http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=40005&mador=4
Wednesday, February 10, 1999
Thoroughly Conceived Oppression
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz
Here is a brief rundown of just some of the
actions that have been carried out by our strong
nation and its representatives on the West Bank
and which came to the attention of Israeli
journalists last week:.* On February 4, the Civil
Administration, backed by a large contingent of
soldiers, demolished Fayez Jaber's home in Hebron
and Layla A-Sabarna's in the village of Bet Omar
because they were built without permits.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers encounter no problems
as they continue to set up beach-heads throughout
the West Bank, using prefabricated structures.
* In the early morning hours of February 3, 25
Israeli police forcibly entered an apartment
building in Hebron where nine families were
residing. The children awoke, panic-stricken.
Furniture was overturned and some of it was
damaged, while cupboards were emptied. Weapons -
the cause of the search ("in light of intelligence
reports") - were not found. No arrests were made.
Meanwhile, in the village of Jaloud, southeast of
Nablus, Jewish settlers prevented local residents
from entering their fields. Such incidents have
occurred on countless occasions. Palestinian
residents have learned that, if they lodge a
complaint with the police, the file will be closed
"for lack of evidence."
* According to a report in Kol Ha'ir, on February
6 Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert ordered that the
demolition of "illegally built" structures in East
Jerusalem be stepped up. Eight municipal
inspectors have been transferred from West
Jerusalem to Arab neighborhoods in the eastern
part of the city. At the same time, Kol Ha'ir
reports, a fourth Jewish family has taken up
residence in Ras al-Amud. The arrival of the
families "has turned this Jewish bastion into a
full-fledged community," one of the Jewish
residents is quoted as saying.
* The Jerusalem newspaper also carries the story
of Hamed Abu Khalaf, a handicapped cancer patient
from East Jerusalem, whose disability allowance
was terminated by the National Insurance Institute
in compliance with an administrative directive
that had previously been canceled.
* Fayez Zeitawi, the Palestinian Jerusalemite
stabbed last month, apparently by a Jewish serial
knifer, has learned that the Kupat Holim Clalit
health maintenance organization will not cover his
hospitalization expenses, because his right to
reside in Jerusalem was withdrawn in 1998,
together with the right to medical insurance
through an Israeli HMO. He must therefore pay the
NIS 72,000 out of his own pocket - for medical
care he received after being attacked by a "Jewish
terrorist." As a Palestinian, he cannot be
recognized as the victim of terrorist activity.
* A committee with representatives from the
Foreign, Public Security, and Religious Affairs
ministries is working on recommendations designed
to prevent the Palestinians from "seizing" land in
East Jerusalem, primarily land owned by churches
or other Christian institutions.
* The city of Jerusalem has issued a demolition
order for a mosque in the village of Walajeh,
which borders on the Jerusalem neighborhood of
Gilo, which is expanding in the direction of homes
in the village.
* In the village of Al Khader, south of Bethlehem,
the CA has ordered the demolition of a wing of the
Flowers of Hope school. Meanwhile, Jewish settlers
residing in Efrat, a city that has been built in
part on lands belonging to Al Khader, are making
rapid progress in paving a road that will connect
Efrat with Herodion to the east. The road will use
the sole land reserves of several Arab villages,
as well as Bethlehem's land reserves; however, the
villages are forbidden to construct a hothouse or
sheep-shed or even to plant a tree beyond the
boundaries of the Area B land allotted to them.
There were no doubt other actions last week
involving the exercise of superior might.
Palestinian workers lacking papers were arrested
and a military judge sentenced a Palestinian
job-seeker to six months in prison for "illegal
entry." The request of a Gazan woman and her
children for a permit to visit relatives on the
West Bank was denied. An Interior Ministry
official enters another Jerusalemite, the son,
grandson and great-grandson of Jerusalemites, as a
"non-Jerusalemite" - since the municipality did
not allow Palestinians to construct homes in East
Jerusalem, he was forced to move his large family
to a neighborhood, which, to his misfortune, was
designated as being part of the West Bank, not
East Jerusalem.
The Israeli authorities argue that Israeli law
sanctions such actions as the demolition of
Palestinian homes; the granting of permission to
Jewish settlers to continue building on the West
Bank; the termination of allowances to native
residents who are disabled or ill, simply because
they are Palestinians; prohibition of
construction; police entering homes without search
warrants.
Not all that is brought to the attention of
journalists makes headlines. When the information
is published as scattered news items, it does not
convey the depressing significance of life under a
regime that arrogantly, deliberately and
consistently discriminates. Here in Israel, the
public debate almost totally ignores the detailed
precision with which ostensibly bureaucratic
procedures, anchored in ostensibly fair and
rational legislation, provide a cover for
systematic, thoroughly conceived oppression,
imposed to further nationalist goals
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