Palestinians and Israelis mourn together but crisis deepens

[umbertino]

by: Susan Webb

July 9 2014

 

 

 

Hundreds of Israeli Jews visited the mourning family of Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem on Tuesday to express condolences over the vicious killing of the Palestinian teenager last week. Muhammad, age 16, was burned to death in reprisal for the June killings of three Israeli youths hitchhiking in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank. Six Jewish teenagers have been arrested for Muhammad's murder and some have reportedly confessed.

 

A rabbi from northern Israel who was among the group paying condolences called Muhammad's murder "the desecration of God's name."

 

"I came to protest and declare that this is not the way my religion goes," the rabbi told the Times of Israel. "I think we should say it out loud: This isn't what we expect and what we want to happen. We're looking for a different type of coexistence."

 

The Abu Khdeir family thanked the visitors, noting that the family had not allowed Israeli government representatives to visit "because we felt their condolences were insincere."

 

The visit was organized by Tag Meir, an Israeli interfaith coalition opposing Jewish anti-Arab racism and hate crimes.

 

Earlier, Muhammad's father, Hussein Abu Khdeir, talked by telephone with Yishal Fraenkel, uncle of one of the three murdered Israeli teenagers, Naftali Fraenkel. The uncle told reporters that "the life of an Arab is equally precious to that of a Jew. Blood is blood, and murder is murder, whether that murder is Jewish or Arab."

 

Several Palestinians from the Hebron area in the West Bank visited the Fraenkel family. One of the Palestinians said, "Things will only get better when we learn to cope with each other's pain and stop getting angry at each other. Our task is to give strength to the family and also to take a step toward my nation's liberation. We believe that the way to our liberation is through the hearts of Jews."

 

On Saturday, some 300 Israelis demonstrated in Haifa, in northern Israel, under the theme "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies." They included members of left Meretz party and the Israeli Communist Party - among them Knesset (Parliament) member Dov Khenin.

 

But right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent out a Twitter message calling for "vengeance" for the murders of the three Israeli youths.

 

And as a number of news media report, thousands of Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have joined rallies and social media campaigns calling for killing Palestinians in retaliation for the murders.

 

A Facebook page entitled "The People of Israel Demand Vengeance!" got more than 36,000 "likes" in just under two days before it was removed. Over 10,000 people joined an online campaign to kill a Palestinian "terrorist" every hour until the teens were returned to their families.

 

In April, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an notes, a Facebook page created to support an Israeli soldier who cocked his gun and aimed at Palestinian teenagers in Hebron received over 60,000 likes.

 

A scandal has erupted over charges, supported by video footage, that Palestinian American 15-year-old Tariq Abu Khdeir, a cousin of Muhammad Abu-Khdeir who was visiting the family in Jerusalem, was viciously kicked and beaten by Israeli border police last week. Tariq lives in Tampa, Fla. The police claim he had been involved in anti-Israel actions. He and the family denies this. He has been released from jail and put under house arrest in Israel. His family is trying to get him released and returned home.

 

Meanwhile a confrontation between Israel and the Hamas leadership in Gaza has escalated sharply.

 

Israeli military officials said the Israeli air force carried out strikes on some 160 targets in the Gaza Strip over Tuesday night. Ma'an reported Wednesday that the Palestinian death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza had reached 39. Among the latest victims Wednesday were a mother and two small children in the al-Maghazi refugee camp, with another two children reported missing.

 

Israel says its airstrikes were launched in retaliation for rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Palestinians in Gaza fired more than 85 rockets at Israel on Monday, "with Hamas openly claiming responsibility for some of the launches for the first time since the current escalation began." The rockets hit several major cities in Israel's south and, for the first time in the current fighting, caused alarms to go off in central Israel and Jerusalem. (The Jerusalem alerts were later reported to be false alarms.) The rockets lightly wounded two Israelis and caused property damage.

 

In turn, those rocket firings from Gaza followed a wave of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip over Sunday night, causing Palestinian fatalities for the first time since the current fighting began. Hamas' armed wing said six of its members were killed in the strikes. Israeli armed forces denied this, claiming the six were killed in the collapse of a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border.

