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UN tells Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes
Published: 28 January, 2012, 02:29
Edited: 28 January, 2012, 13:19
Palestinian Bedouin men react amidst the rubble of a structure after it was razed by the Israeli army in the West Bank village of Zayem, near Jerusalem November 29, 2011 (AFP Photo / Ahmad Gharabli)
TAGS: Conflict, UN, Middle East, Protest, Politics, Human rights, Israel
The United Nations has demanded that Israel stops the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank following a report on the “dramatic” increase in homes being knocked down.
“The current policy and practice of demolition causes extensive human suffering and should end,” said the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard.
According to the report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 622 Palestinian homes were demolished by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2011, “forcibly displacing” almost 1,100 people, over half of them children, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports.
Gaylard said that on Thursday he visited the village of Anata near Jerusalem, which has recently seen seven Palestinian homes destroyed.
“He was informed that bulldozers and troops had arrived in the middle of the night of 23 January and that 52 people, including 29 children, had been forced from their homes, which were then completely destroyed,” a UN statement said.
Israeli authorities insist that they only demolish homes built without the required permission. But the Palestinians say they are rarely granted permits, according to AFP.
The Palestinians are refusing to return to negotiations with Israel over its settlements in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israeli diplomat and former ambassador to Russia Anna Azari told Interfax news agency that Israel is not going to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank in order to restart talks with the Palestinians. “I would like to remind you that Israel had already frozen settlement activity for 10 months but, nevertheless, Abbas did not come to the negotiations table. So we will not repeat that.”
As tensions between the two sides grow, UN chief Ban Ki-moon is planning to visit Jerusalem and Ramallah next week.
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20 comments
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Dan (unregistered) wrote in#3
Israel is behaving exactly like the Nazis they never tire of reminding us about. In fact, in some ways they are worse. But they continue their arrogant ways because they know they have a big lap dog (or dogs) in Washington ready to do their bidding. It is all so disgusting.
Then tell me in what way. If you can't do that then you should not make such foolish statements. Because you compare apples with pears which makes no sense at all, unless you are trying to demonize Israel.
Concerning this article of RT, again RT is telling just one side of the case. Take your time and read yourself in at for example the site of Haaretz. Look at the process of constructing buildings within Israel. Both Israelis and Palistinians are constructing illegal buildings which are being turned downed after a court ruling. The same thing happens within lots of other countries.
The U.N. is, in my opinion, unfit to perform its role in the modern world. With the rule of law so openly flouted by so many states its, authority is no longer seen as valid.
It's reminiscent of the League of Nations, before it dissolved in rancour and disillusionment. That body failed to stop Italy from ravaging the then Abyssinia, as the pitiful Haile Selassie pleaded with the league for help.
Israel is the modern day Italy and the Palestinians are worse off than the Abyssinians as they have no country to call their own.
Israel's crimes are many, and the collective psychosis that afflicts its leaders blinds them to certain realities.
The Jews, post 1945, have mutated from a race that was barely saved from destruction in Europe, the world determined to help them, to an entity that now commands universal loathing. Only one other state has achieved that turnaround in fortunes in modern times and that's the US post September 11th.
Both had the overwhelming support of the world community aghast at what had befallen them. Both now seem to want to drag everybody into a world catastrophe of their own choosing.
Europeans brought about the holocaust, not the Palestinians, yet it is they who are on the receivng end of Israel's undyielding enmity.
The US was not attacked by Iraq, but chose to invade and occupy the country, when the alleged culprits of 9/11 originated, in the main, from Saudi Arabia-their friend.
So when the UN decides, for whatever reason, to speak out about the plight of the Palestinians, the organisation should know that the rest of the world isn't buying their false concern any longer. If they cannot ensure the rule of law is applied without fear or favour then their pronouncements are as useful as pi***ng in the wind.
