Mounds of fake barbed wire and rope stood next to spray-painted cardboard walls, as students outfitted in olive-brown army uniforms, aviator sunglasses and plastic gas masks set up a mock military checkpoint on Upper Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley Tuesday.
The checkpoint was intended to simulate conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank, and student-actors and members of Students for Justice in Palestine who tried to pass through were lined up according to ethnicity and sex and told to show proper identification, while those dressed as Israeli officers bound the students’ hands together.
“It’s a tiered system,” said Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, a graduate student at UC Berkeley and member of Students for Justice in Palestine. “Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are deprived of basic rights because of their ethnicity.”
Tuesday’s events were part of a series of demonstrations planned by Students for Justice in Palestine for the annual Israeli Apartheid Week, an international campaign to “educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system,” according to the event website.
“We’ve done an effective job in the past of educating the campus about the plight of the Palestinian people,” Huet-Vaughn said, adding that he hoped this year’s events would be as productive.
But while members of Students for Justice in Palestine protested the conditions of Palestinians in Israel, members of Tikvah Students for Israel held their own demonstration on the plaza, countering the claims of injustice in Palestine through signs such as “Caution Fiction Ahead.”
Tikvah is holding its annual Israeli Peace and Diversity Week, which celebrates “diversity, culture, tolerance, and peace,” according to the group’s website, and was kicked off with a lecture last Thursday by U.S. Congressman Barney Frank about U.S.-Israel relations.
“We are proud of Israel’s diversity,” said junior David Sverdlov, co-president of Tikvah. “We want to acknowledge the steps Israel has taken towards achieving peace.”
“But this,” he said, referring to the checkpoint, “is a circus demonstration.”
A recently filed second amended complaint to a lawsuit dismissed in December alleges that UC has not provided a safe atmosphere for Jewish students, specifically stating that the university violated Title VI of 1964 Civil Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution in 2011 by allowing for the construction of the checkpoint.
The rest of Israeli Peace and Diversity Week will include films and a peace rally, among other events. Apartheid Week also included a lecture Tuesday night by bestselling-author and journalist Max Blumenthal about the role Israel plays in American politics, and a panel discussion will be held Wednesday with activists from the Arab Spring.
Clarification(s):
A previous version of this article may have implied that those who passed through the mock military checkpoint were students unaffiliated with the planned event. In fact, all who participated were student-actors and members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
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Sam Buckland – are you a partisan in this conflict judging by your pro-Arab “Palestinan” bias???
eugenie-m’s single-minded obsessive focus and rants on Israel makes him an easily spotted antisemite. Simple.
Here’s why Israel has checkpoints:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPU4UN03t7E
And this is how real Israeli soldiers act at checkpoints:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QorJMPtz1Fw&feature=related
“Animals. Animals. Like the Discovery Channel. All of Ramallah is a jungle. There are monkeys, dogs, gorillas. The problem is that the animals are locked they can’t come out. We’re humans. They’re animals. They aren’t humans we are.”- Israeli border police
And here are soldiers stopping a pregneant Palestinian woman from getting to hospital – note that no reason was given and no check was made. Just “no, you can’t pass here”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyVPSU1xtPM&feature=related
And here’s a video showing the “flying checkpoints” – multiple checkpoints, a few kilometres apart, many times arbitrarily set up at the last minute, and they are between Palestinian villages deep inside the West Bank, where a suicide bomber has no incentive to kill anyone because there are no Israelis to kill – except for the soldiers you could say, but the soldiers don’t need to be there to begin with, they show up out of nowhere and there is no need for the checkpoint between Palestinian villages – there is no threat of violence between the Palestinian villages in the first place. The checkpoints are to slow down movement, prevent economic development, prevent people from getting to hospitals and schools. Completely pointless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9y2oojpd5I&feature=related
Here the soldiers stop a bus with women and children for 5 hours and then detain the driver for no apparent reason after he’s already been checked. Does it take five hours to check someone? And then he was freed without charge. So what did he do wrong you ask? Cross a checkpoint?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bcOX3ipa80&feature=related
Did you see any suicide bombers?
Not everyone they stop will be a suicide bomber, of course. That still doesn’t change the fact that some are. And for those few who are, everyone, whether a pregnant woman, or a child (and in the case of the youtube video I posted, you see even children are sent in by Palestinians with bombs strapped to them), has to be searched for security reasons. And if border guards are demoralized enough to make insulting statements, so what? Their insults are certainly not worse than the insults you Palestinians always hurl at them.
I’m sorry, man, but you’re acting like Palestinians are totally innocent victims in this whole situation, but that’s bullshit and everyone knows it.
No, you’re right, I suppose there is no such thing as an innocent victim when it comes to occupation. If you take away every basic human right a person has, including to move freely from their own home to have coffee at a friend’s house up the street which has no effect on your security, and they don’t like it, then just erect over 500 checkpoints in their land. International law? Who gives a shit. We need defence! The checkpoints will stop the violence.
Oh wait …. it hasn’t. It’s just made it worse! Goddamit - erect more checkpoints! Make them fly, so that we keep those Palestinians on their toes. Set them up outside of every home, every school, every bathroom until it solves the problem! No one should be allowed to sneeze until they adhere to the new sneeze laws.
But not in Israel, only in the Occupied Territories. Those Israelis are not violent, the machine guns, tanks, military occupation and building of nuclear weapons are ALL in the interest of peace. Israelis never killed anyone, they are just defending their country!! What do you mean the settlers? They are just defending their illegal settlements! They have the right to throw stones at children going to school – no checkpoints necessary for that.
Even if it’s NOT our country, and we are not supposed to be there in the first place as has been repeatedly stated to us in over 32 UN Resolutions. We don’t give a shit about that. We only care about ourselves.
And if a pregnant woman can’t reach hospital when she’s in labour, a few children die here and there who can’t get medical attention, and we cripple the economy of Palestine, and make them starve, then so be it. Let the border police make insulting statements, because poor them, they’re so demoralized. Their insults are also in the interests of peace and security.
Btw, have you seen my AK 47? I think I must have left at the last flying checkpoint. It must be up that Palestinian’s ass who I shoved it up last Friday.
Israel’s “Peace and Diversity” policy is going to lead to its destruction. And these Zionists at Cal, who are great people with good intentions, are celebrating it and bragging about it. Israel celebrates a minority that opposes the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
I support a two-state solution. But it has to be a two-state solution which preserves the demographic integrity of Israel as a Jewish state. This can be done without a single person being forced to leave their home. Arab communities close to the Green Line must be given to the Palestinian Arab state and their citizens made citizens of the Arab state. The idea is two states for two peoples. It’s not one and a half state for the Arabs (well, two and a half since Jordan is an already extant Palestinian Arab state) and half a state for the Jews.
Israelis should stage the havoc of a suicide attack
Or maybe they can stage dropping white phosphorus bombs on children…
Or maybe you can keep peddling the same old lies…
What lies are those exactly?
In addition to reports of the use of white phosphorus in Gaza by Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross and Amnesty International, as well as visual evidence in reports by the BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera and many other media outlets, “On 26 January, Israel’s Ministry of Defence finally confirmed speculations about the use of white phosphorus in Israeli-Gaza conflict” (Wikipedia: White Phosphorus). That’s after they initially lied about it’s use however and “categorically denied the use of white phosphorus” of course – what more could you expect from the terrorist Israeli state.
Here’s a CNN Report from Gaza in 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VFMnfFEJVQ&feature=related
Another example of why nobody in the real world takes Berkeley seriously.
[Um they hit a UN school.]
Are you referring to the UN school that was used as a mortar fire base near Gaza City? Given that facilities used for military purposes are legitimate targets, it’s clear that the Palestinians place no value on the health and safety of their own children – so why should anyone else care either?
How many faux bombs did the faux checkpoint stop?
It’s amazing just how much of what’s said by the Students for “Just US” In “Palestine” is simply false. ”Islam” is a religion, not an ethnicity. “Palestinian” is an Arab political stance, not an ethnicity, used to define the Muslim but ethnically diverse group people that left pre-state Israel in 1948. As many of these people were recent immigrants from neighboring Arab countries, as is shownby their names ( i.e. “Masri” means ” from Egypt”). UNRWA thus defined “refugee” as having had their usual place of residence in pre-state Israel from 1946-48. The vast majority left without ever having seen an Israeli soldier. The Israeli check points were set up in response to a wave of “Palestinian” suicide bombings after they rejected peace and statehood. Choices have consequences,even for “Palestinians.”
With the Egypt Gaza border permanently open, Palestinians now have access to international markets and trade.
Why worry about what the Israelis are doing?
Start making the lives of your people better.
It can easily be done.
For example, Hong Kong was substantially smaller than Gaza, more densely population, had no natural resources and surrounded by a hostile enemy.
But Hong Kong turned itself into a economic superpower in less than 25 years.
Are Chinese smarter than Palestinians? Are Chinese harder working that Palestinians? I doubt it.
And there’s plenty of money in the oversea Palestinian community which can fuel development.
But sadly I don’t think this will ever come about.
