No end in sight to Israeli atrocities says UAE daily

ABU DHABI 5th March 2016 (WAM)--Israel just loves to repeatedly insult the international community and appallingly manages to get away with it. Provocation is the name of the game it has mastered and uses it perfectly well against harmless Palestinians.

In the latest such reprehensible action Israeli forces demolished dozens of structures including a school in the northern West Bank this week leaving 10 families homeless according to UN officials.

"The demolitions took place on Wednesday in the village of Khirbet Tana south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. In total 41 structures were destroyed displacing 36 Palestinians including 11 children" said the Gulf Today's editorial on Saturday.

As recently as last week the European Union hit out at Israeli authorities after they demolished a school funded by the French government. It is another matter that Israel would not bother.

The paper noted that it should be noted that the number of demolitions for just the first six weeks of 2016 was greatly alarming.

Nickolay Mladenov UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said last month the number of such demolitions had tripled on average since the start of the year.

Israel has demolished on average 29 Palestinian-owned structures per week three times the weekly average for 2015 since the beginning of the year according to him.

As per UN figures between Jan.1 and Feb.15 Israeli forces destroyed dismantled or confiscated 283 homes and other structures displacing 404 Palestinians including 219 children and affecting another 1150 Palestinians who lost structures related to their source of income.

"It is not just demolitions. Israeli forces have also killed several innocent Palestinians in recent months. It is shocking to note that since October 2015 till date alone Israeli forces have killed 180 Palestinians" the paper said.

It voiced concern that Israel's settlement policy also continues to be a major impediment to peace.

The United Nations the United States Russian Federation and the European Union which comprise the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace process "have engaged actively in seeking a way forward out of the deadlock but nothing concrete has happened as yet thanks to Israeli intransigence."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explained the situation best recently by stating: "Young people especially are losing hope. They are angered by the stifling policies of the occupation. They are frustrated by the strictures on their daily lives. They watch as Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem expand and expand. They see the dream of a sovereign contiguous and independent Palestinian state slip away."