Prime Minister Netanyahu Pressured

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressured by the European Union to endorse and support a two state solution, calling for a Palestinian state to be established in pre-1967 borders, and East Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian leaders call for an immediate stop of the settlement building, however Netanyahu is a strong supporter of settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu stated that improving the occupation, in means of economy would be far better than ending the occupation itself.

What is new then? Nothing is the answer. Nothing is new. For the past decades the Palestinians have been trying to reach peace with Israel, yet Israel is always setting the standards and the "rules" of this peace agreement. How can peace be established without justice. And I still don't understand in what way the two state solution will be viable and will work? I'm sure no Palestinian would want their state to be small fragments surrounded by Israeli soil. Who would anyway? Could that even be called a state?

Netanyahu also promised to work towards "peace" but I don't know what peace is in their eyes. How can peace be built without a base of justice? He doesn't even want to discuss the status of Jerusalem or the borders, all he wants to do is "improve the Palestinian economy". This is ridiculous because no economy can prosper under the strict and horrendous occupation, which includes checkpoints, the apartheid wall, the curfews, the IDF presence, and etc. In my opinion, this is another way that the Israeli government wants to show the world that is willing to discuss peace. Well thank you Israel, we really appreciate it.

Adding to the Israeli peace proccess, the Israeli government wants to control all aspects of this new Palestinian state, that may form, including borders, airspace, water, harbors, electricity, and such. Right now, while I sit here and right this, it is getting more prepostrous in my eyes. How can anyone see it otherwise?

Life in the West Bank: An Introduction

In many articles I have stressed the point of the Israeli occupation being unbearable. But as many times as I write it, I cannot give this point justice. Writing it is one thing and experiencing it is a another, however thank God I've never experienced it. The most important thing right understand is that the West Bank is not wholly Palestinian. It is in ownership, but not in population. This piece of land, west of the Jordan River, is cut up into many fragments. The reason being the Israeli military presence, and the Jewish settler population. These are both illegal, along with the rest of the aspects of occupation. Yet Israel is the only colonial power left in the whole world. Why does it occupy this piece of land? The answer to this question is that it captured it in the 1967 War, yet it would have given it up for a peace process. The Israeli government, however, is not willing to withdraw, because it thinks that this is their rightful claim, and to occupy is the only answer currently. They want to keep sending in settlers, and building settlement upon settlement on confiscated property from the Palestinians. Yet the world tends to ignore this, because Israel is going through with its plans to make it seem to the international community that nothing new is happening.

Yet every single day, something new is happening. This includes the constant settlement building, and checkpoints to the smallest details, which the world tends to ignore, such as the daily harassment of the Jewish settlers to Palestinians. These details are multiplying, and are spreading like an infection. Soon the whole West Bank, will not be under military occupation, but will be annexed to Israel, and the Palestinians will still be denied citizenship, or they will expel the Palestinians as they did in 1948 and will be rid of the "demographic problem".

There are many small aspects that should be brought to the world's attention concerning this occupation, and in the articles to come, all of this will be revealed, and then you can judge.

Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Unchanged

You look ahead: blue skies, blue seas, and destruction. Utter destruction. That is the case in Gaza. All around you there is destruction and chaos. Children in the streets playing. The sewage line is in the civilian streets. Elderly people sit on the ground and pray to God to help them get out of this catostrophe.
It is in all means a catostrophe, nothing else. The recent Gaza Offensive, Cast Lead, as it was called by the Israeli Government and IDF destroyed what little infrastucture Gaza had. On top of all of that, Israel blames Hamas for bringing it on itself. The United States, and most of the European Union believes so too, yet the truth is in the eyes of every Gazan, that made it through the hellish three weeks, alive. Since the catostrophe, as I will refer to it, nothing has changed. The United Nations even said so. Nothing will change anyway if these ridiculous blockades are not lifted. 80% of the people in Gaza rely on relief agencies such as UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works agency for Palestinian refugees) for their survival, just survival, which means food and water. How is any humanitarian aid going to get through to Gaza if all the borders are closed most of the time, and there is simply not enough time for all the UN trucks to pass in. Israel has these borders closed, and is even denying the presence of a humanitarian aid! What a lie, a filthy lie, to deny anything ever happening to these people. I don't know what's going to happen now, but I'm sure the United Nations won't get anything done. What has it done throughout all of these occupations? It sets hundreds of resolutions, yet all of these are ignored by the State of Israel which thinks it is above International Law. I'm going to have a hard time believing that anything will change now, even if the United Nations is aware of what is happening. Maybe it'll pass yet another resolution, like the countless ones before it, and just like the countless ones before it, it will be jotted down in their historical archives, ignored and tucked away.

