Marbles lost somewhereExpansion, accompanied by ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population, has been Israeli government policy, since 1948 when 300,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes and 13,000 were killed in the Nakba (catastrophe). Israel occupied 78% of Palestine and razed to the ground over 500 Palestinian villages. General Moshe Dayan, noted: 'Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.'
After the 1967 six day war, when Israel occupied the remaining 22% of historic Palestine, there was strong international pressure on Israel to withdraw. Many Israelis felt that continued occupation would be disastrous for Israel's future security. However, successive Israeli governments, Labour and Likud, have pursued a policy of progressive colonization of the area.
In the seven years following the peace accords signed in Oslo in 1993 (the 'peace process') Israel doubled the population of settlers from around 200,000 to over 400,000 in the West Bank. As the newly created Palestinian Authority assumed administrative control in Palestinian towns after Oslo, Israel constructed major 'bypass roads' to link the settlements to Israel while isolating the PA- administered areas from each other. Access to these large modern highways - and large swathes of land on either side of them - is prohibited for Palestinians. For every 100 km of bypass road, Israel confiscates about 10,000 dunums (2,500 acres) of Palestinian land, destroying whatever homes or trees happen to be in the way.
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Sun 30 Jul 2006, 0:55,
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After the 1967 six day war, when Israel occupied the remaining 22% of historic Palestine, there was strong international pressure on Israel to withdraw. Many Israelis felt that continued occupation would be disastrous for Israel's future security. However, successive Israeli governments, Labour and Likud, have pursued a policy of progressive colonization of the area.
In the seven years following the peace accords signed in Oslo in 1993 (the 'peace process') Israel doubled the population of settlers from around 200,000 to over 400,000 in the West Bank. As the newly created Palestinian Authority assumed administrative control in Palestinian towns after Oslo, Israel constructed major 'bypass roads' to link the settlements to Israel while isolating the PA- administered areas from each other. Access to these large modern highways - and large swathes of land on either side of them - is prohibited for Palestinians. For every 100 km of bypass road, Israel confiscates about 10,000 dunums (2,500 acres) of Palestinian land, destroying whatever homes or trees happen to be in the way.