In a story that is pathetically common, another non-violent Palestinian demonstrator has been killed by Israeli troops inside Palestine.
http://www.maannews.net/...
Gaza man killed while protesting Israeli "no-go zone" inside Gaza
Non-violent Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation are being increasingly common, with protests against Apartheid Wall taking place in the village of Bil’in on a weekly basis. These protests are routinely attacked by Israeli soldiers and border police. Injuries are quite common and several protesters have been killed.
Currently, non-protesters in Gaza have been marching against the Israeli "security zone." This 300-meter deep zone, entirely inside Gaza, was unilaterally declared as a "no-go zone" for Palestinians by the Israeli military, which opens fire on Palestinians who enter it. Thus, the Israeli military prevents Palestinians in Gaza from even entering a large portion of their country. As the article above notes:
Eating up 20% of Gaza's arable lands, farmers and civilians have demanded access to the area, which lies inside the 1967 boundaries, and from which Israel said it unilaterally withdrew in 2005.
Palestinians have been marching against this illegal occupation for the last three days. At least four protesters, all unarmed and all on Palestinian soil, have been shot and wounded by Israeli troops fro no other purpose than to maintain Israeli control inside Gaza. The wounded include both Palestinians and an international observer from Malta (see Friendlystranger’s diary).
In the third day of protests, a young Palestinian man, Ahmad Salem Deeb, has been killed. Video of the shooting is available here (sorry, I don’t know how to embed video).
It is hard for me to make any comment regarding this killing. It is simply part and parcel of the news from that region, including:
To be clear, Palestinians, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, are engaging in non-violent resistance for basic rights inside their homeland. Violent Israeli repression is increasing, in terms of Palestinians shot, beaten or arrested by official Israeli security, in terms of Palestinians attacked by armed paramilitary gangs supported or tolerated by the Israeli government, in terms of new laws such as Military Order 1650 to increase the legal tools of repression, and in terms of support among Israeli Jews for increased repression in both Palestinian and inside Israel itself.
I have frankly no good news to report in this diary (which some doubtless will denounce me for), but I would note that if this kind of violent and indeed murderous repression of nonviolent protestors happened anywhere else in the world (imagine Iran shooting down protestors, for instance), people here and around the US would denounce it to the heavens. I know some people will treat these particular acts of repression differently and say they should be supported. I am disgusted to see repression supported or tolerated anywhere.
UPDATE: Christ, never write anything about Gaza, or the situation will have gotten worse before you publish it. Egypt is now using poison gas (which I believe the US defines as a WMD) against the Gazans digging tunnels on the border. According to the initial report, four Palestinians were killed and six injured. This is a truly horrific massacre, and it shows that Israel is by no means along in strangling the people of Gaza. These actions show the lengths that Israel and Egypt (both US allies receiving billions in US subsidies) are going (and in the end must go) to keep Gazans imprisoned.
Further Info: Israeli media is suggesting that Egypt may not have used poison gas, but rather conventional explosives, and that the Palestinians were killed by smoke inhalation. It also raises the casualty figures to four dead and 10 wounded.