Israel's Economic Stranglehold a Silent Killer
by Nora Barrows-Friedman
BETHLEHEM, Palestine - Over the last year, Palestinians have faced a siege that has taken its toll in every city across the West Bank and Gaza. It is not a siege of missiles and gunfire, but a calculated attack on the backbone of the entire occupied territories.
Through the Israeli, US and European move to paralyze the precarious Palestinian economy over the last year, daily life has become a constant struggle for the ordinary Palestinian trying to put food on the table or run a business within a choking, round-the-clock military occupation.
The day after the swearing in of the duly-elected Hamas leadership in February 2006, Israel froze the release of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority to the tune of 52 million dollars a month, as collective punishment against the millions of occupied Palestinians for electing the Hamas leadership.
In parallel attacks just months later, the United States and the European Union slapped economic sanctions against the entire population, under the conditions that Hamas "recognize" Israel's right to exist while "renouncing" violence.
Additionally, since February 2006, Israel has worked hard to pressure international aid organizations and donor countries to suspend aid projects in Palestine. >>>cont
LinkHere
BETHLEHEM, Palestine - Over the last year, Palestinians have faced a siege that has taken its toll in every city across the West Bank and Gaza. It is not a siege of missiles and gunfire, but a calculated attack on the backbone of the entire occupied territories.
Through the Israeli, US and European move to paralyze the precarious Palestinian economy over the last year, daily life has become a constant struggle for the ordinary Palestinian trying to put food on the table or run a business within a choking, round-the-clock military occupation.
The day after the swearing in of the duly-elected Hamas leadership in February 2006, Israel froze the release of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority to the tune of 52 million dollars a month, as collective punishment against the millions of occupied Palestinians for electing the Hamas leadership.
In parallel attacks just months later, the United States and the European Union slapped economic sanctions against the entire population, under the conditions that Hamas "recognize" Israel's right to exist while "renouncing" violence.
Additionally, since February 2006, Israel has worked hard to pressure international aid organizations and donor countries to suspend aid projects in Palestine. >>>cont
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 7:08 AM
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