Jenin camp is a scene of devastation,
but yields no evidence of a massacre
4.16.02 Molly Moore Wash.Post
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Lives reduced to rubble ¹ Jenin camp is a scene of devastation, but yields no evidence of a massacre 4.16.02 Molly Moore Wash.Post |
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Jenin Refugee Camp, West Bank The heart of this battered Palestinian shantytown of 13,000
inhabitants has been erased from the face of the earth, its maze of apartment houses and twisting streets
bulldozed by the Israeli military into a vast crater of broken concrete. The crater, about the size of two square city
blocks, lies at the end of a dusty river of destruction that looks as if it swept through in a fierce flood, taking with it
sad souvenirs from the homes & lives it obliterated: a hand-knit blue sweater, a lace window curtain, cooking pots, a car sliced in half.
The rubble has obscured many facts, but some are indisputable. Some of the most brutal urban battles, heaviest
air barrages and most devastating ground tactics in more than 2 weeks of Israeli assaults against Palestinian towns & communities across the West Bank have been waged here. Others are less clear. Interviews with residents inside the camp & international aid workers who were allowed here for the first time today indicated that no evidence has surfaced to support allegations by Palestinian groups & aid organizations of large-scale massacres or executions by Israeli troops.
Residents also said Israeli war tactics became especially harsh after 13 soldiers were killed 4.9.02 in an
elaborate ambush set by Palestinian fighters in the camp. One resident
said he counted 71 helicopter missile attacks within a 30-minute period the night after the ambush, nearly
as many as had been fired previously in an entire night. Residents also said the military stepped up the
pace of the bulldozings and stopped giving them advance warnings to leave their homes.
Abdul Hassan Bahaldin, 26, said he heard the first tanks roll into the camp from all 4 sides of town at
around midnight on April 3. "It sounded terrible, it was very frightening, the kids started screaming, we
panicked," he said. All 21 members of his family who lived in a house on the edge of the camp
scampered into what they considered the safest room, the basement. They had already stockpiled
supplies. A few hours later they heard footsteps on the floor above them and soldiers burst into the
basement demanding to know, "Where are the men? Where are the men?"
For 4 days, the military pummeled the camp with rockets, missiles and artillery shells fired from U.S.-provided AH-64 Apache helicopters & tanks. Houses throughout the camp were sprayed with bullets and gouged with
gaping holes. Not a single glass window appeared to have survived the onslaught. Damaj, member of Palestinian
leader Yassar Arafat's Fatah organization and head of the camp's emergency response committee, communicated with a cell phone today by hot-wiring his electrical cord to hand-held batteries. He said the bulldozers arrived 4 days into the campaign, just after 10 am on a Saturday, and demolished everything in their paths. Within 10 minutes, Damaj said, the machines had flattened 6 homes belonging to his neighbors.
As soon as the bulldozers moved to the next street, soldiers swarmed into the newly plowed road. "They
were shooting everything ahead of them, everything they saw, everything that moved," Damaj said.
Before the attacks of the past 2 weeks, the Jenin refugee camp was a jumble of square concrete houses
& apartments stacked atop one another on a hillside. Residents traversed the community through a
network of tiny alleyways and a series of steps connecting various levels of the town. Today, the walk
from Damaj's neighborhood to what was once the center of town was a panorama of the kind of
devastation usually associated with earthquakes or landslides.
Rockets & missiles turned other buildings into a spaghetti of twisted metal & broken chunks of
concrete. Rooftop water tanks & satellite dishes were pocked with bullet holes. Cars that had been
cut in half or smashed flat by tanks lined the streets. Some alleyways were apparently the scenes of such
intense shooting that they appeared to be carpeted in bullet casings. The fine, spiderweb-like lines of
wire-guided TOW missiles draped across passageways & trees where they slumped after
leading missiles to their targets. The camp initially appeared deserted. Scrawny cats yowled. The cracks
of gunfire, booms of tank rounds and roar of patrolling tanks could be heard throughout the day. But deep
inside the maze of the camp, largely out of sight of the patrols, residents were beginning to venture
out.
Few bolder residents walked tentatively to the center of town, gawking at what was once the heart of the camp,
apartments & houses that sheltered an estimated 200 families. Residents said that the heart of the
impoverished camp was home to many of the fighters for militant Islamic groups that put up resistance to the Israeli attack. Aiseh Saleh's kitchen window overlooks the destruction. The 39-year-old teacher said her house was spared because the Israeli soldiers took it over as a command post. She said they taped an aerial photograph to the wall, with the houses of wanted men outlined with a blue marker. On the day the 13 soldiers were killed, their comrades in her house wept. The soldiers left behind several bandoliers of bullets that her sons draped around their necks.
Trails of destruction, tales of loss
Jenin, West Bank According to their relatives, The Fashafsheh family mother, father and 9 yr old
son were killed when an Israeli tank fired a shell through their living room in downtown Jenin and an Israeli
bulldozer plowed into the thick walls of their home, smashing it down on top of them. Rina Zayyed, 15, said she
was struck in the chest by a bullet as she sat at home with her father & brother. An Israeli helicopter gunship
opened fire on a man in the street below who was recharging a cell phone with his car battery, she recounted, and a fragment hit her. Khadra Samara, 33, said she shepherded more than a dozen children as she fled from house to house to house in the adjacent Jenin refugee camp, under repeated assault from Israeli bulldozers & missiles that, house by house, nearly toppled the walls on top of them. These are some stories people told today in Jenin.
