‘Israel’ welcomes colonizers while forcibly displacing Palestinians and demolishing homes

Israeli occupation authorities have been welcoming Zionist colonizers in the occupied Palestine while demolishing Palestinian-owned homes and structures and forcibly displacing them.

A total of 11,824 new colonizers arrived in occupied Palestine between January and June 2021 – up 30 percent from the same period last year, but 20 percent lower than the same period in 2019, according to figures published by Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

Figures and Data

On July 21, a group of 160 new French colonizers arrived in occupied Palestine and landed at Ben-Gurion Airport.

On August 4, another 130 new French colonizers also arrived in occupied Palestine.

Over 2,000 colonizers — 1,000 in August alone — are expected to arrive in Israeli-occupied Palestine this summer on 40 group flights organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Approximately 5,000 colonizers are also expected to immigrate to the Israeli-occupied Palestine from North America in 2021, a 42% increase over the annual average, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Nefesh B’Nefesh coordinates North American immigration to ‘Israel’, known as aliyah, and facilitates and assists with immigration from North America in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

Since the beginning of the global pandemic in March 2020, more than 18,000 aliyah applications have been opened, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh.

A 137 percent jump was reported in the number of the colonizers coming from France so far during 2021 compared to the same period last year.

About 1,370 French colonizers made aliyah in the first half of the year, compared to 578 during the same period last year, according to the Aliyah Ministry.

The pandemic year of 2020 saw an increase in the opening of new aliyah files from France: 6,053 compared to 2,475 in 2019.

Data shows that in the last decade, a record number of 39,592 colonizers made aliyah from France out of a total of 125,000 French colonizers to occupied Palestine since the establishment of occupation state in 1948.

Twenty percent of the French colonizers were under the age of 18; 31 percent were between the ages of 18 and 35; 12 percent were between 36 and 50; 15 percent were between 51 and 65; and the rest were older than 65.

Other Side

On the other side, ‘Israel’ has been demolishing Palestinian-owned homes and structures throughout the occupied Palestinian territories while welcoming settlers and colonizers.

Moreover, hundreds of Palestinian families are being threatened with Israel’s forced displacement from their own homes.

According to The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory, almost 800 Palestinians, including 404 minors, lost their homes in 2020 due to Israel’s demolishing of houses and structures and forces displacement while in 2019, 677 lost their homes, up from 387 in 2018 and 521 in 2017.

556 Palestinians have been displaced due to Israel’s demolitions, since the start of 2021, as 474 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished, OCHA said.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in June-July 2021, Israeli occupation authorities demolished 52 Palestinian structures and homes, some of which were under construction and some were inhabited, in the occupied Jerusalem.

On Wednesday, August 4, the 130 new French colonizers arrived in occupied Palestine simultaneous with Israel’s demolishing of Palestinian homes and structures.

That day: Israeli forces demolished over 20 Palestinian stores near Hizma checkpoint in the occupied city of Jerusalem and destroyed number of facilities and confiscated tents, solar panels, and vehicles owned by Palestinian citizens in the of village Khirbet Ibzeiq in the occupied West Bank. One day later, at the early morning hours, the Israeli forces demolished homes of three Palestinian families in Sa’ir village in Hebron.

On August 2, the Israeli Supreme Court delayed its decision regarding the forced displacement of four Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem.

Those families, along with hundreds others, are threatened with Israel’s forced displacement from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods in the occupied Jerusalem, in a move to force them out and replace it entirely with an Israeli settlement.

Paving the way

Israeli policies of homes demolitions and forced displacement of Palestinians are but means to pave the way to build more illegal settlements and find a place for settlers and colonizers who have been stealing Palestinians homes with the goal of ethnically cleansing of the Palestinians.

There are nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.