Let's answer the letter from CT US Senator Murphy about Palestine

Water is a human right, but  war on Gaza means no water at home (photo via Imad Pal)Winter 2018

 Hello,  I have been discussing this letter with some of you. I want to share the following letter from Sen. Murphy of Connecticut in order to give you a chance to comment on its content. I will be happy to share your contents with him; not by sharing your names, but by sharing your location. Here are the major issues I have with his correspondence, but you may have noticed other problems to state or better arguments. 

Here are my first observations.

1. The USA agreed to a #38 billion pledge in 2007 to Israel for a decade tor military assistance to Israel. In his letter, Senator Murphy mentions that amount that the USA gave to two portions of occupied Palestine: Gaza and what is now called the West Bank. For this point the discrepancies in the amounts of money are not as startling as the fact that the US gives money to build infrastructure exactly where the Israeli military bombs and destroys Palestinian city utilities and homes. Maybe it is just me, but these activities are totally counterproductive as a reasonable foreign policy.

2. His assumption that the people of the US consider Israel a close ally and the genocide of Palestinians is acceptable.

3. The hypocrisy & arrogance of "abhor(ing) Hamas" and "corruption in the PA" when he works for the most corrupt government in the world, who steal & murder men, women and children from countries that won't keep the USD as the oil currency.

4. Palestine is a country occupied by a foreign power and experiencing the genocide typical of colonial powers for 4 centuries (such as in North America, Central America, South America, Africa, India, China . . . well, its not so hard to find the history).

5. The 2-state solution has only brought terror to the people of Palestine. Israel has used it ans excuse to allow colonists to settle in Palestine with a goal to create successful gerrymandering in terms of political voting zones.

6. Senator Murphy is a young man, born after the Vietnam War was over. He appears to have not been taught the history of the region except from Zionist propaganda.

Do you agree, disagree or have other comments? I hope so. Please comment on my blog Dissected Dreams, Deliberate Decisions.

Image from I.C.S.P.R. (International Commission for Palestinian Human Rights)

Now here is the message from the senator.

A message from the office of Senator Christopher Murphy; Connecticut US Senator

23 February 2018
Senator Christopher Murphy <senator_@murphy.senate.gov>
to me vicki.nikolaidi@gmail.com

Thank you for contacting me about foreign aid for the Palestinian people. I appreciate your correspondence and hope that you find this response helpful.

As you may know, the United States is the largest bilateral donor to the West Bank and Gaza. In 2016 alone, 'the United States contributed $440 million in development and humanitarian assistance. The United States pledged $212 million in aid after the 2014 operation by the Israeli Defense Forces, which resulted in the deaths of 2,000 Palestinian civilians and the displacement of 100,000 more, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to the homes, businesses, and infrastructure in Gaza.

Unfortunately, so long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists, restrictions on imports and exports will continue to constrain economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza, requiring Palestinians to heavily depend on international aid.

While I abhor the government of Hamas in Gaza and have serious concerns about the level of corruption in the Palestinian Authority, I support continued American assistance to the Palestinian people.

I am concerned that revoking desperately needed humanitarian aid and punishing the Palestinian people for the actions of their leaders will only further exacerbate widespread suffering and radicalize a new generation of Palestinian and Arab youth against Israel and its supporters, including the United States. However, our assistance programs must include rigorous oversight to ensure no aid is diverted to benefit Hamas.

I also believe the United States, as a close friend and ally of Israel, must work with the Israeli government towards a lasting peace with the Palestinian people. As a Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will continue to advocate for a robust foreign aid program that promotes a more secure region, as well as work with the Trump Administration to achieve a lasting solution that results in two states for two peoples living side by side in peace and security.

Thank you again for contacting me about this matter. I appreciate hearing from you and assure you that I will always do my best to represent the views of my constituents in the Senate. In the future, please do not hesitate to call me in my Connecticut office at (860) 549-8463 or in my Washington office at (202) 224-4041.

Every Best Wish,
Christopher S. Murphy
United States Senator

War on Gaza Strip for Christmas 2013

Christmas day in Palestine 2013

Never doubt: Colonialism is hell. In 2017 the Gaza Siege has made it impossible to repair the damages so business could go on as usual. People are hungry and not receiving the health care they need in many cases.

B’Tselem held initial inquiries into the Israeli response to yesterday’s killing of Israeli civilian Salah Abu Latif who was killed by a Gazan sniper yesterday. Among other actions, a tank fired three shells at the two-story home of the Abu Sbeikhah family. Their home is located in an agricultural area in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, approximately 500 meters from the Gaza perimeter fence. The shelling killed toddler Hala Abu Sbeikhah (2 years, 8 months old) while she was playing in the yard of the family home. Hala’s aunt and two young cousins sustained injuries. The Abu Sbeikhahs reported that the military had been known to warn residents by loudspeaker of impending operational activity in the area and, accordingly, order them to vacate their homes. Yesterday’s shelling, however, was preceded by no warning.

