The Everyday Violence Of Life In Occupied Palestine


(MENAFN- Asia Times) Driving along the Jordan River Valley in the Occupied Palestine Territory (OPT) of the West bank is a stunning experience.

The road is officially called Highway 90. The arable and irrigated land along this road is held militarily and illegally by Israeli settlers, many of whom are not actually Israeli citizens, but residents from the Jewish diaspora.

A United Nations Commission report published in 2022 showed that this settlement activity is a crime against international human-rights law (transfer of population into an occupied territory).

Israeli settlers and the Israeli military that defends them call Highway 90 Derekh Gandhi, or Gandhi's Road. When I first drove along that road more than a decade ago, I was puzzled by Gandhi's name there. Mahatma Gandhi was a leader of the Indian freedom struggle, and had on many occasions – such as in his 1938 article ,“The Jews” – offered his sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In fact, the road that slices through the West Bank – a crucial part of a proposed Palestinian state – is named after Rehavam Ze'evi, who was ironically given the nickname“Gandhi” due to a dress-up stunt in his youth .

Ze'evi led the National Union party from 1999 to 2001, which brought together all the most dangerous currents of Israeli far-right politics. As the leader of this party, and, before that, of Moledet , Ze'evi advocated the removal of Palestinians from what he considered to be Israel's land (East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank).

He supported the creation of Eretz Yisrael , which would stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

In March 2001, Ze'evi – who would later be accused of sexual harassment and of being involved in organized crime – told The Guardian that“it's not murder to get rid of potential terrorists, or those who have blood on their hands. Each one eliminated is one less terrorist for us to fight.”

A few months later, Ze'evi showed that he did not distinguish among Palestinians, calling all of them a“cancer” and saying ,“I believe there is no place for two peoples in our country. Palestinians are like lice. You have to take them out like lice.”

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Asia Times

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