"New Red Indians".. French Warning of Gradual Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine

SadaNews - Former French Ambassador to Israel Gérard Araud warned that the situation in the West Bank has become uncontrollable, and he sharply criticized the silence of European countries towards what he described as a systematic racist discrimination regime against Palestinians.

Araud recalled - in his opinion piece for Le Point magazine - his first experience in the region in the early 1980s, when the West Bank enjoyed relative calm before the outbreak of the first intifada, noting that the scene has radically changed since the beginning of the new millennium, when military checkpoints doubled and settlements expanded, making the daily lives of Palestinians subject to harsh restrictions affecting freedom of movement, work, and living.

The writer described the current reality as a dangerous demographic duality, where two peoples live on the same land with unequal rights, one possessing authority, security, and resources, while the other is deprived of political and legal rights, confirming that this situation fully aligns with the definition of apartheid.

Araud clarified that successive Israeli governments have deliberately employed a settlement policy to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and that the international community has failed to confront this approach. He called on Europe to take strict action by punishing companies and settlers active in the occupied territories, and stopping the import of settlement products.

In his article, Araud noted that the attacks of October 7, 2023, have provided Israeli extremists with a pretext for an unprecedented escalation of violence in the West Bank, where Palestinian villages experience near-daily attacks, including the burning of homes and cars, and the killing or displacement of residents, amid complicity and silence from Israeli security forces.

The writer warned that the Israeli judiciary ignores documented violations through images and videos, while peaceful activists, including Israelis opposed to violence, are subjected to prosecution and assault, as the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir continues to publicly call for annexation of the West Bank and expulsion of its inhabitants.

Araud compared the current situation of Palestinians, saying they have "become the new red Indians in a lawless wild west," considering that what is happening amounts to a gradual ethnic cleansing aimed at changing the demographic reality of the land.

In conclusion, the writer criticized the silence of Arab countries and called on Europeans to act not out of self-interest, but in fidelity to the human and democratic values they claim to defend, so that these values do not turn into mere empty slogans in a world dominated by political realism.