A policy in recent years of Shoot to Cripple … targeting knees and genitalia. ibid.
A reality of separation, exclusion, they’ve witnessed the destruction of the Palestinian grass roots. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Jewish/American on Israel’s Fascism: No Hope For Change From Within, Max Blumenthal, Youtube 2015
The Israelis preceded to destroy all the Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem. ibid.
The Israelis are responding now with unprecedented measures … Israel had a shoot to cripple policy. ibid.
US Empire holds countless political prisoners in its vast prison network, from black power to national liberation movements, people deemed threats to the system languish for decades behind bars. Among those are five Palestinian men. Known as the Holy Land 5, victims of George Bush’s massive repression operation against Muslims living in the US. These men Abu Baker, Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdelrahman Odeh & El Mezain and their orgnisation the Holy Land Foundation were simply a charity for Palestinian refugees. Charged with aiding terrorism, their sentences range from 15 to 65 years. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Life Sentences for Charity Work: Free the 5! 2018
‘The siege destroyed and humiliated us. We look like we’re alive but we’re not. We’re buried alive under the siege. Gaza is not Gaza any more. Gaza is destroyed through and through.’ Abby Martin & The Empire Files: Gaza Fights for Freedom, 2019
Most will never be permitted to leave. Trapped in this place are just suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world … Civilians are being killed in large numbers. ibid.
The Gaza Strip is only 25 miles long and about 5 miles wide. Two million Palestinians are packed into this tiny space. ibid.
An economic blockade that imposes a chokehold of poverty on Gaza. ibid.
Food scarcity is just one problem. More dangerous is the shortage of clean water. ibid.
Palestinians were routinely kicked out of their homes and forced to watch them bulldozed. ibid.
In the fall of 2000 a new Intifada broke out. The Israeli military responded with force and the region was plunged into an unprecedented level of violence. This film was shot between 1997 and the summer of 2000 – a time of relative calm between Palestinians and Israelis. Promises, opening caption, 2001
7 Palestinian and Israeli children who live in and around Jerusalem. They live no more than 20 minutes from each other but they are each growing up in very separate worlds. ibid.
‘Jerusalem belongs to us!’ ibid. boy
‘The Jews kicked us off our land and put us in this camp.’ ibid. girl
Following the 1967 war groups of nationalist Jews established settlements here [West Bank] on what was previously Arab land. ibid.
‘If I could make my own future, all the Arabs would fly away.’ ibid. boy
Checkpoints are situated at all crossings between West Bank and Jerusalem. ibid.
‘All these old guys scare me.’ ibid. boy
‘The more Jews we kill, the fewer there will be.’ ibid. boy
I’ve lived through so many experiences; they burn in my head. 5 Broken Cameras, 2011
There are my five cameras; each camera is an episode in my life. ibid.
Just inside the occupied territories of the West Bank … The first days the bulldozers come are very hard … More land is taken from the surrounding villages. ibid.
Seeing my brother Riyad hit by these people it takes me a while to realise that they are a special Israeli unit – soldiers disguised as Palestinians. ibid.
The barrier construction continues without delay. ibid.
Israel uses lot of techniques for occupying land. Some are illegal even according to their own laws. ibid.
In the end they beat us all up. ibid.
Once they claim the land construction companies can move in. ibid.
Jaffar is my third brother to be arrested. ibid.
The army comes into the village more and more. They try to prevent people from demonstrating. ibid.
Now the soldiers start coming by night mostly for kids. ibid.
The soldiers use lots of gas and live ammunition. Snipers surround the village. ibid.
My recovery is just a drop in that sea of violence. ibid.
One hundred years ago the British promise – just a few words in a letter – lit a fire in the Holy Land. The Balfour Declaration ignited one of the most bitter and protractable struggles in modern times – the Arab/Israeli conflict. This World, The Balfour Declaration, Jane Corbin reporting, BBC 2017
So how has it come to this? Did the British bestow a blessing or a curse on the two peoples? ibid.
