Israel falling appart and lashing out

Settlers come to Ush Ghrab in Beit Sahour every week and the army lies to
the mayor of Beit Sahour by claiming that their presence deters the
settlers.  The reverse is true and settlers of course get army permission
and protection which emboldens them.  On Feb 5th, when the army was
bulldozing in the area and had a military order for closing the area for
military purposes preventing us from getting close, the settlers were inside
and having a lecture (and bragged about it on their website).  At the end of
the video from Al-Masara confrontation Friday, I had a short section with
settler graffiti at the wall in Ush Ghrab (see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzeaRzx8kDA) .

Many who watched the video asked me what it says.  Here it goes: “To our dear soldiers, Welcome back to
Shdema!” “When the IDF wants – he is the Best!” “To the IDF, Welcome to
Jewish Shdema” + star of david, “To the IDF with love, from the Committee
for Shdema”. It is time for putting up stiffer resistance to the occupier
presence (soldiers and settlers).  Bethlehem area showed the success of
strong popular resistance in the 1980s (e.g. with the tax revolt) and we see
its success in places like Bil’in today.  Join us Sunday Morning (10:30) in
Ush Ghrab in Beit Sahour.

[Good read] How Settlers Prevented The Construction of a Palestinian
Hospital by Hagit Ofran
” Once again, even Americans cannot stand up to a small group of settlers,
who show – more often than not – that they have the last word on what takes
place in the West Bank. This time, a small group of settlers insisted, and
succeeded, to squash a plan for building a hospital for Palestinian children
at “Oush Grab” (”the Crow’s Nest”) east of Bethlehem”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hagit-ofran/how-settlers-prevented-th_b_467705
.html

Under pressure from settlers, IDF rebuilding West Bank watchtower
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147472.html

(on the scandal of the Israeli abuse of British passports) The tide has
changed by Gilad Atzmon
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/the-tide-has-changed-gilad-atzmon.html

This scandal is even incensing traditional Israeli apologists.  One Zionist
who regularly writes in Haaretz wrote:
“Determined to take our fate into its own hands. Israel, at its highest
level, has decided that the job of delegitimizing the Jewish state must not
be left to foreigners and amateurs. Showing itself desperate to be a pariah
state, Israel will now get it done on its own. What the far-left from
Britain to Berkeley has been been unable to bring off – a sense among
Israel’s allies that Israel has become a heartless, morally heedless
aggressor state worthy of sanction and shunning – the far-right in Israel’s
own government, and in particular, its Foreign Ministry, seems determined to
inculcate to the full. It wasn’t enough to threaten our relations with the
United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Austria and the whole of the European
Union, as well as the emirates and other moderate Muslim states, by
apparently violating the basic conventions of all civilized states in the
Dubai murder. ..”

What this gentleman fails to see is that this was the predictable outcome of
the enterprise in the same way that Apartheid in South Africa had a
predictable outcome. Unfortunately, those lessons in history tell us that
the meanness will get worse as the regime feels cornered and will not face
the reality of its own racism but starts to lash-out at anything and
everything.  That is the last stage of dismantlement of racism.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Popular Committee to Defend Ush Ghrab (PCDUG)
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps