For Palestinian farmer, a constant reminder of Israeli occupation

[Violet_Crumble]

AL-WALAJA, West Bank – Palestinian activists are calling for a “Global March to Jerusalem” this Friday to mark Land Day, an annual event that commemorates the killing of six Arabs who were protesting the Israeli practice of expropriating Arab land to build Jewish settlements on March 30, 1976.

Since then Palestinians have commemorated March 30 as Land Day and have turned it into a general day of protest against what they see as discriminatory practices by the Israeli government.

But 70-year-old Abu Nidal doesn’t need a special calendar day to remind him of the Israeli occupation and their confiscation of his land. Nidal just needs to wake up every morning and look outside his window to see how the Israelis are confiscating his land.

<snip>

When the Israelis sent huge yellow bulldozers to the village in 2010 to start working on the separation wall, no one bothered to check on whether or not the wall ran through Nidal’s farm land – which it does. And it has not only been 86 olive trees that were up rooted by the approximately 26-foot high concrete barrier, but also Nidal’s family graveyard.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10908023-for-palestinian-farmer-a-constant-reminder-of-israeli-occupation?chromedomain=worldnews

[shira]

1. It's amazing that this reporter didn't seek any answers from the other side...

...WRT Nidal's claims.

And nothing about why the wall/barrier went up in the first place. Nothing about the GM2J, which is basically a protest infested with rabid anti-Semites advocating for Arab rightwing nationalism and 1-state.

I suppose the reason for not questioning Israelis is that the Israelis always lie. We know how they are, so there's no point getting the other side of the story. And context doesn't matter.

This is one-sided advocacy, not journalism.

[Scurrilous]

2. "And nothing about why the wall/barrier went up in the first place."

That was covered here:

<snip>

"In some places the boundaries of the parcels outlined in the maps coincide with the route of the West Bank separation barrier.

The state has argued before the Supreme Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague that the route of the separation barrier was based on Israel’s security needs. But Civil Administration’s maps and figures, disclosed here for the first time, suggest the barrier route was planned in accordance with the available land in the West Bank, intended to increase the area and population of the settlements."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11347148

[shira]

4. Right, nothing in the OP from MSNBC. You quoted Haaretz. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Did you even bother to look at the photo? Or do you think it's been photo-shopped?

The farmers claim is that the wall is being constructed on his land, and so far olive trees and the family graveyard has been ripped up. Not sure why you think some random Israeli needs to be asked for answers about what's being done on this farmer's land...

btw, it's weird that you might think that Israelis always lie, as I certainly don't. It's just in this case, the story is about a Palestinian farmer and how the wall is impacting him. There's been plenty of stories about individual Israelis and how issues to do with the conflict affect them, and I've never seen you appear and demand equal time for a Palestinian point of view....