Israeli occupation soldiers are also fishing for collaborators among the native population at these checkpoints. Such nastiness is built-in to the Zionist project to establish an ethnically supremacist settler state in Palestine and has been documented going back several generations:

Today a request to exit the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment, visit a dying relative or study in the West Bank or abroad is often contingent upon one's willingness to collaborate. In early January a number of patients were referred from Gaza--where they could not receive medical treatment--to Maqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, and received permits to leave the region. At the border, though, they were interrogated by Israeli security service officers, who demanded that they become collaborators. According to Hadas Ziv of Physicians for Human Rights, Israel, those patients who refused had their travel permits annulled and were sent back home. While these patients managed to resist the temptation to collaborate, despite their medical ills, others do not.

Welcome home, Israeli style!
Of course the Ku Klux Klan and its precursors systematically identified opinion leaders and the educated among freed slaves for 'special treatment' including torture and assasination. The purpose is obvious.
It is not true that only Palestinians receive this horrible treatment at the hands of Israeli security forces. This is routine treatment of Arab Israelis who have imigrated and are visiting their families in Israeli. Strip searches and body cavity searches are done to elderly men and women and even children. The purpose is to punish them for daring to return, even for a family visit. This policy of systematic dehumanization of non-Jews is well known to Israeli Arabs - but the intense psychological trauma of the experience and the shame, akin to rape, terrorizes the survivors into silence. Even the American State Department knows that this is how visiting Palestinian Americans are treated on their arrival in an Israeli airport.
Mohammed Omer's crime...daring to return to his home to document Israeli brutality.

Because you were there Mohammed.

M O H A M M E D __ O M E R,

I have great compassion for you, as clearly you received inhumane treatment, and wish the blessings of good health and vitality to empower and sustain you, as your purpose in life is indispensable and heroic for ALL Palestinians ( and actually for all of humankind ).

What is also clear, is that above is far easier to acknowledge, than what comes next.

Consider the need for compassion for the Israeli people and their society that encourage this type of thinking and acting toward others. Feeling for the victim's pain is so much easier than that pain so deeply hidden in the perpetrator(s).

Treating another human being in this manner is specific and targeted TORTURE ( way beyond mere humiliation ), which equally denies and erodes the human dignity for both Palestinians & Israelis. These actions ( upon returning Palestinians, "encouraged" to leave forever ) are unconscionable, reprehensible, and criminal.

My heart cries for justice, and empathy for the suffering wrought ( to those at both ends of the "stick" ).

Namaste « Presence »
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world » — Gandhi
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed » — Gandhi
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — ML King

They treated you like that to send a message!

All I can say is FUCK "ISRAEL".

great post veracity!
You are right, while the suffering of the Palestinian people is horrifiying, we should also feel sorry for those young Israelis in the IDF that are trained to behave like monsters. These attrocities are detrimental to Israel, because a country so racist and brutal should be denied the right to exist.
On the other hand I wish the Palestinian leaders/militias helped to stop the madness too, but my guess is that in reality neither side wants it to end (except for the civilian populations)

L A D Y B U G,

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words.

"we should also feel sorry for those young Israelis in the IDF that are trained to behave like monsters. "

Yeah ... poor babies. What would they do without their daily quota of expendable human-beings (palestinians) to torture. My heart fucking bleeds for these zionist nazi fucks.

Feel sorry for them? As one feels sorry for slaveowners because they, too, are demeaned by such a demeaning system.

When my empathy for the victims has made all the changes in the world order that need to be made, then I'll consider feeling sympathy for the victimizers.

Israel lost it's heart long ago, now it has lost it's soul. the power Israel has to control these stories around the world is stunning.

Israel is our Frankensteinian monster.

They treated Mohammed like that, because they can. They are so used to being pandered to by the 'international community', that they even treat the latter with contempt:

'According to an account on arabmediawatch.com, the Israelis "proceeded to go through every document and paper he had on him, taking down the names and numbers of the European parliamentary officials he had met on his tour. The Shin Bet officials then started to make fun of the European parliamentarians..."
http://redressnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/israels-uk-ambassador-fails-to-respond.html

I, too, strongly deplore and disagree with the tactics used by the Israeli military, which violate international law.

But to say, as some posters did, that this proves that Israel doesn't have a right to exist is quite a stretch. Is anyone saying that the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo means that the United States doesn't have a right to exist?

No, it is only Israel about which people make this demand.

More and more, it's looking like my father was right when he said, "Scratch a gentile and you'll find an anti-Semite."

