Israel Pushing Palestinians Into A Corner – OpEd

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A little more than two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu stood on the podium at the UN General Assembly to deliver his address. Not surprisingly, it was a rehash of his ranting against his public enemy No. 1, Iran.

He began with: “Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you greetings from Jerusalem. The city in which the Jewish people’s hopes and prayers for peace for all of humanity have echoed throughout the ages.”

Going on to project Israel as the one true democracy in the Middle East, Netanyahu then unleashed a tirade against the dangers of the nuclear agreement reached with Iran. He then dramatised his speech with a 45-second pause to signify his country’s objection to the deal.

While Netanyahu was unsuccessfully trying to push his alarmist theory to the world, his speech was laced with hypocrisy. Occupied Jerusalem is a killing field today, and the only prayers the Zionists there have is not one for peace but for the total obliteration of the lawful residents of the land, the Palestinians.

In recent times sustained provocations by the Israeli Forces and the bloodthirsty Israeli colonists have been pushing the hapless Palestinians into a very tight corner. They feel betrayed and abandoned by their neighbours as they are left to scrap around against a heavily fortified Israeli militia using knives and stones.

While Netanyahu was wailing and flaying at the UN, his own people were raising the bar in violence against defenceless Palestinians. The Israeli modus operandi has become very apparent. Raise the alarm at external enemies on the world stage, get all attention diverted elsewhere and stealthily continue your grand designs of eliminating every single Palestinian from the land, making it a truly ‘Jewish’ state. This is the democracy Netanyahu failed to highlight in his speech.

While he was in New York raising the alarm against Iran, Netanyahu failed to mention that his forces, along with the colonists, were increasing their provocations with the armed incursions at Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in the Muslim world. Perhaps it was a lapse in memory that he did not talk about how Palestinians were being driven out of their homes only to watch them being bulldozed to make room for new colonies.

Disturbing developments

He failed to mention events surrounding Fadi Alloun, a Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli soldiers, who were cheered on by illegal Israeli colonists.

In his oversight, he also did not bring up Abdul Rahman Obeidallah’s story. The 13-year-old Palestinian was shot in the heart by Israeli soldiers while he was returning home from school. The blood-stained shirt of his school uniform seemed not to faze the authorities, who quickly dismissed the incident as an ‘accident’.

A teenage Palestinian girl, Hanin Doyat, was followed and surrounded by Jewish colonists who then proceeded to strip her of her clothes and dignity, before she was shot. A pregnant Palestinian woman was shot in cold blood as she held her arms up in surrender while surrounded by at least five armed soldiers. Six Palestinian boys were shot dead by the Israelis for throwing rocks against the vile Israeli forces.

There are also reports of the Israeli military trying to run over Palestinian pedestrians with their vehicles and, more sinisterly, undercover Israeli soldiers dressing up as Palestinians and attacking them.

These are but a few of the incidents that are being inflicted on the mostly unarmed civilian Palestinian population. Women and children are the targets of this new Zionist order. In less than two weeks since Netanyahu’s speech, around 37 Palestinians have been gunned down and murdered.

While Netanyahu pontificated that “Unleashed and unmuzzled, Iran will go on the prowl, devouring more and more prey,” he failed to bring up the greed that is fuelling his own ambitions for a greater Israel. One that will vanquish the lawful residents of the land forever and make their land into a Zionist kingdom.

Netanyahu needs Iran for that purpose, just as he needed Iraq. As long as he continues to raise alarm, he is setting his troops and the illegal colonists on full course to devour whatever remains of Palestinian lands before somebody wakes up and notices. Well, such sustained and targeted massacres cannot be ignored forever.

Following an emergency meeting a few days ago in Cairo, Arab League chief Nabeel Al Araby charged that “Israel continues implementing plans to change the status of Al Aqsa Mosque through an unprecedented and fierce attack resulting in dozens of martyrs; it is a flagrant challenge to international laws and norms and the will of the international community.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was troubled enough to urge Israel to carry out a “serious review” of the policies of excessive force by its military and security personnel in clashes with Palestinians. Ban noted that “the apparent excessive use of force by Israeli security forces was troubling”. And that this “demands serious review as it only serves to exacerbate the situation leading to a vicious cycle of needless bloodshed”.

But talk is cheap. Israel has been flagrantly violating UN resolutions and flouting international condemnation for decades.

Palestinians meanwhile have been rounded up in pockets waiting to be mowed down as defenceless ducks. Perhaps it is time to arm them with adequate munitions to give them a fighting chance for survival.

This article was published at Gulf News.

Tariq A. Al-Maeena

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator and was educated at the University of Denver. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena

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