Settler Withdrawal from Gaza: Why It Happened

In a very well thought out move, Israel siginified to the world that it was a democratic state and is not willing to occupy captured territories from 1967. In 2005, the Israeli government withdrew its settler population from the Gaza Stip, which was about 5,000 people. By doing this, the Gaza strip was left tot he Palestinians to govern. The international society looks at this as a step leading up to a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, however it is very far from that.
With the Gaza Strip free of all Jewish and Israeli settlers and safe in Israel, the Israeli government transformed Gaza: the heavily and densely populated civilian area ino its own military "laboratory". No obstacles remain in the face of this government, because the Palestinians can hardly be regarded as humans, or living things in their eyes. Palestinians meant nothing to Israel, only a waste of space.
With the transformation of Gaza into this laboratory, Israel can test all of its latest technologies on the civilian population. It created horrors on this little piece of land, horrors that ended in chaos, poverty, death, and destruction. Along with the constant "experiments" Israel has also put a blockade on Gaza that will result in a humanitarian crisis that Israel and the United States would deny fully (but that will be a whole different article).
The most important thing to know now, is that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, did not mean peace or friendliness. It meant that they wanted their population to be safe, and to bestow upon the 1.5 million Palestinians terror that will end in many consequences. At the same time they refuse to them the basic necissties of living, such as food, and clean water, and such. This whole withdrawal triggered a number of events, such as the recent Gaza offensive, Cast Lead.
The Israeli Government should not hide behind the excuse of withdrawal and an end to the occupation in Gaza because that is a lie. Nothing justifies the horrors that these people are experiencing and these are war crimes! In articles to come, I will reveal the day to day terrorizing events the Palestinians endured.

IDF Admits War Crimes in Gaza

For the past couple of days, Ha'aretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, has been publishing first hand accounts from IDF soldiers in the Gaza offensive. These accounts reveal the war crimes that have been committed and the injustice that the Palestinians in Gaza had to suffer in that three-week long offensive.
I thought it was about time the Israelis started to reveal this treachery. For example, several papers have been retrieved from Palestinian homes, that were written by IDF commanders, ordering their troops to shoot at civilians, and rescue workers (from the Red Crescent and others). The Palestinians were either left inside their homes, waiting for rescue, or were dead because the IDF were preventing their evacuation. And to justify the evidence found in the homes of various Gazans is an IDF reserve officer that did not take part in the operation. He says that this note may have been written by a low-level commander.
Ha'aretz also admits that brutality of the Gaza offensive. IDF soldiers storming into houses, expelling the residents, and using the Palestinian house as means of safety and for shooting positions. Another article that was published a couple of days ago in Ha'aretz also stated that the IDF commanders ordered their soldiers to shoot at anyone in their way. The soldiers had to obey and they did as they were told. A Palestinian woman and her children was exiting her house so she could find a safe haven. The IDF soldier told her to go right, yet she didn't understand and went left. The cost of that small mistake was her life and the lives of her children.
The treachery of this offensive was known to many, but finally the Israelis are admitting to it. These troops of no humanity in them. They are heartless and that is the reason they were able to kill so much innocent civilians.

Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture 2009

This news was extremely surprising to me, yet I was ecstatic. Finally, Jerusalem can be recognized as an Arab city. However the Israelis are far from pleased. They have had huge numbers of policemen around the city, stopping any festivities or celebrations. The government of Israel wants to prevent these people from celebrating their culture, and they want to deny the fact that Jerusalem was an Arab city, and East Jerusalem now, is still an Arab city. This is what I'm talking about in my past articles. The Israelis wiped out all traces of Palestine from the beginning of the occupation in 1948, yet it did not succeed in doing so to Jerusalem.
However, right now they are trying to rid all of Jerusalem of the Arab presence, for example, home demolitions, impossible permits, and the list goes on and on.
Since the Israeli Government did not let the Palestinians celebrate this special day, of marking Jerusalem as the Capital of Arab Culture 2009, they celebrated it in various cities in the West Bank, such as Bethlehem, and Ramallah, and Nablus. The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbass said a speech in Bethlehem, remarking about how the Israeli Government. He said that the Israeli government should recognize Jerusalem as the future capital of any Palestinian state that should form, and in preventing their celebration of this day, they are showing that they do not want peace.
I read an article about this in Haaretz, and I also read the readers' comments on it too. One that I found very interesting stated: "When the Muslims let us celebrate a Jewish national holiday in Mecca, then we will let this celebration go on".
My response to this is that Jews do not make up any part of the population in Mecca, and I'm sure no Jews live in Mecca as well, so there would be no point of celebrating a Jewish holiday there. However, in all of Israel, 20% are Arab Palestinian citizens. And East Jerusalem is a Palestinian territory that was occupied in 1967, therefore there is no comparison. This is another way to wipe out all traces of a Muslim or Arab presence in Jerusalem. But the will of the Palestinians is much stronger than the Israeli governments ridiculous policies.

