Palestinian Culture 64 Years Under Israeli Assault

7/29/2019 Palestinian Culture 64 Years Under Israeli Assault

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THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST UNDERSTANDING

FACT SHEET: Palestinian Culture: 64 Years Under Israeli AssaultIMEU, Aug 2, 2012

Handala, Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali's iconic shoeless refugee boy, reproduced ona wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in where Palestinians have been protesting theconfiscation of their land for the expansion of a nearby Israeli settlement.In late July, while on a trip to Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, presumptiveRepublican presidential nominee Mitt Romney sparked outrage amongst Palestinians bytelling a group of supporters at a fundraiser that the glaring disparity between thestrength of Israel's economy and that of the Palestinian territories is a result ofdifferences in the respective cultures of Israelis and Palestinians.

In response, many critics pointed out that the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem,and Gaza Strip, have been under Israeli military occupation for more than 45 years,with Israel tightly controlling and systematically stifling Palestinian economic activity.Moreover, some pointed out that the destructive effects that Israeli policies have hadon Palestinian economic development in the occupied territories is just one part of awider, systematic, decades-old Israeli assault against Palestinian culture and historicalmemory.

To put this controversy into context, the IMEU offers the following fact sheetdetailing Israel's more than six-decade-old assault on Palestinian society and culture.

MASS EXPULSIONS OF PALESTINIANS& THEFT OF PALESTINIAN LAND

During Israel's creation (1947-49) some 750,000 Palestinians, or 2/3 of theArab population in what would become Israel, were expelled from their homesand land by Zionist and then Israeli forces to make way for a Jewish majoritystate in a region that had previously been populated overwhelmingly by Muslimand Christian Palestinian Arabs.
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Some 400 Palestinian towns and villages, including vibrant urban centers, weresystematically destroyed by Zionist and Israeli forces during and after thecreation of the state.

The total monetary loss of Palestinians dispossessed during Israel's creation hasbeen estimatedat upwards of $100 billion (US) in today's dollars.

At the end of 1947, just prior to Israel's establishment, Zionist Jews andorganizations owned less than 7% of the land of British Mandate Palestine.Despite this, the United Nations Partition Plan passed in November 1947allotted 55% of Mandate Palestine to a new Jewish state, disregarding theproperty rights and wishes of Palestinian Arabs, who comprised some 67% ofthe population.

During the subsequent military campaign that accompanied Israel's creation,Zionist and Israeli forces expanded far beyond the borders of the Jewish statecalled for in the UN Partition Plan, conquering 78% of Mandate Palestine andincorporating it into what became Israel's internationally recognized, pre-1967War borders.

Most Palestinian refugees fled or were forced from their homes on short notice.Almost 65 years later, those refugees and their descendants continue to bedenied their legal right to return to their land and homes, as called for in UNResolution 194, and have been denied any kind of compensation from Israel for

their economic and other losses.

In 1967, during the June, or Six-Day War, Israel conquered the West Bank,Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the 22% of historic Palestine that remained outsideits borders in 1948. In addition to creating tens of thousands of new Palestinianrefugees, some for the second time over, almost immediately Israeli authoritiesbegan to colonize the occupied territories, in violation of international law, withJewish-only settlements built on expropriated Palestinian land. Today more thanhalf a million Israeli Jews live on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank andEast Jerusalem.

In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization made what was considered amajor historic compromise, renouncing claim to 78% of Mandate Palestine andagreeing to a Palestinian state on just the remaining 22%, comprising the WestBank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Despite this, Israel has continued torelentlessly colonize the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem with a networkof Jewish-only settlements and attendant infrastructure, Israeli-only roads,military bases, and the West Bank wall, surrounding, dissecting, and isolatingPalestinian population centers from one another and the outside world.
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010803ib.htmlhttp://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010803ib.htmlhttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51Ahttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51Ahttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51Ahttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51Ahttp://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C758572B78D1CD0085256BCF0077E51Ahttp://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010803ib.html


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THEFT, DESTRUCTION & APPROPRIATION OF PALESTINIAN CULTURE

During Israel's creation in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinian books weresystematically "collected"by the Israeli army and its precursor, the Hagannah,in cooperation with the Israeli National Library. The books included pricelessvolumes of Palestinian Arab and Muslim literature, including poetry, works ofhistory and fiction. Thousands of the books were destroyed and recycled forpaper, while others were added to the library's collection. Today, many remain inthe Israeli National Library, designated abandoned property.

Since prior to Israel's founding in 1948, British and then Israeli authoritiesengaged in a systematic campaign targeting Palestinian political leaders, artists,and intellectuals for imprisonment, exile, and assassination, starting in the 1930swith the exiling by British authorities of the Palestinian political leadership ofthe Arab Higher Committee. Amongst the artists and intellectuals subsequentlymurdered by Israel were writer Ghassan Kanafani, and poet and intellectualWael Zuaiter.

During Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israeli forces systematically lootedand confiscated the accumulated national archives of the Palestine LiberationOrganization, including invaluable collections of films and other culturalartifacts.

The 2009 US State Department International Religious Freedom Reportnotedthe Israeli government does not recognize non-Jewish holy sites and that as aresult, "many Muslim and Christian sites are neglected, inaccessible, orthreatened by property developers and municipalities."

In a move that prompted international criticism and typifies Israeli policytowards Palestinian sites that are of cultural and historical importance, Israel isallowing the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a"Museum ofTolerance" over one of the oldest and most culturally significant PalestinianMuslim sites in the Holy Land, the ancient Mamilla cemetery in Jerusalem. Pressreports have revealed evidence of widespread desecrations of tombs and their

remains by construction workers.

DENIAL OF ACCESS TO EDUCATION

Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians living in the occupiedterritories, including its network of hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks inthe West Bank, travel permit system, and siege of Gaza, prevent manyPalestinian students from reaching their schools and accessing their right to

education.
http://972mag.com/documenting-scores-of-palestinian-books-nakbas-lesser-known-victims/34169/http://972mag.com/documenting-scores-of-palestinian-books-nakbas-lesser-known-victims/34169/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/arts/design/01wise.html?_r=1&pagewanted=allhttp://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htmhttp://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htmhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/tolerance-of-whom.htmlhttp://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127349.htmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/arts/design/01wise.html?_r=1&pagewanted=allhttp://972mag.com/documenting-scores-of-palestinian-books-nakbas-lesser-known-victims/34169/


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There is a de facto embargo against Palestinian students from the occupiedterritories wishing to study abroad. Students from Gaza in particular, includingFulbright Scholars, are often prevented by Israel's siege from traveling touniversities in the West Bank and abroad to study in their chosen fields.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the First Intifada, or uprising againstIsrael's occupation, Israeli authorities shut down many Palestinian schools,forcing Palestinians teachers and students to improvise classes in secret toavoid being shut down by the Israeli army.

STIFLING OF PALESTINIAN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

In July 2012, the World Bank released a reportthat concludedPalestinianeconomic growth in the West Bank was unsustainable citing Israeli restrictionsas the biggest impediment. The International Monetary Fundhas statedthesame thing.

At any given time, there are upwards of 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks,and other barriers to movement within the occupied West Bank, -- an areasmaller than Delaware -- hindering Palestinians and their goods from movingbetween their own towns and cities and the outside world. (Click here forDecember 2011 UN map of barriers to movement in the West Bank)

Historically, Jerusalem has been the economic and cultural center of Palestinianlife in the surrounding West Bank. However, as a result of Israeli policies andactions taken in and around occupied East Jerusalem (the borders of which weregreatly expanded by Israel unilaterally following the start of its occupation in1967), including settlement construction and the implementation of a permitsystem for non-Israeli citizens, today Palestinians living in the West Bank arelargely cut off from the city, unable to visit for worship, to see family, or to dobusiness.

Almost 80% of the Jordan Valley, once the breadbasket of Palestine, is off-limits to Palestinians, designated for Israeli settlements, military 'firing zones,'and 'nature reserves.' (Clickherefor 2012 UN map)

According to a December 2010 Human Rights Watch reportentitled "Separateand Unequal: Israel's Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the OccupiedPalestinian Territories":

'Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race,ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, andaccess to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-provided

benefits... While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4964329&page=1http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4964329&page=1http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/world-bank-palestinian-economy-unsustainable-16851626http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/world-bank-palestinian-economy-unsustainable-16851626http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/world-bank-palestinian-economy-unsustainable-16851626http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375942http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375942http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375942http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_westbank_december2011.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_westbank_december2011.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_jordan_valley_factSheet_february_2012_map_english.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_jordan_valley_factSheet_february_2012_map_english.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_jordan_valley_factSheet_february_2012_map_english.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequalhttp://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequalhttp://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequalhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_jordan_valley_factSheet_february_2012_map_english.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_westbank_december2011.pdfhttp://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375942http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/world-bank-palestinian-economy-unsustainable-16851626http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4964329&page=1


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live in a time warp -- not just separate, not just unequal, but sometimes evenpushed off their lands and out of their homes.'

GAZA SIEGE & BLOCKADE

Although Israel withdrew its soldiers and 8000 settlers from the Gaza Strip in2005, Gaza remains under Israeli occupation according to international law asIsrael continues to maintain effective control over the area, controlling mostentry in and out of the territory, as well as its coastline and airspace.

