Hard Truths in Occupied Palestine Media Scoundrels Suppress

by Stephen Lendman

Numerous ones. Important ones. Longstanding ones. Relating to humanitarian, human rights and other international law abuses.

US constitutional and statute laws. Israeli laws. Basic ones in lieu of an Israeli constitution.

Knesset enacted statutes. Recent and past. Good and bad. High Court decisions in both countries. Relating to civil and human rights.

War and peace. Equity and justice. Self-determination. A universal right. "(B)ased on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples," according to the UN Charter, Article 1.

A fundamental human right. "Everyone…entitled to all" Universal Declaration of Human Rights "freedoms…"

"(W)ithout distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."

"(O)n the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty."

Two-thirds of world nations recognize Palestinian statehood. One day perhaps they all will. Except perhaps Israel, America and a few small Pacific islands it controls.

Media scoundrels suppress information on what readers and viewers most need to know. Substituting managed news misinformation rubbish.

Including on longstanding core issues. Daily events deserving headlines. Don't expect US television, daily broadsheets or popular news magazines to explain what Gazans know best.

Appalling conditions as winter approaches. Virtually nothing except minimal aid helping. Impossible to keep up with enormous needs.

Over five months since conflict began. Naked Israeli aggression by any standard. Around 100 days since both sides agreed to ceasefire terms.

Hamas and popular resistance groups scrupulously observe them. Israel violated them straightaway. Continues doing so daily.

According to Popular Committee Against the Siege head MP Jamal Al-Khudari, virtually no reconstruction began.

To rebuild or repair tens of thousands of destroyed or damaged homes. Factories. Businesses. Other structures.

Civilian targets Israel lawlessly bombed or shelled. Violating international law. Controlling everything entering and exiting Gaza. Its airspace. Offshore waters.

Crossings into Israel. As long as blockade conditions exist, Gaza remains the world's largest open-air prison.

Suffocating under Israeli repression. Vulnerable to attacks at its discretion. Large-scale or small. For any reason or none at all.

According to Al-Khurari, Gazan unemployment tops 68%. Poverty at 90%. Many suffering extreme poverty.

Wives with small children who lost husbands under enormous strain. Totally dependent on others for help. Family members struggling themselves to get by.

Don't expect media scoundrels to explain. Supporting Israel right or wrong. Ignoring daily hardships millions of Palestinians face.

Exacerbated by world leaders failing to hold Israel accountable. For high crimes too grave to ignore.

Genocidal ones. The supreme crime against peace. Against a virtually defenseless civilians. Vulnerable to attack any time. Not one square inch of Gaza is safe.

Media scoundrels ignored Ziad Abu Ein's death. PA committee against Israel's Separation Wall and settlements head. Murdered by Israeli soldiers.

Beating him to death. With rifle butts and helmets. Suffering from tear gas inhalation at the same time.

Losing consciousness. Pronounced dead at Ramallah Public Hospital. An IDF statement lied. Willfully. Maliciously.

Calling peaceful protesters "rioters." Saying security forces "halted their progress…into the (illegal Adei-Ad settler outpost) using riot dispersal means."

Including rifle butts. Helmets used as weapons. Tear gas canisters fired at close range. Rubber-coated steel bullets. Stun grenades. At times live fire.

Dozens of activist took part in a tree-planting project. In an area threatened with confiscation. Abu Ein joined them in solidarity.

Paid with his life. Victimized by Israeli barbarism. Don't expect media scoundrels to explain. Or denounce cold-blooded Israeli murder. Happening all too often.

Targeting women and young children. Palestinian officials. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called Abu Ein's death "another example of Israel's vicious and arrogant actions committed against the Palestinians."

"Our brother Ziad was killed while marking the International Human Rights day by planting olive trees to symbolize the hope for both peace and justice."

"This a clear example of how the culture of impunity granted to Israel by the International community permits it to continue in committing crimes against the Palestinian people."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called for "uniting all Palestinian forces to confront violations committed by the Israeli occupation."

Israel's war on Palestine continues. Out of sight and mind in the West.

On December 9, the Al Haq human rights group documented dozens of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians since Operation Protective Edge ended on August 26.

Including assaulting fishermen at sea. Farmers in their fields. Children at play. Peaceful protesters. Killing some. Injuring others.

Arresting many. Brutalizing them for not being Jews. Fadel Muhammad Halaweh one of many Israeli victims.

He hunted birds to provide for his wife and five children. On November 23. At about 6:40AM. He and Abdel-Hadi Abu Zir went bird-hunting.

In agricultural land. Heavily populated with birds. Located near Israel's illegal buffer zone. In Al-Khour. East of Jabaliyya.

At the time, other farmers and bird hunters were there. Fadel and Abdel-Hadi set up hunting nets. About 500 meters inside Israel's border fence.

Then sat 50 meters away from the fence. At around 9:00AM, it began raining. They prepared to leave.

While gathering their gear, two border area gunshots were heard.

One bullet struck the ground near Abdel-Hadi.

The other hit Fadel. Leaving him unconscious. Bleeding heavily. In great pain. An ambulance took 20 minutes to arrive.

Rushed him to Beit Lahia's Kama Idwan Hospital. Examination showed an explosive gunshot struck him.

Entering his lower left back. Exiting through his abdomen. Causing severe internal bleeding. Left kidney laceration. Requiring emergency surgery.

Two hours later. Around 11:30AM. He was pronounced dead. Murdered by Israeli viciousness. Unarmed. Threatening no one. Committing no crime.

According to Al Haq, "his death meets the criteria of willful killing." A grave Fourth Geneva breach. A Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court war crime.

Accountability not forthcoming. Israel kills with impunity. Countless Palestinian men, women, children, the elderly and infirm pay with their lives.

Israeli brutality exists in many forms. On December 10 alone, soldiers kidnapped nine Hebron and Bethlehem Palestinians.

Twelve others in Jerusalem. Confiscated 321 dunams of Ramallah Palestinian land.

Declared 10,000 dunams of privately owned northern Jordan Valley Palestinian land a closed military zone. Slated for confiscation.

Continues expanding settlements throughout the West Bank. In East Jerusalem. On stolen Palestinian land.

Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languish in Israel's gulag. One of the world's harshest. Brutalizing Palestinian detainees.

Holding hundreds uncharged. Untried. Indefinitely. Violating international law. Hunger strikes for justice at times erupt.

On December 9, Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) reported 70 detainees hunger striking in solidarity with Nahar as-Sa'ady.

Refusing food since November 20. A full month. Demanding his solitary confinement end. Be allowed family visits.

Dozens of new strikers want brutalizing isolation ended. Ill detainees released. For proper treatment. What Israeli prison authorities deny.

The Palestinian Detainees Committee said Sa'ady remains totally isolated. In a very small cold cell. Unfit for human use. Since 2013.

Serving four life terms. Plus 20 years. Suffering from painful spinal cord issues. Untreated to increase pain. Standard Israeli practice. Barbarians operate this way.

On December 10, live Israeli fire seriously wounded 14-year old Hyssein Snubar. Fracturing his skull. During protests at al-Jalazun refugee camp's entrance. Near Ramallah.

Several other Palestinians were injured. During a march. Protesting Abu Ein's death.

Israeli viciousness finds new expressions. Palestinians pay with their lives, welfare and futures.

Western leaders yawn and do nothing. Complicit with Israel's worst crimes.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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