Most Americans do not see another point of view; this site hopes to provide different points of view that make sense. My passion is to open people’s hearts and minds towards fellow beings.

The op-ed by Tariq AlMaeena reflects what most people around see, a good piece indeed. 

Thanks to the American and British Jews, who have always stood up for social Justice and living in harmony with others. However, the pied pipers have misled Jews in Israel to have them focus on their security needs over the sense of righteousness while the Palestinian leadership has done the same. A few American Jews don’t see and don’t want to believe what is going on in Israel; they don’t see the ethnic cleansing and atrocities against Palestinian children and women, and inhumane treatment of fellow beings. What kind of humans would the Israelis and Palestinians be?

If the younger generation wakes up from the ill-will and hatred, they will ask the creeps and blame the leadership of both nations, if they wanted to pass their problem to the next generation? The future Israelis may ask Netanyahu if he was doing to Palestinians what was done to them?

Please note, I am not an expert on Holocaust, but have organized 13 Annual events on Holocaust and Genocides, perhaps the only non-Jewish person to have done that. I must add that the word Holocaust is specifically used to refer to the Jewish Holocaust during World War II, all other are classified as Genocides. 

Mike Ghouse
www.IsraelPalestineDialogue.com 

Courtesy - Gulf News

A perpetual holocaust in Gaza

American democracy is turning a blind eye to Israeli apartheid of Palestine

By Tariq A. Al Maeena,Special to Gulf News

Published: 17:46 June 2, 2018

A holocaust is defined as a systematic and mass slaughter of a people, generally based on their ethnicity. And that is precisely what is being rained on the people of Gaza. They have been systematically slaughtered in cold blood in carefully administered increments by the mightily armed Israeli Forces. The killing of Palestinian civilians goes on every day but in numbers not to draw excessive attention or international condemnation. It is a holocaust nevertheless as it singles out a people based on their ethnicity and targets them for destruction.

It is unfortunate that the United States, a country that proudly promotes its democratic principles has made every excuse to shield the Israeli killing machine on the world stage by continuously shifting the blame on the Palestinians. They are blamed for resisting violence against them, against bullets bringing down their families by the numbers, by evictions and watching their homes bulldozed and by imprisonment of their women and children. This also includes mass bombings on civilian targets by the Israeli air force against a defenceless people.

It’s not very difficult to understand US support as most media in that country is historically tolerant, sympathetic and encouraging of all Israeli actions against what are the legal occupants of the land. American democracy is turning a blind eye to Israeli apartheid of Palestine.

Many US politicians owe their seats to massive underhanded donations and support by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) whose mission statement is to help and facilitate only Israeli-sympathetic politicians in key areas. There have been recorded instances in the past when a brave American politician went against this stranglehold, only to find himself or herself quickly booted out of office by intensified and coordinated lobbying against him.

The mainstream media by and large provides a completely one-sided bias against Palestinians, and if I were a resident of Gaza, I should not expect God-fearing Americans to rise up and notice the ongoing holocaust in the 21st century and come to my rescue. The majority of Americans cannot be blamed as they are prudently kept ignorant of the real realities on the ground in the Middle East and who the real bad guys are.

Even Hollywood gives Israel the assistance it needs to carry out their vicious plans as Arabs are generally portrayed as being either evil or terrorists out to destroy the western world. For an American whose knowledge of the outside world is limited to a two-minute clip on TV that shows Palestinians in bad light or Hollywood with its own flair, there lies no hope for democratic justice from the Americans.

US government figures proudly and publicly embrace values dictated by AIPAC or Israel, publicly touting their support and administration for Israel. Even in the UN where one would expect some semblance of fairness, such values have vanished. Recently when the Security Council was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the violence in Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 103 Palestinians protesting along the border fence, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. That number included several children, one of whom was just 8 months old. More than 3,100 others were wounded. The US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley walked out of the meeting when the Palestinian envoy began to speak, just hours after she praised Israel for acting with “restraint” in handling the protests in Gaza.

More recently she said that the United States will “unquestionably veto” a UN draft resolution calling for the protection of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, on the eve of a Security Council vote on Friday. Haley described the proposition put forward by Kuwait on behalf of Arab countries as a “grossly one-sided approach that is morally bankrupt and would only serve to undermine ongoing efforts toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.” What seems to be morally bankrupt and obvious in this case is Nikki Haley’s conscience and the poor image of American democracy that she projects.