Hamas and Fatah would rather kill each other than govern, and Palestinians would rather blame Israel than help themselves.
Hong Kong was not occupied you moron. They didn’t have their neighbour coming in to destroy any development they tried to create. You are completely ignorant.
Just this week, Israel is planning to demolish a solar panel project that would give 1,500 people in a village near Hebron electricity (in case you are not aware, electricty is a basic resource you need to live and also to build an economy). The solar panels in this village were built by Israelis, and Israel now wants to destroy them. They also want to destroy similar projects funded by the Spanish government as well as other European countries.
http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/02/29/israel-to-demolish-palestinian-solar-energy-program/
Israel also raided and shut down major TV stations in the West Bank yesterday. They confiscated all their equipment so that they can’t broadcast.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/29/world/meast/israel-palestinian-raid/
Israel has destroyed pretty much every major project that was aimed at helping the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, such as the Gaza airport which cost billions, a well project donated by Poland, roads that connect villages, UN schools, hospitals, infrastructure – billions of dollars of projects mostly funded by the international community and Palestinians abroad, including ME.
How can you develop an economy when you can’t get to work without having to pass through 20 checkpoints? When you can’t even get to your cousins house that you can see from your roof without having to go through 5 checkpoints? What about when you are under curfew and you are not allowed to leave your home for days on end, even to buy groceries? How do you build an economy then? What about when you have to pay for water that Israel stole from you to give to its settlers at prices higher than Israelis pay, even when Israelis make about 100x what you make in a year?
And what do you think happens to you as a Palestinian when you try to protest these attempts to kill any effort by you to try to live like a normal human being? Your house gets bulldozed after a two minute warning to remove all of your belongings from inside or they will bulldoze the house with you in it – that’s after you are either shot or sent to jail for months on end, for just protesting, because protesting is not allowed.
And why is that you ask? Well, if the Palestinians did actually develop an economy, THEN ISRAEL COULDN’T CONTINUE TO CONTROL THEM COUD THEY? YOU GET IT NOW? It’s called occupation, and the pupose of it is to shut down any attempt by the Palestinians to develop a real state. Otherwise, Israel couldn’t then use their military might to enforce the building of the settlements that are meant to erase Palestine.
You seriously think that the Palestinians want to live in absolute poverty? You think they are a bunch of morons that don’t know how to build infrastructure? The Palestinians are KNOWN for their abililty to build – who do you think the fucking settlers hire at dirt cheap salaries to build the settlements?!
Get a clue you ignorant fuck. Go read. Or better yet, go to the occupied territories to see it with your own eyes. You can see what it’s like to live like that under military rule and then see if you can develop an economy.
As a Palestinian, people like you and comments like yours really piss me off.
Listen, you Palestinian fool: you now have a “unity” government which thoroughly delegitimizes your right to stand as a nation among the world’s nations. That unity government includes Hamas, which I noted in a commentary below, has sworn to genocide not just vs Israeli Jews, but Jews everywhere.
Correspondingly, anything the Israelis do against your ridiculous political rulers is eminently within the bounds of civilized order and the right to defend their society until your barbaric brethren stop teaching your children to become shaheed (or is it shitheads?) to one day kill Israeli Jews and that you stop perpetrating apartheid against your women, gays, and dissidents. Now that is true apartheid, not the fictitious title you hang on Israel.
Given your savage behavior and apartheid culture, civilized your people are not and until they become such, they do not deserve to give the world yet another barbaric Arab national order…
Palestinians like Eugenie_m and their supporters tend to bend reality to suit their needs for propaganda. Eugenie_m’s comments about the Israeli raid on Palestinian TV stations is exemplary, eschewing facts so that the situation may fit Palestinian falsehoods.
From the NY Times: “The Israeli ministry said in a statement that it had repeatedly warned both TV stations that they were using frequencies that violated Israeli-Palestinian agreements and that interfered with communications and transmission systems in Israel. An Israeli military spokesman said the interference was affecting airplane communication at Ben-Gurion Airport (Israel’s only international airport).”
The Palestinians went on to whine about the shutdown of TV stations showing childrens’ shows. What they fail to mention is that many of the childrens’ programs are shows such as “Martyr Mouse,” where a Disney Mickey like character is tortured and murdered by a stereotypical hook-nosed Jewish villain.
What a great thing to teach children! Well, that’s consistent with Palestinian brainwashing of their own little ones. Eugenie_m, please join me in saying, “That’s SICK!”
No, that’s not the problem actually.
The problem is that people like you dilute the facts so much in an effort to make excuses for Israeli crimes.
You fail to mention, for example, that the Israelis didn’t confiscate the equipement and shut down the stations because they were broadcasting racist programes – because there was no evidence of that – they shut them down because of frequencies. And you believe them when they say they “repeatedly warned” the TV stations, even though there is no evidence of that either.
And you neglect to mention that The New York-based media watchdog Campaign to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the military raids on the Palestinian TV stations and how the CPJ had previously complained to Benjamin Netanyahu expressing “alarm over the deterioration of press freedom in Israel, including ongoing attacks on and detention of journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Because that’s not important right? You only want to believe what you want to believe and attempt to make me look like an idiot for reporting something that is absolute fact.
And you ignore the other things I mentioned like the bulldozing of solar panels, airports and schools, because that doesn’t lend support to your ridiculous claims.
Fuck you buddy, you can’t stop the truth no matter how much you try.
Listen you Arab moron, interfering with the communication frequencies of Israel’s only international airport is a definitive safety hazard. The operators of the TV station were warned to change the frequencies and they didn’t listen. Hence they suffered the consequences. The protection of the safety of one’s citizens is the right of every country and the Israeli response was accordingly correct. For what other reason would they risk the lives of their soldiers as well as wrath of Palestinian propaganda?
BTW, anyone well read knows that Palestinian programs such as “Farfel, the Martyr Mouse” (where a Disney like character-how original of its Palestinian creators-is tortured to death by stereotypical hook-nosed Jews) and other programs of its ilk are regularly broadcast over these stations. Of course, this only supplements Palestinian schools where starting from the first grade Palestinian kids are brain-washed into thinking that their highest calling will one day be shaheed (shithead, I think) martyrs who blow up themselves to kill Israeli Jews. BTW, eu-Genie-in-the-bottle, I have been to the territories. And having spent five years as a journalist in Asia, Africa and LatinAmerica, I can say definitively that the standard of living for the Palestinians is considerably higher than it is in most of the world. As for sanitation, the Palestinians don’t practice decent sanitation in the West Bank, so don’t give me this nonsense about Gaza. If your people tried to be cleaner with their waste, they won’t have such problems. Indeed, their health problems would diminish if they would simply use toilet paper instead of their left hand for wiping.As for some things which were destroyed, what do you expect when ever since the Israelis pulled out of Gaza, their southern cities have been hit by nearly 5000 missiles targeting Israeli non-combatants, including several schools? Missiles are fired from civilian sites and utility installations. And the Palestinians have accordingly reaped the response.You try to compare Likud statements with the Hamas charter. Not one Israeli politician has called for the genocide of Palestinians and you know it. So stop comparing ants with cobras.Most Americans are wise to your propaganda. Although Jews make up only 2% of the US population, Americans overall call Israel their 8th favorite country in the world–according to 82% of Americans. All those years of Palestinian terrorism have continued to take their toll on American public opinion, with but 18% of US citizens holding a favorable opinion of Palestinians. As for your BDS efforts, they have come to absolutely not as students nationwide have rejected both them and the so-called Palestinian cause…
I think we know who the real racist asshole is now with your comments about Palestinian health problems diminishing if they “would simply use toilet paper instead of their left hand for wiping”
I think you’re a disgusting pig and unless you have anything intelligent to contribute, then shut the fuck up. You claim to be some kind of journalist but yet you confuse simple facts and your ability for basic logic is seriously lacking.
You fucking imbecile, you would have better luck bringing down your mobile network with a PlaySkool radio than a TV station in the West Bank would have at bringing down air traffic at Ben-Gurion airport. Israel is more capable of bringing down the West Bank’s TV broadcasting with radio jamming than the other way around – in fact, Israel did this with broadcasting on the Gaza Flotilla.
Israeli Ministry of Communications spokesperson Yechiel Shabi in fact said that there was never any interference at the airport but only mentioned interference with “Israeli frequencies” and refused to elaborate. Indeed Israel’s response to every question on the topic was “no comment”. So what do they have to hide you think? Where is the evidence of repeated warnings and interrupted frequencies that they can’t even elaborate on?
And what does confiscating computers and administrative files have to do with frequencies? Where is the reasoning for that? Israel says “no comment”.
Who gives a shit about what Americans think of Israel? Since when were the Americans some kind of authority on world public opinion? You do realize that there are about 196 countries in the world and you are only one of them right? And surprise (!), not everyone agrees with you! Really, you can ask the UN (I refer to my either point on the fact that there is consistent agreement of almost every country in the world that Israel is illegally occupying Palestine and needs to get the fuck out).
As for “Farfour, the martyr mouse”, I agree that it’s a ridiculous programme. But if you had your facts straight, you would know that it was never broadcast on either of the two TV stations that were raided. It was broadcast in Gaza on Al-Asq TV which is completely unconnected. Yet Israel didn’t bother raiding that station for some reason.
I think that if the raid was about anti-semitism, then Israel would hardly hesitate to mention that.
So get your shit straight and stop psychobabbling about bullshit that’s neither here nor there. Focus on the facts of the topic like a real journalist would.
I think we know who the real racist asshole is now with your comments about Palestinian health problems diminishing if they “would simply use toilet paper instead of their left hand for wiping”
I think you’re a disgusting pig and unless you have anything intelligent to contribute, then shut the fuck up. You claim to be some kind of journalist but yet you confuse simple facts and your ability for basic logic is seriously lacking.
You fucking imbecile, you would have better luck bringing down your mobile network with a PlaySkool radio than a TV station in the West Bank would have at bringing down air traffic at Ben-Gurion airport. Israel is more capable of bringing down the West Bank’s TV broadcasting with radio jamming than the other way around – in fact, Israel did this with broadcasting on the Gaza Flotilla.
Israeli Ministry of Communications spokesperson Yechiel Shabi in fact said that there was never any interference at the airport but only mentioned interference with “Israeli frequencies” and refused to elaborate. Indeed Israel’s response to every question on the topic was “no comment”. So what do they have to hide you think?
Where is the evidence of repeated warnings and interrupted frequencies that they can’t even elaborate on?
And what does confiscating computers and administrative files have to do with frequencies? Where is the reasoning for that? Israel says “no comment”.
Who gives a shit about what Americans think of Israel? Since when were the Americans some kind of authority on world public opinion? You do realize that there are about 196 countries in the world and you are only one of them right? And surprise (!), not everyone agrees with you! Really, you can ask the UN (I refer to my either point on the fact that there is consistent agreement of almost every country in the world that Israel is illegally occupying Palestine and needs to get the fuck out).
As for “Farfour, the martyr mouse”, I agree that it’s a ridiculous programme. But if you had your facts straight, you would know that it was never broadcast on either of the two TV stations that were raided. It was broadcast in Gaza on Al-Asq TV which is completely unconnected. Yet Israel didn’t bother raiding that station for some reason.
I think that if the raid was about anti-semitism, then Israel would hardly hesitate to mention that.
So get your shit straight and stop psychobabbling about bullshit that’s neither here nor there. Focus on the facts of the topic like a real journalist would.
Don’t cry me a river about rockets. Rockets that haven’t killed anyone in years. The Israelis have been dropping rockets and bombs on Palestinians for 44 years since the occupation started. The Israel has killed double the amount of Palestinian children in the last decade than the Palestinians have killed Israeli civilians. More Israeli soldiers have committed suicide than civilians have died from rockets: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html
Learn how to do your fucking math. And bring an intelligent response to the table instead of running at the mouth with your ignorant and racist fucking comments.
eugenie_m, your comments are so bereft of facts that one would have to conclude that you have yourself continued the habit of your Palestinian brethren in wiping yourself with your left hand (something even you can’t deny). And then you have poisoned your mind by incessantly wiping your left hand across your mouth. Such toxicity has clearly impaired your capacity to articulate facts and all we are left with is your scatological propaganda rantings…
ouch, that hurt. Oh wait, it didn’t. Your a racist piece of shit and I could care less what you think of me.
You’re also an idiot and that’s why you have nothing to say to defend your position. You know nothing about this conflict so you’re only left with spatting your racist ignorant views – empty, baseless, unintelligent.
Most normal people who are 100x more mature and have an ounce of class are beginning to see the reality of this situation and, in time, their voices grow louder.
So keep going, the fight for Palestine just started. Let’s see how long people like you last.
Really? Seriously? You think so?
Hamas wants to destroy Israel you say? What about what Israel wants? Have you read the Likud charter that states it will never accept a Palestinian state? Have you heard of the occupation? The settlements maybe? Did you know that it’s Israel occupying Palestine, not the other way around? Yet it’s our fault, right?
Actions speak louder than words.
The Zionists went to Palestine, drove out 800,000 Palestinians that lived there for thousands of years (many of whom are the original Jews from 2,000 years ago), then didn’t let them come back because of their explicit goal to steal their country and create a fucking racist Jewish only state. Then they occupy them to keep them oppressed, all the while building hundreds of settlements to steal EVEN MORE of their land, and when they even say a peep about it, then they are bunch of terrorists and anti-semitics nutcases, right?
Even when the Palestinians – ALMOST THE WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD – agree to peace terms that make absolute sense to EVERYONE except Israel and the US?! The whole world can agree to a two-state solution every single year when they vote on it again and again – including EVERY SINGLE Arab state and EVERY SINGLE Muslim state (Yes, even Iran!), but that’s not good enough for you right???!!!.
The WHOLE WORLD is wrong, and you are right? You have no fault here, your hands are totally clean I’m assuming? The Palestinians deserve to live like dogs with no humanity, basic amenities, or rights. And ON TOP OF IT, you have a right to go destroy any attempt that they make to build infrastructure. Those Palestinian animals – HOW DARE THEY TAKE SOLAR PANELS FROM SPAIN! HOW DARE THEY HAVE WELLS FROM POLAND! Schools? BULLDOZE THEM!
FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a fucking clue you ethnocentric, imperialistic, racist fucking MORON!!!
ISRAEL IS THE ENEMY OF PEACE, NOT THE PALESTINIANS. You’ve read too many pro-Israel bullshit articles. Go learn real history and look at the situation exactly as it is instead of through Israel’s eyes. WAKE UP to what the world is telling you!
Have you ever been to the occupied territories? Do you know what life is like there?
Have you been to Gaza and seen how a fisherman can’t go out 3 miles to sea to fish without being shot at by the Israeli navy? Have you seen how the waste flows through the streets in Gaza because Israel destroyed the waste water management systems? How there are no more schools, hospitals, factories, shops because they’ve been completely levelled by bombs? And no cement or wheelchairs are allowed in because those violent Palestinians should not be allowed to rebuild?
Have you seen nutcase Israeli settlers who steal land from Palestinians with American tax dollars and then walk around freely with machine guns in ILLEGAL settlements shooting Palestinian children without even so much as being arrested? How they kidnap teenagers and skin them alive? Have you seen settler children stand side by side next to their parents and throw rocks at Palestinian children who are just walking to school? How they scream “death to the Arabs” at protests and spray paint it over Palestinian homes and mosques?
Do you know what it’s like to give birth at a checkpoint because you’re not allowed through to the hospital in the occupied territories that is 10 min up the road? Do you know what it’s like to lose a sick or injured child at a checkpoint because the army won’t let you through to take him/her to the hospital?
Do you know what it’s like to be a Palestinian like me who would even DARE to call themselves a Palestinian in front of an ignorant Israeli who then spits on them? How it feels to be a Palestinian like me who was born in Israel, yet when you apply for a passport you are refused because miraculously, you don’t exist in “the system”? The same system that instantly identifies you whenever you enter the country? And then after 3 times of trying to get a passport you finally find a kind official who can, at the click of a button, confirm that you do indeed exist and are indeed a citizen and can indeed process your passport in a day?
YET WE’RE THE BARBARIANS RIGHT? Those poor innocent Israeli soldiers fighting in a real war zone, under treacherous conditions against the barbaric enemy that’s 5 feet high and holding a rock in their hand. It’s just so incredibly dangerous for those courageous Israeli fighters who have to fly 10 minutes to Gaza to drop white phosphorus bombs on children that kill and burn babies so badly that they continue to burn to ashes after their mothers puts them in water and in freezing ice in the mortuary. How they have to watch as their children’s skin in hospital comes off in clumps because of white phosphorus.
You don’t know what that’s like I’m assuming? Because you probably only listen to your Jewish media and your Jewish friends who tell you about how there are those thousands of rockets that rain on Israel, that have only killed 22 people in the past 13 years. You believe it when your people tell you that Israel was given to you by God, even though you can’t call God on Skype to confirm this information.
You call the Muslims extremists - those same Muslims who lived side by side with Christians and Jews for centuries, like in my village which has a church, a mosque and a synagogue side by side that still stand – EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE THE modern intelligent, democratic, peaceful one who promotes the idea of a racist Jewish-only state. Despite the fact that those poor Jews are the most succesful ethnic group in the whole world – the same ones that own your media outlets and tell you how Arabs hate Jews from cradle to grave.
WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW?! I highly urge you to go there – I will even offer to take you – to SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES how barbaric Palestinians, like my grandmother who was kicked out of her home in Haifa in the 1948 war and her home given to Jews, wore black for 6 months when her Jewish neighbour’s husband died. How my father had a Jewish business partner for 20 years and had many Jewish friends babysit me while I was growing up, who taught me to read the Torah and the Quran and the Bible to learn for myself about history.
Maybe you need to open your eyes a bit – YOU THINK?
[Have you ever been to the occupied territories? Do you know what life is like there?]
I have. What about you?
Yes, I have in fact. I have relatives there. And I’ve seen the abuse, the humiliation, the protests and the violence by the army with my own eyes.
GO ISRAEL !!!
Great job for SJP, we should commend students who are addressing the cycle of injustice Palestinians are subject to, and draw attention to the way in which UC Berkeley is complicity in these injustices.
So erecting checkpoints to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Israel to commit suicide bombings is now called a “cycle of injustice”? Yes, let us make everyone aware of this so-called “cycle of injustice”. Call it something else doesn’t change it.
We all know Palestinians try to sneak in bombs to blow people up in Israel. It’s been happening for many years. So you guys can talk about violations of rights and racism and all that, but everyone knows why those checkpoints are there. Your hamhanded attempts at deceptive propaganda aren’t going to go anywhere until you address this FACT.
Did you know that when the Jews were living in the Warsaw ghettos, under conditions that are remarkably similar to what the Palestinians live under – had tried to terrorize the Germans with the exact same tactics?
But that’s no ok for the Palestinians right? How dare they fight their oppressors who have occupied them for 44 years!
Do unto others as they do unto you in the lesson learned.
Okay, so you admit tactics are used by Palestinians to terrorize Israelis. That’s a start. Now you can sit there and say Israelis are acting like Nazis, but no one buys that. Moving on with your admission that Palestinians do indeed sneak bombs in to terrorize the Israelis: that is the reason for the checkpoints. That is the reason for confiscation of various building materials. Just because you believe Palestinians have a right to attack Israelis out of frustration doesn’t mean they have to sit there and take it. It’s very simple: if you terrorize a population, for whatever reason, that population will take measures to protect itself. Palestinians directly caused the need for security checkpoints and until they can agree to civilized means of discourse, those checkpoints should remain.
[Did you know that when the Jews were living in the Warsaw ghettos, under
conditions that are remarkably similar to what the Palestinians live
under - had tried to terrorize the Germans with the exact same tactics?]
Did you know that the Palestinians living under those conditions you deride aren’t in that situation because of anything the Israelis have done? Or do you simply not care about the facts?
Those “refugee camps” are NOT run by Israel. They are run by either the Palestinian Authority or neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon. Now what have those Arabs done to help their own co-religionists? What Arab nation has offered to let these “displaced people” settle in their own lands? Have the oh-so-devout Saudis with all their oil money agreed to let these people in their own country? What about the Jordanians?
Care to tell us why, when Jews were persecuted and driven out of places like Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Ethiopia, the Israelis welcomed those refugees with open arms, while the Arabs STILL keep the Palestinians pinned up in camps in places such as the ones in Southern Lebanon?
Oh, one other little detail – in Warsaw, it wasn’t the Jews trying to kill their own people. In Palestinian lands, a Palestinian is still more likely to be killed and maimed by one of their fellow “countrymen” than by anyone from Israel. Do you know what happened to members of Fatah in the West Bank when it was granted authority in 2005, and Hamas was elected to power? Why don’t you actually LEARN something, instead of repeating the same old idiotic propaganda over and over?
I was just in ISRAEL last month, as well as the West Bank (what some would call pre-mandate Judea and Samaria) and I have to tell you, everything you just said was false. Checkpoints, abuses.
Granted no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. And I’m not saying the Palestinian people are bad people. But the Palestinian Authority is the most corrupt organization in the world stripping money from it’s own people.
Also, you might want to add that Gaza and Ramallah both have a better economy than a lot of the states within the United States. Nevada for example.
Also, by the 4th Geneva Convention (which is international law) an occupation is defined as a region that was conquered in a military OFFENSIVE war. Israel conquered the area in 1967 in a defensive war, there by making their claims and any annexation of any land valid.
Which by the way, they offered up 98% of the West Bank besides two places. Jerusalem (the eternal capital of the Jewish people, where they have been for nearly 6,000 years) and the mountain tops of the Jordan Valley to stop any future invasion.
Facts on the ground win an argument my friend. Your opinions aren’t facts.
By the way, on that note I do know plenty of Palestinians who would rather be Israeli than Palestinian because of the freedom they would enjoy in Israel. Also you should look into a bunch of Arabs leaving the Palestinian Territories to gain freedoms that they have in Israel and don’t have under PA control.
Also, you cannot have negotiations with preconditions. The negotiation is used to get to those settlements.
Which by the way, in 1929 in Hebron the Jewish population was massacred that had lived there for over 5,000 years. Oh and Gush Etzion they were massacred on May 13, 1948 by the Jordanians. Women and children, by the way this constitutes a war crime. As does what Hamas does in kidnapping people and violating international laws. If they want to be taken seriously than I recommend that they start following the law. Like Israel does.
