Watching the news about Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar not being welcome to visit Israel I'm astounded. Who started the rumor that they were going to Israel and who believes it? The stated purpose was a visit to oPt i.e. Occupied Palestinian Territory, i.e. oPt, i.e. Gaza and the West Bank, and Jerusalem, i.e. the remnants currently recognized as Palestine, internationally.
It's not the fault of those who want to visit oPt that they have to enter the West Bank through Israel, or Gaza through Egypt with Israel controlling the entrance/exit, like Israel also controls the Jordan entrance/exit. It's not their fault the nations of the world did not make Jerusalem an international city, not under Israel's dictates, so that everyone would be welcome and the folks to whom it is an important site for their religions could visit, or any reason other folks want to visit too, given interest due to Jerusalem’s long history.
And who started the rumor that BDS is for the purpose of the destruction of Israel? Who wants to believe that and why? Wanting Israel to decide to put an end to political zionist policies that violate international law it is signatory to, because of the way it manages the occupation, is not about destruction of Israel. It is about stopping the destruction of the Palestinian people because of the illegal policies of the government of Israel which result in brutality, infrastructure destruction, and death of Palestinian people who live in the oPt.
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction all together become a system that tightens the screws by peaceful economic means to persuade nations to make necessary changes. It is not violent and does not advocate the use of weapons and violence to change political policies. It worked to change policies of South Africa for the purpose of abolishing apartheid when the international community of nations applied BDS to South Africa. We were discussing how the same needs to be applied to Israel in the early 90s. It also took decades for the South Africa BDS effort to become organized enough internationally, too, to make a good difference as intended.
Fact is the Palestinian people have a legal right to resist the occupation. Saying so is not necessarily advocating the use of violence. It is simply stating a fact to enhance understanding of the choice BDS is. That bears repeating. "It is simply stating a fact to enhance understanding of the choice BDS is." Those who use violence are wrong because it leads to 10 times and more damage being done to Palestinians. Those who would be tempted to use violence know that, which is why when violence is reputed to be from Palestinians it is often suspected to be an undercover false flag operation of the government of Israel.
Why would Palestinians want to take violent actions that would result in all Palestinians being targeted by destructive policies of the Israeli government, in vengeful retribution? That the U.S.A. behaves as it believes Palestinians want to invite violence, is disingenuous. As astute as folks in government can be about other issues, they can not believably claim total ignorance about Israel/Palestine issues to the extent that the only sources they are willing to believe are those enabled by the Israeli government to spread the hasbara the American media and government want to so willingly buy into and spread as fact.
Maps depict Palestinian loss of land over several decades.The third map from the left shows in green the Palestinian territories Israel took in the 1967 war.see "The Occupation" at PalestinianPortal.org.
And who started the rumor that BDS is for the purpose of the destruction of Israel? Who wants to believe that and why? Wanting Israel to decide to put an end to political zionist policies that violate international law it is signatory to, because of the way it manages the occupation, is not about destruction of Israel. It is about stopping the destruction of the Palestinian people because of the illegal policies of the government of Israel which result in brutality, infrastructure destruction, and death of Palestinian people who live in the oPt.
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction all together become a system that tightens the screws by peaceful economic means to persuade nations to make necessary changes. It is not violent and does not advocate the use of weapons and violence to change political policies. It worked to change policies of South Africa for the purpose of abolishing apartheid when the international community of nations applied BDS to South Africa. We were discussing how the same needs to be applied to Israel in the early 90s. It also took decades for the South Africa BDS effort to become organized enough internationally, too, to make a good difference as intended.
Fact is the Palestinian people have a legal right to resist the occupation. Saying so is not necessarily advocating the use of violence. It is simply stating a fact to enhance understanding of the choice BDS is. That bears repeating. "It is simply stating a fact to enhance understanding of the choice BDS is." Those who use violence are wrong because it leads to 10 times and more damage being done to Palestinians. Those who would be tempted to use violence know that, which is why when violence is reputed to be from Palestinians it is often suspected to be an undercover false flag operation of the government of Israel.
Why would Palestinians want to take violent actions that would result in all Palestinians being targeted by destructive policies of the Israeli government, in vengeful retribution? That the U.S.A. behaves as it believes Palestinians want to invite violence, is disingenuous. As astute as folks in government can be about other issues, they can not believably claim total ignorance about Israel/Palestine issues to the extent that the only sources they are willing to believe are those enabled by the Israeli government to spread the hasbara the American media and government want to so willingly buy into and spread as fact.
