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Is this young woman a terrorist?

(207 Posts)
jura2 Thu 04-Jan-18 09:49:03

Who am I?

I am a Palestinian girl.

Before I was born, the occupation took most of my village’s lands to build a new settlement called Halamish.

Then they arrested my father. When my aunt went to visit him, one of the soldiers pushed her over the stairs of the court and she died.

Since I was little the settlers of Halamish keep stealing more and more of our lands to expand the settlement.

Our home has demolition order because it is in Area C. The settlers are allowed to build on our land, but not us.

In 2005, the settlers made the spring of our village part of the settlement and prevent us from using it, even though many of us are farmers.

All these things happened with great support from the Occupation army and government.

When the people of the my village started to resist the injustices with protest marches, my father was arrested again.
My mother was arrested too. My uncles, aunts, brothers, cousins - all of them were arrested too.

My cousin Mustafa was killed by the Israeli army. My uncle Rushdi was killed by the army too!

Later, an Israeli sniper shot my mom in the leg and she couldn’t move for long time.

Almost every week, the army breaks into our homes to arrest one of my family or to confiscate our laptops or phones.
During our marches, they shoot us with tear gas rubber bullets - my cousin is in hospital badly injured because he was shot in the face the week before.

A few days ago, two soldiers came to our house to take positions to shoot at the demonstrators from my village. I stood with my family to prevent them, the soldier pushed me and I slapped him.
And now I am in jail!
My mother and my cousin are in jail too!
The occupation government and media call me a terrorist.
Do you know who I am?

And what would you do if that was your life? Or the life of your child?

Skyandblossom Thu 04-Jan-18 11:34:15

We do not get a fair, complete picture from the British media, unfortunately. The account in the OP is very biased. I agree with eazybee and others.

The word ‘occupation’ is disputed. Melanie Phillips writes:

‘Israel’s presence in the disputed territories cannot be legally defined as an occupation. Under the Hague and Geneva conventions, an occupation can only take place on sovereign land. The territories were never anyone’s sovereign land.

Israel is furthermore entitled under international law to continue to hold onto them as a defensive measure as long as its Arab aggressors continue to use them for belligerent ends.’
m.jpost.com/Opinion/As-I-See-It-Israel-not-the-West-stands-for-international-law-469131

Primrose65 Thu 04-Jan-18 11:50:38

Jura, as you started the thread, why do you think there is no support for Palestine in the wider Arabian region? I'd be interested in hearing any opinions on this.
Egypt controls part of the Gaza border, destroys tunnels, closes it sometimes. Syria bombed Damascus under Assad, I'm sure the Saudis have an influence.
Palestine has been an issue for the Arab League for decades and a political solution would probably need support from the wider region.

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 11:54:31

I don't think you can call Melanie Phillips unbiased.

Skyandblossom Thu 04-Jan-18 11:55:18

Far from “taking a lot more land than was allocated to them“, in 1948 Israel was allocated less than half the land that the Balfour Declaration had proposed giving to the Jews. The rest went to form the Arab state that was named Jordan. Israel is tiny, about the size of the Isle of Wight.

Israel has only fought wars to defend itself from unprovoked aggression by the countries around it. As soon as it was formed a group of much larger countries attacked it. The leaders of the Arab Muslims (now called Palestinians) living in the new land of Israel told them to leave “until we drive the Jews into the sea“.

700,000-750,000 Palestinians left. In the same period around 850,000 Jews were driven out of the surrounding countries and were given refuge in Israel. The Palestinians were never given refuge in the much larger and sparsely populated surrounding countries, but were kept in refugee camps to be used as a pawn against Israel.

When Israel has given “land for peace“, all it has got back has been rocket fire from the Palestinian territories. If Israel was to give any more land its borders would no longer be defensible. It would no longer be able to defend itself from enemies intent on wiping it out. (In Islam, it is a duty to reclaim land that has ever been under Islamic control. Israel at one time was ruled by the Ottoman Rmpire, an Islamic power.)

Skyandblossom Thu 04-Jan-18 11:58:25

durhamjen, I guess not many people are unbiased on this issue, but an unbiased account would include, for example, a statement that the word ‘occupation’ is disputed.

How often do we hear what she says from the British media?

