Janet Napolitano Demands "Civility, Respect, and Inclusion" for Defenders of Death, Destruction, and Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine
May 21, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
During recent student government elections at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Students for Justice in Palestine and other groups urged candidates to sign a pledge that they will not take trips to Israel paid for by pro-Israel organizations. These trips are billed as "educational" but, according to the LA Times, the representatives of the sponsoring organizations say students are chosen on the basis of their "promise to share the group's viewpoints."
The students promoting the pledge came under heavy official attack from Janet Napolitano, the president of the University of California system, who declared, "The principles of civility, respect, and inclusion... should also govern our campuses… The actions of these students at UCLA violate these principles." It's the height of hypocrisy for Napolitano to preach about "inclusion" when, in her previous position as the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013 under President Obama, she oversaw the deportation of record numbers of immigrants and the increased militarization of the border.
And let's see how the state of Israel stacks up in terms of "civility, respect, and inclusion":
CIVILITY
Israeli forces and armed Zionist vigilantes regularly shoot at Palestinian protesters. Palestinians are also regularly arrested, beaten and jailed for demanding their rights. As of April 2014, 6,354 Palestinians were being held in Israeli jails. In 2013, Israeli security forces killed 27 Palestinians in the West Bank in 21 separate incidents and nine Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in seven incidents.
A Palestinian man cries for help as he reaches the body of 17-year-old Mohammad Abu Daher, who was killed by Israeli police during a protest near the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2014. Photo: AP
RESPECT
From 1967 to 2011, Israeli forces demolished about 25,000 Palestinian homes—90 percent of the time under the justification of "administrative" reasons, because the residents either lacked a permit or were in an area designated for expansion by the Israeli military. No permits have been issued by Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967. The remaining 10 percent of the demolitions have been "punitive" demolitions of the homes of Palestinians accused of taking part in resistance against Israeli occupation.
Israeli army demolition of a Palestinian home in Beit Hanina, near Jerusalem, November 2011. Photo: International Solidarity Movement/palsolidarity.org
INCLUSION
The Nakba—the Arabic word for “catastrophe”—refers to brutal expulsion of almost a million Palestinians from their land, homes, and villages in 1948 at the founding of the state of Israel. People were forced to flee with only the possessions they could carry—many were raped, tortured, and killed. Their villages and even many olive and orange trees were thoroughly destroyed. There were 31 documented massacres during the Nakba—and probably others. As a result of this ethnic cleansing by Israel, backed up by imperialist powers, there are today almost 4.5 million Palestinians dispersed throughout the world; in addition, 1.5 million Palestinians live within Israel as second-class "citizens," and 1.4 million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and 1.3 million in Gaza. As part of its occupation of the West Bank, Israel has built a cement "Apartheid Wall" eight meters (26 feet) high that zigzags through hundreds of miles of Palestinian territory, expanding the area seized by Israel and making life untenable for the Palestinian people.
Palestinians fleeing Galilee towards Lebanon during the Nakba, 1948.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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