Since the early 1990s, Israel has restricted passage to and from Gaza, but in2006, following Hamas' victory in Palestinian elections, Israel tightened itsrestrictions severely and imposed a naval blockade on the tiny coastal enclave of1.6 million people. (Clickherefor December 2011 Gaza access and closure map)

A 2009 Amnesty International report following Operation Cast Lead, Israel'sdevastating military assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008-9, stated:

'The prolonged blockade of Gaza, which had already been in place for some 18months before the current fighting began, amounts to collective punishment ofits entire population.'

Israeli officials have admitted that the siege is not motivated primarily bysecurity concerns, but is part of a strategy of "economic warfare" against thepeople of Gaza. In 2006, senior advisor to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,Dov Weisglass,saidthe goal of the Gaza siege was to put the people of Gaza "ona diet, but not to make them die of hunger."

Although Israel loosened restrictions somewhat under international pressurefollowing its deadly assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010, the siege andblockade continue to smother Gaza economically. According to a 2012 HumanRights Watchreport:'Israel's punitive closure of the Gaza Strip, tightened after Hamas's takeoverof Gaza in June 2007, continued to have severe humanitarian and economicconsequences for the civilian population.

'Gaza's economy grew rapidly, but the World Bank said the growth depended oninternational assistance. The economy had not returned to pre-closure levels;daily wages, for instance, had declined 23 percent since 2007. Israel's near-total restrictions on exports from Gaza hindered economic recovery. Due to lowper capita income, 51 percent of the population was unable to buy sufficientfood, according to UN aid agencies.

'Israel allowed imports to Gaza that amounted to around 40 percent of pre-
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_gaza_strip_december2011.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_gaza_strip_december2011.pdfhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_gaza_strip_december2011.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.htmlhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/16/israelhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/16/israelhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/16/israelhttp://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territorieshttp://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territorieshttp://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territorieshttp://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-israeloccupied-palestinian-territorieshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/16/israelhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/007/2009/en/4c407b40-e64c-11dd-9917-ed717fa5078d/mde150072009en.htmlhttp://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ochaopt_atlas_gaza_strip_december2011.pdf


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closure levels, the UN reported. Israel continued to bar construction materials,like cement, which it said had "dual use" civilian and military applications. Israelallowed shipments of construction materials for projects operated byinternational organizations, but as of September Gaza still had an estimatedshortage of some 250 schools and 100,000 homes.'

THEFT & DESTRUCTION OF PALESTINAN NATURAL RESOURCES

After taking control of the occupied territories in 1967, Israel began to exploittheir natural resources. Most critically in the semi-arid region, Israel began toexploit aquifers and other water sources.

A 2009 Amnesty International report entitled "Israel rations Palestinians totrickle of water" found:

'In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource,the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet,Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in theWest Bank to Gaza.'Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gazaof material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of

infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitationsituation in Gaza, which has reached [a] crisis point.'

According to a 2010 Human Rights Watchreport, 60,000 Palestinians living inArea C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control, lack access torunning water, and must pay high prices (up to one-sixth of their income) tobring in water tankers, which require special permits from Israel.

According to the2011 US State Department Country Reporton Human RightsPractices for Israel and the occupied territories:

'Between January and July, according to the UN, the Israeli military destroyed20 water cisterns, some of which were funded by donor countries forhumanitarian purposes.'Palestinian residents reported that water supplies were intermittent, andsettlers and their security guards denied Palestinians, including shepherds andfarmers, access to the springs.'

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers consume on average 4.3 times the amount of

wateras Palestinians. In the Jordan Valley alone, some 9000 settlers in Israeliagricultural settlements use one-quarter the total amount of water consumed by

the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank, some 2.5 million people.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-20091027http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-20091027http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdfhttp://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdfhttp://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.state.gov/documents/organization/190656.pdfhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdfhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water-20091027


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In addition to water and arable land, Israel also exploits Palestinian resourcessuch as minerals, including fromthe Dead Sea region.

DESTRUCTION OF AGRICULTURE

Since the start of the occupation in 1967, Israel has destroyed vast amounts ofPalestinian agricultural land in order to construct settlements and attendantinfrastructure such as roads and military bases, and for the West Bank wall,deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice. In addition, vast amountsof farmland have been destroyed in Israeli military operations and by rampagingJewish settlers, who set fire to Palestinian fields and crops, uproot olive trees,and even kill livestock.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in theoccupied Palestinian territories, in 2011 alone some 10,000 Palestinian-ownedtrees, mostly olive trees, were damaged or destroyed by Israeli settlers,significantly undermining the livelihoods of hundreds of West Bank families.

Between 2000 and 2007, more than half a million Palestinian olive trees weredestroyed by settlers or by Israel for the construction of the West Bank wall.

This page was printed out from the website of the Institute for Middle EastUnderstanding (IMEU) found at www.imeu.net. The IMEU provides journalists withquick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expertsources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East.

http://imeu.net/news/printer0022828.shtml
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Palestinian Culture 64 Years Under Israeli Assault