‘ON THE GROUND’ SHOW FOR JUNE 9, 2017: Marking a Century of Colonization, Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine…A Congressional Hearing on the Plight of Palestinian Children…One Survivor’s Story


This week in June 2017 marks ten years of Israel’s blockade of Gaza; 50 years of Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; 70 years since the Nakba and ethnic cleansing of Palestine began following the partition of the land against the will of the indigenous people; and 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, which set the stage for the Zionist movement to colonize Palestine and later to establish a Jewish state.

Organizations across the country and world staged actions this week to demand an end to Israel’s brutal occupation as part of a commitment to justice for all Palestinians, whether in Palestine or in exile. One action, by Defense for Children International-Palestine,was a Congressional hearing held June 8, 2017 on Capitol Hill, a hearing that might be more consequential than the hyped James Comey hearing, given that the U.S. is giving $38 billion in military aid to Israel over the next ten years. Speaking on the lives of Palestinian children living under Israeli repression are Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch; Brad Parker of Defense for Children International-Palestine; Yazan Meqbil, a student at Goshen College and Nadia Ben-Youssef, director of the Adalah Justice Project.