Giving with One Hand; Taking with Another: Another Surrealistic View of Life in Palestine

At the same time that Palestinians might be receiving this news more sinister events have been taking place around living spaces in the Occupied Territories. The Israel Defense forces are threatening to demolish a kindergarten and all other buildings in the Palestinian village of Al Aqabah. A concerted effort is being made to stop this senseless demolition.

Another outrage perpetrated by Israel is the attack on a children's orphanage and living complex in Hebron. The rationale for this attack on the children, the staff, and small enterprises in the community is the claim that the sponsor of the program, the Islamic Charity Movement, is connected to Hamas, a claim that the group denies. After learning that the Israeli military had elevated its ongoing harassment of the program by destroying food stored for the orphanage and school and preventing other supplies from being brought in, Haaretz journalist , Gideon Levy, wrote:

"How pathetic is an occupation army that empties out warehouses of food and clothing earmarked for orphans; how absurd is GOC Central Command Major General Gadi Shamni, who signs closure orders for beauty salons and clothing shops; how outrageous is the confiscation of industrial refrigerators in which food for children is kept; how cruel is a military regime that closes libraries used by young people; how ridiculous are the excuses that closing bakeries contributes to the war against terror; how foolish is the battle against dairies whose products are earmarked for these children; and how difficult is the situation of the Israeli occupation in the territories if it must resort to such contemptible activities in order to establish its status"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=964067&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14

What is Israel's message? While it claims to be providing opportunities for Palestinians to own homes, at the same time it is destroying villages, entrepreneurships, and services Palestinians have patiently built over the years.