I want to share with you another emotion that permeated our visit – gratitude.Here are the residents presenting him with a plaque, and the plaque itself, with the Palestinian Authority logo.
Gratitude to J Street specifically.
They told us how much it means to have people from the other side of the world drawing attention to their village and their plight. They’d seen our demonstrations of solidarity – in particular the work of J Street U on campuses to draw attention to their plight – and they were deeply touched.
J-Street is showing support for an illegal Arab settlement.
There was no ancient Arab village of Susya. No one lived there until relatively recently. Most of the people who live there are illegal squatters who own homes in the neighboring village of Yatta and simply set up these tents in order to steal land. The Nawaja family, whom J-Street spoke to, wasn't evicted from anywhere to move to Susya as J-Street claims - they live in Yatta and their activities in Susya are nothing but an attempt to steal land. The ancient site of Sussiya was a Jewish village between the 4th and 9th centuries, whose ruins gave the name to the area.
Just because some Arabs decide to put up some ramshackle huts in Area C doesn't automatically mean that the land is theirs. And if you consider Area C occupied, then Israel has every right to uphold previous laws on land registration and zoning. Under international law, Israel is completely within its rights to demolish illegal structures.
J-Street can argue that Israel should offer more building permits, but that isn't what they are doing. They are arguing that illegal building and squatting is to be lauded and upholding the law is to be derided. They are rewarding illegal squatters with publicity and brainwashing college students to believe one side of the story and ignore anything Israel has to say on the subject. You sure won't see anything balancing the false narrative of righteous Arabs in Susya on the supposedly balanced J-Street site.
And J-Street still claims to be pro-Israel.