News / Palestine

Ex-Israeli general admits he was 'commander of occupation’

Thursday, 01 September 2016 10:13 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 02 September 2016 8:25 PM ]

Major General Gadi Shamni, the former head of the Israeli army’s Central Command, during an Israeli army exercise in August 2008.

A former high-ranking Israeli military figure has described the Tel Aviv regime as the "champion" of the occupation that has turned into an "art" form.

“We brought the occupation to a level of art. We are the world champions of occupation. I was head of Central Command. The commander of the occupation,” Major General Gadi Shamni, the former head of the Israeli army’s Central Command and a former military attaché in the United States, said in a speech at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he claimed that the "only acceptable solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is a separation agreement from the Palestinians," because, he said, the "Palestinians will not accept the continuation of the endless Israeli occupation."

Shamni’s remarks come as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has censured Israel for turning the occupied territories into an “open-air prison,” saying terrorism could be eliminated from the entire world if the regime’s occupation comes to an end.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels on June 23, Abbas denounced Tel Aviv’s “never-ending provocations” and “fascist policies”, saying even senior Israeli officials sharply criticize the regime’s leadership.

*Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on June 23, 2016. ©AFP*

Abbas highlighted three Israeli wars on the blockaded Gaza Strip, which left thousands of people dead, and said the regime had imprisoned over a million Palestinians since 1967.

Israel “has turned our country into an open-air prison,” said Abbas, calling on EU states to help bring an end to the Israeli occupation as a step towards the elimination of global terrorism and extremism.

“Once the occupation ends, terrorism will disappear, there will be no more terrorism in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world,” the Palestinian president said.

This photo taken on July 20, 2016, shows Palestinian mourners carrying the body of 12-year-old Mohiyeh al-Tabakhi, who was killed by Israeli soldiers near East al-Quds the day before, during his funeral in the Palestinian village of al-Ram. ©AFP

Abbas further decried the global community for the deafening silence on Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

The occupied territories have witnessed new tensions ever since the Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

At least 236 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of last October.

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