The Palestine thread

[give her dixie]

I wonder what side Paul Maskey would have been on in 1880 in Ballinrobe? Would he have ignored the Boycott then as well?

[seafoid]

I wonder what side Paul Maskey would have been on in 1880 in Ballinrobe? Would he have ignored the Boycott then as well?

i was expecting to see  de beaver  on the aidan mcanespie thread justifying shoot to kill .

[Itchy]

Dixie, have you lost the plot. A bulldozer never killed anyone, Irish or otherwise. The driver did. If we follow that crazy logic should we boycott Michelin tyres or the suppliers of the yellow paint. A bulldozer or digger is not a war machine so you cannot apply the same reasoning as you do to tanks and fighter jets

[muppet]

I wonder what side Paul Maskey would have been on in 1880 in Ballinrobe? Would he have ignored the Boycott then as well?

+1

[give her dixie]

Dixie, have you lost the plot. A bulldozer never killed anyone, Irish or otherwise. The driver did. If we follow that crazy logic should we boycott Michelin tyres or the suppliers of the yellow paint. A bulldozer or digger is not a war machine so you cannot apply the same reasoning as you do to tanks and fighter jets

Itchy, Caterpillar equipment is widely used by the IDF to demolish Palestinian homes. Since 1967 7,000 homes have been destroyed. Caterpillar are subject to a worldwide Boycott and many investment firms, individuals and church groups have dis invested in them. They know full well what their equipment is used for, yet they still supply the IDF. Much like CRH who supply the cement that is used in the construction of illegal settlements and the Seperation Wall. 

People can dress this news announcement up any way they like, but to welcome Caterpillar to West Belfast by Paul Maskey and his party is not only an insult to the Palestinians, but to Human Rights.

"In a news release emailed by the UN, Richard Falk accused the companies of profiting from the operation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

They "should be boycotted until they bring their operations into line with international human rights and humanitarian law and standards," he said.

Falk carries the title of UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories."

http://www.examiner.com/article/un-rep-boycott-hewlett-packard-caterpillar-motorola

[Ball DeBeaver]

I wonder what side Paul Maskey would have been on in 1880 in Ballinrobe? Would he have ignored the Boycott then as well?

i was expecting to see  de beaver  on the aidan mcanespie thread justifying shoot to kill .

why would I try to justify the shooting of an innocent man?

Weirdo

[give her dixie]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

[give her dixie]

Armour plated Caterpillar D9 in Palestine used for house demolishions

[Ball DeBeaver]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

The same Rachel corrie who deliberately  stood in front of said d9. Suicidal.

[Itchy]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

When someone is killed in a car crash to you blame the car manufacturer? For christ sake this is idiotic, the d9 doesn't turn itself on and drive into people does it?

[DrinkingHarp]

While I would be the 1st person to welcome good news on the job creation front, i'm sorry but this is very bad news for not only West Belfast, but for Ireland.

Caterpillar, Inc. makes huge profits annually from the sale of its earth–moving equipment around the globe. The Peoria, Illinois-based corporation is Israel's primary supplier of bulldozers—one of the most destructive weapons in Israel's arsenal. The Israeli government uses Caterpillar bulldozers in the perpetration of massive human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. Since 1967, over 7,000 home demolitions have occurred across the occupied territories, leaving some 50,000 Palestinians homeless. During this same period, bulldozers have razed vast swaths of Palestinian agricultural land, depriving their owners of food and livelihood.

For years, Palestinians have been calling for a boycott of the company, and just recently, one from Professor Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Also the Irish-based solidarity organisations Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Sadaka have also long been calling for that boycott.

How Paul Maskey the MP for the area can welcome this gross violator of human rights to Belfast is beyond me. Has he forgot about Rachel Corrie and how she was murdered in Gaza by a Caterpillar D9?

http://www.u.tv/News/200-Caterpillar-jobs-for-west-Belfast/6fa5a067-8748-47b6-bb79-e4c41d5a8288

http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/25660

GHD,

There is reaching and then there is reaching, this is really reaching. Caterpillar DOES NOT sell their machines to the Israel Military the US government does. "This is how it works," corporate spokesman Jim Dugan said. "Caterpillar sells equipment to the U.S. government, which then transfers the equipment to the Israeli government, which then transfers it to the Israeli military. Israel is one of about 150 countries that take part in the program, which supports U.S. allies. For the D9s, the protective armor plating, the bullet resistant glass and other modifications take place after the machine has been transferred to the Israeli government by the U.S. government. These changes happen after the sale, not in our factories. We hope and wish for a peaceful resolution to the unrest in the Middle East, but that solution is a political matter to be worked out by the appropriate parties. Caterpillar does not and should not have a role in that political process."

