Live Blogging from Palestine

It’s that time again.

bruisedearth is packing a bag and hitting the road - returning to Palestine and the West Bank for more stories, more photos, more video, and more crucial information people need to know about the ongoing occupation of Palestine.

For regular updates - follow bruisedearth on Twitter:

We’ll be updating on all our stops - so make sure and sign-up to ‘follow’ bruisedearth today! And of course, we’ll be posting regular updates on this Web site with the latest photos and information you need to know…

Stay tuned.

Olmert: Israel Must Leave West Bank

What is it about lame-duck politicians (or in the case, a shamed and deposed one) who suddenly ’see the light’ only when their political aspirations are well nigh dead? Watch any good documentary these days with retired Generals, ex-Presidents, overthrown dictators, and you will see a similar pattern. They all seem so human, so switched on, so in tune with what all of us know as truth - but who only a few days or months earlier were adamantly  preaching the opposite.

Case in point - Ehud Olmert’s admission in a farewell interview on Monday where he stated his (long held?) belief that Israel must face some hard facts if there is ever to be peace in the region:

We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, one meaning that we will withdraw in practice from nearly all of the territories, if not from all of them.

Not to draw on hackneyed religious phrasework here, but when did Olmert experience this ‘road to Damascus’ conversion (no pun intended) ? Is it possible he has simply changed his opinion on the entire situation - or perhaps stripped of any chance of political gain, and free of the posturing and bullying of the Israeli political machine he believes what most thinking and decent people have always known.

And so the torch potentially passes to a former Mossad Agent and daughter of ex-Irgun fighters, Tzipi Livni. A breath of fresh air - not likely.

Afterall, she’s still on the inside.

Can Palin Possibly Be For Real?

Taking a side glance into the US Presidential Race, it is very difficult not to say a few words about the new Republican Vice Presidential Nominee, Sarah Palin. After forcing myself to struggle through the 11 or so minutes of complete blithering nonsense in her recent interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson (see below), I was struck by just how well she has proven her credentials. Please, have a look:

I was going to supply both clips - but honestly, I don’t have the stomach for it. So back to those credentials. Lack of foreign policy exposure? She lives in Alaska, stupid! Ahem, in case you didn’t know, that’s real close to Russia.

Hasn’t travelled widely and met ‘them there’ foreigners out in the big ol’ world? She’s been to Mexico AND Canada! I mean, like, leave her alone. She’s a maverick after all.

And perhaps her most striking credential - drum roll, please - she pronounces ‘nuclear’ the proper way! That’s right, ‘nuk-u-ler’. What a tiger! I’m no Republican, so I had better stop this blog post before these credentials creep out and further boost her poll standings.

Back on Planet Earth, I will close with an outstanding summation from Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian

For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, “historical decline”.

But hey, she IS TOTALLY experienced! Who is writing this stuff…

Settlers, Nazis & The IDF

As if Settler atrocities perpetrated on defenseless Palestinians wasn’t proof enough of the radical and violent ideals of many of the extremist West Bank settlers, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is now reporting ongoing attacks by settler youths on their soldiers throughout the West Bank.  From today’s Jerusalem Post:

Late Wednesday night, some 40 far-right activists arrived at an IDF position - manned by reservists - near the settlement of Talmon, just west of Ramallah. The activists attacked the reservists, tried to enter the outpost and damaged the pipe system that carries water to the base. The reservists tried to fend off the attackers who called the soldiers “Nazis.”

By the way, what is this ‘nazi’ nonesense anyway?! I have personally heard this yelled in my direction several times when in the West Bank - and I’m shocked the perpetrators do not realize that the ignorant use of this slur demeans the very memories of those who suffered under that regime during the Second World War. This ‘catch all’ term used by settlers at the slightest infringement of their (illegal) rights to land in the West Bank smacks of bullying and intimidation - complete ignorance plain and simple.

During this particular attack near the Binyamin Region, two soldiers sustained broken hands, Civil Administrators were attacked, tires and property damaged and one officer was even violently attacked by a settler dog on orders from its master. One IDF officer was quoted as saying:

They have crossed a red line. The legal system needs to come up with ways to curb this unfortunate growing phenomenon.

Let’s hope that red line will encourage Israelis and their military to focus more attention on the deeds of West Bank settlers rather than their Palestinian counterparts.

Mentally Disabled Palestinian Killed by Rubber Bullets

The rubber bullet has struck again - this time another fatality near the West Bank town of Ni’lin, where a mentally disabled man was shot at point blank range in the head with a rubber bullet (although Palestinian sources claim more bullets were fired). Details from today’s Jerusalem Post are as follows:

The army said that when the soldiers entered the home, the man’s mentally-disabled brother started to go wild and was promptly put in a room to calm down. However, as the soldiers were exiting the house with the detainee, his brother came out of the room swearing, before shouting “Allah Huakhbar” and trying to grab a gun from one of the soldiers. The soldier, who had his back turned, spun around and shot the man from close range.

Again we see the devastating effects of the rubber bullet. In situations as volatile as West Bank arrests and house searches, the Israeli Defence Force (armed with rubber bullets) are using deadly force in response to any perceived threat.

The problem does not lie with the soldiers (who in most cases are frightened and unwilling young men of 18, 19, 20). The responsibility rests with Senior military officials and, by extension the Defense Minister who allows their soldiers to slowly and regularly escalate the level of violence in the Occuped Territories - simply by putting them in wholly predictable circumstance.

Rubber Bullets = Palestinian Fatalities = Increased Resistance = Increased Violence.

Sometimes math can be so simple.