Israel seeks ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in al-Quds: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Paul Larudee, the co-founder of Free Palestine Movement from California, to ask his take on apprehension of two Palestinians by Israeli forces for resisting “military expulsion orders” banishing them from the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.  

Press TV: Well again we are looking at expulsion orders and the main question is how does Tel Aviv continue to get away with this basically not any explanation and banning these individuals from their own home town?

Larudee: Yes, it is interesting to note that when a Palestinian is expelled from their home, where are they sent to? If someone who is expelled from Jerusalem (al-Quds) sent for example to Haifa or to Jaffa or to any other place in (19)48 Israel, is it just a coincidence that they are expelled into areas that Israel doesn’t currently want or doesn’t intend to make part of its immediate goals of territorial possession, places like Gaza for example? No. This is not about punishment or because of the deeds that the Palestinians have done. This is about ethnic cleansing. They want to get rid of as many Palestinians as possible from Jerusalem. That is all it is about, doesn’t matter what they have done, any pretext will do. They give all sorts of justifications for why these people have to be expelled, but the underlying pattern there is expel, expel, expel and clear as many Palestinians out as possible. The current priority is Jerusalem. They want to clear Jerusalem of as many Palestinians as possible and that is why it has happened.

Press TV: How do you see this whole issue of Jerusalem playing itself out? We know that Israel actually want Jerusalem to be the capital and of course we know the Palestinians are adamant about that not happening. Where does the international community you think stand at the end of the day with that particular subject?

Larudee:  That is a big question. Everything depends on the reaction of the international community and until now even the most outrageous things that Israel has done to expel Palestinians, to deny Muslims' access to their holy places and Christians' [access] to their holy places in Jerusalem and to restrict movement. Everything that they have done, including executing 14-year-old girls who are lying on the ground and just outrageous things, none of these have moved the international community enough to change anything. Is the Muslim world going to become sufficiently outraged in order to cause huge repercussions that will teach Israel a lesson and make it want to change? Is the Christian world going to react to any way of burning of Christian churches in the Israeli occupied territories? All of these things, apparently Israel has not done enough outrageous things in order to get this reaction so I don’t know the answer to your question where do we draw the line. It has not been drawn yet. Israel is going to keep pushing and keep expelling and keep doing more and more outrageous things until we reach that point. But, we are not there yet.

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