Palestine and Israel

[Nico]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1783605624044925181

 

[Willo]

With more information coming out about mass graves in Palestine, where women and children are believed to have been tortured before being killed, and even buried alive, the Yanks, in their infinite complicity, have asked the Israeli Govt to investigate itself on these shameful human rights breaches. The USA has refused to push for an independent forensic investigation of what actually took place.

What a wonderful world we live in...

For those interested, here is a clip of a journo asking the Pentagon waffler about this

Shown by Al mayerdeen tv.
“Al Mayadeen is an Iran-aligned Lebanese pan-Arabist satellite news television channel based in the city of Beirut. Launched on 11 June 2012, it has news reporters in most of the Arab countries”

Not that they’d have any agenda. Truly independent, Iran aligned! That says it all. Try something else.

I read that there is a report now that those buried in the mass graves, were the result of Hamas militants executing them for being suspected collaborators with Israel.
Simple shocking news!!!

 

[Willo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1783605624044925181

Hey Bernie. You forgot to mention the “antisemitism” was a reference to what was happening in universities.

Netanyahu’s comments came against the backdrop of police deployments to break up pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University and numerous other US campuses. In some universities, faculty members have been arrested, including the chair of the philosophy department and a professor of English and Indigenous studies at Emory University in Atlanta.

Jewish students have reported feeling threatened by the protests and heated atmosphere that followed Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, resulting in the deaths of about 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 200 others.

Videos posted on social media have depicted anti-Israel protesters shouting “go back to Poland” and “go back to Belarus”, apparently at Jewish students. A congressional hearing earlier in April into a reported upsurge of antisemitism at Columbia heard allegations that Jewish students had been subjected to taunts of “F the Jews”.

Bernie, did you actually address the attacks on the Jewish students? No, oh Netanyahu was the easier target eh.

And just to follow on your rave, Mr Netanyahu doesn’t decide every action by himself.

Bernie , You also forgot to mention that if Hamas hadn’t committed those atrocities, none of the following happens. Gaza wouldn’t have been invaded, those innocent civilian lives wouldn’t have been lost. The injured and maimed would be whole, the damage wouldn’t have been done.

Bernie Sanders….If he wasn’t a senile old fool he would have condemned that action as well.

 

[TigerMasochist]

TM. Going back to ancient times is a very difficult exercise in that part of the world. The people who lived in that land were probably semitic people, and by no means all of them followed Yahweh and were Israelites. It has been pointed out many times that the term anti semitic is actually inaccurate because there are many people who are semitic who are not jewish.

Already comprehend the semitic side of your comment here Sinner. But when you have even half a thought about the history of this region or the European region, or the British region of the world. These disputes and hatreds go back hundreds or thousands of years so it's simply meaningless to go "well it all started after WW2 when a few interferers handed a *smile* load of stuff to the Jews ".

Paralleling it with the indigenous people of Australia is not a valid parallel. There is no doubt that the land that is now Australia was inhabited for many thousands of years but noone else but the indigenous people. There were lots of different ethnic groups and sub groups who lived in the ancient land of what is now Palestine

Isn't there some 300 or more different languages and gawd knows how many different indigenous tribes that were in Oz when the Poms invaded n took over? So if there was to be some sort of handing back or claim of ownership. Who the *smile* would get what little share of which bit? And the really ugly questions then would be. Are the mixed race descendants entitled to any portion of disputed n claimed land? Or should they all get kicked out of Oz n back to whatever Brit / Euro trash country has the strongest % of their heritage?

1948 is a big date because it was the date when the British mandate ended over Palestine so it is relevant, but it is not the only date as you rightly say because none is. The "deal" was that 54% of the land was offered to 1/3 of the people (jewish) and 46% to 2/3 of the people (Palestinians) and there would be economic union and political separation, with Jerusalem shared. In hindsight related to where we are now that looks a good deal for the Palestinians but of course there were many then that believed one of two things
1. There should have been no offer at all, that although Palestine was not a nation it was a "land" (an entity) and the British or anybody else had no right to partition something that wasn't theirs to partition. That was certainly the view of many of the Arab nations at the time.
2. The partition was very unfair given the population and land split, especially given many thousands of Palestinians were living on the 54% that was given to the jewish people.
What happened was that the palestinians backed by many Arab countries rejected the deal all together and didn't participate in the process and the Jews declared a nation (Israel).

and here we are now ...

