Israel, Peace Maps and American Bribery

There is a Palestinian in Everyone's Soul...

All artwork by the amazing Artist Carlos Latuff, friend of Salem-News.com, in Rio de Janeiro.

(SALEM, Ore.) - I know the average American would be astounded if they really understood that the fragile Mideast peace process affecting Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, and the earth as a whole. is mainly contingent on 'settlement building'.

"Settlement building".

Ground Shifting Under Israel's Feet Daniel Johnson Salem-News.com

Don't get me wrong; we're talking about sixty years of oppression that accompanied the creation of Israel and its eternally expanding borders. Endless death and suffering has been the foundation of this debacle played out in front of a world audience.

But it is the colonizing of the tiny amount of remaining Palestinian land that aggravates millions today, and even if the U.S. media remains firmly wedged inside Israel's political interests, the rest of the world; almost all of South America, Central America, Ireland, Great Britain, Spain; these countries are stepping up to the plate, and frank conversations about religion are commonplace.

If Americans Only Knew what was taking place; the fact that Israel continually confiscates homes historically owned by Palestinian families, and bulldozes them to the ground in order to build religious colonies, Americans would do something about it. That's what a settlement is, a religious colony.

It takes place because the mere concept of this land confiscation and displacement of families is literally too foreign of a thought for the average citizen here to comprehend.

It rings of the Native American tragedy, the world battle against apartheid in South Africa, and also the Holocaust itself. The average American does not understand; they are fully indoctrinated to support Israel without question.

When viewing the years preceding and following WWII, it is easy to understand why a European person of Jewish descent would be attracted to the Holy Land. But never did God or any sane thinking person ever see the Jewish return to the homeland becoming a system of destruction for an entire indigenous culture.

The latest progress in the fight to convince Israel to halt settlement building was achieved by literally bribing the Israeli government.

Among other things, the Obama administration has to provide millions of dollars worth of military fighter jets to Israel, to get Benjamin Netanyahu to simply agree to look at the proposed US peace map.

The Israeli Prime Minister also wants Obama to halt attempts to introduce UN Security Council resolutions opposed by Israel.

Artwork by Carlos Latuff, friend of Salem-News.com, in Rio de Janeiro.

Some of those resolutions relate to Israel's role in war crime investigations, which have been conducted extensively.

Rather than force Israel to reexamine its tactics, the US and Canada have for years, invoked a UN privilege to silence these matters.

Some would simply call it the latest dog and pony show.

“If and when it is complete, I will bring this proposal to the appropriate Government forum, which in this case is the Cabinet,” Netanyahu told the Telegraph.

“In any case, I insist that any proposal meet the State of Israel’s security needs."

And even that minor concession has been met with strong resistance by Israeli hardliners. They literally want Netanyahu to keep settlement building open until there are no more Palestinian homes left to destroy.

For their part, officials in Palestinian officials say any new moratorium has to extended to East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Six Day War. Under the US proposal, the new settlement freeze - like the one before it -- would only be implemented in the West Bank.

US taxpayers foot the bill for a large part of Israel's military occupation of a historic nation, Palestine, with a recently founded Jewish state that has represented terror for the local population since Israel's formation in 1947 and 1948.

The idea that the US president has to bribe Israel with more military hardware and more promises to overlook their world level war crimes, is an insult to all free thinking people.

Background in Video

Today video clips fly freely around the world on sites like YouTube and they provide all of the evidence necessary to appreciate what is taking place in Occupied Palestine. I assembled these clips and explanations several months ago but today they are no less valid.

Israelis Destroy Water Supplies

I published an article about Israel's destruction of a water cistern used by Palestinian people to water their crops. The Israeli police came in and destroyed their crops a little less than a week ago, and now they have intentionally destroyed the cistern.

Americans need to understand that Israel has been intentionally targeting farmers in Palestine. It is easy to dismiss, but people have to stop doing that.

You have to watch the video and read the stories and vote your conscience. One group recording the Israeli destruction of Palestinian crops and water sources is the Christian Peacemakers Teams, based in Palestine.

We also need to show Israel that we are not going to put up with this, and their ongoing elimination of the Palestinian people must end.

Borders must be restored to what they were before Israel's Six Day War which was a Pearl Harbor-like surprise attack on both Egypt, Lebanon and the United States. In six days all of Egypt's Air Force was in smoldering ruin on the ground, Lebanese military targets were ruthlessly struck, and the U.S.S. Liberty was nearly sunk after a several hour long attack by Israeli aircraft and naval boats and ships.

Israelis Raze Farmer's Crops

Earlier this week the respected Israeli writer Tal Haran sent a story to Salem-News.com that is tied to the destruction of the cistern.

"For many years, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been trying to remove Palestinians from the Beqa Valley, east of Kiryat Arba and Givat Harsina. The army has demolished homes, destroyed farmers’ crops and their cisterns for collecting water.

"On Tuesday, 6th July 2010, personnel from the Civil Administration backed up by the Border Police, and accompanied by labourers, came to the area and began to uproot water drip irrigation pipelines belonging to Palestinian farmers in the Beqa Valley. The workmen also uprooted the protective covers of tomato crops. They similarly destroyed the irrigation system for approx. 35 dunams belonging to six families.

"Any Palestinian at the site, or who came to it, was violently forced to a distance – the IDF used blows and beatings, tear gas and stun grenades. Some Palestinians required medical treatment as a result, including a pregnant woman in her eighth month and a four year old child.

