from pacifica this is democracy ♪ ♪ from pacifica this is democracy now... >> the security council stresses strong support. >> the united nations security council calls for an immediate ceasefire in gaza as the palestinian death toll tops one thousand including at least 226 children. more than 180,000 people have been displaced. >> we want to buy close for our

children. there are no shops. nothing. we have no money or buying because we left our homes with nothing. complete destruction. >> we'll speak to sharif abdel kouddous in gaza city, professor ilan pappe in the israeli city of haifa and to the palestinian graduate student amer shurrab. he just learned four of his cousins were killed in gaza. in 2009 he lost his two brothers in operation cast lead. all that and more, coming up. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> welcome to democracy now! the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire has been called for in gaza. the weekend saw a series of cease-fire announcement by israel and thomas.

-- thomas. -- hamas. on saturday more than 130 bodies were pulled from the rubble in gaza during a 12-hour truce. many displaced residents tried to return home only to find their neighborhoods reduced to rubble. one gaza resident said the area of beit hanoun had been totally destroyed. >> they are dead. the trees are dead. the life is that as well. they destroyed the land, the trees, everything. they totally destroyed it. >> play sot just before the truce took effect, an israeli strike on a house in khan yunis killed 20 people, including 12 members of the same family. on sunday hamas called for a 24-hour truce to mark the muslim holiday of eid al-fitr. overall the palestinian death toll has now reached 1,031, mostly including at least 226 children. israel says 43 of its soldiers have died along with three civilians inside israel.

according to the united nations, more than 180,000 palestinians have been displaced and are now living in un shelters. we'll >> john kerry has been intensively involved in attempting to enter a cease-fire. on friday, the israeli cabinet rejected kerry's latest proposal, with israeli sources calling it too lenient to hamas demands, including lifting the seven-year blockade of gaza. the israeli rejection was issued in private so as not to strain u.s. ties. but at a news conference, kerry denied that israel had rejected his ceasefire plan, claiming it was never formally proposed. >> there was no formal proposal submitted to israel. let's make that crystal clear. the prime minister called me before this to make it clear that that is an error, inaccurate, and he is putting out a statement to that effect.

they may have rejected some language or a proposal within the framework that was suggest at some point in time, but no formal puzzle was submitted to me on which there should have been a vote. >> protests against the israeli invasion of gaza continue around the world. on friday, hundreds rallied in new york city's times square. >> we are sending a message to the u.s. government that you will not allow your taxpayer dollars to touch -- to kill children in gaza. >> it is not a territory. it is not a prison. it is not a concentration camp. it is where liberation is born. >> we will have more on gaza after headlines. libya is facing its worst period of violence since the toppling of muammar gaddafi three years ago. more than 150 people have died in tripoli and benghazi during two weeks of fighting, including 50 over the weekend. the u.s.,

the un and turkey have removed their diplomats, with the u.s. evacuating its embassy and moving officials to neighboring tunisia. escalating violence in eastern ukraine is hampering efforts to reach the crash site of downed malaysian airlines flight 17. more residents fled to bomb shelters on sunday as government forces clashed with rebel separatists in two major towns. at least eight civilians were killed. international monitors had reached a deal to visit the crash site in rebel-held territory, but the fighting has kept them away. alexander hug of the organization for security and cooperation in europe's monitoring mission said the fighting has sowed confusion. rapidlyituation has changed. as is normal in the conflict, the front lines were not clear. it was a blurry picture. >> ukraine has seen intensified violence in recent months as the u.s.-backed kiev government

steps up attacks on rebel-held areas. earlier today, the un's top human rights official, navi pillay, said at least 1,129 people have been killed over 3,400 wounded since mid-april. over 200,000 have also been displaced. a spokesperson for pillay said the downing of malaysian airlines flight 17 may amount to a war crime, and warned of increasing abuses in rebel-held areas.play sot >> there has been a serious deterioration of the situation in areas of control by the armed groups. colluding abductions, detentions, torture, executions, used to intimidate the population. which is often trapped in this pocket of territories in the region. >> the ukrainian and u.s. government says that plane was shot down with russian missiles

