Op-Ed: Challenging Israel’s Land Rights via a Fictional Arab Village

This is Part 3 of a 10-part series exposing the ⁤underreported joint European and⁢ Palestinian program to bypass international law ⁣and establish a de facto⁣ Palestinian state on Israeli land.

The particular case of Khan al Ahmar demonstrates how far‍ the Palestinian ‌Authority and European Union will go​ in their quest ​to delegitimize Israel and garner international sympathy.

By⁤ the 1970s, many Bedouin Arabs​ had ‍abandoned their nomadic ⁢shepherding traditions, taking advantage of the livelihood the newly established state of Israel afforded them.

During this time, after⁣ a blood feud occurred within the Jahalin Bedouins, ⁣an ⁤offshoot of a larger‍ tribe, some families were ​forced out and migrated from​ southern Israel to Maaleh Adumim, an Israeli settlement⁤ in the north between Jerusalem and the ⁤Dead Sea.

They set up a cluster of ⁢tents, ignoring its hazardous location due ‍to its‌ proximity to a major highway, and began illegally tapping into the municipality’s⁤ water ‍and electricity lines.

Knowing ‌full well that their presence was illegal, many of the Bedouins cooperated with Israeli ​orders to evacuate. Some relocated, while ‌others‍ signed relocation agreements and were preparing ⁤to leave.

But instead of⁤ allowing​ this routine ‌zoning enforcement​ case to ‍be settled like⁢ any⁣ other ⁤real ⁤estate dispute involving squatters, the Palestinians ⁤and⁢ their European backers decided to act ‌as the ​Jahalin’s ⁤representatives and turn this ⁢into an international spectacle.

First, they fabricated a​ name ​for this lawless ⁤encampment to⁣ make it appear historic: “Khan al Ahmar.” From there, they⁢ complained to the media ⁤that this destitute group of Arabs was being threatened with forced removal and‍ ethnic cleansing.

They⁣ accompanied their manufactured narrative with images of barefoot Bedouin children ​and began pumping money into the settlement, even ⁤building these “dispossessed” children a school.

Eventually,‍ the Bedouins were convinced that ⁤they should stay⁤ put, while the PA and EU launched four separate lawsuits starting⁣ in 2009 with ‌the ‍Israeli Supreme Court, an activist body consisting of self-selected and largely liberal judges ‌who have crafted a supra-democratic system in which actors with no legal standing are invited to file unlimited petitions ‌against the state.

Israel’s high ⁣court ‌is notoriously lenient toward‌ Palestinians, ⁣even at the expense of Israeli safety and ⁤security, ⁤yet ‌even it ruled,‌ in ⁤every ‍one of the ​Khan al Ahmar petitions, that the⁣ squatters must evacuate. The⁣ French courts called the verdicts a “violation of international law,” a rich claim given France’s⁤ own sordid history of forced transfer of its Roma population to Eastern European countries.

The ⁢Israeli government offered the Jahalin a ⁢generous relocation package to the Arab community of ⁤Abu Dis, ⁣located‌ roughly four miles away.

This initiative would give every wife of the⁢ polygamous Jahalin households‍ nearly $140,000 dollars, as well as provide ⁣each with a ⁤plot of land zoned for residential construction in a new ⁢community named Jahalin ⁢West, equipped with water⁣ and electricity, proper sanitation, education, and welfare services.

If they had accepted, these Bedouins ⁣would be living today in functional homes as part of a community designed specifically for them. Instead, they have been kept in​ limbo and cynically used as pawns in a‍ perverse and corrupt ideological ⁤battle‌ against the Jewish ⁢state.

For ⁤10 years, the⁢ Bedouin evacuation, relocation⁣ and demolition orders were suspended, and Jahalin​ West remained uninhabited. Recently, squatters have ⁣begun⁤ to creep in and ⁣erect homes on the plots that had⁢ been standing empty, a rather ironic predicament given that⁢ critics ⁣had once complained that the Jahalin could ⁢not possibly be relocated to⁤ this site⁢ because it was “unfit for human settlement.”

Khan al Ahmar is representative of the tactics that the PA regularly⁣ employs when wresting land rights from ‍the state of ⁢Israel.

First, it identifies a strategic point located ⁢far from an existing population center. Then, it illegally seizes⁤ the​ land, invents a⁢ name for this “historic” village that never existed, and insists the squatters have been there since the ⁤dawn of time, despite aerial photographs⁤ showing otherwise.

Third, it ‌broadcasts‍ any ⁢pushback from ⁣Israel as‍ “cruel” and “oppressive,” even “ethnic cleansing.” Often, the next step ⁤is to create ​a land bridge between the new ⁢village and an existing Arab settlement, often ‌through agricultural ‍projects. ⁣Then, it ⁤finds another location to invade.

Rather than using its resources to build homes, schools, businesses ⁣or parks ⁣on​ the vast open spaces under its control, the PA invests⁢ in politically motivated land seizures in Area C with⁢ the anti-Semitic aim‌ of denying the right of Jews ⁣to ‍live ⁣and‍ thrive in their own⁣ sovereign country, amidst ⁢a sea ⁢of 50 Muslim-majority nations.

Part 4 will be published next week.

Part 1 can be read here.

Part 2 can be ​read ⁤ here.

The post Op-Ed: Wresting Land Rights ‌from Israel Using a ‘Historic’ Arab ‌Village That Never Existed appeared first on The Western Journal.