--Rg

Raanan -- "But to say, as some posters did, that this proves that Israel doesn't have a right to exist is quite a stretch."

Israel does not have a right to exist on the backs of Palestinians or by committing horrendous atrocities against Palestinians by denying them the right to live.

That should clear this up for you Raanan ?? Before this is dragged into another 'criticize israel and you are anti-semite' argument.

'Israeli occupation soldiers are also fishing for collaborators among the native population at these checkpoints. '

thats right...such collaborators have been then trained as assassins to be used in arab areas like Lebanon.

During my 2nd of 5 trips to occupied Palestine since June 2005 to bear witness and also to be a voice for the voiceless, I traveled to the Ramallah Headquarters of ADAMEER [Arabic for conscience] and met spokesman Ala Jaradat http://www.addameer.org

While chain smoking at his office desk and in a soft spoken voice he informed me of many things, such as:

"The methods and photos from Abu Grahib and Guantanamo were no shock to any Palestinian who had been in prison between 1967 and the '80's. All the methods used in Abu Grahib were normal procedures against Palestinians. In 1999 Internationals, Palestinians and Israelis for human rights threatened a boycott against Israel and that is what forced the Supreme Court to address the torture issue. They did not ban torture and the General Prosecutor can choose not to prosecute those who still use it.

"The Israeli government never agreed to the Second Geneva Convention, the Knesset never ratified it, and when it comes to the Occupied Territories they totally ignore it. Israel is the only State that approved torture of detainees. I know there are dictators who use torture, but Israel is the only State that supported torture until 1999. That is when International, Israeli and Palestinian pressure groups forced the issue and Barack was confronted about it when he visited the United States."

Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

More and more, it's looking like my father was right when he said, "Scratch a gentile and you'll find an anti-Semite."
_____________________________

I didn't post the comments to which you allude, but: of course he was right! Maddeningly, the writer's name escapes me at the moment-- I don't think it's Norman Finkelstein-- but some thoughtful and insightful critic has written that the very existence of Israel REQUIRES anti-Semites.

The presumption that Jews are universally loathed and despised, and thus can never be at peace in any nation but their own, is Israel's raison d'être. Israel could hardly sustain their Prime Directive of maintaining Security at all costs (all costs of their victims, that is) if it did not see persecutors on all sides, retail and wholesale.

If Israel wasn't collectively beset and beleaguered by a perceived ceaseless swell of malicious anti-Semitism, it wouldn't know what to do with itself.

You've got to be carefully taught.

Anyone can say no. Everyone is responsible for their actions. Following orders is not an excuse.

So, no, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the people in the IDF. There are refusniks in Israel who refused to serve, who refused to do exactly these sorts of acts. For them, I have a lot of sympathy for the struggle and ostracism they face to take that stand.

----------------
The interesting part of these accounts (and John Pilger has written another excellent one), is that the Israelis at the border crossing kept asking 'where is the money.'

For one thing, that reveals the petty theivery that always occurs when you give some human beings the authority to mistreat others. Its a common theme in such cases. For instance when American or Israeli troops search a building, cash tends to go missing. Just like in America when the cops find a lot of cash on someone.

The other is that it puts as a lie the statement that this was just another search according to proceedures. They knew exactly who this was and this was done deliberately. The question of 'where's the money' makes that clear.

Did Germany's attrocities lead the world to say it had lost its right to exist? Basically, the answer was yes. There was still a Germany after the war, but the leaderhips, the 3rd Reich was overthrown by a world that was sick of such behavior.

There's an old joke about a man trying to pick up a woman in a bar. After the woman declines to go sleep with him, he asks if she would do it for a million dollars. She thinks a bit and says yes. Good, the man replies, now that we've established that you are a whore, we are just haggling over price.

The point is that there is indeed some line somewhere where in the past the world has established that if a line is crossed a government, if not a nation, can indeed lose its right to exist. Now we are just arguing over where the line is.

Down with the evil state of Israel. By the way, why do we Americans never see stories reported in our corporate media? Because our corporate media is nothing but the propaganda organ of USA.

More and more, it's looking like my father was right when he said, "Scratch a gentile and you'll find an anti-Semite."

I think the correct formulation was made by Norman Finkelstein based on impressions of a visit to Germany:

...I agree with Daniel Goldhagen's claim in Hitler's Willing Executioners that philo-Semites are typically anti-Semites in "sheep's clothing." The philo-Semite both assumes that Jews are somehow "different" and almost always secretly harbors a mixture of envy of and loathing for this alleged difference. Philo-Semitism thus presupposes, but also engenders a frustrated version of, its opposite. A public, preferably defenseless, scapegoat is then needed to let all this pent-up ugliness ooze out.

