Rachel Corrie Proves Israel Doesn't Need Commandos or Shootings

Make no mistake: These actions might not be widely reported in the United States, but they are widely reported throughout the Muslim world.

The MV Rachel Corrie preparing for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

(LOS ANGELES) - So no Irish activists were shot this morning as the Israeli navy – during daylight, from boats, not helicopters – boarded the Gaza-bound ship ‘Rachel Corrie.’

Hooray. If only this sensible strategy had been used a week ago, the world might not be looking so unkindly toward Israel.

While the world’s attention is focused on this, we are missing the grinding violence of the occupation on the West Bank:

A settler got out of his car and shot two 16-year-old Palestinian boys in Hebron, then calmly got in his car and drove home.

He phoned police to turn himself in and was merely given ‘house arrest.’ If this isn’t terrorism, what is?

"Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s office released a
statement based on witness accounts about the shooting that
said, “the settler shot randomly at school students. Shop worker
Nidal Mawi, said a man driving a white Citreon car with yellow
plates ’stopped in the middle of the street and one of the two
settlers in the car stepped out and started shooting at the students."

Protesters' photo taken right after American student was shot in the eye by an Israeli soldier firing a tear gas canister at protesters, from ISM.

An American Jewish student from Cooper Union, Emily Henochowitz, 21, lost her eye after Israeli soldiers hit her in the head with tear gas canister fired at protesters during a demonstration at the notorious Qalandiya checkpoint.

Soldiers on the West Bank should be shooting tear gas canisters into the air – not directly at protesters. It leads to criticisms of inhuman military practices – doing more damage to Israel’s image abroad.

Make no mistake: These actions might not be widely reported in the United States, but they are widely reported throughout the Muslim world.

Every shooting, every house demolition. And every time the right-wing Israeli government foolishly restricts Palestinians from worshiping at their holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City – as they did yesterday.

All people carrying Palestinian ‘residency’ cards were restricted from praying on their holy site, the Haram al-Sharif, site of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Only Palestinian men considered residents of Israel over age 50 and women who are considered residents of Israel were permitted.

This frequently-imposed restriction cuts off literally millions of Palestinians from their holy sites.
And boy does it feed the holy war.