Reality check on Israel's occupation of Palestine

"A clever person is one who knows how to extricate himself from a trap which a wise person would not have gotten into in the first place." 

About Binyamin Netanyahu one can say the he is clever but not a wise person at all.

There are two ways to look at historic disasters. As plots of evil persons or as acts of folly. In the first way, it is easy to believe that Netanyahu sent a secret order to a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman to kill two Jordanians, so as to enable him (Netanyahu) to negotiate with the King of Jordan to release the guy in return for the removal of the metal detectors from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The detectors that he souldn't have allowed in the first place.

The "security measures" in Jérusalem revealed the dimensions of Israel’s foolishness. Mass demonstrations took place in Jerusalem, in the Arab townships in Israel, in the occupied territories and in the neighboring countries. On the first weekend, seven persons were killed, hundreds were wounded.

The severity of the matter soon became evident. The Palestinians, Muslims or Christians, both Israeli citizens and subjects in the occupied territories, who a moment before were just a faceless mass, were suddenly revealed as an united determined people, ready for a fight. 

Let's take advantage of the Al Aqsa "incident" to make an assessment of the occupation.

Where did the Palestinians go after the Nakba in 1948?

Where do Palestinian refugees live?

Since militarily occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 1967, Israel has:

·         Destroyed more than 48,000 Palestinian homes and other structures, including agricultural buildings and places of business, because they were built without permission from Israel’s occupying army, which is nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.

·         Imprisoned more than 800,000 Palestinians using a military court system that human rights organizations have condemned as falling far short of the minimum standards required for a fair trial.

·         Built around 125 official settlements on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law and official US policy, and more than 100 so-called “outposts,” built with tacit approval from Israeli authorities even though they violate Israeli law. These settlements separate Palestinian population centers from one another and the outside world and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank, making the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories all but impossible.

·         Implanted around 650,000 illegal settlers, many of them violent, heavily-armed religious fanatics, onto occupied Palestinian land, including approximately 350,000 in the West Bank and 300,000 in East Jerusalem.

·         Built a wall on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice, separating Palestinians from their farmland, schools, places of business, and family and friends.

·         Imposed a permit and checkpoint system severely restricting the movement of Palestinians within the occupied territories and to and from the outside world, making ordinary life difficult for Palestinians and strangling the Palestinian economy. ( According to the UN, in 2016 there were 572 Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles to Palestinian movement in the occupied West Bank, with more than 100 more in the city of Hebron alone.)

·         Imposed a cruel and illegal siege and naval blockade on occupied Gaza, starting in 2006, which amounts to collective punishment of the 1.8 million Palestinians living there.

·         Revoked the residency rights of around 250,000 Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and more than 14,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

Restriction of movement 

Using a variety of methods, Israel imposes severe restrictions on Palestinian movement within and to and from the occupied territories. These policies cause serious hardships for millions of Palestinians, preventing them from getting to work, school, accessing medical care, visiting family and friends, and severely hampers the Palestinian economy. At the same time, Jewish settlers living on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law and decades of official US policy are able to travel freely in much of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including on roads constructed exclusively for their use.

·         Israel uses military checkpoints and other physical obstacles, including concrete blocks and piles of earth, to prevent Palestinians from moving freely within the occupied West Bank and to and from the outside world. According to the UN, in 2016 there were 572 Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles to Palestinian movement in the West Bank, an area smaller than Connecticut, with more than 100 more in the city of Hebron alone.

·         The wall Israel is building on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, also prevents Palestinians from travelling freely. In many cases, it cuts Palestinians off from their farmland, and separates them from schools, houses of worship, workplaces, and family and friends.

·         Israel prevents most Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from travelling to Gaza, and vice versa, even though they are supposed to be one territorial unit under the terms of the Oslo Accords .

·         Most Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza are denied entry to occupied East Jerusalem to worship at their holy sites, visit family or friends, do business, study, or access medical treatment.

