Palestinians take to the streets of the West Bank against neoliberalism
and economic dependency agreements with Israel
| Related Story: “Phantom Control”: Israel’s Secret Service and the Occupation |
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The protests erupting in the West Bank against former World Bank Executive and unelected Palestinian ‘Prime Minister’ Salam Fayyad emphasise that national struggle and the fight for social liberation are intertwined. The Palestinian elite have sold their souls for the bribes Israel pay thems. In return the Palestinian Authority acts as Israel’s agent in helping perpetuate the Occupation.
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| Attack on demonstrators by Palestinian police |
With their security forces trained by the Americans in Jordan and its personnel vetted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority is no more than a satrap, at best for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
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| Palestinian police attacks protester |
It is no wonder that when the protests began to achieve a critical mass that Netanyahu rushed to send the equivalent of £250m in tax receipts to the PA to keep it afloat and urged European and US governments to do likewise.
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| Palestinian police tear gas protestors |
The PA is an invaluable ally of the Israeli occupation. It allows Palestinian faces to suppress the Palestinians without any apparent Israeli involvement. Not only is it cheaper economically but politically too it is more effectve. In return the Palestinians have their own city statelet in Ramallah (although Israeli security operates with impunity there and throughout Area A which it purportedly controls).
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| Riot police put up shields as defence against stones |
That is why the slogans at the youth demonstration are so important, because Fayyad and Abbas have even less power than Quisling did in Norway. They are Bibi’s Palestinian puppets, dancing on strings. The real enemy is the Zionist occupation.
Tony Greenstein
Hebron Demonstrations Against PA
with stones and burned tires in the streets on Monday, in a sign that a
nascent movement against the Western-backed government could spiral out
of control.
The violence is likely to set alarm bells ringing, not least in Israel,
where security chiefs have warned of the risk of unrest at a time of
growing economic hardship coupled with total paralysis in
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
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| A crowd stones Hebron police station |
Riot police were deployed outside the building which
was attacked in Hebron by more than a 100 youths. Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank protesters blocked the main entrances to cities, setting tires ablaze.
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| Palestinians stone Hebron police station |
Poor planning, tight Israeli controls and global
economic worries have caused a marked slowdown in the Palestinian
economy, with growth rates falling by half from the 9 percent increase
registered in 2010.
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| Palestinian special forces simulate targetting Palestinian rioters with assault rifles |
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, has taken on increasing debt to overcome its shortfalls, but economists say that the situation is unsustainable.
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| Youths attack Hebron police station |
Earlier on Monday more than a thousand Palestinians had
joined a rally in Hebron, which is accustomed to violent confrontations
with Israeli settlers but is not used to inter-Palestinian discord.
Public transport workers also staged a strike across
the small territory to demand a cut in fuel costs, preventing many
people from getting to their work, while a number of schools reported
low attendance.
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| attack on Hebron police station |
Taxi drivers blocked the street in front of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s
office in the West Bank administrative capital Ramallah, while dozens
of youths urged him to “leave, leave,” echoing a slogan made popular in
the Arab Spring.
The West Bank protest movement kicked off last week,
when the price of fuel was increased by five percent after key suppliers
in Israel hiked their charges.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the
demonstrations, equating them with the Arab Spring and blaming Israeli
policies for the economic turbulence.
However, public anger has so far been directed solely at his own administration rather than at Israel.
In a move that could spark further trouble, Palestinian Finance Minister Nabil Kassis
said on Monday that civil servants earning over 2,000 shekels ($502) a
month would only receive part of their August pay because of an on-going
cash crisis.
The PA’s financial woes, caused in part by a fall in
aid donations, especially from Gulf states, has delayed salary payments
for 153,000 civil servants several times already in 2012, with no
solution in sight.
($1 = 3.979 shekels)
(Writing by Jihan Abdalla, additional reporting by Ali
Sawafta in Ramallah; editing by Crispian Balmer and Diana Abdallah)
Tony
I wonder when you are going to post your vile racist comments about the State of Israel regarding last nights Panorama programme?
I didn't see the Panorama programme I'm afraid. Hope to but I hear it wasn't bad. It described a small part of the 'vile racism' that your supporters indulge in. Strange you have nothing to say about the 'price tag' terror movement. Can't think why not.
Anon
Those settlers are Anti Zionist as they want the destruction of Israel as a state same as AntiZionist Tony Greenstein, in order to build their messianic kingdom .
That's why they are funded by Anti Zionist.
This is known already and heavy Investigated .
Those AntiZionist settlers and AntiZionist like Greenstein have a common goal.
Violent Anti Zionist “price tag” settlers, give antiZionist the excuse they need to defame and demolish Israel, while they get funds to act as anarchist.
They will be taken care of as their motives are clear now.
It took some time, but this link between those price tags and Anti Zionist has been exposed.
Ah yes, not only are the settlers anti-Zionist but we fund them!! Any more conspiracy theories to hand?
That the settlers are a continuation of the original settlement of Israel itself, that their right to Kiryat Arba is no less than the right to Tel Aviv and all the other places in Israel which are ethnically cleansed is also a fact.
Sorry the settlers are an embarrassment but they have somewhat more clout than the silly George and his even sillier theories.