Twenty-five insanities of the Israeli occupation
A report from Christian Peacemaker Teams
by Paulette Schroeder , member of CPTPrint Article Email to a Friend
"That's insane," I often insist as Palestinian friends tell me about one
more restriction in their daily lives. The following list I have compiled
mentions some of these insanities:
1. In Bethlehem, workers arrive at the Gilo checkpoint to go to East
Jerusalem a few hours early in order to get to their work just on the other
side of the checkpoint on time.
2. A friend who standing with Palestinians for 1.5 hours inside the Gilo
checkpoint reports seeing an Israeli poster with the caption, "Feel the
Glory."
3. People crossing through the heavily militarized Gilo checkpoint into
Bethlehem read the sign, "Peace be with you."
4. A fifteen-year-old neighbor boy from Hebron's Old City, accused of
throwing a stone, is now in prison, and will carry that record for his life.
5. On the first day of school this year, soldiers detain twelve teachers
from a boys' school in Hebron for one hour.
6. An elderly blind Palestinian man must grope his way through the turnstile
and beeper at the Ibrahimi mosque checkpoint. When he finally gets through
the beeping machine, he must search, with his hands to find all of the
belongings soldiers forced him to take out of his pockets.
7. After folding up his wheelchair, a disabled man struggles to navigate
both himself and his wheelchair through the same checkpoint's turnstiles.
8. The U.S. government allocates $11,000,000 a day to Israel to support its
occupation of the Palestinians, and at the same time insists that Israel
stop building settlements.
9. A twenty-five-foot "security wall" stretches more than 200 miles around
Palestine, topped with rolls of razor blade wire manufactured in the United States.
10. Israel destroys hundreds of centuries-old olive trees to build this
wall.
11. A young Israeli soldier from Cleveland, Ohio, calls the 300-plus children
killed in Gaza during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead, "collateral
damage."
12. While using scissors to cut the rags off the razor blade wire in their
front yard, a Christian Peacemaker Team member is checked by a soldier to see if the CPTer is carrying
a weapon.
13. Every Saturday, eight to twelve Israeli soldiers lead a group of Israeli
visitors through Hebron's Old City to see homes where Jews lived before
1929; yet, Palestinians may not revisit their homes in present Israel.
14. Every day young Palestinian children have their bags searched at
checkpoints for weapons as they travel to school.
15. Israeli soldiers believe they advance Israeli security by detaining
numerous young Palestinian men at checkpoints for prolonged periods.
16. A young Russian Israeli soldier has a chance to save a Palestinian boy
and his father from going to jail. He refuses to tattle on his colleagues
who started the altercation between the soldiers and the two Palestinians.
17. Soldiers force young Palestinian men against the wall, handling them
roughly and searching them as a part of their practice drills.
18. CPT's neighbor must enter her house, carrying groceries, by climbing up
a ladder over the roof entrance and then climbing down into her home. She
is one of many Palestinians who are not able to use their front doors
because their front doors are facing a street that Palestinians, and their
international and Israeli friends are forbidden to walk on. (USAID paid to
renovate the street in 1997 on the condition that it would always remain
open to both Israelis and Palestinians.)
19. A Palestinian mother tells a group of soldiers that settlers are
throwing stones at her house. The soldiers respond by arresting her
thirteen-year-old daughter.
20. In an ancient Palestinian pastoral village located near a huge Jewish
settlement, the Israeli military and settlers have installed four different
roadblocks and barriers across the Palestinian road to provide security for
the settlers.
21. A settler holds a baby while sporting an M-16 on his side or back.
22. The settlers living in Hebron cite God to justify their acts of violence
toward our Palestinian neighbors.
23. Soldiers lead a blindfolded child playing with/throwing stones behind a
military gate, putting a dog near him to breathe down his neck.
24. Israel accuses Palestinians who have lived on their land for generations
of stealing water originating in West Bank aquifers from settlements buil t
in the 1980s.
25. The Israeli military takes orders from Israeli settlers.
According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Court of
Justice in the Hague, and numerous United Nations resolutions, all Israeli
settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are illegal. Most
settlement outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.
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What strikes me as insane is that Christian "Peacemakers" are co-opted by pure political interests. Sure, the list is bad. But not nearly as bad as the atrocities in Sudan and Rwanda, etc. There, masses have been raped, tortured, and over 1 million slaughtered. Not to mention the fact that most have been CHRISTIAN. But since there is no oil there, most politicians could not care less. But the Middle East? Oh, there is oil. So, by all means, let Christian "Peacemakers" be vehicles for the state and focus on Palestine. And that situation itself is hypocritical. For example, how many of these "Peacemakers" would be so peaceful if Native Americans began to re-claim their land via suicide-bombing? And let's not forget, there is NO question about the Native American land claims. But hey, once again, let's focus on someone's else's evil and esepically as we can support purely state concerns over-and-above the atrocious treatment of Christian brothers and sisters in Africa.
Dear jonx, Are you suggesting that because there is "more" suffering going on in one place, people of conscience should not work in other places? You might be interested to know that Israel actually does not possess any commercially available oilfields. Additionally, a quick look at CPT's website would reveal to you that, in fact, CPT does work with Native Americans who are being expropriated of their lands by governments and corporations. You also seem to be singularly focused on Christian suffering. You should remember the tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians who have been living in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and beyond since Jesus first started preaching.
Once again, Israel bad....others good.
There is conflict all over the world,and honestly I am glad that there are people posting about the conflict in many parts whether it be in Israel/Palestine, Rwanda, Sudan, Colombia, ect. No conflict is good or desired but must be commented on in order to make more people aware. With the Native Americas, yes it would be a struggle for people to become used to, but in truth what we have been taught in our history books is most often biased. But to make a simple point about the Palestinians...although there are suicide bombings that we here about here, that is all we hear about from the media. The media tells us what they or the government want us to know, not what might be the truth. My question to you "jonx" would be have you been there? visited with the Palestinian people? they are good people, maybe better than some American's that I have met. And to "alada"-there is a misconception that needs to be cleared. Like they said in 25, what you read here is done by the military government, not the Israeli people. The Israeli people long for peace as much as the Palestinian people. We need to remember there is always more than one side, and many Israeli's are facing injustices as well, but Palestinian's are bearing the worst of the load. And the settler's they mentioned; most are not originally from Israel. It is a hard situation over in Israel/Palestine, just like in many places in the world. But the only way peace can ever exist is only by opening others eyes to it.