The northern West Bank town, along with its refugee camp, has been the scene of the fiercest fighting in the 2
weeks since Israel's army launched attacks on Palestinian cities and towns, vowing to eliminate what PM Ariel
Sharon called a terrorist infrastructure. Today for the first time, reporters journeyed into town during a break in the
Israeli-imposed curfew to see and hear what occurred. Many refugees who fled to town to escape the camp's
dusty streets & cinder-block hovels where the bloodiest fighting unfolded said their homes had been
pulverized. They described bodies lying in the streets. "There are uncountable numbers of houses that have been
destroyed," said Riad Ghaleb, 28, produce seller from the camp. "When you see them, you go crazy. The
helicopter fired so many rockets at our neighborhood because 3 soldiers were killed there in a house near where I
live." From 10am to 2pm, the Israeli army lifted the curfew it imposed on Jenin for more than a week. It was the first
time since last weekend that people in the town were permitted out of their homes. The adjacent refugee camp,
now largely empty & shell-shattered, remained locked down.
In those hours, movement on the roads was allowed but still risky. Shortly after 10am, an Israeli tank
opened fire with its heavy machine gun on a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, Fares Einad Zaben, who
ventured too close, doctors at Jenin's Razi Hospital said. The boy was hit in the chest and died. Several
dozen outgunned Palestinian fighters surrendered to Israeli forces in the refugee camp today, apparently
the last holdouts in the week-long battle. Israeli officials have estimated that 150 to 200 Palestinians died
in the camp. Some Palestinians put the figure closer to 500 but acknowledged they had no hard count
because the camp has been closed off by Israeli forces. Nearly 700 Palestinians were arrested in the
camp, including many fighters. Sporadic gunfire continued throughout the day in Jenin, much of it by
Israeli tanks & armored vehicles firing heavy machine guns and soldiers shooting assault rifles. The
shooting seemed a means of enforcing the curfew, which has emptied the streets of Jenin, even with its
refugee-swollen population of at least 30,000.
Palestinians emerged from their houses during the 4 hour respite to gawk at the razed houses & shattered
facades downtown. On Old Castle Street, where the Fashafsheh family lived, their corner house, with its walls 3 ft
thick, was a wreck, half of it shorn away and turned to rubble. In the crater that was once the family's living room,
the stench of death hung in the air. About 9am one day last weekend, an Israeli tank fired a shell into the house
without warning, according to neighbors. Then an Israeli armored bulldozer pulverized the wall, possibly to clear a
passage for the tank to pass. Ahmad Fashafsheh, 50, his wife, Sameera, and their son Hisham were killed. Two
other sons, 11 & 13, were hurt.
Neighbors dug the corpses out of the rubble and covered them with a white sheet. It was only this morning, when
the Israeli curfew was lifted, that the Fashafshehs were buried. "I'm not mourning the death of my relatives because
there are so many others to be mourned," Issam Fashafsheh said.
Shortly before 2pm, when the curfew was reimposed, the streets suddenly started to empty. At 2:30pm,
an Israeli armored vehicle drove through town, firing bursts from its heavy machine gun. There was no
sound of return fire. After curfew, perhaps the only functioning institution in Jenin was the little Razi
Hospital, just south of the town center. Lacking water and short on diesel fuel to power its generator, the
30-bed hospital struggled to meet basic needs. The Israeli military has permitted no regular ambulance
service. The staff has been on duty for 10 days straight. Two doctors were hit by gunfire in an upstairs
room.
The hospital has survived by improvisation. Unable to call for ambulances to transfer badly injured patients to
larger hospitals, Razi's one general surgeon has twice in the last week operated by phone calls from the operating
room. Once it was a man shot in the head. The surgeon, Jaffar Azzam, 32, said he operated with real-time
telephone advice from a Swiss Red Cross neurosurgeon in Ramallah, another West Bank town about 30 miles to
the south. A day later, Azzam said, he was on the phone with his old professor in Jordan, a vascular surgeon,
soliciting advice to save a teenager's arm after he had been hit by Israeli gunfire. "I tried my best and, God help us,
his arm was saved," Azzam said. "He would have lost the arm. The clock was ticking."
But for most of the week, the hospital has been a nerve center for bad news. "A few days ago a woman
called from home and said, 'I'm in labor,' " said Ziad Ayaseh, the hospital director. "I told her what to do,
but she said the child was not breathing. I said, 'He's dead. You can put him on the list of the martyrs like
those in the refugee camp.' " When the curfew was lifted today, the family of a 52-year-old Palestinian
woman arrived with her corpse. The woman had been shot in the face & chest by helicopter
gunships, her family said; they needed a death certificate.
Inexplicably, the bulldozer backed off. But before dawn Monday it smashed into the house again, shaking the
cinder-block walls of the bedroom where the children were sleeping. "The top of the wall started to give, and I
started grabbing the kids and hauling them away from there," she said. "They destroyed the house with everything
in it. We didn't even take one T-shirt for one child." Samara tried to get out the front door, but found it was blocked
by rubble. She handed the children through a side window into a neighbor's house. "I was so furious I wanted to
make a suicide bomb and use it on them," she said. "I picked up a cylinder of cooking gas to carry with me so I
could blow it up. I was so scared I was screaming. I thought I was going to die. "When I picked up the cylinder my
daughter said, 'Mom, don't do it! For God's sake don't do it!' " The second house provided little respite. An hour after they took refuge there, the bulldozer came again. They fled to a third house; it came under attack from missiles fired by helicopter gunships. "From 12pm to 3pm we ran from bedroom to bathroom to kitchen, wherever we thought was safest to go. The children became sick from fear and started vomiting," Samara said. They finally emerged waving white scarves. By that time, with residents of the 2 other houses having joined the group, they counted nearly 30 women & children. The soldiers held them for 3 hours, then let them go, Samara said. "We walked for a half-hour from the camp into the town," she said. "Israeli helicopter gunships dropped stun grenades to scare us."
