Israeli Inflicted Holy Land Horrors

by Stephen Lendman

Palestinians are suffering, not celebrating new year festivities. State-sponsored terror haunts them throughout the holiday period and all other times of year without respite.

Daily reports are grim. Palestine's Health Ministry reported 142 Palestinians extrajudicially killed since October 1, including 27 children and seven women, perhaps several others before midnight December 31 - many more in the new year.

Israel's killing machine never rests. Over 15,600 Palestinians were injured, around 10,000 others harmed from toxic tear gas inhalation, thousands from live fire, thousands more arbitrarily arrested. Police state viciousness continues round-the-clock daily without letup.

Palestinians aren't sure each day if they'll live or die, remain free or be arrested, stay whole or become badly injured - or if they'll see their loved ones suffer horrifically from Israeli barbarism.

Maybe their homes will be destroyed to make way for exclusive Jewish development. Through New Year's eve, Israel demolished 478 Palestinian houses, structures, medical facilities and other sites - without just cause in all cases, acting out of pure viciousness.

According to international lawyer Hanna Issa, "(t)he Israeli authorities destroy the houses under different pretexts…includ(ing) security reasons, a lack of building licenses, being built near the settlements or across the settlement roads, being built on state lands or being built on green areas."

What's happening reflects longstanding ethnic cleansing - displacing Palestinians, stealing their land, calling them terrorists for justifiably resisting.

On December 29, Israeli forces ransacked the PA-run charitable work committee's Bethlehem headquarters - along with a prisoners' rights group Nablus office.

Charity treasurer Mahmoud Khalifa said "occupation forces broke (in) at 2:40AM and ravaged the place, breaking down the doors of administrative and accounting offices" - confiscating computers, files, and other materials.

The organization serves 1,200 Bethlehem-area Palestinian orphans - mostly children whose parents Israel murdered or eliminated in other ways.

"The committee does social duties only, and we have nothing to do with political issues," Khalifa explained.

Separately, Israeli forces stormed the Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights - confiscating computers and other materials related to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

The group was ordered to stay closed on the pretext of it posing a security threat - Israel wanting information exposing its high crimes entirely suppressed, including voices courageous enough to speak out.

Palestinian physician, political activist and staunch human rights supporter Mustafa Barghouti calls ongoing Palestinian resistance "a real popular uprising" - not popular unrest the way some describe it.

"It is an intifada that came as a result of Palestinians losing faith in the agreements with Israel, with negotiations doing nothing except providing cover for the expansion of settlement activities throughout the past 23 years," Barghouti explained. 

"This uprising was caused by the failure of the Oslo Accord and the Palestinian youth's realization that their future prospects were limited" or nonexistent. 

Palestinians lack leadership, unity and common objectives, Barghouti believes - success impossible without them.

As long as Israel prevents Palestinian self-determination by expanding its settlement enterprise, the only alternative is one state for two peoples, living together in the same land in peace, treated equally, Barghouti maintains.

He believes in the right of oppressed people to "resist occupation by any means" - as long as in compliance with international human rights laws.

Status quo conditions are unacceptable. US-led Western nations along with UN authorities "are blatantly negligent" when it comes to fundamental Palestinian rights. 

Double-standard hypocrisy is standard practice. Israel was "given the right to act above international law," Barghouti stressed - a reality vital to overcome by whatever means necessary, continuing for as long as it takes against a vicious occupier.

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

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

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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