supplied to the rebels, a claim that the rebels have denied. the state department has released satellite imagery that they say proves russia has fired into eastern ukraine and moved heavy artillery across the border. state department spokesperson marie harf said russia is escalating military aid to the rebels. >> new evidence that they plan to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to the separatist forces with evidence that russia is firing artillery from within russia to attack ukrainian military positions. >> on friday that union joined the united states in imposing travel bans and freezes targeting russian officials. president obama hosted central american leaders at the white house on friday to discuss the influx of migrant children on the u.s.-mexico border. obama met with the presidents of guatemala, el salvador and honduras, the three home countries for the bulk of

migrants fleeing violence and poverty. obama said he warned the three that those children without valid claims will be deported. >> we have to deter the influx of children and families putting themselves at great risk. i emphasize that within a legal and humanitarian framework and proper due process, children who do not have proper claims, families with children that do not have proper claims at some point will be subject to repatriation to their home country. >> honduran president juan orlando hernández says he asked obama for u.s. help in taking on the root causes of the migrant crisis, including the massive u.s. demand for illegal drugs that fuels the central american drug trade. president obama has asked republicans for $3.7 billion dollars to address the migrant crisis, but republicans have introduced a plan to allocate less than $1 billion. a group of immigrant rights

advocates meanwhile has announced a picket line at the white house today quote "unless and until undocumented people are represented at the negotiating table." argentina is facing a potential default on its sovereign debt. a recent supreme court ruling sided with u.s. hedge funds who purchased argentina's debt or bargain prices after its financial crisis and then refused to cut the value of their holdings as most other creditors did. a lower court judge art argentina from repaying the majority of its creditors without also paying the so-called vulture funds led by billionaire singer. the argentine government says that it is impossible to fully repay the fund, risking the country's second default and 13 years. demonstrators backed the government's refusal to pay the

vulture funds. >> we do not propose to go into default. we decided as a sovereign decision not to pay. paid the paris club and, on top of this, they will declare default. >> a former venezuelan general has avoided extradition to the united states. aruba lastined in week at the request of the u.s., which sought to try him on drug charges. his freedom after citing diplomatic immunity. a u.s. indictment accused him of helping drug traffickers. the venezuelan government says the war and was politically motivated. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in an emergency midnight meeting,

the united nations security council called for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" in gaza early this morning as the palestinian toll topped 1,000 since the israel offensive began 21 days ago. un security council president eugene gasana of rwanda made the announcement. >> the un security council calls for therong support patents from the general of the united nations for immediate and unconditional deterrence of cease-fire, allowing for the delivery of urgently needed assistance. they urged all participants to accept and fully implement this humanitarian cease-fire. >> the weekend saw a series of ceasefire announcements by both israel and hamas. on saturday more than 130 bodies were pulled from the rubble in gaza during a 12-hour truce. just before the truce took effect, an israeli strike on a house in khan yunis killed

20 people. according to the los angeles times, the dead included 12 members of a family sheltering there from fighting in the nearby village of khuza. on sunday hamas called for a 24-hour truce to mark the muslim holiday of eid al-fitr. overall the palestinian death toll has now reached 1,035, mostly civilians, including at least 226 children. israel says 43 of its soldiers have died along with two israeli civilians and one thai farmworker. according to the united nations, more than 180,000 palestinians have been displaced and are now living in un shelters. last week 16 palestinians died at a un shelter when it came under fire. on sunday israel acknowledged for the first time that its troops had fired a mortar shell that hit the courtyard of the un shelter but it still denies carrying out the

deadly attack. for more on gaza, we go now to gaza city where we are joined by democracy now correspondent sharif abdel kouddous. can you tell us more about what is happening now? >> as we talk about the ongoing , the shelling has really been restricted to some areas in the north, as well as the east and the south. four people have been killed today, including a child. we have pulled out at least seven bodies in the south. an area that has not been reachable by the red cross or ambulances until today. this comes after a weekend in which, as you mentioned, a 12 hour humanitarian truce was agreed upon on saturday, allowing thousands to return to their homes for the first time. we went to those areas on saturday. a town northeast of the gaza

strip close to the israeli border, the destruction was total. no building was left untouched by the bombardment. there was just mounds of rubble where buildings once stood. dead horses lying on the streets, stick with rigor mortis. everything was covered in a gray, cement dust. it was like a monochromatic wasteland. people walked around without recognizing where their homes once were. really, just mounds of rubble, twisted rebar, and concrete where there was a five-story building. people were trying to salvage anything they could from their homes. many had fled under bombardment with only the clothes on their backs and they could not retrieve anything. there was evidence of the israeli invasion everywhere. you could see the tank treads of the tanks and where the roads had been ripped up by the heavy

