Palestinian settlement - Essay Example

Palestinian Settlement The refugee problem of the Palestinians started out around the 1948 Israeli Independence War The Palestinian Refugees This war as well as the refugees’ flight known as Nakba in the Arabic language were the main formative events that have not only defined the national character of the Palestinians and Israel but have also led the circumstances to the present state of injustice toward the Palestinians. In the 46 years that have passed since 1967, up to 27,000 homes of the Palestinians have been demolished by the Israeli authorities on the West Bank with the security reasons having been given for no more than 2 per cent of the 27,000 demolition cases (Kevorkova).

Israel built 200,000 illegal Jewish settlements on the West Bank forcing up to 300,000 Palestinians out of their homes and destroying their settlements (Kevorkova). The Israeli-controlled municipality is asking the Palestinians to demolish their homes saying that they have been constructed illegally. The same set of authorities has made the permits very expensive for the Palestinians to afford. Many Palestinians have been so heart-broken that they are destroying their homes themselves rather than having the Israeli authorities do it to them by force.

“Self-demolitions like this began a few years ago and have continued—albeit somewhat under the mainstream media’s radar—ever since, with Palestinians compelled to destroy their own homes in order to avoid the steadily increasing fines leveled by the municipality” (Gilbert and Collins).The amount of land zoned for the Palestinian construction in the Shu’Fat neighborhood of East Jerusalem is far less than the population of the Palestinians in the city. This can be estimated from the fact that although the population of the Palestinians has become 300,000 in the city since the year 1967, the amount of land zoned for the Palestinian construction by the municipal authorities is no more than 9 per cent (Gilbert and Collins).

On the West Bank, the Israeli army checks the papers of the Palestinian settlers in the area, randomly confiscates some of them, and herds them as well as their flocks away from the hilltop that has been so wanted by the Jewish settlement called Susiya. The Israeli officers arrest those who argue with them over the unjust orders of movement. Young Jewish settlers are increasingly establishing their mobile homes over the hilltops. “Armed with a list of military orders, Israeli soldiers are herding the West Bank’s Palestinians out of the rural 60% of the territory, officially known as Area C, where Israel has full military and civilian control, and into cities” (“Squeeze them out”).

The Israeli army makes fake reasons and lame excuses to snatch the Palestinian-owned fields and establishments from the Palestinian settlers. To conclude, the Israeli-controlled municipality is dealing with the Palestinians in a very unjust way. It has made life so difficult for the Palestinians to live in the legal way that many have no choice but to either break the laws or destroy their own homes themselves. In order to safeguard the peace of the mind of the Palestinians, there is dire need to do something for them by the international community.

Works Cited:Gilbert, Sam, and Collins, Dylan. “Palestinians are being forced to destroy their own homes.” VICE. 15 April 2014. Web. 8 May 2014. . Kevorkova, Nadezhda. “Final settlement to Palestinian issue?” 31 Jan. 2014. . “Squeeze them out.” The Economist. 4 May 2013. Web. 8 May 2014. . “The Palestinian Refugees.” 2006. Web. 8 May 2014. . .