We often see terrorists as those lurking in the shadows, in the margins of society.
We often hear talk about state sponsored terrorism justifying all sort of harsh penalties from sanctions to occupation.
Yet reading a Report by Amnesty International
Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank
Amnesty International documented the killing of 22 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank in 2013. At least four were children.
According to the UN, more West Bank Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2013 than in 2011 and 2012 combined.
In the last three years at least 261 Palestinians, including 67 children, have been seriously injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
More than 8,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 1,500 children, have been wounded with rubber-coated metal bullets and the reckless use of tear gas since January 2011.
You can read the whole
pdf here
Israeli soldiers have repeatedly committed serious human rights and humanitarian law violations, including unlawful killings, in response to Palestinian opposition and protests in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The cases documented in this report represent only a minority of the cases that have occurred over recent years and which follow a general pattern, in which Israeli forces use excessive, often lethal, force against Palestinians who pose no threat to their lives or the lives of others. Soldiers are permitted to do so effectively with impunity– inasmuch as the official system established to investigate alleged human rights violations or other abuses by Israeli soldiers is neither independent nor impartial
Try substituting another country in place of Israel if you can.
I know what comments will follow this report by large sections of the media and political elite, impartiality and antisemitism etc, etc. I am tired of hearing this knee jerk claptrap to any criticism of Israel, I am tired of the protective security blanket that the US affords to such an extent that only the Palestinians are responsible for this horrible fate.
Make up your own mind.
Remind me, what is terrorism?
The first bullet struck 16-year-old Samir Awad in his left leg. He staggered away as fast as he could, but was too slow. A second round slammed into his left shoulder, exiting from the right side of his chest. Then, moments later, a third bullet penetrated the back of his skull and exited from his forehead