B’Tselem does not know the reasoning for the tank’s firing at the Abu Sbeikhah home. Hala’s uncle, who was outside during the firing, said there was no activity by armed Palestinians in the area at the time. The IDF Spokesperson announcement did not state the proposed object of the strike, apart from the laconic description of the attack on the central Gaza Strip as aimed at “a core of terrorist activity and terrorist infrastructure”. The IDF announcement also stated that “the targets were seen to have been hit precisely,” yet to the best of B’Tselem’s knowledge, the only casualties in of the military attack were the four members of the Abu Sbeikhah family. The IDF Spokesperson’s announcement did not address the harsh results of the shells fired.

Deliberate firing at a home occupied by civilians, without its inhabitants having been given any prior warning and without the military ensuring that the civilians have vacated the premises, as appears to be the case in this situation, is unlawful. The military must launch an immediate investigation of the incident, including questioning those directly responsible for firing the shells as well as the senior commanders who ordered the attack. 

Suspicion: Unlawful firing kills toddler in Gaza; Kerem Shalom Crossing closure constitutes prohibited collective punishmen

Published: 

 25 Dec 2013

The Abu Sbeikhah family home today. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem.

The Abu Sbeikhah family home today. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem.

Also in response, the Israeli military yesterday closed Kerem Shalom Crossing, thereby barring the export of 16 tons of strawberries and 100,000 flowers scheduled for shipping to Europe. Hundreds of families are dependent for their livelihood on the sale of this produceabroad. The farmers will have no choice but to sell their goods locally at great financial loss. Moreover, according to information provided by Israeli NGO Gisha (Legal Center for Freedom of Movement) the military has also not allowed through hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel for the electric plant and the private sector. The fuel has not been allowed into Gaza despite the dire humanitarian situation there and the serious shortage of electricity and fuel at a time when the damage by the recent storms has not been overcome.

Closing the crossing constitutes a collective punitive measure of the entire population of the Gaza Strip which violates the basic tenets of law and justice.

MEDIA BURY DOCUMENTS REVEALING ISRAEL’S DELIBERATE POLICY OF NEAR-STARVATION FOR GAZA

November 17, 2010 from Media Lens

“PUT THE PALESTINIANS ON A DIET”

 Israel has been forced to reveal what Palestinians and other observers on the ground have known for a long time: that the blockade of Gaza is state policy intended to inflict collective punishment, not to bolster Israeli “security”.

An Israeli human rights group has won a legal battle to compel the Israeli government to release three important documents. These outline state policy for permitting the transfer of goods into Gaza prior to the May 31 attack on the peace flotilla in which nine people were killed by Israeli forces. The group, Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, is demanding Israeli transparency. Meanwhile, Israel refuses to release documents on the current version of blockade policy which was “eased” after international condemnation following the flotilla attack.

The released documents, whose existence Israel had denied for eighteen months, reveal that the state approved “a policy of deliberate reduction” of basic goods, including food and fuel, in the Gaza Strip. Gisha Director Sari Bashi explains:

“Instead of considering security concerns, on the one hand, and the rights and needs of civilians living in Gaza, on the other, Israel banned glucose for biscuits and the fuel needed for regular supply of electricity – paralyzing normal life in Gaza and impairing the moral character of the State of Israel. I am sorry to say that major elements of this policy are still in place.” (Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, ‘Due to Gisha's Petition: Israel Reveals Documents related to the Gaza Closure Policy’, October 21, 2010;  http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1904&intSiteSN=113)

As Saeed Bannoura of the International Middle East Media Center reports, the Israeli government imposed a deliberate policy:

“in which the dietary needs for the population of Gaza are chillingly calculated, and the amounts of food let in by the Israeli government measured to remain just enough to keep the population alive at a near-starvation level. This documents the statement made by a number of Israeli officials that they are ‘putting the people of Gaza on a diet’.” (Saeed Bannoura, ‘Israeli government documents show deliberate policy to keep Gazans at near-starvation levels’, International Middle East Media Center, November 6, 2010 21:32;  http://www.imemc.org/article/59843)

Bannoura adds:

“This release of documents also severely undermines Israel's oft-made claim that the siege is ‘for security reasons’, as it documents a deliberate and systematic policy of collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza.”

When Israel and the United States were reacting to Hamas’s election victory in Gaza in January 2006, long-time Israeli government adviser Dov Weisglass stated:

“The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” (‘Hamas readies for government, Israel prepares sanctions’, Agence France Presse, February 16, 2006)

The released documents contain actual equations used by the Israeli government to calculate the exact amounts of food, fuel and other necessities needed to do exactly that. (‘Submitted to Gisha in the framework of a Freedom of Information Act Petition, AP 2744/09 Gisha v. Defense Ministry’, Appendices B, C and D; http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/HiddenMessages/DefenseMinistryDocumentsRevealedFOIAPetition.pdf)

continue reading this article at Media Lens Alerts for more information and a way to take action to hold the media accountable.

Weblink came to my attention via @mparent27777 on Twitter. Thanks Marc!