[News] 'Burn them, shoot them, kill them': Israelis cheer in Jerusalem as Palestinians shot in Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israelis-celebrate-jerusalem-palestinians-mourns-gaza-1200437883 



  'Burn them, shoot them, kill them': Israelis cheer in Jerusalem as
  Palestinians shot in Gaza


Hind Khoudary, Lubna Masarwa, Chloé Benoist  May 14, 2018
<http://www.middleeasteye.net/users/chlo-benoist>
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Palestinian carries a protester injured by Israeli forces during a 
demonstration in Gaza on 14 May (AFP)

The contrast could not have been more jarring on Monday between 
Jerusalem and Gaza, even as a mere 75 kilometres separated the two.

As American and Israeli officials inaugurated the move of the US embassy 
to Jerusalem - an Israeli victory over the international community’s 
rejection of its claim to Jerusalem as its capital - Israeli forces 
gunned down Palestinian protesters in Gaza, the death toll rising 
inexorably throughout the day.

    'Friends, what a glorious day, remember this day. This is history.
    Mr Trump, by recognising history, you made history'

    /- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exuberantly hailed the embassy 
move as a “historic” moment.

"Friends, what a glorious day, remember this day,” the Israeli leader 
said in a triumphant address on Monday. “This is history. Mr Trump, by 
recognising history, you made history.

"All of us are deeply moved and grateful. The embassy of the most 
powerful nation on earth, the United States of America, opened here."

Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner also gave a speech 
at the ceremony, during which he hailed US support for Israel, seemingly 
casting aside concerns about the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza 
occurring at the same time as his speech.

"We stand with Israel because we both believe in human rights, democracy 
worth defending, and believe that we know that it is the right thing to 
do,” Kushner said.

Meanwhile, just outside the new embassy, Palestinian demonstrators in 
Jerusalem were brutally repressed by Israeli forces.

MEE witnessed dozens of unarmed Palestinians beaten and arrested by 
Israeli security forces outside the embassy, eliciting cheers from 
Israeli demonstrators who came out to support the embassy’s opening.

“Burn them”, “shoot them”, “kill them”, the Israelis chanted.

Meanwhile, former Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner complained on 
social media, implying Palestinian deaths in Gaza were an attempt to 
rain on Israel’s parade.

    My feed is a mixture of people in Jerusalem celebrating the
    #EmbassyMove
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/EmbassyMove?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    and people in #Gaza
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    trying to ruin that celebration.

    — LTC (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) May 14, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/LTCPeterLerner/status/996006744215048192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

But in Gaza, Palestinians expressed their deep anger and disbelief at 
the celebration occuring in Jerusalem as hundreds were indiscriminately 
shot by Israeli forces.

As of 7:30pm local time, 52 Palestinians had been killed and 2,410 had 
been wounded by Israeli forces, the bloody culmination of the six-week 
“Great March of Return” in Gaza which had already claimed 49 lives 
before Monday.

In total, 101 Palestinians have been killed during demonstrations in 
Gaza since 30 March.

The scenes in Gaza in the zone close to the fence separating the small 
Palestinian enclave from Israel were ones of chaos and blood since the 
morning, with numerous demonstrators shot in the head, neck or chest.

A number of bodies were trapped close to the fence, army fire too heavy 
for ambulances to reach them.

“A lot of Palestinians died today for the sake of Palestinians 
peacefully protesting, and we won’t give up on the blood they shed,” 
Wadee Masri, 52, told Middle East Eye. “I came here to participate in 
the march, to prove that I am a person that has a right to return to my 
land.



Protester near the Gaza border on Monday (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

“Celebrations today in Jerusalem make me feel sad for what the US did 
against Palestinians,” he added. “There is no peace without Jerusalem. 
We will live and die fighting for Jerusalem.”

International groups decried the situation in Gaza as a “bloodbath”.

“The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there 
is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, 
caged in for a decade and under occupation for half a century, has 
resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen,” Human Rights 
Watch said in a statement.

Jamal Zahalka, a political leader for Palestinian citizens of Israel, 
told MEE that Israel and the US bore responsibility for the violence in 
Gaza.

    'Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, and Trump and the USA cannot
    decide to give our land to Zionists'

    /- Samira Mohsen, 27, protester in Gaza City /

"This is a violation of international law. Trump and the US are 
responsible for all the blood that has been shed since the US decision," 
Zahalka said.

"Those who are celebrating today [the US embassy inaguration] have blood 
on their hands."

But despite the trauma of the deadliest day in Gaza since the 2014 war, 
Samira Mohsen, a 27-year-old protester east of Gaza City, remained 
defiant despite the heavy toll of the day’s demonstrations.

“One day we will be celebrating in Jerusalem, we will pray there, no one 
will ban us,” she told MEE. “My dream is to see Jerusalem. Jerusalem is 
the capital of Palestine, and Trump and the USA cannot decide to give 
our land to Zionists.”

-- 
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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