Israel's Deadly 1967 Attack in U.S. Ship

Regarding the U.S.S. Liberty, Debbie Menon wrote: "It is like Grace Halsell says it was, “what we did not know, and were shocked to learn….” But, finding out and telling about it, are horses of different colors, uphill battles, seldom won, which she describes as part of the problem and amongst those things we 'did not know.' It is interesting that she wrote these years ago, during the Clinton Administration. And, that she was once a speechwriter for Lyndon Johnson of USS Liberty infamy!

"A review of the USS Liberty story explains a lot of how and why we have arrived at the state and conditions in which we currently find America and its governance! The video on your left is part of a continuing series of YouTube posts that are very interesting and educational first-hand perspective reports.

"The obvious incident is the deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, in which out of 200 American sailors and Marines on board, 34 were killed and the rest wounded, and rescue attempts by carrier-based aircraft were halted by McNamara & Johnson personally. I’m not sure most Americans would know all the details of this incident. Listen to the chilling accounts of survivors in this video."

Israeli Snipers Shoot Farmers

I wrote in May about how farmers who try to harvest crops on land their family has owned for generations are often shot by the Israeli military, sometimes fatally. 20-year-old Mohammad al-Breem was shot in the right leg as the farmers worked together with the international Human Rights Activists. There were more shots as they attempted to leave the area having worked on their land for 2 hours in full view of the Israeli forces situated along the Green Line.

There was no surprise, no provocation; the IDF let them think they could work their own land, and then after a while they opened fire. Farmers of every persuasion, from every corner of the globe, should condemn this ongoing genocide of the Palestinians by Israel's unaccountable government forces.

In case you were curious, the farmers' crime, that Israel deemed open season over, was the loading of parsley and spinach from the agricultural lands. The shots were fired from Israeli forces on the border. Mohammad was shot in the right leg and evacuated, while still under fire, to a hospital. International Human Rights Activists have repeatedly witnessed Palestinian farmers being shot at by Israeli forces as they attempt to work on agricultural land situated within 700m of the Green Line.

Israeli Attack on Family Beach Picnic

In April I wrote a story about the Israeli navy attacking a Palestinian family; men, women and children, while they had a picnic on the beach in Gaza.

PBC News reported at the time: "This evening seven citizens were martyred and 30 others were severely wounded, including dozens of women and in a new Israeli massacre, when Israeli war speed boats, shot at beachgoers on the coast at the Gaza beach in the Sundanea area Northwest of Gaza City. Most were the children of Ali Ghalia, his wife Rye Ghalia who was 26. Sabrina 8, Haitham 1, Zebren 8, Anadia 2, Ilham 7, and Halia 15.

The newscaster whose Arabic words are translated to English, concludes the story by saying, "Glory and eternity to our glorious martyrs."

This happens every time Israel kills another Palestinian; a tremendous loss revered as a martyr, but still the Palestinians remain non-violent, and still they are slaughtered. This is not a defense of Islamic militarism; it is about families being slaughtered by trigger-happy Israeli sailors during a day at the beach. Western people, Americans more than any others, would never put up with it if they really knew how heartless Israel is toward the Palestinian people on a daily basis.

Two Palestinian Brothers

If American military forces subjected Iraqi or Afghan people to the type of brutality that Israelis use against native Palestinian people, it would be front page headlines. If an Iranian woman is facing a death sentence, the world is in an uproar, but Israel has over 3,000 Palestinians in captivity constantly. They arrest and severely prosecute small children for throwing rocks at soldiers who shoot bullets at the children.

It is utter and total madness, and to say this is not to endorse terrorism; another accusation frequently leveled at writers like me. It is horrific that these acts are allowed to take place, and every Israeli should be deeply ashamed for being part of a system that at times exhibits no human qualities whatsoever. The only answer is for people to become more politically involved and know that clinging to beliefs that justify this treatment of the Palestinians is an abomination of anything God ever had in mind for the Jews.

I was told that I am wrong for thinking that "The Chosen People" aspect is an excuse for murder, after watching these videos how can you say that?

This video and the one above possibly illustrate the problem taking place in Israel more clearly than any others. The video shows a 27-year old Palestinian protester named Ashraf Abu Rahma, with his arms tied behind his back, lined up and shot by Israeli occupational forces.

It came to our attention because a Palestinian girl who was near the scene recorded the incident on camera. As it turns out, Abu Rahma was also gagged as he was shot. He said the soldiers told him afterward, "You deserve this and even more." The soldiers were from the IDF's 71st Battalion. We learned that the young Palestinian girl was sought by Israeli soldiers, who later kidnapped the girl's father as a punishment for exposing the crime.

Ashraf was detained by Israeli soldiers during a nonviolent protest in July of 2008, in the nearby village of Ni'lin, and after he was cuffed and blindfolded, a soldier standing next to him pointed his gun at his leg and shot him with a rubber-coated bullet.

Then a few months ago, his brother Phil was shot by an Israeli soldier while attending a peace rally, with a tear gas canister, and died on the spot.

So those who criticize me because I write harsh assessments of Israel's more than heavy-handed behavior, need to understand that primarily through the Internet, we are constantly assaulted with the knowledge of what is taking place in Palestine and Israel. There is no excuse for treating people this way.

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com