Being a student of history it was sad to learn of the occupation of Palestine by Israel Zionist. Recently Israel just allowed limited food aid into the Gaza. Israel says it closed the borders because of some militant factions firing homemade rockets being in its southern regions. While I do not want to get into how Palestininan resists Zionist colonization(a whole article in itself) the bigger issue at hand is how everyone in Gaza is being punished. With the approval of the US and the world community, Israel continues to violate international law by depriving a population (1.5 million) of food, clean drinking water, medicine, and gas among other basic necesities. The irony of this whole situation is that Jewish people are exactly like the Hitler Nazi regime that they love to despised. Even more ironic is the key articles created during the Geneva Convention that addressed the horrible treatment of Jews at the hands of the Nazis. The Jews are violating these articles! You would think that the Jews, one of the most persecuted people in history would be understanding enough not deny food and aid to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza. But hey thats entitlement for ya! Did you know Israel is the only country that does not have its borders drawn on the map?
Andrea Becker from the Guardian writes:
Israel's blockade means the denial of a broad range of items - food, industrial, educational, medical - deemed "non-essential" for a population largely unable to be self-sufficient at the end of decades of occupation. It means that industrial, cooking and diesel fuel, normally scarce, are virtually absent now. There are no queues at petrol stations; they are simply shut. The lack of fuel in turn means that sewage and treatment stations cannot function properly, resulting in decreased potable water and tens of millions of litres of untreated or partly treated sewage being dumped into the sea every day. Electricity cuts - previously around eight hours a day, now up to 16 hours a day in many areas - affect all homes and hospitals. Those lucky enough to have generators struggle to find the fuel to make them work, or spare parts to repair them when they break from overuse. Even candles are running out.There can be no dispute that measures of collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are illegal under international humanitarian law. Fuel and food cannot be withheld or wielded as reward or punishment. But international law was tossed aside long ago.
Conditions in Gaza of have been unspeakable and so called democratic countries have not spoke out against the atrocities. Especially the US which enjoys a loving relationship with Israel. Most Americans support their country's relationship with Israel because it gives them another reason to despise Arabs and Islam in general (Remember The Delta Force Movies?). Americans would be amazed to know how much we benefit from Arab countries while at the same time while we have no idea what we sacrifice for Israel.
Arabs provide the following for us:
- (OPEC), which are all Arab or Muslim (with the exception of Venezuela), exchange their oil for petrodollars, which means non-producing countries must keep vast sums of dollars in reserve, thus bolstering the dollar and the US economy. - The Gulf supplies the US with approximately one-third of its total oil requirements or some 2.5 million barrels per day.
- The 22 Arab League member countries import more goods and services from the US than any other region, especially vehicles, machinery, equipment, building materials, chemicals, medicines and aircraft. Saudi Arabia alone buys more than Israel and Egypt combined.
- US sales of goods and services to the GCC have totaled more than $20 billion annually and “create or sustain more than half-a-million jobs in the United States,” according to the American Business Council of the Gulf Countries.
- The GCC states invest billions of dollars annually in US acquisitions, property and bonds. Saudi Arabia alone invests an estimated 60 percent of its global investment in the US, according to Tanya C. Hsu, a senior analyst of Middle East political economy at the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy.
Now what do we get from Israel?
What about the American people? What are they obliged to sacrifice for the sake of maintaining America’s favored relation with Israel?
First on the list is the official figure of $3 billion each year, which American taxpayers donate to Israeli coffers whether they like it or not.
This is split up into $1.2 billion in economic aid and $1.8 billion in military aid, two-thirds of which must be spent on American-made military hardware and planes.
In reality, Israel receives much more than that because there are extra sums, which according to The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs “are buried in the budgets of governments departments such as the Defense Department.”
The US also gives Israel billions of dollars in loans and often writes off these amounts so that it can say with hand over heart honesty that Israel has never defaulted on a loan. It further guarantees loans to Israel to the tune of $2 billion annually.
By conservative estimates, by the end of a US citizen’s life he or she will have contributed $25,000 in taxes to support Israel, which for some signifies an entire year’s pay.
Since 1949, the US has given the Jewish state a whopping $140 billion or more. To put this in context, this represents almost one-and-a-half times the annual GDP of the United Arab Emirates, which in 2005 stood at $98.1 billion.
So whose a better friend? The information and facts are out there people! I find the truth is much more beneficial when one finds it out for themselves. The occupation of Palestine is wrong on so many levels. Many people will say that Israel is trying to live in peace with Palestinians but thats not the case:
Israeli Occupational Jargon
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.
"There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." Golda Maier Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969
"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." - Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio. (Certainly the FBI's cover-up of the Israeli spy ring/phone tap scandal suggests that Mr. Sharon may not have been joking.)
"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population." Israel Koenig, "The Koenig Memorandum"
"We will have a world government whether you like it or not. The only question is whether that government will be achieved by conquest or consent." (Jewish Banker Paul Warburg, February 17, 1950, as he testified before the U.S. Senate).
"There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy." Israeli president Moshe Katsav. The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001.
Sad thing is there is much more....truth is out there people
Paz
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