It seems to me that every time Israel and the U.S. gets together they talk about negotiations and road maps and deciding the fate of Palestinians…without the Palestinians. Olmert plans to remove the smaller settlements and puts it in such a way as if he’s doing the Palestinians a favour! Bush says he accepts the larger settlements (which are illegal under international law) since he considers them “facts on the ground”. So basically the criteria for making a land grab legal is take as much of it as possible so that it becomes a “fact on the ground”. The Jordan Valley is almost completely annexed making the West Bank (basically the future Palestine) literally an island, or more accurately a prison given that it’s being surrounded with the on going construction of the wall. All this is happening while Olmert and Bush sit in the Oval Office discussing peace and negotiations. While in the U.S. Olmert will be meeting House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert and probably thanking him for the latest passage of the Palestinian “Anti-Terrorism” bill, which has cut of the PA from any U.S. aid or humanitarian assistance.
What’s actually funny about this is that these people actually think the world is stupid with all that “we won’t play with Palestinians till Hamas says it likes us”. The plan has always been since the moment Hamas rose to power, to choke the political life out of them by starving the Palestinian population. Bush says: “Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist, must abandon terror, must accept all previous agreements” and this statement (or talking point) has been in wide circulation, floating back and forth between the Israelis and the Americans. Where was everyone before Hamas? They’ve only been in power since January!
People are not stupid; just apathetic.
Meanwhile, a fourth-year Computer Science undergraduate at Birzeit University was shot trying to get to class…
“When my friends and I arrived at the University there were jeeps at the entrance and the soldiers were making insulting hand-gestures at us and saying things to us. As we continued to walked away from the jeeps towards the University to reach our classes on time, the jeeps came up the ramp and started shooting at us. I was shot in the back as I tried to get away from the soldiers and the crowd.” [source]
Israeli jeep enters Birzeit campus and shoots at students in response to stone-throwing by a group of students (on the top left of the road).
A fourth-year Computer Science student is shot in the back as he walked towards his class for a 9am exam.
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