Monthly Archives: September 2012

By Mark Twain in his book Innocents Abroad describing Israel in 1867 'There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] — not for 30 miles in either direction… One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. … For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee … Nazareth is forlorn … Jericho lies a moldering ruin … Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation… untenanted by any living creature… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds … a silent, mournful expanse … a desolation … We never saw a human being on the whole route … Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes … desolate and unlovely …'

That since 1995, Areas A and B of Judea & Samaria (the West Bank), where over 97% of the area's Palestinians live have been under Palestinian Authority control. The Palestinians living in these areas have their own economy & can vote.

On September 25th 2011, Asher Palmer, aged 25, was knocked unconscious by Palestinian rock throwers as he drove home. His car overturned and he was killed with his baby son Yonatan.

In 2004, it was reported that in addition to blocking Palestinians from citizenship in Lebanon, they are banned from 73 job categories including professions such as medicine, law and engineering. … They are not allowed to own property, unlike other foreigners, and are denied access to the Lebanese healthcare system. (In an abstract of the book published by Al-Jazeera Online on 29th March 2004, Poverty Trap for Palestinian Refugees, by Alaa Shahine).