So is there any hope for the Palestinians from this ongoing holocaust by an intervention of American politicians? Very recently, 76 brave members of the US Congress sent a letter to the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu urging his government to abandon plans to demolish the Palestinian village of Susya in South Hebron. This demolition was to further expand illegal Israeli colonies in the area.

The letter added that “The forcible eviction of Palestinian communities and the expansion of colonies in areas of the West Bank which would become part of a future Palestinian state, abandon our two countries’ shared values of justice and respect for human rights. These actions unilaterally change facts on the ground and jeopardise the prospects for a two-state solution.” What was refreshing was that a number of Jewish lawmakers with conscience signed the letter, making it “the most significant criticism of settlement expansion ever by Congress”.

Perhaps this is just a start, albeit a small one. For the despairing Palestinians, this may just buy them some hope to hang on to.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter: @talmaeena

Israel Palestine Conflict - a refreshed summary

Please review the following summary and share your differences and support for a possible solution in the comment section. If we want sustainable solutions, we have to include the views of all people affected by the decisions. No matter how powerful we are, we cannot impose our solutions on others. Indeed, we are more responsible for the continuance of the conflict than Israelis and the Palestinians.

We recklessly meddled in handling this conflict, and shame on all the three peoples (American, Palestinian and Israelis) to keep passing the buck to the next generation. Shame on us for giving apprehension, insecurities, and injustice to the new generation. What will they think of us? Gutless, useless people that who kept blaming each other rather than finding solutions?  Maybe they should sue us all for screwing up their lives, maybe it will be a paradigm to hold the politician-criminals for not forging and nurturing harmony. We need a drastic change in our policies. A few links are included at the bottom to ponder.

A summary of the issues;

Israel Palestine conflict is not going on for thousands of years, it is new, and began with the Balfour declaration in 1917. For the Jewish immigrants, mainly the survivors of the Holocaust, it was a battle for survival, and for the Palestinians, it was a battle to live in their own homes against forcible evictions.

The leadership of the western nations had the arrogance to believe that their solutions were the best and imposed it on others. They were rooted in disrespect for the culture of other people. Even though they talked about equal rights, deep down they believed they are more privileged than the others.

The Colonist left a mess while departing from their colonies. They did that with India and Pakistan, and they have done it in the Middle East. We cannot blame them after 70 years; we have to blame the current regimes that are aggravating the conflicts and passing the misery on to the next generation.

I support Israel and a homeland for Jews; who have been deprived of the sense of security throughout their history. The Jewish people, in general, want nothing but safety, but their political leadership is doing everything to keep them from having it. It is wrong for the administration of Israel to do unto Palestinians, what was done to them.

Security to Israelis and justice to the Palestinians are interdependent, and one will not happen without the other.

Jews have a need to be understood and be acknowledged for their eternal security needs, not the military, but mental security where they can put their guards down and live their lives in peace, and without apprehension or fear of the others. 

Palestinians have a need to be understood. They have suffered immeasurably, no human should be stripped of his or her hope and dignity; hope to have a family, work and own a house and call a place their homeland. We (Americans and Israelis) have stripped them of their basic human rights.  

As Americans, we need to be above reproach and seek justice for one and all. We need a Martin Luther King kind of individual to free us from the suppressed guilt we would be carrying in our hearts and minds towards both the people.

The policies of the current Israeli leadership will continue to be a source of insecurities for Israelis in the long haul unless Israel is willing to cleanse the land with the Palestinians, which they have attempted repeatedly but subtly. What they did in Gaza is shameful and the greater shame is our (US) silence. 

This week the UN passed the resolutions to void the Jerusalem as Capital of Israel. 128 nations including our allies and only seven countries reluctantly voted against it, since they live off our aid. Over the last 70 years, 95% of the community of nations vote one way, and about 4% of countries vote the other way, and usually, our representative in the United Nations vetoes that vote. It is like slapping in the face of 190 some nations and letting them know that their vote is worthless. It results in resentment towards America, and Israel for getting away with injustice.  That resentment is wrongfully called Anti-Semitism. We must condemn real Anti-Semitism with all our hearts, minds and might, but not the resentment.

Israel is isolated in the community of nations and national put up with it because of her ally United States, she cannot stand on her own until there is regime change.  Israeli can win the world if they obey the international laws, not build the settlement and remove that tear down that damned wall. On the other hand, Palestinians can win in the community of nations if they can stop sending their useless rockets into Israel. They have suffered, some more suffering from non-violence will make it easy for them their freedom and justice. It is sad both sides are raising abnormal humans, who are bloodthirsty and revengeful. 

