Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water

a.savage 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

State imperialism has superceded settler imperialism in Gaza.

Israel removed the settlers, & ensured the slums remain under her control — & worsen as the inevitable result of that iron control.

Then anon came Justice Goldstone, ardent believer in Zionism & in Israel’s right to start wars in order to assert her right to exist — since the twin rights are inseparable.

Given the job of heading the UN’s FactFinding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, he asserted those twin rights he believed in — but he couldn’t avert his gaze looking back at the horror those twin “rights” spawned, for which he along with his report have been turned into a cautionary pillar of salt by Israel’s public & establishment.

Among his report’s Conclusions :

“1891. It is clear from evidence gathered by the Mission that the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories & residential houses was the result of a deliberate & systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces. It was not carried out because those objects presented a military threat or opportunity but to make the daily process of living, & dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population.

“The Mission concluded that serious violations of international human rights & humanitarian law were committed by Israel.”

Israeli General Gadi Eisenkot defines the Dahiya Doctrine :

“What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 [ which was flattened by Israel's blitzkrieg on Lebanon ] will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on …We will apply disproportionate force on it [ the village ] & cause … destruction there … This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved.”

Observes Goldstone :

“Disproportionate force is exactly what humanitarian law, the law of war, outlaws. War crimes are committed with disproportionate force.”

Goldstone concludes :

“Our investigation showed that that doctrine was applied in Operation Cast Lead.”

If Israel & Hamas don’t act on the report, Goldstone recommends the UN Security Council refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.

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a.savage 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

There’s something about evil when it stirs, moves, manifests.

For example : There’s a qualitative difference between the views given by general supporters of repression on any issues, & the views offered by Zionists in support of Israel.

The views of the former are exactly those, tbey’re views only, & they show a gap between the supporter of repression on the one hand, & the actual sites & situations of the repression on the other. In other words, these apologists are not directly involved in th repression.

The Zionists, on the other hand, manifest a vivid & visceral connection to the actual & concrete repression being daily & hourly visited upon the dispossessed people in question, the Palestinians. This is because of the omnipresent, overarching nature of settler imperialism within the Zionist state.

The Zionist views aren’t simply a matter of lies. They represent an entire phenomenon, a systemic, miasmic web cast over a corralled & netted mass of victims who cannot move hand nor foot towards realising their own identity, let alone their freedom, without being entangled in the master folk’s machinery of evil, this all – encompassing network of tangible illusions & giant iron walls of containment.

Judo Nimh’s exercises in outright mendacity — beyond chutzpah , beyond chutzpah !! — are breathtaking. His complete denial of the overwhelming evidence of the Israeli blockade’s denial of basic foods, vital medicines, & other elementary necessities to the besieged populace is part & parcel of the massive Zionist denial of the overall Holocaust being physically undergone by the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories as well as in Israel.But here, now, let me stay within the question of water.

1. Israel’s construction of “Jews only” roads crisscrossing the Occupied Territories has given the Jewish settlers & other Israelis EXCLUSIVE access to scarce aquifers guarded by permanent Israeli military installations.

2. 20 % of Gaza is occupied illegally by a few thousand Jewish settlers who water their lawns & fill their swimming pools while a million Palestinians live in a water – free zone.

3. The main aquifers for Israel’s water supplies are in the West Bank. Israel controls all the water supply of the Occupied Territories,reserving 80 % of it for the personal use of its Jewish citizens while rationing the remainder to the Palestinian population, even cutting back on the water quotas for the 3 million Palestinians in the Territories.

4. In military operations in Gaza since 2006, the Israeli military has systematically targetted & destroyed water & waste water systems, power plants and electricity networks.

In one July 2006 attack into Gaza’s Wadi al Salaq, the Israeli army damaged some 850 meters of the water network system, damaging the connection systems to 35 homes as well.

A 15 – 19 July Israeli army raid in Beit Hanoun methodically destroyed more than 180 rooftop water tanks of the people’s homes there. Israel is at war with the entire Palestinian population, not just their legally elected government.

5.In November 2008, Israel’s refusal to allow fuel into Gaza forced the shutting down of Gaza’s ONLY POWER STATION, causing a blackout that made Palestinians come out onto the streets with candles in a massive protest. A water and sanitation crisis followed, with military strikes damaging the water supply.

Sara Roy in an article in the London Review of Books detailed an excruciating decline in, among other things, food & water purifiers.

6. Bill & Kathleen Christison, former CIA analysts, reported that Israel was deliberately depriving Gaza of food, medicine, fuel ( paid for by the EU ) for producing electricity, fuel for running generators, fresh , clean water, and spare parts for sewage treatment plants, which plants consequently began breaking down, so that sewage poured into the streets, and MILLIONS OF LITERS OF SEWAGE flowed into the Mediterranean Sea.

7. Jonathan Cook reports that after the first few days of its war on Gaza, Israel widened its definition of “Hamas -affiliated targets” to include electricity generating stations and sewage lines.

8. During the Gaza war itaself, one million Palestinians lived without electricity, and 250,000 without any running water. Wastewater pumping stations shut down, and sewage burst into populated areas.

Judo Nimh tells Edith Garwood that an economic blockade against “a country” ( watch it ! has Gaza become “a country” now ?? are the settlers aware of this ?? ), a country engaged in armed conflict isn’t a crime under international law & is recognised under the UN Charter.

And yet for almost 2 years, Israel has prevented imports of food, fuel & electricity into Gaza, in what the UN ITSELF CONSIDERS AN ILLEGAL BLOCKADE.

