Last November, I had the unique experience of attending an event titled “exploring the Israeli occupation”. The event was hosted at the University of the West of England, and invited a speaker from a Christian organisation called ‘Ecumenical Accomplishment Programme in Palestine and Israel’.
The speaker, a man called Jamie Tarlton, gave a presentation on his experiences in the West Bank, also biblically known as Judea and Samaria. A main talking point of Jamie was around the issue of Palestinian homes being demolished in Area C – a portion of the West Bank that is administered by Israel in both civilian and security affairs.
While he provided a critique of the demolition of some Palestinian homes in the West Bank, he did acknowledge the facts around the context of their demolition. The homes that were targeted for demolition were built illegally and therefore had been issued with demolition orders. The main point of his argument was that Palestinians had no choice but to build illegally due to the difficulties of acquiring planning permission. He then spoke about the use of force to evict Palestinians from homes who had violated planning permission laws and refused to comply with demolition orders.
Click here to read the full article in the The Times of Israel.
Contributed by University of the West of England CAMERA Fellow Max Rubens.
