Article: Senator Clinton's ILLEGAL Apartheid Colony of Gilo and George's Ancient Indigenous Christian Village of Beit Jala

On February 1, 2007 Senator Hillary Clinton's delusional remarks to AIPAC/ American Israel Public Affairs Committee, prove she has never outgrown her favorite movie for she remains a resident in the land of Oz.

The Democrat Demimondaine and Consummate Pandering Politician purred to AIPAC, "I've been a strong supporter of Israel's right to build a security barrier to keep terrorists out. I have spoken out against the International Court of Justice for questioning Israel's right to build that fence of security."

Clinton not only cares naught for the rule of law, she apparently does not read the august Washington Report on Middle East Affairs , "Financed with U.S. aid at a cost of $1.5 million per mile, the Israeli wall prevents residents from receiving health care and emergency medical services. In other areas, the barrier separates farmers from their olive groves which have been their families' sole livelihood for generations." [Page 43, Jan/Feb. 2007]

Clinton continued selling out we the people of America and the cause of peace and justice, "On my trip to Israel a little over a year ago, I went to see the fence with my own eyes. During a trip to Gilo, a Jerusalem neighborhood, I was greeted by Col. Danny Tirza, who was overseeing the construction of the security fence."

The facts on the ground are that Clinton 's Orwellian spun 'neighborhoods' are all ILLEGAL colonies for everyone exist on legally owned Palestinian land.

This reporter also went to see "the fence" which in actuality is composed of 25 to 30 foot high concrete slabs with razor wire, trenches, sniper towers, electric fences, military roads, electronic surveillance, remote controlled infantry and buffer zones that stretch over 100 miles wide that deny Palestinians access to their land, families, jobs, and resources.

Clinton's Jewish only colony of Gilo is less than a mile away from the ancient indigenous Christian village of Beit Jala , which is a five minute car ride from downtown Bethlehem. The Wall will soon completely separate Bethlehem and her sister villages of Beit Sahour, and Beit Jala from the northern parts of the West Bank. Because of Bethlehem's significance to and historic ties with Palestinian East Jerusalem, Bethlehem 's economic demise may well mark the beginning of the end of any viable Two-State solution.

If The Wall is completed in this area, 4000 dunums of the areas most fertile land will be isolated in order to accommodate for the expansion and the building of the ILLEGAL colonies/settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo. This means Beit Jala will have no potential for expansion.

This growing ghettoization of Bethlehem is not only destroying ancient communities, but the influx of nearly 900 new settlers, and plans for 30,000 new settlers to colonize the occupied West Bank , violates International Law and the Road Map, which prohibits settlement expansion.

The Wall and all of Israel 's settlement colonies are illegal under International Law, but Clinton cares naught for the rule of law and the truth is The Wall is an APARTHEID Wall for it divides, separates, humiliates, dominates, controls and denies inalienable human rights to the indigenous people of the Holy Land.

Clinton continued in her denial of reality, "Col. Tirza's explanation in his graphic depiction of what was part of the daily life of people living in that one neighborhood, gave me an even greater appreciation for the imperative of the fence and the need to do everything possible to protect Israel against these continuing attacks."

The truth is the 'attacks' originated because of the illegally settled inhabitants that are encroaching upon the indigenous people of Beit Jala and the 40 years of Occupation. International Law states occupation is to be temporary and the occupiers are not to transfer their population into occupied territory.

What Clinton is apparently clueless of is the fact that in the year 2000, in Beit Jala, some hopeless militants who had given up on the 'peace makers' of the West to demand Israel adhere to International Law, UN Resolutions and the UN Declaration of Human Rights, infiltrated this previously peaceful Christian village to shoot into the illegal colony of Gilo. The Israeli Defense Force immediately retaliated and the bedroom of George of Beit Jala was decimated.

The shrapnel that pierced the wall of George's sanctuary read "Made in USA" and was delivered from American made Apache helicopters that buzzed over his innocent head. If George had been in his bed, he would be dead.

