From Riots to Rockets: Ashkelon Hit

Nadene Goldfoot
Ashkelon, Portland's sister city, was just hit Tuesday morning from Gaza by an improved  Grad rocket breaking  silence since November.  It was from al-Aqsa Maryrs Brigade who are connected to Fatah in Judea-Samaria (West Bank), supposedly the moderate ones.

Why?  It was instigated by leaflets sent out urging harsh reprisals for Arafat Jaradat, the Israeli prisoner who died suddenly while incarcerated.  An autopsy showed heart attack, and bruises on the body were from trying to recusitate him, said the Israeli doctors whom the Palestinians will not accept.  Israel has now asked the international community's doctors to review their autopsy records on this man.  He has been buried already.  The UN is also probing the incident.

In a group such as this, where Palestinian mothers offer their children's life in any act that will harm Israel, and with Israeli's who's main word is L'Chaim (to life), who do everything to save lives, whose country is made up of bomb shelters, one can only expect that the autopsy report will be the final answer.  In the meantime, the Palestinians are making as much out of this episode as they can.  Their main goal is to do anything to bring down Israel.

"In October 2011, Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners -- including hundreds serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis -- in exchange for one person: Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Hamas for more than five years."  

Resource: http://makeadifference.cufi.org/?p=2644
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4349447,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/25/world/meast/israel-palestinians-prisons/index.html

Clashes in West Bank (Judea-Samaria)

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     Judea-Samaria  (West Bank)
                        
Does anyone realize that the West Bank (Judea-Samaria) happens to be the very land that was ancient Israel?  King David, of the tribe of Judah,  had ruled over Israel with Jerusalem as his capital in about 1,000 BCE.  It split into 2 kingdoms with Judah keeping the Davidic dynasty and Jerusalem while Israel made Samaria its capital.  This "West Bank" was to be part of the Jewish Homeland in the original plans with Britain who held the mandate. Jordan had illegally grabbed the area in 1948 as it lies next to his state, allowed or encouraged Palestinians to live there, and it didn't come under Israel's domain until 1967.   Now, the land is designated to become "Palestine" when the conditions become peaceful.  The catch is that Abbas and his crew plan to have it devoid of Jews, just like the Nazi plan of Judenrein.  Israel contains 1.4 million Arabs but the Arabs' state is to have zero Jews.

350,150 Jewish Israelis now lived in this area as it holds so many places and feelings for Jews. 300,000 Jews also live in East Jerusalem, which is also counted as part of the "West Bank."   Palestinian Arabs also live here. Area C of the West Bank is 70% Jewish.   Now that Gaza has quieted down, clashes are happening in many cities.  There are 4 Palestinian prisoners who decided to go on a hunger strike, and all belong to terrorist groups and are dangerous.  For some reason, the Arab population in the West Bank have suddenly started rioting, demanding they be released.

Now, another new prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, 30 years old, arrested for throwing rocks at Jews in Judea, was found dead in his cell and the crowd's immediate conclusion was that he had been tortured to death.    Israeli officials deny this and said that bruises on his body were from resuscitation.  They thought he had died from a heart attack.  An autopsy was done Sunday which was observed by a Palestinian doctor who was the Palestinian Prisoners Minister Issa Qaraqi.  He saw bruises on the chest, back, arms and mouth.  His conclusion was torture during interrogation causing psychological shock leading to immediate death.  Now Palestinians are calling for an international inquiry of the jails and how Jaradat died.  Israel is saying they need the results of a toxicology and other tests are completed and that torture didn't happen.    His body was returned to the family for burial today.

Before this unfortunate event happened, clashes were going on in Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and at checkpoints in East Jerusalem and south of Nablus. between IDF and young Palestinians.  With so many clashes going on at the same time, I feel they  had been purposely organized.  President Obama is due to arrive in Israel on March 20th, so somebody is stirring up trouble here.

Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails against Israeli soldiers who used tear gas and rubber bullets. The outcome was 4 protesters that were seriously wounded, report  the Palestinians.

Torture seems to be a world cry right now.  President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is charging the USA that they are torturing and murdering innocent people and ordered all US special operations forces to leave a province in 2 weeks.  This results in  calling in NATO airstrikes in populated areas citing civilian casualties.  We're supposed to be out of there by 2014.  In the meantime, Taliban suicide bombers targeted Afghan security forces in 3 different attacks on Sunday with the results of 4 Afghan security men and one civilian killed.  Karzai is pinpointing US special forces in Wardak for harassing, annoying, torturing and murdering innocents.

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 2/25/13 Riots follow West Bank death by Edmund Sanders and Maher Abukhater, LA Times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/26/jewish-population-west-bank-up
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/settlepop.html
http://baruchsbreeze.blogspot.com/2012/09/official-yesha-population-stats-yossi.html