·         Since 2006, Israel has imposed a suffocating and illegal siege and naval blockade of Gaza, amounting to collective punishment of the entire population of 1.9 million people, which is a war crime. As Dov Weisglass, then a senior advisor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, explained in 2006, Israel's Gaza policy is designed "to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." As Human Rights Watch noted in a recent statement entitled, Israel: 50 Years of Occupation Abuses:

"For the last 25 years, Israel has tightened restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from the Gaza Strip in ways that far exceed any conceivable requirement of Israeli security. These restrictions affect nearly every aspect of everyday life, separating families, restricting access to medical care and educational and economic opportunities, and perpetuating unemployment and poverty. As of last year, Gaza's GDP was 23 percent lower than in
1994. Seventy percent of Gaza's 1.9 million people rely on humanitarian assistance."
https://youtu.be/jqoy3fobxw8

·         In addition to imposing onerous restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the occupied territories, Israel prevents many Palestinians living in the diaspora the right to visit their homeland, including the holy city of Jerusalem, bydenying them entry at the border. A majority of Palestinians live in the diaspora because Israel denies them their internationally-recognized legal right to return to their ancestral homeland.

Colonies 

·         Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are segregated housing units built by Israel for the use of Israeli Jews on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli army during the June 1967 War. Their purpose is to cement permanent Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian territories and to prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state in them.

·         All Israeli settlements, including those in occupied East Jerusalem, violateinternational law and longstanding official US policy. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The Hague Convention on the laws of war also forbids occupying powers from making permanent changes in the occupied territory unless it is a military necessity.

·         While successive Israeli governments have argued that settlements are not illegal, a formerly classified document dated September 1967 shows that the legal counsel to Israel’s Foreign Ministry at the time advised the government of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol that “civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

·         Today, there are approximately 650,000 settlers living on occupied Palestinian land in approximately 125 official settlements and more than 100 “outposts,” including approximately 300,000 in East Jerusalem and 350,000 in the rest of the West Bank. 

·         Although Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the occupied territories live in the same land, they are subject to two separate and unequal legal systems based on their religion. As Human Rights Watch noted in a June 2017 statement entitled, Israel: 50 Years of Occupation Abuses : “Israel applies Israeli civil law to settlers, affording them legal protections, rights, and benefits that are not extended to Palestinians living in the same territory who are subjected to Israeli military law. Israel provides settlers with infrastructure, services, and subsidies that it denies to Palestinians, creating and sustaining a separate and unequal system of law, rules, and services.”

·         The presence of settlers makes life extremely difficult for Palestinians:

·         Palestinian land is stolen by the Israeli government and by settlers themselves for the expansion of settlements and Palestinians are forcibly evicted from their homes so that settlers can live in their place;

·         Palestinian famers and others are harassed, assaulted , and even murdered by heavily-armed extremist settlers, often while under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

·         Restrictions on the movement of Palestinians imposed by the Israeli army for the convenience of settlers and the location of settlements dividing Palestinian population centers makes it nearly impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to travel freely or live normal lives.

·         Israel’s settlement enterprise and related infrastructure, including roads that are off limits to Palestinians, cover approximately 42% of the occupied West Bank.

·         According to one study, Israel has spent an estimated $20 billion on settlements and related infrastructure since 1967. As part of an effort to encourage Israelis to move to settlements, Israel’s government provides the average settler with three times more in public subsidies than Israelis living within Israel’s internationally-recognized pre-1967 borders.

·         Today, settlers are a powerful political force in Israel, exerting a strong influence on the government through parties like the extreme religious nationalist Jewish Home, counting among their number several cabinet ministers. After half a century, Israel’s settlement enterprise is deeply entrenched on the ground in the occupied territories and in Israeli society. 

Jerusalem / Al Quds

·         Under international law, East Jerusalem (including the Old City and its holy sites) are not legally part of Israel.

·         Since Israel's establishment in 1948, the US and international community have refused to recognize the sovereignty of any country to any part of Jerusalem in the absence of a permanent Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

·         No country in the world, including the US, has its embassy to Israel in Jérusalem.

·         During the June 1967 War, Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian control since 1948. Israel subsequently annexed East Jerusalem after massively expanding the city’s boundaries into the West Bank in a move that has been repeatedly condemned as illegal by the UN and international community.

·         There are around 330,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem. They can travel inside Israel and vote in municipal elections but endure systematic discrimination from Israeli authorities and face the constant threat of losing their right to live in the city if they travel abroad to study or work.

·         There are around 300,000 Jewish settlers living in the expanded boundaries of East Jerusalem in violation of international law and nearly 50 years of official US policy. While Palestinian residents of Jerusalem face discrimination from Israeli authorities in nearly every facet of life, including making it nearly impossible for them to build homes and other structures, Jewish settlers enjoy all the rights and privileges of Israeli citizenship and are encouraged by the government to steal Palestinian land and push Palestinians out of their homes.

