The truth behind Israels

attack on Gaza
Myths vs. Facts
July 2014
American Muslims for Palestine
AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR PALESTINE
EMPOWERMENT through
EDUCATION and ACTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
P. 2 INTRODUCTION
P. 2 PART I Brief Talking Points
P. 4 PART II Context to the recent assault on Gaza
P. 7 Going back to the occupation
P. 7 Disengagement and collective punishment
P. 8 Myth vs. Fact: Debunking Israeli propaganda
P. 10 International law and right to resist
P. 10 Israeli violations of American laws
4
INTRO
Given the pervasive and one-sided Israeli narrative regarding Operation Protective Edge, Israels
current assault on Gaza, AMP wishes to contextualize the issues in efforts to break through biased
media reporting and Israeli propaganda. We hope this framework helps your discussions within your
mosques, Islamic centers and with the media.
The report is organized into two parts. Part I will be a list of brief talking points about Gaza. Part II
will offer the historical and political context to the issue for those who want a deeper understanding.
PART I
Brief talking points
Palestinians suffer under an apartheid system of occupation that has denied them the freedom
of movement, subjected them to random arrests and detentions and subjected them to extreme
violence by the Israeli military forces and settlers.
On April 24, more than 100 Palestinian political prisoners waged a hunger strike that lasted three
months to protest Israels use of administrative detention holding them without charge or trial. It
was the longest lasting hunger strike in Palestinian prisoner history.
Israeli Occupation Forces killed 12 Palestinians between May and June. Two of them were youth
walking peacefully down the street on Nakba Day, May 15. CNN caught the shooting on video.
On June 2, Hamas and Fatah created a Unity Government. This was roundly condemned in Israel
because it has a vested interest in keeping Palestinians divided.
On June 12, three Israeli settlers went missing. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas
and used this as a pretext to invade the West Bank, killing 19 Palestinians.
There is no evidence that any faction was behind the settlers disappearance and none claimed
responsibility.
The settlers disappearance must be viewed from within the context of the occupation and the
creation of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank. The Fourth Geneva
Convention prohibits an occupying force from settling its population on the land it occupies.
Settlements are illegal and are a constant source of friction between expansionist Jews and the
Palestinians, whose land they are stealing. At least 2,100 settler attacks against Palestinians have
occurred since weapons other than live ammunition, between 2011 and 2013, injured 2006; and
1,500 Palestinian children, according to human rights group DCI-Palestine.
A ceasefre between Hamas and Israel had been in place since November 2012.
Israel broke the ceasefre on June 29, 2014, when it assassinated a Hamas leader, responsible for
enforcing the ceasefre.
Hamas had not fred one rocket since 2012, until the June 29 assassination.
THE TRUTH BEHIND ISRAELS ATTACK ON GAZA MYTHS VS. FACTS
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Israels claim that Hamas positions itself in civilian areas is not true. The Gaza Strip is one of the
most densely populated places on earth with more than 12,000 people per square mile, according to
the CIA World Fact Book.
In contrast to Iraq and Syria, Palestinian civilians in Gaza have nowhere to run.
Israel has been indiscriminately targeting civilian areas, such as mosques, hospitals and homes,
which is in direct contravention of international law.
Israels pinpoint strikes on houses have killed entire families, including at least 25 children.
Former Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben-Ari called for Israel to make Ramadan a month of darkness.
Israeli Major Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor was quoted in Haaretz as saying, If we kill their families, that
will frighten them (Hamas), offering proof that Israel is purposely targeting civilians.
The United Nations High Commission on Human Rights Navi Pillay raised concerns on July 11
that Israel was targeting civilians, including children, by bombing homes. There is serious doubt
about whether the Israeli strikes have been in accordance with international humanitarian law and
international human rights law, she said.
In a recent press conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu called American efforts
to broker peace, nave and that he would never, ever, countenance a fully sovereign Palestinian
state in the West Bank, according to the Times of Israel, proving Israel does not want peace.
PART II
Context to the recent assault on Gaza
Israel has successfully framed the attack on Gaza that started on Tuesday, July 8, as self-defense,
responding to rockets from Gaza. Israel also has been successful in tying its actions in Gaza and
its incursion into the West Bank to the deaths of three Israeli settlers, who went missing on June 12,
2014.
The narrative is misleading and disingenuous. It excludes realities on the ground for Palestinians,
who endure random arrests and detentions, settler and Israeli military violence, and the loss of their
freedom of movement on a daily basis. For instance, in the frst 10 days of June two days before
the Israeli settlers went missing Israeli forces kidnapped at least 17 Palestinian children, many in
the middle of the night from their own beds.
Here is a breakdown of what occurred and how it led to the current assault on Gaza:
* June 12 Three Israeli settlers go missing.
* June 13 Israeli offcials know the settlers are dead but Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu
issued a gag order, preventing the release of this information.
* Israel uses the settlers disappearance to justify an 18-day incursion into the West Bank, ostensibly
to rescue the settlers.
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^ During this time, Israeli forces and settlers killed 19, including several children.
^ Raided thousands of homes
^ Arrested more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children
^ Demolished several homes

*All these actions amount to collective punishment. Amnesty International and other human rights
groups have called on authorities to end this collective punishment immediately.
* Israel maintained the fction that it hoped to fnd the settlers alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas
West Bank operations and weaken the new Unity Government between Hamas and Fatah.
* There is no evidence that Hamas ordered the settlers kidnapping and no Palestinian faction took
credit for it.
* The incursion whipped up anti-Palestinian fervor in Israel that resulted in the kidnapping, torture
and death of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir.
* Netanyahus power base is weakening. The public blamed him for the settler deaths because of a
previous prisoner exchange, and Foreign Minister Avigdore Lieberman ended his partnership with
Netanyahu and dismantled the Likud-Beiteinu faction.
* The anti-Arab sentiment, added to the above domestic political situation, left Netanyahu with no
choice but to attack Gaza as a way to increase domestic political support.
* Hamas had not fred a rocket into Israel since a 2012 ceasefre agreement.
* On June 29, Israel broke the ceasefre when it assassinated a Hamas leader, responsible for
enforcing the ceasefre.
* International law gives an occupied people the right to defend itself by any means necessary.
* On July 15, Israel announced it has accepted a ceasefre agreement brokered with Egypt, while
Hamas rejected it. The real truth is that all Palestinian factions rejected the ceasefre simply because
they were not party to the negotiations. In other words, Hamas was not included in the negotiation
for the ceasefre.
THE TRUTH BEHIND ISRAELS ATTACK ON GAZA MYTHS VS. FACTS
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Going back to the occupation
We argue the root of all issues relating to Palestine is the Israeli occupation of Palestine. And, here
are some historical facts supporting our argument.
Historical Palestine has been occupied since 1948.
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967.
Israel annexed ever more Palestinian land, since.
Israel violates International law by forcible acquisition of Palestinian land.
Israel remains in violation of several United Nations resolutions namely:
> Security Council Resolution 242 (obligating Israels withdraw from the territory occupied in
the Six-Day War); and
> Security Council Resolution 383, (demanding Israel to comply with Resolution 242. These
resolutions were supported by the United States.
In consideration of international law and the offcial US position, Israel remains an occupying force.
Since 1948, the UN Security Council has passed more than 50 binding resolutions demanding
Israel to grant the Palestinians their basic rights, such as the right of return and the cessation of
settlement building in the West Bank, among others. Israel has defed all UN resolutions.
Disengagement and collective punishment
Although Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005, removing all troops, military installations
and more than 8,000 settlers, it remains in total control of Gazas land and maritime borders, and its
airspace.
The Palestinians in Gaza are collectively punished for exercising their democratic right to choose
their political leadership and as a result the entire population is put on diet
1
The Gaza Strip is the worlds largest open-air prison.
Israel can neither export nor import any essentials (food, medicine, etc.) of life.
The border crossings from Gaza into Israel remain closed and the Rafah crossing into Egypt is
opened only sporadically.
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Debunking Israeli propaganda
Hamas uses civilians as human shields
Hamas uses civilians especially children as human shields and therefore forces Israel to kill
Palestinian innocents.
FACT: Aggressors have used the human shield argument throughout history to demonize the victim
and absolve themselves from any criminal activity in the targeting of civilians, according to journalist
Abby Martin. Israel uses this argument frequently to try to justify its indiscriminate targeting of
civilians.
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have investigated Israels claims that
Palestinians resistance groups use human shields and found this to be categorically false. They also
did not fnd any evidence that resistance groups fred from homes, mosques or schools, as Israel
claims.
But Amnesty International, BTselem and independent media investigations in Haaretz and the
Independent have found ample evidence that Israel uses Palestinian children as human shields. In
fact, the Goldstone Report, the UN-commissioned study on Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09 found
Israel guilty of using Palestinian human shields.
According to the National Lawyers Guild, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International, Israel directly targeted civilians or recklessly caused civilian deaths
during Operation Cast Lead. Far from avoiding the deaths of civilians, Israel effectively considers
them legitimate targets, the Nation reports.
Finally, Haaretz newspaper reported on July 13, 2014, that Israeli Major Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor
said, If we kill their families, that will frighten them, offering proof that Israel is purposely targeting
civilians.
Since Israels 2006 assault on Lebanon, the Israeli military has employed the Dahiya Doctrine,
whose purpose is to deliberately target civilian infrastructure, as a means of inducing suffering for
the civilian population, thereby establishing deterrence, according to the Goldstone Report.
Hamas positions itself in civilian areas and buildings
MYTH: Israel frequently tries to justify civilian casualties by saying that Palestinian resistance groups
use human shields or ensconce themselves in heavily populated areas.
