Whatever the correct descriptor might be, the military occupation of the West Bank is hard to understand until you see it. You might be surprised at your own intolerance of the idea of a democracy maintaining an open-air prison for 2.7 million people. Before going there myself, I had heard this phrase, open-air prison, and figured it was not literally a prison. (As someone who spends a fair amount of time in prisons, I’m sensitive to its use as a metaphor.) But everywhere I went I saw guard towers and concrete barriers and razor wire truly an open-air prison except where there were settlements, which featured posh, Beverly Hills–style landscaping: little blooming flowers, fragile and bright, the guard towers in the far distance.
With the world’s attention focused on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the last six weeks have seen a dramatic escalation in Israeli settler and army violence across the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Since then, Israeli army incursions and mass arrests have intensified in numerous West Bank cities, resulting in the deaths of 185 Palestinians and the detention of at least 2,200. Meanwhile, nine Palestinians have been killed and nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes in the West Bank due to attacks by Israeli settlers.
Israeli violence surges against Palestinians in West Bank dhakatribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dhakatribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
'Erase Gaza': War Unleashes Incendiary Rhetoric in Israel yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.