Say no to authoritarianism, say yes to socialism. Free Palestine 🇵🇸 Everyone deserves Human Rights

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Cake day: August 18th, 2023

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  • Yemen has been undergoing a US-Saudi backed genocide for years

    Guterres put the crisis in stark perspective, emphasizing the near complete lack of security for the Yemeni people. More than 22 million people out of a total population of 28 million are in need of humanitarian aid and protection. Eighteen million people lack reliable access to food; 8.4 million people “do not know how they will obtain their next meal.”

    Besides Saudi Arabia, the coalition attacking Yemen includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Qatar was part of the coalition but is no longer.

    Based on the information available to it using open sources, YDP reports that two-thirds of the coalition’s bombing attacks have been against non-military and unknown targets. The coalition isn’t accidentally attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure – it’s doing it deliberately.

    The air and naval blockade, in effect since March 2015, “is essentially using the threat of starvation as a bargaining tool and an instrument of war,” according to the UN panel of experts on Yemen.

    The coalition’s genocide in Yemen would not be possible without the complicity of the U.S. This has been a bipartisan presidential effort, covering both the Obama and Trump administrations.

    U.S. arms are being used to kill Yemenis and destroy their country. In 2016, well after the coalition began its genocidal assault on Yemen, four of the top five recipients of U.S. arms sales were members of the coalition.

    The U.S. has also provided the coalition with logistical support, including mid-air refueling, targeting advice and support, intelligence, expedited munitions resupply and maintenance.

    US complicity in the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen spans Obama, Trump administrations


  • Are you counting injuries or just deaths?

    As of 22 September 2024, the death toll from the attacks was 42, including at least 12 civilian deaths. More than 3,500 people were injured.

    At least 12 people were killed in the first wave of attacks, including civilians such as two health workers, a 9-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. The adult son of Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah member of Parliament was killed; Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited southern Beirut to pay his respects. More than 2,750 people were wounded. In the second wave on 18 September, at least 30 people were killed and 750 others were injured. One eye doctor at Mount Lebanon University Hospital reported that a number of those injured showed signs of something being blown up directly in their face, with some losing one or both eyes, while others had shrapnel in their brains. The Lebanese health ministry reported that 300 people had lost both eyes and 500 people had lost one eye as a result of the pager attacks. Other doctors saw severe hand, waist and facial injuries, reporting patients with fingers torn, hands amputated, eyes popped out of the socket and facial lacerations.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Lebanon_pager_explosions











  • It sure seems like Biden is slighting her campaign by giving a 30 day window for Israel to commit more violations of International Humanitarian Law before any possibility of repercussions like a withdrawal for aid. Having a window means acknowledging that Israel is violating IHL, so making it 30 days is an insane thing to do. It could just as easily been 1 day, and still can.

    If I’m being an optimist, I hope Harris breaks from Biden and somehow strong-arms the Biden camp to shrink the window to before the end of the election and initiate conditional millitary aid or an arms embargo. Showing a clear divergence between Harris and Biden on the issue of Israel. That has the potential to swing the election.


  • ABBAS ALAWIEH:

    You know, my family has very extensive experience — indeed, expertise — at surviving Israeli military violence. You know, southern Lebanon was occupied from 1982 until 2000. And so, I have family members who have endured the torture, the abuse, the targeting. What my family members are reporting now is a level of inhumanity, of violence, of belligerence that we haven’t seen before. People are afraid to show up to the sites that have been destroyed, because what the Israeli military is doing now is they’ll bomb whoever shows up to pull bodies out from under the rubble. And that’s what my uncle is. He’s a first responder whose job it is to show up and pull out the bodies from under the rubble. And now even people like him are being targeted, not once or twice, but systematically.

    And so, I’m an American. I feel like I have a specific responsibility in the world, since my country is the one that is sending the weapons that are being used systematically to harm and kill civilians. And the best that I’m being told my government can offer is this leaked letter that you just referenced, the Biden administration officials warning the Netanyahu government that if they keep blocking that humanitarian aid, in 30 days they’ll strongly consider what happens with the weapons that we’re sending. Our leverage over the Israeli government is not about humanitarian aid. Our leverage with the Israeli government is about the weapons. The more weapons we send them, the more babies they kill. That’s just how it works. And so, stop sending the weapons.

