OscailtReflections from an Irish Activist with the ISM in PalestineThe following is not intended to be an attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. Instead, it is a reflection on the past few weeks I have spent with the International Solidarity Movement in the city of Hebron and its environs and what brought me here in the first place. It is completely subjective and deliberately intended to be so. It is merely a personal reflection, and therefore should not be taken as representative of the views of the ISM.
Breaking news: Italian MP, Sgarbi denounces the Statistical Fraud on COVID-19. The speech of the Member of Parliament Vittorio Sgarbi in the session of the Italian Camera, Meeting no. 331 of Friday 24, April, 2020. Vittorio Sgarbi, denounces the closure of 60% of the businesses for 25,000 COVID-19 Deaths, of which the National Institute of Health says 96.3% died NOT of COVID-19 but of other pathologies. That means only 925 have died of the virus. 24,075 have died of other things.2007-09-08T23:34:12+00:00Indymedia Irelandimc-ireland@lists.indymedia.iehttp://www.indymedia.ie/atomfullposts?story_id=84120http://www.indymedia.ie/graphics/feedlogo.gifDamienhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2066652007-09-08T23:34:12+00:00Justin MorahanThanks for an excellent report from Hebron. Thanks too to all your friends out t...Thanks for an excellent report from Hebron. Thanks too to all your friends out there including ISM and CPT all of whom are protectors of a trodden-on people. <br />
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Some day when sanity and truth prevail over today's insanity and lies, you will be remembered among the good Samaritans who did not pass by when they saw the traveller who had fallen among the robbers. Same for the Israeli human rights groups.<br />
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And a little bit of good news from Bil'in in case you haven't already heard it. Israeli Supreme Court rules that Palestinians must get back some of their lands confiscated by the illegal Wall. See <a href="http://indymedia.ie/article/84132" title="http://indymedia.ie/article/84132">http://indymedia.ie/article/84132</a>The so called "Apartheid Wall" saves liveshttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2066692007-09-09T06:50:01+00:00Jack ThorntonI consider this article a one-sided propaganda manifest against Israel and in fa...I consider this article a one-sided propaganda manifest against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians and I am sorry that the writer cannot be open minded to both sides' arguments. I tend to think that "it takes two to tango" and that both Israelis and Palestinians share the blame. But this being an ideological issue, I can accept the divergence of opinions. <br />
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However, on the subject of the "Wall" or security fence, no ideological argument can masquerade the facts: 95% of Palestinian suicide attacks have ceased since the erection of this so called "Apartheid Wall". The issue of suicide bombings against civilian population is not mentioned in this article. It is strange that an Irish peace activist who surely knows what has transpired in Israeli cities and towns between 2002 and 2006, fails to mention the suicide campaign. If peace ever prevails in the Middle East, this separation wall and security fence can be taken out. The lives of victims of suicide bombers are lost forever. Response to Jack...http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2066752007-09-09T10:39:01+00:00radicaljonnyJack, if the Israeli government's sole purpose in building that wall was securit...Jack, if the Israeli government's sole purpose in building that wall was security, it would follow the 1967 borders, but it doesn't. The wall snakes its way through the Palestinian territory, breaking up farms, properties, separating people and farmland from villages, making travel through the West Bank more difficult, etc. <br />
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Is any nightmare justifiable in the cause of security? Because that's the real rub. That's why the wall is so troubling. It is destroying lives, just as certainly as the suicide bombings and rocket attacks. The wall is making the conflict worse, not better. <br />
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Many Israelis realize this, and are working for a just solution to the problem. Check out Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.<br />
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<a href="http://www.icahd.org/eng/" title="http://www.icahd.org/eng/">http://www.icahd.org/eng/</a>Re. Suicide Bombingshttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2066862007-09-09T17:50:19+00:00Damien MoranI totally condemn suicide bombings, as does the ISM - see FAQ's; http://www.pals...I totally condemn suicide bombings, as does the ISM - see FAQ's; <a href="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/about-ism/faq#bombing" title="http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/about-ism/faq#bombing">http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/about-ism/faq#bombing</a><br />
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There can be no lasting peace without justice. The source of most of the violence is the Occupation. Radicaljonny clarifies the issue about the route and main purpose of the wall. See Justin's reference regarding the landgrabbing. Suicide bombings do not occur in a vacuum. Many studies have shown they occur as a desperate response (albeit totally unjustified and I believe counter-productive for the Palestinian cause) to the Occupation and decades of violence and repression from the Israeli army.<br />
The Israeli army uses F-16's, tanks, Patriots - the extremist Palestinian factions use their bodies. Innocents die on both sides, and the clear majority are Palestinian<br />
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<a href="http://www.mediarights.org/news/2005/09/08/palestinian_film_looks_at_suicide_bombers.php" title="http://www.mediarights.org/news/2005/09/08/palestinian_film_looks_at_suicide_bombers.php">http://www.mediarights.org/news/2005/09/08/palestinian_...s.php</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/" title="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/">http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/</a>why are we afraidhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2067722007-09-11T13:23:49+00:00Br. Mustaphait seems to me, that there are people who are afraid to use the word Zionism. in...it seems to me, that there are people who are afraid to use the word Zionism. in case it would alienate people.<br />
we should all continue to confront oppression ignorance. in the area of justice peace.<br />
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lets us remember that senior members of the Irish Republican movement sat a a table with people from Iraq, South African Government. to work for a peaceful with justice in Iraq.<br />
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in Bradford England. 2007, many people experience fear because they are from the faith of Islam. from racist political group BNP. this also happens to black people.<br />