·         In an attempt to separate and isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied West Bank, Israel has built a ring of settlements around its outskirts. This ring has been reinforced by the wall Israel is constructing, which has been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice because most of it is built on occupied Palestinian land inside the West Bank and not along Israel’s internationally recognized pre-1967 borders.

·         Since 1993 and the signing of the Oslo Accords, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have been forbidden by Israel to enter East Jerusalem without a difficult to obtain permit. As a result, millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are prevented from entering the city to worship at their holy sites, visit family, conduct business, study, or receive medical care.

BDS Movement
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PALESTINA - News

 'We won': Al-Aqsa Mosque reopened to all Palestinians …

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Addameer

OCHA  

Palestinian Center for Human Rights

B'Tselem 

International Solidarity Movement – Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom

Breaking the Silence

Political tourism of Jérusalem

BRASIL - DIRETAS, JÁ!

Caros Amigos 

The Intercept Brasil

  Jornalistas Livres

Com Jerusalém não se brinca Jerusalem, the heart of the matter

Real News: Gideon Levy

Israel risks igniting 'religious war' over Al Aqsa…

25/07/2017

World reacts to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians at holy site

AJ: More than 900 Palestinians have been injured in confrontations with Israeli forces in the last 10 days over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Palestinian hospitals, already overstretched, fear a large influx of injured if tensions, which erupted on July 14 after Israel closed the sensitive site in occupied East Jerusalem, continue.

They also highlighted that most of the injuries inflicted by the Israeli forces were from rubber-coated steel bullets.

International human rights groups have long condemned Israel's use of such bullets.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Trump, Macron, ainda não entenderam que com Jerusalém não se brinca.

Acho Jerusalém cheia de más energias e quando lá estou, prefiro refugiar-me no Monte das Oliveiras onde a paz reina e não se vê nem yishuv (colonos sionistas) nem soldados das forças de ocupação israelense agredindo palestinos.

Será que quando do alto do Monte Jesus olhou para a cidade e previu tantas lágrimas a serem derramadas, sabia que sionistas abastados iam promover a ocupação da Palestina a partir do século XIX e a limpeza étnica da nação inteira a partir do século XX, culminando com a capital nacional?

Como a ocupação da Palestina, o processo de judeização de Jerusalém é flagrante e chocante, para quem conheceu Jerusalém há mais de trinta anos.

Israel voltou a trancar o acesso à mesquita de Jerusalém pela terceira vez desde que ocupou militarmente a Cisjordânia há cinquenta anos. Depois de reabrir a mesquita, instalou detectores de metal para passagem obrigatória dos fiéis que iam ao culto, gerando uma revolta geral entre os palestinos e em várias partes do mundo. 

Por que? Para quem pega avião sem parar, o detector de metais é uma banalidade.

Porém, neste caso, como todos os que Israel cria, tem uma razão escondida, grave.

A parafernália representa uma ameaça concreta porque é um passo a mais que Tel Aviv dá na conquista total da capital palestina e na mudança do statu quo do sítio. Palestinos cristãos estão orando com seus compatriotas em solidariedade porque eles também são privados de acesso à basílica da Natividade.

As leis internacionais garantem aos muçulmanos propriedade do local e proíbem qualquer construção estrangeira sem autorização das autoridades religiosas islâmicas.

É uma questão crucial que os palestinos sempre levaram muito a sério e os cristãos sempre defenderam os direitos de seus compatriotas muçulmanos porque são da pátria inteira.

Já no início da execução do projeto sionista de tomada da Palestina, houve uma tentativa de ocupação do sítio por fundamentalistas yishuv apoiados por milícias. Gerou a revolta al Buraq, nome árabe do muro ocidental da mesquita.

No dia 15 de agosto de 1929, centenas de afiliados ao comitê do imigrante lituânio Joseph Klausner pelo muro ocidental, dentre os quais, muitos da organização Betar do movimento revisionista de Vladimir Ze’ve Jabotinsky liderados por outro lituânio, Jeremiah Halpern, marcharam em direção ao local gritando “o muro é nosso!” causando um grande alvoroço. Lá chegando, hastearam a bandeira sionista em um minarete cantando Hatikvah, um canto de guerra que virou o hino nacional de Israel.

