I’ve been planning my next diary to be about Khan Al-Akhmar (most recently diaried about in July by Sandra). It’s one of these places where the Banality of Evil of Israeli Occupation — in particular, the incessant daily grind of expropriating Palestinian and public land and destroying Palestinian homes, in order to build homes and infrastructure for Jewish-Israeli settlers and the soldiers serving them — this daily grind meets resistance that is stronger than expected.
The ongoing campaign to minimize Palestinian existence in the West Bank and Gaza into an archipelago of enclosed slums and shantytowns, is proceeding at a pace deemed barely acceptable by Israel’s ever-eager right wing. But it is designed to be just slow enough to be completely boring and not-news to the broader Israeli public, and to provoke little more than lip-service from Western governments. Yet at Khan Al-Akhmar, the scheme has become too transparent, and the regime found a determined local population, supported by Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, and receiving substantial diplomatic attention.
Besides impressive direct action (whose centerpiece is a school built from old car tires and covered in solar panels), the residents took their case as far as Israel’s High Court of Justice. The court has shamefully rejected them last month, with acrobatic legalistic arguments. Contrary to its lofty image, this is actually par for the course for the High Court in Occupation regime cases. Buoyed by the decision, last week the regime issued a decree to the residents to destroy the entire village, on their own, by October 1 (tomorrow).
But I stop here. My good friend Yigal Bronner is there on the ground, living in Jerusalem and having spent solidarity nights with the residents. Last week he published an op-ed about Khan Al-Akhmar and the court case, in Israel’s mainstream newspaper Ynet. Below is a translation, published in full with his personal approval.
The Facts about Khan al-Akhmar
Yigal Bronner
[translation: Assaf Oron and Yigal Bronner]
Israel’s minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, recently decried the European opposition to the planned demolition of the Bedouin village Khan al-Akhmar. She recommended that European MPs take a close look at Israel’s High Court's relevant decision and educate themselves on the facts. Minister Shaked is absolutely right. Europeans should study the court’s decision carefully. But first let’s consider the four following facts about Khan Al-Akhmar, the village targeted for demolition.
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