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Israeli State Terror Without Mercy |
By
Stephen Lendman |
| Daily state-sponsored terror against millions of Palestinians
is official Israeli policy - settler violence and vandalism an extension
of how soldiers, police and other security forces ruthlessly abuse them. The vast majority of incidents go reported - nor pain and suffering of people deserving better, terrorized by a brutal occupying force, stealing their land, denying them all rights, cracking down hard on legitimate resistance. The immolation of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha by soldier-protected settlers shows why no Palestinians are safe from Israel’s murder and mayhem regime - a terror machine masquerading as democratic governance. In July 2014, settlers abducted Mohammed Abu Khdeir. They burned him alive the way 18-month-old Ali died. His father Hussein said “(t)he Israeli government is too lenient and strengthens these racist criminals. We feel our son was murdered all over again. (Israel) doesn’t want peace.” It wants endless violence and chaos. Settlers commit crimes against Palestinians and their property with full state support and encouragement. Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights reports over 85% of investigations of settler crimes against Palestinian are closed for lack of “sufficient evidence to enable indictment.” They follow a scant 7% of incidents. One third of legal proceedings exonerate settlers - fully or partially. Less than 2% of complaints filed by Palestinians lead to convictions. Settlers have near immunity to abuse them any way they wish. So do soldiers, police and other Israeli security forces. High crimes they commit against Palestinians rarely ever lead to prosecutions and convictions. Two years after Operation Cast Lead (Dec. 2008 - Jan. 2009), only four Israeli soldiers faced criminal charges - two for credit card fraud, two others for using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield. None for cold-blooded murder. The defrauders alone got short-term prison sentences and early releases - the others suspended sentences. In late January 2011, an Israeli military court declined to incarcerate Lt. Col. Omri Burberg - despite his conviction for murdering a shackled and blindfolded Palestinian detainee. Israeli soldiers and commanders responsible for killing, wounding or otherwise harming Palestinians are promoted and decorated for their criminality. Peaceful protesters are attacked with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and at times live fire - for exercising their legitimate right to demand justice. Children are murdered for stone throwing - trigger-happy soldiers shoot to kill with impunity. Justice is systematically denied. Police state lawlessness prevails. Friday incidents alone included soldiers lethally shooting 17-year-old Laith al-Khaldi near a Ramallah military checkpoint. Two surgeries couldn’t save him. Two Gazans were shot for walking too close to Israel’s lawlessly imposed buffer zone on Palestinian land. They threatened no one. 17-year-old Mohammad Hamid al-Masri died instantly. In the past two weeks alone, Israeli forces opened fire on nonthreatening Gazans 23 times - for approaching too close to the so-called security zone. On Friday, thousands of Palestinians publicly mourned 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha’s death by immolation. His charred body beyond recognition was wrapped in a Palestinian flag. Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces after Friday prayers. Hamas called for a “day of rage” across Palestine. Spokesman Abd al-Rahman posted a Facebook call for action, saying: “We ask our sons in the West Bank to stand vociferously against these crimes and to respond to the occupation with whatever means are at hand.” He urged mass “Friday of Anger” protests. Another Hamas spokesman, Husam Badran, said this “crime makes legitimate targets out of Israeli soldiers and settlers for the resistance everywhere.” Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees called for a “revolution of anger” across Palestine - adding Israel can only be stopped by force. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) urged “escalate(d) resistance” against Israel. In January 2013, the UN International Fact-Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory published damning findings. They revealed multiple international law violations. Settlements compromise fundamental Palestinian human rights. Violations are “interrelated.” They comprise “part of an overall pattern of breaches.” They're “characterized principally by the denial of the right to self-determination and systemic discrimination against the Palestinian people which occur on a daily basis.” “Since 1967, Israeli governments have openly led, directly participated in, and had full control of the planning, construction, development, consolidation and encouragement of settlements.” UN Mission findings included violating Fourth Geneva's Article 49. It prohibits “(i)ndividuals or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, regardless of their motive.” The Mission said “Israel must cease all settlement activities without preconditions.” They benefit Jews exclusively. They institutionalize racist segregation. Military occupation enforces policies contrary to international law. “The Mission notes that despite all the pertinent United Nations resolutions declaring that the existence of the settlements is illegal and calling for their cessation, the planning and growth of the settlements continues both of existing as well as new structures.” It called for settlement activities halted without preconditions - “immediately initiat(ing) a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the OPT.” It urged companies and governments to “assess the human rights impact of their activities” - calling on them to “cease all connections to settlements.” It suggested possible imposition of economic and political sanctions. With Washington's support, Israel remains unpunished for its high crimes. Decades of occupation harshness terrorize Palestinians systematically - part of Israel’s longstanding ethnic cleansing and slow-motion genocide agenda for maximum Jews and minimum Arabs throughout historic Palestine. Unrelenting committed resistance against appalling injustice is the only chance for liberation. Nothing else can work. 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. |
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