Palestine Update 590
Opinion
And the world is a silent spectator!
So much about Israeli politics is bizarre. A journalist who covers crime for the media is killed even after filing complaints about death threats. Umm Al-Fahm Municipality condemned the killing where the man was murdered and has called on the Israeli authorities to take the necessary steps to arrest and hold the criminals accountable.
Israel’s will choose any old front to wage war with utter disregard for proper rhyme or reason. Think about this: Even Palestinian culture, landscape, environment, demography, civil society and religion are part of its colonialist aggressions. One cannot actually fall in love without the regime approving it! Al Jazeera reports how “falling in love with a Palestinian is no walk in the park – it is constant drama …Israel is making sure falling in love with a Palestinian in Palestine is hell”. On this Israel had to be arm-twisted into submission. The law will not be withdrawn. Adjusted regulations will be imposed on October 20. That’s the way Israel brings racism into love.
Israel will even hurt its own people and leave them vulnerable in prison conditions. A report says: “Israel’s premier promised an investigation Sunday into allegations by a female former guard at a maximum security prison that she was repeatedly raped by a Palestinian inmate after being forced to work as a “sex slave” by her superiors”.
Gazans experience living hell. Imagine experiencing this variety of colonialism. Gazans find it comparatively easier to get a permit to work daily inside Israel than to get a permit to study, work, live, or marry in the West Bank”. Such experiences cause people to despair. They exclaim in desperation: ‘we’re terrified of the idea of dying without experiencing living’.”
Even the United Nations is not spared. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has censured Israel’s refusal to grant visas for her staff in the occupied Palestinian territory. The development is occurring in a context where Israeli authorities are increasingly limiting what she called human rights “eyes and ears on the ground”.
Everything Israel is doing is deplorable, in violation of international standards, against human rights law, and established International humanitarian practices.
Do read the news reported here and disseminate widely.
In solidarity
Ranjan Solomon
Palestinian journalist shot dead
A Palestinian journalist from the Arab Israeli city of Umm Al-Fahm was shot and killed in his car yesterday evening. Two masked men approached the car in which Nadal Ijbaria was sitting and shot him in the head at close range before fleeing the scene. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli authorities are opening an investigation into the incident, gathering evidence at the scene and searching for suspects.The 44-year-old journalist wrote for Sawt Al-Haq wa Al-Huriyeh and founded the Baladna (“Our country”) website, which reports on crime in Umm Al-Fahm. The news site mourned Ijbaria on its Facebook page. “The voice of truth will not die,” it said, adding that the victim was on his way home from a mosque when he was killed. The journalist’s family said that they hold the Israeli authorities responsible for the killing, because he had filed an official complaint about receiving death threats. The threats were apparently due to debts owed by a relative of the deceased, and the police were aware of them but did not arrest the suspects or prevent the crime. Ijbaria’s father Mohammed said “This crime will not be the last because we kept silent about all these calamities.”
For more facts see Middle East Monitor
Israel’s war on love (Excerpts from Al Jazeera)
Apartheid Israel cannot but wage war on all things Palestinian – even romance
Israel loves war, even a war on love. It also loves peace but only at the expense of basic Palestinian rights. No other country has fought as many wars in so few years. None. Well, except perhaps the United States. Since its inception in 1948, Israel has fought a dozen plus wars of all sorts – conventional, asymmetrical, counter-insurgency, and wars of attrition. It has bombed and besieged Arab cities and even threatened the use of nuclear weapons to wipe out those trying to wipe it out.
Mostly wars of choice, which Israel started as part of its perpetual in conflict with its neighbours. According to its strategic doctrine, Israel will have to fight more than a few wars to attain peace on its terms; and only war, not peace, may ensure its long-term security. David Ben Gurion, said – in a moment of candour – that it would be worthwhile for Israel to pay an Arab leader a million pounds to start a war with the newly founded colonial state. Israel’s love for war is rational and strategic. As a colonial entity, Israel could not have become independent without war. War has been used to weaken its enemies and preserve its military superiority over all its neighbours. Moreover, Israel’s wars helped it expand its frontiers and colonize new territories.