Diz a lenda israelense que a marcha foi pacífica e só alguns elementos agiram mal. Porém, a provocação era explícita e as intenções dos yishuv que levaram biombos para separar as mulheres dos homens e cadeiras era óbvia da etapa seguinte - a construção de uma sinagoga. Anciães palestinos forçados ao êxodo durante a Nakba ainda se lembram que havia sim, muitos, armados com barra de ferro e até espingarda.

A passeata contou com a proteção da polícia britânica, mesmo assim, a faísca incendiou a frustração dos palestinos como se fosse fogo na palha. A revolta resultou em muitas perdas humanas: 133 yishuv foram mortos e 339 feridos; 110 palestinos foram mortos e 232 feridos.

A conclusão de Walter Shaw, presidente da comissão britânica de investigação do evento sangrento, entregue em 1930, atestou a causa fundamental da violência:“sem a qual os distúrbios em nossa opinião ou não teriam ocorrido, ou teriam sido pouco mais do que uma rebelião local, é o sentimento dos árabes [palestinos] de animosidade e hostilidade em relação aos judeus [sionistas] devidas à decepção de suas aspirações políticas e nacionais e o temor por seu futuro econômico" e "os árabes [palestinos] temem os imigrantes judeus [sionistas] não só pela ameaça que representam a seu meio de subsistência, mas também por sua possível supremacia no futuro”, ou seja, como uma ameaça à sua cultura e à sua soberania nacional futura.

Em novembro a conferência islâmica organizada em Jerusalém solicitou o cumprimento da proteção ao direito de propriedade do muro ocidental, sagrado também para os muçulmanos, e conseguiu.

Este é o muro hoje chamado das Lamentações. Faz parte do complexo da Mesquita al-Aqsa, construída no ano 705 pelo califa Umar no local da cidade antiga no qual o imperador Justiniano construíra um complexo cristão constituído de escola, hospital e a Nea Ekklesia de Theotokos dedicada a Nossa Senhora, consagrada no ano 543. Antes de Cristo, o sítio alojava o templo hebraico construído pelo rei Herodes (protagonista do “massacre dos inocentes”) e destruído pelo futuro imperador romano Titus no ano 70 da era cristã.

Buscas arqueológicas comprovam a pré-existência da basílica.

Dito isto, do muro das Lamentações que os yishuv conseguiram conquistando, mas sem poderem construir nada, os israelenses passaram ao ataque para conquistar a cidade inteira, desapropriando os palestinos e dificultando pouco a pouco o direito inalienável sobre seus sítios sagrados.

Primeiro foram os problemas de moradia, decretos amorais que retiram dos palestinos o direito de propriedade, depois foram os despejos ilegais, as desapropriações em benefício dos invasores civis estrangeiros chamados colonos (os yishuv atuais), punições coletivas na forma de toque de recolher e checkpoints que impedem o trânsito livre dos palestinos; enfim, a lista é longa e as infrações do ocupante, múltiplas. Sem contar o crescimento em volume e influência do Movimento do Templo, fascisto-sionista que quer derrubar tudo e construir um templo judaico.

Agora, em Jerusalém, não é apenas a soberania palestina que está em perigo. Também os sítios sagrados. E não apenas os muçulmanos, os israelenses estão fazendo escavações debaixo das igrejas cristãs para tentar encontrar indícios que possam desviar a fim de fabricar direitos anteriores ao cristianismo. 

Por enquanto, o feitiço virou contra o feiticeiro e só têm descoberto relíquias cristãs, como disse acima. E como, por enquanto, é impossível falsificar objetos arqueológicos, ainda estamos protegidos, mas nem tanto.

Graças a Deus, e ao papa Francisco, a Igreja reconhece a Palestina e fez um acordo de proteção do nosso patrimônio.

Mas e os muçulmanos? Netanyahu, Trump e Macron estão brincando com fogo, pois na falta de padrinho e de apoio de seus ditadores venais, há vários twitters #savealAqsa na internet e a população árabe está se solidarizando com os palestinos simplesmente por causa da mesquita. Passeatas em Beirute, Amman, Tunis, e várias capitais reuniram milhares de pessoas.

O pau vai quebrar porque é claro que o objetivo de Israel é apropriar-se do local.

Inside Story: Is Israel traying to change the status quo around al-Aqsa?

