Dora McPhee (VIC) responds to Koutsoukis’ article “Clinton bid to placate Arab anger” The Age, 4Nov09 November 4, 2009
The Age: “Clinton bid to placate Arab anger” by Jason Koutsoukis 4 November 2009
As the diplomatic dance continues over whether or not to freeze settlement construction, with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visit to Jerusalem, the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem is happening right under her nose and she hears, sees and says nothing.
On Tuesday tens of armed Jewish settlers stormed and occupied the home of an 83-year old Palestinian woman in Sheikh Jarrah in the heart of occupied Jerusalem.
On October 27 Israeli authorities demolished the homes of 6 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem.
In August not even the widely reported eviction of the Hanoun family and its public condemnation by the visiting Elders was able to prevent them being turfed out of their homes they had lived in since 1948 and the Jewish settlers that now occupy their home remain there protected by the Israeli authorities.
This brings the number of displaced Palestinians to over 600, half of them children as a result of forced evictions or house demolitions this year. At least another 500 have been affected as a result of partial demolitions of their homes.
This is ethnic cleansing at the hands of Jewish settlers and the Israeli government both intent on Judaising East Jerusalem despite the fact these actions are against international law and UN Security Council resolutions 446 and 478 which call upon Israel not to transfer members of its civilian population into occupied Arab territories or to change the character and status of Jerusalem.
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