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What I learned about living in an occupied territory

What I learned about living in an occupied territory

I was born and grew up under foreign occupation. We even had the blockade, the siege, and a wall around our densely-populated area, everything you need for a full-blown occupation.

Here is what I learned:

1. If you don’t fire rockets at the surrounding country, they probably won’t shoot at you a lot. (I figured this out by not firing rockets at that country.)

2. If you don’t attack occupation forces, they probably won’t fight you. (I figured this out by not attacking members of the occupying armies. Sometimes I didn’t even throw rocks. Actually, I never threw rocks at them.)

3. If you manage to get a visa for the surrounding country, try entering it without a bomb belt around your waist, even if the country is likely to have lots of schools filled with children you could easily blow up. (One way to make sure that didn’t happen was VERY strict border controls enforced by the surrounding country. Another way to make sure that didn’t happen was not wearing bomb belts.)

If anybody has any questions about how to live in an occupied territory surrounded by a hostile country, feel free to ask me.

 

12,114 views 27 replies
Reply #26 Top

I still fail to see how West-Berlin was occupied (okay they were de jure but not de facto)  and especially how they were occupied by russians as you make it sound. If they were occupied they were occupied by France, UK and USA not by Russia and actually West-Berlin has been a island of freedom surrounded by a occupied country. Comparing West-Berlin to Kaesong (this special capitalist zone in north korea) would be a better comparison and even that would be very far stretched.

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(I didn't say anything about Russians occupying West-Berlin.)

Comparing West-Berlin to Gaza makes sense. The people of Gaza had the choice, they could have made Gaza a "special capitalist zone" if they had wanted to.

 

And Taltamir how exactly did West-Berlin (West-Berlin is a term established after the war was over) have nearly as big troubles as Gaza had? They certainly had a lot less trouble than the people in the GDR who certainly had a lot less trouble then the people in the SU.

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The reason we had less trouble was that we didn't create trouble for ourselves and voted for a government that kept us out of trouble. That was also a choice the Gazans had.

 

As Citizen of  West-Berlin you could travel everywhere without too big problems after 1971, you lived in a rich democracy, unlike the rest of the republic there even was no conscription (people even moved to west-berlin for exactly that reason).

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As a citizen of Gaza you could also travel everywhere, except after your government started a war. Gaza could have been a rich democracy, that was their choice. And whether or not there is conscription in Gaza also depends on the government of Gaza.

 

Yah sure there were was this wall with german soldiers on it and you had to fear that they start another blockade but that it is no way comparable to Gaza. And if a war between Russia and USA started you'd died a few minuten earlier then the others in a nuclear apocalypse.

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So what if Gaza has Jewish soldiers on its wall? What difference does that make? German soldiers shoot back when attacked just like Jewish soldiers do. How is that not comparable?

West-Berlin, like Gaza, had to fear a blockade. The difference is that Gaza knew that a blockade was not going to happen unless Gaza attacks Israel. West-Berlin had no such guarantee.

The "special capitalist zone" you mentioned is a usable model for Gaza. But they voted for war.

And they got it.

 

Reply #27 Top

oh, and btw... Let me remind you that I said that post WW2 germany was MORE COMPLICATED than gaza. Not that that west berliners suffered more. Obviously they suffered less... due to their own actions.