Today is Day 14,290 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 )- this is the major principle of the Torah."
My Summary and Conclusions on the 11 Days in May Cycle of Violence in Gaza
On May 16, there was intense fighting going on between Fatah and Hamas with deaths and injuries. The GOI sends in gunships. Why? Because of the possibility of violence spreading into Israel? Are you kidding? How? Why not say because of the rockets being fired into Sderot? Because that hadn’t happened yet. Then why now when Hamas is involved fighting Fatah?
As soon as the GOI killed its first Palestinian, Qassam rockets were fired into Sderot not killing anyone. The GOI had to know that this would happen. It has to be assumed that it wanted to have rockets fired by Hamas into Sderot. Now the GOI causes the power to be shut off for Gaza knowing that Palestinians might die because there is no electricity for their dialysis machines and other medically necessary equipment. This is collective punishment and is a violation of international law.
The GOI from past experience knew that its attacks in Gaza are not a long-term solution to area violence but there is no indication that the GOI reached out to Fatah and Hamas to talk about how to end the violence.
What followed for the next few days was continued fighting between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas firing rockets into Sderot with no deaths, airstrikes by the GOI and assassinations of about 13 Palestinians.
ON or about May 20, while al Haya, a Hamas official was attending a cease fire talk with Fatah, a GOI gunship struck his house, assassinating eight of his family and friends. At this point, the violence between Hamas and Fatah seems to end and still the GOI does not reach out to participate in any negotiations.
The GOI must have wanted to incite Hamas and Fatah violence against Sderot and be able to justify more assassinations. By now, the GOI had assassinated 35 Palestinians.
As the GOI had to know would have happened, on May 22, a Jewish Israeli resident of Sderot was murdered by a Qassam rocket. The residents of Sderot in this case, are pawns whose (predictable) injuries and deaths can be used as an alternative pretext by the GOI to “justify” the assassination of Palestinians in Gaza
After the Fatah/Hamas cease fire, the pretext for the GOI getting involved ended but for the next 5 days the GOI kept assassinating Palestinians, destroying their property and disrupting their lives and then the GOI began to arrest Hamas officials and lawmakers. Over this 11 day period there was NO report of any GOI official reaching out to representatives of Hamas or Fatah in an attempt to find a political solution
The GOI violence this month is consistent with a pattern of behavior exhibited at least two other times in the last three years.
In her powerful book, “ Broken Promises, Broken Dreams”, Alice Rothchild recounts the attacks in Rafah, Gaza by the GOI Gaza over 7 days in May, 2004. The GOI used as a pretext that the Palestinians were smuggling weapons into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt. What Human Rights Watch (HRW) found was that 298 homes were destroyed in Rafah making 3800 Palestinians homeless. Also roads, agricultural fields, olive groves, greenhouses and the Rafah zoo were devastated. HRW concluded “the IDF grossly exaggerated the threat (from the tunnels) in order to rationalize extensive home demolitions” “The Egyptian authorities have also monitored the tunnel system from their side of the border in collaboration with Israel. The Egyptians informed HRW that there are a limited number of tunnels and they are mostly inactive.” Israeli authorities claim to have killed more than 40 militants and 12 civilians …. and injured an unknown number of people. The IDF apparently does not keep statistics on civilian injuries and deaths caused by their activities.” (p 197)
Last year the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit was the pretext for the attacks in Gaza including the bombing and destruction of the power plant, the primary source of energy for Gaza so unbelievable and so horrendous that it resulted in the first labeling by B’Tselem of an act by the GOI as a “War Crime”.
There is only one conclusion. The GOI does not want a just peace. The GOI simply wants all Palestinians in Gaza (and the Wet Bank) to become totally submissive to GOI arbitrary control and oppression. What the GOI does when it feels pressure to sit down and negotiate with the Palestinians is to every year or so, jump upon an act of violence of a Palestinian or some other action - a kidnapping or murder of an IDF soldier, a rocket attack or tunnels – and use it as a pretext to send gunships and tanks into Gaza to wreak havoc on the lives of the Palestinians – to assassinate them and destroy their property, their physical and mental health and their economy.
Here is what I read is a "War Prayer" for Memorial Day
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/155431/792
written by Mark Twain. He was persuaded by his family to not let it be made public until after his death commenting that only the dead can tell the truth:
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen. "
As expected and desired by the GOI, the Palestinians will then be unwilling to talk to the GOI. A retaliatory act of violence by the Palestinians will then be used by the GOI as an excuse to not sit down with the Palestinians and the GOI violence will continue unabated.
And this will continue so long as lawmakers in the United States continue to sign adds like this “We Stand With Israel. As concerned citizens, we stand with the Jewish community and proudly raise our voices in solidarity with the people of Israel, a brave democracy that has yearned so long to live in peace.”
And this will continue so long as the voices of Jewish people in the diaspora and in Israel crying out to the GOI the core value of Judaism "Justice, Justice shall you pursue" are ignored.
But it will end when genuine world pressure is brought on the GOI to end its violence against, and its terrorizing of, the Palestinians in Gaza.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams by Alice Rothchild
Today is Day 14,275 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams by Alice Rothchild
"Have we sacrificed Jewish values in the name of Israeli nationalism and aggressive expansionism? Is Israeli nationalism our new fundamentalism...... I treasure my legacy of endless questioning, soul-searching, and respect for human rights and dignity combined with a responsibility for healing the world."
After writing these posts about the 11 days in May, I finished reading “Broken Promises, Broken Dreams" by Alice Rothchild including the two quotes above. Coincidentally she writes about the massive attacks on Rafah over seven days in May - this time in 2004 -by the government of Israel and the resulting Palestinian deaths, destruction, devastation and injuries, both physical and mental.
That is only one episode in this truly powerful, beautifully written book which, I believe, is a must read for anyone who seeks peace with justice for the Palestinians and Israelis. For me, much of the appeal of the book is her emphasis on how the actions of the government of Israel are contrary to the ethics, teachings and core values of Judaism and her conclusion:
"It is time to speak loudly and clearly and work forcefully towards ending the occupation. This means truly dismantling Jewish settlements."
I purchased it at her presentation at Workmen's Circle, Brookline, MA, but you can order it through the University of Michigan Press
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=290364
or Amazon.
But it is even more effective to hear her speak. To invite her to a gathering of an organization, contact Mary Bisbee Beek at bisbeeb@umich.edu or (734) 615-6477
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
Broken Promises, Broken Dreams by Alice Rothchild
"Have we sacrificed Jewish values in the name of Israeli nationalism and aggressive expansionism? Is Israeli nationalism our new fundamentalism...... I treasure my legacy of endless questioning, soul-searching, and respect for human rights and dignity combined with a responsibility for healing the world."
After writing these posts about the 11 days in May, I finished reading “Broken Promises, Broken Dreams" by Alice Rothchild including the two quotes above. Coincidentally she writes about the massive attacks on Rafah over seven days in May - this time in 2004 -by the government of Israel and the resulting Palestinian deaths, destruction, devastation and injuries, both physical and mental.
That is only one episode in this truly powerful, beautifully written book which, I believe, is a must read for anyone who seeks peace with justice for the Palestinians and Israelis. For me, much of the appeal of the book is her emphasis on how the actions of the government of Israel are contrary to the ethics, teachings and core values of Judaism and her conclusion:
"It is time to speak loudly and clearly and work forcefully towards ending the occupation. This means truly dismantling Jewish settlements."
I purchased it at her presentation at Workmen's Circle, Brookline, MA, but you can order it through the University of Michigan Press
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=290364
or Amazon.
But it is even more effective to hear her speak. To invite her to a gathering of an organization, contact Mary Bisbee Beek at bisbeeb@umich.edu or (734) 615-6477
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 3
Today is Day 14,288 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 3
Here is My Summary and Analysis of May 21 - May 27
(As noted in the last post, I have copied the text from Part 1 in small print and annotated throughout with my comments italicized and bolded.)
Again, for 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 21, 2007 JERUSALEM—Of the Israeli missile that killed 8 members of his family and friends, “These crimes will not stop us or our people from continuing the struggle and resistance," Haya, the head of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, said later at Shifa Hospital in Gaza. But Israeli military officials said Haya was not the intended target. They said Israeli aircraft fired on a "terrorist cell" in the Sharjiya neighborhood where Haya lives. Israeli officials said one of the men killed was Sameh Ferwanah, 28, a senior Hamas military official from Gaza who has been involved in rocket and shooting attacks on Israel. The name appeared on the list of dead provided by Palestinian medical officials. "We know from initial reports that of the terrorist cells we targeted, all five were hit," said Captain Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were the target and they were hit. Anything else that happened, that was not our intention."
The GOI says that the assassination of the 8 friends and members of the family of al Haya when his house was hit by an airstrike was unintentional.” What is the reason for assassinating these Hamas officials? Was it because of the rockets fired into Sderot which appears to have been in response to the GOI airstrikes?
The strike followed another day of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, along with warnings from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that the military response would intensify unless the attacks stopped. About 35 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past six days. Last evening, an Israeli tank near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza fired on a group of men who had just launched two rockets toward Israel, military officials said. Palestinian hospital officials said the tank shell seriously wounded five members of the Masri family, including several children.(On Monday, an Israeli airstrike just after midnight on a post used by the Hamas military wing in Gaza killed at least one gunmen and wounded several others.) Hamas's military wing has fired more than 120 rockets into Israel over the past six days. Israeli military officials said 20 rockets were fired yesterday toward Israel, many of them landing in and around the city of Sderot. One woman has been seriously injured in the days of attacks and dozens of others treated for light wounds and shock. At the same time Israel appears to be ratcheting up its military retaliation, the factional fighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party appears to be waning. A cease-fire agreement between the parties -- the fifth since the latest spasm of partisan fighting began a week ago -- held yesterday with no reports of casualties. More than 50 Palestinians have died in the fighting over the past week.
It appears that the violence between Fatah and Hamas has temporarily ended. Why does the GOI of Israel continue to assassinate Palestinians? At this point in time, the GOI has assassinated 35 Palestinians and NO ONE has been killed by the rockets fired into Sderot!
At this time, the GOI should it want peace in this region and safety for the residents of Sderot would do what – it would end its violence and assassinations in Gaza and propose negotiations with Hamas and Fatah.
May 22, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously yesterday when Israel killed five militants in air strikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target.
Mais non!! But NO! The GOI did not propose a meeting with Fatah and Hamas. The GOI assassinated five more Palestinians. Note that I did not use the word militant. What is a militant? Is being a militant enough to subject you to the death penalty without trial?
A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman, the first Israeli to die in a Palestinian rocket attack since November.
And the failure of the GOI to seek a negotiated political solution has now resulted in the death of an Israeli women. Will that now be a justification for the GOI to retaliate?
The precautions followed an Israeli air strike late Sunday on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied Haya, who was not there at the time, was the target. But Israel's leaders said they would use more drastic measures to stop daily barrages of rocket fire into Israel. Yesterday an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, said the men were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel. Other airstrikes yesterday killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the Israeli Army said. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.
Why do they write that the GOI was killing in retaliation for the rocket barrages when it appears that the GOI airstrikes preceded the rocket barrage and was likely the reason for the rocket barrage? Why don’t they sometimes write that the Palestinians decision to fire rockets into Sderot was in reaction to the GOI airstrikes, assassinations, closure of Gaza, etc?
Late yesterday, Israel imposed a closure on Gaza and the West Bank, banning Palestinians from entering Israel except in humanitarian cases. The military said the closure would be lifted tomorrow after a Jewish holiday, depending on the security situation. The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rockets. Militants launched at least 18 homemade rockets at Israel from Gaza yesterday, according to the military and Israeli media, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150. In addition to the death yesterday, 16 Israelis have been wounded in the past week and the barrages have disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza. At sundown, a Palestinian rocket hit a car and set it on fire in the Israeli town of Sderot, about a mile from Gaza. The woman died en route to the hospital and two others were wounded in the attack. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
May 23, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Israel launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants today, wounding seven people, hospital officials and residents of the northern part of the coastal strip said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store munitions and that secondary explosions were observed. Israel said yesterday that it could target the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and that a Gaza ground offensive was possible unless world pressure was brought on the Islamist group to halt all rocket fire aimed at the Jewish state.May 26, 2007 JERUSALEM (CNN) – Israel unleashed a new round of airstrikes on Gaza and arrested a second Hamas member of the Palestinian unity government in the West Bank on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces told CNN.Israeli forces seized State Minister Wasfi Kabaha at his home in the West Bankin in an early-morning raid. On Thursday, Education Minister Nasser Al Shaer and about 30 other senior members of Hamas were arrested.
Isn’t it about time for the GOI to respond to that pesky annoying question about why it doesn’t sit down with the Palestinians and negotiate a political settlement for a just peace by having a spokesperson for the GOI announce “We have no partner for peace”? That is such a ridiculous statement, anyway, since it is evident that you negotiate with your enemies, not your friends. The GOI is quite aware of everyone with whom they could and should negotiate because they are now arresting them when they are not trying to assassinating them!!!
Airstrikes directed at Hamas targets in Gaza killed four members of Hamas' special forces and injured three, according to Palestinian security and Hamas sources.The airstrikes hit in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis.
By now I’ve almost forgotten why all these Palestinians are being assassinated by the GOI. Was it because they were killing each other? Was it because they were firing rockets into Sderot? Was it because the GOI can?
Earlier in the day, Palestinian security sources reported four people were injured when Israeli airstrikes struck targets in and around Gaza City. Those targets included a facility used by bodyguards for Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and a wood workshop near the Jebailya refugee camp, the sources said.
More assassinations.
Recent days have been marked by Palestinian rockets flying into Israel followed by Israeli strikes at Hamas targets.
More rockets fired into Sderot.
On Friday, Palestinian security sources said Israeli airstrikes targeting positions in and around Gaza City killed a Palestinian and wounded more than 10 others.
Another assassination.
The strikes followed a Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hitting the yard of a house in Sderot Friday afternoon, according to the IDF and Israel Ambulance Services. At least eight rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday, officials said.
