the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem and force its residents to move elsewhere. The situation is absurd: Because the blue ID cards of East Jerusalem residents who have moved out of the overcrowded Arab parts of the city are now being confiscated, a mass flow back into the city has begun. A Palestinians pays more for a small apartment in the Old City than an Israeli for a luxury apartment in Rehavia. Contractors find it lucrative to build and rent. And so the feverish pace of Palestinian construction is reaching its peak. As the Bible said (Exodus 1:12): "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew."
Even before the bulldozer moves out of the area after a demolition, the task of rebuilding begins with the family and neighbors. The laborers returning from their day jobs in Israel proper join in the effort. In a matter of days a new house has replaced the demolished one, with the family ensconced in it. This process repeats itself again and again. So far, the Palestinian side is winning. The number of "illegal" homes is growing.
Outside of the annexed area of Jerusalem, demolition takes place throughout "Area C," which Netanyahu and his partners (among them some of the leaders of the Labor Party) want to annex to Israel as well. The intention is to carry out a "transfer," known by the rest of the world as "ethnic cleansing," so that the territory can be acquired by Israel free of any Arab people.
Human-rights activists from all over the world have sent letters of protest to Netanyahu. His officials respond with a standard line that contains no truth whatsoever: it is just a matter of administrative routine, Jewish homes are demolished in the same manner, and assorted other lies that would fool only a simpleton. But the number of simpletons is steadily shrinking.
Once we used to sing: "We have come to the land to build and to be built." Now we can sing: "We have come to the land to destroy and to be destroyed."
November 18, 2000
Suddenly I noticed that we were quite alone on the road. A wonderful road, six lanes wide, parts of it still in the building stage. Completely empty.
This is a bypass-bypass road, an invention of the occupation. First, they built the cross-Samaria road, from Kafr-Kassem to Ariel and beyond, so as to bypass the Palestinian villages. But the Palestinian