https://youtube/watch?v=8twvXHUNrXY#t=17 July 06 2012 by Abdallah Omeish/ Sufyan Omeish Akins, James US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia 1973-1975 Baker, Dr. William former Professor of History/ Biblical Studies Bartlett, Bishop Allen Diocese of Washington Bennis, Phyllis Institute for Policy Studies Chomsky, Noam Middle East Analyst/ Author Christiansen, Father Drew US Catholic Conference Clinton, Bill 42nd US President 1993-2001 Dicks, Douglas Catholic Relief Services Falk, Richard UN Human Rights Fact-Finding Commission Findley, Paul... Former US Congressman... board member If Americans Knew Getman Thomas World Vision International... Jerusalem Halper, Jeff Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition... Professor of Anthropology... Ben Gurion University Kamphoefner, Kathleen Christian Peacemaker Team Hass, Amira Israeli Journalist... Ha´aretz Keller, Adam Gush Shalom... Israeli Peace Group Keller, Hava Israeli Soldier 1948 War Khalidi, Rashid Historian... Columbia University Lillian, Rabbi Rebecca Jewish Peace Forum Normand, Roger Center for Economic/ Social Rights Pacheco, Allegra Israeli Human Rights Lawyer Pappe, Ilan Israeli Historian... Haifa University Robertson, Pat Founder/ Chairman... The Christian Broadcasting Network Stien, Vael B´Iselem... Israeli Human Rights Group Walker, Edward US Ambassador to Israel 1997-1999 Weir, Alison Journalist/ former If Americans Knew Zinni, US General Anthony retired * * * * * a thought-provoking/ powerful documentary film on the current/ historical root causes of the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict... unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict... Occupation 101 presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts/ hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy... dispels many of its long-perceived myths/ misconceptions... the film also details life under Israeli military rule... the role of the US in the conflict... the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting/ viable peace... the roots of the conflict are explained through 1st-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars/ peace activists/ journalists/ religious leaders/ humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets... the film covers a wide range of topics... 1. 1880s 1st wave of Jewish immigration from Europe 2. 1920 tensions 3. 1948 war 4. 1967 war 5. 1987 1st Intifada 6. Oslo Peace Process 7. settlement expansion 8. US role 9. 2000 2nd Intifada 10. separation barrier 11. Israeli withdrawal from Gaza 12. heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy * * * * * Israeli Restrictions on Water Usage 10% of Palestinian land is irrigated - scarce/ politically sensitive water resources 70% of Settlement land is irrigated the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance... it is the illusion of knowledge... ~ Stephen Hawking Alison Weir... Journalist/ former If Americans Knew... any violence by a large population is not because this people is more violent than any other... it is an alarm/ a sign/ a signal that something is wrong in the treatment of this population... where is the outcry?... where is the voice of the people?... there must be someone somewhere... there has to be somebody somewhere... cry out!... we shall avenge our dead... they hate all of us for the same reason... all of us catch hell from the same enemy... we are all in the same bay... in the same boat... we suffer political oppression... economic exploitation... social degradation... all from the same enemy... it is useless/ point futile... for us to continue talking peace/ non-violence... against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed/ defenseless people... ~ Nelson Mandela this violence... your goal is to silence this violence/ attack... I am reminded of young David the shepherd boy... who stood up before the great warrior of the Philistines... who took hold of courage... with just one small stone... in the face of this giant... he slung at the giant Goliath... British tyrannical occupation apartheid genocide ethnic cleansing religious cleansing Ireland Algeria India South Africa America racial prejudice Blacks Israel the holy lands Palestinians 1947 the scene in Jerusalem as Jewish/ Arab mobs clashed in the center of the city... it remains to be seen whether a threatened full-scale war will materialize... 2004 soldiers take over homes... snipers do not hesitate to shoot at anything that moves in front of them... which includes journalists as well... Alison Weir... as a journalist... the more you look into the issue of Israel/ Palestine... the more you sense that something is not quite right... thing are a little out of sync... a little like a foreign film that has been awkwardly dubbed... damaged homes... roads destroyed... skeletal remains of cars... food/ medicine are ever scarce... Alison Weir... as you look into it for yourself you begin to suspect that there is something extremely odd going on... the more you look into it the more you begin to feel it is not just odd... it is deeply disturbing... our media portray Mid-east violence as though it is an inherent part of the culture/ region... implying that