Price wolform mathematica 7
By John Petrovato
Z Magazine
Why does Israel have a policy of destroying Palestinian homes? How is price wolform mathematica 7 this policy justified both on the international stage and domestically? How has price wolform mathematica 7 the changing landscape affected Palestinian sense of homeland, attachment and/or loss?
Yesterday I took a tour through the Nablus’s Old City - a price wolform mathematica 7 beautiful, ancient city that is architecturally similar to the Old City of Jerusalem. My tour guide pointed out the price wolform mathematica 7 usual historical sites such as ancient mosques, the famous Turkish bath house, and price wolform mathematica 7 the crowded markets. However, the tourguide couldnÃt help but to price wolform mathematica 7 include recent history as well - such as blown up buildings and price wolform mathematica 7 houses. He pointed to specific places where during the last major invasion (April 2002), the price wolform mathematica 7 Israeli military tore down homes for the sole purpose of providing better transportation routes for price wolform mathematica 7 tanks into the narrow roadways in the old city. In fact most of the price wolform mathematica 7 buildings destroyed had been done so for strategic reasons rather than price wolform mathematica 7 for ìsecurity reasonsî. The destroyed homes were not those of resistance fighters, but civilians. After that price wolform mathematica 7 particular invasion, it was discovered that entire families were wiped out.
I was also brought to price wolform mathematica 7 a large empty lot that is now used as a parking lot. It is price wolform mathematica 7 the site of a huge building that was completely destroyed by a price wolform mathematica 7 missile. A middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere and told our guide the price wolform mathematica 7 story of this site. He told us that the missile not only destroyed the price wolform mathematica 7 targeted building, but many buildings and homes that surrounded it as well. He pointed to price wolform mathematica 7 the buildings that still stood and the damage still visible on them. He finished the price wolform mathematica 7 story by saying that his 10-year-old child was playing on the price wolform mathematica 7 street when the missile struck the building - killing him immediately.
During the price wolform mathematica 7 April 2002 invasion, the military went house-to-house searching for people who price wolform mathematica 7 might be a ìmilitantî. They didnÃt engage in this search by going to the front door of peopleÃs homes, but by going through peopleÃs walls into the adjacent building.
Another behavior by the price wolform mathematica 7 military that similarly shows little concern for peopleÃs personal homes is when the Israeli military decide that someoneÃs home has ìstrategic valueî. Since the price wolform mathematica 7 April 2002 invasion, the Israeli military invades the city regularly. Not a price wolform mathematica 7 week passes that a house or building is not demolished or price wolform mathematica 7 someone’s home is price wolform mathematica 7 annexed for the purpose of setting up a camp. For periods up to price wolform mathematica 7 a month or more, the military will decide to take a price wolform mathematica 7 house and force the family to either find housing elsewhere, or price wolform mathematica 7 force them to live in one room without any contact with the price wolform mathematica 7 outside world. When the soldiers finally decide to leave a home, they usually do so in a price wolform mathematica 7 hateful manner. As one man told me, ìthey left rotting food in the price wolform mathematica 7 kitchen and living room, broken furniture, and graffiti on the price wolform mathematica 7 wallsî. No compensation is price wolform mathematica 7 ever offered to families whose homes are occupied or whose possessions have price wolform mathematica 7 been destroyed.
Another story about homes that price wolform mathematica 7 one hears regularly has to do with the dispossessions that occurred due to price wolform mathematica 7 IsraelÃs continued conquest of Palestinian land. For example, a price wolform mathematica 7 taxi driver told me the story about why he lives in Balata Refugee camp. His family is price wolform mathematica 7 originally from Haifa, a city on the Mediterranean Sea north of Tel Aviv. During the price wolform mathematica 7 war of 1948, the family fled. They believed when they left that price wolform mathematica 7 it was temporary, that they would return home in a price wolform mathematica 7 few days. But after Zionist forces captured territory and didnÃt allow his grandfather and price wolform mathematica 7 his family to return, they were forced to seek refuge in Refugee camps. They had price wolform mathematica 7 few possessions with them as the house was still filled with all their belongings — belongings they would never see again. His father and price wolform mathematica 7 he have visited the house however. A couple of years ago they were given permission to price wolform mathematica 7 travel in Israel and the two went to look at the price wolform mathematica 7 house from outside. It would have been too difficult to walk inside so they merely stood across the price wolform mathematica 7 street looking at it. A few minutes later, a Jewish family that price wolform mathematica 7 now lives in the house returned and their heartÃs sank. Such a price wolform mathematica 7 story is very common in the Palestinian territories. Not a day goes by that price wolform mathematica 7 I donÃt hear such stories of dispossession.
