Israel Bleeding Palestinians 10-24-2006

24, October 2006                 Israel Bleeding Palestinians  

       

Israel continues to bleed the impoverished Palestinians withholding tax revenues exacerbating the unemployment situation and fueling more anger and suffering. The US administration has directed funds to the rival Fatah party in effort to further divide the Palestinians and weaken the opposition to Israeli’s state sponsored terrorism. In a renewed effort to halt foreign based Palestinian entrepreneurs, Israel is denying them Palestinian residency.

In complete violation of international law, Israel maintains control of all the borders and the Palestinian Registry. Simply stated nobody can enter or leave the West Bank or Gaza without Israeli permission, mimicking the draconian laws imposed by the white apartheid South African government. Take the example of Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American businessman who moved to his old home town of El Bireh and established a thriving $100 million telecommunications company employing more than 2,000 Palestinians and a $10 million shopping center employing 220 Palestinians.  He has waited 12 long years to gain residency. 

Contrast this appalling injustice, with rights accorded to Jews from anywhere in the world who are granted immediate citizenship – a right denied the indigenous people who have lived there for centuries. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the official Israeli policy since 1983, is to drastically reduce family reunification requests of the Palestinians.

Thousands of Palestinians are being denied residency and visitation rights. B’Tselem reports that in the last six years alone, more than 70,000 people have applied for permission to immigrate to the West Bank and Gaza to join their families. Most applicants have been denied. In addition to the appalling human rights violations imposed by Israel, there has been a concerted effort to split families and maintain the imprisoned population in a permanent state of abject poverty. 

The current policies of Israel are succinctly described in former President’s Carter, latest book, as a “a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.”