Gaza Under Siege - by Stephen Lendman

After Hamas' January 25, 2006 electoral victory, Israel targeted Gaza oppressively. All outside aid was cut off. Sanctions and an economic embargo were imposed, and the democratically elected government was falsely called a terrorist organization and isolated. Stepped up repression followed along with repeated IDF incursions, attacks, killings, targeted assassinations, arrests, destruction of property and more in a pattern all too familiar to Palestinians for over six decades. Gazans are imprisoned in their own land and have been traumatized for months. In June 2007, things got worse after Israel placed the Territory under siege - described by some as medieval because of its extreme harshness.

On June 14, 2007, collaboratively with Israel and the US, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas declared a "state of emergency," illegally dismissed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and his national unity government, and appointed his own prime minister and new "emergency" cabinet. Authority is now split. Abbas runs the West Bank. Hamas governs Gaza while Israel controls everything - land, sea, air, movement inside and between the Territories, the population registry, family unification, and all goods and services in and from Occupied Palestine. Especially Gaza under siege for nearly 14 months and solely dependent on Israel for its fuel, electricity and gas. Other essentials as well.

Hamas remains isolated. It's called a "hostile entity," and after last September 19 was squeezed by tightened sanctions. Electricity, fuel and gas were reduced and intermittently cut off. So were supplies of food, medicines, water and other essentials. Its industrial production dropped 95%, and its agricultural output is about half its pre-2007 level. Nearly all construction also stopped, and according to a new UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) report, poverty tops 50% and unemployment is nearly as high. Other unofficial estimates say 80% for both is more accurate. Things are bad and worsening.

Shops are short of everything because Israel allows in only nine basic materials. Their availability is spotty, and some essentials are banned like:

-- certain medicines;

-- restricted food items like fruit, milk and other dairy products, wheat flour, rice, sugar, salt, cooking oil, and frozen foods;

-- cleaning materials;

-- agricultural samplings;

-- herbicides and pesticides;

-- footwear;

-- clothing;

-- fabrics, threads, and buttons;

-- construction materials: cement, tin, iron, plastic pipes, asbestos, wood, nails, screws, wires, paint, etc.;

-- spare parts and supplies for manufacturing goods;

-- electrical appliances;

-- office equipment and supplies;

-- livestock and fodder;

-- books;

-- computers;

-- telephones and mobiles;

-- spare parts for communication devices;

-- tobacco and cigarettes;

-- beverages;

-- all types of motor vehicles, including spare parts (batteries, tires, engine oil, etc.);

-- elevators and their spare parts;

-- water pumps and their spare parts; and

-- the import or export of raw materials for industry, construction and agriculture - virtually everything a modern society needs to function and survive.

Compared to 9000 commodities imported before June 2007, now it's only 20. People don't get enough to eat, and conditions keep getting worse. Even fishing is restricted, idling thousands of local fishermen because anyone in open waters risks detention and harassment.

Power is in short supply - affecting hospitals, fresh water availability, sanitation, and the functioning of daily life under conditions of extreme duress. Families (including spouses) are also cut off. Some live in Gaza, others in the West Bank and Israel, and all endure prolonged separation after authorities prohibited travel from one area to the other and imposed sweeping restrictions on Egyptian and Jordanian crossings.

Earlier, family unification was denied after the Knesset passed the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (July 2003). It bars Palestinians in the Territories with an Israeli spouse from getting citizenship or residency status in Israel so families can live together.

Thousands of married couples and their children are affected - forced to remain apart or leave Israel. The new law solely targets Palestinians. It's discriminatory, illegal, racist, unrelated to security, and one of many collective punishment acts. Besides the law, Israeli Arabs married to Gazans are barred from entering the Territory to visit families.

Here's a brief snapshot of Gaza. It measures 360 square kilometers in area or about half the size of Chicago for its 1.5 million residents - in the world's largest and most congested open-air prison. Over 40% of them live in eight densely overcrowded refugee camps, and in the best of times, their conditions are inadequate, adverse and sometimes grim. Under siege, they're intolerable.

International law (including the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention) obligates occupying powers to protect civilian populations. Its Article 3(1) specifically states:

"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat (out of action) by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria."

Israel disdains the law and disagrees. After its 2005 "disengagement," it denied all "responsibility for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip" even though the argument is baseless under international humanitarian and human rights laws. Their language and interpretation are clear and require occupiers to ensure the safety and welfare of people they "effective(ly) control" - even if their forces have no fixed presence in their territory. Israeli security forces have total control over Gaza and the West Bank and operate freely in both Territories. They invade and maraud, secure their borders, key points of entry, air space, and for Gaza its coastline and open waters.

Under Fourth Geneva law, Israel is obligated to protect all Palestinians - especially the sick, wounded, children under 15, pregnant women, the elderly, infirm and disabled. It must also allow free passage of food, medicines and other essentials, let medical teams provide help, and refrain from imposing collective punishment and de facto martial law. The (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights goes further, and Israel is a signatory. It recognizes the right of every person to freedom of movement, work, an adequate standard of living, education, proper health care, and a normal family life. Its Article 1 states that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" - including ones under occupation or "effective(ly) control(led)" by another state.

Israeli Human Rights Violations

In January 2008, John Dugard, the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on Palestine prepared a scathing indictment of Israel's human rights violations. Leading human and civil rights organizations have their own like the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), B'Tselem, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and the Alternative Information Center (AIC). It's an "internationally oriented, progressive, joint Palestinian - Israeli activist organization" (disseminating) information, political advocacy, grassroots activism and critical analysis of" Palestinian - Israeli societies and the conflict.