sadly there are gay men and women engaged in this obnoxious attitudeAmbiguityhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2068022007-09-11T23:39:17+00:00ScepticThe fact that the barrier does not follow the pre 67 borders does not
mean that ...The fact that the barrier does not follow the pre 67 borders does not<br />
mean that it does not have high security value as a suicide bombing measure. The two issues are separate even if there is a degree of injustice in the location of the barrier. The barrier does not have to be the final border. Many who are the fiercest<br />
opponents of the barrier are in fact ambiguous on the issue of suicide bombings directed at the Israeli citizens and cities.<br />
Am big US fanhttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2069432007-09-14T09:46:45+00:00Sean DSceptic, you seem to be ambiguous on the justice of the land-grab which this wal...Sceptic, you seem to be ambiguous on the justice of the land-grab which this wall facilitates. If there were practical considerations in the route selections that inevitably led to crossing over the 1967 line, then the 'fair' thing to do would be to put an equal amount of Israeli land on the palestinian side.The wall is saving lives on both sideshttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2070522007-09-15T09:09:05+00:00ScepticAgreed - the land should be returned or other land exchanged for it. However tha...Agreed - the land should be returned or other land exchanged for it. However that does not take away from the responsibility of the Israeli Government to do all that they can to stop suicide bombings. Incidentally the wall has saved Palestinian lives too - both by reducing the numbers that go on suicide missions and the aftermaths where the Israelis might take measures against Palestinian areas following such bombings.The most spectacularly creative logic ever...http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2070572007-09-15T10:04:36+00:00radicaljonnySceptic, using your logic concerning the wall saving lives, we could also deduce...Sceptic, using your logic concerning the wall saving lives, we could also deduce that Hurricane Katrina lowered crime in New Orleans' Ninth Ward by the simple fact that there are now less people living there to commit crimes and fewer police shooting at fleeing perpetrators.Good fences........http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2070612007-09-15T10:38:06+00:00ScepticRadicaljonny
My logic is unimpeachable. Those that select and send out the (vol...Radicaljonny<br />
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My logic is unimpeachable. Those that select and send out the (volunteer!) suicide bombers, who to date have included kids, young mothers and grandmothers, want to cause as much murder and mayhem as possible for both the Israeli and Palestinians sides by provoking Israeli reaction and over reaction. If such terrorism can be prevented in the first place the violence and mayhem is curbed in both areas. The situation is frustrating to radicals in the occupied areas and their supporters in Derry, RESPECT and elsewhere hence the heightened indignation at the wall. <br />
I was wondering when that'd come up...http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2071422007-09-16T10:25:36+00:00radicaljonnyYou know, I'm sitting here deciding whether or not to rebut yet again the subtle...You know, I'm sitting here deciding whether or not to rebut yet again the subtle(?) inferrence that radical people (comrades in Derry, RESPECT, etc.) are inherently supportive of terrorism, and that to question or resist the security apparatus (whatever it is) put in place by the powers that be to counter terrorism is, in fact, an inherent support for terrorism....<br />
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Hmm... No, I won't. It's exhausting and it never seems to work. But the next time I'm in the West Bank (probably spring of next year), I'll raise the issue with people there and get there opinion of the argument. <br />
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I'll post their views (or at least an edited extract) when I get back.Balance?http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2071512007-09-16T13:00:41+00:00ScepticRESPECT and the “Derry Comrades” are inherently ambiguous about suicide bombings...RESPECT and the “Derry Comrades” are inherently ambiguous about suicide bombings directed against Israelis I'd suspect - perhaps not inherently supportive of terrorism. BTW there would be no value in just discussing these issues on the Palestinian side. You would need to discuss them with Israelis as well . That is if you are interested in getting a balance of views. ...meanwhile over in Gaza...http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2073092007-09-18T18:46:16+00:00gameballPrayer meetings are the new protest medium in Gaza. Only for Muslims, tho. Prayer meetings are the new protest medium in Gaza. Only for Muslims, tho. Partial Victory at Bilin Village against the land grabbers.http://www.indymedia.ie/article/84120#comment2074612007-09-20T14:22:01+00:00PaddyKSceptic seems to be taking his cue straight from the Israeli occupation propagan...Sceptic seems to be taking his cue straight from the Israeli occupation propaganda machine,<br />
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" kids, young mothers and grandmothers, want to cause as much murder and mayhem as possible for both the Israeli and Palestinians sides by provoking Israeli reaction and over reaction."<br />
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Basel Mansour, representative of the Popular Committee of Bil'in, identifies this infectious problem to his Israeli friends at Bilin Village,<br />
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"In this way many of you were wounded by bullets that originated from the unmerciful occupation army -- and not from Palestinians, who the occupation attempts to distort and portray as vicious animals that want to devour Israelis or throw them into the sea".<br />
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Not much doubt where sceptic got infected from, ay?<br />
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Mansour thanks the Israelis that risked their lives to support the Palestinians against the land grab at their village in a moving speech here : <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8998.shtml" title="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8998.shtml">http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8998.shtml</a><br />
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"They contributed much by revealing the true face of the occupation -- its tactics, its lies and its organized terror against Palestinians -- in opposition to those that attempt to normalize and whitewash the occupation."<br />
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The wall is tearing apart people, but Bilin proves that it also has the potenital to unite through peaceful confrontation.<br />
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