"Barghouti is no Nelson Mandela. But neither can his claims and those of his people be indefinitely deferred. Trying to do so risks another explosion - another nakba - that, for all the wrong reasons, would again place Palestine at the forefront of Middle East woes." (The Observer view on the future of Israel and Palestine, Observer editorial, The Guardian, 30/4/17)
How seriously would you take the view of someone who authoritatively declares that "Barghouti is no Mandela," when you know that he/she doesn't even know the difference between nakba and intifada?
Showing posts with label Marwan Barghouti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marwan Barghouti. Show all posts
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Marwan Barghouti: 'Palestinians Will Not Be an Exception'
Why we are on hunger strike inside Israel's prisons, by Marwan Barghouti (New York Times (International Edition), 16/4/17)
"Hadarim Prison - Israel - Having spent the last 15 years in an Israeli prison, I have been both a witness to and a victim of Israel's illegal system of mass arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners. After exhausting all other options, I decided there was no other choice but to resist these abuses by going on hunger strike.
"Some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners have decided to take part in this hunger strike, which begins today, the day we observe here as Prisoners' Day. Hunger striking is the most peaceful form of resistance available. It inflicts pain solely on those who participate and on their loved ones, in the hopes that their empty stomachs and their sacrifice will help the message resonate beyond the confines of their dark cells.
"Decades of experience have proved that Israel's inhumane system of colonial and military occupation aims to break the spirit of prisoners and the nation to which they belong, by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their communities and communities, using humiliating measures to compel subjugation. In spite of such treatment, we will not surrender to it.
"Israel, the occupying power, has violated international law in multiple ways for nearly 70 years, and yet has been granted impunity for its actions. It has committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions against the Palestinian people; the prisoners, including men, women and children, are no exception.
"I was only 15 when I was first imprisoned. I was barely 18 when an Israeli interrogator forced me to spread my legs while I stood naked in the interrogation room, before hitting my genitals. I passed out from the pain, and the resulting fall left an everlasting scar on my forehead. The interrogator mocked me afterward, saying that I would never procreate because people like me give birth only to terrorists and murderers.
"A few years later I was again in an Israeli prison, leading a hunger strike, when my first son was born. Instead of the sweets we usually distribute to celebrate such news, I handed out salt to the other prisoners. When he was barely 18, he in turn was arrested and spent four years in Israeli prisons.
"The eldest of my four children is now a man of 31. Yet here I still am, pursuing this struggle for freedom along with thousands of prisoners, millions of Palestinians and the support of so many around the world. What is it with the arrogance of the occupier and the oppressor and their backers that makes them deaf to this simple truth: Our chains will be broken before we are, because it is human nature to heed the call for freedom regardless of the cost.
"Israel has built nearly all of its prisons inside Israel rather than in the occupied territory. In doing so, it has unlawfully and forcibly transferred Palestinian civilians into captivity, and has used this situation to restrict family visits and to inflict suffering on prisoners through long transports under cruel conditions. It turned basic rights that should be guaranteed under international law - including some painfully secured through previous hunger strikes - into privileges its prison service decides to grant us or deprive us of.
"Palestinian prisoners and detainees have suffered from torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, and medical negligence. Some have been killed while in detention. According to the latest count from the Palestinian Prisoners Club, about 200 Palestinian prisoners have died since 1967 because of such actions. Palestinian prisoners and their families also remain a primary target of Israel's policy of imposing collective punishments.
"Through our hunger strike we seek an end to these abuses.
"Over the past five decades, according the human rights group Addameer, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel - equivalent to about 40% of the Palestinian territory's male population. Today, about 6,500 are still imprisoned, among them some who have the dismal distinction of of holding world records for the longest periods in detention of political prisoners. There is hardly a single family in Palestine that has not endured the suffering caused by the imprisonment of one or several of its members.
"How to account for this unbelievable state of affairs?
"Israel has established a dual legal regime, a form of judicial apartheid, that provides virtual impunity for Israelis who commit crimes against Palestinians, while criminalizing Palestinian presence and resistance. Israel's courts are a charade of justice, clearly instruments of colonial, military occupation. According to the State Department, the conviction rate for Palestinians in the military courts is nearly. 90%.