War also gives Israel meaning and purpose. It is why Israelis adore their military, which has functioned as a unifying force, shaping the new nation. For decades, the military Israelised Jewish immigrants arriving from various countries and cultures, instilling in them a new fighting spirit and nationalistic sentiment. The military has made every Israeli youth a participant in the colonial project. War has proven great for business too, since Israel has proven masterful on the battlefield. Battle-tested weapons against regional foes have become Israel’s most prized exports. Indeed, the security sectors, both in terms of advanced hardware and sophisticated software, have attracted the lion’s share of foreign investments in recent decades.
But Israel’s war on the Palestinians has not been limited to the military front. It has also waged war on Palestinian culture, landscape, environment, demography, civil society and religion, as part of its violent occupation. To be sure, falling in love with a Palestinian is no walk in the park – it is constant drama, if you get my drift. But Israel is making sure falling in love with a Palestinian in Palestine is hell. Indeed, the sole purpose of this directive is to isolate, complicate, and control Palestinian lives. It is hateful and it is destructive.
Read full narrative in Al Jazeera
Israel’s Prime Minister Vows Probe into ‘Sex Slave’ Prison Case
The past year has seen a series of revelations regarding what some Israeli media call the Gilboa “Pimping Affair,” a reference to widespread reports that male supervisors ordered female guards into situations where they were vulnerable to assault by inmates.
Read more in News 18
Euro-Med officer: Israeli security pretexts for Gaza blockade are ‘contradictory and entirely ridiculous’
Euro-Med Monitor’s Chief of Programs and Communications called Israel’s security pretexts for its Gaza blockade “contradictory and entirely ridiculous” considering that, “It’s now relatively easier for a Gazan to get a permit to work daily inside Israel than to get a permit to study, work, live, or marry in the West Bank”. One of the worst aspects of living in Gaza is “the painfully slow passage of time that leads many young people to say: ‘we’re terrified of the idea of dying without experiencing living’.” Israeli authorities greatly restrict mobility between Gaza and the outside world. Citing “enforced bans on technological equipment as simple as ATMs and money counting machines have further constricted the basic functioning of Gaza’s economy.”
There is also the fact of Gaza’s immense unrealized potential in terms of landscapes and natural resources, as well as Gazans’ resilience and entrepreneurial spirit despite the harsh limitations imposed on them. One cannot disregard the harsh realities preventing the employment and development of Gazans’ human potential. Residents of Gaza suffer continually as a result of Israel’s collective punishment policy and other practices that keep them in constant fear of danger, such as the proliferation of drones above the Strip.
Read details in WAFA report
Visa refusal for UN human rights staff in Palestine part of wider ‘worrying trend’: Bachelet
UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has deplored Israel’s refusal to grant visas for her staff in the occupied Palestinian territory, according to a statement issued on Tuesday. The development is occurring in a context where Israeli authorities are increasingly limiting what she called human rights “eyes and ears on the ground”.
Ms. Bachelet said despite the visa refusals: “We publicly report on violations by Israel, but also on violations by the State of Palestine, by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian armed groups. We also provide the principal support to the Palestinian Government to help it improve its compliance with international human rights obligations,” she said.
Lynn Hastings, UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, detailed how violence, violations, demolitions, and deprivation have had an impact on young lives in the West Bank and Gaza. Additionally, there are 56 outstanding demolition orders against schools where at least 6,400 children are taught in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The UN has recorded 115 education-related violations in the first half of this year, which include direct or indirect firing of tear gas, stun grenades, and/or rubber-coated bullets, intimidating military and settler presences at schools, detentions, and movement restrictions preventing students from reaching their classes. Overall, nearly 8,000 students have been impacted, increasing the risk they will drop out of school. Seventeen children were killed during the latest escalation in Gaza, and schools are overcrowded, with 65 per cent operating on double shifts. Despite the many challenges, she pointed to bright spots. The youth literacy rate among Palestinians is over 99 per cent, and nearly 94 per cent of children graduating from primary school go on to a secondary education.
Read full report in United National website
