|
Israeli Occupation of Palestine Behind MidEast Turmoil
Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine is the root cause of much of the problems in the Middle East.
By Phil TourneyAs the conflict between Israel and Palestine rages in the Middle
East, the people of the United States, including President George W
Bush and all members of Congress, must ask themselves two questions:
*How would you feel if an invader came into your neighborhood and
told you to leave your home immediately because it was going to be
demolished so the land could be used to build many new homes for the
murderous invaders of Israel?
*Would you sit back and offer no resistance as your entire life was reduced to rubble?
Answer those questions honestly and you will understand the plight
of all Palestinians who been forced to live in subhuman conditions
under Israeli execution, occupation and control. If we would not
tolerate the abusive aggression of an invader in our own communities,
how can we allow Congress and the President George W Bush to–not only
condone such murderous aggression from Israel, but–pay for it, and all
with our taxpayer money, covered not only with the blood of
Palestinians, but with Americans as well, and in particular the sons of
the USS Liberty, attacked by Israel 41 years ago.
ISRAELI APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS
Sue Heher, a South African Representative stationed in the West
Bank, had the following to say–”Other South African colleagues who have
visited Palestine have typically said they felt the situation here
{Palestine} to be worse than that of apartheid South Africa…’
For those who need a little more info regarding Mz. Heher’s comments here, let the following be considered–
*Palestinians are forced to carry identification cards at all times when traveling from city to city
*Palestinians must apply for a very difficult-to-obtain permit to travel from city to city.
*Palestinians are forced to stand in separate lines than Jews, so
that the Jews are not ‘tainted’ through what they consider ‘contact’
with ‘inferior’ beings
*Palestinians are not allowed to live in Jewish-only housing, even
when Palestinians have deeds proving their ownership of this property…
*Palestinians–Muslim and Christian–are not allowed to buy, rent or
lease land in 92% of the State of Israel, simply because they are not
Jewish
*Israel gives 85% of water resources in Palestine to Israelis and
the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the West Bank
and Gaza, even though the Palestinian population is much larger…
*Israeli sieges have stopped most Palestinians from going to work,
going to school (if they dare to for fear of beatings or sniper fire on
innocent children) going to hospitals with little or no medications, or
going shopping for basic necessities like food (if any is to be found)
thereby reducing the Palestinian population to starvation and disease…
*Israel refuses to abide by over 65 United Nations Security resolutions…
*Palestinians have recognized the right of Israel to exist in 78% of
the country and Israel still has not reciprocated. Instead the masters
of the Palestinians cage them in Gaza as sub-human animals with no
fresh water, no food, NOTHING. If this were done to even a handful of
Jews anywhere else in the world it would be considered a holocaust and
the military might of the United States would be brought to bear in
‘fixing’ it…
THE HUMAN TOLL
In a special interview aired on Israeli television, a former Israeli
soldier said that Israeli soldiers committed “unimaginable” practices
against Palestinians. Being a survivor of the murderous attack on our
ship USS Liberty June 8, 1967 I can vouch for that as well, since I
personally witnessed “unimaginable” inhuman slaughter, in particular
that of Americans on the high seas by the Government of Israel,
resulting in 34 murdered and 174 wounded. According to the testimony of
this former Israeli soldier, a common practice among them is competing
among themselves to see who could kill more Palestinians, bragging
afterward about how many they killed, deliberately targeting and
killing children walking home from school or playing outside, and
slamming the heads of handcuffed Palestinians onto concrete walls. I
bet the Israelis had a great big laugh over the murders they committed
against their American friends aboard AMERICA’S ship USS LIBERTY!!
There is no telling in the many many months of Israeli occupation how
many Palestinians have been murdered, tortured to death, starved to
death, and the untold who have been maimed and injured for life by
Israeli troops and Jewish extremists. Many of the victims are average
citizens on their way to work or to school, while others are involved
in protests against occupation. Only a handful were armed–do you blame
for trying to protect their families?