None of that is a value judgement, you make up your own mind on what has happened since but putting 76 years of hindsight into the minds of people making decisions then is not particularly helpful.

Deciding whose "land" it is from ancient times is a fraught exercise for anyone who does not believe that "god" gave the land to the Israelites. There is no doubt that both descendants of the Israelites (many modern day Jews) and descendants of Palestinians and other Arabic people lived on the land.

Yep, because world leaders of the time tried to work out some sort of shared arrangement to help an area of the world grow n heal after WW2 and reinstate to an area the Jews claimed was their original homeland, recognising that they'd been massively persecuted for generations. Yet none of the mad *smile* in that area could be bothered trying to work together n would simply prefer to kaboom the *smile* out of one another until nothing and no-one is left.

One thing strikes me as strange in regard to the madness unfolding there at the moment. Everyone's pretty much in agreeance that Iran along with their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis are constantly undermining peace and stability in the region. By constantly sniping at Israel and then Oct 7, yet for all the massive over reaction / retaliation by Israel on Gaza n the Palestinians. There's been barely a peep out of any of the other Arabic countries regarding this.
I know the Israelis have been working for years with many other countries to try n get up peace n trade agreements so maybe the rest of the Arabic nations are pretty much jack of all the strife that's been going on for so long n finally might believe it's time to co-exist.

 

[Sintiger]

Already comprehend the semitic side of your comment here Sinner. But when you have even half a thought about the history of this region or the European region, or the British region of the world. These disputes and hatreds go back hundreds or thousands of years so it's simply meaningless to go "well it all started after WW2 when a few interferers handed a *smile* load of stuff to the Jews ".

Isn't there some 300 or more different languages and gawd knows how many different indigenous tribes that were in Oz when the Poms invaded n took over? So if there was to be some sort of handing back or claim of ownership. Who the *smile* would get what little share of which bit? And the really ugly questions then would be. Are the mixed race descendants entitled to any portion of disputed n claimed land? Or should they all get kicked out of Oz n back to whatever Brit / Euro trash country has the strongest % of their heritage?

Yep, because world leaders of the time tried to work out some sort of shared arrangement to help an area of the world grow n heal after WW2 and reinstate to an area the Jews claimed was their original homeland, recognising that they'd been massively persecuted for generations. Yet none of the mad *smile* in that area could be bothered trying to work together n would simply prefer to kaboom the *smile* out of one another until nothing and no-one is left.

One thing strikes me as strange in regard to the madness unfolding there at the moment. Everyone's pretty much in agreeance that Iran along with their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis are constantly undermining peace and stability in the region. By constantly sniping at Israel and then Oct 7, yet for all the massive over reaction / retaliation by Israel on Gaza n the Palestinians. There's been barely a peep out of any of the other Arabic countries regarding this.
I know the Israelis have been working for years with many other countries to try n get up peace n trade agreements so maybe the rest of the Arabic nations are pretty much jack of all the strife that's been going on for so long n finally might believe it's time to co-exist.

Not going to get into a debate about it TM except to say
1. Irans involvement is a lot about a battle for regional power with Saudi Arabia.
2. An understanding of whose land it was in ancient history is something that in the end will not come down to one answer.

 

[Willo]

Already comprehend the semitic side of your comment here Sinner. But when you have even half a thought about the history of this region or the European region, or the British region of the world. These disputes and hatreds go back hundreds or thousands of years so it's simply meaningless to go "well it all started after WW2 when a few interferers handed a *smile* load of stuff to the Jews ".

People like to pick a date that suits them. 1948 was when the State of Israel was declared.
You could go back to 1917 for the Balfour Declaration, or just after that when Winston Churchill sliced the biggest part of the land promised to the Palestinians and gave it to a Arab Hashemite chief to shut him up. That land became TransJordan, later Jordan.
Too many interferers. But regardless, even if the Palestinians did get that land as well as the parts they did, they wouldn’t have been happy with the Jews getting any.
If you saw the original land Israel was allocated and they agreed to and what the Palestinians were given and rejected you might be surprised.
But every time they instigated a war and lost. They went crying to all and sundry how Israel wouldn’t give them back everything. Then they instigated another war. Then another and still complained when they lost.

