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HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

March 20, 2013

Israel Tightens Its Screws of Oppression

More Apartheid

by CESAR AGUEL

Where?

Well . . . Take a guess.

Choose two places and one does not count.

We are of course referring to the new measures taken by the Israeli Transport Ministry, for the daily transfer, back and forth, of Palestinians residing in the Occupied Territories to Israel, and back. “Cheap labor”, of course.

Those Palestinians that earn their living performing the most humble tasks in Israel proper and who have been issued work permits to do work DURING THE DAY only and then come back to their homes in the Occupied Territories, now have, according to the Transport Ministry an improved service.

A new bus line, line 210, is the one that is supposed to provide the “improved” service.

The reality, however, is another.

This bus line is destined to be exclusively for Palestinians. The information about its existence has been disseminated only in Arabic and in the Occupied Territories.

The characteristics of this service, subtly presented as an improved service, cannot hide the odious face of an abhorrent discrimination.

In fact, it brings to memory the worst of the Jim Crow laws in the U.S. or the worse of the Apartheid system in South Africa.

The state of Israel continues tightening the screws of oppression in the Occupied Territories.

Walls of separation, illegal settlements, systematic thievery of land and denial of construction permits are only some of the tactics that Israelis use to remind Palestinians who is “Lord” and who is in bondage.

And all this happens under the indifferent watch of the international community. When an action against the Palestinians by the Israelis is extremely degrading, they denounce it but no action is taken. And the economic aid to Israel from the U.S. and Europe continues flowing.

Those that are in position to take action against the abuses suffered by the Palestinians, one day will suffer the censure from others for their lack of initiative.

Cesar Aguel is a columnist for the Colombian newspaper La Tarde.