As for international law, articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention protect civilians against the VERY KIND of Israeli army actions described above. Article 33 prohibits collective punishment of civilians in particular.

In fact the Israeli blockade has so effectively impeded the UN’s own supply of food to 750, 000 Gazans that the UN spokesman commenting on the situation last year said :” This has become A BLOCKADE AGAINST THE UN ITSELF” ( emphasis mine ).

And the Commissioner General of the UN’s refugee agency said, “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution.”

Contrast this picture with Judo Nimh’s astounding claim that Gaza “is not in a humanitarian crisis” !!!!

Compare it to Israel’s own Rafael Eytan, who spoke of keeping the Palestinians bottled up like “drugged roaches in a bottle”.

Contrast Judo Nimh’s praise of postwar Gaza, that it’s heaven compared to Africa, contrast that POSTwar picure to even the PRE – Gaza war picture, written by the eminent historian Tony Judt, when he depicts the settlers “frolicking in grass – fringed swimming pools,” heedless “of the Palestinian children a few meters away festering & rotting in the worst slums on the planet.” Contrast them.

And then meditate over what postHolocaust philosophers meditate over, when they study what they call the nature of evil.

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Edie 3 months ago on Wordpress

re: Egypt. The crossings going into and out of the Gaza Strip are not all equal and designed differently for different purposes. The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was created to allow ONLY Palestinians to enter/exit. Since the blockade on Gaza, the function has changed somewhat allowing non-Palestinians to cross on occasion as well as some medical supplies as well as facilitating the exchange of Palestinian patients to Egyptian hospitals. The crossing is in no way designed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies on a large scale. Israel has also required that goods going into and out of the Gaza Strip must be controlled by Israel as a security measure.

Because of this Israeli requirement to control supplies into and out of the Gaza Strip as well as their complete control over airspace, sea and land borders Israel is the party usually targetted when speaking of the blockade although I do agree that I believe Egypt has an international obligation to do more concerning this crime.

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Bill Johnson 3 months ago on Wordpress

great stuff here

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Judo Nihm 3 months ago on Wordpress

Edie: I would like to know from Amnesty International or Donatella Rovera if she denies the truth of any of the following, and if not why did she not include this little factoid in her report:

Fact 1)

At the time of the Interim agreement that Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed in September 1995 (Oslo 2), 20% of Palestinians in the West Bank were not connected to a running-water network.

Fact 2)

By 2009 only about 8% of the 2.3 million Arabs in the West Bank was still not connected to a running-water system. Despite the sharp decline, from 20% not connected in 1995 down to 8% in 2009, because of the increase in the Palestinian population, which is growing at a world record setting pace of 2.25% per year, the number of West Bank Arabs who are not still connected to a running-water system has remained about the same over the last 14 years, 215,000 in 1995 compared to some 180,000 to 200,000 in 2009.

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C.A.S. 3 months ago on Wordpress

Thank you Amnesty for this report. As a jewish man who is ashamed of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, I applaud your work for human rights for all people. Keep up the good work.

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Judo Nimh 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Compare Israel and Canada to see which country is the racist one.

Israelis use 300 liters of fresh water a day according to Amnesty.

But Canadians use 4000 liters of fresh water a day.

source:

http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/indicators/6wate.htm

90% of the population of the West Bank has safe drinking water, according to Amnesty.

But only 25% of Canadian Indian Reserves have safe drinking water, according to the Government of Canada.

“ In 2001, a follow-up assessment revealed that almost three quarters of drinking water systems on-reserve posed significant risk.  Most recently, in March 2007, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a progress report on First Nations drinking water indicating that the water systems of 97 First Nations communities are classified as high risk.“

source:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/abor-e/rep-e/rep08jun07-e.htm

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Edie 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Judo – I have no control over what gets published in this blog and what doesn’t although I will flag the editors if there are posts that violate the “terms of use”. Posts are never removed due to an opinion, but usually because of racist or derogatory language that doesn’t add to the discussion.

As to your second point – your interpretation of the editor’s comment is grasping at straws by leaping to the conclusion that the editors were saying “Israel supposedly agrees with your report”. Very rarely does a government welcome or agree with all the information contained in our reports as they are usually the ones in violation of various laws.

The editors were pointing out that the information included in our reports come from a variety of credible, verifiable sources including the governments involved (i.e. in this case Israel, PA, Jordan) as well as other sources such as independent, relevant organizations and our own in-the-field investigations.

Just like any proper investigation, all credible information is examined along with forensic, physical evidence and testimony gathered and conclusions are made. Amnesty International has an outstanding reputation and is respected around the world not only by human rights activists, but governments because of our discretion and solid research. Amnesty is often welcomed by governments to come in for de-briefings.

Amnesty International takes no political position in any region of the world, but advocates for the respect of human rights for everyone as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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pludk 3 months, 1 week ago on Twitter

#Israel uses more than 80% of water from the main underground source, while restricting #Palestinian access to 20% http://ow.ly/xCfd

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AmnestyInternational 3 months, 1 week ago on Twitter

#Israel uses more than 80% of water from the main underground source, while restricting #Palestinian access to 20% http://ow.ly/xCfd

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Brian Vinay 3 months, 1 week ago on Twitter

Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water | Human ...: Israel is denying Palestinians their rig.. http://bit.ly/4jf35k

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sittingnut 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

more proof that amnesty international has a warped sense of morality and ethics and a total disregard for balance. has it even asked for a response from israel and others? of course not.

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