the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict is an ancient trouble with little hope of solution... Israeli soldiers reign destruction in all areas of the West Bank... the City of Peace is under siege... the Church of Nativity is under fire by heavy military artillery... hundreds of citizens are stuck inside the church without any food/ medicine... Alison Weir... these misperceptions come from the fact that we are only hearing a fraction of the story... you about to witness images/ testimony largely hidden from mainstream America... Kathleen Kamphoefner... Christian Peacemaker Team... this place draws many... whether they are Jewish/ Muslim/ Christian... this is a holy place to significant numbers of us in the world... we all have an interest in seeing what is this land... what is the situation here... once you come... if you open your eyes at all... you cannot miss the problems that are here... Allegra Pacheco... Israeli Human Rights Lawyer... I think it is hard to understand what occupation is... I think it is a foreign concept for many Americans... what it is like to live under military occupation... Phyllis Bennis... Institute for Policy Studies... the definition of an occupation is when a foreign army occupies your land physically... controls your life... Allegra Pacheco... in addition... Palestinians under occupation... this is why there is so much struggle against the occupation... they are not citizens... they do not have rights... they do not have civil rights... they are under a military rule... Phyllis Bennis... this is a particular kind of occupation that is both military/ settler occupation... Bishop Allen Bartlett... Diocese of Washington... settlements are areas of Palestinian land which are selected... whatever is there... whether it is roads... whether it is villages... homes... they are bulldozed... a new town is built on the hilltop... Kathleen Kamphoefner... one very good friend is Rhodinah Jiver... she and her husband Otto have landed in a rural valley near here called the Bejala... it is pretty clear the settlements want this land... it is some of the best agricultural land around here... that valley has had repeated home demolitions... Rosanna herself has lived through 2 home demolitions... they are living now in their third house... a bulldozer arrived with soldiers... I was totally shocked... I began to argue with them not to demolish my home... they began to beat me/ pull my hair... as the bulldozer was to begin the demolition I remembered that my son was sleeping inside... I ran towards the house to get him... as I ran the soldiers tried to hold me back... they began beating/ kicking me... pulled my hair... I managed to push one to the ground... ran inside to my son... carried him out like this... Kathleen Kamphoefner... Rhodinah/ her children were once again homeless... had to endure living in a tent for many months... her husband Otto was even imprisoned for protesting the destruction of their home... as I was cooking for my children... I noticed that one of my daughters had tied a rope to a tree/ around her neck to attempt to hang herself... I asked her... what are you doing?... she said... how can we live outside in the sun like this?... I do not want to live... I would rather die... it was a miserable time for us... imagine a mother seeing her own child trying to kill herself... their mental condition is awful!... they do not even sleep at night... they ask... mommy!... what is that?...check if it is the army!... 3 days ago the army came at night... my children began screaming... from all directions... the soldiers are yelling for my ID... in the middle of the dark... I tell them not to be fearful... try to calm/ console them... but I am even more afraid than they are... Jeff Halper... Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition... here you have Palestinians that have no input whatsoever in the policies that are made... they are not on the City Council... they are not in any of the decision-making bodies in the West Bank or Gaza... they are certainly not on the Gaza... the policies are made in order to insure Israeli control... the law is designed in a way in a very cynical way to prevent Palestinians from building... to keep them confined in little islands... so that most of the land of the occupied territories is free for Israeli Settlement... Richard Falk... UN Human Rights Fact-Finding Commission... these are armed settlements... about 190 of them spread all over the West Bank... Allegra Pacheco... settlements are strategically built colonies of Israel that are connected by a network of roads which separate each Palestinian community from the next... confine their ability to expand... they are often constructed around the best farm land/ water resources Alison Weir... they are surrounded by barbed wire... they are armed inside... Settler residents are required to be armed by the Israeli military... they are defended from the outside by the Israeli military itself... Allegra Pacheco... the purpose of these settlement today is one... to continue the Israeli control/ domination of the occupied territories... Bishop Allen Bartlett... the bottom line of all of this is to make Palestinians leave the country... it is a very hard