Hey, here it is again. The strikes followed the firing of the rockets. Who knew?
Also Friday, the IDF said it had carried out an aerial attack south of Gaza City against Hamas targets in an attempt to combat Palestinian rocket attacks.
Hey, here it is again. The strikes followed the firing of the rockets. Who knew?
Palestinian security sources said three Palestinians were wounded. They said the strike targeted a base of the Hamas Executive Force and a base of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.Journalist Talal Abu-Rahmi contributed to this report. Palestinian factions met to discuss a possible truce with Israel.
Well now you can be SURE that the GOI, in order to protect the Ethiopians of Sderot and the other residents from death and injury from rocket attacks, will do whatever it takes to contact these Palestinian factions and join in the talks.
May 27, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Hamas hardened its stance yesterday after a new barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed five militants, saying it would not consider a truce and calling for more attacks on Israel.
My oh my. Another airstrike and an assassination of five more Palestinians. How could I be so wrong?!
The Islamic militant group also warned Israel that if it continued its 10-day air assault, it would threaten the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier nabbed in June by Hamas-linked militants. Shalit has not been heard from or seen since his capture. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah faction, has tried in recent days to revive a cease-fire with Israel. Under his plan, Gaza militants would halt rocket fire for a month to allow for negotiations on a more comprehensive truce that would include the West Bank. After a meeting late Friday, the militant groups initially asked for 48 hours to consider the proposal. But after the rash of new air attacks yesterday, including five in less than an hour, Hamas called on its fighters to "direct painful strikes at the Zionist enemy." Hamas "will not offer a free truce to the Zionist occupation," the group said. "If there is an end to the attacks, we can talk about a truce," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing.
Apparently the GOI intelligence and security groups were unaware that Abbas is trying to bring about a cease fire with Israel leading to a comprehensive peace agreement that would include the West Bank because surely the GOI wants an end to the violence and a just peace. How could they have known that if they continued to assassinate Palestinians and arrest Hamas officials, it would make Hamas reluctant to sit down at the bargaining table!?
He said Shalit's freedom was in danger, but not his life."The enemy knows that getting Shalit back is in our hands," he said. "It would be a dream" that Hamas would release him while attacks continued, he added.
Wait a minute. I nearly forgot about Corporal Gilad Shalit. Wasn’t it his kidnapping by Hamas that was the reason for the GOI doing what – was it invading Lebanon again last yea? Whoops, no, that was two other IDF soldiers. Cpl Shalit was taken by Hamas and, in another unbelievable overreaction, the GOI destroyed the Gaza power plant. Why haven’t we heard about his plight lately? Why isn’t that given as a reason for the assassinations?
Israel has launched dozens of targeted missile strikes over the past 10 days that have killed 48 Palestinians and damaged many Hamas installations in an attempt to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli border towns. Israel said some 225 rockets have landed in Israeli towns since May 15, killing one woman and sending thousands of frightened Israeli residents fleeing. Two rockets landed in Israel yesterday, including a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was injured. In all, Israeli aircraft launched 14 missile strikes yesterday. Before dawn, they struck near the house of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a Gaza refugee camp, while troops in the West Bank arrested a Hamas Cabinet minister. One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a key Hamas base in Gaza City, killing five Hamas members and wounding four.
225 rockets, one Palestinian murder, with 1000s fleeing many with the help of a Russian Israeli Billionaire.
The compound was used as a training center and base for Hamas's militia, the Executive Force. Two rooms in the camp were destroyed and rescue workers searched the rubble. A nearby charity was badly damaged from the strike. Earlier yesterday, two missiles hit close to Haniyeh's house in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. One landed around 100 yards away and the other 300 yards away, hitting trailers used by Haniyeh's bodyguards. "This is a critical stage," said Haniyeh in a statement hours after the strike. "The aggression will not achieve its goal, but will lead to more disturbance and will have serious consequences."
Dozens of GOI targeted missile strikes? How many? 48 Palestinians assassinated? How many wounded? How many building destroyed? How many Hamas officials arrested? How many families’ lives seriously disrupted? How many families living in constant fear of airstrikes and the arrest of a parent? Who will help these families to flee? Where can they go?
NEXT - CONCLUSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 3
Here is My Summary and Analysis of May 21 - May 27
(As noted in the last post, I have copied the text from Part 1 in small print and annotated throughout with my comments italicized and bolded.)
Again, for 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 21, 2007 JERUSALEM—Of the Israeli missile that killed 8 members of his family and friends, “These crimes will not stop us or our people from continuing the struggle and resistance," Haya, the head of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, said later at Shifa Hospital in Gaza. But Israeli military officials said Haya was not the intended target. They said Israeli aircraft fired on a "terrorist cell" in the Sharjiya neighborhood where Haya lives. Israeli officials said one of the men killed was Sameh Ferwanah, 28, a senior Hamas military official from Gaza who has been involved in rocket and shooting attacks on Israel. The name appeared on the list of dead provided by Palestinian medical officials. "We know from initial reports that of the terrorist cells we targeted, all five were hit," said Captain Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were the target and they were hit. Anything else that happened, that was not our intention."
The GOI says that the assassination of the 8 friends and members of the family of al Haya when his house was hit by an airstrike was unintentional.” What is the reason for assassinating these Hamas officials? Was it because of the rockets fired into Sderot which appears to have been in response to the GOI airstrikes?
The strike followed another day of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, along with warnings from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that the military response would intensify unless the attacks stopped. About 35 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past six days. Last evening, an Israeli tank near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza fired on a group of men who had just launched two rockets toward Israel, military officials said. Palestinian hospital officials said the tank shell seriously wounded five members of the Masri family, including several children.(On Monday, an Israeli airstrike just after midnight on a post used by the Hamas military wing in Gaza killed at least one gunmen and wounded several others.) Hamas's military wing has fired more than 120 rockets into Israel over the past six days. Israeli military officials said 20 rockets were fired yesterday toward Israel, many of them landing in and around the city of Sderot. One woman has been seriously injured in the days of attacks and dozens of others treated for light wounds and shock. At the same time Israel appears to be ratcheting up its military retaliation, the factional fighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party appears to be waning. A cease-fire agreement between the parties -- the fifth since the latest spasm of partisan fighting began a week ago -- held yesterday with no reports of casualties. More than 50 Palestinians have died in the fighting over the past week.
It appears that the violence between Fatah and Hamas has temporarily ended. Why does the GOI of Israel continue to assassinate Palestinians? At this point in time, the GOI has assassinated 35 Palestinians and NO ONE has been killed by the rockets fired into Sderot!
At this time, the GOI should it want peace in this region and safety for the residents of Sderot would do what – it would end its violence and assassinations in Gaza and propose negotiations with Hamas and Fatah.
May 22, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously yesterday when Israel killed five militants in air strikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target.
Mais non!! But NO! The GOI did not propose a meeting with Fatah and Hamas. The GOI assassinated five more Palestinians. Note that I did not use the word militant. What is a militant? Is being a militant enough to subject you to the death penalty without trial?
A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman, the first Israeli to die in a Palestinian rocket attack since November.
And the failure of the GOI to seek a negotiated political solution has now resulted in the death of an Israeli women. Will that now be a justification for the GOI to retaliate?
The precautions followed an Israeli air strike late Sunday on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied Haya, who was not there at the time, was the target. But Israel's leaders said they would use more drastic measures to stop daily barrages of rocket fire into Israel. Yesterday an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, said the men were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel. Other airstrikes yesterday killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the Israeli Army said. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.
Why do they write that the GOI was killing in retaliation for the rocket barrages when it appears that the GOI airstrikes preceded the rocket barrage and was likely the reason for the rocket barrage? Why don’t they sometimes write that the Palestinians decision to fire rockets into Sderot was in reaction to the GOI airstrikes, assassinations, closure of Gaza, etc?
Late yesterday, Israel imposed a closure on Gaza and the West Bank, banning Palestinians from entering Israel except in humanitarian cases. The military said the closure would be lifted tomorrow after a Jewish holiday, depending on the security situation. The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rockets. Militants launched at least 18 homemade rockets at Israel from Gaza yesterday, according to the military and Israeli media, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150. In addition to the death yesterday, 16 Israelis have been wounded in the past week and the barrages have disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza. At sundown, a Palestinian rocket hit a car and set it on fire in the Israeli town of Sderot, about a mile from Gaza. The woman died en route to the hospital and two others were wounded in the attack. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
May 23, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Israel launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants today, wounding seven people, hospital officials and residents of the northern part of the coastal strip said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store munitions and that secondary explosions were observed. Israel said yesterday that it could target the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and that a Gaza ground offensive was possible unless world pressure was brought on the Islamist group to halt all rocket fire aimed at the Jewish state.May 26, 2007 JERUSALEM (CNN) – Israel unleashed a new round of airstrikes on Gaza and arrested a second Hamas member of the Palestinian unity government in the West Bank on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces told CNN.Israeli forces seized State Minister Wasfi Kabaha at his home in the West Bankin in an early-morning raid. On Thursday, Education Minister Nasser Al Shaer and about 30 other senior members of Hamas were arrested.
Isn’t it about time for the GOI to respond to that pesky annoying question about why it doesn’t sit down with the Palestinians and negotiate a political settlement for a just peace by having a spokesperson for the GOI announce “We have no partner for peace”? That is such a ridiculous statement, anyway, since it is evident that you negotiate with your enemies, not your friends. The GOI is quite aware of everyone with whom they could and should negotiate because they are now arresting them when they are not trying to assassinating them!!!
Airstrikes directed at Hamas targets in Gaza killed four members of Hamas' special forces and injured three, according to Palestinian security and Hamas sources.The airstrikes hit in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis.
By now I’ve almost forgotten why all these Palestinians are being assassinated by the GOI. Was it because they were killing each other? Was it because they were firing rockets into Sderot? Was it because the GOI can?
Earlier in the day, Palestinian security sources reported four people were injured when Israeli airstrikes struck targets in and around Gaza City. Those targets included a facility used by bodyguards for Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and a wood workshop near the Jebailya refugee camp, the sources said.
More assassinations.
Recent days have been marked by Palestinian rockets flying into Israel followed by Israeli strikes at Hamas targets.
More rockets fired into Sderot.
On Friday, Palestinian security sources said Israeli airstrikes targeting positions in and around Gaza City killed a Palestinian and wounded more than 10 others.
Another assassination.
The strikes followed a Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hitting the yard of a house in Sderot Friday afternoon, according to the IDF and Israel Ambulance Services. At least eight rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday, officials said.
Hey, here it is again. The strikes followed the firing of the rockets. Who knew?
Also Friday, the IDF said it had carried out an aerial attack south of Gaza City against Hamas targets in an attempt to combat Palestinian rocket attacks.
Hey, here it is again. The strikes followed the firing of the rockets. Who knew?
Palestinian security sources said three Palestinians were wounded. They said the strike targeted a base of the Hamas Executive Force and a base of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.Journalist Talal Abu-Rahmi contributed to this report. Palestinian factions met to discuss a possible truce with Israel.
Well now you can be SURE that the GOI, in order to protect the Ethiopians of Sderot and the other residents from death and injury from rocket attacks, will do whatever it takes to contact these Palestinian factions and join in the talks.
May 27, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Hamas hardened its stance yesterday after a new barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed five militants, saying it would not consider a truce and calling for more attacks on Israel.
My oh my. Another airstrike and an assassination of five more Palestinians. How could I be so wrong?!
The Islamic militant group also warned Israel that if it continued its 10-day air assault, it would threaten the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier nabbed in June by Hamas-linked militants. Shalit has not been heard from or seen since his capture. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah faction, has tried in recent days to revive a cease-fire with Israel. Under his plan, Gaza militants would halt rocket fire for a month to allow for negotiations on a more comprehensive truce that would include the West Bank. After a meeting late Friday, the militant groups initially asked for 48 hours to consider the proposal. But after the rash of new air attacks yesterday, including five in less than an hour, Hamas called on its fighters to "direct painful strikes at the Zionist enemy." Hamas "will not offer a free truce to the Zionist occupation," the group said. "If there is an end to the attacks, we can talk about a truce," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing.
Apparently the GOI intelligence and security groups were unaware that Abbas is trying to bring about a cease fire with Israel leading to a comprehensive peace agreement that would include the West Bank because surely the GOI wants an end to the violence and a just peace. How could they have known that if they continued to assassinate Palestinians and arrest Hamas officials, it would make Hamas reluctant to sit down at the bargaining table!?
He said Shalit's freedom was in danger, but not his life."The enemy knows that getting Shalit back is in our hands," he said. "It would be a dream" that Hamas would release him while attacks continued, he added.
Wait a minute. I nearly forgot about Corporal Gilad Shalit. Wasn’t it his kidnapping by Hamas that was the reason for the GOI doing what – was it invading Lebanon again last yea? Whoops, no, that was two other IDF soldiers. Cpl Shalit was taken by Hamas and, in another unbelievable overreaction, the GOI destroyed the Gaza power plant. Why haven’t we heard about his plight lately? Why isn’t that given as a reason for the assassinations?
Israel has launched dozens of targeted missile strikes over the past 10 days that have killed 48 Palestinians and damaged many Hamas installations in an attempt to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli border towns. Israel said some 225 rockets have landed in Israeli towns since May 15, killing one woman and sending thousands of frightened Israeli residents fleeing. Two rockets landed in Israel yesterday, including a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was injured. In all, Israeli aircraft launched 14 missile strikes yesterday. Before dawn, they struck near the house of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a Gaza refugee camp, while troops in the West Bank arrested a Hamas Cabinet minister. One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a key Hamas base in Gaza City, killing five Hamas members and wounding four.
225 rockets, one Palestinian murder, with 1000s fleeing many with the help of a Russian Israeli Billionaire.
The compound was used as a training center and base for Hamas's militia, the Executive Force. Two rooms in the camp were destroyed and rescue workers searched the rubble. A nearby charity was badly damaged from the strike. Earlier yesterday, two missiles hit close to Haniyeh's house in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. One landed around 100 yards away and the other 300 yards away, hitting trailers used by Haniyeh's bodyguards. "This is a critical stage," said Haniyeh in a statement hours after the strike. "The aggression will not achieve its goal, but will lead to more disturbance and will have serious consequences."