armor that had rolled in. in one house, a 20-year-old resident showed us his house, still standing, but it had been raided and ransacked by israeli soldiers. there were mattresses on the floor. we saw bullet casings all over the roof. to shoulder mounted rocket launchers on the roof, where they had presumably engaged in some kind of battle with militants. things, likeher bottled water and mosquito spray with writing on it. they arrested people from their homes. one resident told me that israeli soldiers separated the men and the women and then blindfolded and arrested him, his uncle, and three cousins, taking them across the border into israel, interrogating them for two days about what he call the resistance, then he said he was dumped back, crossing. he could not but -- could not get back to his home. he did not know where the rest

of his family was. both of his grandparents, his ages 12ger brothers, and 13, his sister, and his niece. he went back to the house and said that he found that five floors had become one. there was a smell of that coming out of the house. he was hoping that it was not their bodies he was smelling. he was trying to find them. this is the kind of dumbarton and that israel left behind. astthe neighborhood to the of gaza city, we witnessed similar scenes of devastation. people had gone there to again try and salvage what they could for their homes. by midday you saw the truce that started at 8 a.m. and by mid day there were just residents pouring out, carrying what little they could get from their homes. you saw mattresses piled on top of cars with people carrying clothes on donkey carts. a bystander told me that this looks like a second neck bone.

that is arabic for the catastrophe that palestinians used to describe the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands during the forming of israel in 1948. people difficult scene, using bulldozers and other heavy equipment to dig the bodies out of the rubble. people are still missing. now i just came back from where seven bodies had been pulled out. it is an -- it is a very uneasy truce and cease-fire. people are waiting to see of the bombs will start fighting -- falling again. >> over the weekend, charlie rose interviewed the hamas leader, who called for an end to the occupation of gaza. >> life is a right for our people in palestine. they refuse the outcomes of the

election. our people actually lived under the siege for eight years. this is a collective honest ashman. the siege needs to be lifted. the second message is -- in order to stop the bloodletting, we need to look at the underlying causes, the occupation. we need to stop the occupation. months ago secretary kerry tried to find a window to the negotiations in order to meet our target, to reach the states. killed our dream. he killed the american initiative. .> that was the leader of hamas can you respond to what he is saying? what about these truces and calls for cease-fire? spoke to several officials over the weekend about the cease-fire.

it seems that what israel is trying to do -- or is doing -- is trying to call truce after truce and kind of wind down the anylict without addressing of the key palestinian conditions. any of the key palestinian demands, which include first and foremost the lifting of the blockade that has strangled the gaza strip, in effect causing these repeated conflicts. essentially bringing back the whole situation to square one. when you speak to people, when you speak to hamas officials and palestinians in gaza, they say that after all this death, destruction, and displacement, that they will go back to the same situation that they had the war this latest conflict, which was extremely dire. remember, israel and egypt have set a blockade on gaza since 2007. there were tunnels going into

egypt, where many goods were being brought in. basic hoods, construction materials, that mubarak and muhamed morsi really turned a blind eye to. the border was closed at the crossing, but it was again somewhat open. ever since the overthrow of who really did a very harsh crackdown on the muslim brotherhood, they painted, us allied with the muslim brotherhood. people say that things here have become unbearable. nearly all the tunnels game destroyed as the crossing was sealed. life became extremely difficult for the palestinians here. this is partially a result of that. for people to go back after this conflict to that same situation is, i think, unacceptable, both for palestinian people and hamas as a political movement, which

is really fighting for it life. it comes out with nothing from this conflict. >> on sunday benjamin netanyahu accused hamas of a 24-hour humanitarian truce. he wispy thing to david gregory on "meet the press." >> we have accepted five cease-fires. hamas has rejected every single one of them. including two of the ones that we accepted and implemented in the last 24 hours. now they are suggesting a cease-fire and, believe it or not, they violated their own cease-fire and continued to fire at us. >> that was benjamin netanyahu. can you respond? i can hear the shelling right now in the different parts. as i mentioned at the top of the show, they killed four people today, including a boy who was just buried. when we talk about cease-fire,

we are talking about conditions where tanks and troops are still still ground inside gaza, continuing with their declared objective, to find and destroy tunnels. when you speak to many people about the cease-fire, they say it is not a cease-fire, the troops are in gaza and grounding to, with their offensive and operations. there was a game played with calling for a cease-fire where israel and hamas agreed to the initial cease-fire and israel extended it by four hours and then another 24. hamas rejected that and called its own 24-hour cease-fire. i think they want to seem as though israel is not the only shots,t can call the cannot stop and start the war whenever it feels like it. they want to feel like a player in the process. the latest cease-fire was supposed to expire at 2 p.m.. it is now 3 p.m..

