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A catalog of impunity

Omar Robert Hamilton compiled a list of Israel’s actions since the Gaza ceasefire at the LRB blog two weeks ago. The catalog has obviously gotten much longer in the interim, but this list is a poetic reminder of the power imbalance in a conflict that is treated so often in the U.S. as mutual. I excerpt about half of Hamilton’s catalog. Full list at the link:

On 26 August a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed, bringing a fragile end to a war that killed 2150 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 73 Israelis (mostly soldiers). Since then Hamas has not fired a single rocket, attacked an Israeli target, or done anything to break the terms of the ceasefire. Israel has done the following:

1. Annexed another 1500 acres of West Bank land
2. Seized $56 million of PA tax revenue…
6. Killed a 22-year-old, Issa al Qatari, a week before his wedding
7. Killed 16-year-old Mohammed Sinokrot with a rubber bullet to the head
8. Tortured a prisoner to the point of hospitalisation
9. Refused 13 members of the European Parliament entry into Gaza
10. Detained at least 127 people across the West Bank, including a seven-year-old boy in Hebron and two children, aged seven and eight, taken from the courtyard of their house in Silwad – and tear-gassed their mother
11. Continued to hold 33 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in prison
12. Continued to hold 500 prisoners in administrative detention without charge or trial…
22. Continued building a vast tunnel network under Jerusalem
23. Stormed the al Aqsa mosque compound with a group of far right settlers
24. Assisted hundreds of settlers in storming Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus
25. Prevented students from entering al Quds University, firing stun grenades and rubber bullets at those who tried to go in
26. Earned unknown millions on reconstruction materials for Gaza, where 100,000 people need their destroyed homes rebuilt. The total bill is estimated at $7.8 billion

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The usual problem: the list is One Sided. Thus, in the same period there were MANY incidents of stones throwing on cars and trains and worse (up to opening fire on Jewish neighborhoods in the Jerusalem area.

Vastly important to keep tabs and a tally on the criminal state. It’ll come in handy when Israel lies again and blames Hamas for breaking this “ceasefire”. A “ceasefire” that only the Palestinians have upheld.

Indefensible, unconscionable, and sickening.

@ivri ~

“The usual problem: the list is One Sided. Thus, in the same period there were MANY incidents of stones throwing on cars and trains and worse (up to opening fire on Jewish neighborhoods in the Jerusalem area.”

Let’s assume your list is 100% correct for the moment. Stone throwing and opening fire. OK.
Let’s add that into the mix.

How’s that stack up against a punishing blockade, unchecked settlement building, rubber bullets, real bullets, fragmentation bombs, white phosphorus, land grabs, Jews-only thoroughfares, extra-judicial detention, a 3+ billion a year war budget, a bought and sold American Congress and, as my hand is getting tired, complete protection from any international repercussions by the good old US veto in the UN?

What were you saying about one sided?