30 mar 2016
By Ramzy Baroud
Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif was killed. In the style typical of Israeli aggression against unarmed Palestinians, he was first wounded after allegedly attempting to stab an Israel occupation soldier in the occupied city of Hebron. He lies on his back, his arms stretched across the road, and his head moving about.
A soldier confers with his superior officer, before moving to “confirm the kill” – a term used by the Israeli military in reference to field executions of Palestinians. The soldier walks to Abed, lying on the ground and clearly posing no threat to anyone – and, in full view of onlookers, shoots him in the head.
The above scene would have been relegated to the annals of the many “contested” killings by Israeli soldiers, were it not for a Palestinian field worker with Israel’s human rights group, B’Tselem, who filmed the bloody event.
Culture of Impunity
The incident once more highlights a culture of impunity that exists in the Israeli army which is not a new phenomenon. Decades ago, there was no equivalent to media such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, or Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, no social media to spread the news, and few international groups that cared to report on Israel’s violent birth.
Instead, thousands of Jewish militiamen roamed Palestinian towns and villages, armed with a mandate to ethnically cleanse an entire nation within months. Thousands of Palestinians were killed in the “cleansing” process, so Israel could proclaim itself independent.
Israeli poet, Natan Alterman, attempted to convey an instance of the horror inflicted by Jewish gangs, which later formed the Israeli army, proclaimed by some as the “most moral army in the world“:
“Across the vanquished city in a jeep he did speed –
A lad bold and armed, a young lion of a lad!
And an old man and a woman on that very street
Cowered against a wall, in fear of him clad.
Said the lad smiling, milk teeth shining:
‘I’ll try the machinegun’ … and put it into play!
To hide his face in his hands, the old man barely had time
When his blood on the wall was sprayed.”
The poem entitled About This was published on November 19, 1948, when Israel had almost completely secured the self-imposed borders of its new state, assigning Palestinians to perpetual exile – a journey of pain and blood that is yet to conclude.
Natan Alterman, tried, although failed, to “break the silence” on Israeli impunity.
No Accountability
Since then, despite their insistence on embracing life with hope, Palestinian history continues to be delineated by charts crowded with endless bloody statistics. Palestinians are under attack – systematic, government-led, ordered, or encouraged attacks that point at only one unmistakable conclusion: Israel strives to perpetuate violence and war.
This is a grounded in the fact that Israel has been created through war, and has convinced itself that it can only survive through war. The result is a terrifying culture of violence and impunity – of men and women armed with machine guns, and children who are taught that violence is the only language that their Arab enemies understand.
The Palestinian, for them, only exists to be subdued, controlled, “cleansed” and – when necessary – killed.
Recently, Israel’s chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef had called on Israelis to kill any Palestinian they believe poses a threat, with no regard for the law or the High Court of Justice. But, for Yosef, the “High Court of Justice”, is already on his side.
Indeed, it was Israel’s judiciary that had approved “targeted killings” of Palestinians suspected of allegedly committing or planning to commit acts of violence.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), between September 2000 and March 2008, 500 Palestinians were assassinated by the Israeli army; 228 Palestinian civilians were also killed in what was consigned as “collateral damage”.
Among those pulverised by Israeli missiles were 77 children. No one was ever held accountable for those murders. If one is to list the crimes that are committed routinely by the Israeli army, the list would be endless.
The above statistics are a mere glance at a culture that has no regard for Palestinians, thus violating every written or implied rule of war of military ethics or occupation under international law.
Armed settlers rampage through villages of occupied West Bank and the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. The number of their violent crimes have grown tremendously in recent years, and even doubled since 2009.
In August 2015, months before the current uprising, Human Rights Watch senior researcher, Bill Van Esveld, wrote: “Settlers attack Palestinians and their property on a near-daily basis; there were more than 300 such attacks last year, but few attackers faced justice.
In the past decade, less than two percent of investigations into settler attacks ended with convictions.” These settlers complete the violent rule expected of them, alongside the more violent Israeli army.
In December 2015 Israel’s 972Mag wrote about the hundreds of violent incidents of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian medical staff. Palestinian rights group, Al-Haq, documented 56 cases in which “ambulances were attacked”, and 116 assaults against medical staff while on duty.
No One is Immune to Violence
In Palestine, no one is immune to violence. Young and old are shot for the mere suspicion that they may pose danger to the life of Israeli Jews; and Israelis who dare report on these very incidents are shunned by their own society.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Moshe Yaalon, recently accused Breaking the Silence of committing treason. The supposedly traitorous act of that small Israeli NGO –powered mostly by volunteers – was collecting testimonies by Israeli soldiers and whistle-blowers as evidence that the army is violating Israeli and international law.
Meanwhile, the government is itself actively pushing for yet new laws that criminalise dissent in Israel.
One of such bills, championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, would allow elected members of the Knesset to vote to oust their own elected peers. While Israel’s culture of license to do as it pleases is older than the state itself, it is fed by a right-wing ruling elite that incessantly promotes fear and disseminates a confining siege mentality.
“At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans it all,”said Netanyahu in February. “In the area that we live, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts.”
Netanyahu is of course, never a fan of the truth or common sense. His last war on Gaza in the summer of 2014 had killed a total of 2,251 Palestinians – including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children, according to a report prepared by the UN Human Rights Council. During that war, only six Israeli civilians were killed, and 60 soldiers.
Who, then, is truly the “wild beast”? Majority of Israelis have long been sold on the idea that their country, despite its brutality is a “villa in the jungle”.
According to a recent Pew survey, nearly half of Israelis want to expel Palestinians Arabs – Muslims and Christians – from their ancestral homeland. In the government, the judiciary, the army, society and the country’s highest moral authorities, which advocate violence and ethnic cleansing and promote genocidal activities, what options are left for Palestinians?
