18 may 2015
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Israeli soldiers and police officers used excessive force, on Sunday afternoon, against hundreds of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, as they marched to counter a provocative Israeli procession marking the so-called “Jerusalem Day,” wounding at least 29 Palestinians, and kidnapped five.
The Israeli extremists attacked many Palestinians, and conducted provocative acts against Jerusalemite Palestinians who were forced by the police to close their stores and shops in Jerusalem’s Old City. Palestinian sources in the Old City said hundreds of police officers and soldiers were deployed in the alleys, in addition to pushing the Palestinians away from Bab al-‘Amoud area, in an attempt to prevent them from marching to counter the Israeli procession. Mounted officers and Border Guard police officers also attacked dozens |
of Palestinian journalists, and tried to prevent them from documenting the incidents and the Israeli violations.
Eyewitnesses said dozens of Israeli fanatics were chanting “Death to Arabs,” as well as many other provocative slogans, while many also called for demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in order “to rebuild the temple.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinians marched carrying Palestinian flags while chanting for the liberation of Palestine, and called for ending the escalating Israeli violations against the residents and their holy sites, especially in occupied Jerusalem.
It is worth mentioning that several Israeli left wing groups appealed the Israeli High Court to prevent the Israeli extremists from marching in Jerusalem’s Islamic Quarter, but the court denied the appeal.
In addition, clashes took place between the soldiers and local Palestinians in different Jerusalem neighborhoods and towns, especially in Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the neighborhoods of Suwwana, Wadi Al-Jouz, at-Tour, and the al-‘Eesawiyya town, while the soldiers kidnapped at least one Palestinian in Silwan, and injured dozens.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) quoted the head of the Emergency Unit of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jerusalem, Amin Abu Ghazala, stating that at least 29 residents were injured.
Abu Ghazala said at least seven of the wounded residents were hospitalized, and that two residents suffered fractures in their arms and legs, 22 received treatment by field medics, and at least one was severely beaten by the soldiers with their guns and batons.
The Jerusalem office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the soldiers kidnapped Amir al-Basheeti, Amir al-Karaki, Sharif al-Rajabi, ‘Obada Najeeb and Mohammad Abu Sneina.
It added that the soldiers detained dozens of Palestinians after assaulting them, and released them after taking their personal information, and told them the police will be contacting them in the coming few days.
Silwanic further stated that the police fired concussion grenades at the Palestinian protesters, and assaulted several Palestinians.
It said that, due to Israeli restrictions and extensive military deployment, the residents marched in separate different groups in Sultan Suleiman Street, al-Magharba Square and near the Suleiman Cave area, before the police attacked them, and chases dozens of Palestinians.
Israeli Ynet News said dozens of Palestinian hurled stones and empty bottles at the police, and that one officer was injured, while one Palestinian was arrested allegedly for attacking an officer.
Jerusalem Day marks the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, and declaring it as the “eternal united capital of Israel.”
Eyewitnesses said dozens of Israeli fanatics were chanting “Death to Arabs,” as well as many other provocative slogans, while many also called for demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in order “to rebuild the temple.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinians marched carrying Palestinian flags while chanting for the liberation of Palestine, and called for ending the escalating Israeli violations against the residents and their holy sites, especially in occupied Jerusalem.
It is worth mentioning that several Israeli left wing groups appealed the Israeli High Court to prevent the Israeli extremists from marching in Jerusalem’s Islamic Quarter, but the court denied the appeal.
In addition, clashes took place between the soldiers and local Palestinians in different Jerusalem neighborhoods and towns, especially in Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the neighborhoods of Suwwana, Wadi Al-Jouz, at-Tour, and the al-‘Eesawiyya town, while the soldiers kidnapped at least one Palestinian in Silwan, and injured dozens.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) quoted the head of the Emergency Unit of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Jerusalem, Amin Abu Ghazala, stating that at least 29 residents were injured.
Abu Ghazala said at least seven of the wounded residents were hospitalized, and that two residents suffered fractures in their arms and legs, 22 received treatment by field medics, and at least one was severely beaten by the soldiers with their guns and batons.
