Friday, March 23, 2018

Spring 2018 Part 3



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Israel Part 3

The 1980's

On June 30, 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor that France was building for  Iraq. Three weeks later, Begin won yet again, in the 1981 elections (48 seats Likud, 47 Labour). Ariel Sharon was made defense minister. The new government annexed the Golan Heights and banned the national airline from flying on Shabbat. By the 1980's a diverse set of high-tech industries had developed in Israel.  Decades after the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quite as compared to its borders with other neighbors. Yet, the 1969 Cairo agreement inspired many from the PLO to attack Israel from South Lebanon. That area was governed by the PLO independent of the Lebanese government. It was known as "Fatahland" as Fatah was the largest faction in the PLO. Palestinian military shelled the Israeli north. They attacked the town of Kiryat Shmona, which was a Likud stronghold inhabited mostly by Jewish people who had fled Arabic nations. There was a lack of control over the Palestinian areas. This was one major cause of the civil war in Lebanon. By June 1982, there was the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov or the ambassador to Britain. That was used as a pretext for an Israeli invasion. Israel wanted to drive the PLO out of the southern half of Lebanon. The controversial Ariel Sharon agreed with the Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan to expand the invasion deep into Lebanon, but the cabinet had only authorized a 40 km. deep invasion. The invasion is called the 1982 Lebanon War. The Israeli army occupied Beirut, which was the only time an Arabic capital was occupied by Israel.

Some of the Shia and Christian population of South Lebanon welcomed the Israelis, as PLO forces had maltreated them, but Lebanese resentment of Israeli occupation grew over time and the Shia became gradually radicalized under Iranian guidance. Constant casualties among Israeli soldiers and Lebanese civilians led to growing opposition to the war in Israel. It is no secret that Sharon committed war crimes in the Lebanon war. By August of 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon (moving to Runisia). Israel helped engineer the election of the new Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel, who agreed to recognize Israel and sign a peace treaty.

Gemayal was assassinated before an agreement could be signed, and one day later Phalangist Christian forces led by Elie Hobeika entered two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred the Palestinian occupants. The massacres led to the biggest demonstration ever in Israel against the war, with as many as 400,000 people (almost 10% of the population) gathering in Tel Aviv. In 1983, an Israeli public inquiry found that Israel's defense minister, Sharon, was indirectly but personally responsible for the massacres. It also recommended that he never again be allowed to hold the post (it did not forbid him from being Prime Minister). In 1983, the May 17 Agreement was signed between Israel and Lebanon, paving the way for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory through a few stages. Israel continued to operate against the PLO until its eventual departure in 1985, and kept a small force stationed in Southern Lebanon in support of the South Lebanon Army until May 2000.

By September 1983, Begin resigned. He was succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister. The 1984 election was inconclusive. So, there was a power sharing agreement between Shimon Pres of the Alignment (44 seats) and Shamir of Likud (41 seats). Peres was prime minister from 1984 to 1986. Shamir was prime minister from 1986 to 1988. There was discrimination against the Sephardi Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people by the Ashkenzai Ultra-Orthodox establishment led political activist Aryeh Deri to leave the Agudat Israel party. They joined former chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in forming Shas, a new party aimed at the non-Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox vote. The party won 4 seats in the first election it contested and over the next twenty years was the third largest party in the Knesset. Shas established a nationwide network of free Sephardi Orthodox schools. In 1984, during a severe famine in Ethiopia, 8,000 Ethiopian Jewish people were secretly transported to Israel. In 1986, Natan Sharansky, a famous Russian human rights activist and Zionist refusenik (denied an exit visa), was released from the Gulag in return for two Soviet spies. In June of 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon. It left a residual Israeli force. There was an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a "security zone" and buffer against attacks on its northern territory. Since then, the IDF fought for many years against the Shia organization Hezbollah. In July of 1985, Israel's inflation was buttressed by complex index linking of salaries.

