.

(Continued …)

.

This is what the Special Rapporteur of the UN wrote regarding Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory on 21 March 2022 :

« In the Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967, there are now five million stateless Palestinians living without rights, in an acute state of subjugation, and with no path to self-determination or a viable independent state which the international community has repeatedly promised is their right. Over the past five decades, Israel has created 300 Jewish-only civilian settlements, all of them illegal, with 700,000 Israeli Jewish settlers now living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the midst of, but apart from, three million Palestinians.

In Gaza, Israel has barricaded the two million Palestinians into what former British Prime Minister David Cameron called “an open-air prison,” a method of population control unique in the modern world.

In recent years, Israeli prime ministers have regularly and openly proclaimed that the country’s rule over the Palestinians and their land is permanent and that no Palestinian state will emerge.

Michael Ben-Yair, a former Attorney-General of Israel, said in 2022 that Israel has become: “…an apartheid regime… a one-state reality, with two different peoples living with unequal rights”. Ami Ayalon, the former Director of Shin Bet, wrote in his memoir: “We’ve already created an apartheid situation in Judea and Samaria, where we control the Palestinians by force, denying them self-determination”. Two former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa – Ilan Baruch and Alon Liel – stated in 2021 that Israel’s systematic discrimination: “…on the basis of nationality and ethnicity” now constitutes apartheid ».

Israel occupied both the West Bank and Gaza, following the 1967 Six-Day War.

The disengagement was proposed in 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and approved by the Knesset in 2005 as the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law. The motivation behind the disengagement was described by Sharon's top aide as a means of isolating Gaza and avoiding international pressure on Israel to reach a political settlement with the Palestinians.

.

It's hard to be optimistic about the future of the Israeli
Palestine conflict. Made even more difficult by brutal
political operators who try to elevate their own positions
by attacks on minorities.

Peter Dutton's record with his attacks on
African immigrants, Lebanese refugees and our Indigenous
people speaks for itself. He walked out of Kevin Rudd's
apology to the Stolen Generations and he pushed boundaries
of international law in his treatment of asylum seekers as
Home Affairs Minister.

However, the man is capable of surprises. His support of
gay marriage a few years ago and more recently of Julian
Assange. He just may change his mind regarding allowing
Palestinians to settle in Australia. Circumstances can
change. They must.

The fact remains that the Palestinian situation is dire.
And the world cannot simply turn away. We surely can't
ignore the devastation of the hospitals that the Israelis
have bombed and much worse.

The Palestinian people are not being treated in a humane
way. Their lives have been disrupted, made miserable.
They are being humiliated, arrested, and most poignant
of all, being torn from their homes, and their lands
taken away. Their daily lives are being squeezed and
destroyed and since they never see Israelis to talk to
they feel a hatred for them.

Most of us would if we were treated that way. Jews have
the full right of return. No Palestinian does. It's just
not fair. The Israelis seem to think that they can carry
through things without reference to international law.
What they are doing is illegal. Yet nobody seems to be
taking any notice. Especially not the US. Hopefully this
may change with a new American president.

It's time things changed - and a solution was seriously
sought. Forcing both sides to compromise and negotiate.
Miracles have happened, as we know - in the past. The
time for another one is way overdue.

I have to confess that decades ago - I didn't know much
about Palestine. I thought that the creation of Israel
was good. But little by little, especially travelling
and living overseas - became more educated as I read
books and articles about the situation, criticisms arose.

Today, I feel strongly about various issues. For example,
how are we ever going to solve threats to all of humanity
(and the planet) by over population, poverty, climate
change and other serious environmental problems if we
are going to keep killing each other in the name of
different prophets of the same god?

Humanity cannot afford to have fundamentalists with their
fingers on the nuclear war button.

Diversity is our Strength

http://tiny.cc/w49jzz

http://tiny.cc/OLO_ArabAttackInGermany

Let's get some more diversity.

Peter Dutton's record with his attacks on
African immigrants, Lebanese refugees and our Indigenous
people speaks for itself.
Foxy,
FFS, stop saying such stupid things ! if you're too stupid to understand what it means to stand for defending the Nation you live in you'd better shut up !
Dutton is not" attacking' he is stating facts & totally reasonable opinion. You're one of the "attackers" not Dutton !

Indyvidual,

In the case of Peter Dutton take a look at his track
record as the Minister for Home Affairs and then
take a short stroll through his parliamentary record.
The facts are all there. A person's behaviour speaks
for itself. And Dutton's record is on file.