Its March 9, 2008 report is called: "The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion." Here are some highlights:

-- Gaza conditions are the worst ever under occupation; they're entirely "manmade," avoidable, and with political will reversible;

-- Gazans are effectively imprisoned; movement in and out of the Territory is "impossible;" food, water, health care, sewage treatment, sanitation and other essentials "can no longer be taken for granted;"

-- because of the siege and economic collapse, there's "little money to buy food and limited food to buy;" rising prices exacerbate the problem;

-- trucks carrying commercial and humanitarian supplies into Gaza have "plummeted" - from around 250 a day pre-crisis to a maximum of 45 a day or less;

-- extreme poverty levels have "increased sharply" making 80% of Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid when it's available - a 10-fold increase in the last decade; in 2007, households (on average) spent about 62% of their income on food;

-- 95% of Gaza's industrial operations shut down because production inputs aren't available and border closures prevent exports; construction is "paralysed;" agriculture "badly hit;" unemployment and poverty skyrocketed; in September 2000, 24,000 Gazans worked in Israel; today none do;

-- the siege destroyed public service infrastructure; Israel prevents repairs and maintenance; spare parts imports are prohibited; electricity and fuel are severely restricted; hospitals and public institutions can't function properly; power cuts last 8 - 12 hours daily; 40 - 50 or more million liters of partially and untreated sewage are daily dumped in the sea;

-- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says its higher - up to 60 million liters daily; in addition, raw sewage is being pumped into heavily populated areas, including three million liters recently into the Jabaliya camp storm water lagoon;

-- since Israel bombed Gaza's power plant (in June 2006), it functions at one-third of capacity but needs fuel to operate;

-- the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) provides drinking water and treats sewage; with limited electricity, fuel, maintenance and spare parts, the network can't function adequately; as a result, nearly one-third of Gazans have no running water; pre-siege, they all did;

-- education is so undermined that classes are cancelled; dropout rates are high because families can't afford to send their children to school; for those attending, school days are shortened; textbooks and other resources are in short supply; and failure rates are nearly 80%; 90% in math;

-- healthcare has deteriorated markedly - inside Gaza and in access to outside treatment; Gazans needing special treatment are denied exit permits; patients are dying for lack of care, including children;

-- Israel's siege "effectively dismantled the economy and impoverished" its people; "ordinary men, women and children" are collectively punished in violation of international and humanitarian law; these measures also hamper the "broader peace process itself;"

-- Israel effectively controls Gaza; it's obligated to protect its people but instead punishes them by its: military presence, attacks, extra-judicial assassinations, land and infrastructure destruction, restrictions on movement, lack of drinking water, food, medical care and other essentials, unemployment, impoverishment, and barriers to education;

-- isolating Hamas has been counterproductive; it's failed "at all levels;" a new strategy of engagement is needed: condemn the siege; go public on the humanitarian crisis; pressure Israel to end it; provide adequate emergency help; reactivate Gaza's economy; enforce international law; and work towards "an inclusive (productive) political process."

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights also monitors Gaza's siege. It calls itself "a (non-partisan) Palestinian (NGO) based in" Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp with a mandate "to promote, protect and prevent violations of human rights in general and economic, social and cultural (ECS) rights in particular; to provide effective aid to those victims of such violations; and to enhance the quality of (community) life in marginalized (Gaza) sectors." It also provides legal aid and advocacy and raises awareness of the continued state of violence, repression and desperate conditions in Occupied Palestine, particularly in Gaza under siege.

On April 8, it produced a scathing report called "Worst Year under Occupation: 2008 1st Quarter Report on (Israeli) Violations of Human Rights in the Gaza Strip." Below are its highlights:

-- during the first quarter of 2008, Gaza experienced an "unprecedented escalation" of human rights violations - principally caused by a "serious increase" in IDF international law breaches;

-- the level of 247 killings exceeded the combined totals reached for the 2005 through 2007 first quarter periods; they nearly equal all of them for 2007;

-- public and private property destruction greatly increased; dunums of agricultural land destroyed as well;

-- Gaza's economy was crushed; the number of poor and unemployed doubled reaching "unprecedented levels" - the worst ever under occupation;

-- the international community remains silent in the face of systematic, "strangulating" collective punishment on an unprecedented scale; the lives and well-being of Gazans are affected in all ways imaginable;

-- the number of Gazans victimized and their material losses show the extent of violations under international law; the international community's failure to intervene made current conditions possible;

-- Al Mezan condems Israel's "aggression" and "gross human rights violations;" they're willful crimes of war and against humanity and one of the most extreme examples ever of collective punishment against a civilian population; Al Mazen calls on the international community to intervene - to "investigate, pursue and prosecute those who ordered and/or perpetrated (these) crimes."

US Special Middle East Envoy Criticizes Administration Policy

Last November, former NATO commander, (retired) General James Jones, was named the administration's special Middle East envoy with this endorsement: he's the "person we need to take up this vital mission....an experienced leader who can address the regional security challenges comprehensively and at the highest levels...." His assignment: draft a strategic security stabilization plan to complement Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Word is now out about a report Jones is preparing that his superiors won't like. Nor will Israelis. According to Haaretz (on July 22), it's "extremely critical....of Israel's policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority's (PA) security services" - President Mahmoud Abbas' repressive shock troops doing Israel's dirty work and targeting Hamas in Gaza and its supporters in the West Bank.

Administration officials have a draft summary, and it's "arousing considerable discomfort. (It's) conclusions about Israel are scathing (and those who've seen it say it) make(s) Israel look very bad" in at least two respects:

-- it's "fairly broad definition" of West Bank security "under any final-status agreement," and

-- "its attitude toward the PA security services."

That's not all. Jones criticizes Washington as well. He blames administration figures for failing "to reform PA security services," not coordinating them, and not preparing them to "enforc(e) the law in the West Bank." Hamas controls Gaza. Administration officials and Israelis want the report buried, but Jones will apparently publish it in full. So far, its contents aren't public, and only hints about it are being discussed.

Gaza Under Siege: "an atrocity, a crime, an abomination" - Jimmy Carter

That was Carter's assessment in an April 17 speech at the American University in Cairo. Palestinians are being "starved to death," and US efforts to undermine Hamas are counterproductive. In late May, he went further on a visit to the Welsh town of Hay by calling on EU nations to break with Washington over the siege - "one of the greatest human rights crimes on earth (and) to see Europeans going along with this is embarrassing." He called on EU leaders to reassess their position if Hamas agrees to a ceasefire - and that's what's likely behind his trip and comments, although Carter knows Hamas unilaterally observed months of ceasefire in the past and again declared one on June 19. What then is Carter up to?

