Press TV has conducted an interview with Edward Corrigan, human rights and international lawyer in Ontario, about a contingent of Israeli protesters calling on their government to withdraw from Palestinian lands at a time when the elites want expansion.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: We have protesters in Tel Aviv calling on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian lands. Just how much do people in Tel Aviv sympathize with Palestinians if at all?
Corrigan: Well, that’s a very good question. Obviously there’s a contingent of Israelis who do want to disengage from the West Bank, they see that it is poisonous to the state, destroying democracy and of course you can’t have a democracy when you’re occupying and controlling the lives of actually probably more Palestinians than in fact there are Israeli Jews.
The Palestinian population controlled in the territories controlled by Israel if you include Gaza is actually majority Christian and Muslim Palestinian. And of course the Palestinians in the West Bank have virtually no rights; the people in Gaza are under control under siege from the Israeli and of course the Palestinians in Israel have second-status rights.
For most Israelis the occupation is invisible. Soldiers go there, they occupy it - actually a lot of the soldiers end up rebelling; there is a large contingent of Israelis who refuse to serve in the occupied territories. But for most Israelis life goes on.
The …[entity]is heavily subsidized by the United States and other Western powers including Canada and the other parties and it is definitely a problem. But for most Israelis the occupation is invisible; however, there is a strong contingent of activists - people in the Hadash party, people in the progressive movement, the Gush Shalom, all sorts of different organizations that are supportive of peace.
For the average Israeli unfortunately it is invisible, its hidden from them, they’re not allowed to go there, they don’t see it, there’s only limited exposure to it. So their life goes on so there’s not a lot of awareness of the problems for the average Israeli.
So it definitely is a problem… the Zarkat family talked about the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians; and other Palestinian groups opposed to the occupation and want to create two-state solution. Many of the Israeli intelligence is in favor of that.
However, the vast majority of people unfortunately it’s not part of their political reality, it wasn’t even a major issue in the last election.
Press TV: What about the settlements there. It seems according to many that settlements are literally changing the character of the land that the two sides are supposed to be negotiating?
Corrigan: There are approximately 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. People keep saying that now the illegal Israeli settlers are approaching around 500,000 people, they’re not going to give back that land.
But what do you do with 2.5 million Palestinians? Why do 500,000 illegal, heavily subsidized Israeli settlers have precedents over the rights of 2.5 million Palestinians?
From a mathematical point of view it doesn’t make any sense; but Israel has invested actually billions of dollars in constantly expanding the settlements, seizing land from the Palestinians, destroying their water supply, destroying their olive orchards; just taking land under various pretexts.
There is a whole big campaign about destroying the Bedouin villages actually inside Israel, which is arguably a type of genocide, certainly destroying their way of life, taking the land, stealing it and giving nothing in return.
This massive investment, which of course is heavily subsidized by the United States, is all illegal. Even the Israeli courts have said it’s illegal to build settlements in the occupied territories, the Israelis are illegal occupiers, they cannot take the land, and there is a ruling in the Israelis court system that said that.
And the international court, which ruled on the wall also made a similar ruling, almost a unanimous decision - one judge dissented so it was like 14:1. But a very strong decision from the international courts saying Israel is an illegal occupier and must return the land.
Now, most Western powers actually give lip service to the fact that yes there should be some negotiation; there should be a Palestinian state. But it has to be determined by negotiations, which of course are dictated and controlled by the Israelis and they have veto power and it’s not in the interests of the Israeli elites to want to give back the land; they’re continuing their expansion.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: We have protesters in Tel Aviv calling on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian lands. Just how much do people in Tel Aviv sympathize with Palestinians if at all?
Corrigan: Well, that’s a very good question. Obviously there’s a contingent of Israelis who do want to disengage from the West Bank, they see that it is poisonous to the state, destroying democracy and of course you can’t have a democracy when you’re occupying and controlling the lives of actually probably more Palestinians than in fact there are Israeli Jews.
The Palestinian population controlled in the territories controlled by Israel if you include Gaza is actually majority Christian and Muslim Palestinian. And of course the Palestinians in the West Bank have virtually no rights; the people in Gaza are under control under siege from the Israeli and of course the Palestinians in Israel have second-status rights.
For most Israelis the occupation is invisible. Soldiers go there, they occupy it - actually a lot of the soldiers end up rebelling; there is a large contingent of Israelis who refuse to serve in the occupied territories. But for most Israelis life goes on.
The …[entity]is heavily subsidized by the United States and other Western powers including Canada and the other parties and it is definitely a problem. But for most Israelis the occupation is invisible; however, there is a strong contingent of activists - people in the Hadash party, people in the progressive movement, the Gush Shalom, all sorts of different organizations that are supportive of peace.
For the average Israeli unfortunately it is invisible, its hidden from them, they’re not allowed to go there, they don’t see it, there’s only limited exposure to it. So their life goes on so there’s not a lot of awareness of the problems for the average Israeli.
So it definitely is a problem… the Zarkat family talked about the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians; and other Palestinian groups opposed to the occupation and want to create two-state solution. Many of the Israeli intelligence is in favor of that.
However, the vast majority of people unfortunately it’s not part of their political reality, it wasn’t even a major issue in the last election.
Press TV: What about the settlements there. It seems according to many that settlements are literally changing the character of the land that the two sides are supposed to be negotiating?
Corrigan: There are approximately 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank. People keep saying that now the illegal Israeli settlers are approaching around 500,000 people, they’re not going to give back that land.
But what do you do with 2.5 million Palestinians? Why do 500,000 illegal, heavily subsidized Israeli settlers have precedents over the rights of 2.5 million Palestinians?
From a mathematical point of view it doesn’t make any sense; but Israel has invested actually billions of dollars in constantly expanding the settlements, seizing land from the Palestinians, destroying their water supply, destroying their olive orchards; just taking land under various pretexts.
There is a whole big campaign about destroying the Bedouin villages actually inside Israel, which is arguably a type of genocide, certainly destroying their way of life, taking the land, stealing it and giving nothing in return.
This massive investment, which of course is heavily subsidized by the United States, is all illegal. Even the Israeli courts have said it’s illegal to build settlements in the occupied territories, the Israelis are illegal occupiers, they cannot take the land, and there is a ruling in the Israelis court system that said that.
And the international court, which ruled on the wall also made a similar ruling, almost a unanimous decision - one judge dissented so it was like 14:1. But a very strong decision from the international courts saying Israel is an illegal occupier and must return the land.
Now, most Western powers actually give lip service to the fact that yes there should be some negotiation; there should be a Palestinian state. But it has to be determined by negotiations, which of course are dictated and controlled by the Israelis and they have veto power and it’s not in the interests of the Israeli elites to want to give back the land; they’re continuing their expansion.
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