Mr Wolfowitz told the crowd that Pres. GWBush "wants you to know that he stands in solidarity with you". The rally
was being held as U.S. Sec.State Powell continued his mission to MidEast to try to end soaring violence between
Israel & Palestinians. Some demonstrators were angry that Powell met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
whom Israel has branded as an enemy of the state. "I thought sending Powell was a bow to the bombers," said
Rep. Anthony David Weiner D-NY. "But that being said, I think President Bush has been for the first 13 months of
his administration one of the best friends Israel has had," he said. Mr Bush avoided meeting Mr Arafat, while
Sharon visited the White House 4 times since Bush took office in January last year. Many Israel supporters accused U.S. of double standards in its fight against terrorism after U.S. called on Israel to cease its military operations in the West Bank. Barbara Mikulski D-MD said: "The U.S. & Israel stand shoulder to shoulder in the war on terrorism. We both have suffered terrible losses, and we have both decided to fight those who dare to attack our people." "Conservatives have a deeper intellect and tend to have occupations of the brain in fields like engineering, science and economics," Armey said, while liberals flock to "occupations of the heart." |
4.11.02 James Reynolds BBC
We headed into Jenin itself, next to the refugee camp. We spoke to people who had had to leave their homes in the
camp and are now sheltering with people in the town. We went to one house and saw an elderly man lying on the
floor. He had what appeared to be a bullet wound in his side. He was unable to get to hospital; ambulances are still
not allowed on to the streets. We saw one family outside a small cemetery, screaming & crying. They had just
buried their relative, a farmer. They told us he had been shot dead in the morning by Israeli soldiers.
For now, most people in Jenin are staying indoors. Israeli bulldozers & tanks are on the roads. As we left, I
saw a column of 8 armoured personnel carriers enter Jenin. One was draped with an Israeli flag. From what I could
see on the ground, the Israeli offensive in Jenin shows little sign of ending soon.
Israel buries bodies, but cannot hide evidence
Israel buried evidence in Jenin refugee camp yesterday, but it cannot bury the terrible crime it committed:
slaughter in which Palestinian civilians were cut down alongside armed defenders of the camp. Israeli tanks circled
journalists as foreign reporters tried to get into the camp, cutting off their approach. A man who had just fled the
camp said he had seen Israeli soldiers burying the bodies of the dead in a mass grave. "I saw it all with my own
eyes," said the man. "I saw people bleeding to death in the streets. I saw a 10-year-old child lying dead. There was
a big hole in his side and his arm had been blown away. I saw them burying the bodies. They started work on the
grave a few days ago. I recognised some of the bodies in it. I can give you the names. Mohammed Hamed, Nidal
Nubam and Mustafa Shnewa". He said the mass grave he saw was in a neighbourhood called Harat Al-Hawashiya.
"They dug a big hole in the ground. I saw them filling it in today. They had a big bulldozer pushing dirt in on top of
it."
Agencies collect information in the face of Israel's news black-out which detail the scene inside the half-wrecked,
water-starved camp, a sprawl of tightly packed homes over one sq km. A prison where thousands of refugees are
still in hiding, terrified soldiers will add them to the three-figure death toll. Grim, if incomplete, picture formed incl
electricity supplies in Jenin Hospital so low that the morgue's refrigerators are not running. Decomposing bodies,
retrieved from other parts of the West Bank town, have been buried in the hospital gardens. Yesterday morning
corpses lay unburied in the camp itself, where 15,000 refugees, half of them under 18, lived before the assault
& ensuing battles began.
"People who got to the edge of the camp found it incredibly smelly," one UN official said. How much of the camp
still stands is unclear; reports say that bulldozers have cut a swath through homes near the entrance, a tactic which
Israeli PM Ariel Sharon used against the refugees of Gaza 30 years ago, when he was an army commander trying
to subdue the same forces that have now reared up against him anew. Some accounts say that a third of the camp
has been flattened. Besieged Palestinians of Jenin fall into 3 categories. There is an unknown number in hiding in
the refugee camp itself. These are without water, medicines, and risk being shot by Israeli snipers if they step
outside, violating the curfew. There are also an estimated 2,000-3,000 who have fled the camp, and are living in
schools and mosques in poor conditions, with limited supplies.
Israel may be able to hide dead bodies but it cannot hide all the evidence. Hundreds of refugees have poured out
of Jenin camp, many with harrowing stories to tell. The Palestinians are not going to let these stories be buried
under the rubble. Volunteers are compiling meticulous records of the testimony. The Independent has seen the
laborious hand-written notes, of which several copies have been made. Among them lies the story of Jamal
Wardun. He was detained in the refugee camp when he tried to take his wife to hospital. She was pregnant &
going into labour. The last time he saw her was when he was forced to leave her behind in the street.
4.16.02 Phil Reeves Independent UK
A quiet sad-looking young man called Kamal Anis led us across the wasteland, littered now with detritus of what
were once households, foam rubber, torn clothes, shoes, tin cans, children's toys. He suddenly stopped. This was a
mass grave, he said, pointing. We stared at a mound of debris. Here, he said, he saw the Israeli soldiers pile 30
bodies beneath a half-wrecked house. When the pile was complete, they bulldozed the building, bringing its ruins
down on the corpses. Then they flattened the area with a tank. We could not see the bodies. But we could smell
them. A few days ago, we might not have believed Kamal Anis. But the descriptions given by the many other
refugees who escaped from Jenin camp were understated, not, as many feared and Israel encouraged us to
believe, exaggerations. Their stories had not prepared me for what I saw yesterday. I believe them now.
