THE DISPARITY IN JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE PLIGHT OF THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE
Introduction
At the turn of the 20th
century the world entered into a unique phase of the “industrial revolution”[1]
it took a leap in communication from horse carts to
automobiles, and the ingenuity of the human race had no bounds.
It was capable of achieving anything from the steam powered locomotive
to the aeroplane; it harnessed electricity, night was no longer a restriction,
nor was the ability to break the frontier that was space, “Man”
walked on the moon.[2]
With such achievement there was also the mirror image of Man’s darker side, the
depravity of “Man”, because he was also capable of annihilating an entire
population by a touch of a button, by dropping the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima[3]
and Nagasaki; at a blink of an eye, in an instant flash, a mushroom cloud was
the visual doom of many souls. “Man” took his cruelty to an efficient
industrial scale by exterminating his fellow humans all because he or she was
different in colour, race or religion. One such horror that took place on the
hallowed land of “Christendom”[4]
was that which Nazi Germany committed towards the Jews of Europe.[5]
They gave this new theatre a name that will be a symbol of horror and genocide, it was called Auschwitz.[6]
The world was no longer isolated it became an “imperial” global village in the
hands of the European colonial masters. Even the two major events that were
caused by the Europeans and fought mainly on European soil was called World
War I & II. The continent that condemned the rest of the world as
uncivilised was now the one which also lead in conventions and treaties to
civilise the globe from the aftermath of the two Wars. The next stage of its 20th Century
“renaissance”[7]
was to establish international norms as the guiding principles for the right of
life. They began as treaties[8]
and conventions: one was referred as the “Geneva Convention”,[9]
another as the “UN Declaration of Human Rights”,[10]and
rules as have been incorporated in institutions such the European Court of
Justice[11]
where articles are the foundations of its principles.
[1] David Taylor Mastering Economic and Social History (London:
Macmillan 1st edn, 1998)
[2] “Man” is used in reference
to Neil Armstrong’s famous quote during
the Apollo 11 lunar mission “That's
one small
step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." July 21st 1969.
[3] “Little Boy” was the code
name for the first atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima on August the 6th
1945
and similarly
the second bomb was “Fat Man” dropped a few days later in Nagasaki on August the 9th
[4] In reference to the term
used after the establishment of Charlemagne as the Emperor: George Holmes The
Oxford History of Medieval Europe (Oxford
University Press 1992)
[5] Jews were target were
always a target they were blamed for the plague by Edward the 1st
and evicted from
British shores
in the 12th and 13th century: Sir Maurice Powicke The Thirttenth Century 1216-
1307(Oxford: Clarendon Press 2nd
edn reprinted 1988)
[7] The term is used here to
in the context of how “European” ideas were stamped on the world as the
leaders
of
enlightenment. So who better than the same people to “civilise” the world
again?
[8] A treaty is
an express agreement under international law entered
into by actors in international law,
namely sovereign states and international
organizations. A treaty may also be known as: (international)
agreement, protocol,covenant, convention, exchange of letters
[11] http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/justice/index_en.htm
State of Israel the author of this document chose to observe empirical evidence
Even more disturbing was the fact that the farmland belonging to the farmers of Jayyous was polluted by
the raw sewage water that was pumped out of the adjacent Zufin settlement; Mr Jon Neal had the sample
examined and tested and confirmed by Beizut University. A demolition notice is not required if you happen
to live in what was designated as Area C, in accordance to the Oslo treaty: the treaty may have collapsed
but the Israeli settlement tactics have not.
The question one would like to
address in this topic is why these international norms that were established by
the victors of World War II, the nations that talked and still preach democracy
and freedom to the rest of the “uncivilised world” have resulted in the
destruction and displacement of the indigenous Semitic people of Palestine.[1]
The seeds of such prejudice and double standards has its roots embedded in
theories that developed in the past and was latter known as “Orientalism”[2]
it was sowed in the minds of the Europeans and was begun by the likes of John
of Damascus,[3]
and later taken up in its violent and physical form, known as the “Crusades”[4]
instigated by Pope Urban II, who rallied the knights and vagabonds of
Europe to “rescue” the “Holy Land” from the hands of the “infidels”, which they
executed to the letter by raping, pillaging and massacring en route to
salvation; a legacy that haunts this region even to the present day.[5]
The idea of a European colony
in the Middle East in the traditional sense was no longer viable; instead a
theoretical ideology that was around for centuries was nurtured and was embraced
with fresh impetus. It first developed as religious Zionism in the works of
people such as Zwi Hirsch Kalischer whose ideas are the foundations of racial
and secular Zionism that was to be developed by such notorieties as Moses Hess
and Theodre Herzl amongst others.[6]
The Balfour Declaration was the accumulation and accommodation of those thoughts
to establish a “European Colony” in the guise of “rights” for the “chosen” race
who were to become the victims of genocide in the hands of the Nazi’s. It did
not take long for the western world to sing from the same Hymn sheet as “never
again” was echoed all around the “civilised world”.[7]
The legacy of the crusades was taken up by the United States of America by
supporting the new Jewish state in the heart of the Middle East financially and
militarily by the biggest economic power at the time as the writer Alfred
Lilienthal sums it in the title of his book “What price Israel?” [8]The
world turns a blind eye when it comes to the justice and human rights of the
Palestinian people. The very norms that were shaped by the creators of the UN
declaration of Human Rights, and supposedly the flag bearer of those rights and
even at the time of writing these lines used its veto powers in the UN against
condemning the illegal settlements in Israel.[9]
For the purpose of objectivity and sound
assessment of the violations of international law committed by the State of Israel the author of this document chose to observe empirical evidence
[1] Arthur Koestler The Thirteenth Tribe (ISBN
978-039440284-0)
[2] Ziauddin Sardar Orientalism (Open University Press 1999)
Chap 2
[3] See above p.18
[4] Elizabeth Hallam Chronicles of the Crusades (London:
Guild Publishing 1989)
[5] Karen Armstrong A History of Jerusalem: One City, Three
Faiths (London: Harper Collins 1997)
[6] Dan Cohn-Sherbok and
Dawoud El-Alami The Palestine Israeli
Conflict ( London: Oneworld 2003)
[8] Alfred M. Lilienthal What Price Israel? ( New York:Infinity
2003)
presented by the Ecumenical
Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.[1]
Their ethos is similar to those of Amnesty International,[2]
the principles of which are stated on the Articles of the UN declaration of
Human Rights,[3]
moreover, the EAPPI work with numerous church groups as well as Israelis some
of whom are Holocaust survivors.[4]
The EAPPI sends international volunteers to Israel and occupied Palestinian territories;
they are based there to monitor and report violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law. They offer protection through nonviolent
presence; support Israeli and Palestinian peace activists; they stand at
checkpoints within the West Bank, and the gates of the separation barrier, they
try to reduce the abuse of Palestinian civilians and help them gain access to
their land, jobs, education or medical facilities and they also offer
protection to vulnerable communities at risk of violence from Israeli hard line
settlers.
On the 26th of
January 2011, Mr Jon Neal and Mr Mike Barnes[5]
presented their findings as they witnessed what they observed in a small town
in the West Bank called Jayyous. This town is divided by a barrier, an electric
fence; land was confiscated for this purpose which was on prime farmland; what
was left for agriculture required water permits, to farm the land. Permits were
required by the Palestinian farmer to access his own farmland, often permits
were inconsistent in terms of duration at the cost of agriculture which got neglected and as a result was ruined. Teenagers who would want to work on the farm lands were often refused
entrance, often having to go through security checks
stripped fully naked. The same youths would be summoned and questioned in
Hebrew courts or recurrently asked by the security service to act as spies or
report on any activity in exchange for a work permit as reported and documented
by the two observers, “To be a good occupier we have to create conflicts”[6]was
quoted. By creating discord between the teens by giving conditional work
permits or licences to one farmer and not his neighbour the Israeli government
have applied tactics precisely targeted to create conflict and division. The West Bank is
under Martial Law whilst the Israeli settlers are under Civil Law, In this
alone Article 1-18 of the UN declaration of Human Rights Charter is being
violated by Israel.
Even more disturbing was the fact that the farmland belonging to the farmers of Jayyous was polluted by
the raw sewage water that was pumped out of the adjacent Zufin settlement; Mr Jon Neal had the sample
examined and tested and confirmed by Beizut University. A demolition notice is not required if you happen
to live in what was designated as Area C, in accordance to the Oslo treaty: the treaty may have collapsed
but the Israeli settlement tactics have not.
[3] The articles are available
on http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
[4] I refer to a remarkable
woman Anna Colombo a 90 year old Holocaust Survivor see. EAPPI as above
[5] I attended this
presentation hosted by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign based in Milton
Keynes
[6] IDF Woman soldier,
Observer 2/8/10
The Israeli government views this as
disputed territory and not occupied, hence, avoiding the legal rights that
would be entitled to the Palestinians if it was defined as occupied, legal and
linguistic semantics are applied to satisfy the paymasters in the west.
There are thirty prisons all
around Israel with 8000 inmates and in the course of the last year EAPPI
reports that around 300 children have been rounded up including 35 women[1]how
many speak Hebrew? How many have representation, let alone the right of
movement or any of the rights given to the Israeli’s.
However, let us re-consider
this approach from a different perspective and the one that in the opinion of
this author is the core reasoning behind the establishment of the “Jewish”
state; the one in which if one was to simply deny the Holocaust one is labelled
as anti-Semitic[2]
and therefore is of racism and discrimination. Surely the one race that has
been persecuted throughout history, blamed for the plague in Europe, thrown out (persecuted or uprooted) by Isabella and Ferdinand from Spain[3]in
1492, almost annihilated at the hands of the Germans in World War II, would be
sympathetic to the Palestinians, the indigenous people of the land? If we are
to consider the Judeo-Christian logic so staunchly applied by the neo-conservative evangelic sponsors of the State of Israel[4]
than they cannot deny that Arabs are after all their cousins: they are also the
children of Abraham; and if the State of Israel
is to deny the right that belong to descendants Abraham, this is merely
because they descend from his second wife Hagar,[5] just like the Ethiopians who have a stronger claim to King Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba whom are treated mildly better than the Arabs[6]
If all the argument presented
thus far fails because it is emotive or “bias” and does not apply to the
Palestinians, because the occupiers can not be racist, than let us look at the law as it is: Article 1 “All human beings
are born free and equal in dignity and rights...”.The State of Israel does not live up to the standards according to article 1.
In
a 2010 report[7]
eleven drafts were submitted to the Knesset for consideration followed by
twelve in
2009 and by 2010 there were twenty one such laws submitted for the
purpose of demoting Arab status and
reducing their rights. They include 1)
Anyone denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic
state faces
imprisonment, 2) Government support for student
Conclusion
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
[1] EAPPI Fact sheet available
on the website http://www.eappi.org/
[2]
David Irving in his book Hitler’s War (Focal
Point 1991) was accused of being anti-Semitic and faced
being arrested in Austria and
Germany for “denying” the Holocaust.
[3] Some 250,000 Jews were
kicked out of Spain and were given refuge within the Muslim north Africa
[4] US tax documents reveal
$24.5 billion have been pumped into Jewish groups over a period of five
years
by US
donors. This does not include the US military financial aid amounting to
$3Billion USD
[5] Hagar was Abraham’s second
wife, a black woman given as a gift by an Egyptian Pharoah
[6] Ethiopians are treated
with contempt and labelled as “flasha”
[7] Maariv, 22 March, 2010
tuition fees is available only
for those who serve in the Israeli Defence Forces, 3) An amendment of the
Jerusalem Law so that Jerusalem is recognised as the capital of the Jewish
people, 4) An amendment of the nationality law so that the Interior Minister
has the right to revoke the citizenship of the people who violate allegiance to
the state of Israel, 5) The Nakba Law, which makes it illegal for citizens inside
Israel to organise demonstrations on the anniversary of the creation of the
Palestinian refugee catastrophe, 6) The provision for harsher sanctions against
Palestinian prisoners, particularly those who are members of Hamas, 7) The
withdrawal of citizenship from those convicted of terrorism or spying, 8) The
withdrawal of nationality and revocation of the right of citizenship, and
denying the Arab Knesset Members who visited Libya and parliamentary immunity and
other rights.
