1967 Israeli War: Lebensraum “by any other name”

1967 Israeli War: Lebensraum “by any other name”

CPDS

The 5th of June marks the anniversary of the 1967 Al Naksa (Setback), when Israel invaded and occupied the Gaza strip, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula in six days of military attacks. Al Aqsa, the 3rd most holy sanctuary in Islam, was a main target of the Israeli military operation.

The war ended after six days. Similarly to Poland following the Nazi invasion, the countries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Palestine lost enormous amounts of territory. Unlike Poland, Palestinians have yet to regain their rightful lands.

As the Holocaust Teachers Resource Center says, "Even though it translates literally to mean only “living space,” lebensraum carried with it the desire for the Nazis to expand into other countries to provide living space for the growing German race." Substitute 'Nazis' for 'Zionists' and 'German' for 'Israeli' and we can see that it is merely Shakespeare's "rose by any other name." (William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene II)

According to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), over 1.4 million Palestinians now live in 58 refugee camps across the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Ten of these refugee camps were created to accommodate the refugees of Al-Naksa.

Socio-economic conditions in the refugee camps are often desperate, from high population densities and cramped living conditions to inadequate basic infrastructure. Illegal Israeli settlements continue to increase despite international condemnation. 120 Israeli settlements have been illegally built in the West Bank since Al-Naksa, housing more than 500,000 settlers. During this period of expansion, Israeli forces have carried out over 24,000 demolitions of Palestinian homes. 200,000 of the settlers live in East Jerusalem, in a blatant attempt to Judaize the city.

Israel overtook and conquered over 1,250 square kilometres of the Golan Heights in Syria following the 1967 war. The annexation of the Golan Heights led to the forced exodus of almost 130,000 Syrians. Today there are over 32 settlements in Golan, accommodating 20,000 illegal Israeli settlers.

Israel continues with its policy of home demolitions and illegal settlements in the West Bank, which is in direct breach of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention as confirmed by the International Court of Justice. Palestinian refugees of Al-Naksa are also denied the right of return to their homelands.

To return to the Holocaust Teachers Resource, "During this time, the “inferior” races, such as the Jews and Gypsies, who occupied the new Nazi territories, were stripped of their possessions, jobs, and “resettled” in ghettos or concentration camps." Sustitute "Jews and Gypsies" for Palestinians and Arabs, and "ghettos or concentration camps" for "refugee camps or forced displacement" and we have another "rose by any other name."

After Al-Nakba (The catastrophe) in 1948, Israel acquired 78 percent of what was Palestine. 64 years on, Israel occupies ALL of Palestine.

Today the West Bank is almost completely covered with Israeli settlements. Palestinians have little or no rights in their own country. The West Bank is under brutal military occupation by Israel with hundreds of checkpoints, outposts and kilometres of Apartheid wall which all keep Palestinians trapped inside the borders of the West Bank.

UN security resolution 242 specifically states that Israel must withdraw from all territories acquired as a result of the war.

This has not happened, and worse, most of the Palestinian Territories have been made inaccessible to Palestinians themselves, who cannot even travel between the West Bank and Gaza due to restrictions imposed by Israel.

As the Holocaust Teachers Resource so aptly describes: "Through the goals of lebeusraum and “resettlement,” the Nazis tried to restructure the racial content of Europe and deeply scarred the lives of many Jews living in the occupied regions. The Nazis stripped away their lives and their identities in an effort to expand their own race at the expense and exploitation of the Jewish race."

Substitute "Nazis" with "Palestinians", "Europe" with "Palestine" and "Palestinians" with "Jews" and we have an entire bunch of roses by any other name, to lay on the graves of all the Palestinians who have died defending their lands from the lebensraum policies of the Israeli state.

And unlike their response to the threat of lebensraum in Europe, the international community has yet to effectively intervene to prevent it in Palestine.

Reference:
Holocaust Teachers Resource Centre: http://www.holocaust-trc.org/wmp15.htm

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