Last April, he met with Khaled Meshaal (Hamas' exiled leader) in Damascus at the behest of Israel and the Bush administration - not on his own or as the media said was despite fierce opposition to his trip. High-level envoys never diverge from state policy or act independently. Where they go, who they see, and what they say have a purpose, but it's not always apparent. Carter in part explained it in a comment to the London Guardian that "The top opinion pollster in Ramallah (said) that opinion on the West Bank is shifting to Hamas, because people believe Fatah sold out to Israel and the US."

For Washington and Israel, avoiding that possibility is crucial, but more importantly, the nightmarish scenario of a united Arab front (or a unified Muslim one) against the West should the Bush administration and/or Israel attack Iran, Syria and/or Hezbollah in Lebanon. A wider war is very possible, but planners know the risk - inciting the whole region or worse yet letting it become WW III.

Washington's and Israeli strategy may be shifting, but not for any humanitarian concerns. Keeping Gaza under siege and letting Hamas' support grow isn't benefitting their imperial project. But it hasn't helped Gazans either, and nothing hints it will any time soon.

A Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Narrative Under Siege - "Swimming in Sewage"

It's one of many PCHR accounts to show how Gazans' lives have deteriorated under siege. It begins as follows: "I think the sea probably is polluted. Sometimes I get strange white marks on my skin; but we come down to the beach each day because we have nowhere else to go." That's Salim's voice speaking for himself and his friends. They go to Gaza City beach, and one of the boys today holds a plastic bottle with small fish and a crab inside. The fish are dead, and here's why. Close by, a "sewage pipe pours mucky water into streams of dark waste that flow towards the sea" where the boys swim.

People flock to beaches in summer because it's hot, but some of them are "swimming in sewage." According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 60 million liters of untreated and partially treated sewage pour into the sea around Gaza City daily - because fuel and electricity supplies are spotty, and conditions months ago became desperate. According to an OCHA worker, "the sea is (getting) dirtier and more contaminated because of chronic (fuel and spare parts) shortages. (We) need 14 days of uninterrupted power in order to run a proper sewage treatment cycle, for the sake of Gaza's public health."

The Gaza Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU) supplies the Territory's water and manages its three sewage treatment plants. Because of power and spare parts shortages, unfiltered tap water is saline and undrinkable, and sewage plants can't function normally. It forces CMWU to dump raw sewage into the sea so it doesn't flood residential areas.

Concern is great and growing. The World Health Organization (WHO) took samples from 30 Gaza shore sites to test for human and animal fecal contaminants. It found 13 areas covering seven beaches polluted and unsuitable for swimming, including three beaches along central and southern Gaza and four others around Gaza City. The beach where Samer and his friends swim is one of them.

WHO warned that "Waterborne outbreaks are....to be avoided because of their capacity to result in the simultaneous infection of a high proportion of (the) community" - most notably with gastroenteritis, ear and eye infections, dermatitis, dysentery, respiratory and urinary tract infections, guardia, and e-coli strains. These pathogens cause these diseases and death, so it's crucial to avoid them.

Gaza can't do it without enough fuel and electricity and a major upgrading of its plants and equipment. PCHR Head of the Economic and Social Rights Unit, Khalil Shaheen, says: Israeli "restrictions are a clear violation of the universal right to health and....a clean environment. Under international humanitarian law, Israel, as an occupying power, is obligated to facilitate access to all (essential to life) amenities. Access to clean drinking (and sea) water are....basic human rights."

Israel is unresponsive. The siege continues. Essential to life needs go unfilled. Health conditions keep deteriorating, and Gaza's undrinkable tap water and contaminated sea water are two reasons why. Nothing is being done to remediate them, and Gazans are forced to endure.

Activists Plan to "breach the (Gaza) siege"

On August 6 or 7, about 40 unarmed activist members of the International Solidarity Movement, the Israeli Commission against House Demolitions and others will depart Cyprus on two wooden sailboats - to "get into the Gaza harbor and breach the siege." On board will be an 81 year Catholic nun, an 83 year old Holocaust survivor, a Nakba survivor, an Israeli professor, Palestinians from Gaza, 16 nationalities, four religions, the international press, and reportedly three members of the European Parliament. Private boats were invited to join them.

"The IDF will probably stop us but part of the point is to show that Gaza is closed off," according to spokesperson Angela Godfrey-Goldstein. The IDF's Spokesman's Office didn't comment on what if any counteraction it would take. However, Israeli ships regularly patrol coastal waters and deny all vessels access to Gaza in violation of international law.

NGOs Worldwide Call for An End to Gaza's Siege

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is one of many. It's a "growing alliance of trade unions, community groups, faith groups, women and youth organisations, NGOs and other campaigners working together across more than 100 national platforms....to end poverty, inequality," injustice and human suffering. It cites deep concern about Gaza's 1.5 million people suffering under Israel's siege and calls for its end. It wants world leaders and the Security Council to demand that Israel "abide by international and humanitarian law and UN resolutions....immediately (end) its (collective punishment) policy," and halt its Gaza siege.

Other NGOs voice similar demands:

-- in January 2007, 8 Israeli human rights organizations collaboratively joined an international campaign to end Gaza's siege immediately; they are:

(1) The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI);

(2) Amnesty-Israel;

(3) Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights;

(4) Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement;

(5) Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual;

(6) The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI);

(7) Physicians for Human Rights - Israel; and

(8) Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights.

