UK geographer: Israel tactics amount to ethnic cleansing

British architect and archaeologist Nicholas Wood is under no illusion that there will be any halt to Israel's continual expansionist plans. “The Israeli Peace Treaties with the Palestinians are a method of war and conquest,” said Wood, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. “The Oslo Accords, The Camp David Agreement, and the present long drawn out peace negotiations are a means of establishing, literally in concrete, the present status quo while actually having, on the Israeli side, no intent of abiding by the treaties,” he said. In an interview with IRNA, Wood said that one only has to look at the progressive map of the last 60 years of the settlements in the West Bank to see the diminution of Palestinian land. “This is nothing short of ethnic cleansing, especially with the construction of the wall, the destruction of olive groves, extraction of water, and the humiliation of Arabs,” he said. In its latest defiance of international law on Tuesday, Israel announced the advancement of illegal plans for 780 new settlement housing units, with an option of an additional 600 units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Mordot Gilo. “Nor should one be under any illusion that Zionists intend to stop their expansion on the Jordan border, Wood said, referring to two framed maps he had seen on the wall of a prominent Zionist in London. “One is of Canaan as it is, and one of Canaan as it is (so-called)'promised.' The latter includes the whole of Jordan and the South Bank of the Litani River,” he said. “Nor is Israel content with this future 'promised' boundary, they have been having negotiations with Mosul for water pipelines from the Tigris,” he further warned. The archaeologist drew parallels between Israel's expansionist behaviour and the way white American settlers treated native Red Indians in their zest for territory. He lamented how US President Barack Obama, being an “unfortunate idealist,” had recently “sold himself to the Zionist lobby in exchange for his health care legislation for poor blacks.” In his interview with IRNA, Wood spoke of the importance of the United Nations as a “very necessary forum where nations can discuss and resolve interstate matters.” He said that the Security Council was unfortunately weakened by the veto system, and warned that America’s controlling financial grip on the UN must somehow be broken.” Regarding this, the British geographer backed Iran's call for collective Global Management to resolve conflicts and crises afflicting the world through international cooperation.