregarded, as Bedouins continued to move into the area and plant trees. In 2003, the ILA secured a court order to evacuate the residents, and the case went to the Israeli Supreme Court.[5]...

In court, the plaintiffs argued that the state’s order to expropriate the land from them in 1951 was made on the erroneous assumption that under Ottoman law the land was classified as Mawat (uncultivated and not adjacent to settled lands). They said that the land had been cultivated and owned by them, and so classified as Miri land under Ottoman legal terms. In an expert opinion filed to the court, Oren Yiftachel said that these “tribal areas” of scattered tent clusters were not at that time registered with the authorities, but were nevertheless considered “settled” and met the definition of a “village” in the 1921 Land Ordinance.[2]

The state’s expert witness, Prof. Ruth Kark, gave the complete opposite view, and said that prior to 1858, there had been no fixed settlements on or near to the disputed land. The first fixed settlement had been Beersheba, she said, which the Ottomans founded in 1900 and which is 11 kilometers from Al-Araqeeb – refuting the Beduin’ claims that the land could not have been Mawat because it was both cultivated and next to a settlement.[2] The State also presented an aerial shot of the place proving that the Al-Araqeeb area hasn’t had any cultivated land during the British mandate period.[22]...

...the judge ruled in favor of the State saying that the land was not "assigned to the plaintiffs, nor held by them under conditions required by law," and that they still had to "prove their rights to the land by proof of its registration in the Tabu" (Israel Lands Authority). Furthermore, the judge said that the Bedouin knew they were supposed to register, but didn't, saying "the state said that although the complainants are not entitled to compensation, it has been willing to negotiate with them," and that "it is a shame that these negotiations did not reach any agreement." The court also ordered the Bedouin to pay legal costs of 50,000 NIS (approximately U.S. $13,500).[2]

In its ruling, the court criticized the expert speaking on the behalf of the plaintiffs, stating that his testimony lack a sufficient factual basis value and reliable basis. In addition, the court held that the Bedouins' own internal documentation indicates they were well aware of the legal requirement to register the lands in the Land Registry, but chose not to do so.[2]

Moreover, the judge in her ruling affirmed that the practice of removal of encroached settlements carried out by the State is acceptable and legal.[2]

****

So, what is the proper treatment for these Bedouins now? They lied about owning it, refuse offers to pay rent for it, and won't obey the courts' orders.

Imprisoning them would be a waste - I'm never in favor of debtors' prisons. So I suppose the best thing is to keep demolishing the squatters structures when they appear, sending them the bill for these removals.

 

[W.11]

So, what is the proper treatment for these Bedouins now? They lied about owning it, refuse offers to pay rent for it, and won't obey the courts' orders.

Imprisoning them would be a waste - I'm never in favor of debtors' prisons. So I suppose the best thing is to keep demolishing the squatters structures when they appear, sending them the bill for these removals.

your cousins occupy their land and the land where they had been living for hundreds of years when even ottomons ruled, you come in 1950 and steal their land and then rent the place, is this an israeli joke or what??

esp renting a barren desert land

its the duty of state to give them a proper land so some where they can live, obviously the terror state is denying them basic rights thats why they have to return to same land again and again

 

[Solomon2]

your cousins occupy their land and the land where they had been living for hundreds of years when even ottomons ruled, you come in 1950 and steal their land and then rent the place, is this an israeli joke or what??

No, that's your joke. The British Mandate was about encouraging "close settlement" of Jews in Palestine while preserving the civil and property rights of the Arabs. Israel's courts appear to be meticulous at considering and preserving such rights (unlike the Arab countries who, faced with the same charge on behalf of their Jews, proceeding to kick them out and seize their lands and property.)

 

[Skorpian]

No, that's your joke. The British Mandate was about encouraging "close settlement" of Jews in Palestine while preserving the civil and property rights of the Arabs. Israel's courts appear to be meticulous at considering and preserving such rights (unlike the Arab countries who, faced with the same charge on behalf of their Jews, proceeding to kick them out and seize their lands and property.)

So much for preserving the civil and property rights of the Arabs, ever heard of the Deir Yassen massacre? Do you even know that hundreds of Palestinian homes in the West Bank are destroyed per year and Israeli settlements are built in their place?
Oh, and you justify all of Israel's crimes by the British Mandate laws, but when I told you that the Israelis violated the British White Paper of 1939 ( which, in short, meant that the idea of creating a Jewish state will be dumped in favor of creating a united Palestine governed by Muslims and Jews and limiting the Jewish immigrants from 1940 till 1944 to 75000 immigrants ), you refused the laws of such paper and said that the Jews had the right to violate it
Care to explain why they had the right to violate it??

 

[Solomon2]

No, that's your joke. The British Mandate was about encouraging "close settlement" of Jews in Palestine while preserving the civil and property rights of the Arabs. Israel's courts appear to be meticulous at considering and preserving such rights (unlike the Arab countries who, faced with the same charge on behalf of their Jews, proceeding to kick them out and seize their lands and property.)

its the duty of state to give them a proper land so some where they can live -

That's pretty rich coming from a Pakistani whose grandfathers kicked out hundreds of thousands of Hindus under the banner of violence. Are you going to invite them back now and give them back the fields and mansions now occupied by Muslims?

obviously the terror state is denying them basic rights thats why they have to return to same land again and again

If Israel is a "terror state" why hasn't Israel threatened the Bedouins with violence, or killed some family members to get them to comply?