To one of Britain’s most prominent and wealthy Jews – that man was Lionel Walter – Lord Rothschild. ibid.
Soon after its publication regeneration began. ibid.
Touring the length and breadth of the country Balfour received a rapturous reception from the Jews. ibid.
Many Palestinians believe the Balfour Declaration promised a nation to the Jews, but that same commitment was never made to them. ibid.
In 1939 the British government bowed to the pressure of the Arab revolt, drastically restricting Jewish immigration. ibid.
Now it became the turn of the Jews to revolt against the British. ibid.
The occupation sparked an armed struggle. ibid.
The peace deal was quick to unravel. ibid.
700 kms long it divides Israel from the West Bank. ibid.
We decided to answer the assassination of Abu Hazem and Um Jaber’s son who died in the bombing. There’s an operation planned for tomorrow in Tel Aviv. You and Khaled were chosen for this mission. Paradise Now 2005 starring Hamza Abu-Aiaash & Kais Nashif & Lutuf Nouasser & Ali Suliman & Mohammad Bustami & Ahmed Fares & Waleed On-Allah & Asaad Dwikat & Imad Saber et al, director Hany Abu-Assad, handler
We are to accept the occupation for ever or disappear. ibid. Khaled’s suicide video
Israel continues to build settlements, confiscate land, Judeaize Jerusalem and carry out ethnic cleansing. They use their war machine and their political and economic might to force us to accept their solution. ibid.
Don’t you see that what you’re doing will destroy us? And that you give Israel an alibi to carry on? ibid. her to him
Even worse, they’ve convinced the world and themselves that they are the victims. How can that be? How can the occupier be the victim? ibid. Khaled
When did it all go wrong? Why did Arabs and Jews start hating each other? … For over 1,300 years since the very beginning of Islam, Jews and Muslims lived together in an unprecedented religious and cultural harmony in Palestine, North Africa and Spain. It all seemed to be going fine till the 20th century. The Zionist Story, 2009
Zionism was a national Jewish revival movement that sought to unite all Jews in a national homeland. ibid.
[Chaim] Weizmann, the head of the World Zionist Congress and future president of Israel, proclaimed the Palestinians to be the rocks of Judea, obstacles that need to be cleared on a difficult path. ibid.
Once the land was theirs, they threw out all the Palestinians that were living on it. The Zionists called this process Judeafying the Land and Land Redemption. ibid.
‘Palestine became a special case because the British violated the provisions of the mandate for Palestine because they put the Balfour Declaration into the Palestine mandate.’ ibid. Professor Charles Smith
The British also exiled the Palestinian leadership and dismantled all Palestinian military units. ibid.
Following a string of pro-British policies, the Zionists launched terrorist attacks on British personnel and facilities. ibid.
In 1947 the Jews owned 5.8% of the land. In the UN partition plan the Jews ended up with 56% of the land. ibid.
David Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Zionist movement in Palestine, wrote in 1937, ‘The Arabs will have to go.’ ibid.
Plan Dalet was about securing the borders of Israel by cleansing, expelling, and destroying Palestinian towns, villages and urban neighbourhoods. The plan was implemented by the Zionist armed forces. ibid.
Horrible massacres were perpetrated. ibid.
The Zionists increased their ethnic cleansing operations. Villagers were expelled en masse and massacres occurred in many places. ibid.
Palestinians stood up to the Israeli oppression, extrajudicial killings, mass detentions, house demolitions, deportations and land seizures, but they were no match for the well equipped Israeli army. ibid.
The first Intifada was put down by the Israeli government with so much brutality that the UN condemned Israel for violating the Geneva conventions. ibid.
Israel controls all sea, land and air access to Gaza. ibid.
Three and a half million Palestinians live as virtual prisoners. ibid.
There are over 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. ibid.
The Palestinians who live in Israel are treated as second-class citizens. ibid.