The danger of impunity is not merely the lack of legal accountability, but the fact that it is the very foundation of most violent crimes against humanity. This impunity began seven decades ago, and it will not end without international intervention, and concerted efforts to hold Israel accountable and bring the agony of Palestinians to a halt.
(This article was first published in Al Jazeera) – Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif was killed. In the style typical of Israeli aggression against unarmed Palestinians, he was first wounded after allegedly attempting to stab an Israel occupation soldier in the occupied city of Hebron. He lies on his back, his arms stretched across the road, and his head moving about.
A soldier confers with his superior officer, before moving to “confirm the kill” – a term used by the Israeli military in reference to field executions of Palestinians. The soldier walks to Abed, lying on the ground and clearly posing no threat to anyone – and, in full view of onlookers, shoots him in the head.
The above scene would have been relegated to the annals of the many “contested” killings by Israeli soldiers, were it not for a Palestinian field worker with Israel’s human rights group, B’Tselem, who filmed the bloody event.
Culture of Impunity
The incident once more highlights a culture of impunity that exists in the Israeli army which is not a new phenomenon. Decades ago, there was no equivalent to media such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, or Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, no social media to spread the news, and few international groups that cared to report on Israel’s violent birth.
Instead, thousands of Jewish militiamen roamed Palestinian towns and villages, armed with a mandate to ethnically cleanse an entire nation within months. Thousands of Palestinians were killed in the “cleansing” process, so Israel could proclaim itself independent.
Israeli poet, Natan Alterman, attempted to convey an instance of the horror inflicted by Jewish gangs, which later formed the Israeli army, proclaimed by some as the “most moral army in the world“:
“Across the vanquished city in a jeep he did speed –
A lad bold and armed, a young lion of a lad!
And an old man and a woman on that very street
Cowered against a wall, in fear of him clad.
Said the lad smiling, milk teeth shining:
‘I’ll try the machinegun’ … and put it into play!
To hide his face in his hands, the old man barely had time
When his blood on the wall was sprayed.”
The poem entitled About This was published on November 19, 1948, when Israel had almost completely secured the self-imposed borders of its new state, assigning Palestinians to perpetual exile – a journey of pain and blood that is yet to conclude.
Natan Alterman, tried, although failed, to “break the silence” on Israeli impunity.
No Accountability
Since then, despite their insistence on embracing life with hope, Palestinian history continues to be delineated by charts crowded with endless bloody statistics. Palestinians are under attack – systematic, government-led, ordered, or encouraged attacks that point at only one unmistakable conclusion: Israel strives to perpetuate violence and war.
This is a grounded in the fact that Israel has been created through war, and has convinced itself that it can only survive through war. The result is a terrifying culture of violence and impunity – of men and women armed with machine guns, and children who are taught that violence is the only language that their Arab enemies understand.
The Palestinian, for them, only exists to be subdued, controlled, “cleansed” and – when necessary – killed.
Recently, Israel’s chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef had called on Israelis to kill any Palestinian they believe poses a threat, with no regard for the law or the High Court of Justice. But, for Yosef, the “High Court of Justice”, is already on his side.
Indeed, it was Israel’s judiciary that had approved “targeted killings” of Palestinians suspected of allegedly committing or planning to commit acts of violence.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), between September 2000 and March 2008, 500 Palestinians were assassinated by the Israeli army; 228 Palestinian civilians were also killed in what was consigned as “collateral damage”.
Among those pulverised by Israeli missiles were 77 children. No one was ever held accountable for those murders. If one is to list the crimes that are committed routinely by the Israeli army, the list would be endless.
The above statistics are a mere glance at a culture that has no regard for Palestinians, thus violating every written or implied rule of war of military ethics or occupation under international law.
Armed settlers rampage through villages of occupied West Bank and the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. The number of their violent crimes have grown tremendously in recent years, and even doubled since 2009.
In August 2015, months before the current uprising, Human Rights Watch senior researcher, Bill Van Esveld, wrote: “Settlers attack Palestinians and their property on a near-daily basis; there were more than 300 such attacks last year, but few attackers faced justice.
In the past decade, less than two percent of investigations into settler attacks ended with convictions.” These settlers complete the violent rule expected of them, alongside the more violent Israeli army.
In December 2015 Israel’s 972Mag wrote about the hundreds of violent incidents of Israeli forces targeting Palestinian medical staff. Palestinian rights group, Al-Haq, documented 56 cases in which “ambulances were attacked”, and 116 assaults against medical staff while on duty.
No One is Immune to Violence
In Palestine, no one is immune to violence. Young and old are shot for the mere suspicion that they may pose danger to the life of Israeli Jews; and Israelis who dare report on these very incidents are shunned by their own society.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Moshe Yaalon, recently accused Breaking the Silence of committing treason. The supposedly traitorous act of that small Israeli NGO –powered mostly by volunteers – was collecting testimonies by Israeli soldiers and whistle-blowers as evidence that the army is violating Israeli and international law.
Meanwhile, the government is itself actively pushing for yet new laws that criminalise dissent in Israel.
One of such bills, championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, would allow elected members of the Knesset to vote to oust their own elected peers. While Israel’s culture of license to do as it pleases is older than the state itself, it is fed by a right-wing ruling elite that incessantly promotes fear and disseminates a confining siege mentality.
“At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans it all,”said Netanyahu in February. “In the area that we live, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts.”
Netanyahu is of course, never a fan of the truth or common sense. His last war on Gaza in the summer of 2014 had killed a total of 2,251 Palestinians – including 1,462 civilians, among them 551 children, according to a report prepared by the UN Human Rights Council. During that war, only six Israeli civilians were killed, and 60 soldiers.
