By Charlie Jadallah Special to the Mercury News

POSTED:   07/17/2015 01:47:05 PM PDT

You have probably never heard of Susiya, a small Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In a few days much of it may no longer exist.

Israel is expected to demolish a good portion of the village of 340 people. An international outcry is the best means to stop the cruel action against a desperate Palestinian community that has lived under Israeli occupation for decades.

Their crime? They are the wrong religious/national group. As Palestinians, their rights in the West Bank are inferior to those of Jewish settlers living illegally on their land and intent on pushing them into smaller and smaller Bantustans. In a 2010 report, “Separate and Unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” Human Rights Watch reports, “Israel operates a two-tier system for the two populations of the West Bank in the large areas where it exercises exclusive control.” A two-tier system has been labeled apartheid and Jim Crow in other contexts.

Fortunately, our local Congressional representative, Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, is pushing back. She has written a Dear Colleague letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and as of Thursday night had been joined by eight Congressional colleagues. Rep. Eshoo wrote, “We urge you to take immediate action to prevent the demolition of the Palestinian village of Susiya and prevent the continuing demolition of Palestinian neighborhoods, farmlands, and olive orchards in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and in Israel.”

The State Department appears to be alert to the situation. Spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, “We strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village. Demolition of this Palestinian village or of parts of it, and evictions of Palestinians from their homes would be harmful and provocative.

Rep. Eshoo, for her part, has not only acknowledged what is taking place in Susiya, but she has recognized the terrible ongoing destruction faced by Palestinians elsewhere in occupied Palestinian territory and in Israel itself where, according to the Israeli civil rights group Adalah, more than 50 laws discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. In the Negev Desert (Naqab in Arabic) of southern Israel, the Bedouin community of Al-Araqib has been subjected to the demolition of their small community over 80 times. Such is their steadfastness that they have rebuilt every time.

Over 30 structures have been targeted for demolition in Susiya, including ten residential homes, a clinic, and eight animal shelters. Strikingly, 21of the targeted structures — nearly 70 percent — received construction funding from European governments according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

What is particularly galling is that according to B’Tselem on July 12 “the [Israeli] Coordinator of Government Actions in the Territories and representatives of the [Israeli] Civil Administration held a meeting on their initiative with residents of the village of Susiya. During the meeting, the officials threatened that due to pressure from the settlers, they would be executing demolitions in the village even prior to Aug. 3, the date scheduled for a hearing in the petition filed by residents of the village at the High Court of Justice.”

Israel self-labels as a democracy, but here policy is being enacted by a small and violent group of settlers accustomed to getting its way with the government and courts. According to Breaking the Silence, a group of veteran Israeli soldiers documenting Israeli military human rights abuses, settlers in the area of the South Hebron Hills have gone so far as to poison wells and engage in physical assaults against Palestinians.

What is different today in the United States is that more Americans — particularly Democrats, African Americans, Latinos, and young people — are becoming informed about Israel’s actions and not liking what they see. Most recently, pollster Frank Luntz found declining support for Israel among the “opinion elites” of the Democratic Party.

Josh Ruebner, writing in Huffington Post, noted: “Luntz found that nearly half of Democrats view Israel as a racist country (less than one-third disagreed). Less than half of Democrats think Israel is interested in achieving peace with its neighbors.” Additionally, nearly one in three Democrats supports the nonviolent, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for Palestinian freedom and equality. Luntz predicts more Democrats will be supportive once they know more about the movement.

Times are changing fast. Palestinians, Americans increasingly recognize, deserve freedom and equal rights. It is encouraging that Eshoo is listening to constituents and raising serious concerns about Israel’s very troubling actions in the West Bank against Palestinians clinging to village land sought by a nearby illegal settlement. With American taxpayers giving over $3 billion in military aid annually to Israel, our government should be in a strong position to stand up and tell Israel when its actions run contrary to American values.

Charlie Jadallah is a senior business development executive in Silicon Valley. He wrote this for this newspaper.