term... I know... but in a sense it is a kind of ethnic cleansing... Vael Stien... B´Iselem - Israeli Human Rights Group... the Israeli government/ the Israeli army is not dealing with people as equal... I think that is the main program... Palestinians are not perceived as equals to the Israelis... Douglas Dicks... Catholic Relief Services... there is no specific discrimination against Palestinian Christians as opposed to Palestinian Muslims... it is a shared suffering... Father Drew Christiansen... US Catholic Conference... Christians see themselves as very much a part of the Palestinian movement... they identify with the Palestinian people as being their people... Douglas Dicks... Palestinian people have difficulty getting to churches on Sunday morning... if they wanted to come to Jerusalem because they do not have that permission/ that legal right... according to the Israeli government... to come to Jerusalem for worship... Thomas Getman... World Vision International - Jerusalem... this I picked up in a home of a wonderful Christian family in Bejala... this is the kind of armor-piercing weaponry that is being used against civilians... innocent civilians... it is not easy to tell everything you know... it is easy to say some words... but you cannot tell how do you feel... as everybody I want my children to be happy... to live their right life as children... we just think about one thing... where can I put my children while they are shooting?... they did not want to go to school because they are scared to come back... there is no house... they do not want to go without me/ their father because they think they will lose us... what about the children?... why are they going to the streets?... they do not think... let us go to swim because I am sure they have no right to swim now... why?... because we are Palestinian... thank God... I do not imagine that there is a woman in all of the world who can send her child/ man... just go to die... do you think we are working all of this life to give them something... to let the die in a minute?... can you?... Thomas Getman... the suffering... the persecution of Christians... they have been robbed of their heritage... they have been robbed of their ancestral lands... they have been robbed of their culture... Dr. William Baker... former Professor of History/ Biblical Studies... some of the 1st converts of the teachings of Jesus were Palestinians... that is how long Christians have been in that land... their quarter... the Christian quarter has been really/ really decimated... taken over... sliced up... Bishop Allen Bartlett... that has really bled the Christian community to where they are less than 2% of the population now... Dr. William Baker... the presence of a Christian community within the Holy Land... can you imagine... where Jesus 1st stepped foot... will no longer be there... Adam Keller... Gush Shalom... Israeli Peace Group... I know both from the moral sense... from the perfectal sense... the only way to stop the violence is to treat the root cause from which the violence has started... Root Cause of the Conflict Douglas Dicks... the number one myth that Western have about this conflict is that Arabs/ Jews have been fighting for thousands of years... that they are going to continue to fight... Jerusalem James Akins... US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia... 1973-1975... this is really quite bizarre because all it takes is a little bit of reading of history to find out that this just is not true... there is no congenital/ historical enmity between the Arabs/ Jews... the Jews flourished in the Arab world at a time when they were being persecuted throughout all of Europe... Rashid Khalidi... Historian... Columbia University... at the end of the 19th century because of Anti-Semitism in Europe... European Jews began to try to figure out a solution to the Jewish problem... a very small minority adhered to Zionism... the idea that the only place in which they could be safe is within a Jewish state... Palestine Douglas Dicks... Zionist Jews actually had a design on the land of Palestine... the idea of creating a homeland for Jews in the land of Palestine... this is really the beginning of the conflict... Rashid Khalidi... Israeli Historian... Haifa University... the mainstream Israeli Jewish society believe the way they believe because that is the way they have been educated... that Palestine was empty... had been empty when the Jewish settlers came there... Phyllis Bennis... who paid the price when they settled there?... is it really true that Israel was a land without a people for a people without a land?... Rashid Khalidi... Palestine was not empty... it was a land populated by Arabs who had a high level of culture... a high level of education... Phyllis Bennis... with farms/ markets/ towns/ villages/ roads/ commerce... lots of interaction with the rest of the world... 1878 Population Distribution Total = 462,465 Muslim/ Christian Arabs = 96.8% Jews = 3.2% Rashid Khalidi... the population was overwhelmingly Arab... 1882-1914 Immigration of 65,000 European Jews 1917 Balfour Agreement the government of his majesty views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people... 