One sign of philo-Semitism that I read of long ago was if someone makes over the top claims to the effect that "Jews are so chic!" or "they're so talented!", etc. Basically, anyone who can't deal with a broad ethnic or social group in terms of flesh and blood actual humans and has to resort to clichés and generalizations is suspect, imho.

Interestingly, many Neo-Nazis in Europe have morphed into rabid supporters of Zionism and Israel. The scapegoat "Other" to be beaten up is nowadays Muslims and the Roma. Even gays enjoy widespread acceptance, and in fact some of the most firebrand right wing politicos are openly gay (e.g. Pim Fortuyn who was assassinated by a deranged animal rights activist). The previous Foreign Minister of Italy, Giancarlo Fini--who called Benito Mussolini the "greatest statesman of the 20th Century" as late as the mid-90s and was described by Ariel Sharon as a "good and friendly leader"--is almost certainly the shape of things to come. Incidentally, Berlusconi's party which recently came back to power is busy carrying out pogroms of Roma around Rome. After his election victory Berlusconi greeted his supporters by shouting, "We are the new Falange!" Rome's Neo-Fascist mayor was greeted with cheers of Duce! by squadristi when he showed up at their rally.

Noam Chomsky has a good description of cheer-leading "supporters of Israel" who are willing to go along with any outrage perpetrated by their Holy State: He calls them "supporters of the moral degeneration and ultimate destruction of Israel".

veracity, ladybug - Sympathy for the agents of abuse should certainly be on the agenda of a civilized world. I do not think young Israeli soldiers should be denied the benefit of rehab services. (Indeed, even George Bush may be redeemable, given enough years in a secure, faith based facility.) But there are so many broken people in need of help, that I think the poor brainwashed assholes who operate checkpoints in Palestine need to take a number. We can get around to them after we have repaired and compensated the countless thousands of their victims.

ladybug - Especially good point about neither side wanting it to end. This is a clue to much of self-inflicted human misery generally. At some level we are really enjoying ourselves with all of this. Too bad we didn't follow up on Freud instead of going back into denial and repression of our questionable dark side.

Raanan Geberer, there is no such thing as a "right to exist" for states. Human rights-- the kind in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is one of the founding documents of the UN, and to which Israel & the US are signatory-- are INDIVIDUAL rights. They belong to an individual, e.g., right to live, to own property, to earn a living, to have a family, to travel, and the right of refugees of war (or anyone) to return home.

Every Israeli has a right to exist. The state of Israel does not have a right to exist (nor does any other state). Got it?

Nevertheless, the state of Israel does exist, not by right, but by FORCE, by DISPOSSESSION of the predominantly Palestinian inhabitants, similarly to the way that the US came into existence and grew by conquest and dispossession.

But the analogy with the US doesn't get us very far. If there were half a billion Native Americans living in squalid refugee camps in Canada and Mexico, clamoring to reclaim their homes in the US, and if the US steadfastly refused based on its "right to exist (whitely)", THEN there would be a fitting analogy with Israel's situation.

This is the true nature of Israel's "existential crisis"-- its very existence is threatened because its very existence is illegitimate and represents a profound injustice. Asking Palestinians to accept a "right to exist" for Israel is asking them to condone this injustice. By contrast, many Palestinians parties and leaders have offered to *recognize* Israel. Thats a different thing. Even Hamas considers this idea. The Zionists who insist that they have no partner for peace unless Palestinians accept a "right to exist" are insisting on a right to dispossession, and there is no such right.

V O X C L A M A N T I S,

A subtle distinction, but what I was referring to was the hidden angst of the 'skull at the wedding' -- of a society ( like our own ) that supports and pumps the ignorant people full of hate and therefore misery -- to carry forth AS IF they're actually doing good.

Ironically, both you and Ladybug sensed this as well, but not close enough to your own heart, only projecting out there to the external blood zone -- 'how sad' -- while missing the larger context of WAR carried within each of us ( how much sadder ?).

For us to recognize the darkness within, is opening the door to actually seeing another as ourselves -- to embracing ALL of being human ( " … which wolf I feed determines wins … " )

We are ALL ( to some degree ) essentially unconscious victims of our society, the trends, and built up belief systems. BE'ing consciously awake, or spiritually aware of the awareness within us and within another -- is about NAMASTE and PRESENCE

Namaste « Presence »
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world » — Gandhi
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed » — Gandhi
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — ML King
.