Dozens of GOI targeted missile strikes? How many? 48 Palestinians assassinated? How many wounded? How many building destroyed? How many Hamas officials arrested? How many families’ lives seriously disrupted? How many families living in constant fear of airstrikes and the arrest of a parent? Who will help these families to flee? Where can they go?
NEXT - CONCLUSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 2
Today is Day 14,288 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 2
Here is My Summary and Analysis of May 16 - May 20
(I have copied the text from the last message in small print and annotated throughout with my comments italicized and bolded.)
Again, for 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 16, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Eight bodies sprawled face down in a cornfield, next to an overturned jeep, signaled a new phase in Gaza's increasingly brutal civil strife. After the initial attack, Hamas fired on Fatah reinforcements rushing to the scene, including the jeep that overturned. All eight men were killed, hospital officials said. Fatah security men also came under fire as they tried to move the bodies away from the overturned jeep. Two Israeli helicopter gunships and three tanks moved toward the area, and Hamas fighters quickly withdrew. At one point, a major in the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by Israeli Army fire as he tried to leave the crossing, security officials said.
Why did Israeli gunships enter Gaza? Does the Government of Israel(“GOI”) plan to be a peacemaker? If so, why is there no mention of a proposal to meet from the GOI?
Before sundown, Hamas said it fired rockets at Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza. Residents counted more than 20 rockets. One rocket hit a house, seriously wounding an Israeli woman. It was the first time in three weeks that Hamas has claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage.
Doesn’t it appear that the Israeli gunships enter Gaza AFTER the rockets were fired at Sderot rather than BEFORE? Did the GOI have intelligence that the response to an attack of Hamas would be a rocket attack on Sderot?
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz summoned army commanders for late-night consultations. Earlier, defense officials said Israel would not be dragged into the fighting.
Then why did the GOI get dragged into the fighting?
However, Israel closed Karni, the only route for cargo into Gaza. The closure means Gaza will soon run out of fuel for its power plant and electricity to most of the strip could be shut down by today, said Abdel Karim Abdeen, head of the Palestinian Energy Authority.
What justification is there for the collective punishment of ALL the Palestinians living in Gaza for the acts of the militants? Couldn’t this mean the death of those with illness who rely on electric power to run their medical equipment?
May 17, 2007 SDEROT, Israel -- Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses yesterday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001. Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 residents of Sderot.
Power was lost to 24,000 residents of Sderot while power has been lost to over one million Palestinians?
More than 20 rockets were fired on the town yesterday, wounding two people. The attacks came a day after rockets injured five residents and destroyed several homes -- along with any remnant of a sense of security here. Hamas' decision to rocket Sderot this week appeared to be an attempt to draw Israel into Palestinian infighting as a way of uniting warring factions. Dozens of Palestinians have died since Sunday in a surge of violence between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements. Mayor Eli Moyal said more than 4,500 Qassam rockets have landed in the working-class town since 2001, killing seven residents and wounding dozens. A recent poll indicated about half the residents would leave if they could.
In 6 years,there have been 4500 Qassam rockets fired into Sderot, seven people have been killed and dozens have been wounded.
"The anxiety level with the kids is unimaginable," said Tami Sagie, head of psychological services in Sderot. which includes a community of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. Yesterday, dozens of Sderot residents crammed into buses provided by a Russian-Israeli billionaire to leave the battered town. However, what most residents want is for Israel to strike back hard at the Palestinians -- most of the rockets that hit Sderot come from the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, just 1.5 miles away. The evacuations drew fire from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I oppose population evacuations," he said. "These are the exact pictures that Hamas has been waiting for, and I am not prepared to grant any victory to terrorism." Olmert is under increasing pressure to launch a major operation in Gaza, from which Israeli troops withdrew in September 2005. Security officials said the army favors an immediate, large-scale ground offensive in Gaza while the Shin Bet security service favors a more measured response.
The GOI solution to the firing of rockets into Sderot includes leaving the population of Sderot there and doing one of the following –a large scale ground offensive or a measured response. What relevance is it that many of the residents of Sderot are immigrants from Ethiopia? Did they forget to mention the option of negotiating a fair and just settlement?
May 17, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Gunfire and explosions raged across Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 21 people in the most widespread fighting in nearly a year of clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.The infighting threatened to destroy a fragile unity government established in March and pushed Palestinians ever closer to all-out civil war. Hamas militants beat a female Fatah lawmaker and her two children before setting fire to her apartment. Hamas also targeted Israel, firing barrages of homemade rockets for a second day, seriously wounding one person and knocking out power in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, officials said . Israel staged two air strikes on Hamas targets, reportedly killing five people. "Israel cannot continue to restrain itself when its citizens are being hit and therefore decided on a severe and serious response," Olmert's office said.
Israel has now begun to strike “back’ or is it “forth”? The justification NOW is that its citizens are now under attack.
Forty-five people have died, most of them Fatah men, and dozens have been wounded. During the week, the attacks have grown increasingly brazen. Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards early yesterday during an assassination attempt on a top Fatah security official. The commander, Rashid Abu Shbak, wasn't home during the assault and his family escaped harm. Hamas militiamen also set fire to an 11-story apartment building inhabited by several Fatah officials. Frightened residents huddled in darkened homes after electricity to some neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line. Buildings were pocked with bullet holes and windows were shattered by explosions.
What terrible violence by Hamas and Fatah!! What does the GOI propose to do to end this battle between these two Palestinian factions?
"What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government, but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian strategy as a whole," said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to the Palestinian president. Exiled Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed the violence on the cutoff of international aid to the Palestinian Authority. "The international community and Arab countries shoulder part of the responsibility for the current events, due to their attitudes toward the national unity government," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press. Hamas agreed to form the unity government with Fatah in the hope that the international community would end sanctions imposed on the previous Hamas-led government for Hamas's refusal to renounce violence and accept the existence of Israel. Abbas, Fatah's moderate leader, is respected in the West but has been unable to lift the boycott.
Oh yeh!! I almost forgot. The Palestinian people voted for Hamas in a free democratic election … and then began the boycott by the US (the country that is trying to spread democracy around the world) and Israel as well as other European countries. To what extent is the violence between Fatah and Hamas due to the pressure Hamas was under to form a coalition government?
A nurse traveling in an ambulance was hit in the head by a bullet when she was caught in cross-fire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain-dead and on a respirator. Yesterday afternoon a group of about 200 Palestinians marched through central Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting. Israeli ambulances stationed at the Gaza-Israel border transferred four Palestinian children who were badly injured to a hospital in southern Israel, according to Israeli rescue services.
May 19, 2007 JERUSALEM -- Israeli aircraft pounded border posts, headquarters buildings, and cars across the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least eight people, as Hamas gunmen confronted their armed rivals from the Fatah party in the streets. Hamas officials accused Israel and Fatah of working in tandem against Hamas,.In a statement issued late yesterday, Hamas contended that the Preventive Security Service, a branch controlled by Fatah, was collaborating with "multiple foreign governments."
Is this the answer? Is this how the GOI plans to bring about peace in the region? More assassinations
Since Sunday, nearly 50 Hamas and Fatah gunmen have died in Gaza as a result of factional fighting. In addition, at least 20 Palestinians, all of them apparently Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes this week.
May 20, 2007 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --Israel's air force fired a missile at a house in Gaza City late Sunday, killing at least eight people, residents and hospital officials said. The strike followed a decision to step up attacks against Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza. The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since Israel started reprisals Tuesday for the rocket barrages. The house belonged to Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said. The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, al-Haya's wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants. Israeli air attacks on militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians
Another path to peace? More assassinations without due process. Isn’t it extraordinary(and despicable) that in Israel where capital punishment is banned for all citizens except for convicted Nazi war criminals, Palestinians across the green line do not have to be arrested, tried and convicted but can be summarily executed whether they are rocket launchers, suspected militants, Hamas officials, or innocent women and children.
Is that true that al Haya was attending a cease fire talk with Fatah and attending an Egyptian sponsored truce meeting? Was the reason for assassinating his family and friends to put an end to the truce talks with Fatah to insure that the civil war continues?
NEXT - SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS FOR MAY 21 - MAY 27
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Rabbi Akiva - “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18 - this is the major principle of the Torah.”
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 2
Here is My Summary and Analysis of May 16 - May 20
(I have copied the text from the last message in small print and annotated throughout with my comments italicized and bolded.)
Again, for 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 16, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Eight bodies sprawled face down in a cornfield, next to an overturned jeep, signaled a new phase in Gaza's increasingly brutal civil strife. After the initial attack, Hamas fired on Fatah reinforcements rushing to the scene, including the jeep that overturned. All eight men were killed, hospital officials said. Fatah security men also came under fire as they tried to move the bodies away from the overturned jeep. Two Israeli helicopter gunships and three tanks moved toward the area, and Hamas fighters quickly withdrew. At one point, a major in the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by Israeli Army fire as he tried to leave the crossing, security officials said.
Why did Israeli gunships enter Gaza? Does the Government of Israel(“GOI”) plan to be a peacemaker? If so, why is there no mention of a proposal to meet from the GOI?
Before sundown, Hamas said it fired rockets at Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza. Residents counted more than 20 rockets. One rocket hit a house, seriously wounding an Israeli woman. It was the first time in three weeks that Hamas has claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage.
Doesn’t it appear that the Israeli gunships enter Gaza AFTER the rockets were fired at Sderot rather than BEFORE? Did the GOI have intelligence that the response to an attack of Hamas would be a rocket attack on Sderot?
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz summoned army commanders for late-night consultations. Earlier, defense officials said Israel would not be dragged into the fighting.
Then why did the GOI get dragged into the fighting?
However, Israel closed Karni, the only route for cargo into Gaza. The closure means Gaza will soon run out of fuel for its power plant and electricity to most of the strip could be shut down by today, said Abdel Karim Abdeen, head of the Palestinian Energy Authority.
What justification is there for the collective punishment of ALL the Palestinians living in Gaza for the acts of the militants? Couldn’t this mean the death of those with illness who rely on electric power to run their medical equipment?
May 17, 2007 SDEROT, Israel -- Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses yesterday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001. Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 residents of Sderot.
Power was lost to 24,000 residents of Sderot while power has been lost to over one million Palestinians?
More than 20 rockets were fired on the town yesterday, wounding two people. The attacks came a day after rockets injured five residents and destroyed several homes -- along with any remnant of a sense of security here. Hamas' decision to rocket Sderot this week appeared to be an attempt to draw Israel into Palestinian infighting as a way of uniting warring factions. Dozens of Palestinians have died since Sunday in a surge of violence between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements. Mayor Eli Moyal said more than 4,500 Qassam rockets have landed in the working-class town since 2001, killing seven residents and wounding dozens. A recent poll indicated about half the residents would leave if they could.
In 6 years,there have been 4500 Qassam rockets fired into Sderot, seven people have been killed and dozens have been wounded.
"The anxiety level with the kids is unimaginable," said Tami Sagie, head of psychological services in Sderot. which includes a community of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. Yesterday, dozens of Sderot residents crammed into buses provided by a Russian-Israeli billionaire to leave the battered town. However, what most residents want is for Israel to strike back hard at the Palestinians -- most of the rockets that hit Sderot come from the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, just 1.5 miles away. The evacuations drew fire from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I oppose population evacuations," he said. "These are the exact pictures that Hamas has been waiting for, and I am not prepared to grant any victory to terrorism." Olmert is under increasing pressure to launch a major operation in Gaza, from which Israeli troops withdrew in September 2005. Security officials said the army favors an immediate, large-scale ground offensive in Gaza while the Shin Bet security service favors a more measured response.
The GOI solution to the firing of rockets into Sderot includes leaving the population of Sderot there and doing one of the following –a large scale ground offensive or a measured response. What relevance is it that many of the residents of Sderot are immigrants from Ethiopia? Did they forget to mention the option of negotiating a fair and just settlement?
May 17, 2007 GAZA CITY -- Gunfire and explosions raged across Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 21 people in the most widespread fighting in nearly a year of clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.The infighting threatened to destroy a fragile unity government established in March and pushed Palestinians ever closer to all-out civil war. Hamas militants beat a female Fatah lawmaker and her two children before setting fire to her apartment. Hamas also targeted Israel, firing barrages of homemade rockets for a second day, seriously wounding one person and knocking out power in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, officials said . Israel staged two air strikes on Hamas targets, reportedly killing five people. "Israel cannot continue to restrain itself when its citizens are being hit and therefore decided on a severe and serious response," Olmert's office said.
Israel has now begun to strike “back’ or is it “forth”? The justification NOW is that its citizens are now under attack.
Forty-five people have died, most of them Fatah men, and dozens have been wounded. During the week, the attacks have grown increasingly brazen. Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards early yesterday during an assassination attempt on a top Fatah security official. The commander, Rashid Abu Shbak, wasn't home during the assault and his family escaped harm. Hamas militiamen also set fire to an 11-story apartment building inhabited by several Fatah officials. Frightened residents huddled in darkened homes after electricity to some neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line. Buildings were pocked with bullet holes and windows were shattered by explosions.
What terrible violence by Hamas and Fatah!! What does the GOI propose to do to end this battle between these two Palestinian factions?
"What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government, but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian strategy as a whole," said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to the Palestinian president. Exiled Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed the violence on the cutoff of international aid to the Palestinian Authority. "The international community and Arab countries shoulder part of the responsibility for the current events, due to their attitudes toward the national unity government," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press. Hamas agreed to form the unity government with Fatah in the hope that the international community would end sanctions imposed on the previous Hamas-led government for Hamas's refusal to renounce violence and accept the existence of Israel. Abbas, Fatah's moderate leader, is respected in the West but has been unable to lift the boycott.
Oh yeh!! I almost forgot. The Palestinian people voted for Hamas in a free democratic election … and then began the boycott by the US (the country that is trying to spread democracy around the world) and Israel as well as other European countries. To what extent is the violence between Fatah and Hamas due to the pressure Hamas was under to form a coalition government?
