“Israeli Kuffiyehs”

What. The. Fuck. Are you doing?

“Do you feel more Arab or more American?” she asked. I had answered the ten previous questions very calmly, but with this question I looked back at the security official confused and irritated. She couldn’t have been much older than me—her business attire and stern facial expressions did not mask her youth.

“I don’t know, I feel both. Why? Does this affect my ability to get in?”

She ignored my question. “Surely you must feel a little more Arab, you’ve lived in many Middle Eastern countries.”

I did not see the correlation. I have never felt the need to choose. “Yes I have but I also lived in the US for the past seven years, and was born there, so I feel both.” My response did nothing to convince her.

“Hm. Will you go to Al-Aqsa?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Will you go to Jewish sites as well?”

“Yes, why not? We want to see everything.”

“But you have been here two times already. Why are you coming now for the third time? You can go to Venezuela, to Mexico, to Canada. It is much closer to New York, and much less expensive!”

I realized the conversation was going nowhere. “Right, but I wanted to come back here again. Don’t you have tourists who come back more than once?”

“I’m asking the questions here,” she replied disgruntled.

“Okay, we are going to do something very interesting now!” Her face transformed from a harsh stare to a slight smirk. She proceeded to type “www.gmail.com” on her computer and then turned the keyboard toward me. “Log in,” she demanded.

“What? Really?” I was shocked.

“Log in.”

I typed in my username and password in complete disbelief. She began her invasive search: “Israel,” “Palestine,” “West Bank,” “International Solidarity Movement.”

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Absolutely disgusting.

02/06/2012

Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man died on Friday evening of wounds suffered at noon when the army fired two missiles at a motorcycle, driving in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, wounding three residents.

The Higher Committee of Medical and Emergency Services in Gaza reported that the slain resident was identified as Naji Qdeih, 34.

On Friday at dawn, an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian fighter were killed during armed clashes near the Kissufim Israeli military base in Central Gaza.

The army deployed its fighter-jets and its tanks along the border and fired several shells into open areas near Khan Younis. Soldiers also used smoke bombs while helicopters were landing in the area

The headlines read;

Palestinian terrorist kills Israeli soldier, Israeli soldiers kill terrorist in shoot-out

What if I re-wrote that as;

Palestinian soldier kills Israeli terrorist, Israeli terrorists kill soldier in shoot-out　

Isn’t that crazy? It’s so crazy how that can happen, mind-blown, omg.

When Palestinians launch rockets out of Gaza that may fall in civilian areas in Israel, that’s terrorism—but when Israeli airstrikes actually kill droves of innocents in Gaza that’s a misfortunate ‘accident’.

We already know that, what’s new (but not surprising) is that when Palestinians target Israeli soldiers that’s still terrorism even though Israel tragetting Palestinian ‘militants’ is as right and normal and legitimate as can be.

Explain this to me. Please.

01/06/2012

An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian fighter have been killed during an exchange of fire near the Gaza border, sources on both sides have said.

“An Israeli soldier … was killed earlier this morning,” an army statement said on Friday.

“A terrorist who was identified infiltrating Israel from the southern Gaza Strip opened fire at Israeli soldiers, who responded with fire. During the exchange of fire, the terrorist was killed,” it said.

Sources in the Islamic Jihad group identified the Palestinian killed as member Ahmed Nasser, 20. 

But while the Al-Quds Brigades, the movement’s military wing, ”congratulated the heroic operation,” it said the movement had “no connection to the action”.

The father of Ahmed Nasser, bearing the same name, told the AFP news agency his son was a member of the resistance group.

“I’m very proud of Ahmed’s heroic operation,” said the farmer, also a supporter of Islamic Jihad.

“Ahmed had hoped to carry out such an operation, or kidnap Israeli soldiers. He spoke about it several times.”

“I’m sad to have lost a son, but happy he’s a martyr,” he added.

The Israeli soldier was named as Nitnel Moshiashvili, 21, of the southern city Ashkelon.

Al Jazeera

verbalresistance:

Turkish judges approve demand for a sentence of a combined 18.000 years for former IDF chief of staff and other officers allegedly responsible for deaths aboard the Mavi Marmara cruise ship in 2010.

A Turkish court on Monday formally pressed charges against members of Israel’s military for the killing of nine people aboard a Turkish ship trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza in 2010, Turkey’s state-run news agency said.

The court in Istanbul voted unanimously to approve an indictment against Israel’s former military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, along with the former heads of its navy, air force intelligence,  and military intelligence,  Eliezer Marom, Amos Yadlin, and Avishai Levi, the Anadolu Agency said. They face nine consecutive life terms in prison for “inciting to kill monstrously, and by torturing,” the agency added.

It is unlikely Israeli military members will be brought before Turkey’s judicial system, since Israel does not regard them as criminals. If they are convicted in absentia at the end of the trial process, which could take months if not years, the Turkish court could issue an order for their arrest, but such a move would be symbolic and not binding.

A week ago, the Turkish newspaper “Sabah” first reported the upcoming indictments; however Israeli officials refused to comment on the reports until they were endorsed by the Turkish government, or until the indictments were delivered to the court.

The move comes just a few days ahead of the second anniversary of the May 31 raid. The ship had been part of a flotilla sailing toward Gaza to protest Israel’s blockade.

The court also agreed to press charges against several unidentified soldiers who raided the ship, the Turkish news agency said. No trial date has been set. Turkey has tried without success to get Israel to apologize for the attack, and to compensate those killed as a precondition for normalizing relations. Israel has solely expressed regret for the loss of lives.

Israel says its troops opened fire after coming under attack by activists wielding axes, knives and metal rods. It says soldiers rappelled on to the deck armed with non-lethal paintball guns as their primary weapons, and only resorted to using handguns after they were assaulted.

The indictment rejected Israeli claims that Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara acted in self defense, saying that Israeli commandos used disproportional force by firing with heavy weapons and automatic rifles on passengers who only carried “plastic flag masts, spoons, and forks.”

The indictment said some of the victims were shot dead from close range and from the back, the agency reported earlier.

According to Turkish news agencies, nine life sentences were demanded - one for each of the casualties aboard the Mavi Marmara – as part of the indictment, which calls for a combined 18,000 years of imprisonment for the four former officers, punishment for crimes committed during the raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla. The indictment includes 490 victims and complainants, among them 189 were injured during the raid.

The charges against members of the Israeli military, included commandeering vehicles, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, persecution and causing damage to the ship, the agency said Monday.

A United Nations probe into the incident found Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza legally imposed “as a legitimate security measure” but added that the killing of eight Turkish activists and a Turkish-American was “unacceptable.”

Turkey has rejected the report’s findings, saying Israel had no right to raid the ship in international waters and said it would never recognize the blockade’s legitimacy.

Turkey has also slapped a series of sanctions on Israel, once a top military trading partner, which included expelling senior Israeli diplomats and suspending all military deals. It has also vowed to back the Palestinian bid for recognition of their statehood at the United Nations.

Haaretz

remorsecode:

If I break into someone’s house, force them to live in the basement and use up 80% of the resources for over 60 years, does that house become my property?