Who, then, is truly the “wild beast”? Majority of Israelis have long been sold on the idea that their country, despite its brutality is a “villa in the jungle”.
According to a recent Pew survey, nearly half of Israelis want to expel Palestinians Arabs – Muslims and Christians – from their ancestral homeland. In the government, the judiciary, the army, society and the country’s highest moral authorities, which advocate violence and ethnic cleansing and promote genocidal activities, what options are left for Palestinians?
The danger of impunity is not merely the lack of legal accountability, but the fact that it is the very foundation of most violent crimes against humanity. This impunity began seven decades ago, and it will not end without international intervention, and concerted efforts to hold Israel accountable and bring the agony of Palestinians to a halt.
(This article was first published in Al Jazeera) – Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
US Senator Patrick Leahy together with US Secretary of State John Kerry
US Senator Patrick Leahy along with 10 other Democratic congressmen have called on the US to investigate the possibility of "gross violations of human rights" by Israel's and Egypt's security forces, including "extrajudicial killings."
Leahy, who has in the past sought a greater role for human rights in US foreign policy, made the request in a joint letter sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 17, suggesting that if the reports of rights violations should be proven, US military assistance should be cut off.
"There have been a disturbing number of reports of possible gross violations of human rights by security forces in Israel and Egypt -- incidents that may have involved recipients, or potential recipients, of US military assistance," the congressmen said in the letter published on Tuesday by Politico.
The letter cited findings by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations of "extrajudicial killings by the Israeli military and police of Fadi Alloun, Saad al-Atrash, Hadeel Hashlamoun, and Mutaz Ewisa," as well as several cases of torture.
"We urge you to determine if these reports are credible and to inform us of your findings," the congressmen said.
The letter went on to say they had received information that the usual mechanisms in determining the provision of US military assistance and monitoring its use had been "hindered" by a "unique situation" created since the Camp David Accords.
It suggested the US State Department and Department of Defense may be in breach of the Leahy Law -- a law named after the Vermont senator that prohibits the provision of military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.
If the reports were proven true, the congressmen said, the US should "take appropriate action called for under the law."
The letter also cited human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian army, including the 2013 massacre in Rabaa Square and a number of recently documented Egyptian "extrajudicial killings."
Every year, the US provides $3 billion worth of military assistance to Israel, and is currently negotiating a package for the next 10 years that is expected to see that amount increase. Hundreds of millions of dollars have also been provided to the Egyptian army since it toppled the nation's first democratically elected president in 2013.
The letter was sent before a soldier's gruesome killing of a wounded Palestinian in Hebron caused international outcry last week, an incident one senior UN official branded an "extrajudicial execution" and a "gruesome, immoral, and unjust act."
Israeli forces have faced repeated criticism for their excessive use of force against Palestinians since a wave of unrest swept Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last October.
More than 200 Palestinians have now been shot dead by Israeli forces, some in clashes, the majority after they had been accused of attacking or attempting to attack Israelis, with nearly 30 Israelis killed in the same period.
However, human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israeli forces for opening fire on Palestinians who posed no imminent danger, in killings they say amount to "extrajudicial executions."
US Senator Patrick Leahy along with 10 other Democratic congressmen have called on the US to investigate the possibility of "gross violations of human rights" by Israel's and Egypt's security forces, including "extrajudicial killings."
Leahy, who has in the past sought a greater role for human rights in US foreign policy, made the request in a joint letter sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 17, suggesting that if the reports of rights violations should be proven, US military assistance should be cut off.
"There have been a disturbing number of reports of possible gross violations of human rights by security forces in Israel and Egypt -- incidents that may have involved recipients, or potential recipients, of US military assistance," the congressmen said in the letter published on Tuesday by Politico.
The letter cited findings by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations of "extrajudicial killings by the Israeli military and police of Fadi Alloun, Saad al-Atrash, Hadeel Hashlamoun, and Mutaz Ewisa," as well as several cases of torture.
"We urge you to determine if these reports are credible and to inform us of your findings," the congressmen said.
The letter went on to say they had received information that the usual mechanisms in determining the provision of US military assistance and monitoring its use had been "hindered" by a "unique situation" created since the Camp David Accords.
It suggested the US State Department and Department of Defense may be in breach of the Leahy Law -- a law named after the Vermont senator that prohibits the provision of military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.
If the reports were proven true, the congressmen said, the US should "take appropriate action called for under the law."
The letter also cited human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian army, including the 2013 massacre in Rabaa Square and a number of recently documented Egyptian "extrajudicial killings."
Every year, the US provides $3 billion worth of military assistance to Israel, and is currently negotiating a package for the next 10 years that is expected to see that amount increase. Hundreds of millions of dollars have also been provided to the Egyptian army since it toppled the nation's first democratically elected president in 2013.
The letter was sent before a soldier's gruesome killing of a wounded Palestinian in Hebron caused international outcry last week, an incident one senior UN official branded an "extrajudicial execution" and a "gruesome, immoral, and unjust act."
Israeli forces have faced repeated criticism for their excessive use of force against Palestinians since a wave of unrest swept Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last October.
More than 200 Palestinians have now been shot dead by Israeli forces, some in clashes, the majority after they had been accused of attacking or attempting to attack Israelis, with nearly 30 Israelis killed in the same period.
However, human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israeli forces for opening fire on Palestinians who posed no imminent danger, in killings they say amount to "extrajudicial executions."
Right-wing activist Yehuda Glick at Temple Mount, targeted with a red circle
Hamas issues statement calls for all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to 'rally around the al-Aqsa mosque and protect it from mass invasion'; a documentary claims Israel is carrying out excavations towards the mosque.
Palestinian incitement related to the al-Aqsa mosque has significantly increased in the weeks leading up to Passover, which begins on April 22, in an attempt to raise tensions and cause disturbances and acts of terror.
