The Empire of Bulldozers and Broken Childhoods
Bulldozers, broken childhoods, and propaganda dressed as “security” — Israel’s war machine keeps grinding, while the world scrolls past the rubble.
Israeli occupation forces, ever the champions of “security,” have once again demonstrated their peculiar brand of peacekeeping in West Bank. More than 200 Palestinians were wounded in raids this week, because nothing says “defense” like tearing up 1.5 kilometers of roads, smashing water networks, and vandalizing private property.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reports 78 people needed hospital care, but perhaps Israel considers hospitals just another training ground for resilience.
After graciously withdrawing from Tammun and Far’a refugee camp, the soldiers shifted their humanitarian outreach to Tubas and nearby villages. Nearly 200 Palestinians were detained, interrogated, and mostly released — because mass arrests are apparently just another form of community engagement. Eight unlucky souls were taken to military jails, while in Qalqilya, Jenin, and Nablus, children and women were added to the tally of dawn raids.
The mayor of Tammun, who has seen dozens of raids before, declared these the worst yet. Roads ripped apart, homes bulldozed, people beaten — Israel’s military seems to be auditioning for a demolition company rather than an army. In Jenin, bulldozers are already clearing the way for the destruction of 23 more homes. Since October 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 wounded in the West Bank, including 223 children. But don’t worry, Israel assures us this is all in the name of “security.”
Meanwhile, Gaza has become the graveyard of children. The death toll has surpassed 70,000, and even ceasefires are no more than polite pauses between massacres. Two brothers, ages 8 and 11, were killed by a drone strike near a school sheltering displaced families. At least 400 Palestinians have died since the ceasefire supposedly began on October 10. Perhaps Israel’s definition of “truce” is simply “time to reload.”
The violence doesn’t stop at Gaza or the West Bank. Israeli forces raided a Syrian village, killing 13, and escalated strikes in Lebanon. In the West Bank, footage shows soldiers executing two men after they appeared to surrender. Settlers, emboldened by the state, continue their weekend hobbies of beating Palestinians and firing live ammunition.
And then there are the children — 39,000 of them now orphans, many forced into labor at the age of eight. Education has been shredded along with the roads, leaving 660,000 children out of school and 132,000 at risk of acute malnutrition. UNICEF reports children scavenging through garbage, selling coffee, or caring for siblings because their family structures have collapsed. Childhood in Gaza is no longer about play; it’s about survival.
Yet, on Western message boards, the chorus of pro-Zionist accounts sings the same tired refrain: “It’s Hamas’ fault.” As if Hamas were the architect of bulldozed homes, the author of orphanhood, the mastermind behind collective punishment. Palestinians are reduced to caricatures, stripped of humanity, blamed for their own annihilation.
If justice were a ledger, the survivors should send Israel the bill: for the shattered homes, the broken bones, the stolen futures. But the world prefers to look away, to scroll past the rubble, to debate semantics while children dig through trash for firewood.
And here I sit, a prisoner of complicity, serving a life sentence in this society that applauds destruction and calls it defense. I browse for a sci-fi movie to escape, because reality has become too grotesque. To the humans of Palestine: I am nobody, and I cannot help you. But if I could, you would not be living in this nightmare.
Author: Mel Reese
EMAIL ADDRESS:
melreese72[at]outlook[dot]com
Bulldozers, broken childhoods, and propaganda dressed as “security” — Israel’s war machine keeps grinding, while the world scrolls past the rubble.
Israeli occupation forces, ever the champions of “security,” have once again demonstrated their peculiar brand of peacekeeping in West Bank. More than 200 Palestinians were wounded in raids this week, because nothing says “defense” like tearing up 1.5 kilometers of roads, smashing water networks, and vandalizing private property.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reports 78 people needed hospital care, but perhaps Israel considers hospitals just another training ground for resilience.
After graciously withdrawing from Tammun and Far’a refugee camp, the soldiers shifted their humanitarian outreach to Tubas and nearby villages. Nearly 200 Palestinians were detained, interrogated, and mostly released — because mass arrests are apparently just another form of community engagement. Eight unlucky souls were taken to military jails, while in Qalqilya, Jenin, and Nablus, children and women were added to the tally of dawn raids.
The mayor of Tammun, who has seen dozens of raids before, declared these the worst yet. Roads ripped apart, homes bulldozed, people beaten — Israel’s military seems to be auditioning for a demolition company rather than an army. In Jenin, bulldozers are already clearing the way for the destruction of 23 more homes. Since October 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,000 wounded in the West Bank, including 223 children. But don’t worry, Israel assures us this is all in the name of “security.”
Meanwhile, Gaza has become the graveyard of children. The death toll has surpassed 70,000, and even ceasefires are no more than polite pauses between massacres. Two brothers, ages 8 and 11, were killed by a drone strike near a school sheltering displaced families. At least 400 Palestinians have died since the ceasefire supposedly began on October 10. Perhaps Israel’s definition of “truce” is simply “time to reload.”
The violence doesn’t stop at Gaza or the West Bank. Israeli forces raided a Syrian village, killing 13, and escalated strikes in Lebanon. In the West Bank, footage shows soldiers executing two men after they appeared to surrender. Settlers, emboldened by the state, continue their weekend hobbies of beating Palestinians and firing live ammunition.
And then there are the children — 39,000 of them now orphans, many forced into labor at the age of eight. Education has been shredded along with the roads, leaving 660,000 children out of school and 132,000 at risk of acute malnutrition. UNICEF reports children scavenging through garbage, selling coffee, or caring for siblings because their family structures have collapsed. Childhood in Gaza is no longer about play; it’s about survival.
Yet, on Western message boards, the chorus of pro-Zionist accounts sings the same tired refrain: “It’s Hamas’ fault.” As if Hamas were the architect of bulldozed homes, the author of orphanhood, the mastermind behind collective punishment. Palestinians are reduced to caricatures, stripped of humanity, blamed for their own annihilation.
If justice were a ledger, the survivors should send Israel the bill: for the shattered homes, the broken bones, the stolen futures. But the world prefers to look away, to scroll past the rubble, to debate semantics while children dig through trash for firewood.
And here I sit, a prisoner of complicity, serving a life sentence in this society that applauds destruction and calls it defense. I browse for a sci-fi movie to escape, because reality has become too grotesque. To the humans of Palestine: I am nobody, and I cannot help you. But if I could, you would not be living in this nightmare.
Author: Mel Reese
EMAIL ADDRESS:
melreese72[at]outlook[dot]com