1915 The McMahon Hussien Agreement 1922 Population Distribution Total = 757,182 Palestinian Population (Muslim-Christian) =87.6% Jewish Population = 11% Alison Weir... Jewish immigration increased under British rule following WW I... when Britain implemented the Balfour Declaration promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine... this measure conflicted with the previous promise of Britain of self-rule for Arab inhabitants throughout the region... Rashid Khalidi... Britain was basically extremely supportive of the Zionist movement... it helped to establish all of the structures of a state... at the same time the Arabs of Palestine were denied the right of self-determination... Alison Weir... the Palestinians saw European power decide the future of the non-European territory in flat disregard of both their presence/ wishes... in the 1920s as land was being stripped away from local residents... the 1st clashes between Palestinians/ Jews began... would continue on for years to come... until the early 1930s the Jewish population of Palestine remained under 17%... the rise to power of Hitler in Germany completely changed that... in just 5 years 174,000 Jews flooded into Palestine doubling their population... as the world attempted to make amends for the horrors of Nazi genocidal policies efforts to make Palestine a Jewish homeland increased... 1920-1931 108,825 additional Jewish immigrants arrive 1931 Population Distribution Total = 1,035,154 Palestinian Population (Muslim-Christian) =81.6% Jewish Population = 16.9% 1932-1936 174,000 additional Jewish immigrants arrive 1937-1945 119,800 additional Jewish immigrants arrive Phyllis Bennis... the Palestinians were not the Nazis... they were not responsible for the Holocaust... but they were the ones who paid the price... Alison Weir... in 1947 with the conflict spiraling out of control Britain decided to turn the problem of Palestine over to the UN... the UN under pressure proposed to divide the land into 2 states... an Arab state/ a Jewish state... Arabs were to be given 43% of the land despite the fact that they made up more than 2/3 of the population... owned over 92% of the land... the Jews were to be given 56% although they comprised only 1/3 of the population... owned less than 8% of the total area... UN Partition Plan Arabs - given 43% of land... made up 69% of population... owned 92% of land Jews - given 56% of land... made up 31% of population... owned 8% of land Rashid Khalidi... they were given not only most of the land... they were given the most fertile land... Alison Weir...... the Zionist leaders took advantage of their superior military preparation... immediately began occupying major Arab cities in Palestine... Hava Keller... Israeli Soldier 1948 War... I was among the people that conquered the echo... we were walking around... there was a pair of shoes of a small child... maybe 2 years old... they did not have time to put on their shoes...they left the shoes... they ran away... they left everything... Rashid Khalidi... we found out that there was a systematic expulsion of Palestinians... there was an ethnic cleansing operation taking place... Alison Weir...... the most infamous campaign was the massacre at the village of Deria Yassin where over 100 men/ women/ children were systematically murdered... the ruthlessness of the attack on Deria Yassin drove fear/ panic into the Palestinian population... led to the flight of unarmed civilians from their homes all over the country... I/ my children/ my brother were hiding in this house... my brother spent the night in order to keep us company... they threw bombs at our home... my children/ I got wounded... when things calmed down the Jews broke the door down... took us out... they started to beat up my brother Musa severely... I gave a soldier some money so that he would not kill Musa... he took the money... said... you are kind-hearted... I will show you what I will do to your brother... he threw him to the ground... my brother fell down like this... face down... the soldier then pointed his gun to the head of Musa... shot him 5 times... the majority of her family members/ relatives were killed... her 2 sons/ one stepson/ her father/ mother/ her 2 brothers/ her grandparents/ her uncle/ aunt/ their children... Rashid Khalidi... as a result maybe 300,000 or so Palestinians had already been expelled before the 1st Arab soldier entered Palestine... Alison Weir...... some of the neighboring Arab armies finally intervened after May 15 1948 when Israel officially announced its statehood... James Akins... although there was a lot of war rhetoric on the Arab side... very few Arab soldiers were sent into the battlefield... actually for most part of the war there was a superiority on the side of the Israeli army... Arab Soldiers = 68,000 Jewish Soldiers = 90,000 Noam Chomsky... Middle East Analyst/ Author... the Israeli army cleansed most of the territory... took over a large part of the designated Palestinian state... Alison Weir... the new Israel state encompassed 78% of the total land of Palestine... the West Bank came under Jordanian control... the Gaza Strip under Egyptian dominion... although a truce was declared between Israel/ Arab states... true peace remained elusive