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NewsMine war-on-terror israel hostilities Viewing Item | Israel inflicts { July 21 2002 } Fwd: Eyewitness Account by Jewish American of Israeli Terror - New Haven Regist
> >TWO VIEWS OF HOLY LAND > Israel inflicts terror on Palestinians > > > > > Eric Levine July 21, 2002 > > > > >I recently experienced firsthand the current "security measures" being >imposed by the Israeli military in the West Bank. >On July 1st, while walking along a dirt road toward the West Bank city >of Nablus, I was abducted by Israeli soldiers along with another >American, a Briton and two Palestinians. We were taken to a >Palestinian residence occupied by the Israeli army, confined to an >outdoor patio six paces by six paces, guarded by an armed soldier and >informed repeatedly that we would be shot if we attempted to leave. >Our passports were taken and our requests for telephone calls were >denied. The reason for our detention was never explained. > > From our open-air cell, I spent 48 hours witnessing and >reflecting on what is conveniently called a "war on terror," but is >increasingly a "war of terror" waged on Palestinian civilians. > > I saw a ghost town. Nablus' 200,000 residents imprisoned >in their homes by a strict 24-hour curfew that threatens bullets for >those venturing outside. > > By day, armored personnel carriers and tanks patrolled the >streets, firing sporadically at children in front of their houses >playing soccer. > > Below us, a Palestinian family was being held hostage >because their home had a nice view and therefore was deemed a >strategic military position. This practice, prevalent throughout the >West Bank, involves families being locked into the lower rooms of >their own homes for weeks and kept as human shields for the Israeli >soldiers who turn the upper floors into sandbagged bunkers. > > Like most nights, between one and four o'clock in the >morning, the firing started. I watched red tracers from large caliber >machine guns on the hilltops etch steady arcs across the city, hitting >whatever or whomever happened to be in their path. > > I fail to see indiscriminate firing on a captive civilian >population in the middle of the night as anything but terrorism. > > A teen-age soldier chambered a round into his M-16 and >shoved the barrel at me because he was tired of my requests to call my >mother and tell her that I was still alive. Looking down at the >assault rifle meeting my chest, I thought my tax dollars paid for that >gun. The irony was lost on the young soldier. > > I began to wonder: If 50 mm rounds hit buildings in >Brooklyn after midnight, would we call that "terror" or "security >measures"? If 700,000 civilians, the equivalent of every major city in >Connecticut, were shut in their homes under threat of being shot if >found in the street, would the residents of Bridgeport, Danbury, >Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, and Stamford feel terrorized or call it >a necessary tactic in a "war on terror"? If your town was invaded, >your home occupied, your family held hostage, would you be outraged or >understanding of some "necessary strategic position"? > > I think we would call this terror. > > After 48 hours of captivity, we were handcuffed, >blindfolded and taken to a nearby military base. Our passports were >returned and we were told to leave on foot. No explanations. No >justifications for the arbitrary abuse of power. > > President Bush has urged Palestinians to "actively pursue" >electing new leaders and political reform and condoned the terror >tactics of the Israeli military as a measure of self-defense. Are we >forgetting the intrinsic difficulties in pursuing anything while >indefinitely imprisoned in one's own home? > > Our government strongly and correctly condemns violence >against innocent Israeli civilians. Why then do we condone violence >against innocent Palestinian civilians? Is terrorism called >self-defense if the terrorist is wearing a uniform? The effect is the >same for the innocent civilian victims. > > As a Jew, I object to the war of terror being waged on the >Palestinian civilian population and fearful of what this bodes for the >safety and morality of Israel. As an American, I am ashamed that we >are financially and publicly supporting terror tactics being used on a >civilian population — exactly what we claim to be fighting against. > > The United States and British embassies have filed >protests on behalf of myself and the other two internationals in the >group. Not surprisingly, nobody is taking any action on behalf of the >two Palestinian men held captive with us, nor is anybody taking any >action on behalf of the Palestinian civilians being held captive by >the Israeli military. > > The only effort currently being expended is the >maintenance of a convenient fiction that allows us to avoid >recognizing the terror that Israel is inflicting and that we are >supporting. > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > Eric Levine of New Haven was in Israel and the West Bank >volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and the Union >of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. Readers may write him in >care of the Register, 40 Sargent Drive, New Haven 06511. > >
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