Zionist settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds (Jerusalem) has increased sharply since 2009, says a group of UN agencies and NGOs.

“Last year, the number of settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage increased by more than a third; since 2009 it increased by nearly 150 percent,” said a July 11 joint statement issued by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq and the Israeli NGOs Yesh Din and B’Tselem.

Jessica Montell, the director of B’Tselem, said in a joint press conference with representatives of the other groups in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday that there were “two distinct phenomena” regarding the issue.

The first was the “price tag phenomenon” and the second was “displacing Palestinians” and expanding the illegal settlements in “a very explicit way.”

Pauline Nunu of the EAPPI also stated that the illegal Zionist settlement expansion is “scaring the Palestinians and threatening them and forcing them to leave their community so that the settlers will take over the land.”

According to the UN figures, over 90 percent of complaints filed against Zionist settlers have not been addressed in recent years. The participants at the Wednesday press conference also censured the Zionist regime over the issue of settler violence. Illegal Zionist settlers often assault the Palestinians or vandalize their properties in the occupied territories. On June 17, a Zionist settler shot dead two Palestinians in the city of al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.

More than half a million Zionists live in over 120 illegal settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Al-Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem and its environs, the Holy Land. The International Day of Al-Quds is a day of solidarity with the oppressed innocent civilian population of Palestine and their struggle against the racist oppressive Zionist-Apartheid Regime.

Al-Quds Day events are held annually across the world in cities like Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Hyderabad, Kabul, Dhaka, Kashmir, Jakarta, Tehran, Gaza, Qalandia, Ankara, Istanbul, Paris, London, Oslo, Berlin, Stockholm, Cairo, Baghdad, Azerbaijan, Qateef(Saudi Arabia), Malkiya(Bahrain), Damascus, and cities in Lebanon and Yemen. Many cities in the US such as Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Canadian cities such as Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto have a history of commemorating this day.

The Al-Quds Committee and peace and justice loving individuals around the world have very serious concerns about the financial aid being sent to the Apartheid Zionist Regime and the political and diplomatic support provided by the US, Canadian and UK governments. The financial and political support is used by the Zionist regime to perpetrate oppression of innocent civilians, extend illegal occupation, increase settlement activity and cover-up horrific crimes against innocent civilians. From 2009 to 2018, the United States is scheduled to give the Zionist Regime (the largest recipient of U.S. assistance) $30 billion in military aid. Through its illegal 45-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, the regime misuses U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians, destroy Palestinian civilian infrastructure, blockade the Gaza Strip, and build illegal settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem.

We protest the financial toll this amount of aid has taken on the lives of Americans, given the current economic down-turn. As a result, we face unemployment, loss of critical fire/rescue services, police, funding for education, and social services while precious American tax dollars are being used to support and sustain an immoral agenda of regional hegemony, occupation, oppression and a siege on a civilian population.

We are also concerned about the loss of reputation and the intensity of ill will that is generated throughout the world against the US, Canada and UK as a result of their prejudicial support of the Zionist regime, and demand an immediate end to supporting the heinous crimes of this racist regime.

On August 17 and 18, the Al-Quds Committee is coordinating peaceful Al-Quds Day events across US, Canada and UK which will be attended by Muslims, Christian, Jews and peace and justice loving individuals from all walks of life.

Earlier this month NPR aired a story by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, titled “Walls Of Palestinian Homes Come Tumbling Down“. It seemed like the usual report on the Zionist Regime evicting Palestinian civilians from their homes and demolishing them on the so-called legal basis that they were built with a permit.

The Case of Sami Idriss

The report started by talking about the case of Sami Idriss, a 26 year old Palestinian, who had poured his savings into build his home, and was planning to get married in three months. While he was away at work, the Zionist Regime sent bulldozers to tear down his house:

“I came back and they were already tearing my house down,” he says. Idriss says he pleaded with the workers, saying he hadn’t received any notice or warning. He says they pushed him out of the building and continued to demolish his home.

The report cited that many of the nearby homes were built without permits as well. Additionally, in 60% of East Jerusalem & West Bank’s Area C (occupied and controlled by the Zionist Regime), there are thousands of Arab homes which already have demolition orders.

Why didn’t he just get a permit?

Regardless of the fact that the occupying authority is an illegal one, and one that isn’t even recognized, as practical matter, if there is a high risk of demolition, wouldn’t it make sense to get the proper paperwork done ahead of starting any building work?
 