The answer, of course, is that labeling Israel a terror state is an unjustifiable calumny.

So much for preserving the civil and property rights of the Arabs, ever heard of the Deir Yassen massacre?

Sure do. It was a confused and regrettable event - very much the exception to the rule. See how you had to go back 60+ years to find such an event? On the other hand, massacres committed by Arabs upon Jews and non-Jews have been a common occurrence, right up to today. Do you count those?

Do you even know that hundreds of Palestinian homes in the West Bank are destroyed per year and Israeli settlements are built in their place?

Too general, document.

Oh, and you justify all of Israel's crimes by the British Mandate laws, but when I told you that the Israelis violated the British White Paper of 1939 -

A policy paper that had no legal standing to contravene the Mandate itself. A trust is a trust and the trustee (until 1948 the Brits) can't legally violate its terms.

 

[lem34]

I have come across an article by a Palestinian named Sharmine Narwani. I think she speaks a lot more common sense than Solomon and should be read by all to get a Palestinian perspective to the problems they face. Please read it it will assist you in responding to Solomon


The phrase “right to exist” entered my consciousness in the 1990s just as the concept of the two-state solution became part of our collective lexicon. In any debate at university, when a Zionist was out of arguments, those three magic words were invoked to shut down the conversation with an outraged, “are you saying Israel doesn’t have the right to exist??”

Of course you couldn’t challenge Israel’s right to exist – that was like saying you were negating a fundamental Jewish right to have…rights, with all manner of Holocaust guilt thrown in for effect.

Except of course the Holocaust is not my fault – or that of Palestinians. The cold-blooded program of ethnically cleansing Europe of its Jewish population has been so callously and opportunistically utilized to justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian Arab nation, that it leaves me utterly unmoved. I have even caught myself – shock - rolling my eyes when I hear Holocaust and Israel in the same sentence.

What moves me instead in this post-two-state era, is the sheer audacity of Israel even existing.

What a fantastical idea, this notion that a bunch of rank outsiders from another continent could appropriate an existing, populated nation for themselves – and convince the “global community” that it was the moral thing to do. I’d laugh at the chutzpah if this wasn’t so serious.

Even more brazen is the mass ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population by persecuted Jews, newly arrived from their own experience of being ethnically cleansed.

But what is truly frightening is the psychological manipulation of the masses into believing that Palestinians are somehow dangerous – “terrorists” intent on “driving Jews into the sea.” As someone who makes a living through words, I find the use of language in creating perceptions to be intriguing. This practice – often termed “public diplomacy” has become an essential tool in the world of geopolitics. Words, after all, are the building blocks of our psychology.

Take, for example, the way we have come to view the Palestinian-Israeli “dispute” and any resolution of this enduring conflict. And here I borrow liberally from a previous article of mine…

The United States and Israel have created the global discourse on this issue, setting stringent parameters that grow increasingly narrow regarding the content and direction of this debate. Anything discussed outside the set parameters has, until recently, widely been viewed as unrealistic, unproductive and even subversive.

Participation in the debate is limited only to those who prescribe to its main tenets: the acceptance of Israel, its regional hegemony and its qualitative military edge; acceptance of the shaky logic upon which the Jewish state's claim to Palestine is based; and acceptance of the inclusion and exclusion of certain regional parties, movements and governments in any solution to the conflict.

Words like dove, hawk, militant, extremist, moderates, terrorists, Islamo-fascists, rejectionists, existential threat, holocaust-denier, mad mullah determine the participation of solution partners -- and are capable of instantly excluding others.

Then there is the language that preserves "Israel's Right To Exist" unquestioningly: anything that invokes the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and the myths about historic Jewish rights to the land bequeathed to them by the Almighty – as though God was in the real-estate business. This language seeks not only to ensure that a Jewish connection to Palestine remains unquestioned, but importantly, seeks to punish and marginalize those who tackle the legitimacy of this modern colonial-settler experiment.

But this group-think has led us nowhere. It has obfuscated, distracted, deflected, ducked, and diminished, and we are no closer to a satisfactory conclusion…because the premise is wrong.

There is no fixing this problem. This is the kind of crisis in which you cut your losses, realize the error of your ways and reverse course. Israel is the problem. It is the last modern-day colonial-settler experiment, conducted at a time when these projects were being unraveled globally.

There is no “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” – that suggests some sort of equality in power, suffering, and negotiable tangibles, and there is no symmetry whatsoever in this equation. Israel is the Occupier and Oppressor; Palestinians are the Occupied and Oppressed. What is there to negotiate? Israel holds all the chips. They can give back some land, property, rights, but even that is an absurdity – what about everything else? What about ALL the land, property and rights? Why do they get to keep anything – how is the appropriation of land and property prior to 1948 fundamentally different from the appropriation of land and property on this arbitrary 1967 date?

Why are the colonial-settlers prior to 1948 any different from those who colonized and settled after 1967?

Let me correct myself. Palestinians do hold one chip that Israel salivates over – the one big demand at the negotiating table that seems to hold up everything else. Israel craves recognition of its “right to exist.”

But you do exist - don’t you, Israel?

Israel fears “delegitimization” more than anything else. Behind the velvet curtain lies a state built on myths and narratives, protected only by a military behemoth, billions of dollars in US assistance and a lone UN Security Council veto. Nothing else stands between the state and its dismantlement. Without these three things, Israelis would not live in an entity that has come to be known as the “least safe place for Jews in the world.”

Strip away the spin and the gloss, and you quickly realize that Israel doesn’t even have the basics of a normal state. After 64 years, it doesn’t have borders. After six decades, it has never been more isolated. Over half a century later, and it needs a gargantuan military just to stop Palestinians from walking home.

Israel is a failed experiment. It is on life-support – pull those three plugs and it is a cadaver, living only in the minds of some seriously deluded foreigners who thought they could pull off the heist of the century.

The most important thing we can do as we hover on the horizon of One State is to shed the old language rapidly. None of it was real anyway – it was just the parlance of that particular “game.” Grow a new vocabulary of possibilities – the new state will be the dawn of humanity’s great reconciliation. Muslims, Christians and Jews living together in Palestine as they once did.

Naysayers can take a hike. Our patience is wearing thinner than the walls of the hovels that Palestinian refugees have called “home” for three generations in their purgatory camps.

These universally exploited refugees are entitled to the nice apartments – the ones that have pools downstairs and a grove of palm trees outside the lobby. Because the kind of compensation owed for this failed western experiment will never be enough.

And no, nobody hates Jews. That is the fallback argument screeched in our ears – the one “firewall” remaining to protect this Israeli Frankenstein. I don’t even care enough to insert the caveats that are supposed to prove I don’t hate Jews. It is not a provable point, and frankly, it is a straw man of an argument. If Jews who didn’t live through the Holocaust still feel the pain of it, then take that up with the Germans. Demand a sizeable plot of land in Germany – and good luck to you.

For anti-Semites salivating over an article that slams Israel, ply your trade elsewhere – you are part of the reason this problem exists.

Israelis who don’t want to share Palestine as equal citizens with the indigenous Palestinian population – the ones who don’t want to relinquish that which they demanded Palestinians relinquish 64 years ago - can take their second passports and go back home. Those remaining had better find a positive attitude – Palestinians have shown themselves to be a forgiving lot. The amount of carnage they have experienced at the hands of their oppressors – without proportional response – shows remarkable restraint and faith.

This is less the death of a Jewish state than it is the demise of the last remnants of modern-day colonialism. It is a rite of passage – we will get through it just fine. At this particular precipice in the 21st century, we are all, universally, Palestinian – undoing this wrong is a test of our collective humanity, and nobody has the right to sit this one out.

Israel has no right to exist. Break that mental barrier and just say it: “Israel has no right to exist.” Roll it around your tongue, tweet it, post it as your Facebook status update – do it before you think twice. Delegitimization is here – have no fear. Palestine will be less painful than Israel ever was.

 

[Skorpian]

A policy paper that had no legal standing to contravene the Mandate itself. A trust is a trust and the trustee (until 1948 the Brits) can't legally violate its terms.

How didn't it have a legal standing? It stated in section 1, that with about 450,000 Jews arrived in Palestine, the goal of a Jewish National home was met and the Jewish National home would be Palestine, governed by Muslims and Jews together.

Too general, document.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-...ian-homes-demolished-without-warning-20080311
http://www.rt.com/news/un-israel-palestinian-homes-923/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_lBcoOsNik

 

[Solomon2]

^^^
"Document" doesn't mean post a video that lacks context.

 

[W.11]

That's pretty rich coming from a Pakistani whose grandfathers kicked out hundreds of thousands of Hindus under the banner of violence. Are you going to invite them back now and give them back the fields and mansions now occupied by Muslims?

and what about the muslims who were kicked from india, are you too much in bed with india now a days that you have to ignore the other side of the story?

there is always an opposite reaction to every action

in any case we arnt not discussing india pakistan here, we are talking about your illegal jew arse zionist occupation, a state born by illegal immegrants who had come after getting spanked by europeans

 

[Skorpian]

^^^
"Document" doesn't mean post a video that lacks context.

In case you haven't seen them, I posted two other links which you might wanna check out, and I can bring you many others if they aren't enough.
PS : You didn't reply to my White paper reply.

 

[Solomon2]

How didn't it have a legal standing? It stated in section 1, that with about 450,000 Jews arrived in Palestine, the goal of a Jewish National home was met and the Jewish National home would be Palestine, governed by Muslims and Jews together.

The White Paper proposed abolishing the principle of the Jewish National Home in the sense that Jews would no longer be able to immigrate there. The rest was sophistry.