Today in occupied Palestine, some dreadful scenes have become part of everyday life: 18-month-old babies dying in their beds when their houses are attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships, young girls working in the olive groves being shot and killed for no reason, and children returning home from school being wounded and permanently disabled. The Zionist education system is at the root of these inhuman, and all-too-common, episodes. Research shows that this education and brainwashing has been extremely effective. In a test conducted by Tel Aviv University psychologist G. Tamarin, a statement describing the Jericho massacre from the Old Testament's Book of Joshua was distributed to fourth- and eighth-grade students. They were asked: "Suppose the Israeli Army occupies an Arab village in a battle. Do you think it would be proper, or not, to act against the inhabitants as did Joshua with the people of Jericho?" The number who answered "Yes" varied between 66% and 95%, according to the school attended or the kibbutz or town where the children lived.29
Garaudy emphasizes that the Book of Joshua and the Old Testament in general are the source of Zionist terror:
This conception of the "promise", together with the means for its realisation (as the leaders of political Zionism derive these from the Book wherein Joshua recounts his feats of extermination of the previous inhabitants, which he carried out at God's command and with his support), plus the themes of "the chosen people" and of "Greater Israel", from the Nile to the Euphrates, constitute the ideological foundation of political Zionism.30
Israeli sharp-shooters fire on unarmed Palestinian civilians, women and children included.
The memoirs of an Israeli soldier published in the Israeli newspaper Davar are an important example of this. The soldier in question participated in an operation to seize the Palestinian village of Ed-Dawayma in 1948, and described the scenes of brutality he witnessed:
They killed between eighty to one hundred Arab men, women, and children. To kill the children, they (soldiers) fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one home without corpses. The men and women of the village were pushed into houses without food or water. Then the saboteurs came to dynamite them.
One commander ordered a soldier to bring two women into a building he was about to blow up... Another soldier prided himself upon having raped an Arab woman before shooting her to death. Another Arab woman and her baby were made to clean up the place for a couple of days, then they shot her and the baby. Educated and well-mannered commanders who were considered "good guys" ... became base murderers, and this is not in the storm of battle, but as a method of expulsion and extermination. The fewer the Arabs who remain, the better.31
This is just one of the many brutal episodes that have occurred over the last 50 years.
Before the Israeli government was founded, the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern gangs were responsible for removing Palestinians from their lands. These terrorist organizations prior to 1948, and the Israeli army after 1948, conducted a terrorist campaign on Arab civilians. Menachem Begin, the Irgun's leader and a future prime minister, explained their strategy: "The Arabs fought tenaciously in defense of their homes, their women and their children."32 In other words, the Zionists' war would be waged against innocent people.
The truth is that since that date, the Palestinians have struggled to protect their homes, women, and children from Israel's official policy of terrorizing the entire Palestinian people. Newspaper reporter and Middle East expert Flora Lewis explains Israeli-style brutality in this article in the International Herald Tribune:
Israeli officials have now publicly acknowledged a policy of "targeted attacks" on Palestinians believed to be involved in terrorism. These are planned assassinations, quite rightly called "criminal acts... murder" by Moshe Neghi, a respected Israeli journalist... Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on the radio that the policy was unequivocal. "If anyone has committed or is planning to carry out terrorist attacks, he has to be hit... It is effective, precise and just."33
EXECUTION ON THE STREET...
For Israeli soldiers, all Palestinians are targets. They do not care whether the person in their sights is a child, a woman, or an elderly man or woman.
Palestinians sometimes encounter Israeli bullets at checkpoints, in the markets, or while just standing on the corner or sleeping in bed.
AND SLAUGHTER TURKIYE-Turkish Daily, 7.8.01
BLATANT EXECUTION
GOZCU, Turkish Daily, 19.5.01
ISRAEL BOMBS THE CITY OF GAZA
MILLI GAZETE-Turkish Daily, 18.5.01
PALESTINE IS BURNING
Attacking with helicopters, tanks and bulldozers, Israel has set light to Palestinian lands.
TURKIYE-Turkish Daily, 13.10.01
Israel Rains Down Missiles
PALESTINE AWASH WITH BLOOD
THE MUSLIM OBSERVER, 2.2002
THE INDEPENDENT, 12.2002
W. REPORT, 4-5.1993
CRESCENT INT., 16-31.8.01
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Hardly a day goes by when innocent blood is not spilled in Palestine. Israeli soldiers are systematically destroying the Palestinian people. Villages are bombed, homes are demolished, and fields are burned. While this cruelty appears in the world press from time to time, it has, sadly, not been enough to move world leaders to action. An article in Crescent International clearly presents this situation when it states: "Palestinian deaths mount as Israelis given freedom to commit atrocities." The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, in its article "In Gaza, Israeli Rockets Replace Human Rights," signals that the violence in Palestine will only get worse. Other items in the Turkish press also reflect the gravity of the situation.
It should be emphasized that, as Sneh reported, Israel's struggle is not limited to terrorist elements; rather, it targets an entire people.
