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Resisting the Occupation is Not Terror
Below is a piece written by one of our young
Palestinian activists in the besieged town of Beit Jala.
Palestinian activists in the besieged town of Beit Jala.
Resisting the Occupation is not Terror
It seems that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, hasn't learned yet that his plan of killing the Palestinians, destroying their homes and infrastructure, terrorizing the children is not stopping the Palestinian Intifada and will not bring security to the Israelis. In fact, the current military operations he is carrying out against the Palestinians are giving them more reasons to continue their struggle.
Last night the 9th of March 2002, four suicide attacks were carried out in Israel. Two Palestinians, Said El-Bata, and Shadi Nejmeh from Askar and El-Ein refugee camps in Nablus, and despite all the Israeli military operations and the vindictive siege forced on the Palestinian cities and villages, managed to reach the center of Natanya. With their machine guns (US-made M-16's) and some homemade bombs, opened fire on the Israelis there, killing two and injuring 25.
Jerusalem witnessed the same scenario: Fou'ad Ismaile El-Horani from El-Aroub Refugee camp near Hebron managed to reach the heart of Jerusalem with explosives around his body. He blew himself up in a café in the center of the city, killing 10 people and injuring 40 others.
Before accusing the Palestinians of being terrorists and being responsible for the escalation of violence in the Middle East, everyone should think and search for reasons why Palestinians do such things. Why do young men and women blow themselves up? What benefit
do they get? If you have been following what is really happening on the ground and search for the roots of this, you'll find the answers. Why wait for the media to give you a colorful and twisted picture of what is happening in the Palestinian Occupied Land?
Yes, the main reason for everything that has been happening is the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Occupation Is the Problem. People living under occupation have the right to resist under international law and actually it's their duty to resist. People around the world should be able to differentiate between terror and resistance. The Palestinians don't have power like the Israelis do, they are not the ones bombing homes, killing women, children, disabled and aged people, using F-16 jet fighters, Apaches, and tanks, most of which are made in the US and given to Israeli as per an annual federal military grant of $2 billion.
The suicide attacks come from a very desperate people crying for freedom and peace, hoping that the world will turn to them and say: "Yes, they are humans, not animals. They have the right to live free and enjoy some of the rights that will make them feel they are humans." If you do a case study for each suicide bomber, you will definitely find a tragic story about each one.
Many of these have lost family members, loved one, and friends. Their houses were destroyed; they were kicked out from their homes. These suicide attacks don't come because the Palestinians like to kill the Israelis. The suffering, sorrows and agonies they have been living in for the last 18 months and since 1967 and 1948 have overweighed every Palestinian heart, until they finally exploded.
In the last 10 days, over a hundred Palestinians were killed, and hundreds injured. The people who were killed are innocent civilians. Many of them are doctors doing their duties of reaching the injured people: children, women, disabled and elderly people. Yesterday, another four people were killed in Bethlehem area, due to the Israeli invasion:
Nida Suliman El-Azah, 15 years old, lives in El-Azeh refugee camp. She was shot in the chest while she was in her home. Israeli soldiers put and end to her life, hopes of the future and added more pains and suffering to her family.
Issa Zakari: 20 years old, from Deheisheh refugee camp. An Israeli bullet in the chest is what he got when he was sitting in his home with his family trying to keep safe from the continuous and brutal Israeli attack on the camp.
Jad Mahmoud Attalah: 25 years old. He's not a militant; he's not a terrorist. He was killed while trying to prepare a home made bomb to throw at the Israeli tanks in case they go into the streets of the camp, knowing what they will do to innocent people living there.
Imad El-Sofi: He was injured in the first night of the Israeli attack on Aida refugee camp. He's a police officer, the ones who were stopping the Palestinian armed men from shooting at the Israeli settlement of Gilo.
In addition to these people who were killed yesterday, the 9th of March 2002, the Israeli occupation forces continue their house-to-house search for wanted people. They are occupying some houses, taking the families as hostages and human shields, forbidding them from moving around in their homes to get their basic needs of food, water, and rest. They turned these homes into military bases. One of the houses
belongs to Mr. Hussein Elian from the Aida refugee camp. Mr. Hussein Elian is a blind and elderly man, and also a Sheikh. After searching his house, they bombed it with no mercy or respect for this disabled, aged man.