 

Inside and outside Israel, critics of Israel's air campaign say military escalation will not solve the problem of rocket attacks from Gaza and will further inflame the situation. In addition, it puts Israel in the position of inflicting collective punishment on civilians, a violation of international law.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition appear to be using the murders of the three Israeli teenagers to try to destroy the recently formed Palestinian unity government which includes Hamas. Formation of the unity government is widely seen as having the potential to help achieve a Palestinian-Israeli agreement. But that is something fiercely opposed by the Israeli far-right.

 

 

 

Photo: Knesset (Parliament) member Dov Khenin (second from left), a leader of the Israeli Communist Party, with other participants in a joint Jewish-Arab demonstration June 7 in Haifa, Israel, holds a sign reading "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies." Communist Party of Israel/Al Ittihad

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/palestinians-and-israelis-mourn-together-but-crisis-deepens/

 

[Maggie123]

Thank You Umberto

 

It is good to know the families of the slain boys were able to come together in their grief... Bless Them.

 

It's wonderful to see the Jews and the Palestinians joining together... "Jews and Arabs Refuse To Be Enemies".

 

That is what it's going to take... I sure hope the movement grows and catches on like wild fire!!!  Let's Hope!!!

[waterman13]

The entire middle east is out of control! It all started with Ismael, but escalated in 1917 with trying to put the "so called Jews" back in the "Holy Land" (Balfour Declaration). The US and UK drawing lines in the sand, mandating things that should not have been in a perfect world. But, that is how God wanted it I guess. It's all in His hands, and all we can do is pray we are His chosen, His Elite to rule and reign with Him for 1000 years before the great judgement.

 

2 John 1:6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

 

Wm13

[flatdawg]

by: Susan Webb

July 9 2014

 

 

 

 

But right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent out a Twitter message calling for "vengeance" for the murders of the three Israeli youths.

 

And as a number of news media report, thousands of Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have joined rallies and social media campaigns calling for killing Palestinians in retaliation for the murders.

 

A Facebook page entitled "The People of Israel Demand Vengeance!" got more than 36,000 "likes" in just under two days before it was removed. Over 10,000 people joined an online campaign to kill a Palestinian "terrorist" every hour until the teens were returned to their families.

 

Were the Three Settler Kidnappings an Israeli “False Flag” Operation?

Evidence that came to light after Israel removed its gag order on information regarding the June 12 kidnapping and murder of three Jewish Israeli students suggests that it could have been an Israeli government operation that was intentionally used to punish Hamas and break up the new Palestinian unity government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had immediately accused Hamas of the kidnapping — without presenting any evidence — and proceeded to “conduct a search” throughout the entirety of the West Bank until the bodies were reportedly found on June 30th.

The “search” entailed arresting and beating up about 600 Hamas members (including legislators) and trashing about 2100 homes; Israeli forces killed at least 7 Palestinians. Israel also heightened its daily air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which has been under the Israeli blockade since Sept. 2006. The Gaza government appealed to the UN for relief, which responded by condemning the kidnappings rather than the massive abuse of the Palestinian population. And then urging “all parties” to show restraint.

Continue at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/were-the-three-settler-kidnappings-an-israeli-false-flag-operation/5389791?print=1

Flatdawg says: The tide is turning against israel, the world no longer sees it as the victim.

The PLA and Hamas coming together in a unity government means bibi can longer longer use the two factions against each other in negotiations.

BDS has taken hold through much of Europe.

Bibi is desperate. Mosad killed those three israeli teens, then killed the Palestinian teen. "By way of deception, thu shall do war."

[dog53]

Geez come on flat there`s not a conspiracy in every garbage can in the world.

 

Anyway yes this is a good thing.

Thank for bringing it umbert 

[Maggie123]

I meant what I said above... what I also should have said is what a huge deal it is for them to be doing this.

It's considered a large act of rebellion by Nutanyahoo for Israeli's and Palestinian's to take this stand together.

 

They have to be getting so fed up... The deaths of all these kids... The settlements and bombings of peoples homes.

I really have to commend the Jewish people who are so courageous in coming out in a show of defiance to all that.

