Fragile Peace - The Misrepresentation Of The Israeli-palestinian Conflict

[Violet_Crumble]

by John Petrovato
April 11, 2005

Newspapers and television news programs throughout the world yesterday reported a strikingly similar story about how the “fragile peace” that Israelis and Palestinians were said to enjoy in recent months has been threatened. It has been threatened after 3 Palestinian teenagers were shot and killed in the Gaza strip.

Originally the story was reported that the three were chasing a soccer ball near the “security zone” of the Egyptian/Gaza border when Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Later, after Israel issued an official statement regarding the incident, it was reported that the three were members of a resistance group who might have been attempting to smuggle weapons. The story was found to be particularly newsworthy, due not only to the Palestinian death count, but the fact that there was a response by Hamas when they fired missiles into a neighboring Jewish settlement (causing no injuries).

The incident is troubling on a number of different levels. For one is Israel’s policy of shooting first and asking questions later. As international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have widely reported, incidents as the one which occurred yesterday are common. Besides the fact that the incident occurred by Israeli soldiers who are occupying a foreign territory, it is amazing that newspapers and journalists didn’t question the fact that the shootings fall into a pattern of behavior by the Israeli military toward not only Palestinians, but also toward international human rights workers and journalists themselves.

It is also troubling that journalists had not questioned the fact that the “security zone” is on Palestinian land and further that it is an ever-expanding area between Palestinian Gaza and Egypt. Every month Israel illegally (under international law) demolishes homes owned by Palestinian families to widen these security zones. Hundreds of homes in Gaza have been destroyed for such stated purposes; leaving thousands with few options in this impoverished and densely populated area. Palestinian families, guilty only of owning a home that is close to the border, are not compensated for their losses.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=7616

[number6]

1. shoot first :(

>For one is Israel’s policy of shooting first and asking questions later. As international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have widely reported, incidents as the one which occurred yesterday are common..<

do it all the time :(