With the headlines reporting that a Palestinian kid killed a
thirteen year old girl in an Israeli settlement last week, and with the killing
of four Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv, it is easy to lose the context of this
conflict. While no one interested in peace condones terror attacks, and let’s
be clear, terror is what these actions were about, we must, in the interest of
fairness seek to understand why such acts of violence are taking place in the
first place.
The per capita income of an Israeli is $18,000 and the
average for a Palestinian is $1,100. While Israel has the highest economy in the
region, Palestinians are homeless, without adequate drinking water, health
care, education or protection from air and sea bombardments. Pleas for justice from
Israel are met with “Death to Arabs.” After
decades of occupation, abuse and indignities and watching every week as more
land, labor and resources are stolen from what’s left of Palestine, little
concern is raised by the world’s media. When the most powerful nation on the
globe denies their rights as human beings, acts of frustration are bound to
overflow even if they are called “terrorism.” Such acts may not be beneficial,
but they are understandable.
The Mayor of Tel Aviv understands:
We might be the only country in
the world where another nation is under occupation without civil rights… You
can’t hold people in a situation of occupation and hope they’ll reach the
conclusion everything is alright.[1]
While Netanyahu tries to focus attention on the murder of
a 13 year old child, complete with pictures of her bloody bed, teddy bear and
grieving parents, Israel attacks Palestinian children by the hundreds. According to The Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs:
Each year, the Israeli military
arrests and prosecutes some 700 Palestinian children. Like adults, Palestinian
children in the West Bank are subject to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment
under an Israeli military detention system that denies them basic rights.
Israeli Jews living in illegal West Bank settlements are subject to Israeli
civilian laws, and afforded all the protections one would expect in a democracy.
This constitutes “separate and unequal” policies.
Defense for Children
International found that during and after an arrest, 75 percent of Palestinian
children were subjected to physical violence, with 97 percent denied access to
legal council, and had no parent with them during interrogation.
UNICEF reports that ill-treatment
of Palestinian children in the Israeli detention system is “wide-spread,
systematic, and institutionalized.”[2]
I can’t believe that Americans don’t care when such abuse of
children is carried on in our name and with our tax dollars. But, I can believe
that Americans are ignorant. The media, church and politicians operate out of agendas
to keep us ignorant.
I ask myself; How would I feel if I were a Palestinian living
under Israel’s boot? And what would I do?
Can I picture myself picking up a gun and killing four occupiers in Tel
Aviv? I hope not. But, I honestly cannot
answer that question because I do not know. Put me in a cage, treat me like an animal, and
who knows, I may just act like an animal.
Thomas Are
July 4, 2016
"Like an animal" is the wrong phrase to use; animals do not behave half as bad as human beings, so please do not make such comparisons
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ReplyDeleteVery good article somany more peoples are loving animals
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