A nurse traveling in an ambulance was hit in the head by a bullet when she was caught in cross-fire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain-dead and on a respirator. Yesterday afternoon a group of about 200 Palestinians marched through central Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting. Israeli ambulances stationed at the Gaza-Israel border transferred four Palestinian children who were badly injured to a hospital in southern Israel, according to Israeli rescue services.
May 19, 2007 JERUSALEM -- Israeli aircraft pounded border posts, headquarters buildings, and cars across the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least eight people, as Hamas gunmen confronted their armed rivals from the Fatah party in the streets. Hamas officials accused Israel and Fatah of working in tandem against Hamas,.In a statement issued late yesterday, Hamas contended that the Preventive Security Service, a branch controlled by Fatah, was collaborating with "multiple foreign governments."
Is this the answer? Is this how the GOI plans to bring about peace in the region? More assassinations
Since Sunday, nearly 50 Hamas and Fatah gunmen have died in Gaza as a result of factional fighting. In addition, at least 20 Palestinians, all of them apparently Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes this week.
May 20, 2007 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --Israel's air force fired a missile at a house in Gaza City late Sunday, killing at least eight people, residents and hospital officials said. The strike followed a decision to step up attacks against Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza. The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since Israel started reprisals Tuesday for the rocket barrages. The house belonged to Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said. The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, al-Haya's wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants. Israeli air attacks on militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians
Another path to peace? More assassinations without due process. Isn’t it extraordinary(and despicable) that in Israel where capital punishment is banned for all citizens except for convicted Nazi war criminals, Palestinians across the green line do not have to be arrested, tried and convicted but can be summarily executed whether they are rocket launchers, suspected militants, Hamas officials, or innocent women and children.
Is that true that al Haya was attending a cease fire talk with Fatah and attending an Egyptian sponsored truce meeting? Was the reason for assassinating his family and friends to put an end to the truce talks with Fatah to insure that the civil war continues?
NEXT - SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS FOR MAY 21 - MAY 27
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
The Challenge - Summarize and Analyze the Cycle of Violence in Gaza - Part 1
Today is Day 14,288 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Micah.6:8 “He has told you, O man, Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God"
For 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 16, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Eight bodies sprawled face down in a cornfield, next to an overturned jeep, signaled a new phase in Gaza's increasingly brutal civil strife. After the initial attack, Hamas fired on Fatah reinforcements rushing to the scene, including the jeep that overturned. All eight men were killed, hospital officials said. Fatah security men also came under fire as they tried to move the bodies away from the overturned jeep.
Two Israeli helicopter gunships and three tanks moved toward the area, and Hamas fighters quickly withdrew. At one point, a major in the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by Israeli Army fire as he tried to leave the crossing, security officials said.
Before sundown, Hamas said it fired rockets at Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza. Residents counted more than 20 rockets. One rocket hit a house, seriously wounding an Israeli woman. It was the first time in three weeks that Hamas has claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz summoned army commanders for late-night consultations. Earlier, defense officials said Israel would not be dragged into the fighting.
However, Israel closed Karni, the only route for cargo into Gaza. The closure means Gaza will soon run out of fuel for its power plant and electricity to most of the strip could be shut down by today, said Abdel Karim Abdeen, head of the Palestinian Energy Authority.
May 17, 2007
SDEROT, Israel -- Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses yesterday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001. Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 residents of Sderot. More than 20 rockets were fired on the town yesterday, wounding two people. The attacks came a day after rockets injured five residents and destroyed several homes -- along with any remnant of a sense of security here. Hamas' decision to rocket Sderot this week appeared to be an attempt to draw Israel into Palestinian infighting as a way of uniting warring factions.
Dozens of Palestinians have died since Sunday in a surge of violence between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements.
Mayor Eli Moyal said more than 4,500 Qassam rockets have landed in the working-class town since 2001, killing seven residents and wounding dozens. A recent poll indicated about half the residents would leave if they could. "The anxiety level with the kids is unimaginable," said Tami Sagie, head of psychological services in Sderot. which includes a community of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. Yesterday, dozens of Sderot residents crammed into buses provided by a Russian-Israeli billionaire to leave the battered town. However, what most residents want is for Israel to strike back hard at the Palestinians -- most of the rockets that hit Sderot come from the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, just 1.5 miles away.
The evacuations drew fire from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I oppose population evacuations," he said. "These are the exact pictures that Hamas has been waiting for, and I am not prepared to grant any victory to terrorism." Olmert is under increasing pressure to launch a major operation in Gaza, from which Israeli troops withdrew in September 2005. Security officials said the army favors an immediate, large-scale ground offensive in Gaza while the Shin Bet security service favors a more measured response.
May 17, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Gunfire and explosions raged across Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 21 people in the most widespread fighting in nearly a year of clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.The infighting threatened to destroy a fragile unity government established in March and pushed Palestinians ever closer to all-out civil war. Hamas militants beat a female Fatah lawmaker and her two children before setting fire to her apartment.
Hamas also targeted Israel, firing barrages of homemade rockets for a second day, seriously wounding one person and knocking out power in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, officials said.
Israel staged two airstrikes on Hamas targets, reportedly killing five people. "Israel cannot continue to restrain itself when its citizens are being hit and therefore decided on a severe and serious response," Olmert's office said.
Forty-five people have died, most of them Fatah men, and dozens have been wounded. During the week, the attacks have grown increasingly brazen. Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards early yesterday during an assassination attempt on a top Fatah security official. The commander, Rashid Abu Shbak, wasn't home during the assault and his family escaped harm.
Hamas militiamen also set fire to an 11-story apartment building inhabited by several Fatah officials. Frightened residents huddled in darkened homes after electricity to some neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line. Buildings were pocked with bullet holes and windows were shattered by explosions.
"What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government, but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian strategy as a whole," said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to the Palestinian president. Exiled Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed the violence on the cutoff of international aid to the Palestinian Authority. "The international community and Arab countries shoulder part of the responsibility for the current events, due to their attitudes toward the national unity government," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press. Hamas agreed to form the unity government with Fatah in the hope that the international community would end sanctions imposed on the previous Hamas-led government for Hamas's refusal to renounce violence and accept the existence of Israel. Abbas, Fatah's moderate leader, is respected in the West but has been unable to lift the boycott.
A nurse traveling in an ambulance was hit in the head by a bullet when she was caught in cross-fire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain-dead and on a respirator. Yesterday afternoon a group of about 200 Palestinians marched through central Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting.
Israeli ambulances stationed at the Gaza-Israel border transferred four Palestinian children who were badly injured to a hospital in southern Israel, according to Israeli rescue services.
May 19, 2007
JERUSALEM -- Israeli aircraft pounded border posts, headquarters buildings, and cars across the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least eight people, as Hamas gunmen confronted their armed rivals from the Fatah party in the streets. Hamas officials accused Israel and Fatah of working in tandem against Hamas,.In a statement issued late yesterday, Hamas contended that the Preventive Security Service, a branch controlled by Fatah, was collaborating with "multiple foreign governments."
Since Sunday, nearly 50 Hamas and Fatah gunmen have died in Gaza as a result of factional fighting.
In addition, at least 20 Palestinians, all of them apparently Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes this week.
May 20, 2007
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --Israel's air force fired a missile at a house in Gaza City late Sunday, killing at least eight people, residents and hospital officials said. The strike followed a decision to step up attacks against Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza. The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since Israel started reprisals Tuesday for the rocket barrages. The house belonged to Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said. The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, al-Haya's wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants.
Israeli air attacks on militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians
May 21, 2007
JERUSALEM—Of the Israeli missile that killed 8 members of his family and friends, “These crimes will not stop us or our people from continuing the struggle and resistance," Haya, the head of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, said later at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
But Israeli military officials said Haya was not the intended target. They said Israeli aircraft fired on a "terrorist cell" in the Sharjiya neighborhood where Haya lives. Israeli officials said one of the men killed was Sameh Ferwanah, 28, a senior Hamas military official from Gaza who has been involved in rocket and shooting attacks on Israel. The name appeared on the list of dead provided by Palestinian medical officials. "We know from initial reports that of the terrorist cells we targeted, all five were hit," said Captain Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were the target and they were hit. Anything else that happened, that was not our intention."
The strike followed another day of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, along with warnings from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that the military response would intensify unless the attacks stopped.
About 35 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past six days.
Last evening, an Israeli tank near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza fired on a group of men who had just launched two rockets toward Israel, military officials said.
Palestinian hospital officials said the tank shell seriously wounded five members of the Masri family, including several children.(On Monday, an Israeli airstrike just after midnight on a post used by the Hamas military wing in Gaza killed at least one gunmen and wounded several others.)
Hamas's military wing has fired more than 120 rockets into Israel over the past six days. Israeli military officials said 20 rockets were fired yesterday toward Israel, many of them landing in and around the city of Sderot. One woman has been seriously injured in the days of attacks and dozens of others treated for light wounds and shock.
At the same time Israel appears to be ratcheting up its military retaliation, the factional fighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party appears to be waning.A cease-fire agreement between the parties -- the fifth since the latest spasm of partisan fighting began a week ago -- held yesterday with no reports of casualties. More than 50 Palestinians have died in the fighting over the past week.
May 22, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously yesterday when Israel killed five militants in air strikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target.
A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman, the first Israeli to die in a Palestinian rocket attack since November.
The precautions followed an Israeli air strike late Sunday on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied Haya, who was not there at the time, was the target. But Israel's leaders said they would use more drastic measures to stop daily barrages of rocket fire into Israel.
Yesterday an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, said the men were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel.
Other airstrikes yesterday killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the Israeli Army said.
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.
Late yesterday, Israel imposed a closure on Gaza and the West Bank, banning Palestinians from entering Israel except in humanitarian cases. The military said the closure would be lifted tomorrow after a Jewish holiday, depending on the security situation.
The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rockets. Militants launched at least 18 homemade rockets at Israel from Gaza yesterday, according to the military and Israeli media, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150.
In addition to the death yesterday, 16 Israelis have been wounded in the past week and the barrages have disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza. At sundown, a Palestinian rocket hit a car and set it on fire in the Israeli town of Sderot, about a mile from Gaza.
The woman died en route to the hospital and two others were wounded in the attack. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
May 23, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Israel launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants today, wounding seven people, hospital officials and residents of the northern part of the coastal strip said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store munitions and that secondary explosions were observed.
Israel said yesterday that it could target the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and that a Gaza ground offensive was possible unless world pressure was brought on the Islamist group to halt all rocket fire aimed at the Jewish state.
May 26, 2007
JERUSALEM (CNN) – Israel unleashed a new round of airstrikes on Gaza and arrested a second Hamas member of the Palestinian unity government in the West Bank on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces told CNN.Israeli forces seized State Minister Wasfi Kabaha at his home in the West Bankin in an early-morning raid.
On Thursday, Education Minister Nasser Al Shaer and about 30 other senior members of Hamas were arrested.
Airstrikes directed at Hamas targets in Gaza killed four members of Hamas' special forces and injured three, according to Palestinian security and Hamas sources.The airstrikes hit in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian security sources reported four people were injured when Israeli airstrikes struck targets in and around Gaza City. Those targets included a facility used by bodyguards for Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and a wood workshop near the Jebailya refugee camp, the sources said.
Recent days have been marked by Palestinian rockets flying into Israel followed by Israeli strikes at Hamas targets.
On Friday, Palestinian security sources said Israeli airstrikes targeting positions in and around Gaza City killed a Palestinian and wounded more than 10 others.
The strikes followed a Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hitting the yard of a house in Sderot Friday afternoon, according to the IDF and Israel Ambulance Services. At least eight rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday, officials said.
Also Friday, the IDF said it had carried out an aerial attack south of Gaza City against Hamas targets in an attempt to combat Palestinian rocket attacks.
Palestinian security sources said three Palestinians were wounded. They said the strike targeted a base of the Hamas Executive Force and a base of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Journalist Talal Abu-Rahmi contributed to this report.
Palestinian factions met to discuss a possible truce with Israel.
May 27, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Hamas hardened its stance yesterday after a new barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed five militants, saying it would not consider a truce and calling for more attacks on Israel.
The Islamic militant group also warned Israel that if it continued its 10-day air assault, it would threaten the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier nabbed in June by Hamas-linked militants. Shalit has not been heard from or seen since his capture.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah faction, has tried in recent days to revive a cease-fire with Israel. Under his plan, Gaza militants would halt rocket fire for a month to allow for negotiations on a more comprehensive truce that would include the West Bank.
After a meeting late Friday, the militant groups initially asked for 48 hours to consider the proposal.
But after the rash of new air attacks yesterday, including five in less than an hour, Hamas called on its fighters to "direct painful strikes at the Zionist enemy." Hamas "will not offer a free truce to the Zionist occupation," the group said.
"If there is an end to the attacks, we can talk about a truce," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing.
He said Shalit's freedom was in danger, but not his life.
"The enemy knows that getting Shalit back is in our hands," he said. "It would be a dream" that Hamas would release him while attacks continued, he added.
Israel has launched dozens of targeted missile strikes over the past 10 days that have killed 48 Palestinians and damaged many Hamas installations in an attempt to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli border towns.
Israel said some 225 rockets have landed in Israeli towns since May 15, killing one woman and sending thousands of frightened Israeli residents fleeing. Two rockets landed in Israel yesterday, including a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was injured.
In all, Israeli aircraft launched 14 missile strikes yesterday. Before dawn, they struck near the house of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a Gaza refugee camp, while troops in the West Bank arrested a Hamas Cabinet minister.
One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a key Hamas base in Gaza City, killing five Hamas members and wounding four.
The compound was used as a training center and base for Hamas's militia, the Executive Force. Two rooms in the camp were destroyed and rescue workers searched the rubble. A nearby charity was badly damaged from the strike.
Earlier yesterday, two missiles hit close to Haniyeh's house in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City.
One landed around 100 yards away and the other 300 yards away, hitting trailers used by Haniyeh's bodyguards.