What can we do?

The most important thing to do is to welcome a bold conversation and listen to each other's point of view without interruptions. If we can gather up the courage to listen to the crap from both sides, and when they exhaust it all, human side of their issues will come to the fore which we can handle.

Peace should not be dictated to the weak, it should be earned by treating them as equals. It is in the interests of Israel to seek long-term security.  We need to quit blaming the Palestinians for their rockets, and understand that they live in open prisons, they cannot go to a hospital, the children harassed, their homes are forcibly taken and bulldozed, their land is taken, and settlements are built in violation of all civility. If the United States gave the Palestinians 3 Billion dollars worth of bombers and tanks a year,  they would not be throwing rocks at the Israeli soldiers or sending useless rockets into Israeli civilian townships. 

What can they do, the world did not do anything for them for 70 years but blame. The only thing they can do is throw rocks at the oppressors or commit suicide as the proud Jewish people did at Masada. As Americans we need to respect human dignity, whether Palestinians “behave” or not, we have the responsibility to do the right thing. Injustice to one will create ripples and affect all of us one way or the other.

Secondly, we need to demand that parties sit down and come out with a solution, we have that right, and we should tie our $3 billion a year donation to Israel to bring peace. If you cannot make peace, you don’t get our support. I hope we value righteousness over politics. The dominant party is always in the position to negotiate peace provided they don’t look down upon the weak. Both the American and Israeli leaders need to shelve the arrogance of superiority over the Palestinians, if we can treat, feel and act as equals, all of us will have peace and security. That is the bottom line.

Finally, we need to hold a conference, and I will be happy to organize one to find solutions. We are competent people, and we can do it. I am a part of Israeli Palestinian Federation and have written extensively on the topic at http://www.IsraelPalestineDialogue.com

I suggest that we ask Netanyahu and Abbas to visit at least a dozen children a week of the other populations, look them in their eyes and promise them, that they can hope for a better future and assure them that they are not their villains.

We need to take a firm stand on one state or two state solutions, if it is one state, we the people who stand for human rights, need to encourage it to be an authentic democracy and not  give more privileges to one group over the other, that is not democracy and will not survive in the long haul anyway. 

Mighty empires can crush the weak for a short term; in the long run, everyone goes down the tube. We cannot rob anyone and live with a good conscience.

Finally, what will we answer our Grandchildren for passing the problem to them? I am sure they will ask if we did not dare to do so.

Religious Scriptures are a part of the problem

Part of the issue of the Israel Palestine conflict is based on misinterpreted sacred scriptures, and the other parts of the equation are security and justice.

All of us have reduced God’s wisdom to be bigoted, discriminative, and partial. Is this our God? Jesus is not going to hurry up and come down on the earth until the Israeli politicians kill all the Jews and Muslims. The Son of God is not in the business of terrorizing people. What kind of promise is that where God rewards massacring of the people? What kind of God is that who rejects others and accepts only one religion? These are serious flaws in our understanding of religions for thousands of years; it is time to correct these errors in our understanding of the Just God.

Is this God happy that we have killed 58 people in Gaza in the latest bout of ethnic cleansing, wounded hundreds, and continue to shoot the unarmed? Is this what Jesus wants to come down on the earth again, on the blood of the Palestinians? 

Take a look at the following misinterpretations of the verses, and let me know if God could have said something like that. May I suggest you to say what is right, rather than pleasing a ‘few’ Pastors, Imams, Rabbis, Pundits or religious men.

A few Jews believe that they are the chosen people. A few Christians believe Jesus’ arrival will wipe out everyone but Christianity. A few Muslims think Islam is the only religion acceptable to God. A few Hindus, Sikhs and others have similar arrogant attitudes that they are the best, scientific or the oldest and wisest. Indeed, none of the religions are wrong; the flaw is in our understanding.

God is not a little guy; God is the creator. Should we reduce his words of wisdom to the narrow, exclusive claims as in above?

Knock off Religion from Israel Palestine Conflict

As we start applying common sense to understand the deeper meaning of these verses, maybe we can knock off the religious aspect from the conflict and focus on the land aspect, which may be more comfortable. No one is more privileged than others, and no one is more than equal.
Religions are always used and abused to suit one’s greed. Indeed, all of us have reduced God’s wisdom to be bigoted, discriminative, and partial. Is this really our God?