Yep, because world leaders of the time tried to work out some sort of shared arrangement to help an area of the world grow n heal after WW2 and reinstate to an area the Jews claimed was their original homeland, recognising that they'd been massively persecuted for generations. Yet none of the mad *smile* in that area could be bothered trying to work together n would simply prefer to kaboom the *smile* out of one another until nothing and no-one is left.

And that mentality hasn’t changed. I doubt if ever will.

One thing strikes me as strange in regard to the madness unfolding there at the moment. Everyone's pretty much in agreeance that Iran along with their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis are constantly undermining peace and stability in the region. By constantly sniping at Israel and then Oct 7, yet for all the massive over reaction / retaliation by Israel on Gaza n the Palestinians. There's been barely a peep out of any of the other Arabic countries regarding this.
I know the Israelis have been working for years with many other countries to try n get up peace n trade agreements so maybe the rest of the Arabic nations are pretty much jack of all the strife that's been going on for so long n finally might believe it's time to co-exist.

Because just about every country know what they’re like. They don’t give a *smile* if their suicide bombers kill Jews or arabs in Israel. Or their missiles.
When Egypt governed Gaza, the Ppalestininans with the Muslim Brotherhood tried to overthrow the Egyptian government. Terror attacks on any and everyone.
In Jordan the PLO under Arafat tried to assassinate King Hussein several times, until the Black September and Hussein sic Ed his military on them and booted thousands of Palestinians out.
Lebanon and Syria might have some refugees!, Now Hezbollah they just want to invade and eradicate Israel of any Jews.

No sane country wants anything to do with them. No doubt there are ordinary Palestinians who would be a benefit to any country they went to. But it’s hard to discern the ordinary fella from those with terror ties or ambitions (young children excepted from that generalisation ie U/10).

Most don’t want to leave. The only refugees were the original people who lived on what is now Israeli land. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th generations aren’t. They can’t be classed as refugees as they were born on Palestinian land and still live on Palestinian land.

I can understand the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or Syria receiving aid. Why doesn't the UNHCR work in those countries?
How the hell does UNRNWA work there and in Gaza and the WB? Why are they different than the refugee crises in Africa?

To me, and I know I’ll get howled down and be accused of everything, I think the UNRNWA isn’t needed, is a rort to be exhorted and does little to encourage Gaza’s and WB Palestinians to do anything to find any solutions.

Just keep playing the victim and getting handouts for 75 years. There aren’t too many of the original refugees left now. Do the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and great great grandchildren class themselves as refugees? Obciously they must because all those countries are giving them $billions each year. Hardly any incentive to make hard decisions and find solutions.
How long will it last for? Another 75 years?

But before they do, maybe people should look up the definition of refugee.
But no doubt the Palestinian refugee comes under a different classification because…

 

[Willo]

They should just flood the terror tunnels with nerve gas. Then seal them

 

[Willo]

Interesting read. I bet the people in Gaza and the West Bank wish they knew this

Zuheir Mohsen
زهير محسن
Born	1936 Tulkarm, Mandatory Palestine
Died	25 July 1979 (aged 42–43) Cannes, France
Cause of death	Assassinated
Nationality	Jordanian
Occupation	Leader of the pro-Syria as-Sa'iqafaction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
Political party

Zuheir Mohsen (Arabic: زهير محسن; 1936 – 25 July 1979) was a Palestinian leader of the pro-Syria As-Sa'iqa Ba'athist faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) between 1971 and 1979.
Previously active in the Jordanian wing of the Ba'ath Party, he was chosen for this position after defense minister Hafez al-Assad's 1969–70 takeover in Syria, which he had supported against the previously dominant government of Salah Jadid. Mohsen was also a member of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party.[1]

