| (CNOVANEWS HIToday marks 19 years since Jewish American physician Baruch Goldstein walked into Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron and opened fire on dozens of Palestinians prostrated in their prayers. Within moments, Goldstein gunned down 29 Palestinians and injured 125 others. Israeli Occupation Forces killed an additional 11 Palestinians afterward. Though Palestinians were the victims of that massacre, they are the ones being punished, bearing the brunt of occupation policies that privilege about 800 Jewish settlers, living illegally on stolen Palestinian land. In fact, 30,000 Palestinian residents of Hebron now live with hundreds of closures, checkpoints, nearly 150 surveillance cameras and constant harassment and violence from settlers, who shoot at school children, spit, scream and harass residents, burn orchards and olive groves and poison the drinking water of Palestinian livestock. Palestinians are prohibited from walking down or crossing Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare through Hebron’s old market area. The street is reserved strictly for Jewish use. Palestinians are allocated only a dusty path on the shoulder of the road, set off by cement barriers. As if all these occupation policies are not abusive enough, occupation authorities also split Ibrahimi mosque, giving two-thirds of the Muslim prayer hall to Jews. Muslims now must pass through three checkpoints to enter the third of the mosque left for them, only to have their every action and word recorded by cameras. We can best honor the Ibrahimi mosque victims by calling loudly for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine; by joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; and by working to raise awareness about how the occupation contravenes international law and deprives Palestinians of their basic human rights. |