The Jerusalem office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the soldiers kidnapped Amir al-Basheeti, Amir al-Karaki, Sharif al-Rajabi, ‘Obada Najeeb and Mohammad Abu Sneina.
It added that the soldiers detained dozens of Palestinians after assaulting them, and released them after taking their personal information, and told them the police will be contacting them in the coming few days.
Silwanic further stated that the police fired concussion grenades at the Palestinian protesters, and assaulted several Palestinians.
It said that, due to Israeli restrictions and extensive military deployment, the residents marched in separate different groups in Sultan Suleiman Street, al-Magharba Square and near the Suleiman Cave area, before the police attacked them, and chases dozens of Palestinians.
Israeli Ynet News said dozens of Palestinian hurled stones and empty bottles at the police, and that one officer was injured, while one Palestinian was arrested allegedly for attacking an officer.
Jerusalem Day marks the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, and declaring it as the “eternal united capital of Israel.”
17 may 2015
Erdan
urges PM to stop talking of building, and actually build in the
capital, while Bennett tells world: 'Jerusalem is our soul, and
you don't divide a soul'.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night that Israel's answer to terrorist attacks aimed at its citizens should be to continue construction in Jerusalem.
"We are determined to go after the terrorists and stand against those who wish to harm us as a fortified wall," Netanyahu said at the annual Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva. "And we have another decisive answer: We keep building in Jerusalem all the time, developing it and paving new roads to it," he added.
"Jerusalem is our eternal united capital. It will never be divided again," Netanyahu vowed, describing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem as a "drama on a Biblical scale."
"Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem, that art builded as a city that is compact together," the prime minister said, quoting from Psalms 122. "Compact together and will never be divided again," he added. He promised "to continue protecting Jerusalem. To develop Jerusalem of below, and draw strength from Jerusalem of above, from Torah studying and from all of the spiritual treasures of the people of Israel."
Netanyahu also quoted Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was among the first to arrive at the Western Wall on the day of Jerusalem's liberation in 1967 and was asked to make a radio address to mark the historic occasion, saying, "We have arrived and returned home, and we will never leave here!"
"From the days of the Bible and until this very day, Jerusalem has been the basis of our existence... Jews throughout the generations prayed for 'Next Year in Jerusalem'. The Prophet Isaiah made his prophecies here in Jerusalem. There are some among our enemies who say we are a foreign element. Have you heard that?! The Prophet Isaiah and King David were here 3,000 years ago. They prophesized here, reigned here, fought here - until the days of the Maccabees and later. We are not a foreign element! This is our land, and this is our city! This is how it has been and this is how it will continue to be!" the prime minister said.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett also vowed to never allow Jerusalem to be divided again. "To those who sit abroad and think there's some piece of real estate that is negotiable, we say: Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel, and you don't divide a soul!" Earlier in the evening, Bennett attended the traditional Jerusalem Day march to the Western Wall that ended with a ceremony. "Soon, in our time, Jews would be able to go up and pray on the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is ours," he said at the ceremony.
Likud MK Gilad Erdan, who chose not to join the fourth Netanyahu government, was also at the ceremony at the Western Wall. "The City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount - they will all remain in our hands forever," Erdan said. He also had a message to Netanyahu: "We need to build in Jerusalem. Not talk about building in Jerusalem, but actually build. Building in Jerusalem should not be a response to an event or a terror attack, it should be routine."
He expressed concern of the changes to the demographic balance in Jerusalem in recent years, saying current construction was not enough to meet the needs of the city's development.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night that Israel's answer to terrorist attacks aimed at its citizens should be to continue construction in Jerusalem.
"We are determined to go after the terrorists and stand against those who wish to harm us as a fortified wall," Netanyahu said at the annual Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva. "And we have another decisive answer: We keep building in Jerusalem all the time, developing it and paving new roads to it," he added.
"Jerusalem is our eternal united capital. It will never be divided again," Netanyahu vowed, describing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem as a "drama on a Biblical scale."
"Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem, that art builded as a city that is compact together," the prime minister said, quoting from Psalms 122. "Compact together and will never be divided again," he added. He promised "to continue protecting Jerusalem. To develop Jerusalem of below, and draw strength from Jerusalem of above, from Torah studying and from all of the spiritual treasures of the people of Israel."
Netanyahu also quoted Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was among the first to arrive at the Western Wall on the day of Jerusalem's liberation in 1967 and was asked to make a radio address to mark the historic occasion, saying, "We have arrived and returned home, and we will never leave here!"
"From the days of the Bible and until this very day, Jerusalem has been the basis of our existence... Jews throughout the generations prayed for 'Next Year in Jerusalem'. The Prophet Isaiah made his prophecies here in Jerusalem. There are some among our enemies who say we are a foreign element. Have you heard that?! The Prophet Isaiah and King David were here 3,000 years ago. They prophesized here, reigned here, fought here - until the days of the Maccabees and later. We are not a foreign element! This is our land, and this is our city! This is how it has been and this is how it will continue to be!" the prime minister said.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett also vowed to never allow Jerusalem to be divided again. "To those who sit abroad and think there's some piece of real estate that is negotiable, we say: Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel, and you don't divide a soul!" Earlier in the evening, Bennett attended the traditional Jerusalem Day march to the Western Wall that ended with a ceremony. "Soon, in our time, Jews would be able to go up and pray on the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is ours," he said at the ceremony.
Likud MK Gilad Erdan, who chose not to join the fourth Netanyahu government, was also at the ceremony at the Western Wall. "The City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount - they will all remain in our hands forever," Erdan said. He also had a message to Netanyahu: "We need to build in Jerusalem. Not talk about building in Jerusalem, but actually build. Building in Jerusalem should not be a response to an event or a terror attack, it should be routine."
He expressed concern of the changes to the demographic balance in Jerusalem in recent years, saying current construction was not enough to meet the needs of the city's development.
16 may 2015
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Here are some of the photos in the photo gallery prepared by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
The long journey of the Palestinian refugees: a history of deprivation and forced migrations. The Palestinian refugees, since the catastrophic migration of 1948, are constantly on the road and remain, to date, a scattered population, proven by years of conflict, occupation and embargo, marginalized by national laws, deprived of rights and always looking for a solution to their exile and dispossessions suffered. UNRWA has been alongside the Palestinians at every step of their lives. The photographers of UNRWA have narrated the experience of Palestinian refugees since the beginning of the operations in 1950. This photo gallery is only a small part of the photo exhibition opened in November 2013 in Jerusalem, and brought to Italy the following year in Rome and Turin and in 2015 in Palermo, the long journey of the Palestinian |
refugee population. The images are taken from the extraordinary archive of UNRWA, which was listed in 2009 in the UNESCO Memory of the World register, thereby recognizing its priceless historical value.
You may access the archive by clicking the following link .
The photo gallery shows the history of the crisis of these refugees - one of the longest and unresolved cases of forced migration in recent history. In the words of the General Commissioner of UNRWA Pierre Krähenbühl: "Palestine refugees need more than just aid. They need a just solution."
You may access the archive by clicking the following link .
The photo gallery shows the history of the crisis of these refugees - one of the longest and unresolved cases of forced migration in recent history. In the words of the General Commissioner of UNRWA Pierre Krähenbühl: "Palestine refugees need more than just aid. They need a just solution."
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Amateur photographer Ahmad Nazzal captured Israeli forces spraying 'skunk water' at a Palestinian child during the Kafr Qaddum weekly march in the occupied West Bank on Friday.
Five-year-old Muhammad Riyad appears standing in front of Israeli forces wearing a Palestinian Keffiyeh before the forces begin chasing him with skunk water, the boy eventually falling to the ground. The foul-smelling liquid has been used by the Israeli military as a form of non-lethal crowd control since at least 2008 and can leave individuals and homes smelling like feces and garbage for weeks. Skunk water was developed by Israeli company Odortec Ltd. in conjunction with the Israel police and is generally sprayed from specially designed |
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trucks up to a range of 30-40 meters, according to Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem.