Early life​

Mohsen was born in Tulkarm, Mandatory Palestine, now in the northern West Bank, where his father was the mukhtar (head of the town).[2] He became involved in political activity at a young age, joining the Ba'ath party at the age of 17.[3] Mohsen trained as a teacher but lost his job in 1957 after being arrested for "subversive activity". He subsequently spent time in Qatar, from where he was eventually deported as a result of his political activity, before making his way to Damascus where he helped form as-Sa'iqa.[3]
Mohsen rose to the position of heading as-Sa'iqa thanks to his close links to Assad, who after taking power in Syria purged the movement of its leftist elements (bringing it ideologically closer to Fatah) and appointed Mohsen as its General Secretary.[4]

Political views​

Mohsen essentially followed the line of as-Sa'iqa's Syrian Ba'athist ideology, which interpreted the Palestinian question through a perspective of pan-Arab nationalism. In some respects this contravened the PLO charter, which affirmed the existence of a future Palestinian State.
Mohsen himself stated that "The Palestinian people does not exist … there is no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese", though Palestinian identity would be emphasised for political reasons. In a March 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw he stated that "between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese there are no differences. We are all part of one people, the Arab nation [...] Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity. Because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons", representing the Ba'athist perspective regarding the question of Palestine.[5]
Journalist Robert Fisk claimed that As-Saiqa, under Mohsen, employed its energies against the PLO[6] stating that in June 1976 he saw "the PLO in open combat within West Beirut against As-Saiqa, who had attacked Arafat's forces on orders from Damascus."[7]

Zuheir Mohsen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Willo]

Apparently the Arabs didn’t want this land, or more importaptly they didn’t want the Jews to have their part so rejected the lot.
And the 1948 war began.
Pan Arab forces broadcast warnings for Arabs to leave their homes so as not to be caught up in the fighting. The start of the “Nakba” where the Palestinians took the advice of their would be liberators and left their homes voluntarily.
More were to follow. Squatters kicked off the land by the owners. Others removed form land granted to Israel.
The same as the Israeli Jews that had previously lived on land granted to the Palest8nians. They had to leave their homes as well.

 

[Willo]

Some very interesting history. Not many would be aware of.

 

[Willo]

This interview goes for a while, but he’s a brilliant man. Witty, knowledgeable, speaks well on different subjects, scathing of the Israeli government.
Differing views no doubt, but still well worth watching.

Don’t let the headline put you off, its just the usual YouTube header

 

[Willo]

Wrong thread

 

[Willo]

Wrong thread

 

[DavidSSS]

Gee, why would the Arabs have a problem with a country being created where a large number of them already lived?

Maybe, just maybe, they listened to the Zionists and took them at their word

Israel’s Architect of Ethnic Cleansing​

As Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza unfolds, the spectre of Yosef Weitz lives on, writes Stefan Moore.

Since 1948, Israel has invoked the Holocaust to justify the forced expulsion of Arabs from Palestine to create a Jewish state, but the systematic blueprint for ethnic cleansing was being drawn up years earlier by a Zionist zealot named Yosef Weitz.

In November 1940 – eight years before the founding of the state of Israel – Weitz wrote:​

“It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples … If the Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us …. The only solution is a Land…without Arabs. There is no room here for compromises… There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighbouring countries … Not one village must be left, not one tribe… There is no other solution.”

Weitz was “a quintessential Zionist colonialist,” writes Israeli historian Ilan Pappé. Born in Russia in 1890 and immigrating to Palestine as a child, Weitz would become the influential head of the Land Settlement Department of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) created to colonise Palestine by purchasing Arab land for the Yishuv (the immigrant Jews in Palestine before 1948).

As head of the Land Settlement Department, Weitz oversaw the program to purchase properties from absentee landlords and run the Palestinian tenant farmers off their land. But it soon became clear that purchasing small lots of land would not come close to fulfilling the Zionists’ dream of creating a Jewish majority state in Palestine.

In 1932, when Weitz joined the Jewish National Fund, there were only 91,000 Jews in Palestine (roughly 10 percent of the population) who owned a mere 2 percent of the land.​

Changing that demographic reality called for a radical two-pronged solution first, to convince the British Mandate in Palestine to allow more Jewish migration and, simultaneously, develop an efficient program to expel indigenous Palestinians.