 

 

This part is not a conspiracy theory... anyone can see by the facts/truth that this is exactly what has happened...

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has used this event for huge political gain:

• to create divisions within the new “unity government” of Fatah and Hamas,

• to physically punish Hamas members and the cause of Palestinian resistance,

• to get legislation passed through the Knesset to block the return of East Jerusalem to Palestinians (1),

• to try to foment a third intifada to legitimate further attacks on Palestinians (1) and

• to whip up such hatred of Palestinians that it has become dangerous for them to be seen on Israeli streets.

       

          http://www.globalres...5389791?print=1

Edited July 11, 2014 by Maggie123

[dog53]

I meant what I said above... what I also should have said is what a huge deal it is for them to be doing this.

It's considered a large act of rebellion by Nutanyahoo for Israeli's and Palestinian's to take this stand together.

 

They have to be getting so fed up... The deaths of all these kids... The settlements and bombings of peoples homes.

I really have to commend the Jewish people who are so courageous in coming out in a show of defiance to all that.

 

 

This part is not a conspiracy theory... anyone can see by the facts/truth that this is exactly what has happened...

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has used this event for huge political gain:

• to create divisions within the new “unity government” of Fatah and Hamas,

• to physically punish Hamas members and the cause of Palestinian resistance,

• to get legislation passed through the Knesset to block the return of East Jerusalem to Palestinians (1),

• to try to foment a third intifada to legitimate further attacks on Palestinians (1) and

• to whip up such hatred of Palestinians that it has become dangerous for them to be seen on Israeli streets.

       

          http://www.globalres...5389791?print=1

 

Ahhh right now maggie it seems he is pretty much just trying to keep his people alive.

in case you havent heard they are bombing the hell out of them. 

The palestinians want this war as much as the israelis do. 

I say again "a plague on both their houses" 

Both governments are to blame for the death of those children on both sides.

Ones no better then the other mag . Your post makes it sound like its israel's fault. 

Thats ridiculous 

If the world wants these to factions to stop killing each other they would have to go in.

Disarm both . Of course that would mean getting rid of every rock in the country.

cause if they cant shoot each other they would try to stone each other to death.

Hmmm  they may have to pull their teeth and clip their finger nails so they couldn't

claw and bite each other also. 

Ya getting my drift Mag.

Fish gotta swim

birds gotta fly

and these idiots gotta kill each other.  

[flatdawg]

Geez come on flat there`s not a conspiracy in every garbage can in the world.

 

The mossad, the israeli governments intelligence agency, motto is "by way of deception, thou shall do war".

Seriously, you can take anything israel says at face value?

[Maggie123]

Ahhh right now maggie it seems he is pretty much just trying to keep his people alive.

in case you havent heard they are bombing the hell out of them. 

The palestinians want this war as much as the israelis do. 

I say again "a plague on both their houses" 

Both governments are to blame for the death of those children on both sides.

Ones no better then the other mag . Your post makes it sound like its israel's fault. 

Thats ridiculous 

If the world wants these to factions to stop killing each other they would have to go in.

Disarm both . Of course that would mean getting rid of every rock in the country.

cause if they cant shoot each other they would try to stone each other to death.

Hmmm  they may have to pull their teeth and clip their finger nails so they couldn't

claw and bite each other also. 

Ya getting my drift Mag.

Fish gotta swim

birds gotta fly

and these idiots gotta kill each other.  

 

Are you sure you are on the right thread? You make this sound like sectarian wars between the Muslims... It's Not.

 

You know what the settlements are.. bulldozing Palestinians home and moving into their designated area's.

 

Palestine doesn't want this war... they want to at the very least have the right to live in their homes in peace.

 

Being able to move around freely would be nice too... to not be treated like a second class citizen.

 

Hey this may interest you... did you know Palestinians are not allowed to be armed... yet the settlers are?

 

If this isn't apartheid... I don't know what is?

 

a·part·heid/əˈpärtˌ(h)āt,-ˌ(h)īt/

noun

1.(in South Africa) a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.

