Democrats in the US Congress have stepped up their campaign to pressure the US administration over the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
More than 60 Democrats penned a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week to hold Israel accountable for its massive demolition of Palestinian homes and forcible eviction of the residing families.
They expressed deep concern over Israel’s continued policy, pointing out that it has increased the rate of house demolitions in 2019 by 45 percent compared to 2018.
They demanded that Pompeo conduct “an examination of Israeli compliance with the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (AECA)” in relation to Israel’s home demolitions.
“The United States should work to prevent unlawful home demolitions and the forcible transfer of civilians everywhere in the world and prevent the use of US-origin equipment in this destructive practice,” the letter read.
“The faithful implementation of the AECA is one important oversight tool for ensuring that US-origin defense articles and other items recipient countries purchase with foreign military financing are not used for such purposes outside the scope of ‘legitimate self-defense.’”
They also requested a probe on whether Israel had bought the US-manufactured Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish more than 70 Palestinian homes in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Representatives Ro Khanna, Anna Eshoo and Steve Cohen led the effort.
“Such military equipment should not be used to turn Palestinian homes into rubble, displace families and tear apart communities,” Khanna wrote.
“I look forward to the State Department providing the information necessary to ensure that US-supplied military equipment in the West Bank is not being used in this destructive practice,” he added.
The letter was sent in light of Israel’s adoption of an old policy against Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Area C in the West Bank that is based on demolishing as much homes as possible.
It is noteworthy that thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem live under the constant threat of having their homes or shops demolished. From 2004 till 2019, Israeli authorities had demolished 803 homes in the area.
This policy has been adopted since the beginning of the occupation, but it has recently expanded.
According to the National Information Center, the number of homes demolished since Israel occupied Jerusalem in 1967 amounted to about 1,900.