The al-Aqsa metal detectors aren't a security measure

Israel has been using the pretext of security to quietly continue the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.

INSIDE AL-AQSA

Palestinians clash with Israeli occupation forces outside al-Aqsa : Tensions grow in occupied East Jérusalem after Israel implements new security measures at the Mosque compound. Palestinian worshippers have clashed with Israeli security forces outside a gate to the Old City in Jerusalem, as tensions continue over the new security measures implemented at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Israeli security forces were seen dragging a worshipper, while another police officer appeared to punch a Palestinian man during the confrontation on Wednesday.
Stun grenades were fired as police forces tried to disperse the crowd, while several people were seen throwing objects in response. "For Palestinians this is about the fact that Israeli forces are an occupying force and the potential that Israel is in contravention of the UN articles guaranteeing freedom of worship, guaranteeing that occupying forces do not change any part of the status quo within the city."

Jerusalem is especially volatile right now: The Israeli rabbinate forbids Jews to pray on the Temple Mount until the third temple is built, but Temple Movements are challenging that edict. Once on the fringes of society and power, right-wing Temple Movements are enjoying a surge in influence, in part because of aggressive messaging that frames their crusade to pray on the Temple Mount as a simple human and civil rights issue. Since 2000, they have gained favor from mainstream political and religious leaders on the right, including Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan.. 

U.S. Lawmakers Seek to Criminally outlaw support for Boycott campaign against Israel: The criminalization of political speech and activism against Israel has become one of the gravest threats to free speech in the West. In France, activists have been arrested and prosecuted for wearing T-shirts advocating a boycott of Israel. The U.K. has enacted a series of measures designed to outlaw such activism. In the U.S., governors compete with one another over who can implement the most extreme regulations to bar businesses from participating in any boycotts aimed even at Israeli settlements, which the world regards as illegal. On U.S. campuses, punishment of pro-Palestinian students for expressing criticisms of Israel is so commonplace that the Center for Constitutional Rights refers to it as “the Palestine Exception” to free speech.

But now, a group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.

The proposed measure, called the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), was introduced by Cardin on March 23. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reportsthat the bill “was drafted with the assistance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” Indeed, AIPAC, in its 2017 lobbying agenda, identified passage of this bill as one of its top lobbying priorities for the year.

Why a cultural boycott of Israel besides economic and academic?

As awareness of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians grows, more and more artists from across the world are joining the cultural boycott. Support for the cultural boycott and cancellations of performances receive very significant media exposure in Israel, showing ordinary Israelis that there is increasing opposition to Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights.

Israel overtly uses culture as a form of propaganda to whitewash or justify its regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people.

Just as South African anti-apartheid activists had called on international artists, writers and cultural institutions to culturally boycott South Africa, PACBI urges international cultural workers and cultural organizations, including unions and associations, to boycott and/or work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israel, its lobby groups or its cultural institutions. International venues and festivals are asked to reject funding and any form of sponsorship from the Israeli government.

Thousands of artists across the world now refuse to perform in Israel, including a host of global superstars such as Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, Lauryn Hill and Chuck D.

Israeli government officials have summed up how Israel instrumentalizes culture to cover up its grave violations of international law. "We are seeing culture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank,” one official admitted, “and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture." The Israeli ministry of foreign affairs provides funding to Israeli artists and writers with the condition that they as “service providers” should “promote the policy interests” of Israel. Many Israeli artists act as “cultural ambassadors” for the state. When international artists perform at Israeli cultural venues and institutions, they help to create the false impression that Israel is a “normal” country like any other. The absolute majority of Palestinian writers, artists and cultural centers have endorsed the cultural boycott of Israel, and there is a growing number of anti-colonial Israelis who support BDS, including the cultural boycott of Israel.

PALESTINA

Meanwhile, in Hebron, the ethnic cleansing goes on... Enquanto isso, em Hebron, a limpeza étnica continua.

Addameer

OCHA  

Palestinian Center for Human Rights

B'Tselem 

International Solidarity Movement – Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom

Breaking the Silence

BRASIL - DIRETAS, JÁ!

Caros Amigos 

The Intercept Brasil

  Jornalistas Livres

RUSSIA

Russia and China start their first drills in Baltic

SYRIA

Illegitimate coalition' must pay for destroying Syria – Damascus to UN

USA

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