Easter in the Holy Land for Palestinians

Nothing was good about Friday in Palestine. It followed bloody Thursday.

Israeli soldiers murdered two Palestinians in cold blood, including Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, lethally shot in the head at point blank range as he lay helplessly wounded on the ground.

Israel considers families of Palestinians wrongfully designated terrorists responsible for their children’s actions.

On Easter Sunday, soldiers stormed the home of Khalid Yusri al-Sharif, Abd’s brother, arresting and detaining him because of his familial ties.

Seven other Palestinians were kidnapped. Since January, Israeli forces conducted over a dozen daily Palestinian community raids, terrorizing residents, traumatizing children, arresting targeted individuals without just cause, family members unable to intervene to help their loved ones.

The self-styled world’s “most moral army” is one of its most ruthless, state-sponsored murder its approved method of operation, on holy days like others.

Regime brutality takes no holidays. Netanyahu claiming extrajudicially assassinating al-Sharif “does not represent the values of the Israel Defense Forces” is contradicted by official orders to “shoot to kill.”

Soldiers and police are judges, juries and executioners. Wounded Palestinians are left to bleed to death unattended, aid obstructed from arriving in time to help.

Amnesty International’s Philip Luther called for prosecuting al-Sharif’s murder as a “war crime.” Israel’s culture of impunity denies justice.

Investigations when conducted are whitewashed. Culpable soldiers and police are free to kill again. Israeli media reported the soldier lethally shooting al-Sharif, saying “he needs to die.” His identity is under gag order.

Extremist education minister Naftali Bennett defended his action, saying he’s “not a murderer. Have we lost our minds? We are at war,” without explaining longstanding slow-motion genocide against millions of defenseless Palestinians.

No justice, no peace assures endless conflict and instability, Palestinians on their own to survive.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html. Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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