Monday, April 21, 2008

Asleep at the Wheel

"Israel's success at fragmenting physical and geographical Palestine is matched by its success in having shattered the social, political and economic strata as well... during 'Operation Defensive Shield' in the spring of 2002, IDF soldiers were responsible for destroying the records of civic institutions and NGOs throughout the West Bank city of Ramallah, very often the central location for these offices. Ransacking soldiers left furniture and appliances wrecked beyond repair. Food, drink, mud, urine, faeces, and trash covered the floors, and graffiti was scrawled across the walls. After removing computer hard drives (which were transported to Israel) soldiers smashed up the computers and printers rendering them permanently unusable. They spilled out the contents of the filing cabinets, burned or shredded documents and papers leaving them strewn across the floors or scattered in the streets. Soldiers also burned, shredded, and sometimes shot at personal photographs, posters and pictures on the walls. In addition to the destruction of these offices, IDF soldiers vandalized radio and TV stations, banks, schools, hospitals, medical clinics, and cultural centers. Many soldiers broke or shot bullets through office windows, destroyed office, medical and school supplies, trashed the lavatories, and broke down the doors to the buildings." The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle, Ramzy Baroud, 2006 pp 5-6

"Have you seen the [Palestinian] Ministry of Culture, the inside of that?
- I've seen the pictures that [the Palestinians have] shown all over the place.
You've seen the shit - excuse me using the word - all over the place, the broken photocopiers, the files pulled out - what military objective is there in that sort of rampage?
- I don't want to be the one who consistently says that all [the Palestinians] do is lie. But I have problems with a lot of the pictures that I've seen...I just say that we have a code of ethics which is very different from anything else I've heard anywhere else." (Exchange between Debbie Whitmont of the ABC's Four Corners and Colonel Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in the wake of Israel's 2002 Operation Defensive Shield in the occupied West Bank.)

One such trashed organization in Ramallah was the independent, non-partisan Palestinian NGO Ma'an Development Center. Eleven years of records, data and teaching manuals were destoyed, in addition to equipment to the value of $40,000. The Ma'an Development Center, with a focus on health and aged care, literacy, vocational education and so on, was one of 3 projects in the occupied Palestinian territories funded by the ACTU's Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA. To my knowledge, no mainstream Australian media outlet reported the attack.

Incredibly, the Ma'an Development Center (still funded by APHEDA) has again been trashed by the IDF. According to a 3/4/08 press release, posted on APHEDA's website, the Center's doors were blown open at 2 o'clock in the morning, causing major damage to its offices. Many other public, private, and NGO institutions in Ramallah received similar treatment at the same time. No mainstream Australian media outlet bothered to report the attack.

Another APHEDA-funded Palestinian institution, El Wafa Medical Rehabilitation Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, also came under attack, by Israeli tanks. According to a 16/4/08 press release, in addition to its buildings, the cable of the hospital's only generator was damaged, endangering the lives of paralyzed and comatose patients. No mainstream Australian media outlet bothered to report the attack.

3 comments:

Michael said...

I wish I could say I'm surprised.

Anonymous said...

Our anonymous Middle east reality Friend is obsessed with Israel.

Could it be that he is jealous that even though the Palestinians have the numbers as far as sympathy goes and even though Palestinians continue to play the victims so well Israel continues to thrive.

Sure it is at war with Arab/Muslim world it has been at war since 1948 yet its economy does well, tourism is back to normal and whilst Palestinians live in the dark ages not because of the Israelis but because they are so obsessed with hatred of the Jews that have no desire to build a nation yet Israel still survives.

Palestinians are similar to Pakistanis ,India and Pakistan were divided in 1947 one year before Israel and if anyone has been to Pakistan recently it looks like the country has stood still for 61 years whilst India is a power house Not dissimilar to israel and the Palestinians.
That there are similarities between The Pakistanis and the Palestinians theres no doubt one very obvious .

Perhaps it's time for Mr Middle east reality to come out of the closet is it Loewenstein,Salbe, or is it Muhgrabi? Who knows?

Anonymous said...

I believe you are "obsessed" with infiltrating every dissident blog there is.