"Among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians whom Israel has taken captive are children, women, parliamentarians, activists, journalists, human rights defenders, academics, political figures, militants, bystanders, and family members of prisoners. And all with one aim: to bury the legitimate aspirations of an entire nation.
"Instead, though, Israel's prisons have become the cradle of a lasting movement for Palestinian self-determination. This new hunger strike will demonstrate once more that the prisoners' movement is the compass that guides our struggle, the Struggle for Freedom and Dignity, the name we have chosen for this new step in our long walk to freedom.
"Israel has tried to brand us as terrorists to legitimize its violations, including mass arbitrary arrests, torture, punitive measures and severe restrictions. As part of Israel's effort to undermine the Palestinian struggle for freedom, an Israeli court sentenced me to 5 life sentences and 40 years in prison in a political show trial that was denounced by international observers.
"Israel is not the first occupying or colonial power to resort to such expedients. Every national liberation movement in history can recall similar practices. This is why so many people who have fought against oppression, colonialism and apartheid stand with us. The International Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Prisoners that the anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada and my wife, Fadwa, inaugurated in 2013 from Nelson Mandela's former cell on Robben Island has enjoyed the support of eight Nobel Prize laureates, 120 governments and hundreds of leaders, parliamentarians, artists and academics around the world.
"Their solidarity exposes Israel's moral and political failure. Rights are not bestowed by an oppressor. Freedom and dignity are universal rights that are inherent in humanity, to be enjoyed by every nation and all human beings. Palestinians will not be an exception. Only ending occupation will end this injustice and mark the birth of peace."
***
The New York Times, of course, just had to add the following 'Editor's note: April 17, 2017': This article explained the writer's prison sentence but neglected to provide sufficient context by stating the offenses of which he was convicted. They were 5 counts of murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Mr. Barghouti declined to offer a defense at his trial and refused to recognize the Israeli court's jurisdiction and legitimacy. Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.
***
The demands of the Freedom & Dignity campaign are:
1. Instal a public telephone for Palestinian detainees in all prisons and sections in order to communicate with their families.
2. Visits: a) Resume the second visit stopped by the Red Cross; b) Regularity of visits every two weeks without being disabled by any side; c) No relative of the first and second level shall be prevented from visiting a detainee; d) Increase the duration of the visit from 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half; e) Allow detainees to take pictures with their families every 3 months; f) Construct facilities for the comfort of visiting families; g) Allow children and grandchildren under the age of 16 to visit detainees.
3. The medical file: a) Close the so-called Ramle prison hospital because it does not provide the necessary treatment; b) End the policy of medical negligence; c) Conduct periodic medical examinations; d) Perform surgeries whenever needed; e) Allow specialized physicians from outside the prison; f) Releasing sick detainees, especially those who have disabilities and incurable diseases; g) Medical treatment should not be at the expense of detainees.
4. Respond to the [special] needs and demands of Palestinian women detainees, whether by special transport or direct meeting without a barrier during visits.
5. Transportation: a) Accord humanitarian treatment for detainees during their transport; b) Return detainees to jails after attending clinics and courts and do not keep them waiting at crossings; c) Prepare crossings for human use and provide meals for detainees.
6. Add satellite channels that suit the needs of detainees.
7. Install air conditioners in prisons, especially in Megiddo and Gilboa.
8. Restore kitchens to all prisons and place them under the supervision of detainees.
9. Allow detainees books, newspapers, clothes and food.
10. End the policy of solitary confinement.
11. End the policy of administrative detention.
12. Allow detainees to study at the Hebrew Open University.
13. Allow detainees to take the Tawjihi matriculation exams in an official and agreed manner.
PS: "Tens of thousands of Palestinians from throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip marched and attended rallies to show their support for hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Marwan Barghouti, who is leading the strike, was placed in solitary confinement." (Israel places Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in solitary over prisoners' hunger strike, Jack Khoury, Haaretz, 17/4/17)
"Hadarim Prison - Israel - Having spent the last 15 years in an Israeli prison, I have been both a witness to and a victim of Israel's illegal system of mass arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners. After exhausting all other options, I decided there was no other choice but to resist these abuses by going on hunger strike.
