ARE ISRAELI SOLDIERS TERRORISTS?

Several days ago, a Palestinian youth turned 17 years old; he died on his birthday.  While at the Occupier's Checkpoint in ElKhalil, Palestine, the Occupying Soldiers shot him dead with numerous bullets. They then spewed the propaganda that the Palestinian youth had a toy gun and pointed it at them.  How implausible is this story by the occupiers? 

First, where is this toy gun? Wouldn't the occupiers show the toy gun with the story to make their case believable? Second, how can a Palestinian youth, born and raised with fear in his heart from the occupying soldiers, be that unsophisticated to allegedly brandish a toy gun against an occupying soldier?  The toy gun was conjured up by the occupiers as they stated he got it because of his birthday.  Now, had the occupiers said he brandished a real gun,  that may be more acceptable. Years of built up frustration against the occupying soldiers could lead a Palestinian youth to try to kill his occupiers. That I can believe, but to say he had a toy gun--that's crazy. 

Now in a discussions with various Occupying soldier supporters, I raised the hypocrisy of how the recent Oregon Mall shooting was not labeled a terrorist act but would have been so if that same act occurred in a Tel Aviv mall. The definition that was offered by the Israeli supporters for terrorism was "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act."  I suspect that this was copied from some authoritative source.

Using this definition, I raised the question can you agree that the purpose of the Israeli soldier is to instill fear in the civilian Palestinians?  Then I asked, given this definition, whether the Israeli occupying soldier that killed the Palestinian youth in ElKhalil, Palestine would be considered a “terrorist?” 

It is undisputed that in the 45 years of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (I consider Gaza still under occupation) the Israeli occupying soldiers (and the Uzi taunting illegal settlers) have caused “death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants,” i.e. the Palestinian population. I challenge anyone to argue otherwise.

What is then the purpose of the Israeli soldier?

Before I answer this question, let me say that if Israel could have morally annexed the West Bank into Israel, they would have enacted such legislation decades ago. They have not because they have no legal standing to do so.   They want to annex the West Bank into Israel and have employed the systematic illegal policy of confiscation of Palestinian land, claiming that the land is “disputed.”  But no one is buying this argument.  

Another tactic that Israel is employing, and this is where the Israeli occupying soldier comes in, is to force the Palestinians to leave the West Bank—at least as many as possible.

What tactic does the occupier employ?

Fear! 

The intent of the Israeli occupying soldier of the West Bank is to instill fear, i.e. intimidating a population or compelling…to do or abstain from doing any act." The intent is to instill fear into Palestinians to control them and to make their lives so miserable that they would do an act that they would not normally do, i.e. leave the land.

Therefore, it is logical, given the definition of terrorist given to me by Israeli supporters, that the Israeli occupying soldier is a terrorist.  He/she is there to do one thing:  to control the Palestinian population, to intimidate them, to make their lives miserable. 

How is this accomplished?

The West Bank is dotted with hindering and dehumanizing military checkpoints manned by occupying soldiers that purposefully subject Palestinians to harassment and demoralization.  It is a systematic daily policy that is carried out 24/7, 365 days a year.  At any given time, even in the middle of night, Israeli occupying soldiers can knock down the front door of any Palestinian and search and seize whatever they want and haul away any Palestinian to jail under the pretext of administrative detention.  If this is not fear, a constant fear every second of every day of a Palestinian’s life, I do not know what fear is.

Thus, if fear is the purpose of the presence of the Israeli soldier in the West Bank, he must be a terrorist.