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Follow Us on TwitterBREAKING NEWS: No peace, no Palestine December 14, 2009
by Palestine Monitor – 10 December 2009
- Photo: Lazar Simeonov
A procession of high profile representatives of the far right delivered emotive speeches, accompanied by videos of settlers being arrested. “Get your hands off the land of Israel“, roared Likud MK Danny Danon, referring to foreign pressure that many felt had led to the announcement.
National Union speaker Aryeh Eldad echoed his defiant tone, declaring” Jews are not ice pops; you don’t freeze us so fast”. Their words were lapped up by an enthusiastic crowd that rarely stopped applauding and waving banners, proclaiming “Obama wants us frozen, God wants us chosen” and “No more uprooted from their homeland“.
- Photo: Lazar Simeonov
4,000 Palestinians have been evicted from Jerusalem in the past 12 months and over 3,000 pre-approved settlement units in the West Bank will go ahead as planned. Despite this, protestors in Paris square were in no doubt about who the real victims are. “It’s a fascistic, criminal law”, said David, a lawyer from Jerusalem, “what’s the different between this and the Nazi’s racial laws before World War two?”
There was little support for a peace process described as a “dead end” by Oli, a settler from East Jerusalem; “we don’t want any connection with Palestinians,” he told us, “there will never be peace. They want us to go and we want them to go. Nothing will stop, building will continue as normal. Nothing can change what it says in the Torah, not Obama, not Netanyahou, no-one”.
- Photo: Lazar Simeonov
Yitzhak, 23, from Shamron settlement in the West bank said Netanyahou had shown “total weakness. If we have the weaponry and the power to build we can overcome what Netanyahou says. Israel is a Jewish state, including the West Bank. Arabs shouldn’t be here in the first place but since they are here, we should give them a little room but not too much. Obama is pressuring us to give them more room than they need.”
Yehuda Shimon, a lawyer from Havat Gilad, agreed, saying “when we arrived here there were no Palestinians, they are not mentioned in the Bible. They can go to Jordan or somewhere else. Muslim power wants to kill everybody, they will commit genocide in Europe one day.”
It is certain the protests will not end here, with many protesters vowing to return each day until their voices are heard. Neither would it end there according to one activist, who wished to remain anonymous, “if this decision is not reversed, there will be a war between brothers. People in Tel Aviv don’t care but we will make them care”. For those still hopeful of reviving the peace process, Paris Square provided a sobering reminder of the power and determination of its opponents.
- Photo: Lazar Simeonov
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