Nobel Laureate Shot by Israeli Soldier (rubber bullet)

[SNOWBALL]

"I never in all my years of activism witnessed anything so vicious as from the Israeli military", said Irish peace activist and Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire in an interview with Amy Goodman on democracy now She was shot with a rubber bullet by a 20 year old Israeli soldier.

Maguire, and several hundred protestors from 20 different countries converged in the palestinian town of Bilin to protest the construction of yet another "security wall." The wall is being constructed inside of palestinian land. Instead of enforcing the green line, it actually expands the green line. Palestinian farmers have lost their land, and the palestinian economy has been further damaged.

Israel's behavior is fully consistent with it's overall policy of collective punishment. The IDF will demolish houses, set up road check-points, seize land, and perform other violent activities against the entire population as a way to punish them for the actions of terrorists.

Any form of collective punishment is illegal under international law. However, the only way to enforce this law is for the security council of the UN to vote on it. Israel will remain immune from the judgment of the security council, because any of the five permanent members can veto a security council resolution. There have been many resolutions by the security council criticizing Israel for violating human rights that would have passed, were it not for the automatic veto of the United States.

This is far from the first time the IDF has acted violently towards international peace activists. In 2002, an american peace activist, Rachel Corrie, was run down and killed by an Israeli Bulldozer. Rachel was trying to stop the bulldozer from destroying a family's home.

The reality is that Israel can get any with almost anything it wants to, because of the unconditional support it receives from the United States. In addition to receiving over 3 billion dollars per year in aid and loans from the US, Israel receives powerful diplomatic support that shields them from the international community.

Intellectually dishonest right wing zionists are quick to label the international community anti-semitic, despite the fact that many of the most vocal critics of Israel, such as Noam Chomsky, the Rabbi Michael Lerner, Howard Zinn, Ami Ayalon, and Norman Finkelstein, are jews themselves.

In my view, the united states should withdraw financial and military support from Israel until Israel agrees to stop it's policy of expanding it's borders and engaging in collective punishment.