Others have as well:

-- Gaza's Culture and Free Thought Association says: "We are living in fear of the devastation of our society. (Gaza's) siege is a terrible crime....tell the world - don't say you didn't know;"

-- the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) says: "The blockade makes export impossible so farmers are abandoning their crops; Israeli incursions result in huge destruction to lands and enterprises; almost every industry in Gaza is facing ruin; this collective punishment must end;"

-- the Palestinian Medical Relief Society says: "Gaza alone without the West Bank cannot survive; it needs free borders and access; 1.5 million people cut off with no trade or water, it's impossible;"

-- the Women's Affairs Centre says: "Gaza is a prison;" its people are trapped, and "the result is violence;" not just "factional violence, domestic violence is also increasing;" and

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) says: "How can Gaza be a normal place; how can we live a normal life here....(we need) free movement between Gaza and the West Bank and open access to the outside world;"

Many others worldwide as well call for;

-- ending Gaza's siege;

-- Israel's illegal isolation policy;

-- the right to work and an adequate standard of living;

-- the right to health;

-- education;

-- life; and

-- 41 illegal years of occupation.

The world no longer can wait. Neither can the people of Gaza, the West Bank and their growing numbers of supporters worldwide.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM - 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9724

Israel's front-line thugs

Consistent stands against the depravity of the West Bank's lawless settlers are the only way to put an end to their crimes.


Seth Freedman guardian.co.uk, Thursday August 07 2008 08:00 BST

News that 'leftwing' activists are facing increased pressure to stay out of the West Bank is a worrying development in local politics, especially at a time when settler attacks on Palestinians are on the increase. Rather than clamp down on the settlers perpetrating the violence, the authorities are pursuing a path of locking the doors to the outside world and pretending that nothing at all is amiss.

Not all settlers are inherently violent; to portray their entire subgroup as such is as disingenuous as claiming that all Palestinians are fanatics just because there are radical elements in their midst. However, just because all settlers shouldn't be tarred with the same brush doesn't excuse the inaction and indifference on the part of the Israeli authorities when faced with the crimes of the extremists among the settler population.

Of late, there has been a steady stream of brutal assaults carried out by settlers against their Palestinian neighbours in the West Bank, right under the noses of the lackadaisical army. The phenomenon is, sadly, nothing new; what has brought the story back into the spotlight are the efforts of human rights groups, such as B'Tselem to film the violence and document the shocking reality on the ground – which is why, it seems, the authorities are so keen to clamp down on their activity in the region.

However, the settlers don't confine their vindictive and vicious attacks to Palestinians; they are not averse to attacking their Jewish peers either. Two recent incidents amply demonstrated the extent to which the Wild West Bank has become bandit country, with no sheriff's posse daring to stand up to the rogue elements holding the region at ransom.

First up was a Breaking the Silence tour to Hebron, whose bus was surrounded by jeering settlers who blocked their path and showered those aboard with abuse. Instead of intervening on behalf of the victims of the threatening mob, the police "did not manage to disperse the mob", "no arrests were made", and in the end they simply ordered the tour group to return from whence they came.

Then another Breaking the Silence group came under attack from settler vigilantes, who doused the participants with boiling water after confronting them in the streets of Hebron and heckling them with cries of "traitor", and other such hostile invective.

For anyone who's been to Hebron, Kiryat Arba, or any of the settlements which play home to the extremist hardcore of the settler movement, incidents such as those in Hebron, or the assaults in Susiya, are by no means surprising. Being subjected to settler abuse and attack is part and parcel of the experience for Israeli left-wingers and Palestinian locals alike. Sordid as it may be, the depths to which many settlers have sunk is merely a symptom of the malaise infecting Israeli society, rather than the cause.

Radical elements exist in every religion, in every ethnic group, and in every country. Human nature dictates that there will always be those for whom conforming to societal norms is antithetic to their bigoted, boorish ways – but that is when those charged with keeping order in society are meant to be put into play. In Israel, the state apparatus should, in theory, be mobilised to full effect to quell any illegal activity, whether carried out by right- or left-winger, Jew or gentile.

The security forces are, of course, by no means scared to act when it suits them. Palestinian demonstrations are routinely put down with excessive force: rocks flung by pre-teens are countered with rubber bullets, tear gas, and – often – live and indiscriminate fire.

But when it comes to clamping down on violence emanating from the settler community, a different set of rules apply, and the authorities' reeking hypocrisy is exposed as endemic to the way in which they view the different strands of Israeli society.

I've witnessed the double standards for myself countless times, from the kid-glove treatment my platoon used when evicting the settlers of Homesh to the heavy-handed brutality meted out by the border police in the Palestinian villages of Bil'in and Nilin. What is explained away as "necessary in the interests of security" in one situation is turned on its head in another; softly-softly replacing an all-out show of force, simply because the assailants in question are religious Jews rather than Muslims.

The longer the duplicity is allowed to thrive in the military and political spheres in Israel, the worse the violence will get on the part of the settlers' lunatic fringe. Giving them carte blanche to engage in low-level crime only encourages them to see how much more they can get away with, in their attempts to intimidate and bully anyone they see as against them in their holy war.

There's unlikely to be a sea-change any time soon in the upper echelons of Israeli politics, given their tacit support of the settlement enterprise in turning a blind eye to illegal construction, and the army's providing of military support to settlers the length and breadth of the West Bank. However, there has to be a concerted effort on the parts of all with an interest in human rights to follow B'Tselem's lead and apply sufficient pressure on Israeli judges to see court cases through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Only by taking consistent and courageous stands against the depravity of the lawless settlers will there be an end to their crimes. The police force and army seem uninterested in calling them to heel, or allowing activists to bear witness to their crimes; it can only be hoped that the legal system is made of sterner, and more moral, stuff than them.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/07/israelandthepalestinians.mi

Zionism's Terrorists Told Brits: Quit Palestine Or Die
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4360655.ece

When You Shoot the Messenger: Israel Brutalizes Palestinian Journalist http://www.publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402564.html

Award-Winning Palestinian Journalist Brutalized by Israeli Shin Bet http://www.publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402401.html

Israel shaken by troops' tales of brutality against Palestinians http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/21/israel

10-year-old subjected to torture by Israeli soldiers
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m45397&hd=&size=1&l=e

Palestinians Catch Settler-Extremist Attack On Film http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/400996.html

In Bid to Provoke Gaza War, Settler-Extremists Fake Kidnapping http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9236/index.php

Settler-Extremists Fire Mortar Into W. Bank Village
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9281/index.php

Israeli settlers bind Palestinian teacher to pole and club him
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30340

Israeli Settlers Attack British Diplomats
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/405746.html

Israeli Settlers Prevent Christian Service in Beit Sahour, Assault Worshippers
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/405771.html

As Predicted: Soldiers Filmed Shooting Bound Palestinian Escape Prosecution
https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/405938.html

Settler-Extremists Throw Palestinian Boy Off Roof
https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/405937.html

Zionists spit racism when their brutality is exposed ...

Trapped – collective punishment in Gaza
Amnesty International

12 August 2008

"The Israeli siege has turned Gaza into a big prison. We cannot leave, not even for medical care or to study abroad, and most of what we need is not available in Gaza. We are not living really; we are barely surviving and the outlook for the future is bleak." – Fathi, a Gaza resident


The blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip over a year ago has left the entire population of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped with dwindling resources and an economy in ruins. Some 80 per cent of the population now depend on the trickle of international aid that the Israeli army allows in. This humanitarian crisis is man-made and entirely avoidable.

Even patients in dire need of medical treatment not available in Gaza are often prevented from leaving and scores of them have died. Students who have scholarships in universities abroad are likewise trapped in Gaza, denied the opportunity to build a future.

The Israeli authorities argue that the blockade on Gaza is in response to Palestinian attacks, especially the indiscriminate rockets fired from Gaza at the nearby Israeli town of Sderot. These and other Palestinian attacks killed 25 Israelis in the first half of this year; in the same period Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians.

However, the Israeli blockade does not target the Palestinian armed groups responsible for attacks – it collectively punishes the entire population of Gaza.

In April 2008, Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General, called on Israel to restore fuel supplies to Gaza and allow the passage of humanitarian assistance and commercial supplies.

"The collective punishment of the population of Gaza, which has been instituted for months now, has failed," he said.

Though a ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has held in Gaza since 19 June 2008, the Israeli blockade remains in place.

Economic collapse and poverty
Israel has banned exports from Gaza altogether and has reduced entry of fuel and goods to a trickle – mostly humanitarian aid, foodstuff and medical supplies. Basic necessities are in short supply or not available at all in Gaza. The shortages have pushed up food prices at a time when people can least afford to pay more. A growing number of Gazans have been pushed into extreme poverty and suffer from malnutrition.

Some 80 per cent of the population now depends on international aid, compared to 10 per cent a decade ago. The restrictions imposed by Israel have resulted in higher operational costs for UN aid agencies and humanitarian organizations. Food assistance costs the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) US$20 per person per day compared to less than US$8 in 2004.

Gaza’s fragile economy, already battered by years of restrictions and destruction, has collapsed. Unable to import raw materials and to export produce and without fuel to operate machinery and electricity generators, some 90 per cent of industry has shut down.

Essential services jeopardized
The fuel shortage has affected every aspect of life in Gaza. Patients’ hospital attendance has dropped because of lack of transport and universities were forced to shut down before the end of the school year as students and teachers could not continue to travel to them. Fuel-powered pumps for wells and water distribution networks are often not working.

Medical facilities in Gaza lack the specialized staff and equipment to treat a range of conditions, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. In addition, hospitals are now under ever greater pressure, as they face shortages of equipment, spare parts and other necessary supplies as a result of the blockade.

With the ceasefire holding, the suffering in Gaza has fallen off the international news agenda. However, Amnesty International members continue to campaign, calling:

on the Israeli authorities to immediately lift the blockade, allow unhindered passage into Gaza of sufficient quantities of fuel, electricity and other necessities; and allow those who want to leave Gaza to do so, notably patients in need of medical treatment not available in Gaza and students enrolled in universities abroad, and also to allow them later to return.

on Palestinian armed groups not to resume rockets and other attacks on Israeli civilians.

Free Gaza Movement
Participant Biographies

Huwaida Arraf (Palestine) +970.599.130.426
Huwaida is a Palestinian-American, and also a citizen of Israel. She is a human rights activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. In 2007 she received her Juris Doctor from American University in Washington D.C. andshe is currently teaching Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Al Quds University in Jerusalem.

Vittorio Arrigoni (Italy)
Vittorio has wide experience in international charity work and in the battle for human rights in Europe and Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2003 Vittorio first visit to Palestine, at first in a work camp managed by IPYL in Eastern Jerusalem and later in Nablus in the Balata refugee camp. In 2006, trying to go back to Palestine, he was held in Israeli detention for a week while appealing a decision to deny him entry, then expelled from the country. In August 2006, at the request of the European Union, Vittorio attended the first free elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an international observer.

Greta Berlin (USA) +357.99.08.17.67
A cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement, Greta Berlin since the early 1960s has advocated for justice for the Palestinian people. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children, whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine. She has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of Palestinians and has spoken and written extensively about what she has witnessed during her three trips to the Occupied West Bank. When not working with Palestinians, Greta has spent 30 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations.

Lauren Booth (UK) +44.771.504.8821
Lauren, a broadcaster and journalist, has regular columns in the Mail on Sunday and writes features for the Sunday Times and Femail. In 2005 Lauren travelled to the West Bank where she interviewed Mahmoud Abbas.

Dr. Uri Davis (Palestine)
Uri, 64, is an international acclaimed author, academic and peace activist who calls himself an anti-zionist Palestinian Jewborn in Jerusalem. He is an observer member of the Palestine National Council.

Monir M Deeb (Palestine/USA)
Monir was born in 1951 in Gaza City, Palestine, to refugee parents from Haifa and El Majdel (today called Ashkelon). He came to the USA in 1979 and is a naturalized US citizen. He is the past president of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), LA chapter, and was a speaker in the Arab-Jewish Speakers Bureau in Los Angeles. He owns a construction company in Northridge, California, where he resides with his wife and three children.

