"END THE OCCUPATION!" PAJU VIGIL #320 MARCH. 30, 2007

YES, ISRAEL TARGETS CIVILANS

Israeli news story admits: Israel has killed 5,000 civilians & wounded
50,000.

When Israeli soldiers raided the Palestinian city of Nablus recently, they
besieged a hospital and prevented wounded Palestinians from being treated.
They also shot an innocent civilian in the head while the man was standing
in his own back yard.

How can these acts be called "accidental"?

"Bad things happen in a war," Israelis like to respond. True. But this was
not "war". This was a unilateral Israeli invasion of a Palestinian town. It
violated international law by causing unnecessary harm to the civilian
population and Israelis don't care. They simply keep repeating that 'we don't
mean to harm civilians' - a justification that's become a bad joke.

Do Israelis really believe that their army has "accidentally" killed 5,000
Palestinians (including 1,000 minors), injured 50,000 Palestinians, and
destroyed 30,000 homes in the last few years?

And are Israelis really not ashamed that their government has consistently
refused to negotiate peace while carrying on this slaughter?
Are Israelis really unaware that while this slaughter goes on, Israel
continues to expand its settlements and its "security fence" in the West
Bank, gradually breaking up the Palestinians' land into fragmented pieces?

The situation is so shameless that the international community has started
to doubt Israel's willingness to ever reach a peace agreement.

This sort of thing is bad for Israel's image. So Israel's leaders came up
with a bright idea: They decided to invade Nablus, blow up a few houses, and
hunt for a few Palestinian weapons so that they could show the world that
Israel faced a threat and so could not make peace. "Look! The Palestinians
have weapons!" Israel's leaders loudly proclaimed.

And yes, it's true. The soldiers found a few poor quality weapons in Nablus.
What were we expecting? That Palestinians would accept Israel's aerial raids
and tank shells with a bare chest and an olive branch?

The immense damage Israel causes to West Bank towns dwarfs the limited
damage Palestinians cause to Israel. Let us stop pretending that
"Palestinians target civilians and Israel is pure". Let us admit the truth:
Israel also targets civilians. And it causes vastly more damage, suffering
and loss of life.

Adapted from « We also target civilians » by Idan Landau, an Israeli
academic and peace activist. Published by the Israeli news service Ynet News
on March 2, 2007 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3370915,00.html
Distributed by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
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