Tags: occupation

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In Three Years, Israeli Military Courts Have Fined Palestinians $16 Million

Israeli military courts not only have a 99% conviction rate when it comes to Palestinian prisoners, but in many cases they also impose exorbitant fines and unreasonable prison sentences. Last month, one Palestinian was convicted of throwing a stone at security forces from an unknown distance. The stone did not hit anyone and caused no damage. He was sentenced to six months and a day in prison and fined 2,000 shekels (about $500).

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Opinion: As an American-Israeli, I Am Thrilled for the Palestinians and for Rashida Tlaib

Every day that Netanyahu chooses Trump and fundamentalism over the pro-democracy, pro-equality, pro-pluralism views of diaspora Jews, is a great day for the Palestinian cause.

No Israeli prime minister, no Israeli government and no consortium of allies has done nearly as much – inadvertently, to be sure – to bring the cause and the grievances of the Palestinians front and center.

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IDF annexes Palestinian land using flimsy excuses and gibberish

Author Amira Hass, a Jewish Israeli, pressed the Israeli government for an explanation for the sharp increase in refusals to allow Palestinians access to their land that was cut off by the Separation Wall. The response appears to be little more than a runaround; official reasons given for denial of permits have often been dismissive: the plot of land in question is “too small to cultivate” or the request was “fraudulent.”

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Christmas headlines from the Occupied Palestinian territories

The International Middle East Media Center reports on the ongoing acts of Israeli injustice and violence that most other media don’t bother with. Not a day goes by – including holidays – without abductions, settler brutality, shootings, and often even deaths. 

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Next year in Bethlehem: Gaza Christmas celebrated despite siege

For the 11th year, Gaza’s Christian minority celebrates Christmas under Israeli siege, unable to join family in West Bank. Travel requests are mostly denied or ignored from an occupying country that claims to promote freedom of religion and worship.

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Israeli settler violence: 6 incidents in 2 days

As Israel criticizes Palestinians for their legal resistance against an illegal occupation, illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinians on a daily basis – often with protection from the Israeli military – and go unpunished. Sometimes they destroy crops, sometimes vehicles; sometimes it’s graffiti; this week a member of the Israeli parliament called for open violence, and settlers obeyed.

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Opinion: Birthrighters can handle the truth. Show them the occupation.

A former Birthright trip coordinator and leader’s bold opinion: young Jews on Birthright trips are aware of world events, and shouldn’t have to feel like they’re engaging with a sanitized and whitewashed version of Israel. When tour organizers don’t show them realities like the occupation, they are painting an incomplete and dishonest picture of what’s happening on the ground. Showing and telling the truth will make birthrighters more likely to engage and take action.

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A history lesson on the legitimacy of resistance

Before the birth of modern Israel, Zionist groups – newly arrived in Palestine – engaged in armed struggle against the British military, whom they labelled as “occupiers.” But now that the tables have turned (and the UN has enshrined the right of armed struggle as a vehicle of indigenous liberation) the Israeli occupation refuses to recognize the Palestinian resistance as legitimate. 

Israeli military lives lost, while tragic, are sacrifices made willingly by the occupier who is fully aware that the resistance is ongoing.

Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination is a difficult, costly march; yet history teaches there is simply no other choice. Silence is surrender. To be silent is to betray all those who have come before and all those yet to follow.

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Truth is stranger than fiction: 3 days in the West Bank

Elderly women, families, children, and of course young men in the occupied Palestinian territories are regularly treated with brutality by Israeli forces. International laws are in place to protect vulnerable populations, but Israel ignores such laws – and gets away with it. Simple, common decency ought to elicit restraint on the part of the occupier, but does not.

These very brief stories are snapshots of Israeli cruelty between December 15 and 17, 3 days out of the 50+ years of violent occupation which the United States endorses and supports to the tune of over $10 million a day.

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