Israeli army spokesperson has reported that skunk contains "organic material and has been approved for use by the Israeli Ministry of the Environment and the Chief IDF Medical Officer," although the exact contents of the rancid liquid have been contested, B'Tselem says. The rights group documented regular use of skunk water by Israeli forces, and has accused the forces of using the substance for collective punishment, citing instances of Israeli security forces driving skunk trucks down the streets of villages known for active demonstrations and spraying the substance into residents' homes. |
Photographer Nazzal had headed to cover the Kafr Qaddum weekly march, this week commemorating the 67th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when he witnessed Friday's incident. Four Palestinians were also injured with live fire as Israeli forces suppressed the march.
An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the incident.
Israelis tell another story, this time they are right after seen the video
An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the incident.
Israelis tell another story, this time they are right after seen the video
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Several Palestinians including a journalist were injured when Israeli forces opened fire on a march in the eastern Nablus village of Huwwara commemorating the Nakba on Saturday.
Hundreds of Palestinians reportedly took part in the march that set off towards the Huwwara military checkpoint carrying black flags and demanding the Palestinians' right of return. Israeli forces fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber coated steel bullets at the march. Many were reported to have suffered excessive tear-gas inhalation, while several others, including a Palestinian journalist, were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets before being taken to the Rafidiya Governmental Hospital for treatment. |
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Palestinian medical sources told Ma'an that Nidal Ishtayeh, a Palestinian journalist working for the Xinhua Chinese news agency, was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet above his eye. The bullet burst through the glass visor of his gas mask, showering his eye with glass.
A member of the Palestinian People's Party's politburo Khalid Mansour was also injured with a rubber-coated steel bullet, as was an Italian protester who was hit by two rubber-coated steel bullets in both her hand and chest. The organizers of the march told Ma'an that the goal of the march had been to send a clear message to Israel that Palestinians are still holding onto their right of return. The Nakba, or "catastrophe," was commemorated across the West Bank |
on Friday, May 15, and marks the date of Israel's creation in 1948, when more than 760,000 Palestinians were violently expelled from their homes. Palestinian refugees are estimated today to number around 5.5 million with their descendants, and the right to return to their homes is a prerequisite for any Palestinian peace agreement with Israel, although Israel has rejected the demand out of hand.
On Friday, at least 21 Palestinians were injured when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, rubber and live bullets at Nakba Day protests across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A number of Palestinians were also injured in the Nablus district when clashes broke out with Israeli military forces during a prayer ceremony attended by up to 4,000 Jewish settlers at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
On Friday, at least 21 Palestinians were injured when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, rubber and live bullets at Nakba Day protests across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A number of Palestinians were also injured in the Nablus district when clashes broke out with Israeli military forces during a prayer ceremony attended by up to 4,000 Jewish settlers at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
Introduction:
“Al – Nakba” is a Palestinian term that looks into the human tragedy associated with the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
It is the name the Palestinians call their displacement, and the destruction of most of their political, economic and cultural aspects in 1948, it is the year the Palestinians were forced out of their homes and lands and lost it in order to establish the “occupation state of Israel”.
The events of Al – Nakba include the occupation of most of the Palestinian land by the Zionist movement, and forcing out more than 900,000 Palestinians and turning them into refugees, they formed half of the population of Palestine at that time, now they are more than 5,000,000 refugees living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the hosting Arab countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria).
This event also includes tens of massacres, pillage and atrocities against the Palestinians, demolishing more than 500 villages and turning major Palestinian cities into Israeli cities.
Most of the nomad tribes in Al – Naqab (Negev) were forced out, they also tried to destroy the Palestinian Identity and replacing the geographical Arab names with Hebrew ones, and destroying the authentic Arab landmarks through their continuous Judaization attempts.
Although politicians chose the 15th of May 1948 to be the memory of the Palestinian Nakba; this tragedy started before that when terrorist Zionist gangs attacked Palestinian towns and villages, in order to annihilate them and to spread fear and terror in the hearts of neighboring towns’ people, so they would leave their homes.