 

Israel's Policy of Arming Israeli Settlers Endangers Palestinians in the Territories

 

Settlement Report | Vol. 4 No. 3 | May-June 1994

May-June 1994 Settlement Report

 

Israeli settlers have been authorized to carry weapons from their earliest days in the occupied territories. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued Uzi and M-16 machine guns to early settlers.

As the settlement enterprise became more firmly established and the numbers of settlers grew, their institutionalized security role has been expanded by the IDF.

Less than a week before the massacre in Hebron, Minister of Police Moshe Shahal announced the formation of civil guard units in all major settlements in the occupied territories. The first of the units was established in the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, in December 1993. Composed of settler-residents, the units have been granted authority to detain Arabs, but operate within settlement confines only. Settlers have been armed in the following manner:

• Under the District Defense Regulations established in 1973, settlers are required to perform their annual reserve duty in the area in which they live. This regulation has resulted in armed, militant settlers like Meir Kahane, the founder of the recently banned Kach Political Party, patrolling the streets of Ramallah during their annual reserve assignments and participating at checkpoints and with patrols.
• Military Order 898 of March 1981 expanded the settlers' powers by permitting them to require Palestinians suspected of violating any military order to produce identification cards; to arrest Palestinian suspects without warrant; and to participate in the "Regional Defense Network," formed by settlers residing in the string of small Gush Emmunim settlements throughout the West Bank heartland.

This security innovation was endorsed by Raphael Eitan during his tenure as chief of staff in the early 1980s. The system of territorial defense organized these settlers in "organic military units stationed in their own areas under their own command." Weapons, training, and equipment were provided as part of a program aimed at increasing the participation of settlers in the conduct of military security operations.

 

**************************************************

Settlers' Informal Duties

 

Given the security-related powers formally granted to settlers, it is often difficult to determine which settler actions have been undertaken as a function of that authority and which of them belong to the category of vigilante or underground operations. The rules of engagement regulating settler enforcement of security responsibilities, are, in practice, less strict than those governing regular forces.

 

One settler said, for example, "We go into a village, shoot a little bit at the windows, we scare the villagers, and go home to our settlement. We do not kidnap people, but sometimes we grab a kid for throwing stones and take him to the settlement, rough him up a little, and then hand him over to the army so that they can finish the job."

 

Military authorities, out of sympathy with settler objectives and mindful of the power that settlers exercise at the political level, have traditionally supported their formal and informal security functions.

 

The Karp commission, established in April 1981 by the Israeli government to inquire into settler violence against Palestinians, reported that allegations of settler misconduct were not investigated because settlers "are not perceived by the police as offenders in the usual sense. . . . The [inquiry] Team formed the impression that the police investigations in the sphere of our interest were carried out in an ambivalent manner, as is evident from the results of our investigations."

 

The U.S. State Department noted in 1982 that "settlers who are alleged to have been implicated in acts of violence against the persons or property of West Bankers, are rarely questioned about these incidents, are more rarely subject to legal proceedings, and almost never convicted."

 

***************************************************

Avrahami Kol, from the Israeli village of Kibbutz Yifat, who did his reserve duty as an infantry commander in the Shilo area the following March, explained that he "was forced to report to the police on several confrontations [between reserve soldiers and] the Jewish settlers. The result was that our company got a 'bad reputation' as sentimental leftists."

 

The admitted failure of the Israel Defense Forces to anticipate settler violence against Palestinians, revealed to the commission of inquiry established after the Hebron massacre, masks a deeper, more deliberate, and dangerous policy assumption. In view of that incident, and countless examples of unprovoked settler violence against Palestinians undertaken during Israel's 27-year-rule in the occupied territories, one can only conclude that the IDF, as a matter of policy, has chosen to permit such actions.

 

Interesting read:

http://www.fmep.org/reports/archive/vol.-4/no.-3/israels-policy-of-arming-israeli-settlers-endangers-palestinians-in-the-territories

Edited July 13, 2014 by Maggie123

[Maggie123]

"Palestine doesn't want this war"

 

Correction: I should have said "Palestinians do not want this war".

 

I guess I was jumping ahead... that would be if they came up with a "Two State Solution"

 

Also would like to point out to you Dog that the Jews and Palestinians got along just fine in the beginning.(1948)

 

They used to babysit each others kids... there are a lot of Israelis and Palestinians that remember this.