The ugly truth though is that Israel is not putting America in an
impossible situation in the Middle East. Rather it is the President and
the congress who are putting America in an impossible situation by
allowing Israel to get by with these crimes. To call it despicable and
Un-American is the understatement of the millenium.
Palestinians watch as Israel brings to bear against them and their
loved ones American-made weapons and over 15 million dollars a day in
taxpayer money and all of this while America is in the worst financial
crises ever. And yet, AND YET, Israel STILL demands that money, money
we Americans must borrow, and for what? TO GIVE TO A TERRORIST STATE,
money our kids and grandkids will have to pay back and which our
elected officials on bended knees are so very happy to turn over. Its
worse than disgusting, although I don’t really know what the right word
would be.
With out the billions of dollars of American tax payers money pour
into Israel every year, not counting the jet aircraft, tanks, and on
and on, Israel would find it difficult IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE to sustain its
illegal and murderous occupation of Palestine that has gone on for over
41 years and continues that jeopardize American interests in such an
area as vital as the Middle East. Look at us now–in Iraq with well over
4,000 American sons and daughters dead, and for what? One
word–ISRAEL–and now as if this weren’t enough to satisfy her, now she
wants us to fight another war for her in Iran and our gutless leaders
in Washington DC will more than oblige their masters in Israel and
sacrifice more American blood and treasure. Unbelievable but true.
Why isn’t our congress and our administration calling on Israel to stop
the racism and discrimination against Palestinians and end the
occupation? In truth the answer does not need to even be stated, but I
will state it nevertheless–FEAR. They are all bought-and-paid-for
whores of Israel and could care less about the Palestinians or even
their own American countrymen for that matter.
Israel uses tanks, helicopters, death squads, state-of-the-art smart
bombs against the Palestinians (women and children alike) but our
Congressmen and Congresswomen and our President have not dared to call
it what it is– ISRAELI TERRORISM. They will talk us till they’re blue
in the face about ‘Islamic terrorism’, but hear them get anywhere near
that ‘J’ word and they will run from it like a long-tailed cat in a
room full of rocking chairs. When a Palestinian living under Israeli
occupation strikes at Israel, he is labeled in no uncertain terms a
terrorist. Why the double standards? Why is Israel permitted everything
in its effort to keep the last colonial adventure of the world?
AIPAC and over 15 other Jewish lobbies for Israel operate on combined
budgets exceeding 50 million a year or more. AIPAC, the pro-Israel
lobby with the closet links to the government of Israel, is recognized
by Fortune magazine to be one of the most powerful lobbies on the hill
and our elected stooges gravel at their feet.
ANYONE WHO TAKES BLOOD-MONEY FROM ISRAEL’S LOBBY IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ISRAEL’S ACTIONS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
WHAT MUST THE UNITED STATES DO?
We cannot sit back and permit the lobby of a foreign government to
determine U.S. Middle East policy that is not in the best interests of
the United States of America. We want our tax dollars spent at home,
not sent to Israel, A RACIST, NAZI STATE which refuses to return
illegally-seized lands to Palestinians that would be condemned were it
any other group of people. Our bought-and-paid-for congress must not
continue to allow their masters–the Israel lobby–to harm America’s own
interests.
Not wanting to over-use an already overused line, but America…WAKE
UP. We are in real deep trouble here and it is going to take you–my
fellow Americans–raising your voices and saying NO MORE!!! No more of
the same shame we have been living with for far to long.
Write, phone, email your representatives in congress. Tell your
friends, family and neighbors. Do not be afraid of being called all the
predictable names. They mean nothing. Get hold of McCain and Obama and
tell them NO MORE. Stop this madness before its too late. For your own
sake for that of your children, at least try. Your children and
grandchildren are counting on you, because it’s their future you hold
in yours hands, so don’t waste it for them, and definitely, don’t waste
it for Israel.
God Bless America
Phillip F Tourney is a survivor of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty
and was three-time president of the Liberty Veterans Association. He is
co-host–‘The Liberty Hour’ radio program heard every
Saturday morning
11 EST on the Republic Broadcasting Network found
at republicbroadcasting.org..”
|