Even if a boycott of CAT works do you not think Deere, JCB, Terex, Komatsu or any other 50 or so manufacturers would not pick up were CAT  left off?

How about going after companies from Ireland who sell direct to Israel or Vice Versa? Although that would really be a direct hit to the whole economy considering that In 1988 Israel exports to Ireland were valued at 23.5 million USD, while Irish exports to Israel were valued at 32.8 million USD. A decade later, Israeli exports to Ireland amounted to 196 million USD, while Irish exports amount to 230 Million USD. Today Irish exports are 344 million and Israeli exports are approaching 200 million USD.

Unfortunately I see no end to this conflict in our lifetime, this has been going on for over 2,000 years in one way or another in this region. The one way to end it would be through education and youth, young leaders coming up through both sides realizing working together would benefit both parties and the region.  Until the hatred that is being spewn by both sides subsides nothing will work.

On a personal note, I am disgusted by the way people attack each other on this board about this situation instead of offering substance either pro or anti Israel/Palestine. I do applaud GHD on his humanitarian acts of assistance.

[Ball DeBeaver]

Hamas Gov't Demolishes 'Illegal' Arab Homes in Gaza

The Hamas terrorist government has issued an order to demolish 75 homes belonging to PA Arabs in Gaza City. The UN has made no comment.


AAFont Size
By Chana Ya'ar
First Publish: 2/13/2013, 10:21 AM




Demolition in Ulpana neighborhood

Israel news photo: Yishai Karov


The Hamas terrorist government has issued an order to demolish 75 "illegally" built homes belonging to Palestinian Authority Arabs in a Gaza City neighborhood. There has been no comment from the United Nations.

Members of the Abu Amrah family – affected by the order – protested the decision Tuesday in a demonstration in front of the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City, the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency reported.

The houses, located in the al-Rimal neighborhood, are scheduled to be destroyed this morning (Wednesday).

Hamas said the houses were being demolished because they were "illegally built on public lands," Ma'an reported. The families claimed that alternative sites suggested by the PLC were remote areas with no services, a claim Hamas denied.

Gaza "land department" spokeswoman Amal Shamali told Ma'an that her department contacted family leaders from the Abu Amrah clan several months ago and suggested they move to a neighborhood in Rafah, in southern Gaza, or to a housing project in the north. Since they refused to move to the north, the government decided to move the families to Rafah.

The Hamas government apparently demolished another group of homes owned by the same clan several months ago, offering instead to move them to an area in northern Gaza – at a price. The families were given the option to pay in installments. Some agreed, and others did not.

"We are refugees and have been living in this area of tens of years," family spokesperson Abu Salah Abu Amra said.

A second targeted resident, Hazim Abu Hmeid, worried about his children and appealed to Ramallah-based Fatah PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

"When our children return from school [today] they will not know where to go because by the time they arrive, their houses will have disappeared," Hmeid said. "The only place they will have is the street in this cold winter time."

Numerous demolitions of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria have been carried out over the past decade, even as the number of illegally built Arab homes in those regions rises exponentially, without comment or consequence. 
.............................................................................

Oh my giddy aunt. Ya couldn't make it up, could ya. 

GHD, what make of digger is that in the picture? Isn't that a Caterpiller? I see the palestinians are taking a lead in their boycott of zionist war machines.

I hope for your sake that the photo is just some random one taken ages ago, otherwise your pontificating is going to look rather hollow. I'll have a wee look and see if I can verify it for you. 



***EDIT**** Just discovered that the photo in question is from another demolition, not the one reported. Phew, that was close. 

[Ball DeBeaver]

Hamas demolishes homes, world media yawns

July 16 2012

From Tom Gross' dispatch:
Ma'an and other Palestinian news agencies report that the Hamas government in Gaza has renewed its policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinian families in order to seize land for government use. 120 families are to lose their homes in the latest round of demolitions – a far greater number than the number of illegally built Palestinian homes Israel has demolished in recent years – and unlike Israeli authorities, Hamas doesn't even claim these homes were built illegally or with dangerous structures. Yet western media and human rights groups have been virtually silent about these destructions of Palestinian homes by Hamas.