Every year, there is an uptick in Palestinian incitement leading up to the High Holidays and Passover. This is what happened before last Rosh Hashanah – and this led to violent confrontations at the Temple Mount, followed by an escalation of violence in the West Bank. The videos and messages released in recent weeks point to a gradual resumption of Palestinian incitement, after a time in which it has subsided in recent months. This incitement is a calculated to arouse tensions with the goal of reaching a peak next month during Passover.
Hamas issued an official statement titled "al-Aqsa will remain the primary source of inspiration for the young avengers of the Jerusalem intifada". The Hamas statement called for all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to "rally around the al-Aqsa Mosque and protect it from the mass invasion". In addition, they threatened that the youth of the intifada will not yield to Israel's attempts to "create a reality in which Palestinians are denied entry to the Temple Mount to pray."
Moreover, in recent days, a short documentary was posted to social networking sites claiming that Israel is carrying out underground excavations in Silwan towards the Mughrabi Gate, and from under the al-Aqsa Mosque. One of those interviewed in the film is the head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, accusing Israel of carrying out secret excavations.
Salah calls on "stopping the Israeli attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque", and even called on the Jordanian government to launch a media war against Israel to reveal the "Israeli aggression" against the mosque. Another example of incitement is the publication of the picture of right-wing activist Yehuda Glick on his visit to the Temple Mount, with his image circled in red as if he were a target.
It should be noted that last year Israeli police conducted numerous operations, covert and overt, in order to distance inciting groups and individuals from the Temple Mount. In addition to making the Islamic Movement illegal, those active in the Murabitun and Murabitat islamist activist groups were distanced and some were even placed in administrative detention.
Hamas issues statement calls for all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to 'rally around the al-Aqsa mosque and protect it from mass invasion'; a documentary claims Israel is carrying out excavations towards the mosque.
Palestinian incitement related to the al-Aqsa mosque has significantly increased in the weeks leading up to Passover, which begins on April 22, in an attempt to raise tensions and cause disturbances and acts of terror.
Every year, there is an uptick in Palestinian incitement leading up to the High Holidays and Passover. This is what happened before last Rosh Hashanah – and this led to violent confrontations at the Temple Mount, followed by an escalation of violence in the West Bank. The videos and messages released in recent weeks point to a gradual resumption of Palestinian incitement, after a time in which it has subsided in recent months. This incitement is a calculated to arouse tensions with the goal of reaching a peak next month during Passover.
Hamas issued an official statement titled "al-Aqsa will remain the primary source of inspiration for the young avengers of the Jerusalem intifada". The Hamas statement called for all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to "rally around the al-Aqsa Mosque and protect it from the mass invasion". In addition, they threatened that the youth of the intifada will not yield to Israel's attempts to "create a reality in which Palestinians are denied entry to the Temple Mount to pray."
Moreover, in recent days, a short documentary was posted to social networking sites claiming that Israel is carrying out underground excavations in Silwan towards the Mughrabi Gate, and from under the al-Aqsa Mosque. One of those interviewed in the film is the head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, accusing Israel of carrying out secret excavations.
Salah calls on "stopping the Israeli attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque", and even called on the Jordanian government to launch a media war against Israel to reveal the "Israeli aggression" against the mosque. Another example of incitement is the publication of the picture of right-wing activist Yehuda Glick on his visit to the Temple Mount, with his image circled in red as if he were a target.
It should be noted that last year Israeli police conducted numerous operations, covert and overt, in order to distance inciting groups and individuals from the Temple Mount. In addition to making the Islamic Movement illegal, those active in the Murabitun and Murabitat islamist activist groups were distanced and some were even placed in administrative detention.
The Israeli Knesset, on Tuesday, approved the first reading of a bill which would allow Israeli courts to hand down prison sentences to minors under the age of 14 -- legislation critics say is targeted at Palestinian children.
A recent amendment to the bill, which would apply to children convicted of murder, attempted murder, and homicide, reportedly declared that the prison terms would be postponed until the accused minors turn 18.
If passed into law after two more successful readings in the Knesset, the legislation would apply to residents of Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, whereas Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are tried in military courts.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, at least 108 Palestinian minors under the age of 16 were being held by Israel as of February.
“Unfortunately, terrorism does not have an age, and today there are no punishments matching the cruel reality we face,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked as saying on Sunday.
“In order to create deterrence and change the situation around us, we must adopt the suggested new amendments to the law.”
Shaked first proposed the bill in November, after two Palestinian children ages 12 and 13 allegedly stabbed and injured an Israeli security guard on Jerusalem's light rail near the illegal Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev.
An increase in violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel has led to the death of more than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis since October, with a wave of small-scale attacks and attempted attacks, the majority carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military targets.
Knesset member Yousef Jabareen of the Joint Arab List has criticized the bill as an affront to international law.
“Israel is a party to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and this change contradicts Israel’s obligation to this convention,” the politician, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, told Ma’an News Agency.
The convention states that “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
According to Jabareen, Shaked’s statements regarding the bill leave little doubt as to who will be the main targets of such legislation.
“This bill targets Palestinian children,” he said. “Of course the bill is written in objective terms, but everyone knows the context in which it is being presented, and I doubt it will be used in other contexts.”
“This is an integrant part of a wave of bills introduced in the past few months which are harshening punishments for Palestinian children and families, especially in East Jerusalem,” Jabareen added. The MK notably mentioned a law passed by the Knesset in July which made penalties for stone-throwing more severe, allowing for stone-throwers to receive a 20-year prison sentence where intent to harm could be proven, and 10 years where it could not.
Jabareen said he believed the bill would likely pass into law.