In early 2010 in a speech to
the Knesset parliamentarian Shiekh Ibrahim Sarsour[1]
commented on three religious legal opinions issued by Jewish rabbis, describing
them as “fascist, extreme and insane” they include 1) a call to prevent
Palestinians entering their own land, 2) The destruction of Palestinian’s olive
trees, farm and vineyards, and the burning of Palestinian property, wherever it
is located, and 3) The deliberate poisoning of Palestinian water sources and
sabotage of Palestinian holy places.
If the EAPPI report is not
significant enough to show violations of human rights then surely Israel’s own
legislation is proof enough? Israel has deliberately pushed for an aggressive
settlement in order for a long a term failure of the “Two State Solution”.[2]If
one looks at the map of the West Bank there are autonomous areas of Palestinian
and Israeli settlements all ring fenced by barbed wire, there is no way a
viable peaceful separation is possible with a defined border for a state.
Israel ignores any plea made by the international community to stop the
settlements: in fact even the apartheid wall[3] is
being financed by the World Bank[4]
and as of recent “leaks” made by Al-Jazeera[5] it
seems that Palestinian negotiators have not for whatever reason made an attempt
to safe guard the interest of a viable “Two State” solution in the interest for
the establishment of a State of Plaestine.
If
this is the position of the West Bank with whom Israel can do business than let
us consider what happens
if the people choose to democratically elect a group
to lead them as they did in the Gaza Strip.[6]
[2] Benny Morris One State, Two States (New York: Yale
University Press 2009)
[6] Gaza is an area only 365
km square with a population density of 4000 residence making it the worlds
most densely
populated area.
Hamas was elected and the people of Gaza were punished. The twenty three days siege on Gaza was launched on December 27, 2008: The Israeli military launched attacks killing over 1,419 people
and injuring over 5,300 more (with 70% estimated to be civilians), the highest
death toll in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades. This includes 326
children, 111 women, 367 students, at least 15 teachers, 16 medical personnel,
21 farmers, 2 fishermen and 92 labourers.[1]Furthermore, “473 Palestinians were killed by missiles from
Israeli fighter jets, 519 from unarmed drones, 92 by Israeli military
helicopters, and 7 from Israeli warships.”[2]
Moreover, Human
Rights Watch reported the Israeli use of white phosphorous shells over densely
populated areas of Gaza, these weapons that were manufactured in the United
States are evidence of War Crimes[3]. The destruction of Gaza was not just a matter of human lives but residential areas, clinics,
schools, mosques, and even the UNRWA headquarters. Over 50,000 Palestinians
were displaced and according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights[4]2864 housing units were completely destroyed by the army shelling,
affecting 19,592 Palestinians.
If the impact was
not sever enough, Gaza is being choked from the basic needs it requires to
“survive” because the Israeli government controls its water supply, electricity
and basic imports of medicine and materials to build its infrastructure. It is
inevitable that “humanity” would not stand still and would attempt to break
this blockade The Gaza flotilla raid also known as the flotilla incident of 31 May
2010, was a military attack by Israel against six
ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on May 31, 2010. This has caused an international incident and strained its
relationship with its long standing ally Turkey.
[2] ibid
Conclusion
The suffering of the people of Palestine is an injustice to
humanity caused by Israel and in the opinion of this author those who have politically
and financially supported this double standard approach. At the time of writing
this document the world is witnessing an awakening in the Middle East that was
not even imaginable, it took the desperate action of one Tunisian man to set
himself on fire to ignite the flame of freedom that is burning throughout the Arabia
world. Hosni Mubarak stayed silent and refused to open the Gaza crossing in
order not to displease his pay masters[1] and such tyrants have reached humiliating ends!Now (16.11.2012) Gaza is being attacked, some would argue its because an assassination others would say rockets being shot at from Gaza, I would say its because of the up coming elections which Natanyahu needs to win, and maybe it will be his licence to attack Iran.)