Until 2 weeks ago, there were several hundred tightly-packed homes in this neighbourhood called Hanat al-
Hawashim. They no longer exist. Around the central ruins, there are many hundreds of half-wrecked homes. Much
of the camp, once home to 15,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war, is falling down. Every wall is speckled
and torn with bullet holes & shrapnel, testimony of the awesome, random firepower of Cobra & Apache
helicopters that hovered over the camp. Building after building has been torn apart, their contents of cheap fake
furnishings, mattresses, white plastic chairs spewed out into the road. Every other building bears giant, charred,
impact mark of a helicopter missile. Last night there were still many families and weeping children still living amid
the ruins, cut off from the humanitarian aid. Ominously, we found no wounded, although there was a report of a
man being rescued from beneath ruins only an hour before we arrived.
Those who did not flee the camp, or not detained by the army, have spent the bombardment in basements,
enduring day after day of terror. Some were forced into rooms by the soldiers, who smashed their way into houses
through the walls. The UN says half of the camp's 15,000 residents were under 18. As the evening hush fell over
these killing fields, we could suddenly hear the children chattering. The mosques, once so noisy at prayer time,
were silent. Israel was still trying to conceal these scenes yesterday. It had refused entry to Red Cross ambulances
for nearly a week, in violation of the Geneva Convention. Yesterday it continued to try to keep us out. Jenin, in
northern end of occupied West Bank, remained "a closed military zone", was ringed Merkava tanks, army Jeep
patrols, and armoured personnel carriers.
Reporters caught trying to get in were escorted out. A day earlier the Israeli armed forces took in a few selected
journalists to see sanitised parts of the camp. We simply walked across the fields, flitted through an olive orchard
overlooked by 2 Israeli tanks, and into the camp itself. We were led in by hands gesturing at windows. Hidden,
whispering people directed us through narrow alleys they thought were clear. When there were soldiers about, a
finger would raise in warning, or a hand waved us back.
Cat executives "arrested" for war crimes, offices condemned
9.17.02 IMC Wash.DC
9am 9.17.02, a media advisory went out stating executives from Caterpillar Corp. would be arrested at their office
in DC & other locations around the country. The media responded immediately, assuming it was another case
of corporate corruption, but, when Fox News arrived, they quickly realized it was not an issue of corruption but of
war crimes
The arrest warrant served to CAT read:
Upon delivery of the warrant, the CAT executives tried to slam the door, but the SUSTAIN activists blocked it with
their bodies and held it open. The CAT executives first threatened to call the police, and then threatened physical
assault. The activists replied calmly that they would remain there until they were finished articulating all of the war
crimes for which CAT was responsible. They presented color photographs of CAT bulldozers demolishing civilian
homes, and explained that at Nuremberg, corporate executives who knowingly supplied equipt for war crimes were
tried and held accountable under international law.
Meanwhile, downstairs in front of the building more activists from SUSTAIN, dressed as Israeli soldiers, were
condemning the CAT building for demolition. They were demanding, over a bullhorn, that everyone evacuate the
building because people complicit in terrorist acts and war crimes were being arrested inside. "This is a closed
Israeli military zone." they yelled as 'construction workers' put orange cones in front of the entrance and wrapped
the building in yellow 'Caution' tape. They then posted "Condemnation Orders" on the front doors of the office
building that read: Jailed JDL leader brain-dead in suspected suicide JDL calls for investigation of prison incident 11.5.02 Ann McDermott CNN
Los Angeles The chairman of the militant Jewish Defense League was declared brain-dead Monday,
his lawyer said, after authorities said he tried to kill himself in the prison where he was awaiting trial on charges of
conspiring to bomb a mosque and a U.S. congressman's office. The JDL questioned whether the wounds suffered
by Irv Rubin, 56, were self-inflicted. "We find it difficult to believe that this was an attempted suicide, and are calling
for a full investigation into the events surrounding Mr. Rubin's injuries," the JDL said in a statement. "We are
saddened by the news of today," the statement said. "JDL Chairman Irv Rubin is a strong and brave man who has
never run from anything in his life."
Rubin was released from his cell in the Metropolitan Detention Center between 5:30 and 6 a.m. Monday for
breakfast, said U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Wm Woolsey. "Sometime after that, he sustained self-inflicted
injuries," using a shaving razor to cut his throat, Woolsey said. Rubin then fell or jumped from his cell-block tier to
the level below, an 18 ft drop, and landed on his head. Woolsey said Rubin's intention was to take his own life.
Rubin & Earl Krugel were accused of planning to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City CA the
Muslim Public Affairs Council in L.A. and the district office of Rep. Darrell Issa. The bombings were to be carried
out by a third party, prosecutors contend. The purpose of the attacks was to send a "wake-up call" or terrorize
Muslims in defense of the interests of Jews, according to an FBI affidavit. Both men denied the charges and
suspected federal authorities may have entrapped them, according to their attorneys. |
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Armey's remarks assailed Lawmaker's comments a 'personal attack' on Jews, Democrats say. 9.25.02 Janet Hook L.A.Times
Wash.D.C. House Majority Leader Dick Armey R-TX, #2 leader in the House, has come under fire
for comments that Democratic critics said amounted to a "personal attack" on American Jews who do not share his
conservative views. Armey, speaking at an event in Florida on Friday, was quoted by a local paper as saying: "I
always see two Jewish communities in America: one of deep intellect and one of shallow, superficial intellect.
Armey, who is retiring from Congress this year, is known for his blunt-spoken, often controversial commentary. His
Florida comments came during a discussion on the MidEast, in response to a question about why the Jewish
American community seemed divided along ideological lines.
Two Democratic Party leaders issued a statement Tuesday condemning Armey for what they called "disparaging
comments ... about the millions of Jews and other Americans who happen to disagree with his right-wing ideology."
