Palestinian human rights? Somebody cares?

Tom Wilson..
The Times of Israel..
22 July '12..

In recent days no less than 120 Palestinian homes have been demolished and so you might have thought news of this would have made the headlines as the usual procession of NGOs and their self proclaimed ‘Liberal Zionist’ allies turn out to express the deepest sentiments of condemnation they are able to muster. Yet here in Britain at least these events went completely unreported and of course the reason that they failed to stir even the faintest interest is because the demolitions took place in Gaza and were carried out by Hamas.

This is not the first time that Hamas has demolished homes in Gaza nor the first time that such acts have gone unremarked upon by the international press and so called the human rights crowed. Back in February of this year Hamas demolished a number of houses in the Hamami neighbourhood of Gaza city and prior to that, in 2010, Gaza’s Islamist rulers raised several Palestinian homes in the southern end of the strip around Rafah.

That all of this went on ignored by groups and journalists who make little secret of their antipathy for the Jewish State is hardly remarkable. Such double standards as worthy of note as they may still be, become increasingly unsurprising to anyone who has followed this subject for even a relatively brief period of time.

Yet what about those purportedly pro-Israel groups, run by left leaning Jews, who insist that as Jews (said with a hand placed firmly on the heart) they must speak out against human rights abuses against Palestinians? Wouldn’t you have thought that events such as 120 Palestinian families made homeless would be of some interest to these people? Indeed, the British group Yachad has been waging an entire campaign on behalf of just one Palestinian family in an attempt to prevent the family from being evicted from a Jewish owned house they have been illegally occupying in Jerusalem’s City of David, just minutes walk from the Western Wall.

Roth - Things you might learn from contemplating the destruction of people's homes

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
09 July '12..







The report below, describing high-handed treatment of its own people by the Hamas regime, was published yesterday (Sunday) evening on the website of the independent Palestinian news-agency Maan.

Gaza govt begins demolition of homes

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza government on Sunday began the demolition of several homes in Gaza City, saying they are built on government land. Abu Al-Abed Abu Omra, whose house is threatened with demolition, told Ma'an that police officers arrived late Saturday night and told residents to evacuate their homes in order to facilitate the demolition. He said that there are more than 120 families living in the 15-dunams area under threat, near Gaza's Al-Azhar University, and they have been there since 1948. He called on the Gaza cabinet to provide the families with homes in neighboring area al-Sheikh Ijleen in exchange, which he said had been promised to them. The families had rejected an offer to move to the southern areas of Deir al-Balah and Karni as they are too close to Israel's dangerous no-go zone surrounding the barrier, he said. In February after authorities demolished a number of homes in the Hamami neighborhood in Gaza City, a municipality engineer told the US-based Electronic Intifada website that the authorities intended to widen a 40-km coastal road to and install a sewage and water network. The engineer, Hatem al-Sheikh Khaleil, said the project was in cooperation with the Lands Authority and the Palestine Telecommunication Company, funded by a German grant. The website quoted municipal officials as saying the al-Rashid coastal road was too narrow to absorb the amount of traffic it receives, especially in the summer.

Several aspects of this are worth thinking about.

Given the human misery involved and the fact that you can't hide the destruction of a residential neighborhood from the prying eyes of the media, where are the reports (other than Maan's)? Where are the online photographs? (If any of our readers can point us to some, we will be happy to re-publish or link to them here.)

Road traffic has grown to such an extent that Gazan homes need to be razed? Whose vehicles are causing this pressure on the roads, and how does this square with Gaza's alleged resemblance to a concentration camp?

The destruction of sixty-year-old residential buildings certainly required the use of bulldozers. Given the obsessive and entirely unconstructive focus by foes of Israeli policies on Caterpillar Inc., would you not think there would be an outcry against the cynical actions of the Hamas regime and their bulldozers, whoever's bulldozers they were? We see no mention on the web of such an outcry.

More demolishing homes of pre-1948 Arabs

LOTL..
09 July '12..






Elder of Ziyon places before us once again one of those pieces that just would not have seen a Western news audience otherwise:

Really!

The Gaza government on Sunday began the demolition of several homes in Gaza City, saying they are built on government land.

Abu Al-Abed Abu Omra, whose house is threatened with demolition, told Ma'an that police officers arrived late Saturday night and told residents to evacuate their homes in order to facilitate the demolition.

He said that there are more than 120 families living in the 15-dunams area under threat, near Gaza's Al-Azhar University, and they have been there since 1948.

Yes, Arabs who have lived in the same homes for at least 64 years are being threatened with expulsion and their homes destroyed.

These aren't "refugees" - these are "pre-1948" Palestinians whose homes are being demolished by Hamas.

This is too rich.

Now Elder has come up with 9 questions on this interesting piece, and that was probably without investing much effort. Click here to take a look, or take a moment to see what most tickles your personal funny bone.

BTW, the photo up top comes from The Electric Intifada (EI) from last February. Can anyone guess what brand name bulldozer Hamas does its demolishing with? Another BDS failure.

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A new 'nakba'. Oh, wait...

Melanie Phillips
The Spectator
18 May '10

(After a not insignificant delay by the NYT and other main-stream media, the Hamas housing destruction and beatings have arrived, albeit not front page news. One can also properly surmise that the story was not exactly given the Melanie Phillips treatement, therefore ....Y.)

Two days ago, Palestinians had their houses bulldozed into rubble after they were beaten and forced out of them by club-wielding policemen, all because they had allegedly built their homes illegally on government-owned land.

An outrage! A ‘nakba’ indeed, as the Palestinians cried. Quick, call for Human Rights Watch/Amnesty/B’tselem! Get the UN to pass a resolution!

Oh wait...

Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers, residents said.

Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.

Obviously Israel’s fault, then. Call for Goldstone.

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