as over 700,000 Palestinian refugees languished in nearby camps often in sight of homes to which they still held the deeds... a deep desire to return... Noam Chomsky... most of the deserted/ evicted Palestinian villages were erased from upon the earth... were either turned into Jewish settlements or into fertile land... James Akins... of the 500 Palestinian villages in what became Israel in 1948 400 were destroyed... Alison Weir... these efforts to destroy the possibility of their returning home were countered by the UN which continues to affirm their human right in international law/ morality to return... Phyllis Bennis... a Palestinian who had lost her land/ lost his land as a result of the creation of Israel in 1948 cannot come back even for a visit... I can go back to Israel as if I were returning... claim immediate citizenship having no historic tie... speaking no Hebrew... knowing no one in the country... having no family who ever was there... all that one needs is to be Jewish... a religious group like any other... Zionism Caused 54 Years Bloodshed in Mideast I am from Al-Quds (Jerusalem)... I am a witness... I know the Arabs... the Arabs are very good... no problem until the Zionist movement start... my grandmother tell me before Zionist movement start they babysitting kids of each other... they borrow both from each other... they were like brothers... the idea of Zionism... you take away the land from the Palestinians... from the Arabs... started all the fighting... not Arabs the problem... not Jews the problem... not Judaism... not Muslim... only Zionism... Alison Weir... the events of 1948 were a defining moment for the Middle East... from that point onward created instability throughout the region... violent tensions continued... led to another war in 1967... in that war Israel occupied the remainder of historic Palestine/ what is known today as the West Bank/ Gaza... James Akins... another myth was that Israel was about to be pushed into the sea... I was working in the State Department at that time... there was no question of Israel being pushed into the sea... the question was just the rapidity of the totality of the Israeli victory... the victory was crushing... Alison Weir... during the 1967 war Israel had displaced more than 400,000 Palestinians half of whom were 1948 refugees displaced for a 2nd time in less than 2 decades... it became clear that the world was not going to address their plight... Palestinians in Israel lived as 3rd class citizens of the state whose core identity excluded them while those in the newly occupied territories/ abroad continued as dispossessed refugees... the UN passed Resolution after Resolutions affirming their rights... leaders of surrounding Arab nations verbally championed their cause... failed to take action... finally Palestinians took matters into their own hands... there was a mass uprising... in Arabic... an intifada... shaking off... as people throughout the West Bank/ Gaza Strip rebelled... the Israeli government adopted a strategy in the words of Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin of might/ power/ beatings which became known as the break the bones strategy... thousands of Palestinians were rounded up/ imprisoned... since 1967 over 400,000... many were held without any charges whatsoever under harsh conditions where physical abuse/ torture were rampant... December 1987-December 1993 1st Intifada Palestinian civilians killed = 1,100... 250 children Jewish civilians killed = 114... 5 children by the end of 1993 the 1st Intifada wound down... for 7 years Palestinians entered a peace process with Israel... President Clinton... today we bear witness to an extraordinary act in one of the defining dramas of history... Noam Chomsky... the Oslo Peace Process begins officially with the handshake on the White House lawn... Amira Hass... Israeli Journalist for Ha´aretz... the think the main misconception is that the Oslo process were years of peace... Phyllis Bennis... in that period when there was supposed to be a peace process underway in fact the daily lives of Palestinians throughout the occupied territories got worse/ worse/ worse... the reality... I saw it with my own eyes... these people suffered a new form of Israeli domination over the Palestinians Roger Normand... Center for Economic/ Social Rights... economic/ social rights... which are rights to health/ education/ work/ etc... these areas are those that declined the worst for the majority of Palestinians... almost all Palestinians... Allegra Pacheco... all the economic indicators turned for the worst under Oslo... during this peace process... Rashid Khalidi... moreover the Israeli settlements continued to expand throughout that period... Israeli settlements doubled in size/ population... the number of Jewish settlers increased from 200,000 to 400,000 Alison Weir... at the same time that the Israeli control was expanding the Palestinian Authority was given the trappings of power over the shrinking/ non-contiguous Palestinian land being held out as a future Palestinian state... Phyllis Bennis... the challenges of governing for the Palestine Authority as extraordinarily complex... this is an authority that has very little authority... it