israeli War Crimes

The olive trees tended by Palestinians were centuries old and provided Palestinians with food and nutrition. Olive trees require little water and are naturally adapted to the desert ecosystem. When the Israeli military used Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy the olive trees that provide the Palestinians nutritional sustenance, this also contributes to genocide against the Palestinian people..

"An olive tree takes between 5 to 7 years to mature and start bearing fruit, and some of the uprooted trees were more than a hundred years old. The economic hardship this has imposed on thousands of Palestinians comes on top of already dire levels of unemployment and poverty in the Occupied Territories."

above from;

http://www.houstonjusticenotwar.org/articles/caterpillar.asp

Photo of Israeli bulldozer destroying olive tree;

http://www.doublestandards.org/bulldozer.html

Destruction of ancient olive trees by Israeli Army bulldozers also violates the Hebrew beliefs that olive trees are sacred symbols of peace and solidarity amongst people. This supports the Orthodox Rabbis (Neturei Karta) view that the current Israeli government state is not in the best interest of the Jewish people either (and also not viewed favorably by God)..

Neturei Karta: Judaism Forbids a Jewish State

http://www.nkusa.org/

An athiest/agnostic could agree with this also as destroying a vital food tree suitable for living in the desert goes against the principles of life and nature, sort of like pouring toxic chemicals into our drinking water. Being that contrary and out of touch with any logical thinking is truly against nature, life and/or God, whatever name or concept we choose to call it..

"The olive tree is not only a source of livelihood and a symbol of the people’s connection to the land, but it has also been employed as a symbol of cooperation between peoples. Joint actions between Israelis and Palestinians have revolved around the olive tree. By refusing to surrender the olive harvest, sumoud and nonviolence are a formidable force within Palestinian communities. Solidarity offered by Israelis and international peace activists has further strengthened nonviolent efforts to resist Israeli occupation and enable Palestinian families to stay rooted in their lands."

above from;

Non-violent resistance and the olive harvest;

http://www.afsc.org/israel-palestine/learn/nonviolence-and-the-olive-harvest.htm

The neo-conservatives and dispensationalist also show their lack of logic in other ways. Planning for an Armageddon or "Rapture" and a belief in mass forced conversion sounds like another Holocaust in the making. The dogmatic support for Zionist Israel be American dispensationalists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell show that peace is the last thing on their minds, their motivation lies in an ethnic cleansing Holy War of forced conversion..

"Beliefs about the Church and Israel

However, in addition to these dispensations, the real theological significance can be seen in four basic tenets which underlie classic dispensational teaching. Dispensationalism maintains:

(1) a radical distinction between Israel and the church, i.e. there are two peoples of God with two different destinies, earthly Israel and the spiritual church,

(2) a radical distinction between the Law and Grace, i.e. they are mutually exclusive ideas,

(3) the view that the New Testament church is a parenthesis in God's plan which was not foreseen by the Old Testament, and

(4) a distinction between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ, i.e. the rapture of the church at Christ’s coming “in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17) precedes the “official” second coming by 7 years of tribulation.

These tenets are supposedly derived from the dispensationalists' insistence on "consistent literalism" in their hermeneutic, especially in the literal interpretation of OT prophecies regarding Israel. Crucial to the dispensationalist reading of biblical prophecy, drawn principally from Daniel and Revelation, but also, to some degree, from Ezekiel, is the assertion that the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount as a precursor to the Lord returning to restore the earthly Kingdom of Israel centered on Jerusalem. The dispensational movement was therefore fueled by the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. It has grown in popularity particularly since 1967, coinciding with the Arab-Israeli Six Day War, and a few years later in 1970 with the publication of Hal Lindsey's blockbuster book The Late Great Planet Earth.