"This is a critical stage," said Haniyeh in a statement hours after the strike. "The aggression will not achieve its goal, but will lead to more disturbance and will have serious consequences."
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Micah.6:8 “He has told you, O man, Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God"
For 11 days I have read the headlines and the articles about what is happening in Gaza. They all describe violence by Hamas, Fatah and the government of Israel. Rather than being conflicted about even reading about this, I thought I would challenge myself to summarize and analyze the cycle of violence. What I did first was to cut and paste excerpts from each article (primarily those from the Boston Globe) and compile them into one file. That file appears below. What I challenge you to do is to read the entire 11 day chronology and write your own summary and analysis. I am in the process of doing the same thing and will post mine when I am not prepared to agonize over it any more (note that I did not say "when it is completed"). I encourage you to do the same.
May 16, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Eight bodies sprawled face down in a cornfield, next to an overturned jeep, signaled a new phase in Gaza's increasingly brutal civil strife. After the initial attack, Hamas fired on Fatah reinforcements rushing to the scene, including the jeep that overturned. All eight men were killed, hospital officials said. Fatah security men also came under fire as they tried to move the bodies away from the overturned jeep.
Two Israeli helicopter gunships and three tanks moved toward the area, and Hamas fighters quickly withdrew. At one point, a major in the Palestinian Presidential Guard was killed by Israeli Army fire as he tried to leave the crossing, security officials said.
Before sundown, Hamas said it fired rockets at Sderot, an Israeli town near Gaza. Residents counted more than 20 rockets. One rocket hit a house, seriously wounding an Israeli woman. It was the first time in three weeks that Hamas has claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz summoned army commanders for late-night consultations. Earlier, defense officials said Israel would not be dragged into the fighting.
However, Israel closed Karni, the only route for cargo into Gaza. The closure means Gaza will soon run out of fuel for its power plant and electricity to most of the strip could be shut down by today, said Abdel Karim Abdeen, head of the Palestinian Energy Authority.
May 17, 2007
SDEROT, Israel -- Schools closed and residents huddled in bomb shelters or fled in buses yesterday as another barrage of rockets struck this Israeli border town, the target of thousands of Palestinian attacks since 2001. Late in the day, a homemade rocket hit an electrical transformer in southern Israel, the army said, knocking out power to the 24,000 residents of Sderot. More than 20 rockets were fired on the town yesterday, wounding two people. The attacks came a day after rockets injured five residents and destroyed several homes -- along with any remnant of a sense of security here. Hamas' decision to rocket Sderot this week appeared to be an attempt to draw Israel into Palestinian infighting as a way of uniting warring factions.
Dozens of Palestinians have died since Sunday in a surge of violence between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements.
Mayor Eli Moyal said more than 4,500 Qassam rockets have landed in the working-class town since 2001, killing seven residents and wounding dozens. A recent poll indicated about half the residents would leave if they could. "The anxiety level with the kids is unimaginable," said Tami Sagie, head of psychological services in Sderot. which includes a community of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. Yesterday, dozens of Sderot residents crammed into buses provided by a Russian-Israeli billionaire to leave the battered town. However, what most residents want is for Israel to strike back hard at the Palestinians -- most of the rockets that hit Sderot come from the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, just 1.5 miles away.
The evacuations drew fire from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I oppose population evacuations," he said. "These are the exact pictures that Hamas has been waiting for, and I am not prepared to grant any victory to terrorism." Olmert is under increasing pressure to launch a major operation in Gaza, from which Israeli troops withdrew in September 2005. Security officials said the army favors an immediate, large-scale ground offensive in Gaza while the Shin Bet security service favors a more measured response.
May 17, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Gunfire and explosions raged across Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 21 people in the most widespread fighting in nearly a year of clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.The infighting threatened to destroy a fragile unity government established in March and pushed Palestinians ever closer to all-out civil war. Hamas militants beat a female Fatah lawmaker and her two children before setting fire to her apartment.
Hamas also targeted Israel, firing barrages of homemade rockets for a second day, seriously wounding one person and knocking out power in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, officials said.
Israel staged two airstrikes on Hamas targets, reportedly killing five people. "Israel cannot continue to restrain itself when its citizens are being hit and therefore decided on a severe and serious response," Olmert's office said.
Forty-five people have died, most of them Fatah men, and dozens have been wounded. During the week, the attacks have grown increasingly brazen. Hamas gunmen fatally shot six bodyguards early yesterday during an assassination attempt on a top Fatah security official. The commander, Rashid Abu Shbak, wasn't home during the assault and his family escaped harm.
Hamas militiamen also set fire to an 11-story apartment building inhabited by several Fatah officials. Frightened residents huddled in darkened homes after electricity to some neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line. Buildings were pocked with bullet holes and windows were shattered by explosions.
"What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government, but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian strategy as a whole," said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to the Palestinian president. Exiled Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed the violence on the cutoff of international aid to the Palestinian Authority. "The international community and Arab countries shoulder part of the responsibility for the current events, due to their attitudes toward the national unity government," Abu Marzouk told The Associated Press. Hamas agreed to form the unity government with Fatah in the hope that the international community would end sanctions imposed on the previous Hamas-led government for Hamas's refusal to renounce violence and accept the existence of Israel. Abbas, Fatah's moderate leader, is respected in the West but has been unable to lift the boycott.
A nurse traveling in an ambulance was hit in the head by a bullet when she was caught in cross-fire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain-dead and on a respirator. Yesterday afternoon a group of about 200 Palestinians marched through central Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting.
Israeli ambulances stationed at the Gaza-Israel border transferred four Palestinian children who were badly injured to a hospital in southern Israel, according to Israeli rescue services.
May 19, 2007
JERUSALEM -- Israeli aircraft pounded border posts, headquarters buildings, and cars across the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least eight people, as Hamas gunmen confronted their armed rivals from the Fatah party in the streets. Hamas officials accused Israel and Fatah of working in tandem against Hamas,.In a statement issued late yesterday, Hamas contended that the Preventive Security Service, a branch controlled by Fatah, was collaborating with "multiple foreign governments."
Since Sunday, nearly 50 Hamas and Fatah gunmen have died in Gaza as a result of factional fighting.
In addition, at least 20 Palestinians, all of them apparently Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes this week.
May 20, 2007
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --Israel's air force fired a missile at a house in Gaza City late Sunday, killing at least eight people, residents and hospital officials said. The strike followed a decision to step up attacks against Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza. The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since Israel started reprisals Tuesday for the rocket barrages. The house belonged to Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said. The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, al-Haya's wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants.
Israeli air attacks on militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians
May 21, 2007
JERUSALEM—Of the Israeli missile that killed 8 members of his family and friends, “These crimes will not stop us or our people from continuing the struggle and resistance," Haya, the head of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, said later at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
But Israeli military officials said Haya was not the intended target. They said Israeli aircraft fired on a "terrorist cell" in the Sharjiya neighborhood where Haya lives. Israeli officials said one of the men killed was Sameh Ferwanah, 28, a senior Hamas military official from Gaza who has been involved in rocket and shooting attacks on Israel. The name appeared on the list of dead provided by Palestinian medical officials. "We know from initial reports that of the terrorist cells we targeted, all five were hit," said Captain Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were the target and they were hit. Anything else that happened, that was not our intention."
The strike followed another day of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, along with warnings from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that the military response would intensify unless the attacks stopped.
About 35 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past six days.
Last evening, an Israeli tank near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza fired on a group of men who had just launched two rockets toward Israel, military officials said.
Palestinian hospital officials said the tank shell seriously wounded five members of the Masri family, including several children.(On Monday, an Israeli airstrike just after midnight on a post used by the Hamas military wing in Gaza killed at least one gunmen and wounded several others.)
Hamas's military wing has fired more than 120 rockets into Israel over the past six days. Israeli military officials said 20 rockets were fired yesterday toward Israel, many of them landing in and around the city of Sderot. One woman has been seriously injured in the days of attacks and dozens of others treated for light wounds and shock.
At the same time Israel appears to be ratcheting up its military retaliation, the factional fighting between Hamas and the rival Fatah party appears to be waning.A cease-fire agreement between the parties -- the fifth since the latest spasm of partisan fighting began a week ago -- held yesterday with no reports of casualties. More than 50 Palestinians have died in the fighting over the past week.
May 22, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated dangerously yesterday when Israel killed five militants in air strikes and hinted Hamas political leaders could be their next target.
A rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli woman, the first Israeli to die in a Palestinian rocket attack since November.
The precautions followed an Israeli air strike late Sunday on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied Haya, who was not there at the time, was the target. But Israel's leaders said they would use more drastic measures to stop daily barrages of rocket fire into Israel.
Yesterday an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, said the men were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel.
Other airstrikes yesterday killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the Israeli Army said.
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.
Late yesterday, Israel imposed a closure on Gaza and the West Bank, banning Palestinians from entering Israel except in humanitarian cases. The military said the closure would be lifted tomorrow after a Jewish holiday, depending on the security situation.
The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rockets. Militants launched at least 18 homemade rockets at Israel from Gaza yesterday, according to the military and Israeli media, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150.
In addition to the death yesterday, 16 Israelis have been wounded in the past week and the barrages have disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza. At sundown, a Palestinian rocket hit a car and set it on fire in the Israeli town of Sderot, about a mile from Gaza.
The woman died en route to the hospital and two others were wounded in the attack. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
May 23, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Israel launched more air strikes on suspected Gaza militants today, wounding seven people, hospital officials and residents of the northern part of the coastal strip said. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store munitions and that secondary explosions were observed.
Israel said yesterday that it could target the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and that a Gaza ground offensive was possible unless world pressure was brought on the Islamist group to halt all rocket fire aimed at the Jewish state.
May 26, 2007
JERUSALEM (CNN) – Israel unleashed a new round of airstrikes on Gaza and arrested a second Hamas member of the Palestinian unity government in the West Bank on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces told CNN.Israeli forces seized State Minister Wasfi Kabaha at his home in the West Bankin in an early-morning raid.
On Thursday, Education Minister Nasser Al Shaer and about 30 other senior members of Hamas were arrested.
Airstrikes directed at Hamas targets in Gaza killed four members of Hamas' special forces and injured three, according to Palestinian security and Hamas sources.The airstrikes hit in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian security sources reported four people were injured when Israeli airstrikes struck targets in and around Gaza City. Those targets included a facility used by bodyguards for Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and a wood workshop near the Jebailya refugee camp, the sources said.
Recent days have been marked by Palestinian rockets flying into Israel followed by Israeli strikes at Hamas targets.
On Friday, Palestinian security sources said Israeli airstrikes targeting positions in and around Gaza City killed a Palestinian and wounded more than 10 others.
The strikes followed a Palestinian-fired Qassam rocket hitting the yard of a house in Sderot Friday afternoon, according to the IDF and Israel Ambulance Services. At least eight rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza on Friday, officials said.
Also Friday, the IDF said it had carried out an aerial attack south of Gaza City against Hamas targets in an attempt to combat Palestinian rocket attacks.
Palestinian security sources said three Palestinians were wounded. They said the strike targeted a base of the Hamas Executive Force and a base of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Journalist Talal Abu-Rahmi contributed to this report.
Palestinian factions met to discuss a possible truce with Israel.
May 27, 2007
GAZA CITY -- Hamas hardened its stance yesterday after a new barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed five militants, saying it would not consider a truce and calling for more attacks on Israel.
The Islamic militant group also warned Israel that if it continued its 10-day air assault, it would threaten the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier nabbed in June by Hamas-linked militants. Shalit has not been heard from or seen since his capture.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah faction, has tried in recent days to revive a cease-fire with Israel. Under his plan, Gaza militants would halt rocket fire for a month to allow for negotiations on a more comprehensive truce that would include the West Bank.
After a meeting late Friday, the militant groups initially asked for 48 hours to consider the proposal.
But after the rash of new air attacks yesterday, including five in less than an hour, Hamas called on its fighters to "direct painful strikes at the Zionist enemy." Hamas "will not offer a free truce to the Zionist occupation," the group said.
"If there is an end to the attacks, we can talk about a truce," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing.
He said Shalit's freedom was in danger, but not his life.
"The enemy knows that getting Shalit back is in our hands," he said. "It would be a dream" that Hamas would release him while attacks continued, he added.
Israel has launched dozens of targeted missile strikes over the past 10 days that have killed 48 Palestinians and damaged many Hamas installations in an attempt to stop Hamas rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli border towns.
Israel said some 225 rockets have landed in Israeli towns since May 15, killing one woman and sending thousands of frightened Israeli residents fleeing. Two rockets landed in Israel yesterday, including a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was injured.
In all, Israeli aircraft launched 14 missile strikes yesterday. Before dawn, they struck near the house of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a Gaza refugee camp, while troops in the West Bank arrested a Hamas Cabinet minister.
One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a key Hamas base in Gaza City, killing five Hamas members and wounding four.
The compound was used as a training center and base for Hamas's militia, the Executive Force. Two rooms in the camp were destroyed and rescue workers searched the rubble. A nearby charity was badly damaged from the strike.
Earlier yesterday, two missiles hit close to Haniyeh's house in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City.
One landed around 100 yards away and the other 300 yards away, hitting trailers used by Haniyeh's bodyguards.
"This is a critical stage," said Haniyeh in a statement hours after the strike. "The aggression will not achieve its goal, but will lead to more disturbance and will have serious consequences."
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot! - Part 6
Today is Day 14,283 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot! Part 6
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Immorality of the GOI according to the Teachings of Judaism
So let’s review again
Olive trees are very significant culturally and economically for Palestinians. Jewish Israeli settlers (JIS) attack Palestinians, uproot olive trees and fence off Palestinian olive tree groves. IDF soldiers and Israeli civilian authorities, in general, support the actions of the JIS, protect them while arresting Palestinians and bring few criminal charges against the JIS. The Supreme Court of Israel severely criticized the lax approach displayed by the police and security personnel in their law enforcement work against violent settlers, and ruled that the closure of territory to Palestinians, to protect them from settlers, is akin to granting a prize for violence. …In addition, Palestinian farmers in the West Bank now face over 500 physical obstacles and closures including the separation wall that is being constructed by the GOI which restrict their movement and often prevent them from accessing their trees.