Dr Bill Dienst (USA)
Bill is a Family and Emergency Room physician for Omak, a town in rural Washington in the northwestern United States. In 1985, after an intensive summer course in Arabic, Bill took an extra year of medical school, and spent a half year in Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza volunteering with various Palestinian healthcare organizations, initially with the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquartered in Egypt. He has been to Palestine on trips sponsored by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility to Israel/Palestine and with the Palestine Medical Relief Society.

Ana Maria Del Mar (Spain) +34.7671.002015
From Vilanova I La Geltru, Cataluna, Ana Maria worked 25 years as a criminal lawyer and has visited the West Bank six times.


Hedy Epstein (USA) +44.787.224.9933
Hedy was born in Freiburg, Germany on 8/15/1924, the only child of Ella & Hugo Wachenheimer. She lived in Kippenheim, 30 km north of Freiburg, where her father's side of the family had lived for generations. She left Germany at 14, in1939, on a Kindertransport (children's transport), to London, England - one of almost 10,000 mostly Jewish children. Both her parents, as well as other family members, perished in Auschwitz in 1942. In July 1945, she returned to Germany to work for the American government, first with the U.S. Civil Censorship Division and then as a research analyst at the Nuremberg trial of the Nazi doctors who performed medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.
In May 1945, she arrived in the United States and quickly became involved in peace and social justice issues. Since 2003, she has visited Israeli-occupied West Bank five times


Musheir El-Farra (Palestine/UK) +44.771.504.8821
Originally from Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Musheir is married to Dr. Wesam Al Qarra and has three children. Born in Khan Younis on 25 May 1961, he is a civil and structural engineer in the UK, from where he also coordinates support for four children’s projects in the Gaza Strip: Al Asria Children’s Library project in Jabalia refugee camp; "New Horizons" children’s centre in Nussairat refugee camp; "Never Stop Dreaming” Children’s Centre in Khan Younis, and the "Children’s Mobile Library". He made a documentary film called "Voices through the Rubble" about the situation in the Gaza Strip in 2004 and is making another documentary about the visit of Al Asria children Folk dance group to Britain in 2005. He writes political and social articles in Arabic in Al Quds newspaper.

Jeff Halper (Israel) Jeff is an Israeli professor of anthropology and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a non-violent Israeli peace and human rights organization that resists the Israeli occupation on the ground. In 2006, the American Friends Service Committee nominated Jeff to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Palestinian intellectual andactivist Ghassan Andoni.

Fathi Jaouadi (Tunisia)
Fathi is married and has one son. Doing an MA in Documentary Film-making at Brunel University in London, Fathi is part of the film crew on the boat. (See www.arabdochouse.org)

Ramzi Kysia (USA/Lebanon) +357.99.08.17.67
Ramzi is an Arab-American writer and non-violence trainer and activist. Since September 11, he has spent almost four years working in the Middle-East, including a year in Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness, a year in Lebanon (during the 2006 Israeli bombardment), and several months in Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine. He was last in Palestine in May/June 2005.

Paul Larudee, Ph.D. (USA)
Paul, a cofounder of the Free Gaza Movement, is a San Francisco Bay Area activist on the issue of justice in the region known as Palestine, which includes Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. He was born to an Iranian Presbyterian minister and his American missionary spouse in 1946 and grew up in the American Midwest.

Jenny Linnell (UK)
From the UK, Jenny has been involved in human rights work for many years.

Dr. Edith Lutz (Germany) +88.1631.638582
Edith, 59, is married with 4 grown children. A former professional nurse, Edith became a teacher. Engaged in Judaic studies, her thesis on H.Heine, she is co-initiator of Schalom5767 and initiator of "Abrahams Töchter" ('Abrahams's daughters'). She joins this voyage to help children in Gaza and highlight the core of Jewish religion: love and humanity instead of force and hatred.

Theresa McDermott (Scotland) +44.7709.677.006
Theresa, 41, a postal logistics worker from Edinburgh, spent a month in Palestine in 2004.

Anne Montgomery (USA)
Anne, 81, is a Catholic nun of the religious Order of the Sacred Heart. She taught for 30 years and became a peace activist after age 50. She joined Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT) in 1995 and has worked with CPT in Palestine.

Andrew Muncie (Scotland) +44.778.557.5873
Andrew, 34, is from Spean Bridge in the Highlands of Scotland. He has philosophy degrees from Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities, plays online poker for a living and has been deported twice from the West Bank

Thomas H. Nelson (USA) +357.963.535.89
Tom practiced corporate law with Oregon's largest law firm for nearly 20 years. He became involved in Palestinian issues in 1997 and co-founded Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights. When he left the firm 12 years ago, Tom first formed his own small-firm partnership and now is a solo practitioner near his home in Zigzag, Oregon, in the foothills of Mt. Hood.

Ken O'Keefe (Ireland/USA)
Ken, 39, grew up in California and was in the U.S. Marines in the 1991 Gulf War. He initiated P10K (www.P10K.net) in
2004 to recruit international observers to live side by side with Palestinians. He was jailed by the IDF for refusing to sign a statement agreeing not to return to Gaza and deported from Israel after 20 days in jail as a 'security threat'. Now in Hawaii, he has become a legislative representative of District 6 (Oahu) of the Reinstated Hawaiian Government (www.Hawaii-gov.net).

Mike Prior (UK) +44.7960.369.997
Mike, 66, is from Manchester, UK. He has been to Palestine three times since 2003. He has been refused entry to Israel because of his work with ISM and has since been active in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Haq Nawaz Qureishi (Pakistan/UK) From Bradford, UK, Haq Nawaz, 26, is a member of the punk rock band Fun-da-mental and was in the band The Cult. He owns and runs the London record label Nation Records

Adam Qvist (Denmark)
Adam, 22, an essayist and co-author of the novel “City Might Fall” (2008), works on sexual and reproductive rights with the Danish Family Planning Association of Sex and with the European Youth Network for Sexual Rights: YouAct. He’s visited Palestine in 2000 and 2007.

