by Stephen Lendman

Israel considers Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem free-fire zones. It’s always open season on Palestinian lives - 17 murdered so far this year by Israeli security forces, individuals threatening no one.

A weekly average of 38 others were wounded. Last year, Israel killed 46 Palestinians in the West Bank alone.

On Thursday, its forces stormed Falah Abu Maria’s Hebron home - an illegal act they conduct multiple times daily, terrorizing innocent Palestinian family members. They confronted Maria’s son Muhammad, shot him in the pelvis for no apparent reason and left his son Ahmad injured by shrapnel. Then killed Maria when he tried protecting his sons from soldiers firing indiscriminately.

They shot him multiples times in the neck and chest. He never had a chance. Another son Haidar said “seeing his two sons drowning in their blood, my father couldn't stand idle and started to fistfight with the soldiers who fired live bullets at his chest and he died shortly afterwards.”

“My father was unarmed when the soldiers decided to kill him, he is just an innocent carpenter, but the Israeli forces don't distinguish between armed and unarmed” Palestinians.

By the time medical help arrived, it was too late. After undergoing surgery, Muhammad is OK in stable condition.

Maria is the third Palestinian killed this month. On Wednesday Israeli forces killed Muhammad Ahmad Alawneh in Birqin village near Jenin. Emergency surgery couldn’t save him.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demanded international intervention to stop Israeli “organized crimes.”

It wants its officials responsible for cold-blooded murder held accountable in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

On July 24, clashes erupted between Maria’s mourners and Israeli security forces. Eight Palestinians were injured.

Israel attacked grieving friends relatives and village residents with rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas. At least three victims required hospital treatment.

Israel closed entrances to Beit Ummar village. Mourners chanted slogans condemning Maria’s murder. They demanded a response to the “crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people.”

Maria’s wife said Israeli forces raid the family home and others in Beit Ommar repeatedly. Village residents hold frequent protests against land theft to expand nearby settlements.

Murdering three or more Palestinians monthly is all in a day’s work for thuggish Israeli security forces operating unaccountably. When investigations are conducted, whitewash nearly always follows. Rare exceptions involve symbolic wrist-slap punishments alone.

Palestinians wanting to live free are gunned down in cold blood with virtually no chance for redress. Children are as vulnerable as adults.

Colonization, apartheid, institutionalized racism, militarized occupation and state terror define Israeli policy. So does mass murder and targeted killings at its discretion.

Ruthlessness permeates daily life. Fundamental rights don’t exist. Rule of law principles don’t matter. Militarized brutality affects daily life.

Life in Occupied Palestine includes land sea and air attacks, multiple daily neighborhood incursions, slow-motion genocide, separation walls, checkpoints, ethnic cleansing, targeted killings, bulldozed homes, dispossessions, isolated communities, mass arrests, torture, gulag imprisonment, and denial of fundamental rights guaranteed under international law Israel’s spurns with impunity.

Washington funds its killing machine generously - intends increasing it by nearly 50% beginning in 2018 for 10 years plus extra amounts for various projects.

Israel wages daily war against millions of defenseless Palestinians. They’re no match for its ruthlessness.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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