Wednesday Edition | 15 Years of Failed Experiments: Myths and Facts about the Israeli Siege on Gaza

Source: Palestine Chronicle
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/15-years-of-failed-experiments-myths-and-facts-about-the-israeli-siege-on-gaza/

By Ramzy Baroud
Published July 6, 2022

               “When you freeze (the peace) process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem, (see below)” 
 

Fifteen years have passed since Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip, subjecting nearly two million Palestinians to one of the longest and most cruel politically-motivated blockades in history. 

The Israeli government had then justified its siege as the only way to protect Israel from Palestinian “terrorism and rocket attacks”. This remains the official Israeli line until this day. Not many Israelis – certainly not in government, media or even ordinary people – would argue that Israel today is safer than it was prior to June 2007. 

It is widely understood that Israel has imposed the siege as a response to the Hamas takeover of the Strip, following a brief and violent confrontation between the two main Palestinian political rivals, Hamas, which currently rules Gaza, and Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. 

However, the isolation of Gaza was planned years before the Hamas-Fatah clash, or even the Hamas legislative election victory of January 2006. Late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was determined to redeploy Israeli forces out of Gaza, years prior to these dates.

What finally culminated in the Israeli Disengagement from Gaza in August-September 2005 was proposed by Sharon in 2003, approved by his government in 2004 and finally adopted by the Knesset in February 2005. 

The ‘disengagement’ was an Israeli tactic that aimed at removing a few thousand illegal Jewish settlers out of Gaza – to other illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank – while redeploying the Israeli army from crowded Gaza population centers to the border areas. This was the actual start of the Gaza siege...

Read more: 15 Years of Failed Experiments: Myths and Facts about the Israeli Siege on Gaza

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Opinion | All Is Well, Everyone Is for Apartheid

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2022-07-11/ty-article-opinion/.premium/all-is-well-everyone-is-for-apartheid/00000181-eded-dbbe-a5b1-efed43c50000?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

By Hagai El-Ad
Published July 12, 2022

I do not know why former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided to retire from office. One thing can and must be clear right now: The reason he cited – the inability to pass the renewal of the emergency regulations which apply Israeli law to citizens in the West Bank – is a convenient narrative to adopt, but is nothing more than that. It is not the Judea and Samaria regulations that toppled the government, it’s not them that we are going to the polls about, and what has been revealed is the precise opposite of what is claimed: It isn't a dispute that tore the Knesset apart, but a wall-to-wall consensus.

According to the narrative, which seizes on the regulations as a pretense, July 1, 2022 was supposed to be day one of the collapse of public order in the “Judea and Samaria Area” and the demolition of Israeli linkage to these lands. The first day of the “jungle,” the “chaos,” and the “anarchy” – all quotes from Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar in the Knesset. Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara, who, to put it gently, makes frequent public statements, spared no effort in describing the abyss approaching as the clock ticked from June to July. An abyss with blessed public order on one side and menacing chaos on the other.

Shall we fall into the abyss or be saved at the last moment? Never before have so many waited with breath so bated for the decision on the regulations, which most of them have never heard of. In any event, we can all rest easy. The Knesset dispersed itself before midnight, and the regulations were extended automatically. But were we really on the brink of disaster?...

Read more: Opinion | All Is Well, Everyone Is for Apartheid

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Palestinian Christians release “A Dossier on Israeli Apartheid”

Source: Mondoweiss
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/07/palestinian-christians-release-a-dossier-on-israeli-apartheid/

By JEFF WRIGHT
Published July 7, 2022
 

Repeated cries from Palestinian Christians naming Israel’s apartheid have largely gone unanswered. Last Friday, they and their allies around the globe spoke again, adding their voice to those of international human rights organizations and a growing number of church bodies that are naming Israel as an apartheid state. 

During last Friday’s release of A Dossier on Israeli Apartheid: A Pressing Call to Churches Around the World, Palestinian Latin Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah said, “Israel needs true friends who tell Israel the truth. Those who say to Israel, ‘Everything you do, wrong or right, is right,’ are not Israel’s true friends.” Patriarch Sabbah said, “True friends tell you, ‘Do not do wrong to yourself by doing wrong to others, namely to the Palestinian people.’”

The 48-page document provides a detailed description of the crime of apartheid and how Israel meets the international definition; builds a Biblical/theological case for describing apartheid as a sin; offers a heartfelt call to the global church and all those of good will to hear the pleas of Palestinian Christians; provides an annotated list of detailed reports, statements and resolutions pointing to Israel’s apartheid regime; and a list of recommended actions.

The dossier was created by Kairos Palestine, the most extensive Palestinian Christian ecumenical non-violent movement, chaired by the Patriarch, and Global Kairos for Justice, a worldwide coalition of concerned Christians that formed in response to the 2009 document, A Moment of Truth...

Read more: Palestinian Christians release “A Dossier on Israeli Apartheid”