Israeli Occupation of Palestine: The Root Cause of the Middle East Crisis

By Mark Glenn

USSLiberty, crescentandcross, September 29, 2008

 

As the conflict between Israel and Palestine rages in the Middle East, the people of the United States, including President George W Bush and all members of Congress, must ask themselves two questions:

*How would you feel if an invader came into your neighborhood and told you to leave your home immediately because it was going to be demolished so the land could be used to build many new homes for the murderous invaders of Israel?

*Would you sit back and offer no resistance as your entire life was reduced to rubble?

Answer those questions honestly and you will understand the plight of all Palestinians who been forced to live in subhuman conditions under Israeli execution, occupation and control. If we would not tolerate the abusive aggression of an invader in our own communities, how can we allow Congress and the President George W Bush to–not only condone such murderous aggression from Israel, but–pay for it, and all with our taxpayer money, covered not only with the blood of Palestinians, but with Americans as well, and in particular the sons of the USS Liberty, attacked by Israel 41 years ago.

ISRAELI APARTHEID AGAINST PALESTINIANS

Sue Heher, a South African Representative stationed in the West Bank, had the following to say–”Other South African colleagues who have visited Palestine have typically said they felt the situation  here {Palestine} to be worse than that of apartheid South Africa…’

For those who need a little more info regarding Mz. Heher’s comments here, let the following be considered–

*Palestinians are forced to carry identification cards at all times when traveling from city to city

*Palestinians must apply for a very difficult-to-obtain permit to travel from city to city.

*Palestinians are forced to stand in separate lines than Jews, so that the Jews are not ‘tainted’ through what they consider ‘contact’ with ‘inferior’ beings

*Palestinians are not allowed to live in Jewish-only housing, even when Palestinians have deeds proving their ownership of this property…

*Palestinians–Muslim and Christian–are not allowed to buy, rent or lease land in 92% of the State of Israel, simply because they are not Jewish

*Israel gives 85% of water resources in Palestine to Israelis and the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, even though the Palestinian population is much larger…

*Israeli sieges have stopped most Palestinians from going to work, going to school (if they dare to for fear of beatings or sniper fire on innocent children) going to hospitals with little or no medications, or going shopping for basic necessities like food (if any is to be found) thereby reducing the Palestinian population to starvation and disease…

*Israel refuses to abide by over 65 United Nations Security resolutions…

*Palestinians have recognized the right of Israel to exist in 78% of the country and Israel still has not reciprocated. Instead the masters of the Palestinians cage them in Gaza as sub-human animals with no fresh water, no food, NOTHING. If this were done to even a handful of Jews anywhere else in the world it would be considered a holocaust and the military might of the United States would be brought to bear in ‘fixing’ it…

THE HUMAN TOLL

In a special interview aired on Israeli television, a former Israeli soldier said that Israeli soldiers committed “unimaginable” practices against Palestinians. Being a survivor of the murderous attack on our ship USS Liberty June 8, 1967 I can vouch for that as well, since I personally witnessed “unimaginable” inhuman slaughter, in particular that of Americans on the high seas by the Government of Israel, resulting in 34 murdered and 174 wounded. According to the testimony of this former Israeli soldier, a common practice among them is competing among themselves to see who could kill more Palestinians, bragging afterward about how many they killed, deliberately targeting and killing children walking home from school or playing outside, and slamming the heads of handcuffed Palestinians onto concrete walls. I bet the Israelis had a great big laugh over the murders they committed against their American friends aboard AMERICA’S ship USS LIBERTY!! There is no telling in the many many months of Israeli occupation how many Palestinians have been murdered, tortured to death, starved to death, and the untold who have been maimed and injured for life by Israeli troops and Jewish extremists. Many of the victims are average citizens on their way to work or to school, while others are involved in protests against occupation. Only a handful were armed–do you blame for trying to protect their families?

