TA: Thousands protest 'corrupting occupation'

[Scurrilous]

Protesters, including left-wing activists and bereaved parents, call for peace negotiations and end to Israeli control over Palestinian territories. Peace Now: Occupation marks destruction of Zionism

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3410596,00.html

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"Thousands of people gathered in central Tel Aviv Saturday evening to attend a rally protesting Israel's continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. The event was organized by left-wing groups including Meretz, Peace Now and Anarchists Against the Wall.

The protesters marched from Rabin Square to the Tel Aviv Museum, where they held a big rally."

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"Two bereaved parents, a Palestinian father and an Israeli mother whose children were killed as a result of the ongoing conflict, spoke at the rally.

Bassam Aramin, one of the founders of Combatants for Peace and whose daughter Abir was killed by IDF fire about six months ago, said that violence could not resolve the conflict, and that only negotiations could end this terrible situation.

"The reason Israelis are not allowed to enter the territories is that your politicians are afraid that the people would find out the truth about what's going on there. and the truth is that your children have become bad children, without any red lines, who are making the Palestinians' life unbearable."

Nurit Peled-Elhanan, whose daughter was killed 10 years ago in a terror attack in Jerusalem, said that her and Bassam were "two victims of the cruel occupation, which has been corrupting this country for 40 years… what unites us is not just the death that the occupation has imposed on us, but the desire to raise our other children in a peaceful way, not in a way of violence and wars."


Cost of occupation – over $50 billion

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3410537,00.html

Since Israel occupied Gaza and West Bank in 1967, its control over the territories has cost country more than $50 billion, and curtailed development of other sectors

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"This week Israel marked 40 years since the Six Day War in 1967 and the occupation of the Palestinian territories. Immediately following the war, organizations and politicians began criticizing Israel's occupation of the territories, and warned that Israel would end up paying dearly for it.

According to experts' estimates, the total economic cost of the occupation has by now reached more than $50 billion, including security and civilian expenses (the construction and maintenance of the settlements), as well as the potential loss of gross domestic product.

The annual average of military expenses on maintaining control over the territory stands at about NIS 2.5 billion."

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"Imagine how much less poverty there could have been in Israel," said Dr Ruby Nathanzon of the Macro Center for Political Economy. "There's a terrible distortion, an enormous economic cost in addition to the huge military burden."

MK Chaim Oron (Meretz), member of the Knesset's Finance Committee, admitted that he opposed the occupation for Zionist, rather than economic, considerations, but added that, "The priorities are certainly distorted, and we are talking about a waste of dozens of billions of shekels."

[number6]

1. time for the

corrupting occupation to stop

:kick: