Israeli media report he may revoke the longtime Arab population’s permanent residency status, his scheme for curbing Israeli initiated violence, a sure-fire way to increase it exponentially throughout the Occupied Territories.
The fate of over 370,000 East Jerusalemites hangs in the balance. Netanyahu’s proposed scheme sounds ominously like Hitler loading Jews on trains for death camps.
Where will this huge population go if forcibly expelled?
What does Netanyahu have in mind – greater ruthlessness and mass murder than already? For sure with full US support for whatever he does, no matter how outrageous!
Israel’s Channel 2 news said the scheme was discussed during a weekly security meeting earlier in October. Netanyahu was quoted saying:
“We need to examine the possibility of canceling their residency. There needs to be a discussion about it.”
Permanent East Jerusalem Arab residency is de facto Israeli citizenship. Imagine another nation deciding to displace, deport or otherwise remove a significant segment of its population. Overwhelming world outrage would follow, likely punitive measures slapped on the offender.
Israel already imposed unprecedented East Jerusalem movement restrictions, adding checkpoints and erecting separation barriers between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, encircling Palestinian ones, preventing them from entering or exiting without permission, subjecting them to intrusive searches, a clear example of collective punishment ignored by the world community.
Will it remain silent if Netanyahu implements his latest scheme? Will it let him destroy a vital Arab community, home for the capital Palestinians claim for a future state, including Islam’s third holiest site?
According to Channel 2, no further discussions were held since the proposal was raised – focus so far on implementing other draconian measures.
Haaretz cited unnamed “sources in the prime minister’s bureau” saying no mass displacement plans were made. “There is no such process to revoke the residency or citizenship of thousands of people,” a source said.
Meanwhile, Israeli-instigated violence continued on Sunday into Monday. An unarmed Palestinian youth was lethally shot multiple times in front of a Beit Einun school. Israel then declared the area a closed military zone, blocked ambulance help from arriving, left him bleeding to death unattended, another of its state-sponsored crimes.
Israeli soldiers murdered a Palestinian schoolgirl, unarmed, threatening no one. Israel called her a knife-wielding terrorist, the Big Lie it repeats ad nauseam.
Eyewitnesses called her a “terrified” young girl. One said she was surrounded by seven or eight soldiers. They “checked her belongings in a schoolbag,” he said.
“She looked like she was around 14 years old. She went through a metal detector. In the school bag they found nothing and asked her, ‘Where’s the knife?’ “
“She said, ‘I don’t have a knife.’ Then they fired between her legs. She was terrified and moved back half a meter or a meter. She raised her arms in the air (again) saying ‘I don’t have a knife.’ “
“Then they shot eight to 10 bullets, but I don’t know exactly who was shooting. Then she fell on the ground.” Other eyewitnesses said soldiers prevented medical help from arriving to try saving her.
Youth Against Settlements director Issa Amer “call(ed) on the military to release video of the incident because there are several CCTV surveillance cameras that record everything in that area.” Israel wants none of its crimes revealed.
On Saturday, noted physician, political activist, human rights champion Mustafa Barghouthi was attacked by unknown assailants near his Ramallah home.
He was injured with a sharp tool, he explained – his attackers saying “let the Intifada protect you.” He reported the incident to Israeli authorities, demanding an investigation he won’t get.
Israeli security forces and settlers rampage freely against defenseless Palestinians, injuring and murdering them unaccountably.
World leaders ignore their suffering, doing no more than urging both sides to show restraint – an affront to persecuted Palestinians, a green light for Israel to continue trampling on an entire population with impunity.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html . Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