The details provided here are only a small part of the cruelty perpetrated by the Israeli government. But this is a practice that the Palestinian Muslims know all too well, for there are close similarities between the Qur'an's depiction of Pharaoh and what the Zionist Israeli leadership has done to innocent Palestinians. In his time, Pharaoh targeted the weakened, defenseless Jews and brutally murdered them. Also, the leaders of Pharaoh's tribe had strong feelings for their own land, and so told Pharaoh that Musa "desires to expel you from your land" (Qur'an, 7:110) The Israeli journalist Uri Avnery has drawn attention to this similarity. In the article "The Murder of Arafat," he reminds us that one of Judaism's fundamental tenets is that the period of Jewish enslavement in Egypt will never be forgotten. According to him, what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today is merely a variation of the cruelty meted out to their Jewish ancestors by Pharaoh:
In the new myth that is being born before our eyes, Sharon is the Pharaoh and we are the ancient Egyptians. In the story about the Exodus, the Bible lets God say: "I have hardened (Pharaoh's) heart and the heart of his servants." After every calamity that befell him, Pharaoh broke his promise to free the Israelites... He (God) wanted the Israelites to become hardened by the hardship, before they started on their long march. This is what is happening to the Palestinians now.34
The following verses describe how Pharaoh murdered the defenseless people:
Remember when Musa said to his people: "Remember God's blessing to you when He rescued you from the people of Pharaoh. They were inflicting an evil punishment on you, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live. In that there was a terrible trial from your Lord. And when your Lord announced: 'If you are grateful, I will certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is severe."' (Qur'an, 14:6-7)
With God's help, the Children of Israel finally escaped Pharaoh's brutality and cruelty. In our time, the radicals of Israel are in Pharaoh's position and advocate violence. The Palestinians must follow the advice that God gave the Children of Israel at that time: Be patient, trust in God, and stay true to His Path.
AN ISRAELI SOLDIER DESCRIBES THE SAVAGERY
My first Lebanon raid was in 1986. I was a 19-year-old Israeli conscript, and my paratroop platoon was sent to a village whose name I can't recall.… We broke down the door of a home, shoved the family aside, and pulled a middle-aged man outside. After blindfolding him and tying his hands behind his back, we took him to a secluded alley, forced him to his knees, and put a gun to his head, threatening to shoot if he didn't talk. A U.N. peacekeeper appeared and put an end to that incident, but there was more to come.
The next day we performed a mock execution on a 10-year-old Lebanese boy. We forced his family into the kitchen and dragged him to a nearby orchard. My lieutenant pressed the child's face into the dirt while I jammed my rifle against his skull.
Although the officer threatened to shoot his head off, the boy did not respond, keeping silent...
I was a recent transfer from another unit, and my colleagues were more familiar with the drill... The elderly, female, and young villagers were trapped in their homes, ordered to observe a 24-hour curfew. Their men were gathered in a central square, blindfolded, and hauled off for questioning.
Casual brutality was not limited to lower-income recruits. Omri, child of an intelligence officer, liked to fire bursts toward villagers peeking through doorways… During the invasion's first months, Israel killed 12,000-15,000 persons and lost 360. Although the Israeli casualties were combatants, most of their victims were civilians.
James Ron, the writer of this article, assistant professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, is a field investigator for human rights groups. (Boston Globe, 25 May 2000)
Israeli Massacres
Some of the massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army and terrorist organizations (e.g., Haganah, Irgun, and Stern) between 1948 and 1982 are described on the following pages. None of these massacres were directed against armed groups. The history of Israel is full of violent actions against and massacres of civilians. Just a few examples will suffice: the blowing up of the King David Hotel in 1946; the Deir Yassin massacre of 1948, in which innocent villagers were tortured and killed; the inhuman massacre at Qibya village in 1958; the massacres at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, conducted by the pro-Israeli Christian Lebanese militias under the auspices of Ariel Sharon and resulting in almost 3,000 deaths; the attack on the Masjid al-Aqsa in 1990, which resulted in 11 deaths and almost 800 injuries; the massacre at Ibrahim's Mosque in 1994 during morning prayers; the massacre at Qana refugee camp in 1996; and the 1999 seige of a tunnel by 4,000 soldiers are just a few examples of this violence.
Those who died in these attacks were innocent people who had no means of protecting themselves. The massacres listed on the following pages are merely examples of the violence and terror that have continued from 1947 until today. While the figures are important to showing the extent of Zionist violence, they cannot even begin to describe the resulting harm, especially since the violence is still ongoing. Indeed, virtually every day since 1947 has generated news reports of attack, death, torture, and violence from the territories occupied by Israel. For example, when all of those who have died since October 2000 are accounted for, the number comes to almost 2,000. (This figure does not include those killed in Operation Defensive Shield.) In other words, Israel continues these daily killings in a systematic way.