Not only handicapped are not respected, but also dead people. Mr. Abu Laban from Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, an older man, died in his home from old age. The family asked the Israelis to allow them to have a decent funeral for him and bury his body in the cemetery. The Israeli occupation army, surrounding the camp with their tanks, refused the family?s request. So they had to bury him in a small yard in front of his house. Maybe later, when all this is finished, his family can dig his body out of the ground and have a decent funeral for him in a cemetery. All this and more have been going on in the last few days in Bethlehem area, all due to the Israeli occupation and
attacks on the refugee camps, including the towns of Beit Jala, El-Doha, and El-Khader.
The only hope for the Palestinians right now is intervention from the international community, the US, and the EU, to stop the Israeli attack and terror against the Palestinians. They should put more pressure on Ariel Sharon personally and the Israeli government in general. Otherwise, both people, Palestinians and Israelis, will suffer more and the gap between them will grow much bigger, which will
make it more difficult to bring a just peace and security in the area.
By Nisreen Kunkar 9 March 2002
It seems that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, hasn't learned yet that his plan of killing the Palestinians, destroying their homes and infrastructure, terrorizing the children is not stopping the Palestinian Intifada and will not bring security to the Israelis. In fact, the current military operations he is carrying out against the Palestinians are giving them more reasons to continue their struggle.
Last night the 9th of March 2002, four suicide attacks were carried out in Israel. Two Palestinians, Said El-Bata, and Shadi Nejmeh from Askar and El-Ein refugee camps in Nablus, and despite all the Israeli military operations and the vindictive siege forced on the Palestinian cities and villages, managed to reach the center of Natanya. With their machine guns (US-made M-16's) and some homemade bombs, opened fire on the Israelis there, killing two and injuring 25.
Jerusalem witnessed the same scenario: Fou'ad Ismaile El-Horani from El-Aroub Refugee camp near Hebron managed to reach the heart of Jerusalem with explosives around his body. He blew himself up in a café in the center of the city, killing 10 people and injuring 40 others.
Before accusing the Palestinians of being terrorists and being responsible for the escalation of violence in the Middle East, everyone should think and search for reasons why Palestinians do such things. Why do young men and women blow themselves up? What benefit
do they get? If you have been following what is really happening on the ground and search for the roots of this, you'll find the answers. Why wait for the media to give you a colorful and twisted picture of what is happening in the Palestinian Occupied Land?
Yes, the main reason for everything that has been happening is the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands.
Occupation Is the Problem. People living under occupation have the right to resist under international law and actually it's their duty to resist. People around the world should be able to differentiate between terror and resistance. The Palestinians don't have power like the Israelis do, they are not the ones bombing homes, killing women, children, disabled and aged people, using F-16 jet fighters, Apaches, and tanks, most of which are made in the US and given to Israeli as per an annual federal military grant of $2 billion.
The suicide attacks come from a very desperate people crying for freedom and peace, hoping that the world will turn to them and say: "Yes, they are humans, not animals. They have the right to live free and enjoy some of the rights that will make them feel they are humans." If you do a case study for each suicide bomber, you will definitely find a tragic story about each one.
Many of these have lost family members, loved one, and friends. Their houses were destroyed; they were kicked out from their homes. These suicide attacks don't come because the Palestinians like to kill the Israelis. The suffering, sorrows and agonies they have been living in for the last 18 months and since 1967 and 1948 have overweighed every Palestinian heart, until they finally exploded.
In the last 10 days, over a hundred Palestinians were killed, and hundreds injured. The people who were killed are innocent civilians. Many of them are doctors doing their duties of reaching the injured people: children, women, disabled and elderly people. Yesterday, another four people were killed in Bethlehem area, due to the Israeli invasion:
Nida Suliman El-Azah, 15 years old, lives in El-Azeh refugee camp. She was shot in the chest while she was in her home. Israeli soldiers put and end to her life, hopes of the future and added more pains and suffering to her family.
Issa Zakari: 20 years old, from Deheisheh refugee camp. An Israeli bullet in the chest is what he got when he was sitting in his home with his family trying to keep safe from the continuous and brutal Israeli attack on the camp.