It has reached 480% per annum and was the highest in the world. Peres introduced emergency control of prices and cut government expenditure successfully bringing inflation under control. The currency (known as the old Israeli shekel) was replaced and renamed the Israeli new shekel at a rate of 1,000 old shkalim = 1 new shekel. In October 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian terrorist attack in Cyprus by bombing the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Growing Israeli settlement and continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, led to the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 1987, which lasted until the Madrid Conference of 1991, despite Israeli attempts to suppress it. The intifada was about Palestinian people hurting from poverty, discrimination, and oppression desiring liberation. Human rights abuses by Israeli troops led a group of Israelis to form B'Tselem, an organization devoted to improving awareness and compliance with human rights requirements in Israel. Technology grew in Israel with satellites.



Olso

In 1990, Shimon Peres was defeated by Shamir. In 1990, the Soviet Union allowed Soviet Jewish people into Israel. 1 million Soviet Jewish people came into Israel. By the Persian Gulf War, Iraq attacked Israel with 39 Scud missiles. Iraq invaded Kuwait. Israel gave gas masks to both Israeli and Palestinian populations. Patriot defense batteries from America and the Netherlands were used as protection against the scuds sent into Israel. On May 1991, during a 36-hour period, 15,000 Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish people) were secretly airlifted to Israel. The coalition's victory in the Gulf War opened new possibilities for regional peace, and on October 1991 the US President, George H.W. Bush, and Soviet Union Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, jointly convened a historic meeting in Madrid of Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian, and Palestinian leaders. Shamir opposed the idea but agreed in return for loan guarantees to help with absorption of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. His participation in the conference led to the collapse of his (right-wing) coalition.

After the 1992 elections, Yitzhak Rabin won a big election along with the Labour Party. The Labour Party won a large victory in 44 seats. Rabin at first didn't want to deal with the PLO. The pro-peace Zionist party Meretz won 12 seats. Arabic and communist parties a number of 5. Parties wanting peace had a small majority in the Knesst. Afterwards, a direct election of a prime minister existed. On July 25, 1993, Israel carried a week long military operation in Lebanon to attack Hezbollah positions. By September 13, 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords (a Declaration of Principles) on the South Lawn of the White House. The principles established objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian Authority, as a prelude to a final treaty establishing a Palestinian state, in exchange for mutual recognition. The DOP established May 1999 as the date by which a permanent status agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip would take effect. In February 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a follower of the Kach party, killed 29 Palestinians and wounded 125 at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, which became known as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. Kach had been barred from participation in the 1992 elections (on the grounds that the movement was racist). It was subsequently made illegal. Israel and the PLO signed the Gaza–Jericho Agreement in May 1994, and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities in August, which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Palestinians. On July 25, 1994, Jordan and Israel signed the Washington Declaration, which formally ended the state of war that had existed between them since 1948 and on October 26, the Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace, witnessed by US President Bill Clinton.

On September 28, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzah Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was signed in Washington, D.C. President Bill Clinton witnessed it. He did so on belief of America, Russia, Egypt, Norway, and the European Union. This was part of the stage of negotiations between Israel and the PLO. The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted the autonomy to the Palestinians. They wanted more talks in dealing with the final status. In return, Palestinians promised to abstain from terror and changed the Palestinian National Covenant which once called for the expulsion of all Jewish people who migrated after 1917 and the eliminated of Israel. This agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Some used suicide bomber attacks at Israel.



Yitzah Rabin

Rabin created a barrier as a means around Gaza to try to stop attacks. There was a separation increasing among Israel and the Palestinian territories. So, a labor shortage came about in Israel, mainly in the construction industry. So, Israeli firms started to import laborers from the Philippines, Thailand, China, and Romania. Some of these workers stayed without visas. More Africans started to come into Israel too. By November 4, 1995, a far right wing religious zealot and Zionist opponent of the Oslo Accords assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzahak Rabin was going into a more progressive direction and possibly agreeing to a Palestinian state. That is why the murderer killed Rabin. The murderer killed the Peace Process for over 20 years. In February of 1996, Rabin’s successor was Shimon Peres as Prime Minister.