Facts and numbers:
Although the Israeli “Defense” Forces (IDF) or army was keen on concealing the facts relating to war crimes and massacres committed by the Jewish Militias - the (IDF) later - in 1948, especially in the period between May 1948 to March 1948, researchers and historians noted many facts which we will try to narrate in this document.
• The Palestinians started 4 main revolts, which all aimed to prevent the rising of “The state of Israel”, the Palestinians offered hundreds of martyrs, and the Jewish settlers suffered major losses which held back the declaration of their state for 20 years according to historians.
• Historians indicated that in 1948; 40,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by committing 50 documented massacres.
• The destroyed Palestinian villages were more than 500, the villages were wiped out along with their cultural and historical scenes, which represents the identity of the place, while the Jews tried to fabricate new demographic and topographic facts to falsify history, the land area confiscated by the Israeli Entity in its state declaration day was about 17,000 square kilometers (63% of Palestine’s area size).
• The number of Palestinians in 1950, two years after Naqba, was about 957,000 refugees, about 66% of Palestinians at that time. The number of Palestinian refugees according to the latest statistics has reached 5,400,000 refugees, 75% of the total Palestinians today are refugees and displaced.
• At the day of Al – Nakba, Palestinians were scattered to 36 camps in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and the United Nations created the “United Nations Relief And Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - UNRWA”, the UNRWA was responsible for the Palestinian refugees of 1948, and the refugees of Al – Naksa in 1967 (The fall of Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip).
The Palestinian refugee camps are distributed as follows:
The West Bank: 19 camps.
Gaza: 8 camps.
Jordan: 10 camps.
Lebanon: 12 camps.
Syria: 9 camps.
The sources: Palestine forum for media and communication – TAWASOL –
“Al – Nakba” is a Palestinian term that looks into the human tragedy associated with the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
It is the name the Palestinians call their displacement, and the destruction of most of their political, economic and cultural aspects in 1948, it is the year the Palestinians were forced out of their homes and lands and lost it in order to establish the “occupation state of Israel”.
The events of Al – Nakba include the occupation of most of the Palestinian land by the Zionist movement, and forcing out more than 900,000 Palestinians and turning them into refugees, they formed half of the population of Palestine at that time, now they are more than 5,000,000 refugees living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the hosting Arab countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria).
This event also includes tens of massacres, pillage and atrocities against the Palestinians, demolishing more than 500 villages and turning major Palestinian cities into Israeli cities.
Most of the nomad tribes in Al – Naqab (Negev) were forced out, they also tried to destroy the Palestinian Identity and replacing the geographical Arab names with Hebrew ones, and destroying the authentic Arab landmarks through their continuous Judaization attempts.
Although politicians chose the 15th of May 1948 to be the memory of the Palestinian Nakba; this tragedy started before that when terrorist Zionist gangs attacked Palestinian towns and villages, in order to annihilate them and to spread fear and terror in the hearts of neighboring towns’ people, so they would leave their homes.
Facts and numbers:
Although the Israeli “Defense” Forces (IDF) or army was keen on concealing the facts relating to war crimes and massacres committed by the Jewish Militias - the (IDF) later - in 1948, especially in the period between May 1948 to March 1948, researchers and historians noted many facts which we will try to narrate in this document.
• The Palestinians started 4 main revolts, which all aimed to prevent the rising of “The state of Israel”, the Palestinians offered hundreds of martyrs, and the Jewish settlers suffered major losses which held back the declaration of their state for 20 years according to historians.
• Historians indicated that in 1948; 40,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by committing 50 documented massacres.
• The destroyed Palestinian villages were more than 500, the villages were wiped out along with their cultural and historical scenes, which represents the identity of the place, while the Jews tried to fabricate new demographic and topographic facts to falsify history, the land area confiscated by the Israeli Entity in its state declaration day was about 17,000 square kilometers (63% of Palestine’s area size).
• The number of Palestinians in 1950, two years after Naqba, was about 957,000 refugees, about 66% of Palestinians at that time. The number of Palestinian refugees according to the latest statistics has reached 5,400,000 refugees, 75% of the total Palestinians today are refugees and displaced.