I ended the last post by saying, “It is time to pause after learning about the history, customs and traditions of Shavuot. When I return, I will attempt to connect this with the difficulties of the Palestinian farmer/owner of olive trees.” Here’s my take on Shavuot and the Olive Trees of Palestine.
“What Would Ruth Decide to Do Today?”
Moab, by the way, was in Jordan across the Dead Sea just east of Hebron and the West Bank. Naomi was a widow as were her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah (or was it Oprah) and Ruth. Naomi suggests to Orpah and Ruth that they would be better off staying in Moab and returning to their people rather than going back with her to Bethlehem. Orpah, seemingly without hesitation, knows a good thing when she hears it and leaves.
Ruth is thinking …… and she asks Naomi.
“Isn’t this the first day of Sivan? If we leave now, couldn’t we get to Bethlehem by the last day of that holiday you call Shavuot, you know the joyous time when the basket of olives and other fruits are wrapped in ribbon and are taken in a parade with music to the Temple.”
“First, Ruth, about the Temple.” Almost 2000 years ago a group of vicious violent Israelites murdered many other Israelites in a civil war which eventually led to the destruction of the Temple and the dispersal of the Israelites throughout Europe and Asia.”
“Second, while the Israelites near the sea may find pleasure in celebrating Shavuot, there is little joy in Bethlehem or in many of the other towns in the area. Not only are there Israelites blocking the Moabites from getting to their olive trees, there are hundreds of roadblocks so that you can often not transport the olives or the olive products to market let alone have a ceremonial parade.”
So you don’t think that it is possible that some Israelite landowner will let me glean from the fields?
“Not a prayer, Ruth. The Israelites have been building towns and cities nearby and have taken most of the available water. There are still many olive trees but the Israelites keep trying to prevent the Moabites who own the trees from harvesting the olives, let alone leaving a portion for the poor to glean. Protests by Moabites about their suffering have been met with attacks by Israelite soldiers and curfews which sometimes prevent you from leaving your house for a week. In addition, the Israelites are building a 10 mile long high concrete wall that surrounds the Bethlehem area and makes 4000 acres of land with olive trees on it inaccessible.”
“I don’t understand how all this can be happening, Naomi. Didn’t you tell me about Moses, the Israelite, and the Ten Commandments and how in Exodus 20, it said, "13 Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.14 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
“Don’t you remember when I told you about how Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and slaughtered all the inhabitants?” Some Israelites who have not sought mental health treatment hear voices they think is God speaking to them and telling them to do despicable hateful things to others.
“What about the part I read on that scroll over by the Dead Sea in Deutoronomy 20:19 'When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down, for Is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? (and the addendum found in the Hertz Edition footnote – “is the tree of the field man” means because they are vital to man (Ibn Ezra. The Rabbis deduce from this a prohibition of the wanton destruction of anything useful to man.' "
“Many of the Israelites who live closer to the sea do not know and do not want to know what these soldiers and the Israelites near Bethlehem and further south near Hebron are doing. They have forgotten and forsaken the God who I know tells the Israelites in the Torah to protect the weak and the needy and not to oppress strangers because they were strangers in Egypt.”
“Sounds like there isn’t much of a chance of me, a Moabite widow, meeting and getting my husband’s family land redeemed, finding security, getting treated with hesed and marrying a nice Israelite man, is there?
“Frankly, my dear, the Israelites don't give a damn.”
“Naomi, it sounds as though things might be better if I were living with those Israelites near the sea.”
“Sadly, Ruth. I just realized the law of return applies only to Israelites, not to Moabites and even if you were to be able to find Moabite relatives in Bethlehem, there is a long wait for getting a permit to enter under the Family Reunification Act.”
“So much for that plan, Naomi. Nice thought. But before I leave, let me ask you another question. What lieth ahead for you? What are your chances of hooking up (sorry, Naomi) meeting an older Israelite who will love, honor and let you be subservient and obey him for the rest of your life?”
“Point well taken, Ruth.” With all the money being spent by the Israelites to support the vicious violent attackers of the Moabites, there is little left for subsidies to support widows and children (unless I want to live with the vicious violent ones) . If fact, over one-third of the Israelite children live in poverty.
“Hmm!? Where are you off to, Naomi?”
“I think there’s still time to catch a few films at the Cannes Film Festival and settle in for a year or two in Paris.
Ruth paused and then uttered her never-to-be-forgotten words, “You’re family, Naomi. Whither thou goest, I will go.”
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot! Part 6
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Immorality of the GOI according to the Teachings of Judaism
So let’s review again
Olive trees are very significant culturally and economically for Palestinians. Jewish Israeli settlers (JIS) attack Palestinians, uproot olive trees and fence off Palestinian olive tree groves. IDF soldiers and Israeli civilian authorities, in general, support the actions of the JIS, protect them while arresting Palestinians and bring few criminal charges against the JIS. The Supreme Court of Israel severely criticized the lax approach displayed by the police and security personnel in their law enforcement work against violent settlers, and ruled that the closure of territory to Palestinians, to protect them from settlers, is akin to granting a prize for violence. …In addition, Palestinian farmers in the West Bank now face over 500 physical obstacles and closures including the separation wall that is being constructed by the GOI which restrict their movement and often prevent them from accessing their trees.
I ended the last post by saying, “It is time to pause after learning about the history, customs and traditions of Shavuot. When I return, I will attempt to connect this with the difficulties of the Palestinian farmer/owner of olive trees.” Here’s my take on Shavuot and the Olive Trees of Palestine.
“What Would Ruth Decide to Do Today?”
Moab, by the way, was in Jordan across the Dead Sea just east of Hebron and the West Bank. Naomi was a widow as were her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah (or was it Oprah) and Ruth. Naomi suggests to Orpah and Ruth that they would be better off staying in Moab and returning to their people rather than going back with her to Bethlehem. Orpah, seemingly without hesitation, knows a good thing when she hears it and leaves.
Ruth is thinking …… and she asks Naomi.
“Isn’t this the first day of Sivan? If we leave now, couldn’t we get to Bethlehem by the last day of that holiday you call Shavuot, you know the joyous time when the basket of olives and other fruits are wrapped in ribbon and are taken in a parade with music to the Temple.”
“First, Ruth, about the Temple.” Almost 2000 years ago a group of vicious violent Israelites murdered many other Israelites in a civil war which eventually led to the destruction of the Temple and the dispersal of the Israelites throughout Europe and Asia.”
“Second, while the Israelites near the sea may find pleasure in celebrating Shavuot, there is little joy in Bethlehem or in many of the other towns in the area. Not only are there Israelites blocking the Moabites from getting to their olive trees, there are hundreds of roadblocks so that you can often not transport the olives or the olive products to market let alone have a ceremonial parade.”
So you don’t think that it is possible that some Israelite landowner will let me glean from the fields?
“Not a prayer, Ruth. The Israelites have been building towns and cities nearby and have taken most of the available water. There are still many olive trees but the Israelites keep trying to prevent the Moabites who own the trees from harvesting the olives, let alone leaving a portion for the poor to glean. Protests by Moabites about their suffering have been met with attacks by Israelite soldiers and curfews which sometimes prevent you from leaving your house for a week. In addition, the Israelites are building a 10 mile long high concrete wall that surrounds the Bethlehem area and makes 4000 acres of land with olive trees on it inaccessible.”
“I don’t understand how all this can be happening, Naomi. Didn’t you tell me about Moses, the Israelite, and the Ten Commandments and how in Exodus 20, it said, "13 Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.14 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
“Don’t you remember when I told you about how Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and slaughtered all the inhabitants?” Some Israelites who have not sought mental health treatment hear voices they think is God speaking to them and telling them to do despicable hateful things to others.
“What about the part I read on that scroll over by the Dead Sea in Deutoronomy 20:19 'When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down, for Is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? (and the addendum found in the Hertz Edition footnote – “is the tree of the field man” means because they are vital to man (Ibn Ezra. The Rabbis deduce from this a prohibition of the wanton destruction of anything useful to man.' "
“Many of the Israelites who live closer to the sea do not know and do not want to know what these soldiers and the Israelites near Bethlehem and further south near Hebron are doing. They have forgotten and forsaken the God who I know tells the Israelites in the Torah to protect the weak and the needy and not to oppress strangers because they were strangers in Egypt.”
“Sounds like there isn’t much of a chance of me, a Moabite widow, meeting and getting my husband’s family land redeemed, finding security, getting treated with hesed and marrying a nice Israelite man, is there?
“Frankly, my dear, the Israelites don't give a damn.”
“Naomi, it sounds as though things might be better if I were living with those Israelites near the sea.”
“Sadly, Ruth. I just realized the law of return applies only to Israelites, not to Moabites and even if you were to be able to find Moabite relatives in Bethlehem, there is a long wait for getting a permit to enter under the Family Reunification Act.”
“So much for that plan, Naomi. Nice thought. But before I leave, let me ask you another question. What lieth ahead for you? What are your chances of hooking up (sorry, Naomi) meeting an older Israelite who will love, honor and let you be subservient and obey him for the rest of your life?”
“Point well taken, Ruth.” With all the money being spent by the Israelites to support the vicious violent attackers of the Moabites, there is little left for subsidies to support widows and children (unless I want to live with the vicious violent ones) . If fact, over one-third of the Israelite children live in poverty.
“Hmm!? Where are you off to, Naomi?”
“I think there’s still time to catch a few films at the Cannes Film Festival and settle in for a year or two in Paris.
Ruth paused and then uttered her never-to-be-forgotten words, “You’re family, Naomi. Whither thou goest, I will go.”
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot! - Part 5
Today is Day 14,283 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Immorality of the GOI according to the Teachings of Judaism
So let’s review
Olive trees are very significant culturally and economically for Palestinians. Jewish Israeli settlers (JIS) attack Palestinians, uproot olive trees and fence off Palestinian olive tree groves. IDF soldiers and Israeli civilian authorities, in general, support the actions of the JIS, protect them while arresting Palestinians and bring few criminal charges against the JIS. The Supreme Court of Israel severely criticized the lax approach displayed by the police and security personnel in their law enforcement work against violent settlers, and ruled that the closure of territory to Palestinians, to protect them from settlers, is akin to granting a prize for violence. …In addition, Palestinian farmers in the West Bank now face over 500 physical obstacles and closures including the separation wall that is being constructed by the GOI which restrict their movement and often prevented them from accessing their trees.
As I said in the last post, isn’t this enough to conclude that what is being done to the Palestinians is simply wrong and unjust? In the last post I considered how these actions violated international human and civil rights laws. In this post I will look at how they violate the core values of Judaism at the moment when many Jewish people are about to begin to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot.
SHAVUOT GENERALLY
When I want to learn about stuff Jewish, I go to www.socialaction.com and www.myjewishlearning.com and I encourage you to do so also. Here is the lead article about Shavuot from socialaction.com.
Shavuot: The Little Jewish Holiday Worth Celebrating by COREY PODELL
"Shavuot, the little holiday that could, is one of the most meaningful as far as social justice is concerned, though probably one of the least celebrated. Shavuot is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah but nonetheless commemorates one of our most important moments, as a people, when we were handed the Ten Commandments by God at Mt. Sinai (Ed. Note. – in rabbinic tradition we also received the other written and oral laws of the Torah). These Commandments have guided us through centuries of persecution, triumph, and struggle as a community, and they still guide us today. … Shavuot is also the day on which the Bikkurim (first fruits from the seven species for which Israel is praised) were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. These species are: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Does anyone doubt that a feast is in the making? … Shavuot also gives us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to tikkun olam, repairing the world. Any time we, as Jews, indulge in a special meal, we must think of and remember those that do not have that luxury, who are poor and hungry. Because Shavuot is connected to the harvest and to the land, historically Rabbis would save a portion of the harvest for the poor. The Book of Ruth, typically read during this holiday, emphasizes the importance of reaching out to strangers and fulfilling the communal obligation to the needy. Jews partake in this action by donating food to pantries, inviting those in need to their family or community meal, and by performing small but significant actions such as drinking or serving fair trade coffee. Even little actions can contribute to tikkun olam.
"Shavuot celebrates the fruits and grains that come from the earth, and we are reminded that the earth that has sustained us for centuries is fragile and changing. It makes our bond to the earth that much deeper. We are also reminded on Shavuot that, with harmful pesticides and herbicides, we as Jews need to make more earth-conscious decisions, not just on this holiday but throughout the year.
"Pirkei Avot, another popular piece read on this holiday, states, (Hillel) “If I am not for myself who will be for me? And if I am only for myself alone, then what am I? And if not now, when?” (Avot 1:18) Because there is a counting of days leading up to Shavuot, there are seven weeks to focus on studying and learning and on getting involved in noteworthy projects that lead up to the sixth day of Sivan itself. Some progressive communities focus on different social justice topics for each of the weeks, for example, … “Social Action Role Models,” Corey Podell is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. When she isn’t writing, you can find her reading, attending live music shows and walking her dog Sophie.
http://www.socialaction.com/education_resources/jewish_holidays/shavuot/LittleJewishHoliday.shtml
THE SPRING HARVEST OF FRUITS
Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness. It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could bring the Bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple in Jerusalem The Bikkurim were brought from the Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (Deut. 8:8). Jewish farmers would tie a ribbon around the first ripening fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the time of harvest, the fruits identified by the ribbon would be cut and placed into baskets woven of gold and silver….placed on oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, and who were led in a grand procession to Jerusalem. As the farmer and his entourage passed through cities and towns, they would be accompanied by music and parades.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE GIVING OF THE TORAH
Nothing ever came to replace the bringing of first fruits to the Temple. Shavuot begged for ritual enhancement and this is the need increasingly met by the custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the practice of spending the first night of Shavuot awake in the study of Torah culminating in the reading of the Ten Commandments given at Sinai
A few of the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:12-14
"12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
14 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Shavuot is also celebrated as the time when God gave Moses not only the Ten Commandments but the Torah, both the written and the oral laws Here is a relevant law from the Torah Deuteronomy 20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down, for Is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? (Hertz footnote – “is the tree of the field man” means because they are vital to man (Ibn Ezra. The Rabbis deduce from this a prohibition of the wanton destruction of anything useful to man.”