Bullies treat people like that because they can. Always have and always will, it seems to be the human condition that about half of us are born without compassion or empathy.

Why feel sorry for the IDF soldiers? I tell you why: because they, too are human beings.

THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF IT: when you start to think of other human beings as "less valueable", as "not-so-human", as monsters ... YOU ARE DOING THE EXACT SAME THING YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT WHEN OTHER PEOPLE DO IT.

Hate is not the answer. It is the root source of all problems. More hate will not resolve that. NEVER.

"More and more, it's looking like my father was right when he said, "Scratch a gentile and you'll find an anti-Semite.""
Raanan Geberer

At times I have wondered if the Jewish people have ever looked at others in a similar situation. I remember talking once to a Polish woman, and when she discovered I had some Polish Jewish ancestry, she snapped at me, thinking I was going to make some comment on the Holocaust, "The Gypsies suffered terribly as well - you're not the only ones."

And I met a young Chinese woman who was going paranoid because of the violence Indonesian Chinese had suffered in 1999. Her parents were from Shanghai, so she couldn't claim a direct link to the survivors of Nanjing - but it was one of the things I was aware of, that caused that sudden paranoid "jump" from a "it won't happen to me/us" to "am I next?"

So where will you be when things turn really ugly for the immigrants, Raanan? I'd hope to see you on the barricades.

Well we have bullies right here, this country has reached a decline of such rapid intensity it will take our childrens children to perhaps realize an awakening.
Got this yesterday via ACLU, clears up some missing Iraqi civilian questions.
http://www.aclu.org/natsec/foia/NCIS_log.html

The paranoia of the Zionists is sickening. These people really need to be stopped. What they did to this man is disgusting.
With the adnvent of the internet, Israel is sufering a public relations problem that is picking up steam-so to speak-like there is no tomorrow. They are no longer the golden child-and they know it. Everything they now do receives worldwide scrutiny. The whole world is watching! Literally!

I lost my respect for "The State of Israel" when Rachel Corrie got run over, not once, but twice, by an IDF Caterpillar Bulldozer.

Hard to respect an army, and a country, who does this, as a matter of course. Because they can.

D U M B O,

That's one humongous and very smart _ T R U T H _, you mention above at 3:54 am.

Most people just miss the "humanizing" fact,

__ that the life you SAVE

__ may just be your OWN.

Namaste « Presence »

Elderlady --"I lost my respect for "The State of Israel" when Rachel Corrie got run over, not once, but twice, by an IDF Caterpillar Bulldozer."

True enough. Rachel Corrie was definitely a martyr to the cause. However, why is it that it takes the death of an American for us to feel anything. I dont mean to disrespect your feelings but this question always haunts me. Why do we feel American lives are somehow more precious than any other ?

R I D D I M B O Y,

The concept of DEATH is necessarily kept at arms length or further, so the bringing into the experience of one of "our own" breaks down a boundary otherwise protected by strong defenses.

Consider that Kierkegaard said that ( something like ) 'the primordial fear is death or non-existence, and all of our personality, culture, and religion are a direct result of our attempting to cope with that primitive FEAR'.

In many ways the concept of DEATH is illusionary attempt of our EGO to force things that are not, as ego denies the presence of the NOW moment in favor of what's next or what once was.

When one lives totally unconditionally in the current moment ( PRESENCE ), there is neither DEATH nor EGO attachment -- as they are merely thought forms carefully repeated into formation of belief systems and held more strongly to people as they age and approach "the event".

P.S. I'm still an just egg, awaiting 1st crack at some of this …

Namaste « Presence »
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world » — Gandhi
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed » — Gandhi
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — ML King

For all those who blindly hate Israel and Israelis, I just wanted to point out that Gideon Levy, the reporter who wrote this article, is an Israeli. And that Haaretz is an Israeli left wing newspaper.

L E T T O,

Yes, we are glad to have free-speech news, wherever it's allowed.

Most of the informed progressives actually admire the REALLY free-press in Israel, as contrasted by zionist and AIPAC inhibited ones in the USA.

So why do you think that similar stories never make it to the news in the US ( jacka$$ stream media ), other than here on CD, or buried somewhere else?

I doubt that you're going to find many HATERS here on CD, on _any_ subject, as we're usually more humanitarian -- to digress to crude neolithic mentality -- grunting, pounding their chests, and yelling kill, kill …

Namaste « Presence »

"For all those who blindly hate Israel and Israelis, "

Please dont assume any criticism of Israel automatically equates to hating Israelis. Even some of my good Israeli friends hate Israeli policies. Stop tarring everyone with the same brush. When you start to recognize the zionist stranglehold on Israel, you will begin to realize how futile and morally reprehensible it is.

Veracity and citizen1- your statements that press coverage from Israel doesn't make it here is just flat out wrong. Coverage of Israel's actions in the press of all types is universal. Every detail is ironed out, often beginning with Israeli sources. To the extent it's not is because it doesn't matter to Americans. I for one would rather see better coverage of what is happening in Iraq in American media; maybe even coverage that compares to Israeli media. If you criticize Israel so strongly, do you have the same amount of outrage for what America does in Iraq or Afghanistan? What about other conflicts worldwide?

If it's a Palestinian source it is just as likely to receive wide attention. Just because something is covered doesn't mean the journalist has done his job, however. Generally, facts should be checked, rather than just reported. Pali-wood is a reality, and there are countless examples of Palestinians using inaccurate statements, or fake events, to further their agenda in the media.

Conversely, there is no freedom of press in the Palestinian Authority. Perspectives that challenge the mainstream view of Palestinians as victims, or pure as the driven snow, are snuffed out by authorities before they see the light of day. The Ramallah lynching, where the media apologized for showing the video, is just one example. There was no challenging of Arafat's corruption and taking aid funds- leading to Hamas' eventual strong electoral showing.

If every death in Iraq was given as much attention as every death in the Palestinian territories, it is doubtful America would be where it is. But there is no freedom of the press in Iraq, unlike the immense freedoms in Israel for any perspective, and in the PA, as long as it is critical of Israel.

Riddimboy- Zionist hold on Israel? Israel is Zionist. What do you mean?

Forextrader-all I can say is FU too!

B A M A B A N J O,

Perhaps the request wasn't clear enough for you?

Either show me this article (or one like it), in the US main stream media, or bounce off to someplace where they actually believe you.

veracity, riddimboy,

Though based on past comments, I don't share your optimism (if you want I can bring many examples), I hope the future will bring balanced approach with hate free discussions.

(And when I say balance approached, I mean that any nation or group should be criticized for their action and not for who they are.)

veracity, (to bamabanjo) "Either show me this article (or one like it), in the US main stream media, or bounce off to someplace where they actually believe you."

Here is a link from MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25455967/

bamabanjo - forextrader is a mass murderer war criminal wannabe. His thoughts of Israel are pure and simple hatred. Here are some of forextrader's past literacy pearls:

forextrader May 15th, 2008 4:00 pm
My message to "Isareal" on it's 60th "anniversary". Happy birthday you land stealing jerks! May you not see 61!
---
forextrader May 15th, 2008 4:02 pm
Palestinians are paying a debt they never owed in the first place. Relocate "Israel" to Germany, Austria, Brooklyn, Miami Beach or the damn Moon!
---
forextrader May 9th, 2008 11:21 am
mikep: screw your emotional blackmail and screw you for playing the phony "anti-Semite" card. Israel is a phantom nation and it needs to be exorcised from Palestine once and for all. Hamas has been more than kind.
----

Wow, so israel won't just allow an obvious propogandist out to spread more lies?

Jesus, they must be as bad as the nazis!

Give me a break, lefties, egypt isn't letting them out either, where do you get off only blaming israel? Why couldn't he get out on the egyptian side?

L E T T O,

Your idea of MSM is a creek to me. This MSNBC article is a good start, but w/o cover page CNN and TV news coverage -- my point is well made and proven.

You've got to do better than this, or bouncy bounce … … … …

Are you kidding me veracity, msnbc is not msm?

lol, he needs to find a cover page story?

Your point is mooted.

veracity, You have asked for similar article in an American main stream media and I brought you MSNBC, which is one.

Now you have new demands, or else bouncy bounce.
If I had brought you an article from CNN - you would have asked for one in Fox, or else bouncy bounce.
And if Fox would have published it, you would have said: Why not NY times or bouncy bounce.

When it come to Daemonize Israel - your craving will never be satisfied.

I don't need to do anything, for your "buddy's" actions to speak louder than any words that could ever possibly be uttered. The face people see cannot be covered up by your mere words either, soon the blow-back will felt by all ( even unconscious ones ).

One just has hold up the mirror, and what we see is IT.

I crave justice for the innocents, both Palestinian and Jew, who are being forced matched to the brink of insanity.

The point is clear that anti-Israeli news is vastly throttled down, here in the US -- substantially much more so than EVEN in Israel. You should be so happy and proud, at the freedoms the Israeli's have -- that us Americans would also love to have.

… why I even bother replying to sock puppets is the real question , I need to be looking into …