September 1, 2006 | Page 6

In late June, Israel intensified its assault on Palestinian society with a merciless offensive in Gaza. Historically, Israel has justified such violence as "self-defense"--even though Israeli forces carry out the majority of offensive actions and cause the most damage. Here, ERIC RUDER provides a graphical look.

Much of the information for this page came from the excellent If Americans Knew Web site--visit this site for more useful statistics and history. Other sources included the CIA World Factbook and the Congressional Research Service.

"The majority of these [Palestinian] children were killed and injured while going about normal daily activities, such as going to school, playing, shopping, or simply being in their homes."
--Catherine Cook, of the Middle East Research and Information Project

"With no shooting from the Palestinian side, and often little or no use of tear gas to disperse the protests, Israeli soldiers have repeatedly fired live ammunition into unarmed crowds."
--From the article "Shoot to Maim," published in the Village Voice

"Any humanitarian looking at the sheer number of innocent civilians who have lost their homes can only condemn Israel's house demolition policy as a hugely disproportionate military response by an occupation army."
--Peter Hansen, Commissioner General of UN Relief and Works Agency

"Since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This forms approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories."
--PalestineMonitor.org

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