Kucinich on Israel's end game

[ellenrr]

Powerful piece:

"I think the extraordinary and illegal forced relocation of over 250,000 Palestinians from 44% of Gazan land is a crime against humanity under the guise of establishing a “buffer zone” for security purposes.

Look at the steady erosion of Palestinian land and the acquisition of land by Israel, and you can understand that the present attack on Gaza is not about solely about Hamas...It is about grabbing land from the Palestinians in Gaza and the natural resources that go with the land, upon the occasion of Israel’s military invasion of Gaza.

Israel’s right to exist is impaired when Israel decides Palestinians have no right to exist on their own land. It’s time for us to stop paying for Israel’s dubious, destructive self-righteousness.

American taxpayers should not be paying for this. And the western world should stop rejecting serious inquiries about Israel’s moral inconsistencies, or allow it to benefit from cognitive dissonance and information overload amid the current crisis in Gaza.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/05/gaza-buffer-zone-dennis-kucinich

[malaise]

1. The Western world has some serious moral inconsistencies

of its own. Don't hold your breath.

Well said Dennis.

[Heather MC]

4. ++1000

You said a mouthful

[djean111]

2. The end game is more land. Period.

[countryjake]

3. It has always been about land...

They can shriek about rockets, tunnels, and terrorists as loud as they can, but there's no doubt that the oppression of the peoples of Occupied Palestine, the thievery of their land, is at the root of it all.

Thanks to Dennis Kucinich for making the point about that damn "buffer zone". I've not heard one word said about this latest land theft on our MSM, not one word.

I have seen the videos of the destruction, the deliberate blowing up of whole blocks of Gazan cities, entire neighborhoods flattened, to make way for this supposed Israeli "safe" zone. I also read earlier that there could be as many as half a million Palestinians now displaced and homeless...they can't quite be certain yet, because they're still dragging the bodies out from under all that heavy rubble, so there's no way to be sure whose family has been totally wiped off the face of the planet or who is now left with nowhere to go.


Free Palestine!
Let Gaza Live!

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
Free Palestine!

[kelliekat44]

11. About the land with water....water is the real prize. nt

[bl968]

12. Land

http://vimeo.com/50531435

[Fawke Em]

21. Actually, this time it's more about oil.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jul/09/israel-war-gaza-palestine-natural-gas-energy-crisis

[Laelth]

25. Excellent essay. Thanks for the link. n/t

-Laelth

[DeSwiss]

5. Israel's end game....

...is America's end game.

- By proxy.

K&R

“This blind defense of Israeli brutality towards the Palestinians is betrayal of the memory of all those killed in other genocides in other times. The lesson of the Holocaust is not that Jews are special. It is not that Jews are unique. It is not that Jews are eternal victims. The lesson of the Holocaust is that when you have the capacity to halt genocide, and you do not, no matter who carries out that genocide or who it is directed against, you are culpable. ” ~Chris Hedges

[countryjake]

7. Exactly.

+1 for including that Hedges link!

[sabrina 1]

6. He is absolutely right. Americans should not be forced to pay for any of this.

[truth2power]

8. End game - Natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza. n/t

[enid602]

9. a start

A respected mainstream politician stating the obvious. That's a start. So sad that his thoughtful piece can only be published by a foreign outlet. Still, a start. Drip, drip, drip. . .

[amuse bouche]

10. "American taxpayers should not be paying for this"

Thank You Dennis

[obxhead]

13. Such a shame he's not our President.

A true progressive.

[KoKo]

14. Recommend....and the replies..links

[G_j]

15. spot on

thank you Dennis!

[4now]

16. Was he this outspoken about Isreal's land grab

and forced relocation of Palestinians when he was in Congress?
I didn't pay enough attention.
but it is good to hear him speak out now.

[ellenrr]

17. hmm...that's a good question, I don't remember. I feel like I would have remembered it if he had

been - it certainly would have been a unique event!
Cynthia McKibben comes to mind. If I recall correctly, she was in office when she offended the zionists, and then she got thrown out next election.

[slipslidingaway]

24. Yes he was ...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Kucinich-to-Introduce-Gaza-by-Robert-Naiman-090114-59.html

OpEdNews Op Eds 1/14/2009 at 18:04:03

Kucinich to Introduce Gaza Ceasefire Resolution - Who Will Co-sponsor?


http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/8365

Kucinich Calls for UN Investigation into Israeli Attacks on Gaza

Published by Julie Kent on December 29, 2008 - 2:06pm

"Cleveland congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is now calling for a United Nations investigation to attacks on Gaza by Israel. Kucinich also criticized Israel for what he deems a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks, standing in stark contrast to other House Democrats that have offered nearly unanimous support for Israel.

Leading Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), have blamed Hamas for the most recent violence in the Middle East that has left more than 300 dead in Gaza. Meanwhile, just one individual in Israel has been killed by a Hamas rocket.

Kucinich likens Israel's attacks on Gaza to its 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Kucinich said that in both cases civilian populations were attacked and "countless innocents" were injured or killed..."

[emsimon33]

28. Very telling graphic!

[ancianita]

18. Didn't Israel already have settlers in Gaza at one time?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%27s_unilateral_disengagement_plan

[former9thward]

19. Yes, but that would complicate the meme.

So please leave it out.

[ancianita]

20. I don't understand the meme. Seriously. Could you please explain?

I was thinking along these lines... That Israel once gave up control of Gaza settlements argues against those who claim they now want it again. Unless they just want to keep it the equivalent of a refugee location. OTOH, the horrible bombings are making it an uninhabitable pit of misery. Are they waiting for Egypt to open its borders and absorb Gazans?

[former9thward]

22. The meme, as illustrated in this thread, is that Israel wants Gaza's land.

Which is complete ignorance of Gaza history. If Israel wanted Gaza's land they never would have left. Gaza belonged to Egypt until 1967. You will notice Egypt did not ask for it back when it signed a peace agreement with Israel. It wants nothing to do with Gaza and the Palestinians. Israel left Gaza and pulled its settlements. So much for wanting the land....

[ancianita]

23. Thanks. I get it. I just don't think of it as a meme. Yeah, that argument's as dead as Palestinian

civilians. It's horrible.

[BillZBubb]

26. What a load of nonsense.

Gaza is densely populated. To dense for the Israelis to use their West Bank ethnic cleansing strategy there. The had some small settlements in Gaza but security for them was too difficult and costly. So, they withdrew. They still want all the land they can grab. They just needed a different strategy for Gaza. It looks like they decided on a brute force "encouragement" campaign to get Palestinians to leave. These "buffer zones" will increase the population load significantly in what is left of Gaza. Life there will be more difficult.

But, the real prize to the Israelis is the West Bank. That land grab goes on abated.

[former9thward]

29. There are no buffer zones.

Stop believing Hamas propaganda.

[emsimon33]

27. A very powerful piece indeed.

Thank you for the post!