THE BOOK OF RUTH
Where else would I go for authoritative writings about Judaism and the Book of Ruth than wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ruth
"The book of Ruth is about an ordinary family who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Elimelech moves his two sons and wife Naomi from Bethlehem to Moab during a time of famine. Their two sons marry Moabite women Orpah and Ruth (friend in Hebrew). The men of the family die, leaving their three widows. Naomi resolves to return to her homeland and urges her two daughters-in-law to return to their Moabite families. Orpah listens to Naomi’s urgings, but Ruth pledges her undying devotion to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16-17). Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem during the time of the barley harvest. In order to provide food for the two women, Ruth receives permission to glean in the fields of Boaz, Naomi’s kinsman. Naomi sends Ruth to ask protection from Boaz, who is a close relative. Boaz is attracted to Ruth, but informs her that there is a closer kinsman who has the first right to redeem the estate of Elimelech. Boaz meets with the closer kinsman ..(who).. waived his right to Elimelech’s property. Boaz follows through on a plan to grant security (redemption) to the two women. Boaz marries Ruth and their child, Obed, is “born to Naomi” (Ruth 4:17). The genealogy that concludes the book of Ruth climaxes with the wonderful disclosure that Ruth of Moab is the great-grandmother of King David.
"Two major theological themes are redemption (the verb redeem means to ‘buy back’ or ‘redeem’ but fundamentally its meaning is ‘to protect’) and hesed (loving kindness). Redemption was both a rich social and religious concept in Israel’s daily life. Socially the Israelites were aware of their responsibility to one another to protect the weak and unprotected. Redemption secures the life of the people as a community, not just as individuals. The Israelites understanding of redemption is woven into their understanding of Yahweh. God stands by the oppressed and needy. He extends his love and mercy offering a new freedom and hope. God has a deep concern for the welfare of his people, materially, emotionally and spiritually. … Along with the redemption theme – hesed – rises to the top as another important concept. Hesed sometimes translated as loving kindness also implies loyalty. The theme of hesed is woven throughout Ruth beginning at 1:8 with Naomi blessing her two daughters-in-law as she urges them to return to their Moabite families. She says, “May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.” Both Ruth and Boaz demonstrate hesed to their family members throughout the story. These are not acts of kindness with an expectation of measure for measure. Rather, they are acts of hesed that go beyond measure and demonstrate that hesed can require a person to go beyond the requirements of the law and choose the unexpected. However, the importance of the law is evident within the book of Ruth and the story reflects a need to stay within its boundaries. Boaz in going beyond measure in acquiring the property (demonstrating hesed) redeeming not only the land but both Naomi and Ruth as well. The two widows now have a secure and protected future. God is concerned for the ordinary family, faithful in the good times and the bad; He is also the Gentiles’ God; He accomplishes more than we could ever hope or imagine demonstrated through the hesed acts of ordinary people.”
It is time to pause after learning about the history, customs and traditions of Shavuot. When I return, I will attempt to connect this with the difficulties of the Palestinian farmer/owner of olive trees.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Take Your Olive Branch and Shavuot
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Immorality of the GOI according to the Teachings of Judaism
So let’s review
Olive trees are very significant culturally and economically for Palestinians. Jewish Israeli settlers (JIS) attack Palestinians, uproot olive trees and fence off Palestinian olive tree groves. IDF soldiers and Israeli civilian authorities, in general, support the actions of the JIS, protect them while arresting Palestinians and bring few criminal charges against the JIS. The Supreme Court of Israel severely criticized the lax approach displayed by the police and security personnel in their law enforcement work against violent settlers, and ruled that the closure of territory to Palestinians, to protect them from settlers, is akin to granting a prize for violence. …In addition, Palestinian farmers in the West Bank now face over 500 physical obstacles and closures including the separation wall that is being constructed by the GOI which restrict their movement and often prevented them from accessing their trees.
As I said in the last post, isn’t this enough to conclude that what is being done to the Palestinians is simply wrong and unjust? In the last post I considered how these actions violated international human and civil rights laws. In this post I will look at how they violate the core values of Judaism at the moment when many Jewish people are about to begin to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot.
SHAVUOT GENERALLY
When I want to learn about stuff Jewish, I go to www.socialaction.com and www.myjewishlearning.com and I encourage you to do so also. Here is the lead article about Shavuot from socialaction.com.
Shavuot: The Little Jewish Holiday Worth Celebrating by COREY PODELL
"Shavuot, the little holiday that could, is one of the most meaningful as far as social justice is concerned, though probably one of the least celebrated. Shavuot is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah but nonetheless commemorates one of our most important moments, as a people, when we were handed the Ten Commandments by God at Mt. Sinai (Ed. Note. – in rabbinic tradition we also received the other written and oral laws of the Torah). These Commandments have guided us through centuries of persecution, triumph, and struggle as a community, and they still guide us today. … Shavuot is also the day on which the Bikkurim (first fruits from the seven species for which Israel is praised) were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. These species are: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Does anyone doubt that a feast is in the making? … Shavuot also gives us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to tikkun olam, repairing the world. Any time we, as Jews, indulge in a special meal, we must think of and remember those that do not have that luxury, who are poor and hungry. Because Shavuot is connected to the harvest and to the land, historically Rabbis would save a portion of the harvest for the poor. The Book of Ruth, typically read during this holiday, emphasizes the importance of reaching out to strangers and fulfilling the communal obligation to the needy. Jews partake in this action by donating food to pantries, inviting those in need to their family or community meal, and by performing small but significant actions such as drinking or serving fair trade coffee. Even little actions can contribute to tikkun olam.
"Shavuot celebrates the fruits and grains that come from the earth, and we are reminded that the earth that has sustained us for centuries is fragile and changing. It makes our bond to the earth that much deeper. We are also reminded on Shavuot that, with harmful pesticides and herbicides, we as Jews need to make more earth-conscious decisions, not just on this holiday but throughout the year.
"Pirkei Avot, another popular piece read on this holiday, states, (Hillel) “If I am not for myself who will be for me? And if I am only for myself alone, then what am I? And if not now, when?” (Avot 1:18) Because there is a counting of days leading up to Shavuot, there are seven weeks to focus on studying and learning and on getting involved in noteworthy projects that lead up to the sixth day of Sivan itself. Some progressive communities focus on different social justice topics for each of the weeks, for example, … “Social Action Role Models,” Corey Podell is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. When she isn’t writing, you can find her reading, attending live music shows and walking her dog Sophie.
http://www.socialaction.com/education_resources/jewish_holidays/shavuot/LittleJewishHoliday.shtml
THE SPRING HARVEST OF FRUITS
Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness. It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could bring the Bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple in Jerusalem The Bikkurim were brought from the Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (Deut. 8:8). Jewish farmers would tie a ribbon around the first ripening fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the time of harvest, the fruits identified by the ribbon would be cut and placed into baskets woven of gold and silver….placed on oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, and who were led in a grand procession to Jerusalem. As the farmer and his entourage passed through cities and towns, they would be accompanied by music and parades.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE GIVING OF THE TORAH
Nothing ever came to replace the bringing of first fruits to the Temple. Shavuot begged for ritual enhancement and this is the need increasingly met by the custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the practice of spending the first night of Shavuot awake in the study of Torah culminating in the reading of the Ten Commandments given at Sinai
A few of the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:12-14
"12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
14 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Shavuot is also celebrated as the time when God gave Moses not only the Ten Commandments but the Torah, both the written and the oral laws Here is a relevant law from the Torah Deuteronomy 20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down, for Is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? (Hertz footnote – “is the tree of the field man” means because they are vital to man (Ibn Ezra. The Rabbis deduce from this a prohibition of the wanton destruction of anything useful to man.”
THE BOOK OF RUTH
Where else would I go for authoritative writings about Judaism and the Book of Ruth than wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ruth
"The book of Ruth is about an ordinary family who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Elimelech moves his two sons and wife Naomi from Bethlehem to Moab during a time of famine. Their two sons marry Moabite women Orpah and Ruth (friend in Hebrew). The men of the family die, leaving their three widows. Naomi resolves to return to her homeland and urges her two daughters-in-law to return to their Moabite families. Orpah listens to Naomi’s urgings, but Ruth pledges her undying devotion to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16-17). Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem during the time of the barley harvest. In order to provide food for the two women, Ruth receives permission to glean in the fields of Boaz, Naomi’s kinsman. Naomi sends Ruth to ask protection from Boaz, who is a close relative. Boaz is attracted to Ruth, but informs her that there is a closer kinsman who has the first right to redeem the estate of Elimelech. Boaz meets with the closer kinsman ..(who).. waived his right to Elimelech’s property. Boaz follows through on a plan to grant security (redemption) to the two women. Boaz marries Ruth and their child, Obed, is “born to Naomi” (Ruth 4:17). The genealogy that concludes the book of Ruth climaxes with the wonderful disclosure that Ruth of Moab is the great-grandmother of King David.
"Two major theological themes are redemption (the verb redeem means to ‘buy back’ or ‘redeem’ but fundamentally its meaning is ‘to protect’) and hesed (loving kindness). Redemption was both a rich social and religious concept in Israel’s daily life. Socially the Israelites were aware of their responsibility to one another to protect the weak and unprotected. Redemption secures the life of the people as a community, not just as individuals. The Israelites understanding of redemption is woven into their understanding of Yahweh. God stands by the oppressed and needy. He extends his love and mercy offering a new freedom and hope. God has a deep concern for the welfare of his people, materially, emotionally and spiritually. … Along with the redemption theme – hesed – rises to the top as another important concept. Hesed sometimes translated as loving kindness also implies loyalty. The theme of hesed is woven throughout Ruth beginning at 1:8 with Naomi blessing her two daughters-in-law as she urges them to return to their Moabite families. She says, “May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.” Both Ruth and Boaz demonstrate hesed to their family members throughout the story. These are not acts of kindness with an expectation of measure for measure. Rather, they are acts of hesed that go beyond measure and demonstrate that hesed can require a person to go beyond the requirements of the law and choose the unexpected. However, the importance of the law is evident within the book of Ruth and the story reflects a need to stay within its boundaries. Boaz in going beyond measure in acquiring the property (demonstrating hesed) redeeming not only the land but both Naomi and Ruth as well. The two widows now have a secure and protected future. God is concerned for the ordinary family, faithful in the good times and the bad; He is also the Gentiles’ God; He accomplishes more than we could ever hope or imagine demonstrated through the hesed acts of ordinary people.”
It is time to pause after learning about the history, customs and traditions of Shavuot. When I return, I will attempt to connect this with the difficulties of the Palestinian farmer/owner of olive trees.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It! - Part 4
Today is Day 14,282 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It! Part 4
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Human and Civil Rights Violations by GOI under International Law
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Isn’t it enough to give factual accounts of vicious, violent JIS attacks on farmers and of indifferent IDF soldiers casually plunging families into poverty by cutting off access to their critically important agricultural crop for most reasonable people to be able to conclude that what is being done to the Palestinians is simply wrong and unjust?
Perhaps, but for some of us, it is important to also point out that what is being done is in violation of a secular laws and/or the laws (teachings, values, etc.) of Judaism.
In this Part 4 I will look at this from the perspective of international law.
THE OCCUPATION ITSELF VIOLATES THESE UN RESOLUTIONS.
One way to begin is to recall that when Israel was admitted to the United Nations, it agreed to be subject to the UN Charter. Article 2 member renounces the acquisition of territory by force.
Based on the “grave situation in the Middle East”, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 (1967) on November, 22 emphasizing that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 by which members renounce the acquisition of territory by force. It affirmed that the establishment of a just and lasting peace included the application of these principles: the withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; the respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force; and the necessity for achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem.
Six years later after the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 338 of October 22, 1973 calling upon all parties concerned to start immediately after the cease-fire the implementation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts.
It is nearly 40 years since the 1967 war and the GOI of Israel, in violation of these UN Resolutions, continues to be an occupier of territories.
Extensive planning are underway for a mobilization to take place in Washington DC on June 10-11 to protest the occupation coordinated by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace and United for Peace and Justice . Although I will be attending a family function, I encourage all who want to voice their objection to the occupation to attend. Here is an invitation sent by Jewish Voice for Peace. “We want to invite you to participate in the most important Israel-Palestine mobilization ever in Washington, D.C. on June 10 and 11, marking the 40th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Thousands of people from across the country will converge in front of the Capitol and the White House to say No to U.S. support for the Occupation, a set of violations of international law which have taken a devastating toll on human life. Jewish Voice for Peace is working closely with the march organizers, the US Campaign to End the Occupation and United for Peace and Justice, to make sure there is a strong Jewish presence at the march. That's why we want to invite you to march together with Jews and other Jewish Voice for Peace supporters, and to come with us on the 11th to lobby Congress.”
THE SETTLEMENTS THEMSELVES VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to Civilian Persons in the Time of War, of 1949 states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Article 35 is similar.
I have already written about the Theodor Meron, legal counsel to the Foreign Ministry, who, in 1967, was asked whether international law allowed settlement in the newly conquered land wrote,
“In a memo marked “Top Secret” Meron wrote unequivocally, "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." In the detailed opinion that accompanied that note, Mr. Meron explained that the Convention, to which Israel was a signatory, forbade an occupying power from moving part of its population to occupied territory. The Golan, taken from Syria, was "undoubtedly 'occupied territory,' " he wrote. Mr. Meron took note of Israel's diplomatic argument that the West Bank was not "normal" occupied territory, because the land's status was uncertain. The prewar border with Jordan had been a mere armistice line, and Jordan had annexed the West Bank unilaterally. But he rejected that argument for two reasons. The first was diplomatic: the international community would not accept it and would regard settlement as showing "intent to annex the West Bank to Israel." The second was legal, he wrote: "In truth, certain Israeli actions are inconsistent with the claim that the West Bank is not occupied territory." For instance, he noted, a military decree issued on the third day of the war in June said that military courts must apply the Geneva Conventions in the West Bank.” New York Times, March 10, 2006, Op-Ed Contributor, Israel's Tragedy Foretold By Gershom Gorenberg
In 1980 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 465 "Settlements and International Law Determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and .. a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute (1998) defines “the transfer directly or indirectly by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a War Crime indictable by the International Criminal Court.