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 12:09:08

Thank you skyandblossom for your balanced posts. I'm afraid there has always been antisemitism and probably always will be. The holocaust is the biggest example of this. The Arabs hate the Jews and have vowed to eliminate them. This biased propaganda from who knows who or where is just another example of the rabid antisemitism in the world today. The Jews have a very good reason to protect their tiny corner of the world from those who would deny and destroy it.

blueskies Thu 04-Jan-18 12:20:57

Israel is currently bombing Gaza. They have no navy no army no airforce just stones and home made firework rockets. Never forget that the ISRAELI navy shot and killed four little Palestinian boys playing football on the beach. It horrified hardened English press. Gaza is about the size of the Isle of wight. Where have they to run? It's like shooting fish in a bucket. I am on the side of the children.

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 12:26:14

One million Jewish children were murdered in the holocaust.

jura2 Thu 04-Jan-18 12:43:03

This has nothing, but absolutely nothing, to do with antisemitisn maddyone. Nothing- just about oppression by one people over another.

jura2 Thu 04-Jan-18 12:46:06

maddyone - no-one, but no-one denies that, no-one does not utterly deplores it and no-one does not find what happened in the holocaust absolutely abhorrent.

Does the holocaust really give Israelis the right to do what they now do to the Palestianinians, and their children? My reply, is NO - in fact of all the people on the earth, they are the ones who really should know better- because they have suffered so.

blueskies Thu 04-Jan-18 12:47:31

There have been many holocausts but does that justify killing others? That is history. It is up to all women to try and be peacemakers and teach our children not to hate.

NannyTee Thu 04-Jan-18 12:49:44

The OP said they take our phones and tablets off us. So how in prison can she use the internet ??

NannyTee Thu 04-Jan-18 12:50:14

This is weird !!

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 12:58:50

What I would deny is that you jura2 are a Palestinian child who is sitting in a prison cell.

Skyandblossom Thu 04-Jan-18 13:06:06

I’m surprised you call them “firework rockets”, blueskies. They have killed 48 people and injured over 1900. I wouldn’t like to live in a country with that going on.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel

Wikipedia says, “their main effect is their creation of widespread psychological trauma ... Medical studies in Sderot, the Israeli city closest to the Gaza Strip, have documented a post-traumatic stress disorder incidence among young children of almost 50%, as well as high rates of depression and miscarriage.“

Amnesty: Hamas rocket attacks amounted to war crimes
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32053999

Israel retaliates for attacks by terrorists in Gaza. It does not initiate attacks. If Hamas and its allies laid down their arms, there would be peace. If Israel laid down its arms, it would be wiped out.

MaizieD Thu 04-Jan-18 13:07:26

jura

Where does your OP come from? Have you a link?

blueskies Thu 04-Jan-18 13:09:28

So many apologists for Israel. I have no words.

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 13:10:29

Skyandblossom Quite!

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 13:12:08

And actually jura2 it has everything to do with antisemitism!

MaryXYX Thu 04-Jan-18 13:14:09

A while back one of the elders of my church arranged a collection for a "Palestinian Charity". I research the "Charity" and found it was affiliated to a holding group. Another member of the group had goals including "Training children to kill Jews". My first assumption is that a letter from someone in prison with no access to communications (think about it) is from a similar group.

How can there be peace in Judea when the Arabs have stated "We will not rest until every Jew is dead".

lemongrove Thu 04-Jan-18 13:15:00

Yes, two sides to every story, and this one a very complicated one ( Middle East) I read that she is a teenager and pushed and prodded the soldier to get a reaction from him ( apparently there is a video of it online) so someone had been told to film while it happened.hmm It has probably been staged to win support.

maddyone Thu 04-Jan-18 13:16:39

So many apologists for Palestinians, I have no words.

merlotgran Thu 04-Jan-18 13:18:22

I would also like to know where the OP came from.

Emptynester Thu 04-Jan-18 13:19:02

This is not why I use Gransnet, and have severe doubts as to the veracity of the original post. I will now stop reading Gransnet for the foreseeable future.

Skyandblossom Thu 04-Jan-18 13:24:59

I do agree children should be taught not to hate. Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews, but the same is not true the other way round:
youtu.be/rbyrPUP218Q

(There are many videos like this - just search for ‘Palestinian children taught to hate’ on YouTube.)

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. There has never been a war between two democracies.