Meanwhile, Israel's campaign is unfolding with such breath-taking speed that it is almost impossible to keep up. Today, 20 December, Israeli forces destroyed five shops in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Further north, they ordered the residents of Khirbet Tana, a tiny Palestinian village to the east of Nablus, to evacuate their homes within 24 hours. Khirbet Tana is located just two kilometres from the illegal Israeli settlement of Mekhora, and this explains in part the ultimatum. The security and comfort of the illegal Jewish settlers must be guaranteed, by any means, regardless of international laws and conventions.
Threatening to demolish the homes of those impoverished villagers is bad enough, but threatening to confiscate their property, including their livestock, once the deadline has passed, is beyond contempt. Wasif Abu Sa'ud, a resident of Tana, said the army has threatened to confiscate their sheep and other animals if they miss the arbitrarily-imposed deadline; as if to rub salt into the wound, the owners will be forced to pay expenses incurred by the confiscation.
Arab and Islamic countries jointly condemned remarks by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who...