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head Rep. Nita M. Lowey D-NY & former House Democratic
Caucus chair Rep. Martin Frost D-TX said in a blistering statement: "Seldom has the Congress become a better
institution due to the departure of a member of the House leadership. However, it has become clear that the House
will become a more civil & decent institution the day Dick Armey retires." Asked to respond, Armey said his comments were not offensive to Jews, but simply reflected a long-held view about all liberals compared to conservatives: "Liberals are generally not very bright, and conservatives are deep thinkers." |
After the initial clashes, thousands of Palestinians barricaded themselves in 2 mosques in the compound. After 2
hours, the standoff ended peacefully, following negotiations between police and Islamic Trust, which administers
the compound. The walled holy site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it emerged as a key
sticking point in peace talks. The Palestinians seek sole control over the compound, the third holiest shrine of
Islam. Israel has rejected the demand.
In the diplomatic arena, Sharon has said he would let his divided Likud Party make a final decision on the
withdrawal plan. Sharon is to hold a binding referendum among 200,000 party members after his return from an
4.14.04 meeting with President Bush. Recent polls suggested that while Sharon has an advantage, the gap is too
small to assure approval of the Gaza plan.
Sharon's interviews with the Maariv, Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz dailies, given ahead of next week's Passover
holiday, were seen as the opening of his campaign for the withdrawal plan. Maariv quoted him as saying Israel
would withdraw from all of Gaza, only retaining control over a patrol road between southern Gaza and the Egyptian
border, to prevent weapons smuggling. "He said very clearly we are not going to stay in Gaza," Sharon's
spokesman Raanan Gissin said Friday.
The prime minister told Yediot that after the withdrawal Israel would consider cutting off
water & electricity to Gaza if
attacks against Israelis continue. Asked by Haaretz whether Arafat & Nasrallah are targets for assassination,
Sharon said: "I wouldn't suggest that either of them feel immune … Anyone who kills a Jew or harms an
Israeli citizen, or sends people to kill Jews, is a marked man. Period." Sharon told Maariv that Arafat "has no
insurance policy." Sharon added that "today, everyone knows Arafat is the obstacle (blocking) any progress."
Palestinian officials said they are taking Sharon's threats seriously. "With these threats, Sharon is threatening the
future of the peace process in the region," said Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh. A spokesman for Nasrallah declined
comment.
Sharon has repeatedly accused Arafat of involvement in attacks on Israelis, saying he encourages & finances
militants. Nasrallah said earlier this week Hezbollah will help Hamas avenge the Yassin killing. Israel's Cabinet
decided Sept 2003 that Arafat should be "removed", intentionally vague statement that could mean he would be
expelled or killed. However, Israel has not acted on the threat.
In other developments Friday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian, Ibrahim Issa Nasser, in the
West Bank town of Bethlehem near the Jewish holy site of Rachel's Tomb, witnesses said. An Israeli army
spokesman said soldiers shot the youth as he was preparing to throw a firebomb at them in the midst of a clash
between troops and a few dozen stone throwers.
Group: Israel deprives Palestinians of water
Jersualem Amnesty International is accusing Israel of pumping disproportionate amounts of drinking water from an aquifer it controls in the West Bank, depriving local Palestinians of their fair share. The London-based human rights group also said in a report to be released Tuesday, that Israel has blocked infrastructure projects that would improve existing water supplies to Palestinians both in the West Bank and those living in the Gaza Strip.
Water is a major point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians and is considered an issue that must be resolved before the two sides could make peace. The issue is further compounded by the split in Palestinian territories, with the moderate Fatah movement governing the West Bank, while the militant Hamas rules the coastal Gaza Strip.
The report especially focuses on the so-called Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank. It says that Israel uses more than 80 percent of water drawn from the aquifer and while the Jewish state has other water sources, the aquifer is the West Bank's sole supply of water.
Regev said Israel pumps less water from the Mountain Aquifer today than it did in 1967, and Palestinian consumption of fresh water has actually tripled in that time. He blamed the Palestinians for not investing in development in the West Bank and said they have failed even to drill wells that have already been approved.
In the report, Amnesty also cited serious problems with water supply to the Gaza Strip. Since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory in 2007, Gaza's long-standing problems with sewage and water sanitation facilities have deteriorated, Rovera said. During Israel's offensive in Gaza last year, water and sewage pipes suffered severe damage.
This "fence" will dwarf the Berlin Wall, enclosing the entire 340 km length of the West Bank. Israel claims
the wall is for security purposes. It will extend well east of the Green Line, the boundary between Israel & the
West Bank established in 1948. To build it, Israel is taking over the Western Aquifer that supplies 50% of the
West Bank's water and grabbing thousands of acres of the West Bank's richest agricultural land. The wall around
Jerusalem will bring the now divided Holy City fully under Israeli control.
"The idea of walling in the whole West Bank is truly insane. Israel wants to turn the West Bank into a giant prison,
strangle our economy and force us to leave," said Osama Qashoo, who participated in the Kafr Jamal farmers'
protest. Israel's Metzer Kibbutz general secretary Doron Liber, an agricultural collective inside the Green Line,
says, "If my land was being taken away the way Israel's fence is taking away Palestinian land, I would turn the
world upside down."
Sharon initially considered retaining 3 settlements in northern Gaza. There had also been debate over how many
West Bank settlements to evacuate, and it appears Sharon settled for the smallest proposed number of 4.
"We need to get out of Gaza, not to be responsible any more for what happens there," Sharon told Maariv. "I hope
that by next Passover we will be in the midst of disengagement, because disengagement is good for
Israel."
Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, made veiled threats against Arafat & Nasrallah last week, after
Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
For more than 2 years, Israel has confined Arafat to his West Bank city of Ramallah HQ. Sharon told Haaretz that
once Israel completes its West Bank separation barrier, Palestinians living illegally in Israel will be expelled. He
said there are tens of thousands of them in Israeli Arab villages.
Also on Friday Israeli tanks entered the Rafah refugee camp on the border, looking for smuggling tunnels, the
military said. Palestinians said a 19-year-old man was killed in exchanges of fire. Hospital officials identified him as
Mohammed Abed. It was not clear if he was a militant.
The military denied that soldiers fired any shots, but said an armored vehicle was lightly damaged by a roadside
bomb.
Israelis accused of using 80 percent of West Bank aquifer's supply
10.26.09 AP
"This scarcity has affected every walk of life for Palestinians," Amnesty's researcher on Israel, Donatella Rovera, told AP in an interview Monday, ahead of the report's release. "A greater amount of water has to be granted to them."
Israeli officials deny the accusations.
Israelis use more than four times the amount of water per person on average than do Palestinians, whose consumption falls far below the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organization, the report said.
As a result, the 450,000 Israelis who live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem use more water than the 2.3 million Palestinian residents, Amnesty said. Israel captured both areas from Jordan in the 1967 war. The Palestinians claim them as part of a future state. Israeli govt spokesman Mark Regev called Amnesty's claims "completely ludicrous," and said Israel holds the legal right to the aquifer since it was the first to discover, develop and pump from it.
Amnesty charged that Israel routinely denies Palestinians permits to launch desperately needed water sanitation and infrastructure projects in the West Bank. Shaul Arlosoroff, a leading Israeli authority on water acquisition and use, said Israeli restrictions in the West Bank are meant to protect an already taxed aquifer from overpumping.
Rovera said the water situation in Gaza had reached a "crisis point," with 90 percent to 95 percent of the water supply contaminated and unfit for human consumption. An Israeli blockade of Gaza has halted any repairs to the strip's overburdened sewage and water networks, preventing materials and equipment to repair the infrastructure from getting in, Rovera said.
Israel erecting "great wall" around Palestine
Tulkarm, West Bank Of Palestine "The Israelis are stealing our land and bulldozing our olive trees to build their new 'security fence.' They fire at us, refuse to let us enter our land and
humiliate us. We will try to get them to stop bulldozing our land." So spoke Mohamed Abal Al-Tif 10.9.02 as he
& 60 other unarmed Palestinian olive farmers in Kafr Jamal prepared for what turned into 5 hour confrontation
with Israeli soldiers and machine gun-toting private security guards protecting the bulldozers.
Dec. 2002 Bob Wing War Times
These bulldozers are implementing Israel's unprecedented plan to surround the entire West Bank with what it calls
a "security fence."
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In most towns, the barrier will be a 30 ft high concrete wall with gun towers placed every 100 meters or so. In most agricultural areas, it will be a wide barrier that from east to west includes a 15 ft deep, 20 ft wide trench; a dirt path that will be a "killing zone" for Palestinians who try to access it; an electrified fence; a trace path to disclose the footprints of infiltrators; and a 2 lane Israeli patrol road. Since Israel barred most Palestinians from working inside Israel, unemployment in the West Bank has soared to well over 50%. Agriculture is therefore more important than ever. In one village after the other, the mayors in Tulkharm/Qalqilya say that Israel has confiscated more than half of their villagers' agricultural land & water supply to build the wall.
Omet Abed, 64, landowner & grandmother of 30, exclaims: "It's harvest time and the soldiers often won't allow access to our trees. We have to walk 2km around the trench they have dug and ask permission. It depends on their mood. Sometimes they let us in. Sometimes they fire their guns at us or beat us. One person has been killed. Others have been told to undress or to buy treats for the soldiers. Are we not human beings? Why do they treat us this way?" |
Israel AG says shift barrier to avoid sanctions 8.19.04 Reuters
Jerusalem Israel's attorney general urged the govt Thursday to swiftly reroute its barrier in the
occupied West Bank to minimize the risk of international sanctions after the World Court deemed the project
illegal. "It is hard to exaggerate the negative ramifications the World Court ruling will have on Israel, even in
matters that diverge from the specific issue of the barrier," Menachem Mazuz wrote in an 84 pg report to PM
Sharon. "The decision creates a different legal reality for Israel in the international arena, one liable to be used as a
catalyst for actions against Israel in intl & national forums, even sanctions," he added.
Israeli officials said amended plans drafted after the High Court ruling would shift the massive wire & concrete
construction closer to the Israeli-West Bank boundary. Mazuz recommended Israeli govt "make a great effort, as
soon as possible, to adjust the route of the fence and the arrangements for those living along it in accordance with
the High Court ruling." He also said that the new route should be anchored by a decision of PM Sharon's cabinet.
"Such a decision will deliver the message that Israel is implementing intl law in the building of the barrier according to rulings of its own court," Mazuz said, according to a statement released by the Justice Ministry. The Intl Court of Justice, U.N. body based in The Hague, ruled that the barrier was illegal wherever it stood on land Israel captured in war and said it should be torn down. U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution echoing the World Court's decision and Palestinian leaders are now seeking U.N. Security Council action to hit Israel with sanctions. Palestinians say the barrier is an attempt by Israel to set a de facto border that would deny them a viable state as envisaged by a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. |
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Israel changes route of West Bank barrier 4.30.06 & AP
Israel's Cabinet on Sunday voted to modify the route of its West Bank separation barrier to put thousands of Palestinians on the "Palestinian" side of the enclosure, officials said. The original proposal would have put the Palestinians, who live in the area of the Jewish settlement of Ariel, on the "Israeli" side of the barrier, officials said.
Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he wants the barrier concluded by the end of the year. He decided last week to erect a temporary security barrier around Jerusalem to protect Israelis in areas where the permanent barrier has not yet been completed.
