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Israel/Zionism See other Israel/Zionism Articles Title: Palestinians Between a Rock and a Hard Place Palestinians Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Stephen Lendman On the one hand, Palestinian face racist Israeli persecution. On the other, their own so-called government abuses them horrifically. They remain isolated on their own under conditions no one should have to endure. World leaders able to help do nothing. Whenever things get too quiet, at strategically timed moments, or ahead of general elections, Israel invents another Palestinian terror plot. The latest one claims an East Jerusalem terror network, or infrastructure or cell comprised of what's called dozens of Palestinian activists. In other words, Palestinians wanting to live free on their own land in their own country are considered terrorists. Convoluted Israeli justice wants them eliminated altogether. Methods used include false charges, guilt by accusation trials, automatic convictions, followed by longterm imprisonment under horrific gulag conditions. Other times Israel solves its problems the old-fashioned way. Dead men tell no tales. Israeli plots resemble grade B film scripts. Including the usual villains - Arabs, of course. Familiar story lines. Israeli security forces foil bad guys. In this case, "dozens" of East Jerusalem A-Tur neighborhood Palestinian youths. Identified as males in their teens and early 20s. Their so-called crimes: largely stone-throwing. Israeli high crimes responsible for murdering or maiming thousands of Palestinians is called self-defense. Anything against Israeli ruthlessness is either anti-Semitic or terrorism. Shin Bet internal security forces were involved in the latest concocted plot. Juiced it up by alleging Molotov cocktails and a pipe bomb used. Few details were provided. Two Palestinians only were named. Reports said Israel's State Prosecutor's office intends indicting five alleged terror cell members. From "dozens" of bad guys to five. Maybe others to follow. Alleged to be involved in an unspecified "large number of terrorist attacks" against Jews, their property and security forces. Israeli soldiers and police rampage daily in multiple Palestinian communities. Conducting pre-dawn raids. Terrorizing families. Traumatizing children. Making dozens of arrests most weeks. Subjecting nonviolent Palestinians wanting to live in peace to horrific treatment. Including brutalizing torture. Gazans mistreated worst of all. Imprisoned by Israel's blockade. Aggressively targeted at Israel's discretion. Suffering horrifically from Israel's summer war. Tens of thousands lack adequate shelter. Large parts of Gaza remain in ruins. Including residential neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, and vital infrastructure. In January, UNRWA said it exhausted its aid money earmarked for reconstruction. It was pathetically inadequate to begin with. Billions of dollars were pledged. Crumbs showed up to help. UNRWA's Gaza director, Robert Turner, said "virtually none of" the aid funds arrived. According to Aid Watch Palestine founder Omar Shaban: "Right now we have to dig under a rock to find any information about the aid we're supposed to be getting and where that money actually is." It's used for other purposes. Gazans desperately needing help get virtually none. Israel could attack them again any time for any reason or none at all. Reconstruction is more myth than reality. Blockade, unemployment, poverty, human misery, desperation and real suffering affect 1.8 Gazans. They've gotten practically nothing needed to rebuild their lives. So-called outside aid is pure fantasy. Because Israel, corrupt PA officials, conspiratorial UN ones, and Israeli-supportive Western ones control everything. Gazan lives and well-being don't matter. Not earlier or now. They're on their own like always. It gets worse. On February 5, the Times of Israel reported collaborative PA officials gave the IDF nearly one-third of its Operation Protective Edge targets. Abbas is a longtime Israeli collaborator. He subverts Palestine's liberating struggle. He knew about Israel's December 2008/January 2009 Cast Lead war in advance. Leaked US diplomatic cables quoted a senior Israeli official confirming it. Abbas urged Israel to crush Hamas. He supported its November 2012 Pillar of Cloud war. He did nothing to help beleaguered Gazans during or following every Israeli war. He gives treason new meaning. He aided and abetted the enemy last summer. He shares blame with Israel for its high crimes. Hamas official Salah Bardawil said information Palestinian intelligence gave Israel caused hundreds of noncombatant deaths. Hamas has proof of "documents, photos and coordinates handed over to the Zionist enemy." Including Gazan institutions, mosques and homes of Hamas members. "The technology used by these agents of the General Intelligence Agency to send information to the occupation is very advanced, and closely resembles the technology used by the occupation," Bardawil explained. "This indicates the level of coordination between the two sides." Abbas-led PA officials conspire with Israel against 1.8 million Gazans. When asked to respond to Hamas' accusation, PA officials remained silent. Conspiratorial guilt remains audible. Mid-March Israeli elections offer Palestinians no hope for change. Palestinian human rights activist/Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh calls what's upcoming a contest for "who is most fascist." Palestinians, not Jews, are "the real victims of terror," he explains. Nobody cares if they live, die, suffer, or ever achieve justice. Over 500 American, British, Canadian and Israeli Rabbis for Human Rights called on Netanyahu to stop demolishing Palestinian homes. They called his policy against "international law and Jewish tradition." Their open letter followed his announced destruction of over 400 West Bank homes. Saying "(t)housands have been forced to build without permits, and great human suffering is caused when hundreds of homes are demolished each year in (Israeli-controlled) Area C alone." Draconian Israeli zoning laws "severely restrict the ability of Palestinians to build homes, even on the lands that the State recognizes as belonging to them." Palestinians have "no representation or true ability (to) determine how to properly plan for their communities since local and district planning communities were abolished in 1971." According to OCHA, "(d)demolitions that result in forced evictions and displacement run counter to Israel’s obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately." Palestinians are damned if they do or don't. Building without near-impossible to get Israeli permit permission assures demolition. Don't build and have no place to live. "Palestinians must have the opportunity to participate in a fair and equitable planning system that ensures their needs are met," says OCHA. Israel denies them virtually all civil and human rights. Ruthless persecution substitutes. 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. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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