Despite my ongoing criticisms of the mainstream media and its consistent failure to accurately report the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation, sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised. This page-one story from yesterday’s Washington Post is one such example.
Israel’s legitimacy will continue to fall until it realises that it cannot imprison Palestinians within their own land. And one day, the US will agree.
UPDATE: Leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reveals the unaccountability of the IDF:
From January 2004 to the time of this incident, Israeli security forces have killed 157 persons in actions to arrest wanted persons in the West Bank. At least thirty-five of the fatalities were civilians who were not wanted, and at least fifty-four others were listed as wanted but were not armed or did not use their weapons when they were shot and killed.
The killing of innocent civilians and wanted persons who did not endanger soldiers’ lives during the arrest operations is not a matter of “regrettable mistakes” or the “inevitable” product of the circumstances of the particular case. It is a direct result of army policy. Following the outbreak of the second intifada, the IDF changed its open-fire regulations in general, and regarding operations to arrest wanted persons, in particular, in a way that encourages a “quick trigger finger.” Soldiers are instructed to open fire also in situations in which their lives are not at risk. Soldiers are given verbal orders, which are often vague, enabling a wide variety of interpretation and partial, or mistaken, transmission of the orders. In addition, since the second intifada began, the Judge Advocate General’s Office has refrained from opening Military Police investigations in cases in which Palestinian civilians were killed by soldiers’ fire, except in exceptional cases. This fact creates an atmosphere of immunity and non-accountability.…