To tackle the problem, the Jewish Agency set up a Population Transfer Committee in 1937, later the Transfer Committee in the first Israeli government in 1948 (the idea was Weitz’s) to come up with more robust plans to evict Palestinians and enforce their relocation in neighbouring Arab countries.

With his background in land settlement, Weitz was a natural choice to spearhead the prominent three-member group which included Israel’s future first president, Chaim Weizmann, and future Prime Minister Moshe Shertok.

Thanks to Weitz’s obsessive commitment to the mass expulsion of Palestinians he became known as the “architect of transfer” — a euphemism for ethnic cleansing (a recognised form of genocide) that would reach its apotheosis in the Nakba of 1948.​

Invoking the Old Testament, Weitz recounts a tour of Palestinian villages in June 1941 with messianic zeal:

“There is no room for us with our neighbours. . . . development is a very slow process . . . . They [the Palestinian Arabs] are too many and too much rooted [in the country] . . . . the only way is to cut and eradicate them [the Palestinian Arabs] from the roots. I feel that this is the truth . . . I am beginning to understand the essence of the MIRACLE which should happen with the arrival of the Messiah; MIRACLE does not happen in evolution, but all of a sudden, in one moment. . .” (Weitz’s emphasis)

Although Weitz’s Transfer Committee devised the first systematic plans to expel Palestinians, its roots reach back to the birth of the Zionist movement.

As early as 1895, Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl declared:​

“We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border…denying [Palestinians] any employment in our own country.”

Other early Zionists, such as Israel Zangwill, were less restrained:​

“We must be prepared either to drive out by the sword the Arab tribes…or to grapple with the problem of a larger alien population.”

By the early 20th century, the alarm bells were already going off across historic Palestine; clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians were on the rise.​

But the spark that would ignite the entire region was the 1917 Balfour Declaration announcing Britain’s support for a Jewish homeland in the British Mandate of Palestine.

It was a fateful promise that was, in the words of the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said, “made by a European power … about a non-European territory … in a flat disregard of the native majority residents in that territory.”

It would engulf Palestine in ceaseless conflict and pave the way to the Nakba in 1948.

Over the following two decades Jewish immigration increased from a trickle to a flood – 60,000 in 1936 alone. As more Palestinians farmers were driven off their land and into poverty, resistance grew, exploding in the Great Arab Revolt of 1936-39 — three years of demonstrations, riots, strikes, bombings, sabotage and bloody clashes between Palestinians and Jews, finally brutally crushed by the British army and the Haganah (Zionist militia).

By the time it was over more than 5,000 Palestinians and 300 Jews had been killed.

In the wake of the uprising Britain set up the Palestine Royal Commission, or Peel Commission, that recommended the partition of Palestine into two sovereign states, with the Arab state annexed to Transjordan. If Arabs refused to move from the Jewish state their transfer to Transjordan would be “compulsory in the last resort.” The same would be true for Jews who refused to leave the Arab state.

Unsurprisingly, the Palestinians strenuously rejected partition while the Zionists formally accepted the plan, secretly waiting to take over all of historic Palestine. Realizing the plan was unworkable, the British government ultimately rejected the report in 1938.​

Speaking in 1938, David Ben-Gurion (who would become Israel’s first prime minister) announced in a 1938 speech:

“After we become a strong force…we shall abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine…The state will have to preserve order – not by preaching but with machine guns.”

By the time Weitz joined the Transfer Committee, the stage had already been set for systematic ethnic cleansing of Arabs from Palestine.

The project that excited Weitz most was a list called the village files, a detailed registry of every Arab village in Palestine — their topographic location, access roads, quality of farmland, water springs, main sources of income, religious affiliations, the ages of the men and their level of participation in the Arab Revolt.

For military planners, the village files were a goldmine — a comprehensive roadmap for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that would be implemented over the coming decade.

The catalyst came in 1947 when the British abandoned their Mandate and turned the Palestine problem over to the United Nations. From there, the rest is history: on Nov. 29, 1947 the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 181 that proposed to divide Palestine into two glaringly unequal states — one Jewish state with 56 percent of the land and an Arab state with 42 percent — even though there were twice as many Arabs (1.2 million) than Jews (600,000) living in Palestine.​

Once again, the Palestinians and all the Arab states totally rejected the Partition Plan. The Zionists were ecstatic — their vision of a Jewish state was coming to fruition and war with Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states was on the horizon.