“Unfortunately, in the current atmosphere, there is a good chance the bill will pass,” he said. “Even some opposition MKs support the bill.”
However, he expressed doubts that the legislation would effectively act as a deterrent.
“The (Israeli) government is attempting to oppress and suppress the Palestinian resistance, but everybody knows that without a serious proposal for advancing the political process, they are doomed to fail.”
A recent amendment to the bill, which would apply to children convicted of murder, attempted murder, and homicide, reportedly declared that the prison terms would be postponed until the accused minors turn 18.
If passed into law after two more successful readings in the Knesset, the legislation would apply to residents of Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, whereas Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are tried in military courts.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, at least 108 Palestinian minors under the age of 16 were being held by Israel as of February.
“Unfortunately, terrorism does not have an age, and today there are no punishments matching the cruel reality we face,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked as saying on Sunday.
“In order to create deterrence and change the situation around us, we must adopt the suggested new amendments to the law.”
Shaked first proposed the bill in November, after two Palestinian children ages 12 and 13 allegedly stabbed and injured an Israeli security guard on Jerusalem's light rail near the illegal Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev.
An increase in violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel has led to the death of more than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis since October, with a wave of small-scale attacks and attempted attacks, the majority carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military targets.
Knesset member Yousef Jabareen of the Joint Arab List has criticized the bill as an affront to international law.
“Israel is a party to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and this change contradicts Israel’s obligation to this convention,” the politician, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, told Ma’an News Agency.
The convention states that “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
According to Jabareen, Shaked’s statements regarding the bill leave little doubt as to who will be the main targets of such legislation.
“This bill targets Palestinian children,” he said. “Of course the bill is written in objective terms, but everyone knows the context in which it is being presented, and I doubt it will be used in other contexts.”
“This is an integrant part of a wave of bills introduced in the past few months which are harshening punishments for Palestinian children and families, especially in East Jerusalem,” Jabareen added. The MK notably mentioned a law passed by the Knesset in July which made penalties for stone-throwing more severe, allowing for stone-throwers to receive a 20-year prison sentence where intent to harm could be proven, and 10 years where it could not.
Jabareen said he believed the bill would likely pass into law.
“Unfortunately, in the current atmosphere, there is a good chance the bill will pass,” he said. “Even some opposition MKs support the bill.”
However, he expressed doubts that the legislation would effectively act as a deterrent.
“The (Israeli) government is attempting to oppress and suppress the Palestinian resistance, but everybody knows that without a serious proposal for advancing the political process, they are doomed to fail.”
The Israeli Knesset approved the suspension of lawmakers accused of backing "terrorism", a bill which seems to target Arab MPs, while PM Netanyahu has ordered Palestinian bodies held by the military not to be returned.
Fifty-nine lawmakers voted for the bill, widely seen to be targeting the Arab-led bloc after three of its members met the families of accused Palestinian attackers.
The bloc accounts for 13 of Knesset's 120 members, making it the chamber's third-largest grouping. The bill would give parliament the power to strip any lawmaker of the right to vote on draft legislation. It needs to pass a second and third reading in the Knesset before becoming a law.
Zouheir Bahloul, an Arab legislator, accused Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition of “quietly stealing Arab members’ right to a democratic discourse.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also warned the law "is being promoted to harm the Arab MKs (Knesset members), whose statements and actions do not find favor with the political majority.” The Israeli chamber already has the power to censure the lawmakers for what it deems “unseeingly behavior.”
The idea for the bill, according to Press TV/Al Ray, was originally suggested by Netanyahu after Arab lawmakers from the Balad Party met with the families of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
In February, the three were suspended from speaking in the Israeli parliament, as punishment, after they voiced support for the families of the Palestinian victims killed by Israeli military forces.
‘Stop returning Palestinian bodies’
On Monday, Netanyahu ordered a halt to returning the bodies of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as the regime fears subsequent mass funerals could trigger more protests.
Netanyahu ordered Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli minister for military affairs, not to hand over Palestinian bodies to their families until a comprehensive policy decision is reached on the matter, local media reported.
The Israeli military is currently holding an unspecified number of bodies belonging to the Palestinians shot dead for allegedly trying to stab regime forces.
Ya’alon’s ministry had resumed returning the corpses to their families on the condition that they were buried overnight and in a low-key funeral.
However, several Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have voiced support for withholding the bodies to avoid mass funerals that could turn into large anti-occupation demonstrations.
Israel’s refusal to return the dead has drawn an angry reaction from several Palestinian officials and human rights organizations.
Earlier this month, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Saeb Erekat called on the international community to pressure Israel into releasing the bodies.
Tel Aviv’s “collective punishments are now being carried out against the living and the dead,” Erekat said. Palestinian rights groups Addameer and Adalah condemned Israel’s refusal to return the Palestinian bodies as “a severe violation of international humanitarian law.”
So far, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of fresh tensions in the occupied territories last October.
Fifty-nine lawmakers voted for the bill, widely seen to be targeting the Arab-led bloc after three of its members met the families of accused Palestinian attackers.
The bloc accounts for 13 of Knesset's 120 members, making it the chamber's third-largest grouping. The bill would give parliament the power to strip any lawmaker of the right to vote on draft legislation. It needs to pass a second and third reading in the Knesset before becoming a law.
Zouheir Bahloul, an Arab legislator, accused Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition of “quietly stealing Arab members’ right to a democratic discourse.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also warned the law "is being promoted to harm the Arab MKs (Knesset members), whose statements and actions do not find favor with the political majority.” The Israeli chamber already has the power to censure the lawmakers for what it deems “unseeingly behavior.”
The idea for the bill, according to Press TV/Al Ray, was originally suggested by Netanyahu after Arab lawmakers from the Balad Party met with the families of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
In February, the three were suspended from speaking in the Israeli parliament, as punishment, after they voiced support for the families of the Palestinian victims killed by Israeli military forces.