"Some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners have decided to take part in this hunger strike, which begins today, the day we observe here as Prisoners' Day. Hunger striking is the most peaceful form of resistance available. It inflicts pain solely on those who participate and on their loved ones, in the hopes that their empty stomachs and their sacrifice will help the message resonate beyond the confines of their dark cells.
"Decades of experience have proved that Israel's inhumane system of colonial and military occupation aims to break the spirit of prisoners and the nation to which they belong, by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their communities and communities, using humiliating measures to compel subjugation. In spite of such treatment, we will not surrender to it.
"Israel, the occupying power, has violated international law in multiple ways for nearly 70 years, and yet has been granted impunity for its actions. It has committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions against the Palestinian people; the prisoners, including men, women and children, are no exception.
"I was only 15 when I was first imprisoned. I was barely 18 when an Israeli interrogator forced me to spread my legs while I stood naked in the interrogation room, before hitting my genitals. I passed out from the pain, and the resulting fall left an everlasting scar on my forehead. The interrogator mocked me afterward, saying that I would never procreate because people like me give birth only to terrorists and murderers.
"A few years later I was again in an Israeli prison, leading a hunger strike, when my first son was born. Instead of the sweets we usually distribute to celebrate such news, I handed out salt to the other prisoners. When he was barely 18, he in turn was arrested and spent four years in Israeli prisons.
"The eldest of my four children is now a man of 31. Yet here I still am, pursuing this struggle for freedom along with thousands of prisoners, millions of Palestinians and the support of so many around the world. What is it with the arrogance of the occupier and the oppressor and their backers that makes them deaf to this simple truth: Our chains will be broken before we are, because it is human nature to heed the call for freedom regardless of the cost.
"Israel has built nearly all of its prisons inside Israel rather than in the occupied territory. In doing so, it has unlawfully and forcibly transferred Palestinian civilians into captivity, and has used this situation to restrict family visits and to inflict suffering on prisoners through long transports under cruel conditions. It turned basic rights that should be guaranteed under international law - including some painfully secured through previous hunger strikes - into privileges its prison service decides to grant us or deprive us of.
"Palestinian prisoners and detainees have suffered from torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, and medical negligence. Some have been killed while in detention. According to the latest count from the Palestinian Prisoners Club, about 200 Palestinian prisoners have died since 1967 because of such actions. Palestinian prisoners and their families also remain a primary target of Israel's policy of imposing collective punishments.
"Through our hunger strike we seek an end to these abuses.
"Over the past five decades, according the human rights group Addameer, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel - equivalent to about 40% of the Palestinian territory's male population. Today, about 6,500 are still imprisoned, among them some who have the dismal distinction of of holding world records for the longest periods in detention of political prisoners. There is hardly a single family in Palestine that has not endured the suffering caused by the imprisonment of one or several of its members.
"How to account for this unbelievable state of affairs?
"Israel has established a dual legal regime, a form of judicial apartheid, that provides virtual impunity for Israelis who commit crimes against Palestinians, while criminalizing Palestinian presence and resistance. Israel's courts are a charade of justice, clearly instruments of colonial, military occupation. According to the State Department, the conviction rate for Palestinians in the military courts is nearly. 90%.
"Among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians whom Israel has taken captive are children, women, parliamentarians, activists, journalists, human rights defenders, academics, political figures, militants, bystanders, and family members of prisoners. And all with one aim: to bury the legitimate aspirations of an entire nation.
"Instead, though, Israel's prisons have become the cradle of a lasting movement for Palestinian self-determination. This new hunger strike will demonstrate once more that the prisoners' movement is the compass that guides our struggle, the Struggle for Freedom and Dignity, the name we have chosen for this new step in our long walk to freedom.