“[Yosef Weitz] saw in the partition resolution and the coming hostilities the felicitous opportunity to set in motion long-nurtured plans” writes Palestinian historian Nur-eldeen Masalha. “His diary is replete with injunctions not to ‘miss the opportunities offered by the war.’ ”

On April 18, 1948, Weitz, drawing on his village files, wrote about the list of villages he wanted to be ethnically cleansed first:​

“I made a summary of a list of the Arab villages which in my opinion must be cleared out in order to complete Jewish regions. I also made a summary of the places that have land disputes and must be settled by military means.”

Pappé describes what happened next. Called Plan D, it was the final Masterplan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine:​

“The orders came with a detailed description of the methods to be used to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centers; setting fire to homes, properties, and goods; expelling residents; demolishing homes; and, finally, planting mines in the rubble to prevent the expelled inhabitants from returning…”

When it was over, more than half of Palestine’s indigenous population, over 750,000 people, had been uprooted; 531 villages had been destroyed; 70 civilian massacres had taken place and an estimated 10-15,000 Palestinians were dead.​

Watching the destruction of one village, Weitz wrote:

“I was surprised nothing moved in me at the sight … no regret and no hatred, as this is the way of the world.”

Today, as the genocidal war in Gaza unfolds, the spectre of Yosef Weitz lives on. At the start of Israel’s invasion, the Israeli Intelligence Ministry drafted a wartime proposal to forcibly drive the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people, now under daily bombardment and imposed starvation, into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where they would be placed in tent cities and denied the right to return.

Meanwhile, the racist language used by Israel’s leaders to justify the mass eradication of Palestinians remains unchanged: “We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly,” spits Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant; “This is a battle, not only of Israel against these barbarians,” intones Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “it is a battle of civilisation against barbarism.” And “There are no Palestinians, because there isn’t a Palestinian people,” declares Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“It is tempting to dismiss the revival of transfer … as the wild ravings of right-wing extremists,” writes Nur-eldeen Masalha. “Such a dismissal is dangerous, however, and it is well to be reminded that the concept of transfer lies at the very heart of mainstream Zionism.”

The plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine is Israel’s original sin — one that the Jewish colonists either cannot acknowledge, think was justified or prefer to forget.

Since the Nakba of 1948, Israel has used the memory of the Holocaust to silence its critics and to thwart international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza or for the rights of Palestinians to return to their land. But despite attempts to vindicate, minimise or deny their past, Zionists can never erase the legacy of Yosef Weitz or their blood-soaked history. It is well past time for Israel to acknowledge the inhumanity and futility of their Zionist project.

Stefan Moore is an American-Australian documentary filmmaker whose films have received four Emmys and numerous other awards. In New York he was a series producer for WNET and a producer for the prime-time CBS News magazine program 48 HOURS. In the U.K. he worked as a series producer at the BBC, and in Australia he was an executive producer for the national film company Film Australia and ABC-TV.​

They were right to take the Zionists at their word, ever since 1948 the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has continued. Look at the statements from current Israeli government ministers and you can see they continue to want to expel the Palestinians.

Weitz invoked the Old Testament, and Netanyahu has done the same.

DS

 

[DavidSSS]

Meanwhile, the terrorism by illegal settlers in the West Bank continues:

West Bank ‘Pogrom’ Shows Apartheid Must Go: Amnesty​

The human rights group says the prolonged attacks against Palestinians underlines the need to dismantle illegal settlements and end the occupation.

“Violence is integral to the establishment and expansion of these settlements and to sustaining apartheid. It’s time for the world to recognize this and pressure Israeli authorities to abide by international law by immediately halting settlement expansion and removing all existing settlements.” The latest wave of settler violence was sparked by the disappearance of Binyamin Achimair, a 14-year-old Israeli from the illegal settler outpost of Mal’achei Hashalom who went missing on April 12 while herding sheep near the village of Al-Mughayir east of Ramallah. As Israelis searched for Achimair, settlers began attacking Al-Mughayir’s residents and property.