‘Stop returning Palestinian bodies’
On Monday, Netanyahu ordered a halt to returning the bodies of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as the regime fears subsequent mass funerals could trigger more protests.
Netanyahu ordered Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli minister for military affairs, not to hand over Palestinian bodies to their families until a comprehensive policy decision is reached on the matter, local media reported.
The Israeli military is currently holding an unspecified number of bodies belonging to the Palestinians shot dead for allegedly trying to stab regime forces.
Ya’alon’s ministry had resumed returning the corpses to their families on the condition that they were buried overnight and in a low-key funeral.
However, several Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have voiced support for withholding the bodies to avoid mass funerals that could turn into large anti-occupation demonstrations.
Israel’s refusal to return the dead has drawn an angry reaction from several Palestinian officials and human rights organizations.
Earlier this month, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Saeb Erekat called on the international community to pressure Israel into releasing the bodies.
Tel Aviv’s “collective punishments are now being carried out against the living and the dead,” Erekat said. Palestinian rights groups Addameer and Adalah condemned Israel’s refusal to return the Palestinian bodies as “a severe violation of international humanitarian law.”
So far, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of fresh tensions in the occupied territories last October.
29 mar 2016
Israeli leaders have become embroiled in a growing political row over an Israeli soldier's gruesome killing of a wounded Palestinian in Hebron last week in a debate that has been largely steered by the far-right.
The political storm follows the release of video footage capturing the moment a soldier stepped forward and shot in the head Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian who had already been shot and severely wounded after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier.
The killing sparked international outcry, with a senior UN official branding it an "extrajudicial execution" and a "gruesome, immoral, and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation."
However, while Israel's political establishment at first roundly denounced the killing, its leaders have since become locked in a growing debate in which many have wished to be seen voicing the loudest support for Israel's armed forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially condemned the killing, which he said did "not represent the values of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces)," suggesting the soldier had behaved neither "level-headedly" nor "in accordance with the rules of engagement."
By Sunday, however, he seemed to be backtracking on his remarks, saying he was certain the army's investigation into the killing would consider the fact that Israeli soldiers fight "bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions."
Netanyahu appeared in part to be responding to Israeli media pressure, which has given voice to the soldier's claims he felt threatened by the severely wounded Palestinian, even though he had been lying on the ground supine more than 10 minutes before the soldier killed him.
But much of the debate has been brought on by Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the far-right Jewish Home party, who quickly offered his support to the family of the soldier, who he described as "outstanding."
At the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu and Bennett came head-to-head, with Bennet saying the soldier's murder charge was "outrageous," and he had been convicted by Israel's political establishment before he had faced a thorough investigation.
"We are at war against murderous Palestinian terror. At the forefront stands the soldier, and we face a test," he was quoted as telling the Cabinet in Israeli daily Haaretz. "Why was the soldier taken off in handcuffs? What message does that send to soldiers?"
Other ministers defended their condemnations, with Interior Minister Arye Dery saying it was important to investigate the killing "seriously" because Israel was in a public relations "war" with the Palestinians, Haaretz reported.
However, Netanyahu quickly rose to Bennett's challenge, seeking to be seen as the greater ally of Israel's army. "I always back up IDF soldiers," he reportedly told the education minister. "I have always given support to soldiers and have led more soldiers into battle than you. Don't preach to me about supporting IDF soldiers."
The debate found its way into the Knesset on Monday, where Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon denounced Bennett for phoning the family of the soldier "in order to show encouragement and support," a Knesset press release said.
"This was an incident of a soldier who had transgressed, and not a hero," Yaalon told the parliament. "Do you want a brutish army with no moral backbone?"
In response, Bennett later told the Knesset he had spoken not just once with the family of the soldier but "a number of times."
"Suddenly we cannot talk to the wonderful family of an outstanding soldier?" he was quoted in a Knesset press release. "Have we lost it? We send our children to protect us. We are talking about a battlefield, not some sterile media studio."
Palestinians and rights groups have stressed that the Hebron killing captured on camera last week was not an isolated incident, but representative of Israeli army practices common since a wave of knife attacks began last October.
On Monday, the Palestinian leadership requested that the UN open an investigation into Israel's "extrajudicial executions," with PLO official Saeb Erekat saying: "These executions are not isolated events and Israel must be held accountable for committing these crimes."
In Israel, meanwhile, Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeffer noted that outside of foreign officials and diplomats, the killing had largely passed unnoticed by the international community.
"You would have expected the killing of Sharif to be headline news around the world," he wrote, "not only an internal debate over the battlefield morals of the Israel Defense Forces."
The political storm follows the release of video footage capturing the moment a soldier stepped forward and shot in the head Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian who had already been shot and severely wounded after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier.
The killing sparked international outcry, with a senior UN official branding it an "extrajudicial execution" and a "gruesome, immoral, and unjust act that can only fuel more violence and escalate an already volatile situation."
However, while Israel's political establishment at first roundly denounced the killing, its leaders have since become locked in a growing debate in which many have wished to be seen voicing the loudest support for Israel's armed forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially condemned the killing, which he said did "not represent the values of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces)," suggesting the soldier had behaved neither "level-headedly" nor "in accordance with the rules of engagement."
By Sunday, however, he seemed to be backtracking on his remarks, saying he was certain the army's investigation into the killing would consider the fact that Israeli soldiers fight "bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions."
Netanyahu appeared in part to be responding to Israeli media pressure, which has given voice to the soldier's claims he felt threatened by the severely wounded Palestinian, even though he had been lying on the ground supine more than 10 minutes before the soldier killed him.
