israel impunity
Omar Robert Hamilton compiled a list of Israel's actions since the Gaza ceasefire at the LRB blog two weeks ago. The catalog has obviously gotten much longer in the interim, but this list is a poetic reminder of the power imbalance in a conflict that is treated so often in the U.S. as mutual. I excerpt about half of Hamilton's catalog. Full list at the link:
On 26 August a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed, bringing a fragile end to a war that killed 2150 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 73 Israelis (mostly soldiers). Since then Hamas has not fired a single rocket, attacked an Israeli target, or done anything to break the terms of the ceasefire. In the last month, Israel has done the following:
  1. Annexed another 1500 acres of West Bank land
  2. Seized $56 million of PA tax revenue...
  3. Killed a 22-year-old, Issa al Qatari, a week before his wedding
  4. Killed 16-year-old Mohammed Sinokrot with a rubber bullet to the head
  5. Tortured a prisoner to the point of hospitalisation
  6. Refused 13 members of the European Parliament entry into Gaza
  7. Detained at least 127 people across the West Bank, including a seven-year-old boy in Hebron and two children, aged seven and eight, taken from the courtyard of their house in Silwad - and tear-gassed their mother
  8. Continued to hold 33 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in prison
  9. Continued to hold 500 prisoners in administrative detention without charge or trial...
  10. Continued building a vast tunnel network under Jerusalem
  11. Stormed the al Aqsa mosque compound with a group of far right settlers
  12. Assisted hundreds of settlers in storming Joseph's Tomb in Nablus
  13. Prevented students from entering al Quds University, firing stun grenades and rubber bullets at those who tried to go in
  14. Earned unknown millions on reconstruction materials for Gaza, where 100,000 people need their destroyed homes rebuilt. The total bill is estimated at $7.8 billion
See more examples here.