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“A wounded Palestinian boy waits for treatment at Shifa hospital in Gaza City.” PHOTO/Independent
In an edited extract from the forthcoming book, Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and how it changed the course of the Israel/Palestine conflict, Rashid Khalidi considers the context and implications of Israel’s act of state piracy
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What happens inside Gaza is subject to a barrage of disinformation propagated by the disciplined international public relations machine that has been one of the great strengths of the Zionist movement since its inception. In effect denying the humanity of 1.5 million Palestinians, Israel describes the Gaza Strip as a ‘terrorist entity’. It thereby justifies any manner of deprivation and abuses against the civilian population. These actions are then covered up with false reports that Gazans are thriving on the generous amounts of food that Israel magnanimously allows them.
This propaganda contradicts all reports from Gaza, which depict an entire population penned into an open-air prison camp with their economy crippled by the blockade, suffering appalling public health, and prevented from leaving freely or rebuilding after the devastation of Israel’s assault in 2008-2009.
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