‘Cruelest demolition’ kills Palestinians’ sheep and signals political tension with Europeans
‘Cruelest demolition’ kills Palestinians’ sheep and signals political tension with Europeans
Philip Weiss
February 21, 2012
We
often report about house demolitions, but it is something else to see
one up close. Two days ago in Palestine I saw "the cruelest demolition"
in the tiny village of Sadat a Thaale in the southern West Bank.
Last Wednesday morning, the Israeli civil administration came into
the village, which is situated between two sprawling Israeli
settlements, and used heavy equipment to destroy three structures: a
house that was home to eight people, a cistern, and a large sheep shed.
The authorities did not even empty the shed of sheep when they crushed
the roof. Farmer Jamil Awad told international visitors that five sheep
were killed, including one lamb.
You can see the destruction, and the dead lamb, in the video I shot above. You can see the cistern too, broken and fouled.
About 1 minute into the video, I call over Ezra Nawi, the famous
Israeli activist who was arrested last week when he protested this
demolition. In the wind-whipped interview, he says that this was the
"cruelest demolition" he has ever witnessed-- because the authorities
wanted to destroy animals.
The likely reason for the demolition-- the true object of the Israeli
civil administration's wrath-- is an ambitious solar project that gives
the 100 villagers of Sadat a Thaale minimal electrical power. In the
last year, the German government working with an Israeli/Palestinian
group called Community Energy and Technology in the Middle East (Comet-ME) to erect a bank of solar panels and a battery house, at a cost of about $80,000.
But in the last two months, the Israeli government has issued stop work orders on the solar panels in Sadat a Thaale and five other villages. The obstruction could turn into an international incident.
Elad Orian at disputed solar panels in Sadat a Thaale
"Area C is the most important political issue in Palestine at the
moment," Elad Orian of Comet told me. "It's becoming clear from both the
Palestinian Authority side and the European Union that they do not
accept Israeli policies any more [against Palestinian building in the
West Bank]. This issue is at the forefront of international politics."
Akiva Eldar reports that the German government is making the solar panels an issue:
A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the German government is
aware of the stoppage order for the solar energy systems in Tha'lah,
and is in close contact with the Israeli government in order to find an
amicable solution. The German press sees Israel's behavior as a rude
gesture to the European Union, which dared publish a report critical of
Israel's discriminatory policy toward 150,000 Palestinians in Area C,
who have survived the harassment of the authorities and the fury of the
settlers.
The solar project is one of 16 that Comet has undertaken with a
political goal: to keep Palestinian villages on the map. The projects
are being built without permission from the Israelis, who may have
discovered their presence from satellite imagery.
Sadat a Thaale can be found on British survey maps of the last
century, Orian said. But in recent years, two large settlements, Ma'on
and Carmel, have taken over the nearby hills and prevented the villagers
from grazing sheep on the land.
Near the end of the video, you can see Ezra Nawi gesturing at the
village lands that were taken over by the neighboring settlements, and
see a shepherd leading sheep on village lands.
Jamil Awad repeatedly thanked international visitors for coming to
observe the destruction. While Orian, explaining his own commitment to
the "strong" villagers, said, "The work we do is based on our
understanding that, to put it in high terms, the oppressor is as
enslaved as the oppressed. I don't want to live in a place where racism
is institutionalized. I want to create a different reality."
Here are excerpts of that interview with Nawi:
Q. How does this make you feel?
A. Great. [ironic] I have never seen such a cruel demolition. I've
been to many many... When somebody kill animals, he come to such a
level...
He [an official who participated in the destruction] was smiling... I
met him outside... I said, your face show that you have endless orgasm,
so satisfied...
Q. This makes me think something is very wrong with Zionism.
A. I think Zionist is ... very racist, very very racist. People don't know the real face of Zionism from the 20s, the 30s.
Q. Is this the real face?
It's one of the faces.
No comments:
Post a Comment