Abu Al-Abed Abu Omra, whose house is threatened with demolition, told Ma'an that Hamas security police arrived late on a Saturday night and told residents to evacuate their homes in order to facilitate the demolition.

He said that more than 120 families living in a 15-dunams area near Gaza's Al-Azhar University are under threat, though they have been living there since 1948.
Tom is apparently the only non-'Palestinian' source reporting the story. I'm shocked. Just shocked.

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hamas-demolishes-homes-world-media.html

[Ball DeBeaver]

Hamas Demolishes Palestinian Homes

by Mel Frykberg, May 26, 2010

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RAMALLAH – On Sunday approximately 150 Palestinians from 20 families were driven out of their homes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, by heavily armed police and soldiers who menaced them with clubs.

The difference this time was that it was not the Israeli Defense Forces carrying out evictions and demolitions but Hamas security forces, including policewomen with their faces veiled.

Reporters trying to cover the event were barred by Hamas police. I wonder why
Many of those expelled had already lost their homes and been forced into the streets when Israel carried out its brutal military assault over the coastal territory, which deliberately targeted Gaza's infrastructure, during Operation Cast Lead at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.

Some of the homes destroyed on Sunday were temporary shacks built hastily after the Israeli assault. Other homes were concrete structures built prior to Israel's crippling blockade, imposed on Gaza after Hamas took control in June 2007, which has prevented most reconstruction material from entering the territory.

The Hamas authorities argue that the homes were built on government land and without permission. Residents claimed they had been sold permits by a local landowner.

This is an explanation West Bankers regularly hear from the Israelis before Palestinian homes and buildings in the West Bank are destroyed, although the territory is illegally occupied by Israel whereas Hamas is a democratically elected government and the Gaza Strip is Palestinian land.

Nevertheless, the harshness of the actions under the current conditions provoked anger from Gazans and condemnation from human rights organizations.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza expressed "its grave concern over these demolitions, which constitute a violation of civilians' rights to adequate housing. These violations may affect an additional 180 houses in Rafah in the future."

http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2010/05/25/hamas-demolishes-palestinian-homes/

Where's the indignant condemnation of these atrocities GHD? These are not random acts, they are systematic attacks on the very people they purport to represent.

[Ball DeBeaver]

Gov't Forces Destroying Caravan Homes at Ma'ale Rehavam

Government security forces arrived Wednesday morning in Gush Etzion to tear down caravan homes at Ma'ale Rehavam.


AAFont Size
By Arutz Sheva staff
First Publish: 2/13/2013, 11:14 AM




Police at a demolition

Flash 90


Government security personnel arrived Wednesday morning in Gush Etzion to tear down caravan homes at Ma'ale Rehavam, a small town located off Route 3698 near Highway 60.

Ma'ale Rehavam was founded in 2001 in reaction to the assassination of former Tourism Minister Rehavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi, an ardent supporter of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. The residents pride themselves maintaining the community on the ecovillage model, focusing their efforts on cultivating olive and almond groves, a muscat grape vineyard, and an orchard growing thirty-five different fruit varieties.

Roads leading to the area, near Kfar Eldad, were sealed off to prevent anyone from reaching the site and interfering with the demolitions, including neighboring residents.

Forces included hundreds of security personnel, five bulldozers and fifty porters, according to a local source at the scene who spoke with Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity.

The alleged targets of the police and IDF soldiers who were at the scene are apparently six caravan homes that allegedly were built outside the official community boundaries, the source said.

Gush Etzion Regional Council head David Perl appealed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to stop the destruction of the homes, saying in a statement the decision was made "for no reason or benefit."

"The Levy report, which the government of Israel commissioned, determined that there is no place for the demolition of unorganized communities and that other solutions within the rules of law and justice can be found," Perl pointed out.

"The government must immediately confirm the report so that we can stop watching the injustice and harm carried out towards the settlers and pioneers, as is occurring this morning in Ma'ale Rehavam," he said.

"The Gush Etzion Council will provide all the necessary assistance to help affected residents deal with the unnecessary and harsh destruction," Perl vowed.


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165193

Good to see Israel are acting on illegal building sites in Judea and Samaria. I just hope they didn't use any of those nasty old D9s, otherwise GHD will have a fit.