Refugee Camp Attacked

Achimair’s body was found the following day. Israeli officials said he was killed in a “terrorist attack.” However, no Palestinian resistance group has claimed responsibility for the incident. A 21-year-old Palestinian man was arrested Monday in alleged connection with the boy’s death.

Late Friday, IDF troops and armored vehicles surrounded the Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarem and besieged the community of more than 6000 Palestinians during a 50-hour raid in which residents were shot, homes were destroyed, and scores of people were arrested.

By Saturday, IDF soldiers had killed 14 people in the camp, including at least one child. More than 40 other Palestinians were wounded.

“I saw one of my relatives, Jihad Zandiq, put his hands in the air to the soldiers but then they shot him anyway from point-blank range and killed him. Half of his skull exploded,” eyewitness Mahmoud Qazmouz told Middle East Eye on Sunday.

Palestinian officials said Israeli troops attacked first responders attempting to rescue victims, including a volunteer paramedic shot in the leg.​

Sanctions Against Settler Leaders



Amnesty International says the ongoing surge in deadly violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank “underscores [the] urgent need to dismantle apartheid” in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

For more than a week now, Israeli settlers have been attacking West Bank Palestinians in towns and villages including Al-Mughayir, Duma, Deir Dibwan, Beitin, and Aqraba, killing at least four people including a child; wounding dozens of others; and destroying homes, vehicles, and other property.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops have either stood and watched or participated in the settler attacks, which the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and others are calling a “pogrom.”

Amnesty Middle East and North Africa regional director Heba Morayef said:​

“The alarming spike in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in recent days highlights the urgent need to dismantle illegal settlements, end Israel’s occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories, and its longstanding system of apartheid.

The appalling spike in settler violence against Palestinians in recent days is part of a decades-long state-backed campaign to dispossess, displace, and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under Israel’s system of apartheid.

Israeli forces have a track record of enabling settler violence and it is outrageous that once again Israeli forces stood by and in some cases took part in these brutal attacks.”

Moratef said establishing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories flagrantly violated international law and constituted a war crime.​

Meanwhile, a funeral was held Sunday for Mohammed Awad Allah Musa, a 50-year-old Palestinian Red Crescent Society volunteer paramedic who was shot dead Saturday by Israeli settler-colonists while trying to reach Palestinians wounded by rampaging settlers in the town of Sa’wiyah south of Nablus.

The Nur Shams raid and ongoing settler attacks came as the U.S. State Department on Friday announced new sanctions targeting far-right Israeli settler leaders, including Ben Zion Gopstein, the founder and head of the Jewish supremacist group Lehava.

The Biden administration — which backs Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic support — is also reportedly considering imposing sanctions on the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion over war crimes committed in the West Bank before the current Israeli war on Gaza, including the January 2022 death of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian American man.

Responding to the prospect of the first-ever U.S. sanctions on his country’s military, far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “I will fight it with all my strength.”

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 485 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since Oct. 7, when Gaza-based militants attacked Israel. More than 1100 people were killed in the attack—some by responding Israeli forces—and over 240 Israelis and others were kidnapped by Hamas and other militants.

Israel’s 199-day retaliatory assault on Gaza — which critics including Israelis have called genocidal — has killed at least 34,151 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while wounding over 77,000 others, according to Palestinian and international officials.

At least 11,000 Gazans are missing, presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of homes and other buildings that have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombardment. Around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, and Israel’s continued obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery has fueled a burgeoning famine in which dozens of people, mostly children, have perished.

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.​

DS

 

[Willo]

Meanwhile, the terrorism by illegal settlers in the West Bank continues:



DS

The Israelis helping Palestinians hit by settler attacks​

Tuwani (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – In a desert region of the occupied West Bank, Israeli activist Eyal Shani has fitted a tiny camera on his T-shirt to collect evidence of settler violence against Palestinian sheep farmers.

Campaigners like Shani have been trying to protect Palestinians from Jewish settlers in the rugged Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, but they say it has become increasingly difficult with attacks soaring following the outbreak of war in Gaza.

"If we're not here the settlers take all the power into their hands, they don't see the Palestinians as humans," the 56-year-old said. "We are the last shield."
More…..