Dispensationalism teaches that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be a physical event, by which a world-wide kingdom will be established in human history, geographically centered in Jerusalem. Dispensationalists teach that the Second Coming will be a two step process. In the first step, Christ returns to resurrect the blessed dead and rapture the living believers from the Earth. After this, a seven year period of tribulation occurs, climaxing in the Battle of Armageddon. In the second step, Christ intervenes at the Battle of Armageddon and establishes a literal 1000-year millennial kingdom on earth. As such, Dispensationalism is often associated with the circulation of end times prophecy, which professes to read omens of the Second Coming in current events; however, some Dispensationalists have criticised this apocalypticism popularized by authors such as Hal Lindsey."

above from;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism

The neoconservative/dispensationalist religious view of history is linear, with a beginning, middle and end (Rapture/Second Coming). What happens with the trees, water and environment of Earth is irrelevent because in the Rapture/Second Coming everything will be destroyed, so why bother living environmentally sustainable lives? This contradicts many other diverse world faiths that view time and human/earth events as circular and interconnected, always regenerating, intertwined and reemerging from the past. The ancient beliefs about the olive tree as a universal healer stem from the regenerative ability of the tree to regrow from sprouts..

On the sacredness and protection of olive trees;

""The Greeks were the first to be involved in the full-scale cultivation of the olive. Between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC ancient philosophers, physicians and historians undertook
its botanical classification and referred to the curative properties of olive oil (Dioscorides, Diocles) and its history (Anaxagoras, Empedocles 5th century), while Aristotle elevated olive cultivation to a science. It was even protected by the legislation of the time. The first Olive Protection Law was introduced by Solon (639-559 BC); in one of his statutes he prohibited the cutting down of more than two trees a year in each olive grove."
- Olive Oil History"

above & more olive info from;

http://www.egreenway.com/meditation/olive.htm

The ability of olive trees to regenerate is part of the reason the Isreali military removes the stumps with their bulldozers, they want NO possible chance of these olive trees to regenerate from sprouts, regrow and provide the Palestinians people with sustenance. This isn't directly the fault of the soldiers (the number of Israeli Refuseniks grows daily), the orders come from higher up (Sharon, Bush) and the soldiers only follow orders. Sounds a bit familiar, eh??

So now if you're ready for a far jump off subjects please continue reading. If this writing is too much too handle, go ahead and watch Bill O'Reilly..

The neo-conservative mentality doesn't only effect life in Israel/Palestine, their actions also effect the lives of people and ecosystems here in USA. Not only AIPAC's pressure on politicians, but a corporation that attacks another ancient sacred tree, the California coastal redwoods. Maxxam corporation bought out Pacific Lumber in the mid eighties and has for the past decades destroyed many ancient and rare redwoods, some up to one thousand years old. The plunder for short term gain mentality is seen in the CEO of Maxxam, Charles Hurwitz. The cut, take and run mentality also applies to Sierra Pacific Industries CEO Red Emmerson and many others. Under the current economic system, many timber corporations worldwide are behaving the same way, as if there were NO future here on Earth we need to concern ourselves with. The fact that Mr. Hurwitz is Jewish and holds similar neo-conservative ideals (support Israel, pillage environment for short term profit) as GW Bush shows that the lack of concern for the future is also a view that Hurwitz holds. These ideas of a non-existant future on Earth are also the ideas of Christian Zionists aka dispensationalists (interpreters of Revelations)..

Destroying ancient trees, be they olive or redwood, goes against life itself. Most societies knew that ecological destruction would harm their future generations, and therefore this practice of overharvesting/forest destruction was outlawed. Ironically, Germany's forests were most heavily logged under Hitler's reign of terror and attempted imperialist expansion. Germany didn't have many other resources for export, so their forests fell victim to the Nazi chainsaws. Contrary to their claims, Hitler didn't care about Germany, Bush doesn't care about North America, and Ariel Sharon doesn't care about Israel/Palestine. Since the US has entered into a time of war, imperialism and conflict, we also witness our forests heavily logged..

The olive trees of Palestine being destroyed by Israeli Army is similar to the bison of the Great Plains being slaughtered en masse by US settlers to adversely effect the survival ability of the North American Plains indigenous peoples..

One word..

Genocide..

info compiled by;

luna moth