israel has said that they will not accept a cease-fire, but they will respond to fire from hamas. an uneasy situation right now, as i speak to you i can hear heavier booms in the distance. some things may be coming apart. return towe will not the brutal bombardments that gaza has been under that have killed over 1000 people, mostly civilians. as you mentioned, over 200 children. just to describe the massive displacement, 10% of gaza is displaced. when you walk around the city, you see people in parks and an unfinished buildings, hospitals, refugee camps. today is the first day of their muslim holiday celebration and it is now really a time of mourning, people trying to bury their dead. they don't have money to buy the clothes that they usually do for their children and it is a difficult time for palestinians.

>> the buzzing that we can hear behind you, in addition to the explosions, do you know what that is? the ever buzzing is present sound in gaza. it is the sound of the drones overhead. surveillance drones. some of them are attacked drones . they are always there. even when the shelling and bombardment stops, you always hear the drones. it really is a part of the -- psychologically it is very hard, it is an ever present noise and you kind of feel that you are being watched all the time. today the driver and the journalists working with us, the palestinians, said that they received robo calls today with threats from the israeli military, one of them saying that you terrorist -- do you hear the plane overhead? you are the target. another one at a house said -- do you hear the sound of this tank and loud boom? or is an element of

psychological warfare being played on the palestinians in gaza that is ongoing. >> i want to thank you for being with us. stay safe. atwill link to your stories the nation.com. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back we will do a palestinian graduate student in the united states erie it he just got word that four of his cousins have been killed. we last spoke to him in 2009, when his father and two brothers were in a car fleeing from their village in operation cast lead. his two brothers were killed, his father was seriously injured. we will be back in a minute.

♪ >> this is democracy now,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. we are joined now by a palestinian graduate student from the gaza strip. he studied at the mantra institute of international studies in california. he has just learned that four of his cousins have died. we last spoke to him five years ago. it was shortly after he lost his two brothers are in the israeli sault on gaza, known as operation cast lead to. in january of 2009 his father and two brothers were fleeing their village when theehicle came under his -- came under fire. a hail ofr died in bullets trying to flee the vehicle. his other brother, ebert anime, asvived the initial attack israeli troops refused to allow an ambulance to reach him and his father until 20 hours later, but by then it was too late, he had bled to death in front of his father.

recounting the story of his brothers and other palestinians at college campuses and community gatherings across the united states, it was just recently that he learned about his cousins. .e welcome you back sorry under such sad circumstances. my condolences to you and your family. can you talk about what you have just learned? >> thank you for having me, amy. wish it had been under better circumstances. tuesday i gott news from gaza that my cousin was killed. he was targeted by one of the drones you are talking about. he was visiting some friends who had left their house at 1 a.m. and started walking home.

he was directly attacked by a drone. , housee of hours later of the friend he was visiting was bombed by the israeli air force, killing two other people. his father ran to the house of the neighbors to help to evacuate the wounded. he was looking for his eldest his 22-year-old eldest son, he was looking for him. a couple of hours later people on the street saw a body that they realized was mohammed. >> how old was mohammed? >> 22. tashirold was cashier --

? >> 50's. 55 now. >> you had three other cousins? >> three brothers, three second cousins. on wednesday their house in the was bombed by israeli air forces. a four story house flattened to the ground. initially there were three people killed, several wounded. we heard that no one was hurt, and then the next morning, tuesday morning they extracted the body. and then the next morning during the 12 hours cease-fire they had more time to dig the rubble and found two more bodies of his brothers.

they were all recently married. they all got married either last year or the year before. >> we last spoke in 2009. you had just graduated from middle barry in vermont. this was the time of operation cast lead, as the military called it, when more than 1400 palestinians were killed. describe what happened to your brothers and your dad. >> well, amy, my dad and my brothers were in our farm in the region. they were driving home during the humanitarian cease-fire announced by israel. they waited until the middle of the cease-fire. they were driving home. they drove for about half of a kilometer and faced a tank on the side of the road. they were waved through by the tank.