Downtown Hebron

The late 1990's




In April of 1996, Israel attacked southern Lebanon as a result of Hezbollah’s Katyusha rocket attacks on the Israeli population centers along the border. In May of 1996, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was the new Prime Minister. He was a Likud Party leader. There were many suicide bombings. Netanyahu was a hardliner and disagreed with the Oslo Accords. He continued its implementation. He also saw a slowdown of the Peace Process. He pledged to gradually reduce U.S. aid to Israel. In September 1996, Palestinians had a rebellion over the creation of an exit in the Western Wall tunnel. About 80 people were killed weeks later.  In January 1997 Netanyahu signed the Hebron Protocol with the Palestinian Authority, resulting in the redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron and the turnover of civilian authority in much of the area to the Palestinian Authority.  In the election of July 1999, Ehud Barak of the Labour Party became Prime Minister. His party was the largest in the Knesset with 26 seats. In September 1999 the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the use of torture in interrogation of Palestinian prisoners was illegal. It is no secret that back then and today, the Palestinian people are oppressed by many Israeli forces.

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The early 21st century

On March 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II came into Israel for a historic visit. By May 25, 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from the security zone in southern Lebanon. Thousands of members of the South Lebanon Army and their families left with the Israelis. The UN Secretary-General concluded that, as of June 16, 2000, Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425. Lebanon claims that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory called "Sheba'a Farms" (however this area was governed by Syria until 1967 when Israel took control). The Sheba'a Farms provided Hezbollah with a ruse to maintain warfare with Israel. The Lebanese government, in contravention of the UN Security Council resolution, did not assert sovereignty in the area, which came under Hezbollah control. In the Fall of 2000, talks were held at Camp David to reach a final agreement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Ehud Barak offered to meet most of the Palestinian terms requests for territory and political concessions, including Arabic parts of east Jerusalem; however, Arafat abandoned the talks without making a counter proposal. After Israel left South Lebanon, Israel became a member of the Western European and Others Group at the United Nations.

Before this, Israel was the only nation in the UN that wasn’t a member of any group. The Arabic states wouldn’t allow it to join the Asia group. That meant that it couldn’t be a member of the Security Council or appoint anyone to the International Court and other key UN roles. Since December 2013, it has been a permanent member of the group. In July 2000, Aryeh Deri was sentenced to 3 years in prison for bribe taking. Deri is regarded as the mastermind behind the rise of Shas and was a government minister at the age of 24. Political manipulation meant the investigation lasted for years. Deri subsequently sued a Police Officer who alleged that he was linked to the traffic-accident death of a witness, who was run over in New York by a driver who had once been in the employ of an associate of Deri. One of the most mistakes of Ariel Sharon was when he visited the Al-Aqsa compound or the Temple Mount. This was a provocative act that caused the Palestinian al-Aqsa intifada.  David Samuels and Khaled Abu Toameh have stated that the uprising was planned much earlier. In October 2000, Palestinians destroyed Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish shrine in Nablus.

The Arrow missile, a missile designed to destroy ballistic missiles, including Scud missiles, was first deployed by Israel. In 2001, with the Peace Process increasingly in disarray, Ehud Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. Barak hoped a victory would give him renewed authority in negotiations with the Palestinians. Instead opposition leader Ariel Sharon was elected PM. After this election, the system of directly electing the Premier was abandoned. From 2001 to the present, the peace process for all purposes is gone. The failure of the peace process was evident. Israel continued occupation. Also, many forms of terrorism existed from Hezbollah, the IDF, and other groups. Many Palestinians lost confidence in the Palestinian Authority. Many Israelis wanted to disengage from the Palestinians. There were continued suicide bomb attacks including the Passover Massacre. Then, Israel launched the Operation Defensive Shield in March of 2002.