But much of the debate has been brought on by Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the far-right Jewish Home party, who quickly offered his support to the family of the soldier, who he described as "outstanding."
At the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu and Bennett came head-to-head, with Bennet saying the soldier's murder charge was "outrageous," and he had been convicted by Israel's political establishment before he had faced a thorough investigation.
"We are at war against murderous Palestinian terror. At the forefront stands the soldier, and we face a test," he was quoted as telling the Cabinet in Israeli daily Haaretz. "Why was the soldier taken off in handcuffs? What message does that send to soldiers?"
Other ministers defended their condemnations, with Interior Minister Arye Dery saying it was important to investigate the killing "seriously" because Israel was in a public relations "war" with the Palestinians, Haaretz reported.
However, Netanyahu quickly rose to Bennett's challenge, seeking to be seen as the greater ally of Israel's army. "I always back up IDF soldiers," he reportedly told the education minister. "I have always given support to soldiers and have led more soldiers into battle than you. Don't preach to me about supporting IDF soldiers."
The debate found its way into the Knesset on Monday, where Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon denounced Bennett for phoning the family of the soldier "in order to show encouragement and support," a Knesset press release said.
"This was an incident of a soldier who had transgressed, and not a hero," Yaalon told the parliament. "Do you want a brutish army with no moral backbone?"
In response, Bennett later told the Knesset he had spoken not just once with the family of the soldier but "a number of times."
"Suddenly we cannot talk to the wonderful family of an outstanding soldier?" he was quoted in a Knesset press release. "Have we lost it? We send our children to protect us. We are talking about a battlefield, not some sterile media studio."
Palestinians and rights groups have stressed that the Hebron killing captured on camera last week was not an isolated incident, but representative of Israeli army practices common since a wave of knife attacks began last October.
On Monday, the Palestinian leadership requested that the UN open an investigation into Israel's "extrajudicial executions," with PLO official Saeb Erekat saying: "These executions are not isolated events and Israel must be held accountable for committing these crimes."
In Israel, meanwhile, Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeffer noted that outside of foreign officials and diplomats, the killing had largely passed unnoticed by the international community.
"You would have expected the killing of Sharif to be headline news around the world," he wrote, "not only an internal debate over the battlefield morals of the Israel Defense Forces."
Palestinian figures condemned a musical concert, calling it an act of Judaization, for which preparations are being made by Israeli municipality of Occupied Jerusalem to be held in the city for four days starting from Monday evening in different districts of the city.
Naser Hadmi, head of the Jerusalemite committee against Judaization, told Quds Press that Palestinians have to adhere to Jerusalem’s sacred places and history, and called on Jerusalemites to commemorate all of their events at the Aqsa Mosque within a national strategic vision to preserve Jerusalem and its Islamic identity.
For his part, the chief of the Islamic Higher Committee and the preacher at the Aqsa Mosque Ekrema Sabri told Quds Press that Israeli authorities by holding that concert in Occupied Jerusalem aim at Judaizing the Muslims’ holy city and provoking Muslims feelings in order to ignite further tensions in the city.
Israeli municipality in Jerusalem, along with a number of Israeli institutions, has been organizing Jewish festivals and ceremonies in Occupied Jerusalem over the year.
Those events bring in dozens of thousands of Jewish tourists, which makes the city look like a Jewish city especially that Jewish decorations cover the streets of the Muslims’ holy city during those Jewish celebrations.
Naser Hadmi, head of the Jerusalemite committee against Judaization, told Quds Press that Palestinians have to adhere to Jerusalem’s sacred places and history, and called on Jerusalemites to commemorate all of their events at the Aqsa Mosque within a national strategic vision to preserve Jerusalem and its Islamic identity.
For his part, the chief of the Islamic Higher Committee and the preacher at the Aqsa Mosque Ekrema Sabri told Quds Press that Israeli authorities by holding that concert in Occupied Jerusalem aim at Judaizing the Muslims’ holy city and provoking Muslims feelings in order to ignite further tensions in the city.
Israeli municipality in Jerusalem, along with a number of Israeli institutions, has been organizing Jewish festivals and ceremonies in Occupied Jerusalem over the year.
Those events bring in dozens of thousands of Jewish tourists, which makes the city look like a Jewish city especially that Jewish decorations cover the streets of the Muslims’ holy city during those Jewish celebrations.
28 mar 2016
Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” The soldiers of the IDF, our children, maintain high ethical values while courageously fighting against bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” Yasmine Rashad Zaro 13
Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” Hadeel Wajeeh ‘Awwad, 16
Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” Hadeel Hashlamoun 18
Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” Mahdi Mohammad Ramadan al-Mohtasib
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After Thursday’s execution of a wounded young Palestinian man and his friend (who bled to death), was captured on tape, many details started emerging, including the involvement of an Israeli military medic in the crime.