2014- the Horror repeats itself all because of Natanyahu, is not happy to see political factions of Gaza and West Bank uniting, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and shot dead by criminals, yet the careless Natanyahu condemns Hamas without proof, imprisons hundreds of people (this morning 13.7.14 a building full of disable people was indiscriminately bombed killing helpless human beings) in retaliation to the Israeli teenagers death, a Palestinian teenager was kidnapped from out side his home in Jerusalem, by Israeli Jews, who stabbed him and burnt his body. Yet Natanyahu, did not condemn this murder in the same way he did for Israeli teenagers, even when the Palestinian teenagers American cousin who was brutally beaten by the Israeli army only received lip service from the white house as "disturbing". The media in the west is so bias that everyone is fearful to mention any atrocity committed by the Israeli Defence Force. I fear as long fear every couple years I will be adding this paragraph as a record of the horror that is faced by the people of Palestine. Gaza is now Auschwitz, choked of any rights, humanity, life or dignity.
You cannot suppress humanity with tyrannical rule nor can you use the suffering caused by others mainly in Europe to humiliate people who had nothing to do with the Nazi regime or Imperial agendas. Israel is a time bomb waiting to happen and it has used its political, military and financial might to ignore all cries for humanity and has ignored all international norms. It has to embrace justice and fairness and not become forgetful of the past; They should remember the actions of the second Caliph of Islam Umar, who with his own hands cleared and cleaned the dirt and filth from the “holiest of holies”[2] the sacred temple ruin used by the Christians as a dumping ground for their rubbish, a powerful Muslim leader at the time showing humility and leadership to the Jewish cousins. Palestinians and Jews have lived in harmony for many centuries and now the time has come for both parties to be sincere in their conduct with each other, which unfortunately if you look at the above situation in the West Bank, and the destruction of Gaza is not happening and if this carried on, this region will not have a happy ending. The international community is impotent and the USA is hypocritical. The only chivalrous voice was that of a Tunisian fruit seller who had enough of the oppression and tyranny of the regimes that have suppressed its people in the region for over fifty years, Gaddafi gone, Syria torn apart with Assad deluding himself, protest and discourse arising in the neighbourhood, one wonders what the coming years will bring. So can we afford to stay silent to the heart of the Middle East problems: Palestine. Bear these thoughts, “Evil Prevails when good men remain silent” said Edmund Burke. Silence is now broken and the world will be different in the age of the digital revolution. I just pray that innocent lives are spared, and a little truth can come out so we do not get mangled up in the media wars of lies and propaganda. The stage in Arabia is set for uncertainty unless human conscience prevails.
2014- Syria is still bleeding, ISIS a reaction to years of humiliation from an invading foreign power and its puppet the Maliki Government in Iraq. This is the ghost of Saddam Hussein and it will haunt the Land of Abraham in the coming months and years, and if ever there was a threat to Monarchs this would be such a force. It will either implode or continue, the fact that Natanyahu felt it was necessary for him to favour an independent Kurdistan, is proof if ISIS turns its attention towards Jordan and across the river, it could unite many of the sectarian factions and change the regions into a bloody killing field. Israel is only inviting this danger by behaving like the Nazis towards the people of Palestine....
2014- the Horror repeats itself all because of Natanyahu, is not happy to see political factions of Gaza and West Bank uniting, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and shot dead by criminals, yet the careless Natanyahu condemns Hamas without proof, imprisons hundreds of people (this morning 13.7.14 a building full of disable people was indiscriminately bombed killing helpless human beings) in retaliation to the Israeli teenagers death, a Palestinian teenager was kidnapped from out side his home in Jerusalem, by Israeli Jews, who stabbed him and burnt his body. Yet Natanyahu, did not condemn this murder in the same way he did for Israeli teenagers, even when the Palestinian teenagers American cousin who was brutally beaten by the Israeli army only received lip service from the white house as "disturbing". The media in the west is so bias that everyone is fearful to mention any atrocity committed by the Israeli Defence Force. I fear as long fear every couple years I will be adding this paragraph as a record of the horror that is faced by the people of Palestine. Gaza is now Auschwitz, choked of any rights, humanity, life or dignity.
