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Israeli ceasefire terms are one-way, demanding everything, giving nothing in return but empty promises – breached every time made.
They’re all about affording to itself the right to use indiscriminate, disproportionate force against defenseless Palestinian civilians – the right to kill, maim, and otherwise brutalize them with impunity, while denying them the right of self-defense.
They’re all about keeping two million Gazans imprisoned under suffocating blockade conditions.
They’re about cross-border incursions and terror-bombing the Strip at its discretion, denying Gazans enough proper food, clean water, medical care, and other essentials to life.
They’re about endless occupation viciousness, theft of Palestinian land and resources, control over virtually all aspects of their lives.
They’re about unaccountability for high crimes too grievous to ignore – against Gazans and all Palestinians.
No nation may legally use force on nonviolent resisters against tyranny, against occupation harshness, brutalizing blockade, grievous Israeli human and civil rights violations, and daily breaches of fundamental international humanitarian law.
Israel’s oppressive boot stomps on Palestinians daily throughout the Territories, Gazans suffering most of all, virtually imprisoned under concentration camp conditions – the world community doing nothing to help them, nothing to hold Israel accountable for its high crimes.
Great March of Return Fridays are all about Gazans wanting illegal ghettoized blockade conditions ended, about wanting to live free from Israeli state terror, about wanting their humanity and fundamental rights respected and observed.
A farcical Egyptian-brokered ceasefire reportedly became effective on on August 9, at midnight even though Israel didn’t formally approve it.
Whether mutually agreed on or not is meaningless. Israel does what it pleases with impunity.
August 10 was the 20th consecutive bloody Friday in Gaza – what meaningless Israeli ceasefires are all about.
At least two Palestinians were murdered by IDF snipers, including a paramedic, Abdullah Qutati, targeted for doing his job – aiding the wounded, trying to relieve suffering and save lives.
Over 300 other Gazans were wounded, 85 shot with live rounds, including illegal exploding dum dum bullets, used to destroy vital organs.
Scores injured on Friday required hospitalization, some in critical condition. According to Gaza health ministry’s Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, 26 children, five paramedics and two journalists were wounded.
Since March 30, Israeli forces killed 160 Gazans, injuring over 17,500 others, scores with life-threatening wounds, many others maimed for life.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said the following:
“Upon a Decision by the highest political and military echelons, the Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against the peaceful protesters, who posed no threat to the life of the soldiers.”
“Investigations and observations by PCHR’s fieldworkers emphasize that the demonstrations were as always fully peaceful and PCHR’s fieldworkers did not witness weapons or armed persons whereas Israeli forces’ snipers continued to position on the hills, behind the sand barriers and in military jeeps along the border fence.”
“Israeli tanks…opened fire” on nonviolent demonstrators. (IDF) snipers deliberately…opened fire” on Gazans, putting their bodies in harm’s way, threatening no one.
Weekly demonstrations are all about Palestinians wanting their fundamental rights affirmed under international law that Israel ruthlessly denies them.
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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.
