Twenty-five years ago the Israelis closed the Shuhada street, once a bustling street in the West Bank city of Hebron. Shuhada street was closed after 29 Palestinian worshippers were massacred by an Israeli settler inside a mosque in 1994. Shuhada street has been quasi entirely closed to all Palestinians since the American born settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire in the IBAHIMI MOSQUE killing 29 people and wounding more than 100 persons.
Roads in Hebron are divided in two parts one side for the Jews and the other side for the Muslims. The Jews can roam freely on the streets of Hebron while carrying all sorts of arms whereas Palestinians must pass through different check-points to reach their homes. Every year in the last week of February in commemoration of the Ibrahimi massacre take place in Hebron and around the world all sorts of activities to sensitize the world about the “Ibrahimi massacre”. Some basic facts about Shuhada street and Hebron:
- Shuhada street has remained closed for Palestinians since the Ibrahimi mosque massacre in 1994. Palestinians are forbidden to walk on the street. Israelis and Internationals (provided they are not Muslims) are allowed to roam freely.
- Don’t be shocked! Palestinians who live on the Shuhada street are not allowed to use the main entrance. And the Palestinians are forced to use alleyways, rooftops (yes rooftops) and back entrances to enter into their homes.
- Israel is constantly urging settlers (meaning Jews & Jews only) to go and live on the street or anywhere nearby the street.The number of illegal settlers is constantly on the rise. Settlement units for Jews only have been approved for construction while the whole world looks in the opposite direction. A shocking example: In July 2017 settlers illegally occupied an additional Palestinian house. Surprisingly the ISRAELI SUPREME COURT ordered that the police and the army must evict them but unsurprisingly the Israeli army have established a special army post at the base of the occupied house to guard the illegal settlers.
- Do you know that Israel applies two sets of laws in the West Bank? Yes, Israeli settlers live under Israeli civil law while the Palestinians are “governed” by Israeli military law apartheid.
- Another example of apartheid: Streets in Hebron are divided into two, one side is for Jews and Christians and the other part is for Palestinians and Muslims.
- Every year the Israelis are building and modernising new checkpoints.
Private donors (round the world contrary to the Arabs, Muslims and those who love justice) are funding illegal Israeli settlements through at least 50 tax exempt organisations based in the United States of America.
Who are these private donors?
- Hebron fund: The Hebron fund is an American Organisation with charity tax status, meaning exempted from any form of tax from the American authorities… Hebron fund state that their primary goal is the “Raising of capital for the improvement of daily life for the Jewish settler resident of Hebron-Israel”.
- Goldman Sachs donate regularly to the Hebron fund grants to the Hebron fund is not a one off coup. It has emerged from different reliable sources that the GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND regularly donate huge sums to Israel right wing groups or to their American fronts (American-Israel Education Foundation, American-Jewish International Relations Institute a radical right wing group which “monitors, tracks and combat anti-Israel voting patterns at the United Nations , American friends of the LIKUD party) and to many others worldwide.
Following the United States decision not to consider illegal the construction of new settlements in the occupied territories the Israel’s defence minister has approved plans (against basic International law) for the building of a new illegal settlement in the very heart of Hebron. And where will the new settlement be built? The new illegal settlement will be built in the wholesale market complex near Shuhada street…
We must never forget that Hebron is holy to both Jews and Muslims. Why are the Israelis pressing with such a construction? To get rid of all the Muslims and the Palestinians? The Mayor of Hebron has warned that the “dangerous decision” would lead to escalations in the entire region.
Some more basic facts about Hebron:
- Hebron is divided into H1 & H2. Two areas and two different forms of control.
- Hebron is a Palestinian city 30 Km South of Jerusalem.
- Hebron is the second most populated city in the occupied territories.
And since 5th December 2019 Israel has started to build a bypass road which will connect the illegal settlements of Hebron to Jerusalem. On which land? The answer is clear: on Palestinian owned land. And what will be the intended consequences for the Palestinians? The road, once completed, will make it impossible for Palestinians farmers to reach their own lands on the other side.
Several UNITED NATIONS SECURITY Council resolutions sustain Israeli settlements are illegal under international law in as much as they violate the fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies.
- Trump with the support of the Zionist lobby will support Israel.
- Benjamin Netanyahu will continue with his policies of annexations (main aim in the long term is greater Israel) and with a third general election looming in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu will not stop, will NEVER stop. On the contrary on 1st December 2019. Benjamin Netanyahu pledged more than forty million shekels for improved security (must I laugh, cry or take arms!) for the illegal settlers. And in the meantime the fascists are surely killing any prospect for a Palestinian state.
Our deafening (will a politician from any part of our National Assembly) silence will help to legitimise the colonisation…
RAMA VALAYDEN