You cannot suppress humanity with tyrannical rule nor can you use the suffering caused by others mainly in Europe to humiliate people who had nothing to do with the Nazi regime or Imperial agendas. Israel is a time bomb waiting to happen and it has used its political, military and financial might to ignore all cries for humanity and has ignored all international norms. It has to embrace justice and fairness and not become forgetful of the past; They should remember the actions of the second Caliph of Islam Umar, who with his own hands cleared and cleaned the dirt and filth from the “holiest of holies”[2] the sacred temple ruin used by the Christians as a dumping ground for their rubbish, a powerful Muslim leader at the time showing humility and leadership to the Jewish cousins. Palestinians and Jews have lived in harmony for many centuries and now the time has come for both parties to be sincere in their conduct with each other, which unfortunately if you look at the above situation in the West Bank, and the destruction of Gaza is not happening and if this carried on, this region will not have a happy ending. The international community is impotent and the USA is hypocritical. The only chivalrous voice was that of a Tunisian fruit seller who had enough of the oppression and tyranny of the regimes that have suppressed its people in the region for over fifty years, Gaddafi gone, Syria torn apart with Assad deluding himself, protest and discourse arising in the neighbourhood, one wonders what the coming years will bring. So can we afford to stay silent to the heart of the Middle East problems: Palestine. Bear these thoughts, “Evil Prevails when good men remain silent” said Edmund Burke. Silence is now broken and the world will be different in the age of the digital revolution. I just pray that innocent lives are spared, and a little truth can come out so we do not get mangled up in the media wars of lies and propaganda. The stage in Arabia is set for uncertainty unless human conscience prevails.
2014- Syria is still bleeding, ISIS a reaction to years of humiliation from an invading foreign power and its puppet the Maliki Government in Iraq. This is the ghost of Saddam Hussein and it will haunt the Land of Abraham in the coming months and years, and if ever there was a threat to Monarchs this would be such a force. It will either implode or continue, the fact that Natanyahu felt it was necessary for him to favour an independent Kurdistan, is proof if ISIS turns its attention towards Jordan and across the river, it could unite many of the sectarian factions and change the regions into a bloody killing field. Israel is only inviting this danger by behaving like the Nazis towards the people of Palestine....
[1] US gives $1.5billion worth
of Aid to the Egyptian Military and it rumoured the Mubarak’s family is
worth around
$70 Billion after ruling 3 decades with an Iron fist suppressing the rights of
the Egyptian
people.
[2] Dr Ali Muhammad As-Sallabi
Umar ibn Al-Khattabhis Life & Times (ISBN
9960-9871-0-8)
Bibliography
Louise Althusser Lenin
and Philosophy (London: Monthly Review Press 1971)
Avi Shlaim Israel and
Palestine (London: Verso 2009)
David Taylor Mastering
Economic and Social History (London: Macmillan 1st edn, 1998)
George Holmes The Oxford History of Medieval Europe (Oxford
University Press 1992)
Dr Ali Muhammad
As-Sallabi Umar ibn Al-Khattabh’s Life
& Times (ISBN 9960-9871-0-8)
Sir Maurice Powicke The Thirteenth Century 1216- 1307(Oxford:
Clarendon Press 2nd edn
reprinted 1988)
Arthur Koestler The Thirteenth Tribe (ISBN
978-039440284-0)
Ziauddin Sardar Orientalism (Open University Press 1999) Chap 2
Elizabeth Hallam Chronicles of the Crusades (London: Guild Publishing 1989)
Karen Armstrong A History of Jerusalem: One City, Three
Faiths (London: Harper Collins 1997)
Dan Cohn-Sherbok and
Dawoud El-Alami The Palestine Israeli
Conflict ( London: Oneworld
2003)
Alfred M. Lilienthal What Price Israel? ( New York:Infinity
2003)
David Irving in his
book Hitler’s War (Focal Point 1991)
Benny Morris One State, Two States (New York: Yale
University Press 2009)
Edward W. Said Orientalism (London: Routledge &
Kegan Paul 1978)
Sandercock, Sainath,
McLaughlin, Khalili, Blincoe, Arraf and Andoni Peace under fire (London
Verso: 2004)
Colin Chapman Whose Holy City (London: A lion Book
2004)
Robert Fisk The Great War for civilisation The Conquest
of the Middle East (London: Harper
Pernnial 2006)
Karen Armstrong A History of God (New York: Ballantine
1993)
David Livingstone &
Sahib Bleher Surrendering Islam (London:
Mustaqim 2010)
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