"Israel has tried to brand us as terrorists to legitimize its violations, including mass arbitrary arrests, torture, punitive measures and severe restrictions. As part of Israel's effort to undermine the Palestinian struggle for freedom, an Israeli court sentenced me to 5 life sentences and 40 years in prison in a political show trial that was denounced by international observers.
"Israel is not the first occupying or colonial power to resort to such expedients. Every national liberation movement in history can recall similar practices. This is why so many people who have fought against oppression, colonialism and apartheid stand with us. The International Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Prisoners that the anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada and my wife, Fadwa, inaugurated in 2013 from Nelson Mandela's former cell on Robben Island has enjoyed the support of eight Nobel Prize laureates, 120 governments and hundreds of leaders, parliamentarians, artists and academics around the world.
"Their solidarity exposes Israel's moral and political failure. Rights are not bestowed by an oppressor. Freedom and dignity are universal rights that are inherent in humanity, to be enjoyed by every nation and all human beings. Palestinians will not be an exception. Only ending occupation will end this injustice and mark the birth of peace."
***
The New York Times, of course, just had to add the following 'Editor's note: April 17, 2017': This article explained the writer's prison sentence but neglected to provide sufficient context by stating the offenses of which he was convicted. They were 5 counts of murder and membership in a terrorist organization. Mr. Barghouti declined to offer a defense at his trial and refused to recognize the Israeli court's jurisdiction and legitimacy. Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.
***
The demands of the Freedom & Dignity campaign are:
1. Instal a public telephone for Palestinian detainees in all prisons and sections in order to communicate with their families.
2. Visits: a) Resume the second visit stopped by the Red Cross; b) Regularity of visits every two weeks without being disabled by any side; c) No relative of the first and second level shall be prevented from visiting a detainee; d) Increase the duration of the visit from 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half; e) Allow detainees to take pictures with their families every 3 months; f) Construct facilities for the comfort of visiting families; g) Allow children and grandchildren under the age of 16 to visit detainees.
3. The medical file: a) Close the so-called Ramle prison hospital because it does not provide the necessary treatment; b) End the policy of medical negligence; c) Conduct periodic medical examinations; d) Perform surgeries whenever needed; e) Allow specialized physicians from outside the prison; f) Releasing sick detainees, especially those who have disabilities and incurable diseases; g) Medical treatment should not be at the expense of detainees.
4. Respond to the [special] needs and demands of Palestinian women detainees, whether by special transport or direct meeting without a barrier during visits.
5. Transportation: a) Accord humanitarian treatment for detainees during their transport; b) Return detainees to jails after attending clinics and courts and do not keep them waiting at crossings; c) Prepare crossings for human use and provide meals for detainees.
6. Add satellite channels that suit the needs of detainees.
7. Install air conditioners in prisons, especially in Megiddo and Gilboa.
8. Restore kitchens to all prisons and place them under the supervision of detainees.
9. Allow detainees books, newspapers, clothes and food.
10. End the policy of solitary confinement.
11. End the policy of administrative detention.
12. Allow detainees to study at the Hebrew Open University.
13. Allow detainees to take the Tawjihi matriculation exams in an official and agreed manner.
PS: "Tens of thousands of Palestinians from throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip marched and attended rallies to show their support for hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Marwan Barghouti, who is leading the strike, was placed in solitary confinement." (Israel places Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in solitary over prisoners' hunger strike, Jack Khoury, Haaretz, 17/4/17)
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Gilad Shalit Show
If the prisoner is an Israeli soldier, he gets the corporate media's undivided and wholly sympathetic attention. Instead of being portrayed for what he is - just another mindless cog in the murderous military machine that's strangling Gaza and putting the boot into the West Bank - we get the following:
"His father described Gilad Shalit's ordeal as '1935 difficult days and 1935 difficult nights'. Held somewhere in Gaza for the past 5 years without any contact with international human rights organisations or his family, the young soldier has suffered as a pawn in the conflict between Hamas and Israel." (The price is high for the pawn in the Hamas Israel fight, Ruth Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald, 13/10/11)
And just so you know Shalit's the corporate media's pin-up boy here, he gets not one, but 3 photos: a solo shot, one of Dad standing beside cardboard cutouts of his son, and one of "relieved Shalit supporters." Oh, and there's a "Diary of a hostage" covering the years 2006-2011.
