Last Friday in Bil'in

[loic]

Fridays are demo day in Palestine. It's the weekend but not yet shabbat so religious Jewish Israelis can participate in solidarity. Right now there are about ten non-violent demonstrations each Friday. Activists travel from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem coordinate cars to drive to and between demonstrations

Comments

[piajurin]

So is it Tel Aviv Israel or Tel Aviv Occupied Palestine?

[dearanxiety]

tel aviv is in israel, not in the occupied territories... jerusalem is half and half (east jerusalem is palestine).

[loic]

Under UN Security Council Resolution 242 the land occupied in the 1967 war is not recognized as part of the state of Israel. Israel does not grant its residents the right to citizenship, however it still maintains complete or partial authority over 97.3% of occupied Palestine. It annexes land from Palestinian individuals and communities to build cities for Israeli citizens who live under Israeli law with Israeli rights and are provided with Israeli services, all of which are denied their neighbors. Israel is building a "separation barrier" (aka "security barrier" or "apartheid wall") to separate the occupied West Bank from Israel, but instead of following the internationally recognized borders of Israel it juts into the West Bank significantly. Take a look at the map.

All of this is clearly illegal under international law, clearly immoral and clearly counter to a lasting peace that doesn't rely on the extermination of the Palestinian people.

[piajurin]

Literally just got this on twitter:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147942240

[loic]

Yeah, I got it too - its definitely good news, but I want to hear it from official sources before I get too excited. Now if we can get Israel to accept the Palestinians' right to elect Hamas to public office we can get some progress.

"Right to exist" is a tough one though. I respect the right of the people living here to live here, but I don't actually accept the right of them to have a state that defines citizenship along racial and religious lines. I doubt Hamas will either.