Fear Controls the State of Israel

As an intelligent person, that focuses on both sides of the conflict, I decided to study the Israeli side. Everyone that visits this blog, and everyone I know, know that I am Pro-Palestinian, however we need to understand what the Israelis think, however, we do not have to agree with them.
The popular Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, was the first place I started. I went on its website and read several articles. The one that stuck out to me was an article explaining the Hamas rockets raining on Israeli cities, This is an excerpt:

"But the world should know this: No matter how progressive the government in Israel, no matter how grave the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, without an end to the rockets, there will be no peace process and certainly no peace. While the rockets are flying, nothing else moves. Nothing that Israel has tried, neither diplomacy nor brutality, has been able to stop the rockets. Only Hamas can do that. The world and Washington could have made the rockets a priority years ago, and perhaps brought this to resolution. But the world has other things to think about, and Washington as well. "

I have many comments on this part of the article. The Israelis are living in total fear of destruction and are trying to prevent another Holocaust (that will never happen) from happening, or that is what they think. But the truth is, no one is trying to wipe the Jews from the face of the Earth. The rockets launched by Hamas are there to resist the occupation, to resist the thousand of home demolitions, the thousands of innocent deaths and prisoners, the Wall, the checkpoints, all the aspects of the occupation.

I truly want to believe that if Hamas stops these rockets, then peace will find its way to that region, but it's very complicated. Another comment: The "nothing Israel has tried, neither diplomacy or brutality". The Israelis should know why these rockets are raining on their cities. The brutal occupation that has been in effect since 1967 and has been tightened in the past few years is the cause, as well as the failing of finding a solution to this problem. And Israel tries diplomacy to gain on its part, and not to gain peace. The many peace processes that have occurred in the past all have one common denominator. The West Bank is split into many parts, some settlements will not be removed, and the Palestinians cannot control their airspace, harbors, borders, water and other vital things to a country. The question is why? Because Israelis don't want to see the Palestinians prosper, or rather they do not want to deal with a threat of a powerful country sitting next to them, only the Palestinians in the occupied territories have to deal with that. All the diplomatic solutions Israel has tried is stripping Palestinians of their rights to a REAL country. Not a country that is controlled by another, then that would be occupation all over again.

I can understand the Israelis' fear of these rockets, and the threats from Iran, but I should think that these fears should drive them to a peace process, not to more tightened occupation. I would like to see a cease-fire, a real one this time, which insures rights on both sides. Hamas shouldn't launch rockets, and Israel should loosen its occupation [for now, it should actually end it, but that's not going to happen overnight] and to tear down the Apartheid Wall. Then peace will be reached, because one group cannot be asked to stop the violence with the other group still using it. Both sides should stop.

One Palestine of Jews and Muslims

Imagine the land, from the coasts of the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, peaceful. It is like a normal country, no walls, no barriers, no checkpoints, no military in the streets. Orthodox Jews and Muslim Shaikhs walk in the same street, to the same holy site. They converse, laugh and then part, the shaikh to the mosque and the Jew to the Wailing Wall.

Why could this not be a reality. Why did the Israelis have to establish their own state. They would have been welcome to live in Palestine. Look at Lebanon now, there's an almost even percentage of Christians and Muslims, and they are united under one name, Lebanese.

The Jewish argument would be, because their holy book promised the land "to the sons of Abraham". We don't know if that's true or not, because we cannot have a conflict involving two different religions and base the solution on a one sided resolution. If that was true though, they could live in the holy land. But I don't think any religious book would justify the expulsion and suffering of millions of Palestinians. When the state of Israel was established, it was the twentieth century. It wasn't like a thousand years back when there were crusades and religious leaders conquered half the world. I think it was very extreme of how they came in and established their state on stolen Palestinian land.

