On January 26 2012 our study tour of the Middle East crossed from Jordan into the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Following is my account of that journey.
Tag: israel
Another email from Gaza
Another heart-breaking email from a paramedic friend in Gaza during the recent attacks, originally written on 7 March.
An email from Gaza
On my recent trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories we spent a couple of days in Gaza. It was one of the most confronting places we visited. I’ll be writing about it more in a few weeks, but recently events mean I’m breaking the timeline of the trip.
The People of Bourj el Barajneh
On one square kilometre of land in southern Beirut, around 22,000 Palestinians live on one square kilometer of land. A very high proportion of the people are children. The Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp has been here since 1948. Beirut grew up and around the camp; generations of Palestinians have grown up inside it.
The Streets of Bourj el Barajneh
The streets of Bourj el Barajneh are narrow and dark, an absolute labyrinth. I’m lost within five minutes of being there.
Israeli TV campaign not just insulting to Israeli Americans
When I think about the ongoing destruction of Palestinian homes and construction of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I assume that part of the reason is lack of space in the land they already had.
You would think if the Israeli government were serious about peace, they would be taking a serious look at how they manage their population. Continue reading Israeli TV campaign not just insulting to Israeli Americans
On my way to the Middle East
Yesterday I found out i’ve been accepted to go on a study tour of the Middle East in January and February next year.
I’m pretty excited. The study tour is run by APHEDA – Union Aid Abroad. From talking to a few people who have been previously it’s going to be a real positive experience.
Horror stories from recent Gaza conflict
Israeli soldiers have admitted killing Gaza civillians in the recent conflict. Not only deliberately, but also having been ordered to:
“That’s the beauty of Gaza. You see a man walking, he doesn’t have to have a weapon, and you can shoot him,” one soldier told Danny Zamir, the head of the Rabin pre-military academy, who asked him why a company commander ordered an elderly woman to be shot.
“The climate in general… I don’t know how to describe it…. the lives of Palestinians, let’s say, are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers,” an infantry squad leader is quoted saying.
There was also a complete lack of respect for people’s privacy:
“We would throw everything out of the windows to make room and order. Everything… Refrigerators, plates, furniture. The order was to throw all of the house’s contents outside,” a soldier said.
Unsurprisingly, the Israelis tried to find religious justification for their actions:
distributing booklets that framed the fighting as a religious war. “All these articles had a clear message: we are the Jewish people, we have come to the land by miraculous means, and now we have to fight to remove the Gentiles who are getting in our way and preventing us from occupying the Holy Land… a great many soldiers had a feeling throughout this operation of a religious war,” said one soldier.
All of this is absolutely disgraceful. Why do the West continues to put up with shit like this from Israel? It’s time for Israel’s free pass to expire. For too long people have turned a blind eye to their attrocities – afraid perhaps of being accused of anti-semitism. We need to distinguish between the Jewish religion and the state of Israel – two completely separate entities.