A Palestinian boy hides in fear as Israeli tanks rumble through the streets
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Letter to Media by VTJP Member

    
An Israeli soldier opens a gate of the so-called security fence to allow Palestinian school children to cross from what has now become the Israeli side to the West Bank town of Hableh where they attend school. The wall being constructed by the occupation forces fragments Palestinian communities, separating villages from neighboring towns and cities; separating children from their schools, farmers from their land, residents from neighboring hospitals and clinics. - MIFTAH photo
Palestine Is Still the Issue
By Sister Miriam Ward, Rutland Herald/Times Argus/St. Albans Messenger   8/26/2006


While Israel was conducting its July/August fiasco in Lebanon and Hezbollah was firing rockets into northern Israel, Gaza and the West Bank faded from the media and public notice. The media really let us down.

B’Tselem, Israeli human rights organization, reports that in July alone Israel killed 163 Palestinians, 78 of whom were not involved in hostilities, 36 of whom were children. In the West Bank Israeli forces killed 15 Palestinians in July. One wonders why so much is made of the capture of a few Israeli soldiers by Palestinians in Israeli territory, when for months there have been Israeli military incursions into West Bank and Gaza, breaking into homes, pulling Palestinians from their beds and taking them off to prison, including democratically elected members of the Palestinian government.

Gaza is a large open-air prison. In “Operation Summer Rains,” Israel bombed bridges, roads, electrical plants, destroyed the infrastructure of this poverty-stricken area. Palestinian fishermen can not fish. Palestinian farmers can not get their produce to market. Tons of fruits and vegetables rotted on trucks at the checkpoint. Thousands are homeless as a result of Israel’s bombing. F-16s continue their nightly sonic booms causing sleep deprivation and trauma to 1.3 million Palestinians.

Regardless of who started this round of violence (and an argument can be made for either side), the fact remains that the captured Israeli soldiers have not been returned; Israel holds around 9,000 Palestinian prisoners, including some 400 women and minors. One thousand Palestinian prisoners have been held without charge, Guantanamo style.

The solution? Implement ALL UN resolutions. Yes, UN 1559, withdrawal of ALL non-Lebanese forces (which includes Israel’s), and disarm Hezbollah. All this is an extension of the root cause embodied in UN Resolution 242 dating back to 1967—calling on Israel to leave the West Bank and Gaza. Yes, Israel “withdrew” 8,000 settlers from Gaza, an economic burden that most Israelis wanted lifted, but Israel still controls every aspect of Palestinian life there. Oppressing, humiliating, starving the Palestinians will bring neither security nor peace. Nor is a military solution the answer. Negotiations, yes. Help Lebanon rebuild, yes. Palestine is still the issue.