Thread by @AliVelshi

1/16
Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself. That’s an indisputable fact. But so do Palestinians. And that's a fact that is often ignored. Palestinians are, at best, third class citizens in the nation of their birth. #velshi

2/16
The idea that it’s even remotely controversial to call what Israel has imposed on Palestinians a form of Apartheid is laughable. One look at a current map of Israel, Gaza and the Occupied Territories conjures up only one other example: Apartheid Era in South Africa. #velshi

3/16
The Israeli government, on an ongoing basis, declares parcels of land on which Palestinians live to be either of military or archeological importance, causing residents to be evicted. Sometimes there’s a court case, and almost always, the Palestinians lose. #velshi

4/16
Yet months later, that same “important” land suddenly becomes home to a new Israeli settlement. As more & more Jewish settlers take over land on which Arabs lived, the Occupied West Bank becomes more Israeli & in the explicit hopes of the Israeli gov’t, more Jewish. #velshi

5/16
This is a deliberate attempt to force Arabs – who have lived in that land sometimes for centuries – out. It is an attempt to dilute their presence because to have Arabs as full participants is, in the opinion of the Israeli gov’t & courts, diluting Israel. #velshi

6/16
Just prior to the pandemic I toured many of the contested areas and homes from which Arabs are being pushed out, both in Israel proper, and in the Occupied Territories. Palestinians don’t control the important parts of their lives. #velshi

7/16
Palestinian families are refused permits to build or renovate their homes. When they connect their homes to the municipal water supply, Israeli soldiers sometimes cut the pipes. #velshi

8/16
When they attempt to harness solar energy because their homes are not on the grid, Israeli soldiers literally come & remove solar panels from their homes. I spent 1.5 hrs travelling alongside an elderly Palestinian woman who was transferred between three ambulances. #velshi

9/16
From Gaza to the no-man’s land in between, and then into Israel, to get cancer treatment: three ambulances over the course of one mile. More than an hour to cross the border. #velshi

10/16
That’s how Gazans live: w/o medical treatment because Israel prevents it, w/o electricity often because Israel prevents it, w/o the ability to fish in the Mediterranean ocean because Israel prevents it, w/o an airport or a seaport because Israel prevents it. #velshi

11/16
Like Israelis, Palestinians also have a right to exist & to defend themselves. But there is no one willing to help them do that. Not the Israeli courts, and not the U.S. Government. #velshi

12/16
What the U.S. also shares with Israel is the belief that Hamas, the political party that governs Gaza, is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel. And yes, Hamas is supported by the majority of Palestinians in Gaza. #velshi

13/16
Hamas may not be in the best long-term interests of the Gazans but peace hasn’t really worked for them. Faced with an Israeli gov’t which pens them into what has been called the world’s largest open-air prison, they have chosen a gov’t that many wouldn’t prefer. #velshi

14/16
Israel needs a new approach to the Palestinians, and America needs a new approach to Israel. After more than seven decades of not just being deprived of land from which they were evicted, Palestinians frustration runs deep. #velshi

15/16
It may be worth going deeper than what you may hear inside your bubble & understanding the depth to which the Palestinian people are subject to apartheid in their own land, deprived of basic necessities & subject to relentless civil rights violations. #velshi

16/16
This is not a secret. It’s out there for you to see. You just have to look for it. #velshi