has virtually no power... its power is derivative... it has the power that is given to it by Israel... at any moment any of those powers can be taken away... Amira Hass... it was very convenient to believe that there was an occupation... that the occupation is over... how many aspects in your life somebody else determines for you?... this is occupation... Israel could have terminated it for the last 10 years... could have terminated all of it... we hear Arafat say 10 times... a hundred times... that Ramallah is liberated... Gaza is liberated... how can it be liberated if there is an army around it?... the Palestinians officials spoke very warmly about the situation... about the reality... they were hiding the fact that the majority of the population existed in a disaster... Rashid Khalidi... those abuses... those violations of the public trust have been happening regularly since the Oslo process began... Amira Hass... the Palestinians who protested against Oslo were labeled as terrorists... the Palestinian Authority would not allow it... Rashid Khalidi... instead of having a real national authority you had this corrupt institution whose main task as far as Israel was concerned was to police the Palestinians... prevent them from resisting the continued occupation... Richard Falk... the Palestinian Authority has wasted a lot of the money the international community has given it... one sees the villas of leading Palestinian officials... the poverty with which the Palestinians masses are living... Rashid Khalidi... the performance of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in running the Palestinian Authority...its failures in negotiating with Israel have very much diminished support for the PLO leadership... January 2006 elections were held... the Palestinians voted the PLO-led government out of office... gave Hamas the required seats to form a majority government... Alison Weir... while Americans were being told by the media that a peace process was moving forward Israel continued its policy of home demolitions... since 1967 about 12,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished... more than 740 of those homes were demolished during the Oslo Peace Process... Edward Walker... US Ambassador to Israel 1997-1999... what you have to have... I think it is a fair demand on the part of the Palestinians... that during the process of negotiations you are not turning over more/ more territory to Israeli settlers... changing the character of the land about which you are supposed to be negotiating... Phyllis Bennis... the notion that this is going to be a negotiable question does not ring true to any Palestinian who lives up against one of these settlements which are continually expanding... what does it mean to expand?... it means you steal more land... Amira Hass... Abdul Jawad is a Palestinian farmer whose family has lived there... tended the land for centuries... the Israeli authorities have confiscated countless acres of their farmland... Jewish Settlement look at the beautiful trees that used to be in this area... basically I had cultivated a garden of heaven on earth... look... instead of this heaven... look what they have done... I wish you can just see this... what they have done here... look how the trees continue to grow from underneath the rocks... is that not awful?... how can a human being that mentions God do this?... this is our food supply... we do not have anything imported from anywhere... we wait for the mercy of God!... what else can we do?... Amira Hass... these settlers live/ prosper at the expense of the Palestinians... the present well being of the Palestinians/ the future well being of the Palestinians Rabbi Rebecca Lillian... Jewish Peace Forum... they do not see this horrible disproportionate allocation of resources were Jewish settlers get water/ electricity/ gas/ garbage retrieval/ all kinds of things that their Palestinian neighbors do not get because of the military occupation... That village over there is not allowed to visit us... look... do you see anyone outside?... not even one Arab is outside!...if this car were not Israeli it would not be allowed on the road... Rabbi Rebecca Lillian... they lost the middle of the valley for bypass roads... Israeli only bypass roads... they cannot drive on it to go to their homes... Noam Chomsky... this thing is extremely ugly to watch... this is just day-to-day life... I am not talking about the fighting here... when you walk through Hebron... an Arab city... 100,000 Arabs... 