Anyway, my dream is to see a unified Palestine, 50% Israelis, 50% Palestinians. There has to be religious tolerance in that region, specifically that region, since it is the holy land. Three different religions claim it, there used to be Israeli kingdoms, Palestinian kingdoms, Christian kingdoms, the three Abrahamic religions had a claim.

If Israel will remain in this path, its future will not be ensured in any way. The Palestinians can come back and conquer the land, (just like the Israelis had done), and then they will show the Israelis how their hellish lives were. Israel is going nowhere towards peace, but rather to war. Wars have sparked in the past, and will remain to take place because peace has to be built on justice, it has be built between people, not governments; it is not merely a piece of paper.

The Violent Raids in the Occupied Territories

There are many treacheries and cruel behavior surrounding the Israeli occupation, but one of the cruelest can be the surprising home raids by the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF. They can come at any moment of the day, and break down an innocent Palestinian family's door to just destroy everything in their way. That is their nature. The Israeli military wants to make its presence known by going through with these raids.
One example, is Zaid. He was sitting with his wife and children in his living room, watching a television show, when all of a sudden he hears a loud bang, and immediately after that the front door had collapsed. In the doorway stood three soldiers, and one after another, they began filing into the house. Zaid's wife began screaming and running to the adjacent room, because she didn't have anything covering her hair. The children began screaming and crying. They wet their clothes. Zaid started asking the soldiers for a warrant. They began laughing and continued with their "playtime".They were destroying anything that lay in their path. Television sets, plates, vases, paintings. One soldier made his way to the roof of the house and destroyed the satellite dish. This is considered amusing to the IDF.
For no particular reason, they enter a Palestinian home, and demolish it's contents. No person on Earth has the right to go through another's personal possessions without a search warrant. The innocent family lay there helpless, watching their valuable possessions scattered, destroyed, and laughed upon.
Imagine someone going through your things. You watch the photo albums that had pictures of your dead grandparents being destroyed and laughed upon. You feel desperation and helplessness, and you hate these monsters to a degree you've never felt before.
These raids have a long term affect on people, and can scar them. No matter how long this occupation has been in effect, no one will ever get used to this sort of behavior.
Going back to Zaid's story: After the soldiers were finished, and there was simply nothing left to destroy, they fire hundreds of bullets through the wall and made a hole, so that they can exit the house. After a few days, Zaid found out why the IDF were in his home. They wanted to arrest a man two buildings beside Zaid's home, and the IDF soldiers did not want to risk their lives by walking in the dark streets. Instead, they cut holes in people's houses and have some "fun" while they are at it.

Protesting for Release of Gilad Shalit

Recently, there have been a lot of protests about the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. Hundreds of Israelis have gone out and protested in front of Ehud Olmert's home, where a tent has been erected. Shalit's family had moved from their home in Galilee to this tent, to pressure the Israeli government and Olmert to find a deal of his release. Gilad Shalit was abducted in 2006 by Palestinian militants that crossed the border from Gaza.

Well, let's just hope that Israel doesn't call an all out war on the Gaza strip once again, just like in 2006. The media is making this a huge deal, and are once again looking at one side of the story. There are thousands upon thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, most of them are innocent and were targets of cruel raids conducted by the IDF and Jewish Settlers. Why doesn't the American Media, or the International media present these pieces of information. From 1967 to 2005, there have been 650,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. In late 2006, there were 400 Palestinian children imprisoned in Israel. There are 3,500 Palestinian children that have been arrested in the occupied territories. In 2006 alone, there have been 5,666 Palestinians taken prisoner because of ridiculous raids.

With all these statistics and numbers, the media wants to make a huge riot for 1 soldier! This is unbelievable. Before the Israelis start protesting and using violence, look at these numbers, and then they will know why the Palestinian militants did this. There is no comparison I know, but as always, the Jewish superiority has played a role. One Israeli soldier abducted is about the equivalent of thousands of Palestinian civilians imprisoned. And when the families of those imprisoned Palestinians protest peacefully, the IDF come in and start shooting rubber bullets and tear gas, or worse, they open fire. It just looks ridiculous to me that everyone is protesting for one soldier, when thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, including children are imprisoned. Anyway, the lives of Israelis are more important to the Jewish state. That's no surprise, just like in the Gaza offensive. 1 Israeli life meant one hundred Palestinian ones. The Israeli government said it themselves. What else do I have to write to capture the racism and discriminatory policies.