The report cited Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Zionist Regime as saying:

“In any state where there is an urban authority around the world, you can’t just build wherever you like, whenever you like. You need a permit. If, at the end of the road, you don’t follow the necessary legal procedures, then inevitably there will be demolition… What is true is that they may feel less comfortable with the Israeli authorities, in the psychological realm… That may very well be the case and maybe this is why they resort to building without permits.”

Is it as easy as that? Ask, and Ye shall receive?

A deeper look into the matter and one is trouble to find the truth. A report by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) uncovered that, under the Zionist Regime’s zoning policy:

“Palestinians can build in just 13 per cent of East Jerusalem and in just 1 per cent of Area C… Ultimately, the number of permits granted to Palestinians each year falls far below the demand. More than 94 per cent of all Palestinian permit applications have been rejected in recent years.
This means that when a family expands or a community wants to build infrastructure to meet its basic needs, the choice faced is between building without a permit, or not building at all. Many end up building to meet their immediate needs in the hope that they will be able to avoid demolition.”

Why not let them build?

If the Zionist Regime only allows Palestinians to build within “13 per cent of East Jerusalem and in just 1 per cent of Area C”, then why not let them build? Doesn’t the regime allow for the building of new Zionist outposts and settlements and the expansion of exiting ones? These aren’t even considered legal by any international authority. Aren’t those being built with permits?
 

A Systematic plan to Expel and Displace!!

The NPR article went on to cite an explanation by the head of the Palestinian Jerusalem Center for Socio-Economic Rights, Ziad Hamouri. “What we are facing is a real war. It’s a demographic war against the Palestinians… [The Israelis] want to control east Jerusalem; [the Palestinians] are losing east Jerusalem.”
 
If you only issue permits to the Zionist settlers, and deny them to the rest, you systematically control who gets to build and where. Gradually and quietly, you drive out the Palestinians, and expand into the vacated areas. All the while, the World, and the US administration specifically, turns a blind eye.

Commonly Asked Questions about the USS Liberty

Prepared by the Independent Commission of Inquiry

Source: IfAmericansKnew.org
 

1. What happened to the USS Liberty?
The USS Liberty was a virtually unarmed American navy ship that was attacked by Israeli planes and torpedo boats on June 8, 1967.

2. What were the American casualties?
34 American sailors were killed and 172 injured that day, a casualty rate of 70%. This is among the highest casualty rates ever inflicted upon a U.S. naval vessel.

3. What was Israel’s explanation for the attack?
Israel claimed the attack was “a case of mistaken identity”; that they didn’t know it was an American ship.

4. Why would we question that explanation more than 30 years later?
The ship’s survivors were afraid to speak out in the early years because of threats of “court martial, prison or worse” if they did not remain silent. However, as time passed, they have stepped forward to say the attack was deliberate.

Recently, high government and military officials have suggested that not only was the attack deliberate, but that the US government covered-up the incident. Today, an Independent Commission of Inquiry has found that Israel committed “an act of war” against the United States (see Findings of Independent Commission).

In addition, the Navy’s chief attorney to the original 1967 military Court of Inquiry has issued a statement that orders to cover-up the incident were issued by President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara [see Statement of Captain Ward Boston, USN, JAG (Ret.)].

5. Did Israel have reason to believe the USS Liberty was an Egyptian ship?
Israel says its pilots and torpedo boat commanders confused the USS Liberty with the El Quseir, an Egyptian ship allegedly firing upon its forces in the Sinai. But there was no Egyptian naval bombardment that day; nor did the El Quseir (an unarmed 1920s-era horse carrier out of service in Alexandria) bear any resemblance to the Liberty.

6. Isn’t it difficult to identify a ship if you’re in an airplane?
In 1967, the USS Liberty was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world, with dozens of large antennas, including a large moon-bounce “satellite-dish” mounted on a tall structure near the stern. It may have been one of the most easily identifiable ships of any navy in the world. With a displacement of 10,000 tons, it was four times the size of the antique Egyptian transport it is claimed to have resembled. Freshly painted, the Liberty carried large white identification numbers on its bow. Egyptian hull numbers are painted black.

7. Doesn’t Israel say that the Liberty flew no flag?
According to American survivors, a 5-by-8 feet American flag was hoisted early that morning and was flying all day until it was shot away by attacking aircraft. Within several minutes, it was replaced by the giant 7-by-13 feet holiday ensign, which flew for the duration of the attack.

8. Could Israel have thought the ship was in a war zone, acting suspiciously?
According to surviving crewmembers, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty over an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within two hundred feet of the ship. At all times the Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, proceeding at a speed of only 5 knots.

9. What was the weather like the day of the attack?
Weather reports confirm that it was a clear day with unlimited visibility. The Israeli reconnaissance planes could have seen the Liberty’s crew sunbathing on the upper decks just before the attack. The flag was flying in a 12-knot breeze for most of the afternoon.

10. Doesn’t Israel say they ended the attack the minute they saw someone hoist an American flag?
The Israeli attack by combined air and naval forces spanned two hours — as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor. The air attack alone lasted approximately 25 minutes: consisting of more than 30 sorties by approximately 12 separate planes using napalm, cannon, and rockets which left 821 holes in the ship. Following the air attack, three Israeli motor torpedo boats torpedoed the ship, causing a 40’x 40’ wide hole in her hull, and machine-gunning firefighters and stretcher-bearers attempting to save their ship and crew. More than 3,000 machine-gun bullet holes were later counted on the Liberty’s hull. After the attack was thought to have ended, three life rafts were lowered into the water to rescue the most seriously wounded. The Israeli torpedo boats returned and machine-gunned these life rafts at close range. This was followed by the approach of two large Israeli Army assault helicopters filled with armed commandos carrying what appeared to be explosive satchels (they departed after hovering over the ship for several minutes, making no attempt to communicate).

11. Did the Liberty send out a distress signal when it was under attack?
Throughout the air attack, the Liberty’s radio operators found it difficult to transmit a distress signal because the attacking Israeli aircraft jammed all five of the Liberty’s American, not Egyptian, emergency radio channels. However, a call for help did reach the U.S. Navy command in the Mediterranean.

12. What was the American response time?
Although American carrier-based air support was only 40 minutes away, help did not reach the USS Liberty for seventeen hours. Navy fighters were launched from the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga while the Liberty was under attack. However, they were quickly recalled by the White House. This is the only instance in American naval history where a rescue mission was cancelled when an American ship was under attack.

13. Why would Israel have deliberately attacked an American ship?
Israel’s motive for launching the attack has never been determined with certainty. This is why an impartial investigation is critical. One hypothesis is that Israel intended to sink the ship (with no survivors) and blame Egypt because this might have brought the United States into the 1967 war. Another hypothesis is that the Liberty was gathering intelligence about activities that Israel did not want revealed. Examples might include the massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war that was then occurring in the Sinai, as well as Israel’s impending invasion of Syria.

14. Has the incident been investigated in the past?
Some people say that there have been “thirteen official investigations” all concluding the attack was a case of mistaken identity. Several were conducted by Israel. Upon examination, however, every one is based upon the conclusions of the original 1967 US Navy Court of Inquiry, which accepted the Israeli version, but which has been exposed and discredited by its chief attorney as a cover-up.

15. Did the surviving crewmembers testify in the other investigations?
In not one of these “investigations” were any of the Liberty’s surviving crewmembers permitted to publicly testify.

16. Why would the White House prevent the rescue of an American ship?
This is, perhaps, the most disturbing question arising out of Israel’s attack. It is why there needs to be a thorough investigation of the actions taken by the White House and the Secretary of Defense. Why did they order the recall of the planes that had been sent to rescue the Liberty? Why did they order that the survivors be silenced and the true facts be withheld from the American people?

17. What kind of investigation are you calling for?
We are calling for a new Court of Inquiry by the Department of the Navy, with congressional oversight, to take public testimony from surviving crewmembers and otherwise thoroughly examine the circumstances of the attack.

18. Why are you calling for a naval — and not a congressional — investigation?
We believe this would remove the inquiry from the political pressures traditionally exerted by special interest groups upon individual congressional offices. Fundraising and election pressures have prevented an honest investigation from being conducted for the past 36 years.

19. Why is this significant for the American people 36 years later?
We have a duty to the crew of the USS Liberty, while the survivors are still alive to testify, and while the perpetrators can be brought to justice. Furthermore, any policies that paralyze our elected leadership to the extent they become unable or unwilling to protect Americans and American interests, endangers not only the safety of all Americans but also the national security of the United States.

20. Doesn’t America have a special relationship with Israel?
No nation or people should be above the law; nor should American interests be subordinated to the interests of any foreign nation. Those Israelis responsible for ordering the attack and the resulting murder of American sailors must be held accountable for their actions.