Israel says the separation barrier, which dips into the West Bank at several points, is meant to provide security by preventing suicide bombers from entering the country. Palestinians call it a land grab. |
Later this afternoon, the Defense Ministry has announced that measurements of the area commenced today ahead of the beginning of the barrier's construction southwest of Hebron. According to the announcement, the actual start of the project has yet to be determined, but it is estimated that work would commence in the coming weeks.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat condemned the latest construction Sunday. "This action totally destroys
the road map," he said.
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Palestinians smash border wall, swarm into Egypt firing at troops 1.5.06 Ibrahim Barzak, Ashraf Sweilam AP
Rafah, Gaza Strip Hundreds of Palestinians streamed into Egypt yesterday after militants with stolen bulldozers broke through a border wall, and two Egyptian troops were killed and 30 were wounded by gunfire in the rampage. About 3,000 Egyptian Interior Ministry troops who initially had no orders to fire swarmed the border but were forced to withdraw about a half-mile, said security forces Lt. Sameh el-Antablyan, who announced the casualties.
The scene was one of utter chaos. An Egyptian armored vehicle was burning, and hundreds of Palestinians could be seen crouched in farm fields just inside Egypt. The militants' rampage through the southern Gaza town of Rafah underscored the growing lawlessness in Palestinian towns, especially in Gaza, and represented the most brazen challenge to the authority of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The rampage began late Tuesday, after Palestinian intelligence arrested Alaa al-Hams, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militant, on suspicion that he and his followers kidnapped human rights activist Kate Burton and her parents for two days last week. The Burtons were among 19 foreigners abducted by Fatah gunmen in Gaza in recent months. All have been freed unharmed.
Palestinian security officials had closed the earlier hole with a patch of heavy concrete blocks, but those quickly gave way before the bulldozer yesterday. Hundreds of Palestinians swarmed into the buffer zone as militants fired in the air.
Palestinian police re-seal hole in wall
Rafah, Egypt Hundreds of Palestinian & Egyptian police formed human cordons on both sides of the Gaza-Egypt border Thursday to block Palestinians trying to get through after militants blasted a hole in a cement wall near the crossing.
"This was a passing incident. Our war is with the Zionists and not with Egypt," said Abu Majd, a militant spokesman. Egypt also imposed a curfew on the nearby town of Rafah, ordering all stores, banks and restaurants shut, said Ahmed el-Masri, chief of police there.
An AP reporter on the Egyptian side of the border heard men with megaphones screaming that they were from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, and saying they were responsible for the blast. They also threatened "another bold action" after evening prayers, but did not elaborate.
2 Israeli F-16 fighter jets screeched across the sky, setting off a sonic boom that sent Palestinians below running for cover. 2 Israeli helicopters also flew overhead. The Israeli military confirmed aerial activity in the vicinity, but said it had not attacked any targets from the air in the Rafah region.
Boys threw rocks at Palestinian security forces, but at one point stopped in order to pray alongside the border fences. None was able to cross into Egypt. |
Palestinians take over border crossing 11.25.05 Ravi Nessman AP
Palestinians took control of a border for the first time Friday with the festive opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, a milestone on their rocky path to independence and a rare moment of joy for fenced-in Gazans.
The opening of the border, under an agreement with Israel, bolstered Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' message that independence can only be won through negotiations and gave him a boost ahead of Jan. 25 parliamentary polls fiercely contested by the Islamic Hamas group.
Abbas said he hoped the Palestinians' new gate to the world will spur investment but added that no economic recovery can take place without an end to rampant lawlessness in the Palestinian territories. "The magic key that can give us everything is the key of security," he said.
Israel shut the Rafah crossing before pulling out of Gaza in September, ending 38 years of occupation. International officials made reopening Rafah under Palestinian control a top priority to give Gazans concrete proof that their lives were improving after the withdrawal. Israel had been reluctant to let the Palestinians run the crossing, fearing that militants and weapons would be able to cross.
In preparation for the opening, Palestinian workers renovated the terminal, painting walls, replacing ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights and installing blocks of computers. Rows of blue and orange chairs filled the hall. New metal detectors and X-ray belts stood nearby. A new banner over the entrance read: "Rafah crossing: the gateway to freedom."
Palestinians will only be allowed to import goods from Egypt through a terminal being built at the junction of Israel, Egypt and Gaza that will be partially controlled by Israel. Israel also retains control of Gaza's coast and its airspace.
Dozens of Palestinians gathered outside the terminal Friday, sitting in green plastic chairs under the shade of a metal awning in hopes the passage might open a day early. Najar, whose husband lives in Jordan, said that under Israel's control she would sometimes have to shuttle between her home in nearby Khan Younis and the congested terminal for 15 days before she was able to cross.
Palestinian official in charge of the crossing Nazmi Muhanna said that because of security concerns and short hours of operation, Israel processed fewer than 400 people a day, when the border was open. He hopes to process at least 1,500 people daily once the terminal gets up to speed, he said.
Disgruntled Palestinian police overrun Gaza border facility
The crossing into Egypt later reopens, but the seizure stemming from a feud with a clan adds to concerns about Abbas' grip on the territory.
Jerusalem In a sign of escalating chaos in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian police officers furious over the slaying of a colleague stormed the Palestinian-administered border crossing into Egypt on Friday, firing guns into the air and forcing European monitors to flee their posts. The confrontation, which sent Palestinian travelers scrambling for safety, came scarcely a month after Palestinian officials assumed control of the Rafah border crossing under an agreement personally brokered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The gunmen quickly dispersed after the early-morning clash, and the frontier reopened about 6 hours later. |
The brief seizure of the crossing was the latest episode in a feud between members of the Palestinian security forces and a prominent Palestinian clan in Rafah. A policeman was killed in an armed clash Thursday between the two sides in the center of Rafah, and on Friday afternoon, gunfire broke out near the same spot, killing a bystander, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy.