once they drove a couple of hundred meters past it, israeli soldiers stationed in a civilian residents at least 11 as hostages in the house. they opened fire on them. >> on your father? while, my dad was hit driving. they hit the wall. the car came to a halt. they were ordered to get out of the car. shot. out and was we later realized that he had 18 bullets across his chest, his stomach, and his arms. my dad got out of a car. my brother was in the back seat and got out. in his left leg under the knee.

initially they would not allow my father to call an ambulance or to even check on him. they had no idea what happened to him. >> it was just feet away? >> yes, a few feet. like on the other side of the car, basically. they would not let them check on him. my dad only confirmed the death from five hours later after he saw cats nibbling on the body. he challenged the soldiers orders not to move, challenged the rounds they fired around him, checked on him, realized he was dead, and covered his face with his jacket and crawl back. for were next to the car about 24 hours. the shooting happened at about 1 p.m..

ambulances were not allowed through. >> how do you know this? >> my father wrote an account of of that whole story, from his hospital bed. he wrote it the day after, over two days. he wanted to remember it, wanted it memorized. i first reached him over his cell phone once he got to the hospital. he told me -- to tell people what happened to us. tell them what happened to us. your brothers don't deserve this. everyone needs to know about this. >> your uncle had tried to get an ambulance? >> yes. >> how did he know that anything was going on? >> later they allowed my father to use his cell phone and he called my uncle. my uncle reached the area with an ambulance. they would not allow them

through. not only my uncle. my dad was making phone calls throughout the night to local priests, international media, human rights organizations, israeli human rights organizations, he was talking with everyone in vain throughout that night. we tried to contact the obama transition team, we contacted everyone. people on all five continents were making calls trying to reach people, but it was in vain . it was not until 7 a.m. the next day, the 17th, they were shot on the 16th. >> this was january? >> yes, 2009. 7 a.m. we got a word from members of the palestinian group that we reached that the israeli army would allow an ambulance to , when but only at noon

the humanitarian cease-fire was starting for the next day. the soldiers were watching them all that time. they refused to give them anything to stop the bleeding. they refused to give them a sip of water, a blanket, nothing. shivering was father. they would not do anything other than curse at them, laugh at them, and watch them suffer. later on we found that they left graffiti on the wall of the house that said that the honda -- gahana was right, referring israeli rabbist who called for the killing and transfer of all arabs to other nations out of palestine to make israel a purely jewish state. wanted to get your response

to the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, who was speaking to booklets or last week, who said that thomas is intentionally endangering civilians in the hopes the gruesome images will turn the international community against israel. >> all civilian casualties are unintended by us but intended by, us, they want to pile as many civilian dead as they can. it is gruesome. they use telegenic lead dead palestinians for their cause. the more dead, the better. prime minister benjamin netanyahu. your response? >> first of all, i want to jump on that phrase. telegenic lead dead? i hear that phrase and i really want to throw up. this is a despicable description . dead children, dead women, that is what you would call them?

telegenic lead dead? this is extremely offensive, to start with. and then the prime minister, netanyahu, the israeli spokespersons, all of them in arabic, hebrew, in every language they say they use decision moms. they say that they use smart weapons and that they pinpoint .heir attacks several israeli spokespeople that every attack hits its intended target. now we know the intended targets. children, families, women. an israeli general said that we are going to kill their families so that they learn not to come back again. an israeli professor at the university said to tell -- kill them, kill their children, rape yo women and children so that they learn.

of theeli member candidates it, a member of their own coalition, wrote a posting on facebook that has received several thousand likes calling for the extermination of palestinians, killing their children, killing the mother's whgive birth to the snakes. says -- we know that israel uses and has repeatedly used the claim that palestinians use human shields. that claim has been discredited over and over again by various reports. by the u.n.. by all respectable human rights organizations. there is plenty of proof, plenty of evidence that israel uses palestinians as human shields. in the case of my family and my brothers, where they were , the unicefhouse three months ago issued a report

documenting israeli views on children as human shields. it was propagated recently by a report from the u.n. initiative for children that also documented their use of human shields. israel is deliberately targeting of thiss from day one attack. they have been bombing houses, wiping entire families out to try to scare people into submission. >> the member that you referred to, from the jewish home party who wrote that on your facebook page, saying that the killing should include the mothers of martyrs, saying that they should

