Power, Armies And Unacceptable Demolitions

The excess of power twists peoples’ perspective, it brutalises us and affects our humanity as evidenced by US forces’ activities in Haditha.

That is true of the British Army’s long list of atrocities in Northern Ireland.

We can see that in the Libyan and Syrian armies murder of civilians and elsewhere.

Nevertheless, that brutalising and detachment from humanity does not occur overnight.

Israel’s occupation in and around the West Bank has desensitise many Israelis, leading to unacceptable behaviour, the demolishment of ordinary people’s homes:

“UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations has called on Israel to immediately halt the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank after reporting a dramatic rise in demolitions in the past year.

Israeli forces destroyed 622 Palestinian homes in the West Bank in 2011, “forcibly displacing” almost 1,100 people, over half of them children, according to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report.

“The current policy and practice of demolitions cause extensive human suffering and should end,” UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard, said late Friday.

Gaylard said the demolition figures represent a “dramatic” increase on previous years and that tens of thousands of people remain under threat of dispossession, demolition and displacement.

Israel says it only demolishes structures that have been built without required permission. Palestinians say they are rarely granted permits.

Gaylard said he went on Thursday to the village of Anata near Jerusalem where seven Palestinian homes were demolished this week.”

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3 thoughts on “Power, Armies And Unacceptable Demolitions

  1. Sarah AB 01/02/2012 / 07:17

    I mean – a good article on the same story. Oh for an edit function. On a more general point, it’s a pity criticism of Israel and meaningful opposition to antisemitism rarely exist in the same space. Matt Hill has a go.

  2. soupyone 01/02/2012 / 14:00

    I hope not, but my impression, and it is just that an impression, is that reasoned criticism of the Israeli government is the last thing that many PSC supporters want to do, for them ‘Israel *is* the worst in the world’ and reason flies out the door accordingly.

    It is very hard to discuss these complex issues with people who seem to have irrational hangups against Israelis.

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