• At the day of Al – Nakba, Palestinians were scattered to 36 camps in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and the United Nations created the “United Nations Relief And Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - UNRWA”, the UNRWA was responsible for the Palestinian refugees of 1948, and the refugees of Al – Naksa in 1967 (The fall of Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip).
The Palestinian refugee camps are distributed as follows:
The West Bank: 19 camps.
Gaza: 8 camps.
Jordan: 10 camps.
Lebanon: 12 camps.
Syria: 9 camps.
The sources: Palestine forum for media and communication – TAWASOL –
By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
This week marked the passage of 68 years since the occurrence of the Palestinian Nakba, the extirpation and expulsion of the bulk of the Palestinian people from its ancestral homeland at the hands of Zionist Jews.
Since then, Palestinian suffering has been consistently increasing and hopes for undoing the Nakba, e.g. repatriating Palestinian refugees back to their native country, have been dwindling.
Today, Israel, the manifestly racist Jewish –Zionist state has been morphing nonstop into a fascist state, hell-bent on repressing Palestinians in both Israel proper and the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, for the express purpose of forcing them to leave their homeland.
In order to expedite the Israeli strategy of ridding rid of as many Palestinians as possible, Israel has enacted a huge body of brazenly discriminatory laws designed to make the non-Jewish presence in mandatory Palestine as precarious and untenable as possible.
One of these laws defines Israel as a Jewish state or state for all Jews. This law automatically renders non-Jews, e.g. Muslims and Christians who constitute nearly a quarter of Israel's total population, as second-class citizens, or worse.
And to deceive the world, the definition also incorporates the word "democratic" into the definition of Israel.
However, it is amply clear that Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic since this constitutes a stark contradiction in terms.
Besides, the brazen policy of ethnic cleansing, carried out rather shamelessly in full view of the international community, has failed to make a breakthrough toward emptying the land of Palestine of Palestinians, who continue to be more than just a thorn in Zionism's side.
Killing the two state solution
In addition to consolidating racism and apartheid in all walks of life, Israel has effectively killed all remaining chances for the so-called two-state solution.
The phenomenal proliferation of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank has simply eradicated any possibility for the establishment of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
Even President Obama seems to have come to terms with this fact. He told Gulf leaders whom he met with in Washington this week that the achievement of peace in Palestine was "very very difficult."
Leaders of the European Union (EU) are also, though reluctantly, coming to terms with this reality.
A western diplomat whom this author met recently in Hebron intimated that "we do know that the chances for establishing a true Palestinian state in the West Bank is virtually nil, but we dread thinking of the alternatives."
In other words, Israel has consciously and deliberately killed whatever remaining prospects for the two-state solution.
Needless to say, Israel, not the Palestinians, must bear the consequences because the Palestinians are not going anywhere.
Palestinian Demographic growth
According to well documented historical data published by a variety of sources, 1.4 million Palestinians lived in 1,300 Palestinian towns and villages spreading over all of historic Palestine in 1948.
Between 750,000 and 800,000 thousands of them were forcibly displaced from their original towns and cities into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab countries, and other countries of the world. Along with the displaced, some thousands remained in their hometowns in the so-called ‘1948 areas’. Documentary evidence shows that the Zionist troupes laid hand on 774 towns and villages and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages during the Nakba. The atrocities of Israeli Zionist forces also included over 70 massacres in which 15 thousand Palestinians were killed.
According to data published last week by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 6.1 million Palestinians lived in historic Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean) by the end of 2014, and this number is expected to rise to 7.1 million by the end of 2020 based on current growth rates.
This is certainly bad news for Israel and Zionism. It means that Palestinians are either already a numerical majority or going to be a majority in a few years. I know too well that Israel is not going to allow the Zionist enterprise to fall down before its eyes. But Israel's choices are limited and utterly unattractive.
Israel is really at loss as to what to do to prevent the Palestinians from becoming a solid majority in Israel/Palestine, and most observers would agree that time is not on Zionism's side.
Jews committed many blunders throughout their long history, but none is greater than building the Zionist enterprise at the expense of an innocent Semitic people whose only guilt was his weakness.