So the settlements continue to be acknowledged by international law as illegal and possibly an indictable war crime.
ILLEGALITY OF THE SETTLER INTERFERENCE WITH THE OLIVE HARVEST AND THE ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES INACTION
So we have settlers attacking Palestinians, uprooting olive trees and setting up barriers that keep them from harvesting the olives and Israeli security forces not preventing this violence.
THE HAGUE CONVENTION
Article 23 “It is forbidden ..To destroy or seize the enemy’s territory, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war. Article 55 “The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct. (A right to the use and enjoyment of the fruits or profits of another’s property, without fundamentally changing its substance). Article 56 provides “All seizure of, destruction or willful damage done to institutions of this character, historic monuments, works of art and science, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of legal proceedings,”
For example, should there be a war and the travelling soldiers be hungry, they would be allowed to take olives from an olive tree. The Israeli security forces, however, would be prohibited from doing any harm to the trees and would have an affirmative obligation to safeguard the trees.
THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that “any destruction by the Occupying power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or other public authorities or social or cooperative organizations is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”
Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention considers “extensive destruction and appropriate of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” as a grave breach of the Convention and thus constitute a war crime.
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human. Article 17 provides: “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
This covenant, adopted by a UN General Assembly Resolution in 1966, was one of two conventions under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the other being the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Article 1 provides “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”
Article 2 provides “The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
Article 11 provides “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.”
THE UN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
This convention was adopted by General Assembly Resolution 2106 (XX) of December 21, 1965, Entry into Force January 4, 1969
Date signed by Israel: 7 March 1966 Date ratified by Israel: 3 January 1979
Article 5 - In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: (b) The right to security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by government officials or by any individual group or institution; The right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State; The right to own property alone as well as in association with others; The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration; The right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks.
UNEDITED VERSION OF THE CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’S COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’S HEARINGS ON THE 10TH TO 13TH PERIODIC REPORTS OF ISRAEL ADOPTED ON MARCH 6 & 8, 2007
32. The Committee reiterates its concern about the position of the State party that the Convention does not apply in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Golan Heights. Such a position cannot be sustained under the letter and spirit of the Convention, or underinternational law as also affirmed by the International Court of Justice. The Committee also recommends that the State party ensures that Palestinians enjoy full rights under the Convention without discrimination based on citizenship and national origin.
33. The Committee, while noting that the Supreme Court has recommended that the course of the wall be changed to prevent disproportionate harm on specific Palestinian communities, is concerned that the State party has chosen to disregard the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Committee is of the opinion that the wall and its associated regime raise serious concerns under the Convention, since they gravely infringe a number of human rights of Palestinians residing in the territory occupied by Israel. These infringements cannot be justified by military exigencies or by the requirements of national security or public order. The Committee recommends that the State party cease the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in and around East Jerusalem, dismantle the structure therein situated and make reparation for all damage caused by the construction of the wall. The Committee also recommends that the State party take action to give full effect to the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Interestingly enough, as I wrote previously in the account of the Palestinian farmers, the Israeli Defense Force uprooted trees for the illegal wall without warning and without enabling the farmers to go to court to appeal the decision. In addition, when their trees were uprooted, the farmers did not receive any compensation for their losses, thereby losing their property arbitrarily.
34. The Committee is deeply concerned that the severe restrictions on the freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories targeting a particular national or ethnic group, especially through the wall, checkpoints, restricted roads and permit system, have created hardship and have had a highly detrimental impact on the enjoyment of human rights by Palestinians, in particular their rights to freedom of movement, family life, work, education and health. The State party should review these measures to ensure that restrictions on freedom of movement are not systematic but only of temporary and exceptional nature, are not applied in a discriminatory manner, and do not lead to segregation of communities. The State party should ensure that Palestinians enjoy their human rights, in particular their rights to freedom of movement, family life, work, education and health.
35. The Committee notes with concern the application in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of different laws, policies and practices to Palestinians on the one hand, and to Israelis on the other hand. It is concerned, in particular, by information about unequal distribution of water resources to the detriment of Palestinians, about the disproportionate targeting of Palestinians in house demolitions and about the application of different criminal laws leading to prolonged detention and harsher punishments for Palestinians for the same offences. The State party should ensure equal access to water resources to all without any discrimination. The Committee also reiterates its call for a halt to the demolition of Arab properties particular in East Jerusalem and for respect for property rights irrespective of the ethnic or national origin of the owner. Although different legal regimes may apply to Israeli citizens living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Palestinians the State party should ensure that the same crime is judged equally not taking into consideration the citizenship of the perpetrator.
37. The Committee is concerned by the persistence of violence perpetuated by Jewish settlers, in particular in the Hebron area. The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to protect Palestinians against such violence. The State party should ensure that such incidents are investigated in a prompt, transparent and independent manner, are prosecuted and sentenced, and that avenues for redress are offered to the victims.
I should say more but I am tired, tired of reading international human and civil rights laws that the GOI has chosen to ignore and to violate.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It! Part 4
Olive Trees and Olive Harvesting
Human and Civil Rights Violations by GOI under International Law
Rabbi Akiva said, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Lev. 19:18 - is the major principle of the Torah.”
Isn’t it enough to give factual accounts of vicious, violent JIS attacks on farmers and of indifferent IDF soldiers casually plunging families into poverty by cutting off access to their critically important agricultural crop for most reasonable people to be able to conclude that what is being done to the Palestinians is simply wrong and unjust?
Perhaps, but for some of us, it is important to also point out that what is being done is in violation of a secular laws and/or the laws (teachings, values, etc.) of Judaism.
In this Part 4 I will look at this from the perspective of international law.
THE OCCUPATION ITSELF VIOLATES THESE UN RESOLUTIONS.
One way to begin is to recall that when Israel was admitted to the United Nations, it agreed to be subject to the UN Charter. Article 2 member renounces the acquisition of territory by force.
Based on the “grave situation in the Middle East”, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 (1967) on November, 22 emphasizing that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 by which members renounce the acquisition of territory by force. It affirmed that the establishment of a just and lasting peace included the application of these principles: the withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; the respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force; and the necessity for achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem.
Six years later after the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 338 of October 22, 1973 calling upon all parties concerned to start immediately after the cease-fire the implementation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts.
It is nearly 40 years since the 1967 war and the GOI of Israel, in violation of these UN Resolutions, continues to be an occupier of territories.
Extensive planning are underway for a mobilization to take place in Washington DC on June 10-11 to protest the occupation coordinated by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace and United for Peace and Justice . Although I will be attending a family function, I encourage all who want to voice their objection to the occupation to attend. Here is an invitation sent by Jewish Voice for Peace. “We want to invite you to participate in the most important Israel-Palestine mobilization ever in Washington, D.C. on June 10 and 11, marking the 40th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Thousands of people from across the country will converge in front of the Capitol and the White House to say No to U.S. support for the Occupation, a set of violations of international law which have taken a devastating toll on human life. Jewish Voice for Peace is working closely with the march organizers, the US Campaign to End the Occupation and United for Peace and Justice, to make sure there is a strong Jewish presence at the march. That's why we want to invite you to march together with Jews and other Jewish Voice for Peace supporters, and to come with us on the 11th to lobby Congress.”
THE SETTLEMENTS THEMSELVES VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to Civilian Persons in the Time of War, of 1949 states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Article 35 is similar.
I have already written about the Theodor Meron, legal counsel to the Foreign Ministry, who, in 1967, was asked whether international law allowed settlement in the newly conquered land wrote,
“In a memo marked “Top Secret” Meron wrote unequivocally, "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." In the detailed opinion that accompanied that note, Mr. Meron explained that the Convention, to which Israel was a signatory, forbade an occupying power from moving part of its population to occupied territory. The Golan, taken from Syria, was "undoubtedly 'occupied territory,' " he wrote. Mr. Meron took note of Israel's diplomatic argument that the West Bank was not "normal" occupied territory, because the land's status was uncertain. The prewar border with Jordan had been a mere armistice line, and Jordan had annexed the West Bank unilaterally. But he rejected that argument for two reasons. The first was diplomatic: the international community would not accept it and would regard settlement as showing "intent to annex the West Bank to Israel." The second was legal, he wrote: "In truth, certain Israeli actions are inconsistent with the claim that the West Bank is not occupied territory." For instance, he noted, a military decree issued on the third day of the war in June said that military courts must apply the Geneva Conventions in the West Bank.” New York Times, March 10, 2006, Op-Ed Contributor, Israel's Tragedy Foretold By Gershom Gorenberg
In 1980 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 465 "Settlements and International Law Determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and .. a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute (1998) defines “the transfer directly or indirectly by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” as a War Crime indictable by the International Criminal Court.
So the settlements continue to be acknowledged by international law as illegal and possibly an indictable war crime.
ILLEGALITY OF THE SETTLER INTERFERENCE WITH THE OLIVE HARVEST AND THE ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES INACTION
So we have settlers attacking Palestinians, uprooting olive trees and setting up barriers that keep them from harvesting the olives and Israeli security forces not preventing this violence.
THE HAGUE CONVENTION
Article 23 “It is forbidden ..To destroy or seize the enemy’s territory, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war. Article 55 “The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct. (A right to the use and enjoyment of the fruits or profits of another’s property, without fundamentally changing its substance). Article 56 provides “All seizure of, destruction or willful damage done to institutions of this character, historic monuments, works of art and science, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of legal proceedings,”
For example, should there be a war and the travelling soldiers be hungry, they would be allowed to take olives from an olive tree. The Israeli security forces, however, would be prohibited from doing any harm to the trees and would have an affirmative obligation to safeguard the trees.
THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that “any destruction by the Occupying power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or other public authorities or social or cooperative organizations is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”
Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention considers “extensive destruction and appropriate of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” as a grave breach of the Convention and thus constitute a war crime.
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human. Article 17 provides: “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
This covenant, adopted by a UN General Assembly Resolution in 1966, was one of two conventions under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the other being the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Article 1 provides “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”
Article 2 provides “The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the present Covenant will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
Article 11 provides “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.”
THE UN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
This convention was adopted by General Assembly Resolution 2106 (XX) of December 21, 1965, Entry into Force January 4, 1969
Date signed by Israel: 7 March 1966 Date ratified by Israel: 3 January 1979
Article 5 - In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: (b) The right to security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by government officials or by any individual group or institution; The right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State; The right to own property alone as well as in association with others; The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration; The right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks.
UNEDITED VERSION OF THE CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’S COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION’S HEARINGS ON THE 10TH TO 13TH PERIODIC REPORTS OF ISRAEL ADOPTED ON MARCH 6 & 8, 2007
32. The Committee reiterates its concern about the position of the State party that the Convention does not apply in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Golan Heights. Such a position cannot be sustained under the letter and spirit of the Convention, or underinternational law as also affirmed by the International Court of Justice. The Committee also recommends that the State party ensures that Palestinians enjoy full rights under the Convention without discrimination based on citizenship and national origin.
33. The Committee, while noting that the Supreme Court has recommended that the course of the wall be changed to prevent disproportionate harm on specific Palestinian communities, is concerned that the State party has chosen to disregard the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Committee is of the opinion that the wall and its associated regime raise serious concerns under the Convention, since they gravely infringe a number of human rights of Palestinians residing in the territory occupied by Israel. These infringements cannot be justified by military exigencies or by the requirements of national security or public order. The Committee recommends that the State party cease the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in and around East Jerusalem, dismantle the structure therein situated and make reparation for all damage caused by the construction of the wall. The Committee also recommends that the State party take action to give full effect to the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Interestingly enough, as I wrote previously in the account of the Palestinian farmers, the Israeli Defense Force uprooted trees for the illegal wall without warning and without enabling the farmers to go to court to appeal the decision. In addition, when their trees were uprooted, the farmers did not receive any compensation for their losses, thereby losing their property arbitrarily.
34. The Committee is deeply concerned that the severe restrictions on the freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories targeting a particular national or ethnic group, especially through the wall, checkpoints, restricted roads and permit system, have created hardship and have had a highly detrimental impact on the enjoyment of human rights by Palestinians, in particular their rights to freedom of movement, family life, work, education and health. The State party should review these measures to ensure that restrictions on freedom of movement are not systematic but only of temporary and exceptional nature, are not applied in a discriminatory manner, and do not lead to segregation of communities. The State party should ensure that Palestinians enjoy their human rights, in particular their rights to freedom of movement, family life, work, education and health.
35. The Committee notes with concern the application in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of different laws, policies and practices to Palestinians on the one hand, and to Israelis on the other hand. It is concerned, in particular, by information about unequal distribution of water resources to the detriment of Palestinians, about the disproportionate targeting of Palestinians in house demolitions and about the application of different criminal laws leading to prolonged detention and harsher punishments for Palestinians for the same offences. The State party should ensure equal access to water resources to all without any discrimination. The Committee also reiterates its call for a halt to the demolition of Arab properties particular in East Jerusalem and for respect for property rights irrespective of the ethnic or national origin of the owner. Although different legal regimes may apply to Israeli citizens living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Palestinians the State party should ensure that the same crime is judged equally not taking into consideration the citizenship of the perpetrator.
37. The Committee is concerned by the persistence of violence perpetuated by Jewish settlers, in particular in the Hebron area. The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to protect Palestinians against such violence. The State party should ensure that such incidents are investigated in a prompt, transparent and independent manner, are prosecuted and sentenced, and that avenues for redress are offered to the victims.
I should say more but I am tired, tired of reading international human and civil rights laws that the GOI has chosen to ignore and to violate.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.
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