THE OCCUPATION of Palestine by Israel has taken a devastating turn in the last few months, but the US have pushed forward their agenda of assisting Israel’s colonisers to wipe Palestine off the map. The US motive is economic fascism and only see Palestine as opposition to their imperialist genocide. But further attacks on innocent communities by the Israeli forces highlights the increasing disadvantage faced by the Palestinians.
This week has seen Israeli forces shoot dead a teenager then deny that it happened, the UN identified 206 companies that work within illegal Israeli Settlements.
UNRWA have stated that Palestinian refugees face a crisis after the US cuts funding.
Israel continue to devastate Palestinian communities
Tuesday saw Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager in occupied West Bank. The teenager was named as Laith Abu Naim and was just 16 years of age when he was shot in the head after soldiers stormed the village of Al-Mugheer, which is north of Ramallah. In response to the shooting, hundreds of the villagers marched through chanting “we want to live in freedom”. A spokesperson for the Israeli military claimed that “violent riots were taking place” and “stones were being thrown at soldiers” and even claimed that they weren’t aware of any Palestinian who was killed.
Even if the former is true, it is only natural an uprising takes place against an invading force, furthermore, throwing stones at fully equipped military further highlights the attacks on innocent peoples by Israel.
On Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) human rights office identified around 206 companies that do business linked to the illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank, where violations against the Palestinians are said to be “pervasive and devastating”.
The report by the UN states that businesses play a central role in the expansion of Israeli settlements. Much of the companies, 143, are domiciled in Israel or the settlements, a further 22 are located within the US and 19 others are domiciled in other countries. Highlighting the role private companies play in the atrocities caused by Israel against the Palestinians.
US hypocrisy
The US withheld much of its funding from the United Nations’ Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA), subsequently, Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon who rely on this support are facing a “profound crisis”. Officials have said that the cuts will create an “immediate risk” to UNRWA’s operation and it could be felt within weeks. The withholding of funds by the US also exacerbates existing shortfalls within the agency that is tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees.
On Wednesday, the US put Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, on its terrorist blacklist. The move will raise tensions already created by the move to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. "Haniyeh has close links with Hamas' military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians," the State Department said in a statement.
The move shows an astounding amount of hypocrisy by the US, especially if you consider they are actively aiding and supporting Israel’s attempted genocide on the Palestinian people.
If you look at the US attempts to overthrow dozens of foreign governments within the last century, their labelling of the Hamas leader as a terrorist is hypocritical at best, but what is worse it is a move to globally discredit the Palestinian opposition to Israel’s forced displacement of the population and desire to wipe Palestine off the map. Previously, concerns were raised that Palestine could be isolated within the region and could be pushed into a forced ‘peace’ deal that takes away most of the land that belonged to them before the slow annexation of land by Israel and then some.
