Udenrigsudvalget 2015-16
URU Alm.del Bilag 215
Offentligt
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Rubble and dust: How EU keeps failing
Palestinians
By Hagai El-Ad,
euobserver.com
All over the occupied West Bank, one can practically taste the dust in the air: since January 2016
some 300 Palestinians
homes and structures have been bulldozed by Israeli authorities.
Hundreds
have lost their homes to such demolitions, more than half of them children.
This cruelty is not random: it is part of a broader strategy by Israel to push Palestinians out of parts
of their homeland and further fragment their lands. The aim is to consolidate Israeli control while
making room for the further expansion of Israeli settlements.
The occupation wields the power of a planning regime that cites a hodgepodge of excuses couched
in legalese to designate as illegal virtually any Palestinian construction, thereby providing a guise of
legality for green-lighting Israeli settlements while bulldozing Palestinian hamlets.
None of this is new. Waves of demolitions come and go, rising and ebbing with the tides of
international attention, but never quite stopping. Yet the current wave of demolitions is unique in
some ways.
First, in scale: in the first few months of 2016, Israel has already demolished more Palestinian
homes than in all of 2015.
Second, in the increased targeting of projects donated to Palestinian communities by the EU and its
member states, which include humanitarian aid such as solar panels that provide electricity when
Israel prevents hookups to nearby power grids, water cisterns, a pre-fab for a classroom, and basic
shelters.
Oddly enough Israel claims that these solar panels and water cisterns, built on land it has occupied
since 1967, “undermine its sovereignty”.
In September 2015, the EU initiated a so called ‘structured dialogue’ with Israel, aimed at bringing
an end to the demolitions within six months.
No European impact
The EU and its member states also committed to claiming financial compensation from Israel
for European-funded projects if the effort failed. Yet far from being halted, demolitions were
dramatically stepped up during this period of supposed “dialogue”.
The six months were up more than a month ago. Clearly, the only thing that was structured during
this ‘structured dialogue’ was the apparent specific targeting of EU-funded structures. So that even
in the bulldozed rubble of an EU-funded playground for Palestinian children one can find some
structure – that of the outlines of an Israeli strategy to forcefully displace Palestinians within the
occupied territory.
 URU, Alm.del - 2015-16 - Bilag 215: Materiale udleveret efter foretræde v/Folkekirkens Mellemkirkelige Råd, Danske Kirkers Råd og Folkekirkens Nødhjælp den 26. april 2016
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This outrage must not be allowed to go on. The fact that so much of what is being destroyed is
funded by European donors only adds insult to injury, with the core issue remaining the loss of
human shelter, of people’s homes.
If allowed to continue, thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank – not “mere” hundreds – will
lose their homes this year.
What would you call a regime that systematically destroys or confiscates even first aid response,
such as tents for families to shelter in? What impact should these actions by a friendly government
have on diplomatic and economic relations?
The European answer to date has been: no impact at all. True, statements condemning demolitions
have taken an increasingly clearer tone of late, but the bottom line remains the same: statements
alone, absent of action, continue to serve as an implicit green light for Israel to proceed unchecked.
And Israel does.
The choice is clear
While Israel continues demolishing Palestinian homes, Europe continues to fail Palestinian
children, families, and communities, as well as its own people, the true contributors of many of
these demolished projects.
This is an urgent plea to take action and make a difference. It is hardly likely that steps such as
demanding compensation and making public the cost of demolished donor-structures will be
sufficient to bring the demolitions to a halt, but at this stage it is not clear if even such basic
measures will be enacted.
The structured dialogue is over, and to no avail. Six months have been wasted – well, not entirely:
Israel has used the time well, to further advance its structured demolitions. Amongst the rubble,
words have lost their meaning.
The choice is clear: will Europe continue to provide Israel with the go-ahead for further violations
of international humanitarian law and a policy of forced displacement? Too much rubble has
already settled on the ground, too much dust already clouds the future. The time for words has long
passed: it is time to, finally, take action.
Hagai El-Ad is the executive director of
B’Tselem
- The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories.