If the definition of genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation — then that certainly seems to be whats happening in Palestine.

After Trump injected himself into the ‘Middle East Peace Process’ by naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel, I have some questions and observations. I should have formed a more intelligent perspective on whats going on a long time ago since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on since before I was born. And as Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as saying “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Parallels and Observations. The parallels between what Israel seems to be doing to Palestine and what the United States did to Native Americans is scary.

So here is the rundown: Way back in 1918 after the end of World War I, Europeans led by the British carved up the Middle East according to their wishes. Great Britain was committed to creating what then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour called a ‘national home’ for the Jews in place of Palestine. In April 1920, the newly formed League of Nations (and future United Nations) handed Britain a mandate to govern Palestine. World War II gave them the chance to make that happen as an answer to what to do with all of Europe’s displaced Jews. So in 1948, UN General Assembly Resolution 181 divided up Palestine and gave territory to Israeli Jews and Balfour’s vision became reality. The Palestinians were obviously pissed and immediately waged war. But the Palestinians were underfunded and outgunned. The rest of the Arab world could not (or would not — since they were under European control) organize substantial support for their embattled compatriots. Israel, on the other hand, sent agents to Europe and the United States and raised $129 million US dollars (about $2.4 Billion in todays dollars) from 1947 to 1949. The results were pretty predictable. Palestine was beaten, Israel held on to the UN mandated territory, and about 100,000 Palestinian refugees fled with hopes of returning when things settled down. From places like Jordan and Lebanon, these Palestinians planned and attempted insurgencies with little success. Meanwhile, the The Jewish population had increased from 83,790 before the occupation to more than half a million. Other Arab nations formed military blockades around Israel to try to contain them, but in 1967 Israel launched a sneak attack on Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and of course Palestine. Everyone was caught off guard. Israel suffered just a few thousand casualties while the Arab forces lost more than 20,000, along with the entire Egyptian Air Force and key land masses. In just 6 days the war was over and the Israeli’s took control of East Jerusalem . And here we are today. After Trump injected himself into the ‘Middle East Peace Process’ by naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel, I have some questions and observations. Sidebar Summary So let me get this straight: Someone I dont know gives someone else I dont know a part of a house I have owned for thousands of years. When they try to force their way in, I attack them. They beat me, force me into the basement, and then sneak attack me to take over that part of the house too. Then they give me a cot and beat me every now and then when I complain. Does that sound about right? Ok. Cool. Well now I have some questions. Why Is Israel Starving Palestinians Out? So far it looks like Israel has everything it wants. Plenty of land. Leaders of the world kissing its ring. Nukes. A booming economy. Why would Israel want to inflict more suffering on Palestine by starving them out? Here is what I am talking about: During peace talks back in 1993 called the Oslo Accords, negotiations resulted in Israel being obligated to let Palestinians fish up to 20 nautical miles out from the coast. Yea. That never happened. The widest range Israel has allowed in the past 10 years is 12 nautical miles, and at times, the limit was reduced to one nautical mile.

That meant less food for the Palestinians. Combine that fact with the ever shrinking amount of arable land, and you have people on the brink of starvation. Between 1995 and 2014, arable land as a share of land area in Palestine was decreasing on average by 1.37 % each year, although before that, it grew from 16.6 % in 1965 to 18.4 % in 1995.

So you cant fish. You cant farm. And the roads in are all controlled by your enemies. You might find yourself throwing rocks, too. Why Is Israel Arbitrarily Killing Palestinians? Just yesterday an Israeli sniper killed a well-known Palestinian protester who had no legs, no weapons, and was in a wheelchair. He died from a single gunshot to the head.

Maybe I am misinformed about how snipers work, but dont snipers use scopes to aquire targets? So wouldn’t that mean this sniper would have known he was about to shoot an unarmed man in a wheelchair? One Palestinian child has been killed every 3 days by Israel for 13 years Of course the sniper knew. And he didn’t give a damned. Murdering civilians is part of a strategy that the Israelis call ‘cutting the grass’. During the Oslo Accords it was agreed that the Israeli military would leave Palestine, but twenty years later Israel still has permanent military presence in more than 80% of the West Bank. From these permanent positions, Israelis have killed Palestinians for infractions that range from throwing rocks to (gasp!) carrying Palestinian flags. Some Israeli strikes target members of Hamas — a supposed terrorist group that lobs rockets across the border. But most of the attacks seem to be arbitrary: A local UN office estimated that up to 77 percent of people killed in Gaza are civilians. Even worse, there seems to be no limit to who Israelis would kill — the oldest known victim was an 81 year old woman, and the youngest was an 18 month old child. One Palestinian child killed every 3 days by Israel for 13 years.

Israel gets away with these crimes against humanity scott free. As Defense for Children International — Palestine (DCIP) points out, “Accountability for shootings [of Palestinian children] by Israeli forces is extremely rare. Only one incident since 2014 has resulted in an indictment.” The group’s accountability program director Ayed Abu Eqtaish stated: “Intentional lethal force now appears to be routinely used by Israeli forces, even in unjustified situations, with no accountability, putting more and more children at risk.” Why Is Israel Censoring Palestine? So Palestine cant fight back. They have no military. They are too hungry to sustain long term operations. And the rest of the Middle East is busy dealing with a metric F-ton of other problems. Palestine’s only other option is appealing to the humanity of the rest of the world. So the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and similar organizations were created to pressure Israel to stop starving and killing Palestinians. They used both traditional and social media and public discourse to get the word out. So far, those pleas have fallen on hard hearts and deaf ears. You might remember when the Governor of New York came out of left field with this announcement: “Today, I’m going to sign an Executive Order that says very clearly, we are against the BDS movement, and it’s very simple. If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you. If you divert revenues from Israel, New York will divert revenues from you. If you sanction Israel, New York will sanction you, period.” — Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. 2016 Universities long hailed as bastions of free speech have shut down any activism on the part of Palestine. The University of Cambridge threatened to ban a meeting about the BDS movement unless the Palestinian academic chairing it was removed and replaced with its own choice. As of November of 2017, a final decision hasn’t been made. UC Berkeley administrators censored a student-taught course on Palestine. New York’s Fordham University shut down plans for a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter because they said it would contradict the college’s values of “civility.” If the world is all about a ‘two-state solution’, why is only one state allowed to speak? I am not asking questions because I am anti-Semetic. The modus operandi of Zionists seem to be to silence critics with baby Hitler labels. I am asking questions because when babies are being killed then everyone should be asking questions. Thanks to net neutrality and censorship, no one will see this article unless you hit the clap icons as many times as you can. Help us raise this issue above the noise.