Yvonne Ridley (UK)
From County Durham, Yvonne is a TV presenter, author and activist. She first came to prominence when arrested and held for 10 days by the Taliban in Afghanistan following the 9/11 atrocity. She was released on humanitarian grounds.

Courtney and Kathy Sheetz (USA)
Kathy, 61, is mother of a lawyer, a doctor and fellow passenger on the Free Gaza, 25-year-old videographer Courtney.
Grandmother to four girls and another on the way, Kathy spent the last 12 years on grassroots and human rights organizing in Haiti. A retired nurse, Kathy brought her justice-activist daughter Courtney with her to World Social Forums in Mumbai and Port Alegre. Courtney has gone to Haiti with her since age 8, and now is completing her bachelor’s degree in New York City and has made videos in Haiti and with the MST landless movement in Brazil.

Ren (Lawrence) Afif Tawil (USA)
Ren was born in San Francisco, CA (USA) in 1953, as was his mother. His father Afif George Tawil was born and raised in Jerusalem, Palestine but was visiting the US in May of 1948 and as a result could not freely return and became a 'displaced person'. He first became aware of the politics surrounding the 'Palestinian Problem' after the June War of 1967 as an 8th grader, and has maintained an interest ever since.

Mary Hughes Thompson, Canada
Mary was born in Bolton, England and immigrated to Canada, then to the United States. She is a member of the Writer’s Guild in Los Angeles, a licensed pilot and a proud grandmother. She’s been to the occupied West Bank six times, and this will be her seventh trip and her first to Gaza.

Darlene Wallach (USA)
Darlene, 57, is an anti-zionist activist for social and environmental justice. She lives in San Jose, California (USA) and is of Jewish Eastern-European descent. Darlene spent almost two months in Palestine from May to July 2002. She visited Gaza, Ramallah and then a night at the Balata Refugee camp where she was detained and arrested with seven other internationals. All eight received deportation orders from the minister of the interior. They had witnessed brutal collective punishment of the Palestinians.

Donna Wallach (Israel/USA) +357.99.194.722
Donna, 57, is an anti-zionist activist working for social and environmental justice. She lives in San Jose, California (USA) and is of Eastern-European Jewish descent. She lived in occupied Palestine in the Tel Aviv area for 15 years from 1981 to 1997 and experienced, first hand, the impact of the brutal Israeli occupation on Palestinians living inside Israel as well as the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. She was in Ramallah during its siege in 2002 and spent a week in the Gaza Strip. She joins the boat crew in grief and outrage that all historical Palestine is still occupied by the apartheid state of Israel.

Kathleen Wang (USA)
Kathleen, an LA resident since 1967 raising and supporting her family, says her sympathies lie with those families who are prevented from caring for their beloved children and grandchildren due to the cruel Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories. She tends her 8 grandchildren whenever possible and delights in her new great-grandchild

Breaking the Gaza siege
The courage and determination of one small group who refuse to stand by and watch Gaza starve is a lesson to us all
Ghada Karmi*



August 14, 2008

During a conference in California in May of this year I was surprised to receive an invitation from two American activists to join their group, the Free Gaza Movement, on a boat trip to Gaza in August. They spoke of their determination to break the inhuman Israeli siege of Gaza by facing it head on. They would sail directly to Gaza's shores in boats laden with humanitarian supplies. At the time I thought them well meaning but unrealistic, even naïve, and I was sceptical about the success of their enterprise. I thought it unlikely it would ever take off, and an Israeli colleague, also invited, judged the Israeli navy would turn them back as soon as they sailed anywhere near to Gaza's shores.

I could not have been more mistaken. Undeterred by our hints of problems they might encounter, these determined people pressed on vigorously with their preparations over the months, and this week they set sail in several boats as planned from Cyprus to Gaza. All are unarmed volunteers, some 60 people from 17 countries, amongst whom is an 81-year-old nun and an 83- year old Holocaust survivor, as well as journalists, human rights activists, religious leaders and others. Tony Blair's sister-in-law, Lauren Booth, is one of them, determined to go where Blair, Middle East special envoy and peacemaker since 2007, has still not dared to penetrate. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Carter Center have both given the project their support. What risks the volunteers are taking and what dangers are ahead, we do not yet know. But even if this brave fleet of boats is forced to turn back and never reaches Gaza, the enterprise will be a monument to human decency and compassion that few of the apathetic millions who watch Gaza's tragedy from afar have shown.

The point that struck me most forcibly about this mission was that its organisers were non- Arabs. Filled with revulsion at the Warsaw Ghetto Israel has created in Gaza, they told me they felt driven to act. But this ghetto is Arab and sits in Arab land. So where were the Arab activists in this? Why was this not one of many Arab- organised attempts at breaking Gaza's siege? Where was the Arab refusal to stand by in the face of such oppression and injustice? The plight of Gaza almost beggars belief in its horror, a man-made catastrophe of starving people and malnourished children, without adequate fuel, electricity or medicines. All these depredations are well documented by humanitarian organisations, the United Nations and numerous eyewitnesses. President Jimmy Carter, quoted in The Guardian newspaper 8 May, summed it up: "The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished."

No one can deny Israel's signal role in creating this tragedy, nor the deplorable complicity of the US and its European partners in maintaining it. But we need to recognise the Arab role also in this victimisation of Gaza's people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of the Rafah crossing. Gaza's borders have been controlled by Israel for over 40 years. In June 2007, Israel sealed these borders almost completely. Soon after, it reduced humanitarian aid entering Gaza to a minimum and then cut off fuel and energy supplies to the Strip. The only window onto the outside world for the besieged Gazans opened through Rafah into Egypt, a fellow Arab country where surely they would find relief. Or so one might believe.