As we chose representatives to govern us on our terms, we need to appoint a reformatted God that cares for every human and guide us.

Thanks to America, more and more religions are moving towards their central values, which are a common denominator of beneficence, and thanks to each group for chiseling out the fluff. America will eventually have its own version of Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Shinto, Paganism, Zoroastrianism, Tao, Dao, Wicca, and others. Judaism and Christianity have already established reformed versions, others are working on it. I clearly see that.

The author is President of the Center for Pluralism in Washington, DC. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

Increase in Anti-Semitism is the doing of Netanyahu and Trump
israel-palestine-dialogue.blogspot.com/2018/06/anti-semitism-is-augmented-by-netanyahu.html

Nikki Haley is the new Nuisance in the Middle East Process http://israel-palestine-dialogue.blogspot.com/2018/06/nikki-haley-is-nuisance.html

Holocaust and the Muslim Guy 
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/holocaust-and-the-muslim-_b_4629509.html#es_share_ended

Standing up for Jews - need to update the work since 2012
http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2012/02/standing-up-with-jews.html

To be Jewish is to be just, their security needs stripped them of justice 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WA2NlDU-LM

What do we do at the Center for Pluralism

Pluralism is an attitude of “Respecting the otherness of others” and “accepting the God-given the uniqueness of each one of us.” You are who you are, and I am who I am, neither one of us has to compromise the uniqueness of our faith, race, culture, nationality, and language.

Our purpose is to acknowledge the differences and live with least conflicts. Pluralism News is the weekly publication of the Center for Pluralism. You can access this anytime through www.PluralismNews.com. We will be happy to speak to your congregation, students, friends. We can conduct a workshop in building a cohesive community, workplace or society. Pluralism does not mean compromise or appeasement; it is simply a development of an attitude for living with others with least conflicts. Please email to Mike@CenterforPluralism.com

Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism
Washington, DC
(214) 325-1916- Cell
(202) 290-3560 -Office

Mike@CenterforPluralism.com
www.CenterforPluralism.com
www.PluralismNews.com

Israeli Army Investigates Death Of Razan al-Najjar, Palestinian Paramedic Killed In Gaza

Thousands are mourning after Palestinian paramedic Razan al-Najjar was reportedly killed by an Israeli sniper


https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/2081577511873728/

Anti-Semitism is augmented by Netanyahu and Trump; Jerusalem decision is half baked.

First Published at Huffington Post https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-semitism-is-augmented-by-netanyahu-and-trump-jerusalem_us_5a2a6ea9e4b0d7c3f26221b6

The problems in families, communities, and countries persist because good people do not speak out against what is wrong.

The people on the extreme right know only one thing; destroy the other rather than have a dialogue and resolve the conflict.  When God created the life, he produced two varieties; animals and humans. He gave horns, fangs, and paws to the animals to fight out the other with a vengeance and get what they want, whereas humans were endowed with the ability to dialogue and resolve their conflicts.

Facts don’t matter to them and common sense is not in their genes, but they attract the afraid and disillusioned ones by confidently offering them false hopes. The poor souls latch on to them. 

Years ago, a Catholic Nun on Tim Russet’s show “Meet the Press” had made a powerful statement. She said bullies give confidence to the frightened people with passion and give outlandish assurances, whereas the sane people hesitate in making outlandish statements. So, she argued that moderate people should continue to speak the truth with reason, passion, and conviction to give confidence to the people and do the right thing.

Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Xenophobia and other phobias are crutches of the short-sighted ones among us. I have a good record of standing against Anti-Semitism and will continue to do my share of educating the public about the ills of these phobias. Please do read “Holocaust and the Muslim Guy” in Huffington post and “Standing up with Jews” at Standing up for others.com or just Google ‘Judaism Mike Ghouse.’

Now, the rise of this monstrous evil of Anti-Semitism can be squarely attributed to Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He should be held accountable for the long-term insecurities heaped on the people of Israel. Let me share the information in simple terms while my extensive research article is in the making.

 Anti-Semitism is a wrong label in most cases; it is resentment born out of a violation of international treaties by the Israeli government. Please separate Judaism, Jews, Israel and the Israeli Government, the world has no problem whatsoever with the first three but resent the 4th one.