In one of the videos that captured this extrajudicial assassination of the already seriously wounded, completely incapacitated Palestinian, the sound of an Israeli colonialist settler, who is also a medic and a cameraman, could be heard saying, “He is not dead… shoot him in the head.” The second video shows an Israeli soldier executing the wounded Palestinian, Abdul-Fattah Sharif, with a gunshot to the head, after conspiring with an Israeli colonialist settler to drive his van forward to block surveillance cameras and prevent onlookers from documenting the crime. The soldiers and settler did not see the Palestinian who was filming from an upstairs window. The Israeli medics did not attempt any first aid on the two Palestinians, leaving one of them to bleed to death and executing the other. Issa Amro, the coordinator of the Youth against Settlements Coalition, said what happened “is clear proof that the Israeli soldiers and the medics conspire and cooperate in executing the Palestinians.” "The fanatic Israeli colonialist settler medic, Ofer Yohanna, appeared in many videos prior to this incident, constantly delaying any medical help to wounded Palestinians," Amro added, "This is what also happened in the cases of Hadeel Hashlamoun and the Sa’id al-Atrash, who were both killed, and Yasmeen az-Zaro, who was injured." He added that the Palestinians are now also suspecting that Israeli medics have killed wounded Palestinians, while transporting them in ambulances, including the case of Tareq Natsha, who did not suffer a serious injury, but died in an Israeli ambulance.” "Such incidents show the mutual roles between the soldiers, medics, police and the settlers," Amro said, "They seem to be implementing orders from higher up in the government and leadership, to assassinate wounded Palestinians." He added that the investigations conducted by the Israeli army are inaccurate and cannot be fair, because the military should not be allowed to investigate itself. He says this is especially true in this case, where the investigators and the culprit soldiers are colleagues, often serving together. "They protect each other; these investigations are not fair, and are not transparent, while the outcome of such investigation cannot be trusted," Amro added, "One of these cases in Hadeel al-Hashlamoun. The army admitted that the soldiers could have arrested her, instead of killing her, as she did not pose any direct threat, yet, she was shot with more than 15 live rounds." No soldier was charged with any misconduct in the case. Amro called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, since there have been many extra-judicial executions over the past five months, and urged Palestinians to continue to document all conducts of the army, especially since those videos have been proven to be very effective in exposing Israeli crimes. It is worth mentioning that dozens of extremist Israeli colonialist settlers marched, on Sunday at night, calling on the Israeli government to release the soldier who executed Abdul-Fattah Sharif last Thursday in Hebron. They gathered in Tal Romeida neighborhood, in the center of Hebron city, while chanting racist slogans, including “Death to Arabs”. They demanded the unconditional release of the soldier. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted on Sunday to the shooting of a wounded Palestinian at point-blank range in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron earlier this week, stating that any questioning of the Israeli army’s moral integrity was "outrageous and unacceptable." Netanyahu: “outrageous and unacceptable.” Mohammad Abu Khalaf
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27 mar 2016
Head of the maps department at the Arab Studies Society Khalil Tufakji has warned that Ramon's separation plan, which head of Israel's Labor Party Isaac Herzog recently declared his support for, is part of schemes aimed at getting rid of the Palestinian population in Jerusalem.
"[Israel's] obsession with the Palestinian population growth has often been the main driving force behind such plans, including the plan of Yakir Segev, the so-called Jerusalem portfolio official, who considered the neighborhoods located east of the wall part of Jerusalem and said that the wall was built for demographic and political goals and not only for security reasons," Tufakji said in a statement to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
He also pointed to the proposal of withdrawing the IDs of Jerusalemites and discarding some Palestinian neighborhoods in the holy city, which was made by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on November 25, 2015.
"The idea of getting rid of Palestinian neighborhoods such as Shuafat refugee camp, Kafr Aqab and Sawahreh means that more than 200,000 Jerusalemites will lose their IDs and their areas will become part of Areas B and C," he warned.
Tufakji recalled what former Israeli president Chaim Herzog had once said that Israel might lose Jerusalem if it did not get separated from Palestinian neighborhoods.
"[Israel's] obsession with the Palestinian population growth has often been the main driving force behind such plans, including the plan of Yakir Segev, the so-called Jerusalem portfolio official, who considered the neighborhoods located east of the wall part of Jerusalem and said that the wall was built for demographic and political goals and not only for security reasons," Tufakji said in a statement to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
He also pointed to the proposal of withdrawing the IDs of Jerusalemites and discarding some Palestinian neighborhoods in the holy city, which was made by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on November 25, 2015.
"The idea of getting rid of Palestinian neighborhoods such as Shuafat refugee camp, Kafr Aqab and Sawahreh means that more than 200,000 Jerusalemites will lose their IDs and their areas will become part of Areas B and C," he warned.
Tufakji recalled what former Israeli president Chaim Herzog had once said that Israel might lose Jerusalem if it did not get separated from Palestinian neighborhoods.
Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, secretary-general of the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem, has warned that Israel's plan to build a complex called "Kedem – City of David," will be the most dangerous Judaization project threatening Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque.
In a statement to Quds Press, Sheikh Tamimi said that Israel's approval of this project is part of its schemes aimed at Judaizing the entirety of Jerusalem and obliterating its Arab and Islamic landmarks, pointing out that Israel started to prepare for the building of Kedem complex years ago.
He expressed his belief that the absence of any Arab or Islamic role in carrying out projects in Jerusalem encouraged Israel to launch its project Kedem. The Israeli national council for planning and building recently approved a plan, which had been submitted by the settler group Elad, to build a complex called "the Kedem project- City of David- Old City of Jerusalem" at the main entrances of Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan district near the Aqsa Mosque.
Elad's Kedem center will become the largest Jewish tourist center in the holy city, marketing its religious and nationalist ideology to hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. The project will include Elad's offices, stores, a museum named the "shrine of the bible," a stop for cable cars and parking lots.
In a statement to Quds Press, Sheikh Tamimi said that Israel's approval of this project is part of its schemes aimed at Judaizing the entirety of Jerusalem and obliterating its Arab and Islamic landmarks, pointing out that Israel started to prepare for the building of Kedem complex years ago.
He expressed his belief that the absence of any Arab or Islamic role in carrying out projects in Jerusalem encouraged Israel to launch its project Kedem. The Israeli national council for planning and building recently approved a plan, which had been submitted by the settler group Elad, to build a complex called "the Kedem project- City of David- Old City of Jerusalem" at the main entrances of Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan district near the Aqsa Mosque.
Elad's Kedem center will become the largest Jewish tourist center in the holy city, marketing its religious and nationalist ideology to hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. The project will include Elad's offices, stores, a museum named the "shrine of the bible," a stop for cable cars and parking lots.