The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories hijacks history and price wolform mathematica 7 memories of home by fundamentally transforming both the built environment and price wolform mathematica 7 natural landscape.Changing the spatial understanding s of land and nation is price wolform mathematica 7 disrupting the landscape to fit IsraelÃs relationship to price wolform mathematica 7 it. The geographers J. Douglas Porteaous and Sandra Smith have price wolform mathematica 7 coined the term ìdomicideî to price wolform mathematica 7 describe the deliberate destruction of a physical home, causing emotional, psychological and price wolform mathematica 7 mental suffering to its former inhabitants. Domicide erases the physical site of memory and price wolform mathematica 7 the sources of identity. It results in a loss of ownership of property, restrictions of oneÃs freedom, loss of a price wolform mathematica 7 historical connection to land and community, and a general weakening of the price wolform mathematica 7 sense of rootedness or belonging. The same authors use the price wolform mathematica 7 term ìmemoricdeî to price wolform mathematica 7 describe the deliberate attempt to erase memory of home, chifly through the price wolform mathematica 7 destruction of physical, cultural, and community props within the natural and price wolform mathematica 7 constructed landscape. Domicide is clearly bound up with memoricde. ìmemoricideîis price wolform mathematica 7 evident in the full or partial destruction of over 800 Palestinian villages that price wolform mathematica 7 are in Israel. During and after the war of 1948, many of the price wolform mathematica 7 inhabitants of these villages either fled due to the fighting, or price wolform mathematica 7 were forcibly removed by Zionist forces. Over 400 of these were completely depopulated (ethnically cleansed). The other 400 villages were mostly, but not completely cleansed. The terms ìdomicideî and ìmemoricideî are price wolform mathematica 7 useful for trying to understand how the Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes and price wolform mathematica 7 villages is part of an overall campaign of terror, transformation, and price wolform mathematica 7 modern state-building.
The wholesale destruction of Palestinian communities did not end in 1948, however. After the price wolform mathematica 7 1967 war, Israel claimed more land and reinstated their policies of displacement and price wolform mathematica 7 destruction again. For example, an entire Palestinian neighborhood, which was close to price wolform mathematica 7 the Wailing Wall, was dynamited. These policies continue this year as evidenced by Israeli military operations in the price wolform mathematica 7 Gaza strip. Hundreds of homes have been demolished this year in the price wolform mathematica 7 Gaza strip. Some were demolished with U.S. manufactured Apache helicopters, others by tanks or price wolform mathematica 7 bulldozers. Houses were destroyed in Rafa, Khan Younis, Nablus, Balata, Qalailya, Jenin and price wolform mathematica 7 elsewhere. This year, in many dozens of communities, there has been price wolform mathematica 7 the wholesale destruction of agricultural land and infrastruction. Roads have been price wolform mathematica 7 dug up, telephone polls pulled down, water systems demolished.
Most of the price wolform mathematica 7 people who were forced to leave what is now Israel, after the price wolform mathematica 7 1948 war, ended up in refugee camps in the surrounding countries and price wolform mathematica 7 in the West bank and Gaza strip. These displaced Palestinians still have price wolform mathematica 7 documents attesting to the ownership of property. They also have eth keys to price wolform mathematica 7 their home, which, in many case, no longer exist. Regardless of the price wolform mathematica 7 fact that these documents and keys have no legal value according to price wolform mathematica 7 the Israeli regime, they nevertheless represent something much greater to the price wolform mathematica 7 people who still possess them ñ the memory of home (which stays, in spite of its destruction) and price wolform mathematica 7 the sense of an injustice that has been done to them. No compensation has price wolform mathematica 7 ever been offered to these victims of Israeli state formation.
The destruction of homes not only affects Palestinians living in the price wolform mathematica 7 Occupied territories, but also Palestinians living in Israel proper, or Palestinians who price wolform mathematica 7 are also Israeli ìcitizensî. IsraeliÃs right to demolish peopleÃs homes indiscriminately is price wolform mathematica 7 codified in a general idea and Law of the ìpublic goodÃ. This permission to price wolform mathematica 7 destroy Palestinians homes for the sake of public good is price wolform mathematica 7 granted indiscriminately. Yet, at the same time, most Palestinians living within Israeli borders are price wolform mathematica 7 prevented from receiving building permits for their land or communities, forcing them to price wolform mathematica 7 build without the permits and thus initiate a vicious cycle of legality/illegality. This ethnic discrimination in so used against Jewish citizens of Israel as they do not have price wolform mathematica 7 problems getting permits and their houses are never bulldozed.