The Israelis helping Palestinians hit by settler attacks

In a desert region of the occupied West Bank, Israeli activist Eyal Shani has fitted a tiny camera on his T-shirt to collect evidence of settler violence against Palestinian sheep farmers.

www.france24.com

All Israelis are complicit, the same as all Palestinians are terrorists

 

[Willo]

A Glimmer of Hope for an Israel-Hamas Ceasefire
Eric Lutz
29th April 2024

Israel has indicated an interest in restoring “sustainable calm” in Gaza. Still, that doesn't mean negotiations will be straightforward.

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have been at standstill for weeks. But with international pressure mounting—and Israel threatening to expand its military operation into Rafah—there have been recent signs that a breakthrough could be possible.


Over the weekend, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported that Israel proposed a new hostage deal with Hamas that includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza. It's the first indication from Israel since Hamas's October 7 Hamas attack that it would consider ending the war in Gaza. “We hope that what we have proposed is enough to bring Hamas into serious negotiations,” an Israeli official told Ravid. “We hope Hamas sees we are serious about reaching a deal—and we are serious.”


The proposal, which was reportedly developed by Israel and Egypt, would include a humanitarian ceasefire in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages—and, Ravik reported, a willingness by Israel to “make further significant concessions.” Hamas “should understand that it is possible that if the first stage is implemented, it will be possible to advance to the next stages and reach the end of the war,” the Israeli official told Axios.


Hamas—which has released proof-of-life videos of hostages in recent days—has not formally responded to the proposal, though a senior Hamas official told AFP News that it had “no major issues” with the offer. The United States, which has called for a ceasefire and for the release of all Hamas-held hostages, is urging the group to accept the deal. “The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Saudi Arabia Monday. “They have to decide and they have to decide quickly.”

“I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision,” he added, describing Israel’s offer as “generous.”

A deal could represent welcome progress toward ending the conflict, which has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead in more than seven months of hostilities and provoked international outrage. Unrest has boiled over particularly in the U.S., where protests have swept college campuses and President Joe Biden’s “ironclad” support for Israel is dividing the coalition that elected him four years ago
more….

A Glimmer of Hope for an Israel-Hamas Ceasefire — Vanity Fair

Israel has indicated an interest in restoring “sustainable calm” in Gaza. Still, that doesn't mean negotiations will be straightforward.

apple.news

One can only hope

 

[Willo]

Gaza war: US 'hopeful' Hamas will accept Israel's new ceasefire offer

The US secretary of state hopes Hamas will accept what he has called Israel's "extraordinarily generous" offer for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

Antony Blinken was speaking as a Hamas delegation discussed the new proposal with mediators from Egypt and Qatar.
A source close to the talks told the BBC they were cautiously optimistic.
The proposal includes a 40-day truce in return for the release of hostages and the prospect of displaced families being allowed back to northern Gaza.

It reportedly also involves new wording on restoring calm meant to satisfy Hamas's demand for a permanent ceasefire.

The Hamas delegation has now left Cairo and will return with a written response to the proposal, Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera TV said.

The Israeli government is coming under growing pressure from its global allies and the families of the hostages to agree a deal.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.

More than 34,480 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

A deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US have been attempting for weeks to broker a new agreement that would secure another pause in the fighting and the release of the 133 hostages who Israel says are still being held, at least 30 of whom are presumed dead
more……

Gaza war: US 'hopeful' Hamas will accept Israel's new ceasefire offer — BBC News

The secretary of state calls Israel's latest offer for a hostage release "extraordinarily generous".

apple.news

 

[K3]

It is starting to look like there may actually be a cease fire plan in place.

Fingers VERY tightly crossed!

 

[DavidSSS]

All Israelis are complicit, the same as all Palestinians are terrorists

That may be your view, but not mine. The Israeli government and certainly the mad RWNJs who are a big part of it, would say that all Palestinians are terrorists, along with calling them animals and sub-human. But there are a fair number of Israelis who can see that kicking the can down the road is not a viable strategy, ethnic cleansing is not what Israel was supposed to stand for and they want to see a fair settlement with Palestinians. Pity they have little power.

Let's hope some sort of cease fire happens very soon, followed by a serious attempt to resolve the conflict.

DS