Surely time will prove the validity or invalidity of this view.
In the final analysis, Israel will disappear as many other entities will. I don't claim to know the timing of this eventuality. But I am convinced that it will happen, perhaps sooner than many people think. And when Israel disappears, the Nakba will also disappear.
This week marked the passage of 68 years since the occurrence of the Palestinian Nakba, the extirpation and expulsion of the bulk of the Palestinian people from its ancestral homeland at the hands of Zionist Jews.
Since then, Palestinian suffering has been consistently increasing and hopes for undoing the Nakba, e.g. repatriating Palestinian refugees back to their native country, have been dwindling.
Today, Israel, the manifestly racist Jewish –Zionist state has been morphing nonstop into a fascist state, hell-bent on repressing Palestinians in both Israel proper and the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, for the express purpose of forcing them to leave their homeland.
In order to expedite the Israeli strategy of ridding rid of as many Palestinians as possible, Israel has enacted a huge body of brazenly discriminatory laws designed to make the non-Jewish presence in mandatory Palestine as precarious and untenable as possible.
One of these laws defines Israel as a Jewish state or state for all Jews. This law automatically renders non-Jews, e.g. Muslims and Christians who constitute nearly a quarter of Israel's total population, as second-class citizens, or worse.
And to deceive the world, the definition also incorporates the word "democratic" into the definition of Israel.
However, it is amply clear that Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic since this constitutes a stark contradiction in terms.
Besides, the brazen policy of ethnic cleansing, carried out rather shamelessly in full view of the international community, has failed to make a breakthrough toward emptying the land of Palestine of Palestinians, who continue to be more than just a thorn in Zionism's side.
Killing the two state solution
In addition to consolidating racism and apartheid in all walks of life, Israel has effectively killed all remaining chances for the so-called two-state solution.
The phenomenal proliferation of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank has simply eradicated any possibility for the establishment of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
Even President Obama seems to have come to terms with this fact. He told Gulf leaders whom he met with in Washington this week that the achievement of peace in Palestine was "very very difficult."
Leaders of the European Union (EU) are also, though reluctantly, coming to terms with this reality.
A western diplomat whom this author met recently in Hebron intimated that "we do know that the chances for establishing a true Palestinian state in the West Bank is virtually nil, but we dread thinking of the alternatives."
In other words, Israel has consciously and deliberately killed whatever remaining prospects for the two-state solution.
Needless to say, Israel, not the Palestinians, must bear the consequences because the Palestinians are not going anywhere.
Palestinian Demographic growth
According to well documented historical data published by a variety of sources, 1.4 million Palestinians lived in 1,300 Palestinian towns and villages spreading over all of historic Palestine in 1948.
Between 750,000 and 800,000 thousands of them were forcibly displaced from their original towns and cities into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab countries, and other countries of the world. Along with the displaced, some thousands remained in their hometowns in the so-called ‘1948 areas’. Documentary evidence shows that the Zionist troupes laid hand on 774 towns and villages and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages during the Nakba. The atrocities of Israeli Zionist forces also included over 70 massacres in which 15 thousand Palestinians were killed.
According to data published last week by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 6.1 million Palestinians lived in historic Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean) by the end of 2014, and this number is expected to rise to 7.1 million by the end of 2020 based on current growth rates.
This is certainly bad news for Israel and Zionism. It means that Palestinians are either already a numerical majority or going to be a majority in a few years. I know too well that Israel is not going to allow the Zionist enterprise to fall down before its eyes. But Israel's choices are limited and utterly unattractive.
Israel is really at loss as to what to do to prevent the Palestinians from becoming a solid majority in Israel/Palestine, and most observers would agree that time is not on Zionism's side.
Jews committed many blunders throughout their long history, but none is greater than building the Zionist enterprise at the expense of an innocent Semitic people whose only guilt was his weakness.
Surely time will prove the validity or invalidity of this view.
In the final analysis, Israel will disappear as many other entities will. I don't claim to know the timing of this eventuality. But I am convinced that it will happen, perhaps sooner than many people think. And when Israel disappears, the Nakba will also disappear.
