They also reflect rogue
Israeli leadership threatening humanity. More on that below.
Gaza remains isolated and besieged. Its health minister said the lives
of 404 kidney failure patients are threatened. Enough dialysis "Bloodline"
supplies aren't available.
Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said without them, dialysis
machines stop. Patients need treatment two - three times weekly. Without
it they'll die.
Supplies are nearly exhausted. Around 150 patients are treated daily.
"When supplies run out, clinics will shut down and dozens of patients
will face serious deterioration in their health conditions," said Al-Qudra.
"Their lives will be the tax they pay for this 6-year long Israeli siege
imposed on Gaza."
He appealed to the ICRC and WHO, as well as local and other international
aid and humanitarian organizations for help. Time is running out.
Israel's prison gulag remains a moral outrage. Deal or no deal, appalling
abuses continue daily.
In April, Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI-P)
said children imprisoned increased 63% since December.
An urgent appeal for Beit Ummar, West Bank youths was issued. Children
young as nine are affected.
Nine-year old Mahmoud A. was arrested, detained, traumatized, then released.
Twelve year old Jameel Z. was arrested, detained, abused, and bogusly
accused of throwing stones.
Middle-of-the night apprehensions are common. Children are traumatized.
Parents are tormented. Anything can happen and often does. Many children
face prison, fines or both.
Beit Ummar lies halfway between Bethlehem and Hebron. It's about three
kilometers south of Gush Etzion and adjacent Karmi Zur settlements.
Each Friday, demonstrations protest against being denied access to their
farms.
Children participate with parents and older youths. Middle-of-the-night
arrests and baseless charges follow. Since January 2009, DCI-P documented
26 child arrests for alleged stone-throwing from Beit Hummar alone.
Overall UN figures show 43 in 2010 and another 27 through February 2011.
Virtually all targeted children report arrest-connected physical violence.
Harsh interrogations follow. Most face prosecutions and detentions.
Each year, 500 - 700 West Bank children (aged 12 - 17 or younger) are
arrested, interrogated, prosecuted, and detained. Since 2000, around
7,500 were affected on largely bogus or exaggerated charges. Stone-throwing
is most common. Imagine facing prison for something this minor, whether
or not true.
"Credible reports of torture and/or ill-treatment" follow. Torment begins
from arrest. Children are awakened, shackled, blindfolded and abused.
Parents aren't told where they're taken. They're denied visitation rights.
Prolonged mistreatment includes exposure to the elements, lack of food,
water and toilet facilities, verbal abuse and physical violence, as
well as isolation with no parental or legal contacts.
Interrogation techniques include physical abuse, mental torment, and
pressure to confess, or else. Intimidated children plead guilty. It's
the quickest way out of their ordeal.
An April 2012 DCI-P report is titled "Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted:
Children in military detention."
It discussed 311 documented cases from time of arrest through prosecution.
Within days of apprehension, children face military tribunals shackled,
traumatized, and terrified. Despite their innocence, most plead guilty
to end their ordeal as quickly as possible.
Within days of arrests, they're detained in Israeli prisons. Doing so
violates international law. So does torture and other abuse.
Family visits are denied. So is legal counsel until close to initial
court appearances. Sometimes, it's hours or less before proceedings
begin.
DCI-P disclosed a systematic pattern of cruel, inhuman, and degrading
treatment. Torture is routinely used. Effective complaint mechanisms
are absent. Arrested children are guilty by accusation. So are virtually
all Palestinian detainees.
Common complaints DCI-P heard included shackling, blindfolds, physical
violence, detention inside Israel, arrests between midnight and 5:00AM,
forced confessions, verbal abuse, humiliation and other threats, strip
searches, solitary confinement, and more.
Under this type abuse, adults struggle to cope. Imagine the effect on
children.
Nations treating them this abusively don't hesitate dispensing appalling
treatment to anyone, in or out of prison, domestically or abroad.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners sustained hunger strikes for justice.