The Agonizing Death of the Two State Solution

With the building of these Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israel is slowly putting the two state solution to sleep, or rather to death. The two state solution calls for a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state. The Palestinian one shall be formed in the West Bank and Gaza, yet look at the West Bank now. How on earth is this going to be a Palestinian state with thousands of settlements dotting the whole map. Not only that, but the Apartheid Wall that is being built certainly does not help the cause, but it is making it worse. The wall does not follow the Green Line, which is the official border of the West Bank. There are hundreds of checkpoints in the territory. East Jerusalem is an occupied territory, yet Israel has annexed it, going against International law. Israel is building settlements right now, and it doesn't seem to want to stop. With the building of these settlements, Israel is securing its land, Judea and Samaria. They connect these settlements with each other on modern roads and they separate the Palestinian people from each other. These settlements are being built on tall hills overlooking Palestinian towns and cities, and they are circling around East Jerusalem, not to mention the whole of the West Bank. Jewish settlers have a clean and constant supply of water, versus the Palestinians, that barely do, and it is dirty water, full of disease. The Jews have a modern road system that goes straight into Israel, yet the Palestinians have dirt roads that they have to walk, and checkpoints that they have to pass and stand hours under the sun. Everyday, Israel is sending settlers into the occupied West Bank, which is illegal under international law, as is all the other things they are doing. The United Nations states that it is illegal to move populations in or out of the occupied territories. Israel is doing both. They are expelling the Palestinians out of the West Bank, and settling Jews in. It's unbelievable. With that said, how are we going to have two states? How is Israel going to remove the settlements and half a million settlers from the West Bank. The answer is it cannot, even if the government wants to, which it doesn't. They settlers will revolt against the government and there will be violent clashes. The Israeli government knows this will happen, yet it is still building and moving settlers in. And the amounts of money Israel is spending on the wall is tremendous. It's not going to tear it down with ease when the time comes, I'm sure.

Cruelty of the Jewish Settlers

Most of the time, you will hear that Palestinians and Arabs in general are being racist Jews and are violent with them. And this is a very hard stereotype to break in the West because of their one-sided media coverage. However, the very opposite is true.
The Jewish settlers that live in the West Bank are the cruel and racist ones, not the poor Palestinians. And this is what the world has to see. For example, in this photo, a group of Jewish settlers had fired a crude rocket into this Palestinian family's home, after the Gaza cease-fire had been set in place. The world knows nothing about it, because these settlers are not convicted and are not tried. They are probably detained by the police for about a week or less, and then are set free, to do whatever they want.
This example is one of the many that goes on in the West Bank. Palestinian families that live close by to settlements are subject to house raids, and harrasment that never ends. One example of this treachery is Noor's story. Jewish settlers broke into her house and beat her children until they are unconscious. After that they destroy her belongings: dishes, television sets, furniture. Then they leave, which is something lucky. Many times, the Palestinian family living in that house is kicked out of their home and the Jewish Settlers occupy it. How can anyone, and the state of Israel, justify these horrors.
Palestinians don't have any protection and are in constant fear of these raids. Military law is enforced on them, however for the settlers, it is Israeli civil law. A Palestinian can be detained for about 250 days without a trial or a reason for imprisonment. A Jewish settler can only be detained for 8 days. This is absolute discrimination, yet the United States supports the state of Israel because it is "a democracy, and recognizes human rights". It's a mockery, and I can't help but feel sorry for the Israeli government because it knows what its doing but chooses to lie to itself.
I found two videos on youtube that demonstrate the violence and treachery of these Jewish settlers. The first one is of a Palestinian woman in Hebron being harrased by a Jewish settler, here this is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2AaDg7-zD0
The next one is of a British film crew trying to shoot a documentary of a Palestinian family but is interrupted and harrased by two young Jewish settlers saying: Get out, this is our land, (a lot of swearing.)
WARNING: this video includes offensive material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSAvaYY-y7Q

From Scapegoat to Villian

From day one, Zionists have used the the excuse of the Holocaust to establish and create their own state. They used the tragic holocaust to form their own tragedy: the expulsion of the Palestinian people, and the expropriation of their land.

The State of Israel was formed because the Jews did not feel safe anywhere if they did not have their own land. They considered Uganda and Cypress as a location for a Jewish state, but once World War I was over and the British occupied Palestine, their eyes reverted to that prize: the Holy Land.