 

It was when the Israeli guberment wanted more and more of the Palestinian's territories that this got worse and worse.

 

(SETTLEMENTS)

Edited July 13, 2014 by Maggie123

[dog53]

Palestine supports hamas 

Hamas like all other radical islamics want the infidels dead

Your idea that if israel backed off palestine would just live in peace and they would all sit around the campfire singing cum bye ya 

is pretty much a bambi story.   Its not reality   It will never happen.   lets see what did the leader of Iran say about the annihilation of israel.

Oh and it just so happens that the rockets being fired from Hamas is Iranian rockets.

 

One more time

 

" A plague on both their houses"  

[Maggie123]

Palestine supports hamas 

Hamas like all other radical islamics want the infidels dead

Your idea that if israel backed off palestine would just live in peace and they would all sit around the campfire singing cum bye ya 

is pretty much a bambi story.   Its not reality   It will never happen.   lets see what did the leader of Iran say about the annihilation of israel.

Oh and it just so happens that the rockets being fired from Hamas is Iranian rockets.

 

One more time

 

" A plague on both their houses"  

 

You obviously could care less about the Palestinians... and I can't make you care Dog.

 

If you care about our interest though... think about this...

 

"US journalist Mark Glenn believes that his country is not protecting its citizens when asked about reports that an American teenager was severely beaten while being held by Israeli authorities. 

“The United States government is not looking out for the best interests of its citizens and the United States is not the world’s superpower anymore, but rather Israel is,” said Glenn, Co-Founder of Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement. 

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Saturday Washington is concerned about reports of the beating. 

"We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force," she said about Tariq Abu Khdeir who was allegedly arrested for being masked. 

"We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force," she added. 

The State Department confirmed that the American-Palestinian youth caught on video earlier this week is from Florida. 

Tariq, 15, was a cousin of Palestinian teenager, Muhammed Abu Khdeir, who was abducted last week and burned alive later.  

“The news report that the United States government is profoundly troubled by the beating of this American citizen is partially correct but only in the sense that the US government is now put in an embarrassing situation of having to, once again, do nothing in response to Israel’s brutality even against one of America’s citizens. We actually remember that it’s the same US government that did nothing about the murder of 34 American sailors aboard the USS Liberty in 1967, this is the same US government that did nothing with regards to Israel’s deliberate murder of American citizen Rachel Corrie or the murdered American citizen who was aboard Mavi Marmara few years ago,” Glenn told Press TV on Sunday. 

“The United States government is only profoundly disturbed over the fact that once again it is being underscored to be the United States is not the world’s superpower,” he added. 

“The reality of the situation is now becoming apparent before the eyes of the world,” the journalist said. “When it comes to Israel, however, will there be any sensation in the sending of 30 million dollars of American taxpayer money a day to Israel? No. Israel will continue to get all of her billions of dollars from the United States, will continue to get all of her military hardware, will continue to get political support from the United Nations, political protection.”

[dog53]

Your assuming maggie that you know how I feel .

I have said 3 times (and this is the last time).

A plague on both their houses.

Yes I do not care for the palestinians

Yes I do not care for the israelis

They BOTH kill children with with no regard

You tend to take the palestinian side and write as if they own none of this.

While I say to hell with them both.

They have been slaughtering each others children for hundreds of years.

and to claim a side in this is to claim a great evil.

I claim no side but pray that god will destroy both sides 

[Maggie123]

How is it that we are not outraged at the beating of an American citizen???

 

I dunno if the aid is 30 million a day... I do know it is more than we can afford.

 

Those are the points I was making... Get On America's Side In All This Mess!!!

 

 

 

Before anyone goes sideways about the amount stated in aid to Israel... Here are a couple of links that sound credible.

 

http://ifamericansknew.org/stat/cost.html

 

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/foreign-policy/u-s-foreign-aid-to-israel-2012-congressional-report

 

Beyond that I welcome anyone else to try and nail down the amount we give in aid to Israel... smh

Edited July 14, 2014 by Maggie123