Warning: if you cannot tolerate reality, do not read on.
In his cynical article, Ehud Olmert's Profound Ethics and Deep Lies, Rami G. Khouri, the Palestinian-Jordanian editor of the Beirut Daily Star, took Olmert to task for his hypocritical concern for children when he conceded to allow some medical supplies into the Palestinian territories during the siege and brutal attack of Gaza and the West Bank during Operation Summer Rains this past summer. Khouri let go with a salvo about Israel’s killing and maiming of Palestinian children.
Quoting Rami Khouri,
"For anyone interested in the facts about the impact of Israeli policies on Palestinian children, a good place to start is the carefully checked data disseminated by the Palestinian Nongovernmental Organization Network (www.palestinemonitor.org). Their data is compiled and verified on the ground by the Ramallah-based Health Development Information and Policy Institute, which has been honored by the World Health Organization for its work in promoting Palestinian health needs. So these people know what they are talking about when it comes to health conditions on the ground in Israeli-occupied Palestine. Some of the facts they provide are as follows.
In just the first two years of the second Intifada, from September 2000 to November 2002:
• 383 Palestinian children (under the age of 18) were killed by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, i.e. almost 19% of the total Palestinians killed; those figures have increased since then.
• Approximately 36% of total Palestinians injured (estimated at more than 41,000) are children; 86 of these children were under the age of ten; 21 infants under the age of 12 months have been killed.
• 245 Palestinian students and school children have been killed; 2,610 pupils have been wounded on their way to or from school.
• The Israeli policy of widespread closure has paralyzed the Palestinian health system, with children particularly vulnerable to this policy of collective punishment. Internal closures have severely disrupted health plans which affect over 500,000 children, including vaccination programs, dental examinations and early diagnosis for children when starting schools.
• During the first two months of the intifada, the rate of upper respiratory infections in children increased from 20% to 40%. Almost 60% of children in Gaza suffer parasitic infections.
• An overwhelming number of Palestinian children show symptoms of trauma such as sleep disorders, nervousness, decrease in appetite and weight, feelings of hopelessness and frustration, and abnormal thoughts of death.
• There have been 36 cases of Palestinian women in labor delayed at checkpoints and refused permission to reach medical facilities or for ambulances to reach them. At least 14 of these women gave birth at the checkpoint with eight of the births resulting in the death of the newborn infants.
The Israeli army killing of Palestinian children continues apace. In its annual report May 16, the respected global human rights organization Amnesty International accused the Israeli army of killing 190 Palestinians, including 50 children, last year (2005)."
On December 28, 2006, B'Tselem reported that 660 Palestinians were killed in the year 2006, which included 141 children. (Casualties figures in parenthesis indicate the total figure since the beginning of the Intifada, 2000)
According to B'Tselem's research, from January to December 27, 2006, Israeli security forces killed 660 (4005) Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and in Israel. This includes 141 (811) minors. At least 322 (1920) of those killed did not take part in the hostilities at the time they were killed. Another 22 (210) were targets of assassinations.
In the Gaza Strip alone, since the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Israeli forces killed 405 Palestinians, including 88 minors. Of these, 205 did not participate in the fighting when killed.
Palestinians killed 17 (701) Israeli civilians in 2006, both in the West Bank and inside Israel. This includes 1 minor. In addition, Palestinians killed 6 (316) members of the Israeli security forces.
http://www.btselem.org/...
In summary, since the beginning of the second Intifada, Israeli Defense Forces have killed 811 Palestinian children like those seen above.
119 Israeli children also died in retaliatory suicide bombings and/or killings inside of Israel and West Bank settlements, most between 2000 and 2004, who were among just over 700 total Israeli civilians who died at the hands of Palestinians. On-the-scene photos of these incidents were not freely available, but here is a sample of the children, like those above, whose lives were taken in the pursuit of a piece of land whose irrelevance should be obvious by contrast.
Crossposted at Eternal Hope: http://eternalhope.blog-city.com/