The Jews immigrated in huge numbers from Europe and came into Palestine, but they were still a very small minority in Palestine. And that is the truth, a truth the Israelis currently do not want to believe. The Israelis think they came into Eretz Israel and found nothing, no people, no houses, nothing! It's extremely ridiculous, these claims. So we go now to the partition of Palestine in 1948 and then to the war. Israel gains more land and expels the Palestinian population from their homes. Now, in 1967 it occupies the West Bank and Gaza. Now they begin to systematically make life difficult for the Palestinians, by closing the borders, building checkpoints, and now the final touch is the Apartheid Wall that is not yet complete. So here we have these poor people being prosecuted by Hitler, and now they come to Palestine, create a Jewish state (solely Jewish), expel the Palestinians and their goal is the annexation of Gaza and the West Bank, once the "demographic problem" has reached a solution, as they say. Who are they to expel the rightful owners of the land and force them to go the neighboring countries? Those were the people that faced the fear of death from Hitler, and now they are imposing that fear on the Palestinian population if they choose to stay in the West Bank. The problem with the Jewish people is they think they are so superior and that all the holy land belongs to the Jews, yet in reality Christians and Muslims have a very strong claim, if not stronger than the Jews. Israelis don't want anyone to live in Israel unless they are Jewish. And in that racist and discriminatory policy, the State of Israel has just prevented millions of people from seeing their homeland, yet the world thinks that justice is served.

The Palestinians would have welcomed the Jews if they chose to live there, but why make their own state? Well the answer rests in every Israeli: because of their greed and their state of mind. The holocaust was a very sad event, but it passed and now it's time to start a new life, a life that is not based on cruelty and injustice.

A Jewish State If You Like it or Not

The State of Israel's top priority is to keep its status as a Jewish State, in other words ethnic cleansing. What else would you call it when they don't allow the rightful owners of a house in Haifa to live there, but welcome Jews from Eastern Europe that have never seen Haifa or probably heard of it all their lives? This is a reality Palestinians must face. Racism, racism, and more racism. I am going to give you an example:

A woman is pregnant. Her husband lives with her in Jerusalem. They are expecting a baby within three months. When their child is born, they could barely register the child in Jerusalem. The couple needs to prove that Jerusalem is their "center of life", as the Israelis call it. The couple has to retrieve electric bills, water bills, heating bills, and proof of the home ownership. And these documents all have to go back at least fifteen years. Who on Earth saves their electric bills over the course of fifteen years. That is impossible for Salma, because she recently moved from her parent's house, to Ahmad's house. And she has been living with Ahmad for a year, not fifteen. Since she left her parents house for a year (which was the only proof of her living in Jerusalem) and she has no official proof of living with Ahmad (because residency papers are extremely difficult to obtain), the Israeli government expels Salma from Jerusalem because she has "abandoned" it, when she was actually living there her whole life. Ahmad and their child can stay, but the child has to leave when he reaches the age of fourteen. Ahmad would have to follow Salma to the West Bank in order to live with his family. One family expelled, thousands more to go.

Thousands of people have to endure this racism in East Jerusalem. Let us remind the Israelis that East Jerusalem is an Occupied Territory and shares the status of the West Bank and Gaza since they were all captured in 1967. However Israel annexed East Jerusalem, and is slowly expelling the Palestinian population. They also built the separation wall along the border of the West Bank with the farthestmost suburbs of East Jerusalem. Now, a West Banker can never enter East Jerusalem.

A Jewish European family, Jewish being the key word, arrives from Ukraine, and they are immediately granted citizenship and residency papers as well as on option to live in "Judea and Samaria", or the rest of Israel. This family, that has never seen Jerusalem or Palestine in all its life, comes and within half an hour they are granted everything the Palestinians are rejected.

Israel is slowly expelling all the Palestinians from East Jerusalem, so the city would unanimously be Jewish. Isn't that racism, and discrimination against religion and nationality. Other than that, it is ethnic cleansing (well that sounds familiar doesn't it, hint hint: The Holocaust). which is extremely illegal internationally, not that all of the other things Israel is doing is legal. However the international community, being the United Nations chooses to keep its mouth shut. The United States however, plays an active role, and continues to supply weapons and financial support to the Jewish state because they think justice is served, and are very, very sympathetic with the Jews because of the Holocaust. Why not go build a Jewish Nation in California and save the world this trouble. I'm sure the Americans would "LOVE" that.

Racism in the Israeli Occupation

I will describe to you what is happening in this photo. An IDF soldier feels threatened by the presence of this three year old. Therefore he chooses to retrieve his gun (if you could call it a gun) and aim it at the little boy. This way, the 20+ year old IDF soldier can ensure his safety, his life, and his well-being.