Sharon began to build a barrier around the West Bank, which was overtly racist and authoritarian. Around this time, the Israeli town of Sderot and other Israeli communities near Gaza was subject to shelling and mortar bomb attacks from Gaza. Thousands of Jewish people from Latin America came into Israel due to the economic crises in those nations. By January of 2003, there were separate elections held for the Knesset. Likud run most the seats.  An anti-religion party, Shinui, led by media pundit Tommy Lapid, won 15 seats on a secularist platform, making it the third largest party (ahead of orthodox Shas). Internal fighting led to Shinui's demise at the next election. In 2004, the Black Hebrews were granted permanent residency in Israel. The group had begun migrating to Israel 25 years earlier from the United States, but had not been recognized as Jewish by the state and hence not granted citizenship under Israel's Law of Return. They had settled in Israel without official status.

From 2004 onward, they received citizen's rights. The Sharon government created the desalinization plants to end Israeli drought. Some of these plants were among the largest of their kind in the world. Operation Rainbow was executed in May 2004 by Israel. It was done to act in Gaza to create a safer environment for IDF soldiers along the Philadelphi Route. By September 30, 2004, Israel carried out Operation Days of Penitence in northern Gaza. Israel wanted to destroy the launching sites of Palestinian rockets used to attack Israeli towns. In 2005, all Jewish settlers were evacuated from Gaza (some forcibly) and their homes demolished. Disengagement from the Gaza Strip was completed on September 12, 2005. Military disengagement from the northern West Bank was completed ten days later. In 2005 Sharon left the Likud and formed a new party called Kadima, which accepted that the peace process would lead to creation of a Palestinian state. He was joined by many leading figures from both Likud and Labour.

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In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election. Hamas experienced this win during the free Palestinian elections. Hamas’ leaders rejected all agreements signed with Israel. They refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist. They refused to end terror and some occasionally claimed that the Holocaust was a Jewish conspiracy (which is disrespectful, evil, and wrong period). The withdrawal and Hamas victory left the status of Gaza unclear, Israel claimed it was no longer an occupying power but continued to control air and sea access to Gaza although it did not exercise sovereignty on the ground. Egypt insisted that it was still occupied and refused to open border crossings with Gaza, although it was free to do so. The truth is that Gaza is occupied by Israeli forces. By April 2006, Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a severe hemorrhagic stroke and Ehud Olmert became Prime Minister.

Ehud Olmert was elected Prime Minister of Israel and of his Party Kadima. This was during the 2006 Israeli legislative election. Israel and Iran has been more confrontational since 2005 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran. Many Israeli analysts falsely believe that Iran is creating a nuclear weapon to attack Israel. Iran supports Hezbollah. Hezbollah and Israel have attacked each other.  On March 14, 2006, Israel carried out an operation in the Palestinian Authority prison of Jericho in order to capture Ahmad Sa'adat and several Palestinian Arab prisoners located there who assassinated Israeli politician Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001. The operation was conducted as a result of the expressed intentions of the newly elected Hamas government to release these prisoners. On June 25, 2006, a Hamas force crossed the border from Gaza and attacked tank, capturing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, sparking clashes in Gaza. On  July 12, Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon, shelled Israeli towns and attacked a border patrol, taking two dead or badly wounded Israeli soldiers. These incidents led Israel to initiate the Second Lebanon War, which lasted through August 2006. Israeli forces entered some villages in Southern Lebanon, while the air force attacked targets all across the country. Israel only made limited ground gains until the launch of Operation Changing Direction 11, which lasted for 3 days with disputed results.

Shortly before a UN ceasefire came into effect, Israeli troops captured Wadi Saluki. The war concluded with Hezbollah evacuating its forces from Southern Lebanon, while the IDF remained until its positions could be handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL. More Africans came into Israel to escape Darfur in 2007. Many Africans face racism and discrimination in Israel. An American billionaire casino owner, Sheldon Adelson, set up a free newspaper Israel Hayom with the express intention of reducing the influence of the dominant (centre-left) newspaper Yediot Ahronot and causing a right-ward shift in Israeli politics by supporting Netanyahu. Hamas in June of 2007 took over the Gaza Strip. Israel and Egypt used a partial blockade of Gaza. On September 6, 2007, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria. On February 28, 2008, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the constant firing of Qassam rockets by Hamas militants. On July 16, 2008, Hezbollah swapped the bodies of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, kidnapped in 2006, in exchange for the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah prisoners, and the bodies of 199 Palestinian Arab and Lebanese fighters.

