R&I – FS
Two campaigns are now taking place in the territories: demolition of homes and structures, and pogroms by the “hilltop youth.” Last Friday an Israel Defense Forces soldier shot Haroun Abu Aram, a Palestinian from the South Hebron Hills, in the neck. Shooting in the neck is unusual for the IDF, but it is symptomatic of what is happening in Israel’s backyard.
The first campaign: According to the figures of B’Tselem, in 2020 Israel demolished 152 residential units and 412 structures (not including demolitions in East Jerusalem). It is Israel’s insistence on destroying unwanted communities that has led to a situation whereby a soldier shot an unarmed man in the neck, although the victim did not represent a danger and was only trying to hold onto a generator.
The reason for this campaign is obvious: Israel was forced to retreat from the plan to annex Area C (60 percent of the West Bank), of which the prime minister had boasted (remember the “cabinet meeting on Sunday” that never took place?). The agreements with the Gulf states led to a donkey’s burial for the annexation.
But the government is still stuck with Israel’s strongest pressure group, the settlers, and is attempting to implement a de facto annexation – because a de jure annexation would exact an overly high price. Villages that Israel manages to erase or shrink will become additional areas of outposts. That may take a year, but that’s how the method works – with possible deception, with a suspicion of theft, under cover of darkness, with government immunity. And we have to work fast before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden enters the White House and possibly puts an end to the festivities.
Sir Tainley
Article URL : https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-silence-in-the-face-of-demolition-and-pogroms-1.9428996