The coronavirus is still raging in Palestine, with hundreds of new cases of the virus being reported every day, and a rising death count to boot.
In the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 660 new cases of the coronavirus, and 10 COVID-19 related deaths in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Despite reports for weeks from Palestinian officials that COVID-19 vaccine doses could be arriving any day now, Palestinian citizens have still yet to see those promises materialize.
And as Israel continues to deny responsibility for inoculating the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory, the prospect of getting a vaccine any time soon still seems far out of reach.
All the while, Israel has continued its campaign of home demolitions in the West Bank, targeting homes, agricultural structures, and even clinics.
Local Palestinian media reported this week that on Monday Israeli forces issued a slew of demolition orders to the Palestinian village of Zanouta in the Hebron district of the southern West Bank.
Among the buildings ordered to be demolished, according to the Palestinian Authority-affiliated Wafa News agency, were several dwellings in the village, the village council building, and local health clinic run by the MOH.
Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila released a statement on Tuesday calling on international human rights organizations and agencies like as the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene and stop the demolition of the clinic and other buildings in Zanouta.
“These measures by the occupying authorities are in clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and in violation of international accords and conventions, which require the international community to intervene and protect international law,” al-Kaila said.
The statement emphasized that the clinic serves all residents of Zanouta, “who are now under threat of displacement and loss of their shelters.”
Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes and structures has remained unhindered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, putting thousands of Palestinians at increased risk due to homelessness and displacement.
According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel has already demolished 37 Palestinian structures since the beginning of the year, resulting in the displacement of 44 Palestinians.
In 2020, Israel demolished at least 847 Palestinian homes and structures, according to UN OCHA, and displaced over 1,000 Palestinians, during some of the worst months of the pandemic.
The period from March 2020 until August 2020 saw some of the highest rates of demolitions in the four years prior, with a monthly average of some 65 demolitions. Among the structures demolished were hygiene or sanitation assets, and structures used for agriculture. Many of the structures, the UN OCHA noted, were given as humanitarian aid to the communities.
“The global pandemic has increased the needs and vulnerabilities of Palestinians, who are already trapped in the abnormality of prolonged military occupation. Unlawful demolitions exacerbate these vulnerabilities and must stop immediately,” UN OCHA said in a statement.
Since this is about the demolition of yet more Palestinian structures (I’m sure they didn’t fill out the building permit forms correctly), Jeff Halper, one of the founders of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, has just published a new book, “Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State”. From the Amazon review:
“This book explores how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement’s project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence. Jeff Halper argues that the only way out of a colonial situation is decolonization: the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination and control and their replacement by a single democratic state,…”
A reminder:
EXCERPT:
UN Security Council Resolution 2334, December 23, 2016: “Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming, inter alia, the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,”
“Reaffirming the obligation of Israel, the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, and recalling the advisory opinion rendered on 9 July 2004 by the International Court of Justice,
“Condemning all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions,….”
“1. Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace;…”
“To commit genocide it is not necessary to build camps and ovens. All that is required is to remove the basis for a way of life.” — Grand Chief John Kelly, testimony before the Royal Commission on the Northern Environment, 1977
And one day…hopefully very soon, there will be a price to pay for this barbaric behaviour. And then don’t go whining, israel.