Following Israel's evacuation of its settlements from Gaza in 2005, a peculiar regime over the operation of the Rafah crossing was agreed whereby Egypt and the Palestinian Authority would control exit and entry. European representatives would monitor the crossing, coordinating with Israel, which had the power of veto over goods and people passing through. The Palestinian side tolerated this absurd and intrusive surveillance to attain some freedom of movement. This, however, never happened. The Rafah crossing is closed most of the time and when the Gazans in January this year, driven beyond endurance, broke through the wall shutting them off from Egypt, the latter quickly re-built it.

People and goods are routinely held up on both sides of the border. In the last two weeks, a consignment of 1.5 tonnes of medicines donated to Gaza by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign -- an organisation with modest means -- has been stuck at Rafah, denied entry by the Egyptian authorities, despite Scottish entreaties from parliamentarians and others. Earlier this month, five Palestinians were killed when Egyptian authorities blew up a tunnel under the border that they were using to smuggle supplies into Gaza. Though it is alleged that such tunnels are used for arms smuggling, the major traffic through them are ordinary provisions. Cutting those channels amounts to cutting any connection Gazans have with the outside world.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Arab world looks on, unable or unwilling to help the people of Gaza. Arab communities in the Diaspora are little better. They make charitable donations or support aid agencies, and talk about the tragedy of Gaza. But none has taken the bold and fearless action this emergency needs. Much has been written and said about Arab inertia in the face of blatant injustice, often at the hands of dictatorial regimes. Yet this cannot explain or justify the Arab position on Gaza. This should have been the rallying point for all Arabs to unite in rejection of a vicious punishment unjustly imposed on an innocent people. It could have been the first move to reinstate Palestine's cause to where it had been, at the heart of the Arab world. Not one, but a fleet of Arab ships should have visited Gaza daily to break the siege. It is an indictment of us all that it took a foreign crew and foreign volunteers to breach the walls of Gaza's prison and defy its cruel jailers.

* The writer is a professor at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and author of Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in Palestine .

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m46436&hd=&size=1&l=e

zionazi parrot talk do not excuse the spitful and petty nature of zionism which reduces all non zionists to quotation marks.
This IMC should automatically hide all post which use quotation marks on the people of Palestine, signaling the nazi like technique of dehumanization.
The zionists are latter day nazis.

no kidding.
a complete lack of inteligent response is the only way a zionist CAN respond as an apology for their racist enterprise.
All under the guise of religious purity.
racist f**ks.

by The basis for the 'Palestinian' claim Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 at 9:53 AM

The basis for the 'iseal' claim is premised on Zionist supremicist beliefs. Since its been clearly established that these self-professed "Jews" are the descendants of political migrants from surrounding Europian countries during recent historic times, and that their claim isn't based on any ancestral claim but rather on the basis of Jewish Supremacy. Thus the "isreali' actual claim to IPalestinel is that they happen to be of the same religion as the Jewish Armies that once occupied parts of Palestine. They're racist, arrogant and UN-QUESTIONED by the mass media.

srael is a terrorist state. Wipe the filthy swine off the map.

An open call to genocide? Its helpful to know thats what these haters are thinking.

Gee it's funny both of the previous posts came from the same source.
Split personalities?
Or a self hating zionist?

They really need this figleaf of 'anti-semetism'. If they can't generate it they fabricate it.
Like painting swastikas on Temples.

-Professor at Claremont McKenna College Found Guilty of Staging ...
Another occurred in New Zealand earlier this week when Jews desecrated their own cemetery by painting swastikas on their tombs. The incident was aimed at ...
www.aztlan.net/professor_dunn_guilty.htm - 6k-

So how about something new?
False flag ( particularly after the relevations about the USS Liberty ) is in the American vernacular, so you zionists really, really need to come up with a new trac. How about a great cleansing of truth and reconciliation?
Equal right for everyone in that tortured land, without walls, watch towers and razor wire. No more 'check points' or different roads and licence plates and above all, no more lies and hate and horror.

Despite what 'Palestinians' want, their own state, these pin headed leftists fantasize about a 'one sate ' solution as a means to the destruction of the state of Israel. Its typical 'White man's burden'.

Do any of these idiots realize that before Oslo and the Intidada, there was no securityfence, no check points etc? Actions have consequences, even for 'Palestinians'.

The previous post rather encapsulates the zionist mindset.

Like a spoiled child who has a tantrum when told it can't take everything for itself.
But with hundreds of H-bombs and
The Samson Option.

Do any of these idiots realize that before Oslo and the Intidada, there was no securityfence, no check points etc? Actions have consequences, even for 'Palestinians'

Do these zionists think we’re stupid?
I guess so because Oslo was another zionist facade and lie.
-A San Francisco Chronicle editorial on Sept. 12, 1993 declared that "the worst aspect of the deal is that Israeli settlers will live on islands surrounded by Palestinian authority". The editors simply ignore the facts—that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will be surrounded by fundamentalist Israeli settlers who answer to no law, not even Israel's, and who shoot and harass Palestinians at will. There are no plans to remove the heavily armed settlers from the areas ceded to Palestinian "control". Indeed, the presence of the settlers and their need for "protection" gives Israel the excuse it needs to maintain a military presence throughout any and all parts of those "ceded" territories. The entire issue of withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and Jericho is addressed in deliberately vague terms, open to interpretation-
***
So the excuse of ‘response’ or ‘consequences’ is another zionist lie to the *creation* of these conditions by these very occupiers. Particularly when they enter at will, with full military power any time they feel, these open air prisons and kill without “consequences”.

Is it any wonder why these psychopathic racist need all of the nuclear weapons to keep themselves warm?
After 60+ years of terror and ethnic cleansing is it any wonder why they are so paranoid?
A psychopath sees the world through a warped lens.
They need to be in padded cells, not at the control of weapon systems.

We do think 'anti-zionists' are stupid AND they take the time to PROVE it in writing here everyday!

"We do think 'anti-zionists' are stupid"
Of couse you do. Isn't that why you keep making racist fools out of yourselves with such blatant lying?

Readers can scroll up and see for themselves who is stupid.