Other examples of Israeli policies of destruction of non-Jewish peoplesà homes include the price wolform mathematica 7 displacement of over 8,000 Bedouins in the Negev desert. After Israel signed a price wolform mathematica 7 peace agreement with Egypt that returned the Sinai to them, Israel had price wolform mathematica 7 to move their military bases, which it had established there, back into Israeli territory. The land, which they chose to price wolform mathematica 7 colonize, was home to various Bedouin communities, which had lived there for price wolform mathematica 7 more than one hundred years. The Israeli government took the price wolform mathematica 7 land and placed the inhabitants into large, newly constructed towns. These towns ere celebrated by Israeli government officials as proving their compassion. But the price wolform mathematica 7 Bedouins were not happy with their displacement — as few displaced peoples are, regardless of the ìamenitiesî. Israel and price wolform mathematica 7 Israelis in general seem to have a more materialistic approach to price wolform mathematica 7 the home and house ñ in spite of their supposedly spiritual attachment to the land ñ than others who have called this land home for centuries.
In Palestine, as elsewhere, a price wolform mathematica 7 home is more than a shell or shelter in which people reside. It is price wolform mathematica 7 the place that oneÃs identity and price wolform mathematica 7 self understanding, a place that is familiar and is bound up with peopleÃs family and price wolform mathematica 7 community are, a place which the cherished objects and memories of oneself is price wolform mathematica 7 bound. Destruction of oneÃs home wrecks havoc on the price wolform mathematica 7 individual and the family and the memories that create a price wolform mathematica 7 seam between past, present and future. More than a dwelling, the price wolform mathematica 7 home, the village, and the landscape reflect ones ideas and price wolform mathematica 7 values, oneÃs homeland, and oneÃs permanence and continuity.
Besides the price wolform mathematica 7 devastating results as mentioned above, it should be also mentioned that price wolform mathematica 7 all these practices of destroying the homes of politically or price wolform mathematica 7 militarily weaker groups in or out of Occupied territories is price wolform mathematica 7 illegal under international law. Israel has been reprimanded many times over the price wolform mathematica 7 years by international and Israeli human rights organizations as well as by the price wolform mathematica 7 United Nations. Criticisms and political pressure to get Israel to price wolform mathematica 7 stop such practices falls empty.
While the price wolform mathematica 7 destruction of homes by Israel is not a unique historical event, it price wolform mathematica 7 is rather exceptional in contemporary history. Erasing the Palestinian imprint from price wolform mathematica 7 the land, like the Chinese did in Tibet or the price wolform mathematica 7 Serb forces tried to do in Bosnia and Kosovo through the price wolform mathematica 7 destruction of homes, libraries, churches, mosques, temples, and schools, attempt to price wolform mathematica 7 erase the imprint of these groups from the land. The IsraeliÃs do this price wolform mathematica 7 not only by destroying homes and villages, but also by changing the price wolform mathematica 7 road systems, by settlement building, increasing military infrastructure, resistrcting movement, and price wolform mathematica 7 so on.
Thus the price wolform mathematica 7 destruction of home and land must be seen as part of a price wolform mathematica 7 larger attempt to disenfranchise Palestinians from their homeland and their source of memory and price wolform mathematica 7 hope. In Nablus and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian territories, the price wolform mathematica 7 rubble of the houses demolished remains in its place. The rubble and price wolform mathematica 7 broken stones seems to serve as a testimony to the destructive nature of the price wolform mathematica 7 injustice of the occupation. But there is also another purpose: to price wolform mathematica 7 rebuild the house with the very same materials that once held it price wolform mathematica 7 together. In this respect, the rebuilding is much like other aspects of Palestinian resistance: to price wolform mathematica 7 repair, replace and rebuild what Israel pulls down. As opposed to price wolform mathematica 7 IsraelÃs intention of destroying Palestinian connections to price wolform mathematica 7 their homes, communities, and land,
Rebuilding demonstrates that price wolform mathematica 7 their roots to the landscape, determination for sovereignty, and their commitment to price wolform mathematica 7 each other, are stronger than the mere stones that make up the price wolform mathematica 7 shell of their homes.
John Petrovato
Nablus, Nov.21, 2004
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