How many articles on the same bunch of misguided children is the Daily Cal going to run? Seriously, multiple articles on every statement and action by these various and sundry protest groups sounds more like advertising or endorsement than merely objective reporting of the news.
What does Dina Omar have to say? The shining example of truth in SJP is missing from this dialogue? What say SJP supporters? Do you still love Dina the Liar?
Those who support the absurdly named Israeli Apartheid Week need look no further than a major governmental party as part of the new Palestinian “unity” government to see that they are advocating Jewish genocide. Hamas is part of the Palestinian governing order. The Hamas Charter reads, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)It also says, ‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7)Hence, those who support Israeli Apartheid Week should understand that they are advocating a stance we have seen before in Germany under the Third Reich. For those so naive to deny this, kindly explain how this genocide advocating party, Hamas, as an important ingredient in the new Palestinian unity governing order is not urging the elimination of the Jewish people. Accordingly, to support Israeli Apartheid Week is to make its participants at UC Berkeley as equally culpable with their Hamas/Palestinian governing brethren in this odious intent.
The women demonstrating in the photo are not what you would call raving beauties. No wonder the Arabs cover their womens’ faces.
That’s really not fair. There are some incredibly attractive Arab and middle eastern women. However, it is well known that women who desire attention but can’t get it from their looks or pleasant behavior seek out fringe movements where they can get the attention they believe they deserve but can’t get on their own…
Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?
I am honestly shocked by the sexist nature of this comment and the debate that is ensuing, and I believe it testifies to the lack of solid arguments against the substantial issues that the protesters were addressing.
Yes, his comment is out of line, and he should apologize for it and retract it accordingly. At the same time, I don’t recall any time any of you easily offended types objected when the pro-Palestinian types called Jews “pigs” and “dogs”, which occurs on a regular basis. So which one is worse, calling a woman homely or calling an entire people “pigs”?
C’mon, rez, you’re better than that. You can make an articulate case against this SJP crap without stooping to that level. Please retract that one and hold your head up high.
Since the absurd so-called Israeli Apartheid Week commenced several years ago, pro-Palestinian support has actually diminished both on campus and nationwide. A recent US poll showed that Israel is America’s #8 favored nation with 82% of Americans favoring the Jewish State. On the other hand, the Palestinians were among the least favorite societies among Americans, with a mere 18% seeing the Palestinian territories positively.
So SJP can hold their little annual carnivals as much as they like–unlike in the Palestinian territories, you can demonstrate unpopular beliefs in the US and Israel as much as you wish–but for the pro-Arab faction, the outcome remains the same: negligible support for your inane “cause.” UC students are not stupid. They no the truth and not SJP’s litany of lies…
Correction of minor typo: UC students are not stupid. They know the truth and thus do not succumb to SJP’s litany of lies.
To this the following might be considered: the BDS movement has been rejected by students and their representatives nationwide. The BDS movement, for all its falsehoods and ravings, has gotten nowhere.
On the other hand, we are more likely to see US aid to the Palestinians cut by our government as Fatah is forming a unity government with the party which preaches genocide: Hamas.
In sum, if you support the Palestinians, you are correspondingly advocating Jewish genocide as the Palis are governed with the inclusion of a major party which supports the liquidation of the Jewish people. Very few students are so lacking in integrity to support such a society…
If the daily cal thinks its appropriate to report on events that are based on blatant lies and falsehoods then I am ashamed of what our university and journalism has come to.
jessica what the fuck are you talking about? I cant tell which side you’re on.
That’s because you have your head inserted up your a–
This was a fairly large, public event on campus. Ergo, the Daily Cal covered it. They took both sides of the story into account and covered both. I don’t really see what the issue is.
If the daily cal thinks it is appropriate to cover events that are based on blatant lies and falsehoods then I am ashamed of what our university and journalism has come to.
These Cal kiddies are learning to be good little anti american Lib journalists.
They need to make their bones so they can get jobs at NYT, Kos, HUFPO, MSNBC, etc.
a REAL israeli soldier! https://twitter.com/#!/CalLovesIsrael/status/174654140226613248/photo/1
Nice balance
first ask yourself… why are checkpoints necessary?
demographics!
suicide bombers. evil human beings who target civilians. educate yourself.
Yo is there a checkpoint for white phosphorus? Cause the world agrees that shit is evil too.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/03/25/israel-white-phosphorus-use-evidence-war-crimes
I have no problem with anyone using Willie Pete on murdering terrorists.
Um they hit a UN school. You think they’d be advanced in their techniques enough not to hit so many civilians.