Check the history of voting at the United Nations; usually, it is 94% of the world against 6% supporting Israelis Government’s ruthless policies, and the blind supporters are United States, UK, Spain Italy and a few others.  Rarely has been a time where more than ten nations have voted in favor of Israeli Government’s policies.  By the way for the blind among us, the ones opposing the policies are people of all continents, faiths, and races.

On November 30, 2017, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to disavow Israeli ties to Jerusalem as part of six anti-Israel resolutions it approved on Thursday in New York. The vote was 151 in favor and six against, with nine abstentions.

Now tell me, why 151 Nations of the world should not resent Israeli government’s policies for going against the wishes of the community of the nations. This is not Anti-Semitism but pure resentment for disregarding the resolutions of the world body.

 Why would they not resent America for supporting such wrongdoing? The Palestinian men and women are being dragged out of their homes and forcefully thrown out of their lands. No sane human being in the world will love that brutality and oppression. Humans are designed to seek justice, and injustice will always be hated.  

The AIPAC was needed when Israel was weak, and her Arab neighbors were out to destroy her, but they went too far and lost any sense of justice and started doing to Palestinians what was wrongfully done to them over centuries.  One wrong does not make the other wrong right.

 I firmly stand in my support for Israel’s right to exist, but do not support its right to bully the Palestinians, grab their lands and deny them a homeland. The sadistic men may enjoy bullying and be beating up the powerless, but in the long haul they are guaranteeing insecurity to Israel and nurture Anti-Semitism around the world making Jews more insecure even here in America.   

Look at the Iran Nuclear Deal, a good deal for Israel as it prevents Iran from making nuclear weapons. Seven Nations signed the treaty and wanted to stand by Israel, but what does Netanyahu do? Belligerently goes against it to appease his funders and some of the right-leaning American Congressmen even honor him over our President? Traitors!

United Nations Security Council 2334, which passed Dec. 23, 2016, by a vote of 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining, describes Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. This situation has happened for the first time.   Trump was going against a President’s decision, why was he not called a backstabber?

If there is an increase in Anti-Semitism, all of us should condemn it with ferocity but should know that injustice to one is an injustice to all as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr has uttered.   However, we need to hold Netanyahu accountable for the resentment he has generated in the psyche of 151 nations and all the justice-seeking people in the world. It is not Anti-Semitism; it is pure resentment for Netanyahu’s policies.

Trump has added fuel to the fire, what was the need to create the Jerusalem controversy? It is ridiculous timing. He has reignited chaos in the Middle East causing Israelis to live in apprehension. Does he realize that Jews live intentions when they travel overseas? Trump has double down on that now. Now the people of 151 Nations have reason to resent Israel even more and hate America too. We are a nation of good people run by the evil government and need to speak up and make the government of the people again. 

The following video is about recognizing Israel and Palestine; it was made in 2015 and just released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEvKrgdbNM

What would have been an ideal situation is to tie the relocation of US Embassy to Jerusalem with the immediate stopping of the illegal settlements?  Just because they have the military might, they should not act like bullies. Israel’s security hinges on Justice to the Palestinians, one would not happen without the other happening. Our policy should be based on Security to Israelis with Justice to the Palestinians, and if we take that stand there will be peace in Middle East and American leadership would be respected for justness and eventually it is good for Israel, good for Palestinians and good for America.

Pope Frances has urged the community of nations to honor the UN position on Jerusalem, and of course, the right-leaning men in Israel and America do not respect such a great man. Power to them is being bullies and not civility.

 hope the good people of Israel and Jews around the world will drown the negative voices with their sane voices for the sake of long-term security of Israel and justice for the Palestinians.

Mike Ghouse is committed to working towards building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on the Political, religious, cultural and societal and human rights issues of the day. He is the President of Center for Pluralism and can be reached at www.CenterforPluralism.com.

Moderate Israelis, where are they?

Netanyahu's lust to remain in power has placed the Jewish desire for a secure future in peril. His violation of human rights, robbing the land, building settlements, and gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and isolation of Israel in the community of nations is detrimental to a secure Israel or Israelis around the world. He lives scheming and manipulating the world instead of dropping the guards and living a life. 

Why should Israelis live in apprehension, when will the Israelis sigh a breath of relief?

Thanks to the American Jews, who have always stood up for Justice and harmony, sadly the few who are possessed with hate, want to do to the Palestinians what was done to them. What a shame?

