About Israel, Occupation, Palestine
Osamah Khalil has a great piece in the LA Times today where he argues that the recent fire outside of Haifa was Israel's Katrina disaster, because it exposed precisely how the priorities of the government were elsewhere: primarily continuing occupation and colonization of occupied Palestinian territory. He writes:
Joseph Dana, who recently spoke at the Palestine Center about covering Palestinian non-violent resistance and the Israeli repression of Palestinian dissent, reminds us that after the flames in the north of the country have been extinguished, occupied Palestinian villages will still face the brunt of Israeli fire. Below are Dana's recent images of Israeli forces wishing Palestinians a happy "Human Rights Day" in Nabi Saleh.
Only yesterday Reuters reported that the Israeli Defense Forces admitted to using lethal projectiles to disperse Palestinians gathered to protest the wall and Israel's continued occupation. Of course, this wasn't caught by the efficient practices of the "most moral army in the world"; it wasn't even investigated until an Israeli human rights group raised it as a concern this past November.
The reality is, however, that these lethal projectiles have been in use for much longer. Just ask the family of the late Basem Abu Rahmeh, who had to bury the 29-year old after he was shot by one of these projectiles. Or you can ask Tristan Anderson, the American solidarity activist who was shot in the head last year by a canister, since he has now come out of a coma and recently regained the ability to speak. But if it is still difficult for Tristan to talk about this experience, a 21-year old American-Jewish activist named Emily Henochowicz, who lost an eye to an Israeli tear canister, can certainly tell you that this experience has allowed her to see the horrors of the Israeli occupation better than ever before
It is telling that as an international coalition battled the Carmel fire, Israeli soldiers were deployed near the Palestinian villages of Bil'in, Nil'in and Nabi Saleh, where another coalition — Palestinians, Israelis and international activists — holds weekly nonviolent protests against Israel's immense 480-mile "separation wall" and expanding settlements. As always, the protests were met by a combination of live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas — the latter causing some small brush fires.
Why were Israeli soldiers starting fires in Palestinian villages instead of fighting one in Israel? Because sustaining Israel's occupation and settlement policy is paramount to its politicians and military leaders. Since Israel's occupation began in June 1967, successive Israeli governments have placed a priority on colonizing the Palestinian territories. This effort has expanded frantically since the Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993, and today Israel directly controls almost 60% of the West Bank.
The emphasis on settlements has led some prominent figures in the Israeli media and government to call for the resignation of Interior Minister Eli Yishai. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, although Yishai sought and failed to obtain the funds to boost his country's firefighting budget, he never pursued the issue with the same vigor with which he advocated the expansion of settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. Yishai is a member of the religious Shas party, whose leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, claimed in his weekly sermon that the fire was "divine providence" because "fires only happen in a place where Shabbat is desecrated."
Joseph Dana, who recently spoke at the Palestine Center about covering Palestinian non-violent resistance and the Israeli repression of Palestinian dissent, reminds us that after the flames in the north of the country have been extinguished, occupied Palestinian villages will still face the brunt of Israeli fire. Below are Dana's recent images of Israeli forces wishing Palestinians a happy "Human Rights Day" in Nabi Saleh.Only yesterday Reuters reported that the Israeli Defense Forces admitted to using lethal projectiles to disperse Palestinians gathered to protest the wall and Israel's continued occupation. Of course, this wasn't caught by the efficient practices of the "most moral army in the world"; it wasn't even investigated until an Israeli human rights group raised it as a concern this past November.
The reality is, however, that these lethal projectiles have been in use for much longer. Just ask the family of the late Basem Abu Rahmeh, who had to bury the 29-year old after he was shot by one of these projectiles. Or you can ask Tristan Anderson, the American solidarity activist who was shot in the head last year by a canister, since he has now come out of a coma and recently regained the ability to speak. But if it is still difficult for Tristan to talk about this experience, a 21-year old American-Jewish activist named Emily Henochowicz, who lost an eye to an Israeli tear canister, can certainly tell you that this experience has allowed her to see the horrors of the Israeli occupation better than ever before
No comments:
Post a Comment