Israelis risk jail to smuggle Palestinians

[Ken Burch]

http://www.rabble.ca/news/2010/09/israelis-risk-jail-smuggle-palestinians

By Jonathan Cook
________

"Nearly 600 Israelis have signed up for a campaign of civil disobedience, vowing to risk jail to smuggle Palestinian women and children into Israel for a brief taste of life outside the occupied West Bank."

"The Israelis say they have been inspired by the example of Ilana Hammerman, a writer who is threatened with prosecution after publishing an article in which she admitted breaking the law to bring three Palestinian teenagers into Israel for a day out."

"Ms. Hammerman said she wanted to give the young women, who had never left the West Bank, 'some fun' and a chance to see the Mediterranean for the first time."

"Her story has shocked many Israelis and led to a police investigation after right-wing groups called for her to be tried for security offences."

"It is illegal to transport Palestinians through checkpoints into Israel without a permit, which few can obtain. If tried and found guilty, Ms. Hammerman could be fined and face up to two years in jail."

________________

These are heroes for our time. If more Israelis were like them, there wouldn't BE a Hamas.

But Israelis joining the campaign say they will not be put off by threats of imprisonment.

[aquart]

1. Oh, those terrible Israelis.

And if the situation were reversed, I'm sure...

[Ken Burch]

3. I was saluting the good people defying these immoral restrictions

I wasn't saying that everybody ELSE in Israel was evil. I don't have a problem with the ones who take the only moral position and oppose collective punishment. And I don't even hate all the others, or even most of them. This article was not a slander against Israel, or against Israelis.

You would have to agree that there's no excuse for barring Palestinian CHILDREN from seeing the Mediterranean?

It's not like EVERY Palestinian is a monster.

Besides which, there are a lot of Israelis living without restriction in the West Bank, on the settlements, all of which are illegal. You can't seriously argue that Israelis have it worse than Palestinians, or live under anything close to a comparable level of misery.

Just admit that it's wrong to collectively restrict and oppress Palestinians like this already. You morally diminish yourself every time you defend the right-wing status quo.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Thanks. I'm pushing back tears. My heart goes to her bravery. I hope we can keep this

event going in this posting so we know what is going to happen to this lady. Perhaps we can let Israeli leaders know that we're watching them no matter what they do. They could go with a maximum penalty to warn others. We should send messages to AIPAC - the think tank - lobbying - propaganda entity that helps Israel to rid the coungry of Palestinians.

[proteus_lives]

4. I wonder what Ms. Hammerman will do when one of those women has a bomb-belt under her dress.

[Ken Burch]

5. None of them will. Palestinian women and children are not monsters.

And it's racist of you to simply ASSUME that all Palestinians are terrorists.

The truth is, they're just human beings like anyone else, and they have the same right to live free of repression as anyone else.

And even YOU couldn't possibly justify restriction children in this way.

[proteus_lives]

6. "None of them will"

I assume you're willing to bet people's lives on that. Like Ms. Hammerman is.

"And it's racist of you to simply ASSUME that all Palestinians are terrorists."

Please point out where I assumed all Palestinians are terrorists.

I don't think it's beyond the realm of comprehension that someone would read this article and decide to take advantage of this woman's naive enterprise.

And you would understand how dangerous this is if you didn't ASSUME that all Palestinians are innocent saints who have no responsibility in this conflict.

[Ken Burch]

7. You can't just let one nation repress the ENTIRE population of another nation for the acts of some

And you have no reason to assume they wouldn't check to make sure these people were unarmed(as all children are, of course).

Collective punishment and collective repression have never had any positive results. And all they do is keep the rage growing.

And you know perfectly well the Israeli government would treat Palestinians like this no matter what methods of resistance they use.

It's simply unjust to keep an entire nation under lockdown until everyone in it unilaterally disarms.

Finally, I've NEVER assumed that all Palestinians were "innocent saints". You can't assume that of any nation anywhere. But you assume they're guilty until proven innocent. They're just human beings...no better and no worse than anybody else. You act like they're all horned monsters.

[proteus_lives]

8. Actually I don't.

"And you know perfectly well the Israeli government would treat Palestinians like this no matter what methods of resistance they use."

And neither do you and if you claim that anyway, you're just revealing your bias and hate.

"And you have no reason to assume they wouldn't check to make sure these people were unarmed"

I sure hope they do. It's the reality of the world they live in. A reality you refuse to accept.

"But you assume they're guilty until proven innocent."

Actually, that's you with Israel.

"You act like they're all horned monsters."

Once again with the overly-emotional accusations of things I did not say. I'm stating a fact. Israel is frequently attacked. Someone could use these women as a way to attack people inside of Israel. If you won't admit that, that's your problem.

[Ken Burch]

9. Palestinians are frequently attacked as well.

And there's no inherent reason to assume that attacks against Palestinians are any more justified than attacks against Israelis.

And I'm talking about the Israeli GOVERNMENT, not "Israel". There's a huge difference between the two, as there is between the government and the nation in any other state.

[Shaktimaan]

13. except that they didn't

And you know perfectly well the Israeli government would treat Palestinians like this no matter what methods of resistance they use.

That's just untrue.

After the first intifada which was mostly fought with stones and protests the result was Oslo and a huge loosening of the restrictions on Palestinians along with an increase in their independence. The big restrictions that we're seeing now, like the wall and the siege of Gaza are in direct response to terrorism. Before suicide bombings there wasn't any need for a security wall, so they didn't build one.

Likewise there was plenty of employment in Israel for Palestinians until terrorism concerns made it impractical.

There is a very clear and direct relationship between terrorism and the severity of methods used by Israel.

It's simply unjust to keep an entire nation under lockdown until everyone in it unilaterally disarms.

Sure. But bear in mind that there is a war going on here. And it's not just from scattered resistance. Hamas is an elected government.

[Recursion]

10. Funny, I was wondering what the Palestinians will think when some nutjob settler...

...comes at them with a machete.

[shira]

11. Are you against the fence/barrier (even within '67 borders) and all checkpoints? n/t

[Recursion]

12. Israel can put whatever fence they want *on their land*

Wall it off, for all I care. Make the wall 100 feet high. Just keep it on Israeli land. And they can have whatever immigration policies they want; if they want to deny all West Bankers from entering Israel, that's their right.