Look at the UN resolutions since he became the PM, 95% of the world is on one side, while a handful of countries give him a hand. Resentment is born out of slapping the 95% of the nations and ignoring the US resolutions. Ninety-five percent of the nations resent the bully tactics of Netanyahu and Trump's support for it; if there is an increase in Anti-Semitism, we should hold these two men squarely responsible for it. Where are the moderate Israelis? Why are they putting their future in peril?

I stand for Israel and Palestine, and their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of their happiness. And, I strongly condemn the ugly politicians for their hate and false propaganda against each other.

Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism

Israel keeps Gazans ‘caged in a toxic slum,’ UN human rights chief says

The moderate Jews need to speak up for the sake of Jewish and Palestinian Children, it's time to shelve the hatred for each other and working on living a life.

As an American, I will do everything I can to make my government represent the Americans, which it has not.

Mike

Natasha Turak | @NatashaTurak

CNBC.com

The United Nations' human rights chief issued a scathing critique of Israel's policy toward Gaza on Friday.

Israeli forces on Monday killed 60 Palestinian protesters in Gaza during a demonstration that followed weeks of protests.

Israel and the U.S. have criticized the 47-state Human Rights Council, accusing it of anti-Israeli bias.

FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images

The United Nations' human rights chief issued a scathing critique of Israel's policy toward Gaza on Friday.

"They are, in essence, caged in a toxic slum from birth to death," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of the Palestinians living in Gaza during a special session of the UN's Human Rights Council, convened in the wake of Monday's deadly violence on the Israeli-Gaza border.

"Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week," Hussein said. "End the occupation, and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear."

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed 60 Palestinian protesters in Gaza during a demonstration that followed weeks of protests marking the 1948 establishment of the Israeli state. It also coincided with the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Israel defended its actions, saying it had acted in self-defense and blamed the bloodshed on Hamas, the Islamist militant and political group that governs the Gaza Strip.

Israel's UN ambassador Aviva Raz Shechter called Zeid's words "politically motivated," adding that "the loss of life could have been avoided had Hamas refrained from sending terrorists to attack Israel under the cover of the riots, while exploiting its own civilian population as human shields."

'Toxic slum'

With the words "toxic slum," Hussein was likely referring to the living conditions in the blockaded territory of Gaza, where 1.9 million residents live in an enclave of 225 square miles, making it one of the most densely-populated places on earth. Both Israel and Egypt imposed air, land and sea blockades on the territory in 2007 after Hamas won local elections in 2006.

Thirty-nine percent of the population lives below the poverty line, more than half lack access to reliable electricity, and unemployment stands at 42 percent, according to the UN. The World Bank in March said that Gaza's residents have "for years… endured an environmental disaster due to sewage pollution." Ninety-seven percent of Gaza's drinking water is contaminated by sewage.

Hussein described Gazans as "deprived of dignity, dehumanized by the Israeli authorities to such a point it appears officials do not even consider that these men and women have a right, as well as every reason, to protest."

Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images

A Palestinian woman takes some of her belongings from her partially destroyed home across the street from where a high rise apartment building in Gaza City was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, Aug. 26, 2014.

Although Israeli troops left Gaza in 2005, Israel still retains control of Gaza's airspace and coastline, leading the UN to designate it as an occupying power there.

Israel and the U.S. have criticized the 47-state Human Rights Council, whose members are chosen by the UN General Assembly, claiming it is biased and has a disproportionate number of member countries hostile to Israel.

Decades of turmoil

Monday's violence was met with condemnation from international leaders, who urged the protection of rights to peaceful protest. But Tel Aviv affirmed its position as absolutely necessary to protect its citizens from attacks.

"The Hamas terrorist organization declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal," Netanyahu had written on Twitter after the events. "We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."

Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the U.S., and has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks since the 1990s.

The White House echoed Netanyahu's defense, emphasizing the right of Israel to defend its border and calling the deaths "unfortunate propaganda" on the part of Hamas. Hamas denied provoking the violence, while a Hamas official told local press that 50 of the demonstrators killed were members of the group.

Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images

Palestinians run for cover from tear gas during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, east of Jabalia on May 14, 2018, as Palestinians protest over the inauguration of the US embassy following its controversial move to Jerusalem.

More than 2,400 people were reported injured Monday in addition to the dead. At least eight children under the age of 16 were killed, according to Palestine's envoy to the UN. The UN subsequently called for an independent probe into the event, which the U.S. so far has blocked.

The UN classifies Israel as an occupier state over the Palestinian territories, whose occupations following the 1967 Six-Day War are still considered in violation of international law. More than 1.5 million Palestinians live in refugee camps across the Middle East today.

