Democracy Now! from Sojourners

Quote of the Week
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Demolition double-standard in Gaza

AMY GOODMAN: On the issue of demolishing homes, I have noted
over the last few days with the mainstream press in the United
States, there's been a great effort to get the voices of Jewish
settlers out, and you can hear the pain in their voices as they
talk about their homes for many years, being forced out of
them.... [W]e rarely hear that kind of extended interview with a
Palestinian whose home has just been destroyed.

AMIRA HASS: Well, that's, of course, the fault of, as you say,
the mainstream media, and which pains much more the loss of a
huge house built at the expense of the Palestinians than the
loss of thousands of Palestinian houses...which were very often
demolished in order to safeguard the security of those very
settlements.

From the transcript of an August 15 interview between Amy
Goodman of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! and Amira Hass, an
Israeli Jewish journalist for Haaretz newspaper who has lived
and worked in Gaza and the West Bank for many years.

Source: Democracy Now!: http://go.sojo.net/ct/p7axZE11OXcf/

Contrary to widely held assumptions, only 5-15% of Palestinian
homes that are destroyed are those of suspected terrorists. That
policy was so counterproductive that the Israeli army abandoned
the practice earlier this year. The majority are destroyed in
"military operations" or because the homes were built without
permits from the Israeli government which are nearly impossible
to obtain. + Read more:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=050224#9