Wednesday, October 23 2002 @ 03:23 AM GMT

By Ramzy Baroud

SEATTLE (PINA) - Around 150 people were forced to leave their homes in the West Bank village of Khirbat Yanoun. They packed some of their belongings and hastily rushed away in six rusty trucks, which hauled them away from the northern West Bank town.

If you are confused regarding the timing of this scenario, don’t be. Although a typical scene if compared to the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homeland in Palestine in 1948, the above story has took place on 19, Oct 2002. The tragedy is that the incident at Khirbat Yanoun might be the first step in the renewal of the infamous expulsion policy.

In 1948, members of three Israeli gangs, (later joined together to form the Israeli army) terrorized Palestinian towns and villages, burned homes, carried out massacres and forced thousands of people to leave at gunpoint.

The tragedy had then started with the expulsion of the residents of one village. Months later, 418 Palestinians villages and towns were completely destroyed and their residents expelled.

Today, it is not as if Jewish settlers, (who are actively seizing Palestinian land and expelling their owners in the West Bank and Gaza) have not worked hard to continue with the policy of expulsion. Thanks to such policy, there are well-over 200,000 Jewish settlers residing in the occupied Palestinian territories, living on very large chucks of land, the most strategic and fertile. If it was not for the expulsion policy, or “transfer” as Israelis nickname it, these vast lands would have remained with their rightful owners.

But the expulsion at Khirbat Yanoun is perhaps the most alarming event of them all.

Israelis are openly debating the expulsion of Palestinians out of their land, as if it’s a God-given right. Many have hinted and others bluntly advocated that a possible war on Iraq could serve as the needed pretext to expel Palestinians. Others, more enthusiastic Israeli politicians, cite no pretext.

The expulsion of Palestinians would likely begin with areas bordering Israel, most notably the northern the West Bank, not only because of the viciousness of these area’s settlers, but since many believe that it is Israel’s weakest border.

Another reason for worry is that the nature in which the complete expulsion of the village residents took place was similar to a great extent to what took place in 1948.

According to the village mayor, Abdul Latif Sobih, Jewish militants from the nearby settlement of Itmar have terrorized the village every night for years, but most aggressively in the last a few months. The masked Itmar settlers often stormed the village at night, using dogs and horses, hurling stones through windows, beating men and terrorizing children.

These are the same Itmar settlers who are credited for murdering several Palestinians in past years, mostly elder olive harvesters, in an attempt to intimidate them to abandon their farms.

History repeated the same ugly episode where Palestinians are now forced to leave their homes, giving more room for the ever-expanding Itmar settlement. The settlers have often conducted their raids on the village in the company of the Israeli army. The evacuation of Khirbat Yanoun was the result of joint efforts by the Jewish militants and Israeli troops.

The broken-hearted mayor of the small village told the Associated Press while crying: “I kept urging the people not to leave, but they did, one by one. I blame my people as well as the settlers because they left me alone.”

The mayor’s heartfelt remarks reflect the courage of Palestinians, who are taught to fight for their rights until death. But one can understand how 150 people, neglected by the world while living a real-life horror movie for years would rather move elsewhere seeking safety for their children.

The battles of Jenin, Nablus, and Hebron and the legendary struggles of their residents are an indication that Palestinians are willing to fight to death for their rights. But while nearly 100 men with old rifles in Jenin fought hundreds of tanks, soldiers and Apaches for two weeks, one can expect that Israel will get its wish in expelling Palestinians in the end, if the world stands in silence.

By expelling the residents of Khirbat Yanoun, the Israeli government is posing a test. If its action was not confronted by an outcry of anger and rejection all over the world, the wheel of expulsion is likely to roll back in again.

Let us not allow this to happen. If the world stood in silence in 1948, let us be the ones who break that silence. Khirbat Yanoun could be the beginning of a long list of villages and towns, seized at gunpoint. Let us tell our governments and the Israeli government that “never again“, never again will we allow for a new generation of Palestinians to be expelled. Let us defy history, and not leave the Palestinian people all alone, facing their newest catastrophes.