    And so, in my estimation, it feels like Vice President Harris is not doing what it takes to be both humane and compassionate and sensitive to the political realities in Michigan that are necessary to engage with in order to beat Donald Trump. And so, we — you know, everybody who’s going to try and beat Donald Trump despite that needs to make a public commitment now that they’ll hold Vice President Harris accountable, especially during her first hundred days, to stop the weapons from flowing to Netanyahu’s killing spree.






  • I wouldn’t say that. The Oslo Accords weren’t about any genuine peace. It was mainly a way to quell insurgent resistance movements with the establishment of an internal authority (PA) to police Palestinians from Resistance as the Settler Colonialism continued in the West Bank, allowing Israel to de-facto annex over 70% of the West Bank under the guise of a ‘Peace Process.’ However Rabin’s agreement to pull militarily out of part of the West Bank was seen as a concession to the Palestinian, which was intolerable to the more Right-wing members of Israel, leading to his assassination

    Spoiler

    In formally recognizing Israel’s right to exist, the PLO essentially gave up sole sovereign claims to 78% of the Palestinians’ historic homeland that was now claimed by Israel.

    In response, Rabin wrote to Arafat that Israel would “recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.” He did not recognize the Palestinians’ right to form their own state.

    Since then, Israel has expropriated nearly half of the West Bank for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers, in violation of international law. It also routinely siphons off water from Palestinian underground aquifers for the use of the settlers, while depriving Palestinians access to their own water.

    By ignoring this power imbalance, the Oslo Accords effectively allowed Israel to continue to confiscate land and resources with no consequences. With 60% of the West Bank under Israeli control, the prospects for a viable, independent Palestinian state were undermined.

    To enforce this agreement, the Palestinian Authority – an autonomous body that rules over Palestinians in the West Bank – agreed to coordinate with the Israeli military over security matters. It would either arrest Palestinians whom Israel suspects of carrying out hostilities or allow Israel to enter Palestinian areas and arrest suspects themselves.

    This coordination protects Israelis from Palestinian violence, but it does not protect Palestinians from violence by the Israeli military. Since fall 2000, the Israel military has killed eight times as many Palestinians as compared with Israelis killed by Palestinians. Half of those Palestinian victims were not involved in hostilities when they were killed, according to analysis from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

    Palestinians are also subjected to other kinds of human rights abuses from the Israeli state. These include home demolitions, imprisonment without charge or trial and abuse at checkpoints. Most soldiers accused of harming Palestinians do not face consequences for their actions, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization.

    https://theconversation.com/30-years-after-arafat-rabin-handshake-clear-flaws-in-oslo-accords-doomed-peace-talks-to-failure-211362


  • And, of course, what’s so important for all of us here in the U.S. to understand is that this is being done with U.S. bombs, those bombs that are massacring family after family in this war of extermination — because, make no mistake, that is the goal: extermination. It is being done with U.S. bombs, with U.S. weapons and with U.S. cover, with shielding Israel from accountability at any international institution.

    Now, the Biden administration wants you to believe that the reason the U.S. is arming and funding and covering the Israeli government like this is for the sake of Jewish safety. Right? This is the moral cover that they use. This is the justification used to cloak the entire enterprise.

    And so, we are there to say we reject this myth, this sick myth, with every fiber of our beings. We refuse to let our histories, our identities, our traditions be used to torture, to starve, to massacre, to erase Palestinians. And we are there to say the true interests of the Biden administration, the true interests of the U.S. government are this: its own imperial interests and its own financial interests. And so, we are there to say to the U.S., “Stop arming Israel. Stop profiting from genocide.”

    https://www.ceasefirenow.org/

    https://ceasefiretoday.com/

    https://uscpr.org/take-action/











  • Islamophobia is normalized in America, especially since 9/11. The dehumanization of people in the Middle East is intentional in order to Manufacture Consent for US Foreign Policy in the Region, especially since the Iraq War. Plus the extent of our Military Operations are barely even touched on if at all.