1 or 2 settlers walking around with rifles looking as if they owned the place... Rabbi Rebecca Lillian... settlers can go into a Palestinian village... burn the fields there... destroy their house... even shoot Palestinians... Amira Hass... several of the women have been beaten by settlers on different occasions... Kathleen Kamphoefner... in each of those occasions we were just being a non-violent presence on the street observing one settler acting out... they attacked different ones of us... from what we have told you we have mentioned a fraction of what happens... Yael Stein... the Israeli government is not doing anything to try to stop the settlers from violating Palestinians rights... from all the cases that settlers actually abuse Palestinians very few were accused of anything... then the President came... gave amnesty... shortened the punishment that they received from the court... in some case they cooperate with them... one case the settlers took a Palestinian house... just said... now it is ours... the border police stood down there to protect the settlers because the Palestinians were angry... the border police stood there to protect the settlers instead of arresting them... saying it is illegal... Jeff Halper... the bottom line is to make things so difficult for the Palestinians that anybody that wants a future for their children... anybody that wants to get ahead in life... anybody that wants a normal life... will leave... why would anyone who owns a heaven like this abandon it... leave?... where else would we go?... Yael Stein... the Jawad family continues to live under constant harassment... most recently Abdul Jawad broke his leg while trying to protect his grandchildren from settler attacks... Jeff Halper... any of us feel that we are held hostage to the settlers... because I think the vast majority of Israelis do not care about the occupied territories... but we are held hostages to the settlers that have enough political power within the Israeli political system that they can frustrate any attempt to get them out... as long as they are there the Palestinian cannot possibly make peace... Adam Keller... there are two kinds of settlers basically... there are the ideological settlers who feel that these territories have been promised to the Jewish people by God... they feel that every place which is mentioned in the Bible they have not only the right but a sacred duty to come... to build a modern Jewish settlement... if Palestinians who life on that spot have other ideas they have the right to break their resistance by force or to call in the army... the other kind which are the majority of the settlers are in fact ordinary Israelis who came there simply because the government was offering them very cheap housing... when you go to live there most of the money you get as a government loan... if you stay there for 10 years you do not have to pay back the loan... only 10% of the West Bank is populated with Jewish settlers... yet they enjoy superior privileges at the expense of the native Palestinian population... Richard Falk... I think the omnipresent/ unavoidable comparison is with South Africa during the Apartheid period... I must say that having visited South Africa... they were much better off than the Palestinians living in the refugee camps... they hit my baby with a wooden stick... we went to jail because it was impossible to sit still while the obscenity of the apartheid system was being imposed on our people... James Akins... the US is seen quite directly as being the sole supporter of Israel... Israel would not be able to do what it is doing without the American green light... Paul Findley... Former US Congressman... board member If Americans Knew... the US/ Israel relationship is really unique on capitol Hill... in my 22 years that I served there... there was never a moment when there was really a debate about US policy in the Middle East... it was always... what does Israel want?... almost always Congress gave them exactly what they wanted without any debate... without any amendments being considered... this type of policy exists as a result of a number of factors... 1st of all there is the US Lobby for Israel... (AIPAC) The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee... it has a multi-million dollar budget... it has a highly professional group of people working on Capitol Hill... they know the legislative process... they know the personalities... advance what is best for the state of Israel... American Pro-Israel Lobby The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee the most important organization affecting the American relationship with Israel... NY Times Adam Keller... Congress seems to think that if you oppose what Israel wants you will be defeated in the next election... 1978-2006 Pro-Israeli Political Action Committees have contributed $43,724,035 to candidates who vote in Congress according to AIPACs recommendations... Paul Findley... another factor is the fundamentalist Christian community... fundamentalists are often represented by the television evangelists that are on TV... they believe that a strong Israel is a part of God´s plan... they believe that the day will come when a battle will occur on the plain of Armageddon in the Middle East... there will be the forces of truth/ righteousness on one side... the forces of evil on the other side... in that struggle... the Christian forces led by the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ will prevail... all of the Jews will be either destroyed or converted instantly to Christianity... it may sound to the viewer as a very far out notion... believe me it is widely held... supported by millions of Americans whose doctrines really in the ultimate are hostile to the survival Jews... nevertheless the supporters of Israel see this vast body of American people as being a great asset at this time... they embrace them... Dr. William Baker... Mr. Robertson who