go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes because they give birth to little snakes -- here you are in the united states. how are you dealing with everything that has happened -- not only in the last few weeks, but because you're too brothers were killed in 2009? you went to middle barry college. we saw you just after that. now you are in california at monterey. >> there are two facets to it. on the one side the u.s. government is a full partner in the murder of palestinians, including my brothers. the united states provides over $3 billion of direct military aid to israel annually. congress has just approved or is in the process of approving an

additional $600 million in military aid to israel. they tacked on to the for dealingbill with undocumented children about $225 million in additional aid with blank backing to israel and the security council. everywhere. although we know that it sometimes goes against the u.s. stances. they just rejected the initiative for a cease-fire and secretary kerry retracted and said that they never offered the initiative. secretary kerry, have some courage. have some integrity. you had a moment to show what you really felt about it. in about show it and say it

a scheduled meeting as opposed to a hot mic moment? >> explain what you mean. >> he was appearing on the different sunday shows. >> we have a clip of that. this was one of the comments that he made on this round of network talk shows to publicly defend israel's assault on gaza. in a private phone call caught on camera between commercial breaks he appeared to speak sarcastically about the massive civilian toll in the attacks. he was speaking to an aide on his cell phone. pinpointa hell of a operation. hello a pinpoint operation. it underscores the need for a cease-fire.

>> we have got to get over there. thank you, john. we should go tonight, it is crazy to be city or -- sitting around. >> that was not on the air, although they recorded it and then played it for him to respond to. alexi tried to backtrack for comment, he went to israel and repeated the same talking points about israel having the right to defend itself. israel does have the right to defend itself, as does every nation. since 1967 we in gaza have been living under a terrible siege,

since 2000 seven. but we don't hear secretary kerry talk about this. >> what does that mean to you in daily life? >> the siege and blockade of gaza that has been implemented by israel against the gaza strip in the007, that has been strictest form. gaza has been suffering from, one degree or another, since the occupation in 1967. what it means is it shuts down all of the borders and crossings. shut down by the egyptian authorities. -- and warships and both boats in the sky, rationing everything that comes in and out. from food to medicine to pens and papers and pencils. construction material, gas,

potato chips, cardamom, chocolate. fors all for concert -- all security concerns. i know that people have died because of the chemotherapy that they required for their cancer treatment not allowed in. people who have died because of the spare parts for dialysis machines that they required for their kidney condition were not allowed in. lost athat people have very lucrative and full scholarships in some top .versities i know people, ambulances they could not retrieve victims. >> what do you say about the closing of the tunnels that were

used -- because some say that they were used to smuggle weapons? >> the tunnels have been destroyed by the egyptian authorities. they have been primarily used as a commercial avenue. it has been used as a venue for trade, getting goods in and out of gaza or primarily into gaza and allowing people to get in and out of gaza. in-laws managed to go to gaza for the first time in over 30 years through one of the tunnels. that is the only way. an israeli government official said that they are going to put the palestinians on a diet. they were allowing human rights organizations to reveal that.

calculatingnically 2000 calories per day, per person to be allowed in so that people do not starve, but just barely survived. the tunnels came and helped to change some of that. the tunnels were primarily used to let people in and out and to get everything in, from cars to gas and construction materials. after the so-called operation cast lead, tens of thousands of houses were destroyed. >> do you believe that the israeli military is bombing gaza because of hamas and the other groups firing thousands of rockets into israel? the past two years there have been virtually no rocket coming out of gaza. israel continued to siege gaza and blockade gaza. the siege is a form of slow death.

people are saying that we can either die quickly now or slowly through the siege and blockade. if i am a father and they cannot get a lifesaving medicine for my kid because of the siege? how am i going to feel? what am i going to do? there were no rockets before 2001. there were no rockets in the 1990's or 1980's, israel continued to occupy gaza and killed palestinians. >> we will have to leave it there. we are going to turn in a moment towards the israeli historian speaking to us. my condolences again to you and your family and i want to thank you very much for being with us. i am so sorry under the circumstances. a graduate student at the monterey institute for international studies in california.

this is democracy now. we will be back in a moment. ♪

>> every wall, by the free radicals. the mocker see now, the war and peace report, i am amy goodman. now we go to israel to speak with a professor of history and the director of the european palestine studies at the university of exeter. the author of a number of books, including the idea of -- including "the idea of israel. out welcome to democracy now, professor. at this point over 1000 palestinians have been killed as well. i believe that the number is 45 israeli soldiers and three civilians killed in israel. can you talk about the latest negotiations over cease-fire and what you'd think needs to happen?

be on your show, amy. there is no sign for a cease-fire on the ground itself. there are sort of two competing initiatives going on. initiative wants to dictate to the return to the status quote. marginalizing and disregarding everything that hamas was fighting for. there is a more serious effort that the secretary of state was to tryto push forward and address some of the issues that are at the heart of this present wave of violence. haver none of the to affected the reality on the ground, apart from a certain low over the last few hours compared to the last 20 days.

