COVID-19 Victory for Illegal Arab Building in Area C (Judean Rose)

COVID-19 has taken over the headlines. But that doesn’t mean that the anti-Israel crowd won’t exploit the situation for their own benefit. B’Tselem, for instance, put pressure on Israel to stop the scheduled demolition of illegal, inhabited Arab homes in Area C for the duration of the coronavirus lockdown.

Now it’s true that you don’t want to turn people out of their homes right now. But these people knew full well when they built their homes (likely with help from the EU), that they were building without permission. That the structures are illegal. And that the homes might end up being demolished by the Israeli government.

The homeowners, moreover, would have received ample warning that the buildings were slated for demolition. They had time to make other arrangements for housing. The fact that they did not do so until now was due to the hope of becoming the next headline in the anti-Israel press (which is most of the media). Or rather, that was the hope of the EU, whose wide pockets fundmuch of this illegal construction.

The headlines are actually the lesser goal of the rampant and widespread illegal building going on in Area C. The primary goal is to create facts on the ground by building homes for Arabs in uninhabited parts of Area C, something that is illegal according to the Oslo Accords without proper permits from the Israeli government. This illegal Arab building in Area C is the true illegal settlement going on in Israel today and it is absolutely a land grab. They’re building to create a de facto Arab state on territory under the jurisdiction of the Jewish State. Right under Israel’s nose.

The Israeli courts, meantime, make the process of stopping the building way complicated, so the proceedings drag on at length. But lengthy court proceedings mean that by the time a building has been scheduled to be demolished, there’s been plenty of warning that the structure is to come down. The residents have had time to pack and acquire alternate accommodations. That means that the global pandemic is just an excuse to continue the takeover of Area C.

You might think that with the coronavirus going on, the courts and the IDF would find it a relief to suspend the demolitions for now, that resources are strained at the moment. But the fact is that the demolitions have been ongoing, and soldiers for the most part, are available for the work. The army is keeping many soldiers on base without even sending them home on leave for the Passover holiday, in order to avoid spreading corona all around the country. This means that there is no earthly reason the work of the IDF, in this case the demolition of illegal structures in Area C, cannot continue. In fact, in addition to protecting the Israeli people, it is the primary duty of Israeli soldiers to protect Jewish land.

As more illegal homes are built in Area C, it makes it easy for anti-Israel bodies like the UN, to claim the land as “Palestinian” and to accuse Israel of the oppression and occupation of the illegal Arab residents. In other words, the homes, built largely with EU money, become another reason to bash Israel, and take away its land for the Arab Umma. This is specifically why scheduled demolitions should continue, even during an epidemic.

But Israeli courts were between a rock and a hard place: allow the land grab to continue, or hand the Arabs a different sort of victory: victimhood status, with Jews in the role of villain. Which is precisely why the demolitions should continue as scheduled. B’Tselem and the EU win no matter what Israel does. They may even prefer their Arab political pawns be made homeless during a global pandemic. Makes for much better headlines.

But Israel has already lost the media war. So why should we care what they say about us? We might as well hold onto our land.

Chag Kasher V’Sameach.

Stay safe!