Israel's thousands of Palestinian political prisoners, of course, remain faceless - but for this brief reference:
"Key among [Palestinian prisoners] is whether Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is on the list of those to be released. Serving 5 life sentences for his involvement in the murder of Israeli citizens, his release has long been Hamas's key condition for the release of Shalit." (ibid)
Just how many sleepless nights Barghouti's wife and children have had since his incarceration in 2002 is of no interest to the media whatever. And, needless to say, there are neither photos nor diary for this freedom fighter, no doubt because the Israeli version - 5 life sentences for involvement in the murder of Israeli citizens - is gospel for the corporates.
Sadly, even if all of the Herald's monkeys were put to work tapping away on their keyboards from now until the end of recorded time, there's no way they'd ever come up with the following:
"Barghouti contended that the Israeli authorities had no legal authority to arrest him (sighting the Oslo II agreement of September 1995 which gave PLC members parliamentary immunity from arrest by Israel), and no legal right to try him in Israel (sighting the 49th Article of the 4th Geneva Convention which prohibits the transfer of a protected individual or individuals from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power). He insisted from the outset that his was a show trial whose result was a forgone conclusion, held at the behest of Israeli political leaders who wanted to criminalise and blame the Palestinians (and ultimately PA president Arafat) for 'terrorism', while ignoring their own 36-year- old policies of occupation and illegal settlement that underlay the violence in the first place. 'My show trial says more about the sorry state of Israeli morality than it does about me. I pity the state of Israel - the Middle East's 'only democracy' stooping to fabricating charges in a show trial aimed not at truth and justice but rather to appease the Israeli masses who refuse to see any connection between their own brutal policies and the cycle of violence Israelis and Palestinians are now experiencing. Like President Arafat, I have become a scapegoat - my trial simply a public relations event by a morally bankrupt and visionless Israeli leadership desperate to cover up its own inadequacies. And I pity the Israeli people, lied to and misled by a Prime Minister promising peace and security and who has failed miserably in delivering either. I categorically reject the authority of this criminal court of occupation and I will not dignify the ludicrous claims against me by responding to them. If my trial were truly a search for truth and justice, it would be Sharon and the Israeli army behind bars - it would be the criminals of occupation who have perpetrated war crimes against the men, women and children of Palestine over the decades, who continue to violate UN Resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention with impunity'. (It is not I who is on trial in Israel, 3/10/02) 'We have been suffering under your sinister military occupation for over 36 years during which you killed us, tortured us, destroyed our homes and usurped our land. You made our life an enduring hell. We have an inherent moral and legal right to resist your occupation of our country. If you were in our shoes, you most certainly would do the same as we are doing. You would resist'. (Denouncing a show trial, Al-Ahram Weekly, 2/10/03) So from the beginning of his trial on 5 September 2002, Barghouti refused to recognise the authority of the court to try him, dismissed his defence counsel, and declined to plead on or contest the charges against him. Instead he issued his own 54-count indictment, charging the state of Israel with gross human rights violations on behalf of the Palestinian people, including violations of numerous UN resolutions, and took every opportunity to turn his trial into a trial of Israel and its occupation of the Palestinian territories." (Palestinian Biographies: Marwan Barghouti, lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com)
And another thing:
"[Israel] is also battling diplomatic isolation after... its decision to continue with its expansions of settlements - considered illegal under international law." (ibid)
Is it just me or do you too get the impression here that Pollard's phrasing - considered illegal under international law - allows enough wriggle room for a certain other point of view such as 'God says it's OK, OK?'.
Why didn't Pollard simply put it this way: '... its decision to continue with its expansions of illegal settlements'?
Or is the Herald under someone's thumb? Stupid question.
