Treat Israel like Iran

Last Sunday something happened you may have heard about.
It was in Jerusalem early in the morning.

It was 13-year-old Diala who was awoken first, just after 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, by the commotion outside.
She rushed to the window, saw special riot police in black uniforms, and ran to wake her parents.

By the time she did, the Israeli police were already breaking in through doors and windows, forcing the 17-member Hanoun family – three brothers, their wives, and children – to leave the home their relatives acquired a half-century ago.
And they were not the only ones.
In all, 58 Palestinians were evicted in this predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah.

A few hours later, the evicted Palestinian families stood across the street and watched as the police escorted a few families of Jewish settlers into their homes.

“It's so difficult for us to see them move in people who are not from here, into our house, into the home my husband was born in, while we're on the street," says Mrs. Hanoun, sitting in the shade of a tree about 50 feet from their front door, now blocked off by a line of security barriers and several police vans with flashing lights.

The Hanoun family has for two nights slept on the thin mattresses in the street.
Mrs. Hanoun says they have no other place to go.

The evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, from their houses where they have lived for over 50 years so that Jewish settlers can move in, garnered international censure from the European Union, the United Nations (UN) and from Britain, which said it was "appalled" at the move.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Monday night called the Israeli evictions "deeply regrettable" and "provocative."
Such a move "is not in keeping with Israeli obligations and I urge the government of Israel and municipal officials to refrain from such provocative actions," she said.

The Palestinian families who are now without a home have a lawyer.
Hosni Abu Hussein.
He says: “"This eviction was done in an illegal matter and without due process.
The duty of the authorities as they see it is to cleanse Jerusalem of Arabs."

This is a sentiment that is felt throughout East Jerusalem, where many Palestinian residents are facing either eviction or demolition orders.
Just two weeks ago, Israeli officials approved the construction of settler apartments in another part of Sheikh Jarrah on the Palestinian grounds of the old Shepherd Hotel.

The Obama administration in particular has asked Israel to freeze settlement growth in the West Bank and not to authorize projects that aim to settle Israelis in the heart of Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
But why would Israel care?

A plethora of international organizations have expressed dismay over the evictions, which came amid attempts to revive the peace process.
These evictions were for example quickly condemned by the United Nations.
"I deplore today's totally unacceptable actions by Israel," the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert H Serry said.
"These actions are contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions related to occupied territory.”
The British consulate in East Jerusalem said:
"These actions are incompatible with the Israeli professed desire for peace.
We urge Israel not to allow the extremists to set the agenda."

What has happened as of last Sunday?
Has there been a meeting of the Security Council to condemn Israel for these illegal evictions?
Has there been one country in the world that has condemned Israel by imposing sanctions?

Like in the past, anything Israel does results in big words but in fact without any consequences.
Israel can do whatever it wants.
Knowing that their supporters worldwide are backing them up no matter what.

The question is how does that make Palestinians feel?
What emotions does that trigger with many of their Arab brothers and sisters?
Is it not understandable they feel left alone?
That they feel victims of injustice?
Isn’t it normal they get angry?
Always Israel being shielded and protected by the West no matter what the Israeli Government does?

Isn’t this generous attitude of the West vis à vis Israel feeding the minds of Palestinians and those who are in solidarity with them?
Making them feel desperate, powerless and ignored?

So, in the end, who is responsible for extremism?
You must reap what you have sown.

Fighting terrorism by having passengers take their shoes off and kill civilians in Afghanistan will never bring an end to it.

Things will fundamentally change though when the West starts treating Israel in the same way as it does Iran.



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