Why are people determined to show the Israeli and Palestinian struggles as equivalent when they are not! Nearly 2 million people in the Gaza Strip are fenced into an area less than 25% the size of London, most of them in refugee camps. They are under a military occupation with a near total land, air and sea blockade imposed upon them, movement is restricted, electricity 5-12hours/day (from Israel), 80% dependent on foreign aid (UNRWA data), >70% live below the poverty line (UN data), 28% unemployed (world bank data), 90% of water unfit for consumption (UN-EP), lack of education with 94% of schools operating on a ‘double shift system’ (UNRWA), >75% of medicines are expired (WHO data), more than 30% medical equipment is lacking (WHO), >12000 palestinian stuctures and homes demolished in past 12 years (Israeli Committee against House Demolition), 94% Palestinian building permit applications denied (ICAHD), >1400 palestinian children killed in past 14years, 40 of whom were involved in hostilities (DCI-palestine), >7000 children prosecuted or imprisoned in past 10 years, none of whom have had lawyers/family members present during interrogation (UNICEF), 2 children imprisoned per day by Israeli military courts (UNICEF), >4500 political prisoners in Israeli jails (Amnesty International), >400 palestinians held in administrative detention (indefinite detention without charge, without trial and without access to details of case against them; Amnesty International), >10000 palestinians killed in the past 14 years (Israeli Centre for Human Rights in Occupied Territories), ZERO Israeli military personnel found guilty of deliberately killing a Palestinian in past 30 years (Amnesty International).
There is nothing equivalent about this struggle; the Palestinians are some of the most oppressed and persecuted peoples in modern times. But they look over the border and see an affluent nation with the largest military per capita in the world claiming that she is the victim. The Palestinians have no opportunity, no hope and nothing to live forÂ… and they are NOT able to leave. Is it any wonder they turn to armed resistance! Bombing them worsens their plight and strengthens Hamas! Only by giving these people back their dignity, respecting their human rights and stopping them from being persecuted with impunity will Israel stop the rockets!