>> there were protests in tel aviv. how many people came out. were you there at the protest? >> i was. there were about 700 people. tel aviv, 3000. i should say, of course, that a large number of the protesters are palestinian citizens of israel. the number of israeli jews who are courageous enough to come out and demonstrate is even smaller than these numbers. they were met by a very vicious reaction from white -- right-wing demonstrators and were treated harshly by the police. do you think is most important for people to understand about the conflict? >> i think the most important thing is the historical conflict. when you listen to mainstream media coverage of the situation in gaza, you get the impression that it alltarts with an unreasonable launching of

rockets into israel by hamas. two very basic to store go backgrounds are being missed. the very immediate one to go back to june this year, when israel decided by force to demolish hamas politically in the west bank and the attempts of the unity government of palestine to push forward an international campaign to bring israel to justice on the basis of the agenda of human rights and civil rights. the depot -- deeper historical context is that since 2005 the gaza strip has been -- the people in the gaza strip have been incarcerated as criminals and the only crime is that there are palestinians in the geopolitical location that israel does not know how to deal with. when they democratically elected someone who vowed to struggle against the ghettoized in or this siege, israel reacted with

all of its force. the wider historical context, they would not explain to people that it is a desperate attempt to get out of the situation that your previous interviewee was talking about at the heart of the issue, and is solvable. one can solve the situation by lifting the siege and allowing the people to be connected with their brothers and sisters in the west bank and allowing them to be connected to the world and not to live under circumstances that no one else in the world seems to experience. >> professor, over the weekend the bbc correspondent reported on what was called an israeli mission, that hamas was not responsible for the killing of the three teenagers in the west bank in june. on twitter he said that israelis -- the israeli police spokesperson told him that the suspects that killed the affiliated with

hamas, but not operating under its leadership. what is the significance of this? >> it is very significant. of course this was known to the israelis a moment that they heard about this abduction and the killing of these three young settlers. it was very clear that israel was looking for a pretext to try and launch both a military operation in the west bank and in the gaza strip in order to try to bring back to chew asian in palestine to what it was during the failed peace process when this sort of good domicile found a way that they could and continueit with colonization without a need to change anything in their attitude of policies. depression in the westk , the killing of five young

palestinians by the israeli army, burst out in this local action, this local initiative that had nothing to do with the strategy of hamas being willing to create give leeway a unity government and try a new initiative on the united nations with international bodies to make israel accountable for more than 46 years of colonization and occupation. really, it highlights the connection between the pretext and the policy and strategy that has wreaked such carnage today in gaza. >> finally, professor, you work in israel for years. do you see a change in your country?

>> for the worse. it has already made a decision. in the junction they had to decide finally whether they wanted to be a democracy or an apartheid state, given the realities on the ground. in 2014 they made the decision that they preferred to be a racist state and not a democracy and hopes that the united states will license the decision and provide it with the immunity to continue with the necessary implication of such a policy vis-à-vis the palestinians. >> what should the u.s. do? should apply the basic definitions of democracy and recognize that they are providing unconditional support for a regime that systematically abuses that human rights and civil rights of anyone who is

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(music playing) ♪ so here at fleur, we really love to use a huge variety of lettuces when we're putting the salads together. you see we have some oak leaves, we have some baby romaine, you have some watercress over here, and i love the frisee that has a nice peppery flavor, and you see how beautiful they are. of course today in a market it's very easy for yourself at home to find these lettuces in different markets, but since we're doing a salad show today, i will share with you some great recipes to make some fabulous salads. we're making a baby spinach salad mixed with some bacon and onions and actually topped with a poached egg and served with polenta croutons. i'm also going to show you how to make a delicious grilled skirt steak served with watercress and bleu cheese and tossed with a light, refreshing vinaigrette. so come with me in the kitchen. let's get cooking! ♪