The horrors of the Israeli occupation should be well known to all. I’m not just talking about murder and detention, but all other forms of cruel humiliation and restriction imposed by the Zionist state… such as burning fields, demolishing homes, and of course what goes on everyday at the 600+ checkpoints littering the West Bank.
In one of the most recent incidents at these checkpoints, a Palestinian woman in labor was forced to give birth to a stillborn baby boy due to the incompetence/barbarity of the soldiers in control (read the full story here).
Nahil and her husband didn’t have a long distance to travel from their village of Kafr Kusra to Nablus – but they did have to cross through at least 2 checkpoints. There seemed to be no incident at the first one, but everything changed at Hawara – a notorious checkpoint that severs the main highway connecting the West Bank’s northern cities to large population centers in the south. Despite the fact that the couple had their permits in order (their car was properly licensed by the so-called Civil Administration), they were not allowed to cross. They waited and pleaded at the checkpoint for almost an hour, but by the time a Red Cross ambulance arrived it was too late
The Israeli army ‘investigated’ the incident and the commanding officer was reprimanded. The headline reads “Israeli soldier is jailed after checkpoint stillborn death” but upon further reading, we are once again confronted with the harsh reality of occupation: injustice. He was sentenced to 14 DAYS – that’s how cheap our blood is to the Zionist state.
This is all another example of how the Israeli Occupation is an embodiment of injustice and cruelty, a calloused ridicule of basic human rights. Surely, I don’t need to justify such a claim to anyone (with a heart) unblinded by hatred and a false sense of righteousness. There’s no point reasoning with the unreasonable…
Dozens of Palestinian women have been forced to give birth at checkpoints over the past few years – over half of those births ended in tragedy (at least five women died in childbirth). This is the first I’ve heard of an Israeli soldier being held accountable for such tragedies. Maybe next time it’ll be 14 years instead of 14 days… but that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.
I shudder to think at what could happen at the privatized checkpoints (yes, the state of Israel learned long ago to use privatization as a means to further the racist policies of Zionism and avoid accountability).
*Please watch this before arguing that Zionism has nothing to do with racism/prejudice*
Related posts:
- The Beginning of Legal Apartheid?
- Where are the Anti-Abortion Nuts on This?
- Occupation 101: Colonization In Context
- Life Under Israeli Military Occupation
- Christmas Under Occupation
You’ve really gone off the deep end with this.
Posted by Anonymous | September 13, 2008, 7:18 pmThanks for sharing
Posted by Ali | September 14, 2008, 4:56 amAn awful story…thanks for shining some light on it.
Anon just can’t help himself/herself…
Posted by publius | September 14, 2008, 8:31 amDon’t you ever get tired of spreading your blood libels?
Posted by Anonymous | September 14, 2008, 9:40 amYou should know that the Israeli soldier was sent to jail for this.
The Israeli people also view this as an atrocity.
Posted by Ms. Missive | September 15, 2008, 6:39 amReally? An atrocity? So I guess “atrocities” are now worth only two weeks in jail?
Posted by A. M. | September 15, 2008, 10:11 amThe Israeli soldier got 2 weeks in jail. Yes.
And if it was a Palestinian who had an Israeli baby’s blood on his hands? I think there would be celebration.
Posted by Ms. Missive | September 15, 2008, 10:18 amms. missive- try reading the whole post next time before leaving a comment…
I have no doubt that many people in Israel are upset with this, but the fact that the state (i.e. those running the country) gave the criminal ONLY 14 days in jail is also an atrocity.
Posted by Kalash | September 15, 2008, 10:57 amI think we all remember the hero reception of those who murder Jewish civilians and bash Jewish children’s heads against a rock, and even those fuckers on this blog who celebrated, defended and rationalized the reception given to Kuntar.
No comparison.
Arab society welcomes death – the death of Jews in particular – and it always has.
Posted by Anonymous | September 15, 2008, 12:09 pmThat’s right. I forgot that saying Palestinians would celabrate death justifies Israeli murders. My most humble apologies.
Posted by a.m. | September 15, 2008, 7:37 pmI realy don’t know what is the fuss all about, it is simple:
1. Killing an inncoent life is forbidden
2. Killing children, old people is forbidden whatever their faith is
3. Occupation is illegal and inhuman and bad
so let’s all try to talk and find a way out from this middle east misery. Let’s stop finger pointing.
don’t we all want to live normal lives?
Posted by Ali | September 16, 2008, 12:20 amIsraelis are living normal lives. It’s the Arabs who want to drive them into the sea, remember?
Posted by Anonymous | September 16, 2008, 12:46 pmanonymous, I suggest that Israel kill all the Arabs and the Arabs kill all the Jews in Palestine and then the stronger will remain in this holy land. Or we can sit and talk and learn how to live with each other, and accept the other. Which would you choose?
Posted by Ali | September 18, 2008, 1:19 amAli,
There is no need to kill all the Arabs. Why would you say such a thing? There are over a million Arabs living peacefully in Israel, with Israeli citizenship, as you very well know.
The point is we are not on this site to develop a mutual understanding and tolerance for one another. Scan the front page of posts and tell me if you think the intent of this blog is a reconciliation between the two peoples.
This site is a place where a select few – largely marxist Diaspora Palestinians who matured in the first Intifada – express their barely suppressed hatred for Jews (ask Mohammad if he believes shooting Qassams at Israeli cities is justified), and discuss strategy for continuing to wage war against Jews.
Yes, this is a generalization; at times there is a post by the resident token Jew, or a discussion of the history of street names.
More importantly, the bloggers on this site, as elitists, are woefully disconnected from the reality of the current dismal state of mainstream Palestinian society and its political leadership.
How many of the Palestinian bloggers here have picked a single olive in their life? Yet, they claim to speak for Palestinians?! I actually think it would be easier to make peace with the felahin.
The bloggers here have no power, no ability to change things on the ground, and no credibility for defending the indefenseless (just bring up rampant honor killing and watch the fireworks).
As for the one state solution they are all in love with, they seem utterly incapable of making the transition from activist to neighbor.
Posted by Anonymous | September 18, 2008, 2:39 pm