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      Israel's Crimes Against Humanity - Stop Killing Innocent Palestinians

      By Thomas Davies

      She was treating a protestor struck by a tear gas canister when the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) sniper’s bullet ripped through her white medic’s jacket and slammed into her chest. 21 year old Palestinian nurse and volunteer medic, Razan Al- Najjar died in a cloud of tear gas outside the Palestinian town of Khan Younis on the Gaza Strip. She was murdered on the same day the U.S. vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council demanding an end to Israel’s “shoot to kill policy” of firing on unarmed demonstrators in Gaza.

      Israel has again accelerated its violence against Palestinians in the face of a widespread non-violent protest campaign titled “The Great March of Return.” For more than two months the campaign has consistently mobilized thousands leading up to May 15, which marked 70 years since “the Nakba” (Catastrophe), when the state of Israel was proclaimed on Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians began.

      The situation became even more drastic on May 14, when U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law held a ceremony to mark the provocative relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Unarmed Palestinians protested at an Israeli-enforced, armed border and were massacred by the IDF. The Health Ministry in Gaza reported that the Israeli army had murdered 60 Palestinians and injured 2,771 in less than 24 hours.

      In total, 111 Palestinians had been killed and 12,733 injured by the IDF during the campaign. Despite massive violence, Palestinians have continued to mobilize. Israel has responded by killing more Palestinians, including Razan.

      Why Gaza?

      A 2012 U.N. report predicted the Gaza Strip would be “unliveable” by 2020 if nothing was done to ease the blockade – which Israel imposed ten years ago after the citizens of Gaza democratically elected the political party Hamas. Israel totally controls all land, air and sea entry to Gaza and severely restricts access to even food and construction materials.

      The Norwegian Refugee Council Reports that, “Gaza is described by many Palestinians and humanitarian actors as the world’s largest open-air prison, where 1.94 million Palestinians live behind a blockade and are refused access to the other occupied Palestinian areas and the rest of the world...1.6 million, or 84 percent, of the population in Gaza need humanitarian aid.”

      What Does Israel Mean When it Says “Peace”?

      The Israeli government has blamed the unarmed protestors for their own murders, calling the demonstrations at the border “acts of war” and self-exempting itself from human rights. The idea that a few thousand unarmed Palestinians pose a military threat to a nuclear weapons holding state which spends $21.6 billion a year on the military is indeed a cynical spin.

      In equally cynical maneuverings, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to say Israel will “welcome, as always” peace negotiations with Palestinians. This happens as he also pledges to advance and approve 3,900 new Israeli settler units in the West Bank and destroy Palestinian villages to make the room.

      One State and 1948

      The only real solution to the ongoing crisis is based in fundamental human rights. The hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were driven out in 1948, who have now grown into millions of displaced families, have the recognized “Right of Return” to their houses and homeland. It is also clear that the Zionist state of Israel, which is explicitly based on the rights of Jewish citizens above all others, comes at the direct expense of the human rights of Palestinians. A “two state” solution will never be viable because it is unable to solve those two huge human rights violations on which Israel is based.

      Razan Al-Najjar and the tens of thousands of especially young Palestinians that risk death daily are proving that Israel cannot shoot its way out of the human rights crisis it has created for the past 70 years. One state, with equal rights, is the only viable solution. Those who say this is unrealistic must ask themselves what kind of sick status quo they are upholding, and what kind of demented peace they are really building. Palestinians have not given up their struggle for dignity and selfdetermination, and neither should we.

      Follow Thomas Davies on Twitter: @thomasdavies59



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