Demonstrations have gone on for several weeks to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1948 "Nakba," as many in the Arab world call the time period that saw Israel establish itself as a state. Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes, and have since not been granted the right to return.

Palestinians, 70 years of suffering

by Eric Margolis

May 26, 2018

To date, 62 Palestinians have been shot dead in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army and over 5,500 wounded by gunfire.  Their crime: protesting the loss of their ancestral homes in the West Bank.

Here was an example of Gandhi-style passive resistance that failed.  Israeli sniper teams just fired at will at the protesters, some of who were throwing rocks or firing sling shots.  High concentration tear gas was dumped by drones on the demonstrators.  Israel claimed it was killing ‘terrorists.’

The United States, Israel’s patron and financier, reveled in the move of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move seen by Bible Belt religious fundamentalists as a key step to the return of the Christian Messiah and Armageddon.  The rest of us, Jews included, are fated to be burned alive.  The American Republicans, who have become a far-right theocratic party, cheered this good news.  The Trump administration, by now an extension of Israel’s hard right Likud Party, was cock-a-hoop.

There was no joy in Gaza.  This miserable, squalid human garbage dump is a giant open-air prison packed with 2 million Palestinian refugees driven from the newly created state of Israel in 1948.  Israel and its close ally Egypt keep Gaza bottled up on its land and sea borders.  Palestinians are only allowed to fish along the shore. Coastal gas and oil reserves have been expropriated by Israel and Egypt.

Gaza’s two million people subsist on the edge of starvation. Israel openly boasts that it allows just enough food into the enclave to prevent outright starvation.  Chemicals to treat water are banned. Electricity runs only a few hours daily because the power plant was bombed by Israel’s US-supplied air force.  Hospitals have almost no medicines.  In short, wartime conditions in the open-air prison. Even the wretched animals in Gaza zoo are starving.

The intensive punishment of Gaza, a crime under international law, began after its people voted in a free election for the Hamas movement over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which is more or less run by Israel and the United States.  Israel helped found Hamas in 1987, but then sought, with the US, to destroy the organization, branding it ‘terrorist.’

Israel has extensively used US-supplied arms and money to fight Hamas in Gaza, a clear violation of the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 that bars the use of American weapons against civilian populations.

The question remains, where did all the Palestinians come from?  Israel long claimed there were no such people, or a made-up nationality. This was a pretty rich claim coming from Israelis, many of whom hailed from Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe and who had assumed biblical identities and asserted a direct link to the Hebrews who had lived two thousand years earlier in the Levant.

When Israel was created by the US and UN (with Soviet support) in 1948, from 750,000 to one million native Palestinians were driven from their ancestral home at gunpoint or panicked to flight by massacres and ethnic cleansing.   Their villages were bulldozed.

When Israel conquered and annexed the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, another 500,000 Palestinians were made refugees.   Some 50,000-250,000 Syrians were driven by Israel from the strategic Golan Heights.  Bedouins were driven from Israel’s Negev Desert.

By our era, the number of homeless Palestinians has grown to 5 million refugees helped by the UN and at least another million scattered about the Mideast.  The actual number could reach as high as 8-9 million thanks to the Palestinian’s high birth rate and strong family values.

Half of Jordan’s people are Palestinian refugees.  Kuwait had 400,000 Palestinians until they were expelled in 2002-03 after their leader, Yasser Arafat, foolishly backed claims by Saddam Hussein that he was occupying Kuwait in order to trade it for a Palestinian state.  This was the biggest Palestinian expulsion since 1948.  Egypt’s brutal dictator, Gen. al-Sisi, is now the biggest persecutor of Palestinians after Israel, keeping them locked away in the Gaza prison.

The Arab states have done very little for the Palestinians save slogans and hot air.  The Saudis are now in cahoots with Israel to repress the Palestinians lest they spread modern secular ideas in the medieval Mideast.  Interestingly, some of the most extreme Palestinians, like George Habash, were Arab Christians.   Palestinians remain some of the best educated and most commercial of the Mideast’s peoples.  For a long while they ran most of the Gulf Emirates until replaced by Indians.

‘Sand in the eye of the Mideast’ is what I called this oppressed people without a home.   Their plight could be greatly eased by the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank.  But this would interfere with plans for Israel’s right-wing government for planned expansion.  So, the future for Palestinians is bleak.