What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is in all meaning apartheid. The whole formation of this Jewish state goes against anything we learned in life. Let me explain what I mean. Little children learn to share, to communicate, not be violent. Not to be greedy, or selfish, but to be polite and understanding. All of these characteristics stick with the person for as all long as he/she lives. Yet here we have an exception. The Israelis. No not all Israelis are bad, but the majority of them think that what the Israeli government is doing is correct, politically and morally. Why doesn't the world see these acts of racism, I do not know. And I am extremely perplexed at the state of the world. The United States ended racism and segregation of African Americans, yet here we have the IDF treating these poor people like insects. And Israel is so proud of it's military, and the world is impressed with how dedicated these soldiers are to their country. Well think again, I surely am not proud of what these people did and are doing to this population.

Racism is a big crime in the world, but the International community chooses to ignore what's happening in the West Bank and Gaza. Half the population is under the poverty line, they can't eat or sleep (they don't have a house). They can't go to work, because of the checkpoints that are sprouting up everywhere. First they expelled them from their homes and land. They made them flee into the West Bank and to neighboring countries. Next they want "Judea and Samaria", because it's the promised land in their holy book. Well, if the world was going to go on claims of their holy books, the world would be a stage for wars and crimes. We'll have the Holy Wars and crusades all over again. But in the world's eyes, Israel has the right to exist. Alright, and if it does, why does it not stick to its original borders? No, it wants to expand. All those characteristics that I mentioned above don't describe the IDF and the Israeli government. But the opposites would. They are greedy, selfish, rude, cruel. They want everything, all the holy land. They even wanted the Jolan Heights which belonged to Syria. And now they got it, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Jolan Heights. I came across a photo of the Jolan Heights today labeled, "The Land God Promised to Us [Jews]. Why not claim the whole earth while they are at it. The Jolan Heights is part of Syria and will always be part of Syria. But their greed is blinding them, and their state of mind, that everyone is inferior to them, isn't helping anyone. They choose to ignore the people that are already living on it, and even have the nerve to say that the land was barren and it was waiting for the Jews to come (for two thousand years). This is unbelievable. And I hope people that have a different stand than I should open their eyes to the horrors. What next are the Israelis going to occupy, Jordan, or Syria? Israel can justify anything it does with the United States behind it, even the illegal settlements and the ethnic cleansing that is almost complete in Jerusalem.

Expulsion of Palestinians, An Introduction

The horrors that Israel is casting upon the Palestinians is unbelievable. I'm reading another book right now on this subject, and it's titled "Palestine Inside Out", by Saree Makdisi. It's a brilliant book that outlines the lives of the Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation, in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. I couldn't control my emotions while reading this book. Anger swept over me, and I was clutching the book so hard. The material is unbelievable, but it is true. The lives of these poor people that were expelled from their homes is terrifying. They are under control, they cannot move about freely. They have to carry numerous permits just to accomplish everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping, going to work or school, and that such. The checkpoints however, are the hardest part of the Palestinian life. There are about 600 checkpoints in the West Bank. They are operated by the IDF soldiers, and they have to be obeyed. It's ridiculous, the whole ordeal that they have to go through. And Israel's sole goal, is to expel the Palestinians from their land so they can annex the West Bank to Israel, and finally include "Judea and Samaria", as they call the West Bank, in the map of Israel. I just can't grasp the concept, of these foreign people coming into this land that was called Palestine, and establishing a state, in vain, expelling the current population, and they are still not satisfied. They want the whole land, yet they don't want the people on it. Right now, after 2,000 years, the Jews remember that they had ancestors living in Palestine, and right away they wanted to establish a state, that already housed a nation, which is Palestine. And currently, the Israelis want to keep the status of their state, as Jewish, and the problem lies in the occupied territories. They are at a point where their ambitions have reached an obstacle, which is the Palestinian population in the West Bank. Israel calls them the "demographic problem". I believe this whole campaign is racist. Any Jew, from all over the world, as the right of return to Israel, yet the Palestinians, that were living on this land for generations on end, don't. A Jew from Latvia, in Eastern Europe, can come into Israel and within half an hour he could have his residency papers, and citizenship granted, as well as the option to live in Israel or the West Bank (in the numerous ILLEGAL settlements that are being established). Yet a Palestinian does not have this right. A whole generation of Palestinians haven't seen Jerusalem, because of these ridiculous checkpoints, yet any Jew from anywhere in the world can come with ease and buy a house right next to the Dome of the Rock mosque. It's unbelievable, and I'm surprised the world as stayed quiet about this for so long. To anyone that has opposing views, what argument can you bring forth that makes sense, and defends the state of Israel for these acts of apartheid and racism.

