Palestinian settlement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Palestinian settlement - Essay Example 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. â€Å"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. â€Å"Armed with a list of military orders, Israeli soldiers are herding the West Bank’s Palestinians out of the rural 60% of the territory,