Everything you need to know about the Giro d'Italia 2018, part 4

(We borrowed this picture from the blog Mondoweiss. Hope that's OK!)

This is the Palestinian woman Ahed Tamimi. She's famous mainly because she has, since the age of 11, been standing up to Israeli soldiers coming to her home town, in occupied Palestine. You might have seen video footage of a young Palestinian girl shouting at the Israeli troops, in their face, and waving her fist at them. That's her.

Most recently, however, she got media coverage because she was slapping, kicking and shouting at two Israeli soldiers, an incident which led to her being convicted to eight months inprisonment. And might I just remind you here, that the Israeli settler who put his foot on an eleven years old Palestinian boy's head and then clubbed him to death, with his rifle butt was convicted to six months in jail? Ahed Tamimi has never killed anyone. That's called injustice. Another word for it is apartheid.

Tamimi got "fame" for the incident. Some see her as a hero, for the fight for Palestine indepence. Other see her as a tool for propaganda. They say that her acts are staged, aimed at discrediting the Israeli state. They also say that the real heroes are the Israeli soldiers who don't strike back. (Well, they didn't need to - she was convicted later, wasn't she?)

Anyway, lesser known is that just minutes before the incident with Ahed Tamimi slapping, kicking and shouting at the Israeli soldiers, her cousin Mohammed Tamimi was shot in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet, a "non-lethal" type of ammunition that the Israeli army uses against Palestine civilians. This is how Mohammed Tamimi looked after being hit by that bullet:

(We borrowed this picture from the blog Middle East Eye. Hope that's OK!)

And let me ask you, how would you react if your cousin was shot in the head?

This is the "normal Israel" that Sylvan Adams is talking about. This is one of the reasons the Giro d'Italia should not have three stages in Israel. This is one of the reasons I am boycotting the Giro d'Italia 2018.

Free Palestine and ride safe!

Everything you need to know about the Giro d'Italia 2018, part 3

In 1997 an Israeli settler beat an 11 years old Palestinian boy to death, with his rifle butt. His verdict? Six months in prison. Oh, and a fine of 70.000 shekels. Again: He beat an 11 years old boy to death and was sentenced to six months in prison, and a fine. The reason the settler clubbed the boy to death was that the settler was on the hunt for children who had been throwing stones at cars. Witnesses said that the settler pinned down the boys head with his foot before beating the boy in the head with the rifle butt. Still, he only got six months in jail because he was convicted of "manslaughter by negligence". In court, the settler claimed that he did not intend to kill the boy, and tried to revive him.

In 2016 a dozen masked settlers wielding knives and clubs and yelling "Death to Arabs!" and "We will kill you!" attacked five Palestinian farmers who were harvesting olives. The masked settlers seem to have beat the Palestinian men with clubs and iron pipes only because they were Palestinians. The Palestinian were older men who hadn't done anyting in particular that day, except harvesting (their own) olives, so the reason for the pogrom remains a mystery. The settlers could be seen on a video making their way home after the pogrom, but no one was arrested.

In 2017 96 Palestinians (of whom 20 were children) were killed by Israelis. During the same time 17 Israelis were killed by Palestinians. The youngest victim, on the Palestinian side, was Abdul-Rahman Barghouthi, 18 months old, and the oldest victim was Suleiman Salah, 81 years old. No, all of the Palestinians were not "innocent", but what do you do when you see no future? And what justifies killing an 18 months old baby?

This is the "normal Israel" that Sylvan Adams is talking about. This is one of the reasons the Giro d'Italia should not have three stages in Israel. This is one of the reasons I am boycotting the Giro d'Italia 2018.

Free Palestine and ride safe!

Everything you need to know about the Giro d'Italia 2018, part 2

(We borrowed this picture from Palestine: Let's stop pretending it's a fair fight. Hope that's OK!)

The Israeli West Bank barrier is a wall (and fence), currently being built by Israel, to 85 % on occupied Palestinian territory. When completed it is to be 720 kilometres long, covering the border between Israel and The West Bank entirely.

Again, it is to 85 % built on occupied Palestinian territory, despite the fact that it is built by the Israeli state to separate the Israelis from the Palestinians. The Israeli state says that the purpose of this wall and fence is to protect Israel from terror acts, but is that true?

The wall is cutting off 9,5 % of Palestinian land from the rest of Palestine and the Palestinians. 25.000 Palestinians live in the area between the wall and the Green line - the Internationally recognised border between Israel and Palestine. There are only 66 passages, of which just 12 are open daily, the remaining 54 being opened on a "seasonal" or "seasonal weekly" basis, something which completely destroys the Palestinian economy. The International court in Haag has stated the the wall is a crime against International law.

The Israeli state says that the wall and fence is only temporary, that it will be taken down when "acts of terror cease"... This wall is in itself an act of terror, against the Palestinians. It is a wall of apartheid.

This is the "normal Israel" that Sylvan Adams is talking about. This is one of the reasons the Giro d'Italia should not have three stages in Israel. This is one of the reasons I am boycotting the Giro d'Italia 2018.

Free Palestine and ride safe!