by Khaled Abu Toameh
March 22, 2013 at 5:00 am
March 22, 2013 at 5:00 am
Many Arabs and Muslims hate the U.S. because it stands in the way of fulfilling their dream of destroying Israel. The strong sentiments against Israel and the U.S. are the direct result of decades of indoctrination and incitement.
The anti-US protests that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip before and during President Barack Obama's serve as a reminder that many Palestinians continue to loathe the U.S., primarily because of its support for Israel.
But U.S. support for Israel is not the only reason why such a large number of Palestinians -- as well as Arabs and Muslims -- hate the Americans with such intensity.
Palestinians who took to the streets during the week to protest against Obama's visit chanted slogans not only against him personally, but also in denunciation of U.S. policies and actions toward the Arabs and Muslims.
In Ramallah, for instance, hundreds of Muslim fundamentalists chanted slogans condemning the U.S. for "perpetrating massacres and atrocities" against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"America is the number one enemy of Islam and Muslims," speakers at the anti-U.S. rally in Ramallah declared.
Palestinian Authority policemen, who are trained and funded by the U.S. and other Western countries, did not intervene even as the extremists also started criticizing the leaders of the Palestinian Authority for agreeing to meet with the "infidel" Obama.
Palestinian demonstrators in Bethlehem, who trampled on Obama's pictures and sprayed Nazi swastikas over them before setting them on fire, also explained that they were protesting not only against U.S. support for Israel, but also Washington's general attitude toward Arabs and Muslims.
"The Americans are the enemies of the Arabs and Muslims," shouted a Palestinian activist standing near Manger Square. "The Americans do only what the Jews tell them to do and that is why they are against all Arabs and Muslims."
The strong sentiments against Israel and the U.S. expressed by Palestinians are the direct result of decades of indoctrination and incitement.
Like the rest of the Arab and Islamic countries, Palestinians have been told that the U.S. is the "Great Satan" and number one enemy of all Arabs and Muslims.
Israel dismantles Palestinian 'Bab al-Shams' protest camp
Published March 24th, 2013 - 12:47 GMT via SyndiGate.info
A Palestinian flag flutters at a protest camp in the controversial West Bank area known as E1 located east of Jerusalem and near the Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim early on Sunday. Hundreds of Israeli police dismantled the protest camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem overnight, activists and police said. (Photo: AFP / Ahmad Gharabli).
Israel dismantled a Palestinian tent camp on Sunday, set up by activists protesting against Israel's plans to build a large settlement near East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera reports.
Before dawn on Sunday, around 200 Israeli police officers removed some 40 demonstrators from the tent camp, which was set up during U.S. President Barack Obama's recent visit, police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, told the news site.
Activists set up the camp, named Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), near the West Bank Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in an attempt to draw attention to Israeli plans to boost building in E1, a controversial corridor of land east of Jerusalem.
Critics say that plans to build over 3,500 housing units in E1 would cut off the northern part of the West Bank from the south and would leave Palestinian areas of Jerusalem surrounded by a chain of Jewish ones, threatening the viability of a future Palestinian state.
During his visit last week, Obama highlighted the E1 settlement as particularly problematic.
One of the protest organizers, Palestinian legislator, Mustafa Barghouti, told AFP news agency by phone on Sunday that he and four others were arrested and taken for questioning at Maale Adumim police station.
He said around 50 other activists were put on buses and released in a Palestinian Authority-controlled part of the West Bank.
read more at http://www.albawaba.com/news/israel-settlements--479435
read more at http://www.albawaba.com/news/israel-settlements--479435
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