Jad Mahmoud Attalah: 25 years old. He's not a militant; he's not a terrorist. He was killed while trying to prepare a home made bomb to throw at the Israeli tanks in case they go into the streets of the camp, knowing what they will do to innocent people living there.
Imad El-Sofi: He was injured in the first night of the Israeli attack on Aida refugee camp. He's a police officer, the ones who were stopping the Palestinian armed men from shooting at the Israeli settlement of Gilo.
In addition to these people who were killed yesterday, the 9th of March 2002, the Israeli occupation forces continue their house-to-house search for wanted people. They are occupying some houses, taking the families as hostages and human shields, forbidding them from moving around in their homes to get their basic needs of food, water, and rest. They turned these homes into military bases. One of the houses
belongs to Mr. Hussein Elian from the Aida refugee camp. Mr. Hussein Elian is a blind and elderly man, and also a Sheikh. After searching his house, they bombed it with no mercy or respect for this disabled, aged man.
Not only handicapped are not respected, but also dead people. Mr. Abu Laban from Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, an older man, died in his home from old age. The family asked the Israelis to allow them to have a decent funeral for him and bury his body in the cemetery. The Israeli occupation army, surrounding the camp with their tanks, refused the family?s request. So they had to bury him in a small yard in front of his house. Maybe later, when all this is finished, his family can dig his body out of the ground and have a decent funeral for him in a cemetery. All this and more have been going on in the last few days in Bethlehem area, all due to the Israeli occupation and
attacks on the refugee camps, including the towns of Beit Jala, El-Doha, and El-Khader.
The only hope for the Palestinians right now is intervention from the international community, the US, and the EU, to stop the Israeli attack and terror against the Palestinians. They should put more pressure on Ariel Sharon personally and the Israeli government in general. Otherwise, both people, Palestinians and Israelis, will suffer more and the gap between them will grow much bigger, which will
make it more difficult to bring a just peace and security in the area.
By Nisreen Kunkar 9 March 2002
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Hey genius. This isnt Arabs vs. Jews.
It is the State of Israel vs. the people who were living there before they moved there.
Tell that to the Arabs who believe thousands of Jews didn't show up to work at the WTC on 9-11. Tell that to the Muslims who think the US in Afghanistan because Jews control US foreign policy. Tell that to Daniel Pearle's family...
Awww too bad. Daniel Pearl was probably a Mossad asset and that's why it was covered up who his father exactly was in the corporate media. And anyone who thinks that Muslims have more influence over American policy than Israel does is an idiot. Give me a break.
Its hard to deal with real anti-semitism when people are "crying wolf" and equating any criticism of Israel with anti-semitism.
Any of those posting to this site who support Israel and oppose anti-semitism should stop trying to create a linkage where is does not exist. It is dangerous and opens the door for real forms of anti-semitism.
Anti-semitism should be a word reserved for neonazis and holocaust deniers. It is not a word to used lightly and by using it lightly people are putting us all at risk.
There are those posting here who view non-support for Israel and anti-semitism as being hand-in-hand. I do not blame them. Others believe you can seperate the two. Thus the debate. They see a linkage where you may or may not.
If a writer on this board who supports the palestinians in this conflict doesn't like being called anti-semitic, tough. There are many people who are going to view you that way and point it out to your face even though you deny it. Either take the heat or stay out of the kitchen.
Most supporters of Israel would like the Palestinians to be happy in the West Bank/ Gaza and would wish them well, so long as they can live in peace with and accept Israel as their neighbor.
1. If occupation is the cause of suicide bombings, then why do the bombings continue after 97% of Palestine has been devolved to the PA?
2. Do you believe that Hamas and other armed terrorist factions are for "freedom" and "liberty." And if they are, then why does the majority of their funding come from either oppressive Shiekdoms or fundamentalist dictatorships?
3. If suicide bombers are the product of desperation and poverty, then why is the Middle East the only area in the world where suicide bombing is a legitimate form of "resistance."
4. Do you believe the Israeli occupation is fundamentally different from the Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian occupation of Palestine prior to 1967? And if not, then how do you explain Israel's policy of keeping the same pre-1967 laws in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
These are just a few important questions that are rarely adressed by "activist." I would appreciate a response.