Tear It Down So We Can Build It Up

Keeps the business booming.

On Oct. 12, at a donors’ conference in Cairo, participants pledged $5.4 billion toward the reconstruction of Gaza. However, numerous participants noted that repeatedly paying to reconstruct what had been destroyed – and was likely to be destroyed again – was an insufficient response and that the core problem must be addressed.

  Consortium News 

Someone dared to raise a rational voice.

Not that it mattered.

But no original ideas for addressing it were offered.

Never mind original. How about effective? End the occupation.

It was addressed the following night when the British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly (274-12) in favor of the United Kingdom’s extending diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine “as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution,” implicitly while its entire territory remains under belligerent occupation and without Israel’s prior permission.

On Oct. 3, the new Swedish prime minister had announced his government’s intention to recognize the State of Palestine, thereby joining the 134 other UN member states, encompassing the vast majority of mankind, which have already done so.

That’s okay. We’re famous for “going it alone.”

Europe is not simply Israel’s principal trading partner. It is Israelis’ cultural homeland, with many Israelis viewing their country as a “European villa in the jungle.” It is even Israelis’ sports homeland, with Israeli teams competing in European football and basketball competitions.

Then Europe needs to stand up and bring the hammer down on Israel with sanctions if necessary to "persuade" them to stop the occupation of and expansion into Palestinian territory. Afraid they’ll have to take them back onto the mainland?

At least folks in the Port of Oakland are still working on it. #BlockTheBoat

Not to mention, shit like this…

At least ten Palestinians and three Israeli policemen were injured Wednesday in clashes in the historic eastern quarter of Jerusalem, eyewitnesses and an Israeli official said.

[...]

The violence broke out as dozens of Palestinians gathered to protest Israeli police restrictions on worshippers seeking to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with men under 50 being barred from entering the complex.

In response, Palestinians – both inside and outside the mosque compound – began chanting against the Israeli occupation. Israeli forces attacked protesting Palestinians with batons, witnesses said.

Earlier in the day, a group of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli police stormed the mosque compound.

[...]

For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, who refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," say it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times.

  Middle East Eye