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The era of Netanyahu

Olmert was investigated for corruption. He stepped down as Prime Minister on July 30, 2008. Israel attacked the Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009 in Operation Cast Lead in respond from Hamas using rocket attacks. By 2009 to the present, Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of Israel. On May 31, 2010, an international incident broke out in the Mediterranean Sea when foreign activists trying to break the maritime blockade over Gaza, clashed with Israeli troops. During the struggle, nine Turkish activists were killed. In late September 2010, there were direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians without success. As a defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population, at the end of March 2011 Israel began to operate the advanced mobile air defense system "Iron Dome" in the southern region of Israel and along the border with the Gaza Strip. On July 14, 2011, the largest social protest in the history of Israel began in which hundreds of thousands of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds in Israel protested against the continuing rise in the cost of living (particularly housing) and the deterioration of public services in the country (such as health and education).

The peak of the demonstrations took place on September 3, 2011, in which about 400,000 people demonstrated across the country. Hamas and Israel made a deal on October 2011 in which a kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinians and Arabic-Israeli prisoners. In July 2013, as a "good will gesture" to restart peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom had been in jail since before the 1993 Oslo Accords, including militants who had killed Israeli civilians. On April 2014, Israel suspended peace talks after Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government. Israel and Hamas battle each other again in 2014. Tensions continue after Trump in a provocative, extreme fashion wanted to make Jerusalem the headquarters of the Embassy in Israel. The peace process is over for now as Trump has threatened to cut aid to Palestine. With extremists like Netanyahu (who wants to get rid of African migrants in Israel) and Trump (who ignores Palestinian suffering), it may take years and decades for real peace to exist in the Middle East.  Netanyahu in 2018 is experiencing a scandal and has been accused, even by people in Israel, of financial corruption. He reaped what he has sown. Now, peace in the Middle East is still what we're fighting for.

By early May of 2018, Trump and Netanyahu (who are allies and men filled with scandals) made Jerusalem the location of the new U.S. embassy. It was once in Tel Aviv. This was historic and controversial since no major negotiations caused this to occur among the Palestinians. Trump doesn't give a care about the plight of the Palestinians. While there is no justification for terrorists to kill Israelis. There is also no justification for Palestinians to be murdered by Israeli military terrorists either. Many journalists in Gaza have been shot by military Israeli forces recently. The Palestinians have a long history of experiencing unjust occupation, discrimination, and racism. There is racism in Israel too where black African migrants are forcibly removed and black Israeli residents experience racism on a daily basis. This is real. I'm not just typing this words. I have researched this information for over 10 years. One Israeli Sephradi rabbi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef made racists comments against African Americans too. He believes that non-Jewish people in Israel must follow the Noahide laws which is ludicrous. He made a sexist remark about secular women as well. He is a deception. From the Six Day War to the infitadas, the history of the Israeli/Palestine conflict has been filled with occupation, bloodshed, and other problems.

Regardless of the Trump lies, the protesters in Gaza are not collectively Hamas agents. Many of them have sincerity in desiring Palestinian liberation. Israel is basically an ethnocentric state. Israel came about after one of the worst crimes in human history which is the Holocaust. Many early Israeli leaders were descendants of refugees from Poland and Eastern Europe (back then Stalin's pogroms caused many Jewish people to came into Israel. Stalinism isn't socialism, but totalitarianism). Massive economic inequality exist in both Israel and Palestine. Also, Israelis include Yemeni, Iraqi, Sephardi, and Mizarahi Jewish people. 70 years since 1948 (which is called the Nabka or the catastrophe by Palestinians) or the year when Israel was formed has been filled with controversy indeed. There is no solution to this crisis unless an international plan exists where both Jewish and Arabic people work together to build working class liberation and liberation in general for those who live in the region excluding occupation & oppression.


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Conclusion and Reflections

One of the most controversial histories in world history revolve around Israel. I inquired about its culture and social realities for a long time. I am blessed enough to know the truth. For thousands of years, a plethora of ethnic groups and civilizations have been developing plus growing in Israel from ancient Israeli Kingdoms, ancient Egypt domination, and to reign of the Assyrian Empire. Scholars have used archaeology to discover the secrets of Israel continuously. It's a land where three large monotheistic religions flourish to this very day. These religions (i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have their stories based there or huge religious structures reside in its boundaries. Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Muhammad are praised by billions internationally. Jewish people and Arabic people (plus other human beings of diverse colors) call Israel their home. Yet, massive bloodshed has transpired within its territories too. The Bar Kokhba revolt and the various intifadas were very bloody indeed. Historically, tons of Jewish people have experienced genocide, pogroms, religious scapegoating, expulsions from nations, and discrimination for thousands of years. That was wrong period. The nation of Israel's historical events and actions have been vigorously debated back then and presently. The Zionist movement, the events of the second World War (which dealt with long battles and the evil Holocaust), and the Aliyahs overtly facilitated the creation of Israel in 1948. The British Empire endorsed the 1917 Balfour Declaration which desired a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. The British played both sides of the streets by supporting Jewish nationalism at times and Arabic nationalism at other occasions (Some British authorities expelled, hanged, and assaulted Arabic persons who dissented with them). The British after World War II supported a bi-national state, but both sides rejected this proposal.

So, the British Empire allowed the United Nations to deal with the Middle Eastern conflict. During the 20th century, the land of Israel has been transformed from being dominated by imperial entities from the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire to being an ethnocentric country dominated by Jewish people (along with Arabic people inhabiting the land as well). The aftermath of the events of 1948 caused about 750,000 Palestinians to be expelled from their own homes. The humanity of the Palestinians must be absolutely respected. Many Palestinians have experienced unjust occupations, murders, rapes, checkpoints, discrimination, racism, and other atrocities for decades at the hands of those (from the IDF to other Israeli military forces) who seek remorseless conformity to oppression instead of astonishing justice. Many Israelis have suffered suicide bomb attacks and other forms of murder which have no justification either. In the strongest terms possible, I will forever condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

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She is the journalist Rula Jebreal. She is a great woman with great insights on issues.

Israeli leadership today has allied with Western imperialists in desiring control over Middle Eastern regional resources (in opposition to the Shia Iranian interests). Even Israel and the royals of Saudi Arabia are in unison in resisting Iranian geopolitical aims. Nevertheless, there are sincere Palestinians and sincere Israelis who aspire real peace (not racism, not xenophobia, not terrorism, not colonialism, and not other cruel injustices). The progressive elements of the peace movement in the Middle East must be supported and harnessed in establishing peace and justice for all in the region completely. Lucy Talgieh and other Palestinians activists have made it their lives' work to engage in social activism, so authentic liberation is enacted. Talia Sasson is an Israeli lawyer who is for impartial egalitarianism in the region.

The journalist Rula Jebreal has eloquently and heroically outlined the necessity of presenting fair media coverage as it relates to Israel and Palestine (as she has rightfully criticized the biased corporate media's coverage involving the Middle East). She said that tons of the residents of Gaza lack access to clean drinking water, which is a total shame. Rula Jebrael is a Palestinian scholar and foreign policy analyst.  She is a novelist and a woman whose bravery is admirable. Rula Jebreal is also fluent in four languages: Arabic, Hebrew, English and Italian. She's a genius. We want African immigrants in Israel to be respected of their human rights excluding massive deportation. We desire black people in Israel in general to be truly free. We desire total Palestinian liberation without Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. We demand that Benjamin Netanyahu, who is an ally of the bigot Donald Trump, to be held accountable for his financial corruption. Not to mention that progressive Israelis should work with Palestinians in forming a real solution too. In the end, we want equality, freedom, and no imperialism in the Middle East (among all of the human beings who inhabit there). This is our unabashed, direct objective.



Salaam and Shalom.


By Timothy


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