Israel's Shame
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anti-war / imperialism |
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Wednesday October 10, 2007 13:40
by Miriam
Birth and death at the checkpoint
A doctor gives an account of the condition of the Palestinian people.
Le the usual Israeli state defenders say what they like, they can only seem evil and twisted in the light of Dr Asad Khan' s report from Palestine. A quote:
"At Huwwara checkpoint near Nablus, we saw a queue extending for half a kilometre out of the cramped shed and into the merciless sun. One by one, the Palestinians were called forward and their documents inspected. Some got through, others were turned back. Depending on the mood of the soldier. The explanation given for the checkpoints- 'security'- is a lie, as the barriers mostly stand between Palestinian cities and towns, not between Palestine and Israel.
Israel, through its system of 700 checkpoints, roadblocks and earth mounds in the West Bank strangles the Palestinians' freedom of movement. 68 women have been forced to give birth at checkpoints since the year 2000 ( www.ifamericansknew.org). Half of the babies involved have died, as have 4 of the women. Many of the babies born have suffered irreversible brain damage. Imagine being the helpless husband or son of a woman forced to endure the pain of labour on the baking earth at a checkpoint- with an armed soldier looking on- and you will begin to understand how suicide bombers are born. "
http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8971#8971
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Imagine being the helpless husband or son of a woman murdered by a suicide bomber and you will begin to understand how necessary checkpoints are.
Islamic terrorist have a long-standing record of employing female suicide bombers See wikipedia link below. Can you therefore really blame Israeli soldiers for not relaxing the control for women on the checkpoints? Also, it is well known that people often have to wait several hours to be dealt with on the checkpoints. Therefore it simply borders on utter stupidity for women to make such a journey when on the brink of giving birth. Don't blame the Israelis for the unfortunate death of newly born babies and pregnant women. But instead blame those terrorists for forcing the Israelis to create these checkpoints in the first place.
I was standing back from this, but then Martin's comment & link to wikipedia got me going. There has never been a female suicide bomber at the checkpoint. The most female suicide bombers presented themselves during the the al-Aqsa Intifada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Intifada There were 6 of them. The first was Wafa Idris she died & killed one man in Jerusalem 2002 January http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafa_Idris her death prompted this BBC article which reflects widespread consternation at the time & also widespread condemnation amongst muslims - on the mystery that a female would don the belt. Most of the examples in the source you gave did not die through belts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1788694.stm
The most emotive from a geopolitical standpoint was Ayat al Akhras March 2002 - emotive in that it at least caused even Bush to reflect "“When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying, the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayat_al-Akhras
The last female suicide bomber to use a belt was in 2003 was Hanadi Jaradat who died in 2003. She killed 21 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanadi_Jaradat
The intifida to which their deaths and murders belong saw 704 Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians; 321 Israeli security force personnel killed by Palestinians in contrast to 4,267 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces;
41 Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians;
541 Palestinians killed by Palestinians.
by careful examination of the source you present and the links to that source (as in reading the page properly) your "once bitten twice shy" thing rings hollow.
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The IDF can scan for explosives at the checkpoint. They have the technology, for the widow's son, even the Myanmar Burmese airport has the technology.
They don't. That leads me to only one working conclusion - They do not engage in a military sound application of resources and equipment but rather in a strategy of psychological warfare, which is in ordinary terms - Terror.
See that? Jesus or the J word didn't come into it.
Miriam has offered us an excellent piece. After considering its comments let us ask the "pro-IDF" lot to ask that in future Israeli security forces use the equipment they have & not put their conscripts at risk or terrorise the Palestinians to whom this checkpoint is an utter imposition. That fair? Or we can go on slicing the baba in two.
Thanks Mim.
These checkpoints greatly predate the initial suicide bombers. Israel has unjustly occupied Palestinian land since the six day war in 1967. The first suicide bombing did not occur until 1993.
Islamic extremism is not the cause of suicide bombers. Anti-Semitism is not the cause of suicide bombers. Desperate human beings facing apartheid with no defence against a US backed military, is one of the reasons for suicide bombers.
I’m somewhat bemused after reading Martins post because it leads me to assume that Israeli checkpoints operate under an "if she floats, she's a witch" philosophy. So, under this reasoning, if a heavily pregnant woman approaches them to pass through to deliver her baby she will always be refused because of the risk she could be carrying explosives. The fact that a security guard would stand unemotive at their post while a woman gave birth in front of them- or watch mother or baby die afterwards because of the fear she is a ticking time bomb does not seem a rational reason for allowing this to happen.
Secondly, the possible implication to my mind after reading this that there is even the slightest possibility that a pregnant woman would use her status to pass through the border with the intention of being a suicide bomber is one I do not even want to contemplate. It is difficult despite facts and statistics to get past that the situation in Palestine is a case study of the oppressed becoming the oppressors. The only rational conclusion I can come to for the situation described by Dr Khan in Miriam's post is that an active policy of repression and discrimination is in place by the Israeli government towards the people of Palestine and no vindication of this policy can possibly hold water in any individual with even the most basic semblance of a functioning conscience
"But instead blame those terrorists for forcing the Israelis to create these checkpoints in the first place."
These checkpoints are in the occupied territories. I suppose the logic is that the "terrorists" forced the Israelis to build apartment blocks and semi-detached housing there too.
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