said... I had a vision from God that we have to support Israel... no matter what happens... no matter what they do... this is the will of God because they are the people chosen of God... a couple of weeks later he added... that is when this ministry started really being blessed... when we made that commitment to Israel... he did not say a commitment to God or the teachings of Jesus Christ... but to Israel... Pat Robertson... Founder/ Chairman... The Christian Broadcasting Network... we have come from all the nations of the earth to say to the people of Israel... we are your friends... we are with you... we believe that you are called by God to possess this land... Dr. William Baker... I as a Christian... as a Christian pastor... object... not in my name... not in the name of over 120 million Christians do you dare say that we support injustice/ deceit... we do not... Noam Chomsky... the citizenry of this democratic society is systematically deprived of access to the real facts... Alison Weir.... the America media play a major role in continuing US support for Israel through leaving out vast swaths of information... it is the classic case of lying through omission... major statements by diplomats/ senators/ military leaders are going unreported... sentences are being removed from news stories... information is being manipulated... Paul Findley... those are the 3 factors that work together on Capitol Hill... lead to such total bias... such total absence of free speech... of open debate... that I think is very destructive to our institutions... to our best interests in world affairs... Adam Keller... Israel does not abide at all by International Law... the entire occupation is illegal... it is in violation in particular of the 4th Geneva Convention... by the rules of the 4th Geneva Convention... you are not allowed to build settlements... you are not allowed to build roads... you are not allowed to expropriate land... you are not allowed to deport people... you are not allowed to restrict their freedom of movement... you are not allowed to harm their economy... you are not allowed to make them unemployed/ impoverished... Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians Adopted August 12 1949 International Convention for Human Rights Fund Education Not Occupation Noam Chomsky... everything Israel does in the Occupied Territories... US taxpayers are paying for it... the US gives the financing... it gives the military support... Richard Falk... Israel receives as much foreign economic assistance as all the countries combined in the world... Total US Aid from 1949-1996 = $62.5 Billion The Caribbean/ Sub-Saharan Africa/ Latin America - population 1,050,000,000 (1.05 billion) US Aid Dollars spent per Person = $59 Total US Aid from 1949-1996 = $62.5 Billion Israel - population 5,800,000 (5.8 million) US Aid Dollars spent per Person = $10,775 Of the total aid the US gives annually Israel receives 1/3... There are currently 191 independently recognized countries in the world... March 2003 the US Government approved $10 billion in aid for Israel at the same time it withheld $3.5 billion grant to upgrade the training of 1st responders those who would be 1st to respond to a terrorist attack... Sspent domestically that $10 billion could buy health care coverage for over 4,202,251 children without proper coverage or pay for 1,455,573 American children to attend Headstart child development programs to prepare them for school or simply help states offset the costs of one of the worst fiscal crises in half a century... US Aid to Israel from 1949-2006 = $108 Billion Today it averages $2-$3 billion Annually $6-$8 million per day Economic Aid + Military Aid + Loans converted to Gifts + Corporate Tax Deductions for Donations + Interest on US Loans from Israel with which the US gives Israel Money = $10 Billion Annually $27.4 million per day Israel is currently the most extensive violator of UN Security Council Resolutions... The US has used its Veto power more than 40 times in the UN to defend Israeli violations of International law... Richard Falk... retired... one of the reasons that the American commitment to Israel is so strong is that it is not only reflecting the impact of well-organized pro-Israel lobbies... but it also represents the views of the Pentagon that sees Israel now as an indispensible strategic ally in the effort to control/ exert influence throughout the region... Noam Chomsky... the main concern for the US in the world are the oil-producing regions... in order to control that you need a way to do so... Alison Weir.... desperate for a way to find an end to occupation... Palestinians again came to the negotiating table in 2000... Jeff Halper... people think... look... Israel was very forthcoming... offered 95% of the West Bank to the Palestinians... they rejected it in violence... The assumption of that 95% argument is that getting 95% of the land gives you 95% sovereignty of a sovereign country... I think it is very useful to think in terms of a prison... if you look at a blueprint of a prison... it looks like the prisoners own the place
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 14:15:56 +0000
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