May 15, 2015
Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid told a conference in Jerusalem that Palestinians suffer mainly because of their own leadership. “I want to see a Gazan spring against Hamas that is ruining daily lives.” He described how when Hamas started to build the tunnels, they would pay Gazans $50 to have a tunnel go underneath their house. Gazans have two choices: accept the money and risk Israel potentially destroying their home or be killed. “This is how Hamas is destroying daily lives in Gaza.”
In Beit Lehiya, Eid noted, Israel asked the Palestinians to evacuate in order to clear out the tunnels, but Hamas would not permit people to leave the area: “Hamas sent gangsters to Beit Lehiya in Gaza that forced people to go back.” As a result, many Gazans were killed who would not have died otherwise. But “no one speaks about the human shields, not Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch.”  (Jerusalem Online)