The ugly truth though is that Israel is not putting America in an impossible situation in the Middle East. Rather it is the President and the congress who are putting America in an impossible situation by allowing Israel to get by with these crimes. To call it despicable and Un-American is the understatement of the millenium.

Palestinians watch as Israel brings to bear against them and their loved ones American-made weapons and over 15 million dollars a day in taxpayer money and all of this while America is in the worst financial crises ever. And yet, AND YET, Israel STILL demands that money, money we Americans must borrow, and for what? TO GIVE TO A TERRORIST STATE, money our kids and grandkids will have to pay back and which our elected officials on bended knees are so very happy to turn over. Its worse than disgusting, although I don’t really know what the right word would be.

With out the billions of dollars of American tax payers money pour into Israel every year, not counting the jet aircraft, tanks, and on and on, Israel would find it difficult IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE to sustain its illegal and murderous occupation of Palestine that has gone on for over 41 years and continues that jeopardize American interests in such an area as vital as the Middle East. Look at us now–in Iraq with well over 4,000 American sons and daughters dead, and for what? One word–ISRAEL–and now as if this weren’t enough to satisfy her, now she wants us to fight another war for her in Iran and our gutless leaders in Washington DC will more than oblige their masters in Israel and sacrifice more American blood and treasure. Unbelievable but true. Why isn’t our congress and our administration calling on Israel to stop the racism and discrimination against Palestinians and end the occupation? In truth the answer does not need to even be stated, but I will state it nevertheless–FEAR. They are all bought-and-paid-for whores of Israel and could care less about the Palestinians or even their own American countrymen for that matter. Israel uses tanks, helicopters, death squads, state-of-the-art smart bombs against the Palestinians (women and children alike) but our Congressmen and Congresswomen and our President have not dared to call it what it is– ISRAELI TERRORISM. They will talk us till they’re blue in the face about ‘Islamic terrorism’, but hear them get anywhere near that ‘J’ word and they will run from it like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. When a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation strikes at Israel, he is labeled in no uncertain terms a terrorist. Why the double standards? Why is Israel permitted everything in its effort to keep the last colonial adventure of the world? AIPAC and over 15 other Jewish lobbies for Israel operate on combined budgets exceeding 50 million a year or more. AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby with the closet links to the government of Israel, is recognized by Fortune magazine to be one of the most powerful lobbies on the hill and our elected stooges gravel at their feet.

ANYONE WHO TAKES BLOOD-MONEY FROM ISRAEL’S LOBBY IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ISRAEL’S ACTIONS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

WHAT MUST THE UNITED STATES DO?

We cannot sit back and permit the lobby of a foreign government to determine U.S. Middle East policy that is not in the best interests of the United States of America. We want our tax dollars spent at home, not sent to Israel, A RACIST, NAZI STATE which refuses to return illegally-seized lands to Palestinians that would be condemned were it any other group of people. Our bought-and-paid-for congress must not continue to allow their masters–the Israel lobby–to harm America’s own interests.

Not wanting to over-use an already overused line, but America…WAKE UP. We are in real deep trouble here and it is going to take you–my fellow Americans–raising your voices and saying NO MORE!!! No more of the same shame we have been living with for far to long.

Write, phone, email your representatives in congress. Tell your friends, family and neighbors. Do not be afraid of being called all the predictable names. They mean nothing. Get hold of McCain and Obama and tell them NO MORE. Stop this madness before its too late. For your own sake for that of your children, at least try. Your children and grandchildren are counting on you, because it’s their future you hold in yours hands, so don’t waste it for them, and definitely, don’t waste it for Israel.

God Bless America

Phillip F Tourney Survivor USS Liberty Three Time President of the Liberty Veterans Association Co-Host–‘The Liberty Hour’ radio program heard every Saturday morning 1100 EST on the Republic Broadcasting Network found at www.republicbroadcasting.org tonktime5@yahoo.com

* excerpts of this piece are reprinted here from an earlier piece collaboratively written with some of the other survivors of the USS Liberty

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