"His father described Gilad Shalit's ordeal as '1935 difficult days and 1935 difficult nights'. Held somewhere in Gaza for the past 5 years without any contact with international human rights organisations or his family, the young soldier has suffered as a pawn in the conflict between Hamas and Israel." (The price is high for the pawn in the Hamas Israel fight, Ruth Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald, 13/10/11)
And just so you know Shalit's the corporate media's pin-up boy here, he gets not one, but 3 photos: a solo shot, one of Dad standing beside cardboard cutouts of his son, and one of "relieved Shalit supporters." Oh, and there's a "Diary of a hostage" covering the years 2006-2011.
Israel's thousands of Palestinian political prisoners, of course, remain faceless - but for this brief reference:
"Key among [Palestinian prisoners] is whether Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is on the list of those to be released. Serving 5 life sentences for his involvement in the murder of Israeli citizens, his release has long been Hamas's key condition for the release of Shalit." (ibid)
Just how many sleepless nights Barghouti's wife and children have had since his incarceration in 2002 is of no interest to the media whatever. And, needless to say, there are neither photos nor diary for this freedom fighter, no doubt because the Israeli version - 5 life sentences for involvement in the murder of Israeli citizens - is gospel for the corporates.
Sadly, even if all of the Herald's monkeys were put to work tapping away on their keyboards from now until the end of recorded time, there's no way they'd ever come up with the following:
"Barghouti contended that the Israeli authorities had no legal authority to arrest him (sighting the Oslo II agreement of September 1995 which gave PLC members parliamentary immunity from arrest by Israel), and no legal right to try him in Israel (sighting the 49th Article of the 4th Geneva Convention which prohibits the transfer of a protected individual or individuals from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power). He insisted from the outset that his was a show trial whose result was a forgone conclusion, held at the behest of Israeli political leaders who wanted to criminalise and blame the Palestinians (and ultimately PA president Arafat) for 'terrorism', while ignoring their own 36-year- old policies of occupation and illegal settlement that underlay the violence in the first place. 'My show trial says more about the sorry state of Israeli morality than it does about me. I pity the state of Israel - the Middle East's 'only democracy' stooping to fabricating charges in a show trial aimed not at truth and justice but rather to appease the Israeli masses who refuse to see any connection between their own brutal policies and the cycle of violence Israelis and Palestinians are now experiencing. Like President Arafat, I have become a scapegoat - my trial simply a public relations event by a morally bankrupt and visionless Israeli leadership desperate to cover up its own inadequacies. And I pity the Israeli people, lied to and misled by a Prime Minister promising peace and security and who has failed miserably in delivering either. I categorically reject the authority of this criminal court of occupation and I will not dignify the ludicrous claims against me by responding to them. If my trial were truly a search for truth and justice, it would be Sharon and the Israeli army behind bars - it would be the criminals of occupation who have perpetrated war crimes against the men, women and children of Palestine over the decades, who continue to violate UN Resolutions and the 4th Geneva Convention with impunity'. (It is not I who is on trial in Israel, 3/10/02) 'We have been suffering under your sinister military occupation for over 36 years during which you killed us, tortured us, destroyed our homes and usurped our land. You made our life an enduring hell. We have an inherent moral and legal right to resist your occupation of our country. If you were in our shoes, you most certainly would do the same as we are doing. You would resist'. (Denouncing a show trial, Al-Ahram Weekly, 2/10/03) So from the beginning of his trial on 5 September 2002, Barghouti refused to recognise the authority of the court to try him, dismissed his defence counsel, and declined to plead on or contest the charges against him. Instead he issued his own 54-count indictment, charging the state of Israel with gross human rights violations on behalf of the Palestinian people, including violations of numerous UN resolutions, and took every opportunity to turn his trial into a trial of Israel and its occupation of the Palestinian territories." (Palestinian Biographies: Marwan Barghouti, lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com)
And another thing:
"[Israel] is also battling diplomatic isolation after... its decision to continue with its expansions of settlements - considered illegal under international law." (ibid)
Is it just me or do you too get the impression here that Pollard's phrasing - considered illegal under international law - allows enough wriggle room for a certain other point of view such as 'God says it's OK, OK?'.
Why didn't Pollard simply put it this way: '... its decision to continue with its expansions of illegal settlements'?
Or is the Herald under someone's thumb? Stupid question.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)