Did you know? [Archives:2001/48/Focus]

Sauad Al-Qadasi
Women’s Forum for Research and Training
Did you know that non-Jewish Israelis cannot buy or lease land in Israel?
Did you know that Palestinian license plates in Israel are color coded to distinguish Jews from non-Jews?
Did you know that Jerusalem, both East and West, is considered by the entire world community, including the United States, to be occupied territory and NOT part of Israel?
Did you know that Israel allocates 85 percent of water resources for Jews and the remaining 15 percent is divided among all Palestinians in the Territories? For example, in Hebron, 85 percent of the water is given to about 400 settlers while the remaining 15 percent must be divided among Hebron’s 120,000 Palestinians.
Did you know that the United States gives Israel USD 5 billion in aid every year?
Did you know that annual American aid to Israel exceeds the aid the US grants to the whole African continent?
Did you know that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?
Did you know that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspectors from visiting its sites?
Did you know that Israel currently occupies territories of two sovereign nations (Lebanon and Syria) in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions?
Did you know that Israel has for decades routinely sent assassins to other countries to kill its political enemies?
Did you know that Israel refuses to prosecute its soldiers who have acknowledged executing prisoners of war?
Did you know that Israel routinely confiscates bank accounts, businesses and lands, and refuses to pay compensation to those suffering from these confiscations?
Did you know that Israel blew up an American diplomatic facility in Egypt and attacked a US warship in international waters, killing 33 and wounding 177 American sailors?
Did you know that the second most powerful lobby in the United States, according to a recent Fortune magazine survey of Washington insiders, is the Israel-financed AIPAC?
Did you know that Israel stands in defiance of 69 United Nations Security Council Resolutions?
Did you know that Israeli settlements lie today on former sites of more than 400 now-vanished Palestinian villages and that the Israelis renamed almost every site in the country to cover up the traces?
Did you know that it was not until 1988 that Israelis were barred from running “Jews Only” job ads?
Did you know that four Prime Ministers of Israel (Begin, Shamir, Rabin and Sharon) have participated in bombing attacks or massacres of civilians, or conducted expulsions of civilians from their villages?
Did you know that the Israeli Foreign Ministry pays American public relations firms to promote Israel to Americans?
Did you know that Sharon’s coalition government includes a party called Molodet, which advocates the expulsion of all Palestinians from the Occupied Territories?
Did you know that Israel’s settlement constructions increased in the eight-year period since Oslo?
Did you know that settlement building under Barak doubled compared to settlement building under Netanyahu?
Did you know that the Palestinians have already accepted Israel’s existence on 78 percent of what was Palestine according to the Bible. God said to Abraham, “Unto they seed, I will give the land.” Abraham had two sons, Ismail – the Arab son, and Ishaac – the Jewish son. So even if one wants to go back to the Bible, the land would belong to both.
Did you know that Palestinian Christians are considered the “living stones” of Christianity because they are the direct descendants of the disciples of Jesus Christ?
Did you know that, despite a ban on torture by Israel’s High Court of Justice, torture continues and is perpetrated by Shin Bet interrogators on Palestinian prisoners?
Did you know that Palestinian refugees make up the largest portion of the refugee population in the world?

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