Some Examples of Israel's Half-Century Reign of Terror
The King David Massacre, 1946: 92 dead
This attack was carried out by the Irgun terrorist organization and with the knowledge of David Ben Gurion, the highest-ranking Zionist official of the period. A total of 92 people, consisting of Britons, Palestinians, and Jews, were killed, and 45 were seriously injured.
Ninety-two people, including some Britons, were killed in an attack arranged by Zionist terrorists on the King David Hotel in 1946.
Baldat Al-Shaikh Massacre, 1947: 60 dead
Sixty Palestinians sleeping in their beds, among them women, children, and the elderly, lost their lives as a result of this attack, which was carried out by 150-200 Zionist terrorists. The attack began at 2:00 a.m. and lasted for 4 hours.
Yehida Massacre, 1947: 13 dead
At Yehida, one of the first Zionist settlements, Zionist assailants dressed as British soldiers opened fire on Muslims.
Khisas Massacre, 1947: 10 dead
Two cars full of Haganah members entered the village of Khisas on the Lebanese border and opened fire on everyone who crossed their paths.
Qazaza Massacre, 1947: 5 children dead
Five children lost their lives in this episode, in which Zionist terrorists attacked a random house.
The Semiramis Hotel Massacre, 1948: 19 dead
In an operation aimed at making the Palestinians uneasy and forcing them out of Jerusalem, a group of Zionist terrorists directed by Israel's first president, David Ben Gurion, blew up the Semiramis Hotel. Nineteen people were killed.
Naser al-Din Massacre, 1948
A group of Zionist terrorists dressed as Arab soldiers opened fire on those townspeople who left their homes to greet them. Only 40 people escaped the carnage, and the village was wiped off the map.
The Tantura Massacre, 1948: 200 dead
Tantura, now home to about 1,500 Jewish settlers, was the site of a large massacre of Muslims in 1948. Israeli historian Teddy Katz described the attack as follows: "From the numbers, this is definitely one of the biggest massacres."
The Dahmash Mosque Massacre, 1948: 100 dead
Israeli 89th Commando Battalion lead by the future Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, announced to the villagers that they would be safe only if they assembled at the mosque. However, the 100 Muslims who sought refuge there were slaughtered. The terrified residents of Lydda and Ramle abandoned their lands. Approximately 60,000 Palestinians emigrated, and 350 more died en route due to poor medical conditions.
Dawayma Massacre, 1948: 100 dead
This attack was one of the largest Israeli massacres. A majority of those killed were assembled at the mosque for Friday prayers. Palestinian women were raped during the attack, and homes were dynamited with people inside them.
Houla Massacre, 1948: 85 dead
Israeli soldiers forced 85 people into a house and then set it on fire. Afterwards, most of the terrified residents fled to Beirut. Of the 12,000 original residents of Houla, only 1,200 remained.
Salha Massacre, 1948: 105 dead
After residents of the village were forced into the mosque, the people were fired upon until not a single person remained alive.
THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE ARE BEING EXTERMINATED
The cruelty endured by the Palestinians has continued for more than 50 years. In Palestine today, it is almost impossible to find a family that has not lost sons to Israeli bullets. Still other people have been crippled or disfigured, as seen in these photographs.
Deir Yassin Massacre, 1948: 254 dead
The fact that the world agenda is controlled by the Western media, most of which is pro-Israeli, sometimes prevents events occurring within Israel from coming to light. But some incidents of such violence and cruelty have been documented in detail by international organizations. This is one of those incidents, and was carried out by the Irgun and Stern terrorist organizations.
On the night of April 9, 1948, the people of Deir Yassin awoke to the order "evacuate the village" coming from loudspeakers. Before they understood what was happening, they had been slaughtered. Subsequent Red Cross and United Nations investigations conducted at the scene showed that houses were first set on fire and that all people trying to escape the flames were shot dead. During the attack, pregnant women were bayoneted in their abdomens while still alive. The victims' organs were mutilated, and even children were beaten and raped. Throughout the Deir Yassin massacre, 52 children were maimed under the eyes of their own mothers, and then they were slain and their heads cut off. More than 60 women were killed and their bodies mutilated.35 One woman who escaped alive related the following atrocity that she had witnessed:
I saw a soldier grabbing my sister, Saliha al-Halabi, who was nine months pregnant. He pointed a machine gun at her neck, then emptied its contents into her body. Then he turned into a butcher, and grabbed a knife and ripped open her stomach to take out the slaughtered childe with his iniquitious Nazi knife.36
Not satisfied with just the massacre, the terrorists then rounded up all the women and girls who remained alive, removed all their clothes, put them in open cars, driving them naked through the streets of the Jewish section of Jerusalem. Jacques Reynier, the Red Cross representative of Palestine at the time, who saw the mutilated bodies during his visit to Deir Yassin the day after the attack, could only say: "The situation was horrible."37
During the course of the attack, 280 Muslims, among them women and children, were first paraded through the streets and then shot execution-style. Most of the girls had been raped before their execution, and the boys' genitals had been cut off.38
2007-03-04 08:26:15
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answer #8
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answered by BeHappy 5
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