Israel’s Undeclared War on Occupied Palestine
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Throughout its history since 1948, Israel has been at war on defenseless Palestinians – an entire population terrorized by a ruthless, illegal occupier in the Territories.
Israeli Arab citizens are denied their fundamental rights – afforded only to Jews. Apartheid rule worse than South Africa’s terrorizes them. Yet the world community remains largely uncaring and dismissive toward a long-suffering people.
Their rights and welfare don’t matter. A state of undeclared war exists in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, worst of all in besieged Gaza, its two million residents held hostage in the world’s largest open-air prison.
They’re easy pickings for Israeli terror-bombing and cross-border ground incursions. No safe havens exist anywhere in Occupied Palestine.
Israeli soldiers and other security forces conduct multiple daily raids in Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem communities, many pre-dawn – terrorizing families, traumatizing young children, arrests made solely for political reasons.
Thousands of Palestinian men, women, youths, and young children languish in Israel’s gulag as political prisoners – hundreds uncharged and untried.
Israeli Jews live normal lives. A permanent state of emergency exists in Occupied Palestine, in place since the late 1940s.
The lives and welfare of millions of Palestinians are threatened by racist Israeli regimes wanting them eliminated – terrorized by tyrannical apartheid rule on steroids.
PLO chairman/Israeli-installed Palestinian president/long-time collaborator with the Jewish state Mahmoud Abbas acts as its enforcer against his own people.
Except for PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, Abbas and the PLO are the enemies of the Palestinian people – especially hostile toward Gazans, their policies contributing to their misery.
With the above in mind, a Tuesday PLO statement blamed Israel entirely for its “dangerous escalation in the besieged Gaza Strip,” adding:
“(T)wo million Palestinians who have suffered from Israel’s illegal siege for the past 12 years are being targeted and have nowhere to seek shelter.”
“Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilian structures, including residential buildings and a TV station, are war crimes, and Israel must face consequences for its actions.”
“The right-wing Israeli government has been emboldened by the international community’s failure to enforce accountability.”
“The Palestinian leadership is committed to defending our people and their rights to live in peace, security, and freedom using all available diplomatic and legal tools.”
“The Palestinian leadership will also continue its serious efforts with the help of Egypt and other concerned parties to achieve reconciliation and unity.”
The problem with the above statement is no positive PLO policy initiatives support it – just the opposite.
Earlier leaked US diplomatic cables confirmed that Abbas knew about Israel’s December 2008/January 2009 Cast Lead aggression in advance.
Israel conferred with him and other PA leaders before launching it. Abbas lied saying he got no advance word.
Reuters quoted him “urg(ing) Israel to crush Hamas during the war.” Israeli war minister Avigdor Lieberman was foreign minister at the time.
He was quoted saying “(o)ver the past year, I witnessed (Abbas) at his best. In Operation Cast Lead, (he) called us personally, applied pressure, and demanded that we topple Hamas and remove it from power.”
Abbas also collaborated with Washington against Hamas. He likely knew about Israel’s 2012 Pillar of Cloud and 2014 Protective Edge aggression in advance – supporting both wars against Gaza and Hamas.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is located in the eye of Israel’s Sunday through Tuesday naked aggression on the Strip.
It issued the following statement, saying: “New Israeli Military Escalation in Gaza Strip: 2 Palestinian Civilians Killed and 20 others Wounded, including 5 Children and 4 Women, and Israeli Warplanes Carry out Airstrikes against Many Civilian Facilities, Residential Houses and Security Sites and Completely Destroy them.”
Seven Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades members were also killed. The PCHR said Israeli terror-bombing and shelling were the most intense since summer 2014 aggression on the Strip.
“(U)pon a decision by the highest Israeli military and political echelons, the Israeli forces carried out intense airstrikes against many civilian facilities and residential houses in addition to sites belonging to the security services and others to the Palestinian armed groups,” the PCHR said, adding:
“…Israeli artillery shelling also targeted the areas adjacent to the border fence with Israel.” Palestinian homes were destroyed and all possessions in them.
Unknown numbers of casualties may remain to be reported, especially if bodies (largely civilians) are buried beneath rubble.
Buildings were destroyed or damaged a “few meters away from the the former head office of the” PCHR.
The human rights group and others condemned Israeli aggression, exacerbating humanitarian crisis conditions.
Israel repeatedly commits grave UN Charter, Fourth Geneva, Rome Statute, and other international law breaches with impunity, none more serious than crimes of war, against humanity and genocide – Israeli specialties for the past 70 years.
A Haaretz Amos Harel commentary disgracefully blamed Hamas for the latest Israeli naked aggression on the Strip. No responsible editors would touch his rubbish.
Haaretz editors featured it – a racist commentary filled with disinformation, willful deception, and Big Lies, resembling what Western media feature. Harel operates as an IDF press agent, serving its interests, suppressing hard truths.
He downplayed the seriousness of Israel’s overnight Sunday commando raid – murdering seven Gazans, lamenting the loss of a senior IDF officer.
He shamefully called Hamas’ justifiable response to the incursion and Israeli terror-bombing “an attempt (by Hamas) to dictate new rules,” calling largely harmless Gazan rockets “heavy shelling of Israel.”
He largely ignored severe Israeli terror-bombing – terrorizing the Strip and its residents. He lied saying IDF “pilots are operating under strict restrictions in terms of inflicting what is know as ‘collateral damage,’ minimizing risks taken close to population centers…”
Israel considers civilians and nonmilitary sites legitimate targets in all its wars and other belligerent actions – flagrantly violating international law it doesn’t give a hoot about.
Israeli rules of engagement unjustifiably justify anything goes – including willfully massacring civilians, the vast number of dead and wounded in all its wars of aggression, along with destroying residential areas.
Harel lied claiming Hamas “escalate(ed) tensions” short of another war – Israel entirely responsible for ones launched, including aggression since Sunday, never Hamas or other Palestinians.
For over 48 hours, Israel escalated war on Gaza without declaring it. Like the Netanyahu regime and Washington, Harel blamed Hamas for premeditated Israeli naked aggression.
A ceasefire Israel tentatively agreed to isn’t worth the paper it’s written on – to be breached whenever the Netanyahu regime believes it’s in its strategic interest to strike again – the way it’s always been in Gaza and throughout the Territories.
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