Deal agreements left Israel wiggle room to systematically violate provisions
early on or later.
Mahmoud Sarsak, Akram al-Rikhawi, and Mohammad Abdul Aziz continue striking.
They refused terms they consider unacceptable. Sarsak wants POW recognition.
Al-Rikhawi protests against administrative detention uncharged.
Redress won't come until thousands of lawlessly held political prisoners
are freed, occupation ends, and Palestinian sovereignty is universally
recognized.
Israeli prisons replicate Guantanamo harshness. Deal or no deal, they
won't change enough to matter unless current abuses end entirely. A
system practicing guilt by accusation, torture, ill-treatment, and humiliation
to young children on baseless charges reflects one too abusive to tolerate.
Israel's Military Order 378 grants extraordinary powers to tribunals
and judges. Defendants haven't a chance. Numerous other military orders
criminalize ordinary daily life. Military occupation denies due process
and judicial fairness. Virtually everyone charged is guilty by accusation.
Daily life in Palestinian communities reflect other common abuses. Israel
chooses violence over peaceful coexistence, confrontation over diplomacy,
and strength through militarism, intimidation, and lawless aggression.
Wars of choice, not necessity, are waged. Longstanding policies are
racist and discriminatory. Land theft is policy.
On May 18, a new project was announced. Around 2,100 housing units are
planned on stolen Palestinian land. Qalqiliya and Tulkarem governorates
are affected.
Ariel settlement will expand in two phases. Palestinian towns and villages
are affected. They include Azzoun, Jinsafut, Baket AlHatab, Ozba, Abu
Hamada, and Kafr Aboush.
Other West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements expand daily, gradually
and quietly. Israel wants all valued parts of Judea and Samaria, as
well as Jerusalem for its exclusive capital. Palestinians are denied,
abused, and shut out.
Netanyahu Threatens Humanity
Netanyahu is a world class criminal. He wages wars at home and abroad.
His Justice Ministry proposed a new bill to expand police state surveillance.
He wants cell phones and emails monitored. Privacy advocates are outraged.
The bill almost doubles the number of state agencies given access to
personal data when conducting investigations or monitoring Israelis
and Palestinians for specific reasons or none at all.
Violating personal privacy reflects police state harshness. America's
done it for years. Israel wants to replicate the worst FBI and other
US agency abuses.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Israel Bar Association
called earlier Big Brother legislation excessive. Unjustifiable intrusions
followed. Netanyahu wants more and may get it.
He also may wage war on Iran. He calls its peaceful nuclear program
"the paramount issue of our time." He claims ongoing negotiations a
"chess game." It buys Tehran time, he said.
"....I see no evidence whatsoever that Iran is serious about ending
its nuclear program."
Why should it? It's peaceful. It complies with Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty provisions. No evidence suggests otherwise. In contrast, Israel
is a nuclear outlaw. It's armed and dangerous. It maintains stockpiles
of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. It threatens to use them
if endangered.
Washington's Israeli envoy, Dan Shapiro, said US plans to attack Iran
are "fully available" either alone or jointly with Israel.
Shapiro said what Netanyahu wants to hear. America "guarantee(s) that
the military option is ready and available to the president at the moment
he decides to use it."
"Ready" doesn't mean bombs away, but suggests war remains an option.
Baseless allegations are made. Evidence disproves them. Media scoundrels
regurgitate official lies. Facts are ignored.
A Final Comment
World peace hangs by a thread. Hawkish leaders hold nuclear triggers.
Imagine if they squeeze. Imagine what's next if they do.
Obama and Netantanyu are war criminals multiple times over. Perhaps
they want their resumes embellished. Millions globally want imperial
wars ended.
Nuclear weapons use should scare everyone. The possibility of ending
human life is "the paramount issue of our time."
Netanyahu said it right but pointed fingers the wrong way. Global peace
actions can reverse things responsibly. That's how real change begins.
Hopefully it'll gain traction in time.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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