    This Genocide in Gaza has been a notable exception, it’s difficult for US News Outlets cover the News and paint our Ally Israel in a good light when it’s been a year of daily Human Rights Violations done by our Ally with our Unconditional Military Support



  • Yes, people under the violence of Occupation, Settler Colonialism, and Apartheid are bound to fight back by any means possible, regardless of the difference in military capability. Israel has been the one that has prevented peace for generations. Made all the more obvious when they assassinate the principal negotiator of peace talks.

    Settlements, Occupation, and Apartheid

    Israel justifies the settlements and military bases in the West Bank in the name of Security. However, the reality of the settlements on-the-ground has been the cause of violent resistance and a significant obstacle to peace, as it has been for decades.

    This type of settlement, where the native population gets ‘Transferred’ to make room for the settlers, is a long standing practice.

    The mass ethnic cleansing campaign of 1948:

    Further, declassified Israeli documents show that the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were deliberately planned before being executed in 1967:

    While the peace process was exploited to continue de-facto annexation of the West Bank via Settlements

    The settlements are maintained through a violent apartheid that routinely employs violence towards Palestinians and denies human rights like water access, civil rights, etc. This kind of control gives rise to violent resistance to the Apartheid occupation, jeopardizing the safety of Israeli civilians.

    The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents: the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal.

    Visualizing the Ethnic Cleansing

    Peace Process and Solution

    Both Hamas and Fatah have agreed to a Two-State solution based on the 1967 borders for decades. Oslo and Camp David were used by Israel to continue settlements in the West Bank and maintain an Apartheid, while preventing any actual Two-State solution

    How Avi Shlaim moved from two-state solution to one-state solution

    ‘One state is a game changer’: A conversation with Ilan Pappe

    One State Solution, Foreign Affairs

    Hamas proposed a full prisoner swap as early as Oct 8th, and agreed to the US proposed UN Permanent Ceasefire Resolution. Additionally, Hamas has already agreed to no longer govern the Gaza Strip, as long as Palestinians receive liberation and a unified government can take place.

    During the current war, Hamas officials have said that the group does not want to return to ruling Gaza and that it advocates for forming a government of technocrats to be agreed upon by the various Palestinian factions. That government would then prepare for elections in Gaza and the West Bank, with the intention of forming a unified government.


  • Yeah, Brittanica is wrong there. Palestinian Representatives supported a Unitary state since 1928. The Minority Proposal was not voted on after extensive lobbying by American-Zionist organizations and extensive US diplomatic pressure in the UN.

    Spoiler

    The UNSCOP report contained two suggestions: one for the partition of Palestine into two states with an economic union between them and a special status for Jerusalem, and another supported by a minority of UNSCOP members suggesting a unitary federal state. From August to November 1947, Zionist leaders broadened the scope of their lobbying to include all members of the General Assembly who might vote on behalf of the partition of Palestine. Additionally, Great Britain, though having turned the Palestine issue over to the UN, worked staunchly against the idea of partitioning Palestine into two states because the Foreign Office opposed the emergence of a Jewish state. While many delegates were persuaded for their own national interests to accept a two-state solution for Palestine’s future, up until the very last minute before the partition vote, Britain aimed to appease Arab opposition to Zionism. The Zionists were persistent, sometimes presenting their case for a Jewish state in multiple languages. Finally, on November 29, 1947, in an emotionally executed vote, a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly of the UN voted for (partition) Resolution 181. The vote was 33 in favor, 13 against, and 11 abstentions. Both the United States and the Soviet Union supported the partition plan; Britain abstained.

    https://israeled.org/resources/documents/report-of-the-un-special-committee-on-palestine-unscop-summary/

    Nor was the UN proposal binding in any way unless both parties accepted. It was used as a justification for the declaration of the Jewish State and subsequent Ethnic Cleansing to create it’s own borders as far as they could.

    Partition is inherently unequal, it is impossible to implement without the forced expulsion of the native Palestinian population, which was the entire plan. Which you can read about with the Quoted book about The Concept of Transfer in the history of Zionism and Quotes by Ben-Gurion and Theodore Herzl themselves.