FACT: Gaza as one of the most densely populated regions on earth trapped into more people per
square mile is defenseless targets of Israeli strikes.
The Goldstone Report, a UN-commissioned study of Operation Cast Lead, disputes Israeli claims
that resistance groups positioned themselves inside dense neighborhoods. On the contrary their
investigation fnds evidence of Israeli forces using Palestinians, even children, as human shields, in
direct violation of international humanitarian law.
Gaza is a tiny strip of land about 140 square miles with 1.7 million people (11,600 people p/ sq.
mile. (UN Relief and Works Agency)
Refugees from 1948 and 1967 1.1 million people constitute about 75 percent of the total
population and half of them live in refugee camps. (UNRWA)
THE TRUTH BEHIND ISRAELS ATTACK ON GAZA MYTHS VS. FACTS
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This is a war on Gaza
MYTH: Israel portrays this as a war.
FACT: This is not a war. Only one side has an army. Only Israel has an army.
Palestinians dont have an army or arms. Unfortunately, American law ensures that Israel will always
have a Qualitative Military Edge in the Middle East.
Each year, Israel receives more than $3 billion in unconditional military aid from the United States,
an undeclared nuclear power, and the sixth largest weapons exporter in the world.
For more information on disproportionality refer to Al Mezan Center for Human Rights www.mezan.
org/en/ and Al Haq www.alhaq.org/
For Operation Cast Lead statistics - Israeli forces killing 1,409 Palestinians, (including 355 children)
and injuring more than 5,300, download a detailed report.
Israeli is merely defending itself
MYTH: Israel says the attack on Gaza is an act of self-defense to protect its citizens from rockets
being fred from Gaza.
FACT: International law stipulates that the occupier must provide for the security of the people it is
occupying. Israel always demands the opposite.
Israel has been occupying the Palestinian people for 67 years. During that time, Israel has killed
untold numbers of Palestinians; incarcerated at least 40 percent of the male population; demolished
more than 27,000 homes since 1967; destroyed and depopulated 530 villages; erected the Apartheid
Wall on Palestinian land in the West Bank; moved in more than 500,000 Jewish settlers to live in
more than 120 settlements and 100 outposts built illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem;
and it has held Gaza under a total siege since 2007. The United Nations says that if conditions
caused by the siege and Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli assault that killed 1,409 Palestinians in
2008-09, Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020.
All of the above mentioned contravene numerous international and international humanitarian laws.
Furthermore, Hamas abided by the ceasefre agreed upon in 2012. Israel broke the ceasefre on
June 29, when it assassinated a member of Hamas who was responsible for enforcing the ceasefre.
Israel cannot continue to subjugate and oppress and entire population and then act surprised
when they react. According to international law, Israel is supposed to be providing security to the
Palestinians, not demanding security from the people from whom they have stripped their basic
human rights.
Actually, it is the Palestinians who are acting in self-defense against. For instance, Israel disengaged
from Gaza in September 2005 and pulled out its troops and settlers. From September 2005 to
September 2006, Israel launched 15,000 artillery shells and 550 airstrikes into the tiny strip of land.
Israel killed 525 Palestinians there. In contrast, resistance groups fred 1,700 homemade rockets. No
Israelis were killed.
International law
and the right to resist occupation
Palestinians have been under occupation for decades. This is the last and longest military
occupation in modern history. International law guarantees all people the right to self-
determination because it is the foundations from which springs all human rights. The Fourth
Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter all
guarantee the right to resist occupation, as does UNGA Resolution 2649. (US Campaign to End
the Israeli Occupation)
Israeli violations of the US Arms Export Act
and the Foreign Assistance Act
In order to understand how Israeli attacks on Palestinians may violate American laws regarding
the sale of weaponry to foreign countries, it is important to understand how international law
regulates warfare.
The Fourth Geneva Conventions, The Hague Regulations of 1907, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the UN Conventions on the Right of Children stipulate:
1. Principle of Distinction - parties in confict must distinguish between civilians and combatants,
and civilian and military objects. (Al Mezan Center for Human Rights)
2. Principle of Proportionality - The aggressor must refrain from any attack that could result in the
loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and loss of their property, or any measure disproportionate to
the anticipated military beneft. (National Lawyers Guild)
3. The Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that the United States may not sell weapons to any
country that engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized
human rights. (National Lawyers Guild)
4. Israel and the US signed the Mutual Defense Agreement in 1952. It stipulates that Israel
can only use US-made weapons for internal security, as part of a peacekeeping mission or in
legitimate self-defense. (NLG) The US Arms Export Act stipulates the US president must notify
Congress of any country misusing weapons it had purchased from the United State.
1.Israels starvation diet for Gaza, by Jonathan Cook The Electronic Intifada, Oct. 24.
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American Muslims for Palestine
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AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR PALESTINE