I first met George of Beit Jala in June 2005, shepherded by an Internet connection, George Rishmawi, a Palestinian Christian, who met with the USA delegation from the interfaith, non-profit Olive Trees Foundation for Peace/OTFFP, of which I am a member. The OTFFP is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help replace the over one million olive trees The Wall has destroyed.

During my initial visit with George of Beit Jala, I learned that he, his sister and mother all suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome, but Clinton, USA and Israeli government all just consider that collateral damage. George's father told me he has no bitterness about what happened even though the snipers had not even been near their home. The most difficult thing for him is the lack of employment opportunities in Bethlehem and being dependent on relatives and friends to feed his children.

Clinton's delusional pandering continued with, "Now as a thriving democracy... Israel has also used its strengths to forge alliances throughout the world even when those efforts have not always been welcome."

Clinton apparently has never paid attention to Jeff Halper, American Israeli, Founder and Coordinator of ICAHD/Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a Noble Peace Prize Nominee for 2006, who informed this reporter:

"Israel is a not a democracy but is an Ethnocracy, meaning a country run and controlled by a national group with some democratic elements but set up with Jews in control and structured to keep them in control.... 1967 the Israeli government has destroyed over 2,000 Palestinian homes. 95% of the cases have nothing to do with security. All these homes are on Palestinian private property. The Israeli government will not grant permits for them to build on their own land, and in reality are quietly transferring the Palestinians administratively from the land. They make conditions so intolerable that the Palestinians give up and leave and this is exactly what they are after. Not only do the Palestinians receive no warning when their homes are to be destroyed they are fined $1, 500.00!

"The Israeli government simply does not want to take responsibility and the USA government ignores the situation... Missing from Israel's security framing is the very fact of occupation, which Israel both denies exists...and that "security" requires Israel control over the entire country...rendering impossible a just peace based on human rights, international law, reconciliation.

"Israel has no constitution but has a Declaration of Independence which promised that Israel would abide by conditions and UN resolutions. They have not fulfilled the agreement which was the basis of their independence.

"One out of three Israeli children lives below the poverty line. It's probably about 80% for Palestinians. Jews are like everyone else, those who have been abused grow up to be abusers. Things here have been turned on their head: its victim mentality and denial about the occupation. Once Israelis accept the fact that they are occupiers they will have to admit their State Terrorism."

"It has been said that the Israeli's do not love this land, they just want to possess it. There have been three stages to make this occupation permanent. The first was to establish the facts on the ground; the settlements. There are � million Israeli's and four million Palestinians here. They have been forced into Bantustan ; truncated mini states; prison states. It is apartheid and Bush and Hillary are both willing collaborators. In 1977, Sharon came in with a mandate, money and resources to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank irreversible. The second stage began in April 2004 when America approved the Apartheid/Convergence/Realignment Plan and eight settlement blocs. This is just like South Africa! The Bush Sharon letter exchange guaranteed that the USA considers the settlements non-negotiable. The Convergence Plan and The Wall create the borders and that is what defines Bantustans . Congress ratified the Bush plan and only Senator Byrd of West Virginia voted no and nine House Representatives.

"Israel has set up a matrix of control; a thick web of settlements guaranteed to make the occupation permanent by establishing facts on the ground. Israel denies there is an occupation, so everything is reduced to terrorism. It is our job to insist upon the human rights issue, for occupied people have International Law on their side."

Clinton concluded her hustling by putting her foot in her mouth, "It is not enough for us to say the right things; we've got to be smart and tough enough to do the right things that will protect American and Israeli interests now and forever."

Tough and smart comprehends that the only way to security for Israelis is justice for Palestinians. Tough and smart would demand an end to the occupation and ensure that all people do indeed have equal human rights. No enduring peace, no security, and no reconciliation is even possible without the foundation of justice. Justice requires mercy on the occupied and oppressed and is always nonviolent.

SOURCES:

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=268474

Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory: THIRD INTIFADA/UPRISING NONVIOLENT: But With Words Sharper Than a Two Edged Sword by Eileen Fleming

Photo of George of Beit Jala in 2000 on WAWA
http://www.wearewideawake.org

is courtesy of Debbie Hill.