Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Piccolo Apartheid quotidiano

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=84314
British woman watches in shock as Israeli bulldozers raze her home
west of Occupied Jerusalem
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Jennie Matthew
Agence France Presse
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother
Jessica Barhoum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her,
her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverized their
home. "I can't believe that it's lawful, that this law exists. I'm
from England. Do you know what I mean?" asked Jessica, 32, who grew up
in the southern city of Salisbury but moved to Israel after marrying
Moussa, her Arab Israeli husband. "You can't believe a country like
this would make a law against its own citizens," she added.
For the last four decades, Israeli legislation has permitted the
demolition of homes built without a construction permit, the case for
the Barhoums' home in the village of Ein Rafa, west of Occupied
Jerusalem, although a permit was pending.
Critics say the law is disproportionately used against Arab Israelis
rather than Jewish Israelis. Permits can take years to acquire,
particularly for Palestinians wanting to build in Israeli-occupied and
annexed East Jerusalem.
Jessica, a landscape gardener who also holds Swiss nationality,
converted to Islam before marrying and moving to her husband's
village, giving birth to their daughter Sara and learning to speak
nearly fluent Arabic and Hebrew.
Last week she watched in disbelief as two bulldozers with pneumatic
drills implemented an 18-month-old demolition order against their
home, which Moussa spent eight years building on land owned by his
family.
Armed Israeli security forces woke them up at 5:00 a.m. Jessica said
she was given five minutes to get out. Her daughter screamed and her
husband was arrested as clearers stuffed some of their possessions
into plastic bags before the bulldozers pulverized the two-bedroom
house and vegetable patch into rubble.
"It did feel like a war zone," she said, pale under her pastel-colored
headscarf. The adjoining apartment where her newly married sister-in-
law lived was also smashed.
Her sister-in-law, a hairdresser to the Israeli elite at the luxury
King David Hotel in nearby Jerusalem, went into hysterics and then to
hospital.
The demolition law has been in force since 1968, allowing "illegal"
houses to be razed even if permits are pending in the bureaucratic
pipeline.
In 2005, Moussa was given legal notice he had 18 months to finalize
the permit or have his house bulldozed. When the deadline ran out, the
permit was still not ready.
Jessica said a woman at the local council led them to believe
everything would be alright. They did not consult a lawyer. They now
feel they were naive.
The pile of rubble took two days to clear. The Barhoums lost their bed
and a handmade cupboard. Sara's cot was broken, her soft toys and tiny
shoes were found littered among the ruins.
Hundreds of Arabs in Israel and the Occupied Territories each year
face the same trauma of watching bulldozers tearing their homes to
dust.
Meir Margalit, field coordinator for the Israeli Committee Against
House Demolitions (ICAHD), said the Interior Ministry alone demolished
850 structures in Israel last year, most of them in the Arab sector.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
And since 1967, 18,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the
territories, including East Jerusalem, according to ICAHD figures.
Margalit said Jewish Israeli homes are never demolished on the permit
pretext under the 1968 law. Although the Interior Ministry was asked
to comment, a spokesman did not return AFP's call.
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israeli demolitions of Palestinian
homes in the Occupied Territories are classified as illegal because
Israel is an "occupier." But such demolitions within Israel are legal.
The minority Arab Israelis are not occupied by any outside power; they
pay taxes and are citizens of the Jewish state, despite their
complaints of discrimination.
"My husband's cousin's just been in a state of shock because he's
like, 'we pay our taxes, we abide by the law, we're Israeli citizens,'
Jessica said.
"We all want to live together, but the people who are making the laws
don't. They know that they weren't just knocking our house down, they
know that they were breeding hatred and anger within our community,"
she added charged.
When the bulldozers arrived, two Jewish Israeli friends drove down to
the village to stand in support of Jessica. Another quietly paid 1,000
pounds [$2,029] into her bank account. ICAHD promised to help the
family
find temporary accommodation and rebuild the house. Villagers have
raised cash donations and building merchants have offered free
materials.
The Barhoums are determined to begin rebuilding as soon as possible
and enlist legal help to halt any further demolition orders while they
finalize arrangements for the construction permit.
"I'm having a baby in November. We need something that's winter proof
and summer proof because we're not quite sure how long it's going to
take us to get our house back to a livable state," Jessica said.
Theirs is the only home in the village to be razed so far, but the
case has fueled concern from lawyers and human-rights activists that
further properties could be destroyed since most lack finalized
permits.
Margalit fears the authorities have their eye on confiscating land in
Ein Rafa.
Commercial lawyer Sami Rashid is also worried. "It's a bit strange
that they just picked this house because there are many houses without
a permit. It may be that the Interior Ministry may want to demolish
houses in Ein Rafa." The village representative on the regional
council told AFP that 200 homes in Ein Rafa and a neighboring village
could be liable for demolition, saying the demolition of the Barhoums'
home had "destroyed" efforts to build bridges between local Arab and
Jewish youth.
Lawyer Rashid is among those urging change. "I do believe that the law
has to be amended," he said. "There must be much more restrictions and
restraints in bringing a demolition order into force.
It has been Jessica's worst experience in Israel. But as a practicing
Muslim, she says she has endured arduous times at checkpoints,
security checks weighed down with shopping and lengthy scrutiny at the
airport.
"It's a different experience once you've got a headscarf in this
country, but I guess it's something you have to live with if you want
to live here.

feel they were naive.
Che si lamentino con la loro stupidita' e non con la legge.
-Stefano