Hillary Clinton in the Middle East

Recently, Hillary Clinton has toured the Middle East, specifically Israel and the West Bank city of Ramallah. she met with various Israeli leaders on Tuesday to discuss the current situation with the Palestinians and the possible solutions. Benjamin Natenyahu, the current Prime Minister who is in the process of forming a government, does not support the Two-State Solution, involving a Palestinian State to be created in the West Bank and Gaza, and to live side by side with the state of Israel. Natenyahu, however supports the building of illegal settlements in the West Bank, which is right now, the main obstacle standing in the way of this solution. The Prime Minister does not want to achieve peace, in my opinion, he just wants to push the Palestinians out of their homes and land. By building these settlements, he is telling the world that he wants to expand the border of Israel past the pre-1967 borders, past the green line and into the West Bank to the Jordan River. Hillary Clinton however is determined to have this Two-State Solution in effect, and the United States will always support this plan. Everyone knows it is the only way for the violence to end in that region, and for the people of that region to live in peace of mind. But this is wear the United States and the Israelis reach a conflict, and I truly don't know how Benjamin Natenyahu is going to be persuaded to support the Two-State Solution, but I hope it will be done if he likes it or not.
Hillary Clinton also met with Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and discussed the current situation as well. She assured him that the establishment of a Palestinian State will always be the priority of the American government in that region, after he expressed concerns about Natenyahu's policies.
I believe that currently, the United States has to condemn the building of illegal settlements, as it is the first step in this long Two-State solution. It will only be more difficult to add to the number of already high settlers in the West Bank, and to remove them when the time comes of establishing a Palestinian State.

Queen Noor's Memoirs, an Inspiration

"Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life", is the story of Queen Noor's life, formerly known as Lisa Najeeb Halaby, and it was written from her perspective. This book is absolutely brilliant, to say the least, because it gave you insight on the circumstances that led to her and King Hussein's meet, and then their very eventful life and the struggles that they had to go through together. She sheds some light at the place where Jordan stands in this Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is more like an Arab-Israeli conflict. So I will outline this book very briefly.
Lisa Najeeb Halaby graduated with a degree in Architecture and went of to Iran and then to Jordan, to complete the Intercontinental Airport which will serve as a hub to the new Royal Jordanian Airlines. She meets King Hussein there, because he and her father had close business ties. A friendship forms, and then they both fall deeply in love with each other. Lisa admires King Hussein in everything he does, and his willingness to achieve the impossible. Soon after, King Hussein proposes to Lisa, and there begins the long life ahead. Lisa takes the decision by herself to convert to Islam, because she found the religion very logical and pure and it gave her ease of mind. Upon her conversion, her name was changed from Lisa, to Noor, which means light in Arabic, Noor al Hussein or the Light of Hussein.
Her life with King Hussein was a happy and honest one. They both worked very hard. Queen Noor immediately adjusted and loved the Jordanian people. She knew she had to accomplish many things in this country, so that it can become more advanced and appear on the world stage. Many of her accomplishments included the creation of the Annual Jerash Festival, the work for the Bedouin women, many projects in the refugee camps, campaigns against land mines, and many more.
The book inspired me so much, because this woman was so devoted to her husband, and attached to him. She gave him her whole life, and that was proved when he became very ill, and then diagnosed with cancer. She was strong, and gave him hope, and light. She took care of all her step children, and had four of her own children from the King. Queen Noor believed in peace. Her approach to politics was that any military action will not yield any results, but political action is what ought to be done. Also, one of King Hussein's sayings, that is a favorite of mine is that "A peace-treaty is not a piece of paper, that is signed between countries, governments to ensure it's economic growth or stability, but it is a pact between people, and the people have to feel it, and live it to make real peace." (And I was just paraphrasing).
I admired King Hussein's ways of peace. He always wanted to make peace with Israel, but also wanted to form a Palestinian state in peace, and I believe that is the exact way to go about these things. Violence will not solve anything, deaths of innocent children will not earn the security of the killers. King Hussein hoped that the Arabs can come to peace with Israel and that a Palestinian state can be created, but he never lived to see that dream come true, yet I hope that I do see this in the future.