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Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 09:10 AM Sep 2014

Mustafa Barghouti on Gaza, the unity government and Palestinian elections


'I want to tell them the truth about what happened in Gaza,' he says. 'What I've seen there is unprecedented in terms of devastation and acts of genocide. The way the Israeli army behaved and the violation of human rights. There were war crimes and crimes against humanity.'

Amelia Smith
Tuesday, 16 September 2014 13:58

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

"Immediately after the war Israel initiated a political and a propaganda campaign, including distributing false information about a coup d'état that was prepared in the West Bank, to divert Palestinians from unity. In other words Netanyahu is trying to achieve in political means what he failed to achieve in military ways. And we should not let him."

Sitting in a central London hotel, the General Secretary of the Palestinian Initiative is recounting a story from Israel's latest war on the Gaza Strip. Mustafa Barghouti was in the besieged territory during the latest Israeli bombardment; he met an 82 year-old man who had spent his life building a home for his family of 28 children and grandchildren. One day the old man woke up, went to the mosque for prayers and when he came back he found nothing. The whole house had been destroyed and all 28 members of his family had been killed.

"What can you say to such a man?" he asks. "It's so inhuman; I don't know what's happening to the world. I've seen atrocities beyond description. If somebody told me that story maybe I'd find it difficult to believe, but this is what I've seen with my own eyes. I've seen many families completely annihilated."

Barghouti has come to the UK to speak at the National Lobby of Parliament on Palestine. "I want to tell them the truth about what happened in Gaza," he says. "What I've seen there is unprecedented in terms of devastation and acts of genocide. The way the Israeli army behaved and the violation of human rights. There were war crimes and crimes against humanity."

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/14168-mustafa-barghouti-on-gaza-the-unity-government-and-palestinians-elections
12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Mao Shung

(55 posts)
1. Lies, lies, and more lies.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:18 AM
Sep 2014

This story about a man returning home to find the 28 people in his house all dead. Exactly why haven't I heard this story reported elsewhere? A story that sensational would be all over the press if it happened.

Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)
2. Your lack of knowledge does not support your claim it is a lie...never mind more lies.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 02:58 PM
Sep 2014

The old man's relatives came to the total of 28:

As soon as he left the house, the blast crashed down, sending him flying "like a bird" into the air and far away. "My leg was broken and I suffered a cut as well. I kept my head down and watched as death took away 28 of my family."
( 7/23/2014 )

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/23/us-palestinians-israel-families-idUSKBN0FS1BY20140723

 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
4. "unprecedented in terms of devastation and acts of genocide..."
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 05:23 AM
Sep 2014

This is the kind of ignorance that makes it hard to take the rest of what he says seriously.

Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)
5. The genocide claim, he should have went with terror bombing and indiscriminate killing for
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 07:28 AM
Sep 2014

accuracy. The unprecedented devastation of Gaza is accurate.

Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)
7. Then post a link where it is documented Gaza suffered more devastation than what took place
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 07:49 PM
Sep 2014

last month.

 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
8. I think you may have misunderstood
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 07:53 PM
Sep 2014

The statement is saying that this level of devastation is unprecedented. But surely, you would agree that there have been higher levels of devastation in other parts of the world. He is using hyperbole to make a rhetoric point, but I think that weakens the rest of his points since clearly that is over the top.

 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
12. OK - it's possible I am misunderstanding the statement
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 08:10 PM
Sep 2014

If he is saying this attack on Gaza is the worst one Gaza has ever faced, then I would agree with that.

I really don't think that's what he is saying, but I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

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