NGOs Cite Sukkah Disassembly As Evidence Israel Has No Problem Demolishing Settlements

One observer remarked on the callous disposal of the palm leaves that served as roofing for some of the structures, indicating a lack of sentimental attachment to the homes.

Tel Aviv, October 3 – Activists urging a complete Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 ceasefire lines countered longstanding arguments today that wholesale removal of Israeli communities remains a political and practical impossibility, by pointing to the widespread phenomenon of many thousands of Jewish-owned structures undergoing dismantlement this week even in communities beyond the Green Line.

Representatives of Peace Now, Yesh Gvul, and several other groups dismissed claims that the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and North Samaria, which uprooted thousands of Jews from their homes, caused too much national trauma to risk a reprise elsewhere, citing the non-traumatic removal of palm-frond- and bamboo-roofed huts that began construction last month and stood for more than a week.

“We’ve been hearing from the right-wing for more than a decade now that dismantling Jewish homes en masse is a non-starter,” challenged Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence. “But what we’re seeing right now gives the lie to that claim. In such hardcore settler enclaves as Yitzhar, Bet-El, Ofra, Har Bracha, Hebron, and elsewhere, all you’ll see right now is Jews taking down the residences they’ve been inhabiting since the end of September. So much for the argument that it’s unwise or impossible to get Jews to move out.”

“It would be one thing to discuss the recent demolition of Jewish homes in the ‘Patriarch’s Way’ neighborhood,” explained Yariv Oppenheimer of Peace Now. “There were protests, of course, but overall even those who objected to the demolitions respected the rule of law and all we got was some grumbling, which is to be expected. But here, we have Jews actively disassembling the residences they built with their own hands, places in which they actually lived. That belies the entire notion of the ostensible unfeasibility of destroying the settlements without major resistance or trauma.”

Residents of the affected communities appeared to shrug at the wholesale dismantlement of their homes. “Huh?” protested a father of six from Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem. Another, stowing a roll-up bamboo mat in a crawlspace, even appeared to welcome the development, smiling as he asked a reporter to steady the other end of a support beam for the half-disassembled structure. One observer remarked on the callous disposal of the palm leaves that served as roofing for some of the structures, indicating a lack of sentimental attachment to the homes.

Palestinian groups informed journalists that despite the removal, they intend to press ahead with plans to prosecute Israel at the International Criminal Court over the structures.

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