The fighting was a prime example of the factionalism and gang warfare that beset the crowded and impoverished territory of 1.3 million people. In Gaza, loyalty to extended family and political factions nearly always takes precedence over any allegiance to the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
The southern tip of Gaza, where the Rafah crossing is located, has been particularly lawless. For years, clan-based criminal gangs have made a lucrative trade of smuggling weapons and ammunition through tunnels under the Gazan-Egyptian border.
The continuing unrest in Gaza represents a dangerous display of weakness on the part of the Palestinian Authority, which next month will face off against the militant group Hamas in parliamentary elections. Hamas has made a strong showing in municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza, and is expected to pick up a considerable number of seats in the Jan. 25 balloting.
The Gaza chaos "has ramifications and implications for the whole peace process," said Raanan Gissin, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"If the Palestinian Authority cannot impose law and order in the most basic manner that is required to have a functioning civil society, how do they expect to establish a Palestinian state living peacefully side by side with Israel?" Gissin said.
Palestinians say the upheaval has been aggravated by harsh Israeli measures, including the establishment Wednesday of a "no-go" zone in northern Gaza. Israel set up the buffer zone encompassing several abandoned Jewish settlements and pounded the area with artillery fire in an effort to choke off rocket attacks aimed at Israeli towns near Gaza.
Palestinian officials vowed to take steps to halt the spiraling violence in Gaza. "All those acting outside the law will face the consequences," said Brig. Gen. Alaa Hosni, the police chief in the territory.
The European border monitors, whose presence Israel reluctantly agreed to, said they had no choice but to abandon their posts when shooting broke out at the Rafah crossing, pointing out that they have no mandate to intercede in such confrontations.
"We returned to the border crossing as soon as our evaluation showed the situation was stable once more," a spokesman for the observers, Julio de la Guardia, told reporters.
In another development, armed men who abducted a young British human rights activist and her parents in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning freed the 3 unharmed late Friday, British and Palestinian officials said.
Kidnappings of foreigners have become commonplace in recent months, usually carried out by gunmen seeking jobs in the Palestinian security forces. But the abductees are almost always freed after a few hours, and this case stirred concern when it dragged on for nearly three days.
A previously unknown group calling itself the Mujahedin Brigades claimed responsibility for the abduction, saying it had seized Kate Burton, 25, and her parents, Hugh and Helen Burton, to press demands that included abolishing the Israeli-enforced buffer zone in northern Gaza.
The group also threatened to abduct international election observers if its demands were not met, suggesting that its principal goal might be to disrupt next month's Palestinian vote.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility Friday for a suicide bombing a day earlier that killed an Israeli army lieutenant and two Palestinians at a military checkpoint.
Mosque loudspeakers in the village of Atil, outside the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm, identified the bomber as Suheib Ibrahim Yassin, a 19-year-old member of Islamic Jihad. Israeli officials said Yassin had intended to attack a Hanukkah holiday gathering but set off his explosives when he realized he could not cross into Israel.
What that means on the ground is the destruction of the Palestinian Authority, the institutions set up in the Oslo
Peace Accords, that Mr Sharon now calls a regime of terror. This is not new, just more intense. The prime minister has consistently bombed Palestinian govt & security offices during the intifada, but in this invasion he has finally gutted the Palestinian Authority.
At the moment even cleaning up is barely possible. Residents can only leave their homes briefly for a few hours
every few days, when the army lifts a curfew rigidly enforced by snipers. During brief periods of freedom they
discover what Tom Kay found at an eye clinic in a medical aid center downtown. He is a British national living in
Ramallah. "Here the soldiers literally went from the top to the bottom of the building," he says. "They pulled every
machine on to the floor and smashed it. All the computers are gone, the optemetric equipt was on the floor upside down, all the glasses are in piles on the floor. Every door has been broken into whether it was locked or not but, in addition, next to the door, they have smashed a man-sized hole through just to make sure."
At the education ministry, often accused by Israel of incitement, officials picking through the debris say 50 years of final exam results have been lost. Israel says all this is necessary because Yasser Arafat will not crack down on the militants who, it says, have joined forces with Palestinian security organisations. It is true the intifada has blurred the lines between policeman & militant, a process accelerated by the army's months-long targeting of Palestinian security buildings. The campaign climaxed with the bombardment of the Preventive Security
Headquarters near Ramallah, the institution responsible for security co-ordination with Israel, which was the
backbone of the Oslo agreement. Now there is no-one to enforce a ceasefire, should one be declared.
Sharon profoundly opposed Oslo and its plan for a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank & Gaza
alongside Israel. He envisages a more limited entity with much more limited powers. He also profoundly opposed
Oslo's rehabilitation of the man he will always regard as a PLO terrorist. His siege of Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah caps a long campaign to "neutralise" the Palestinian leader. Some commentators believe he has gone a long way to reordering the Oslo reality. After the war, Israel "will be faced with a situation in which there is no central govt in the PA and with the total anarchy that will develop in the absence of such authority," writes Uzi
Benziman in Israel's Haaretz daily. "Israel will have no-one with whom to negotiate an agreement and there will be
no-one to take over the administration of the residents' needs."
Rafah, Gaza Strip Palestinians dug in behind walls and embankments in the southern Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Gaza Strip on Wednesday, bracing for a major assault after Israel sent in troops & tanks and bombarded bridges & a power station to pressure militants to release a captured soldier.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deplored the incursion as a "crime against humanity," and a leading Hamas politician issued a call to arms against the Israeli troops. Overnight, Israeli tanks and soldiers began taking up positions east of the Gaza town of Rafah under cover of tank shells, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.
The Israeli military said in a statement that 3 bridges were attacked "to impair the ability of the terrorists to transfer the kidnapped soldier," Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19. Knocking down the bridges cut Gaza in two, Palestinian security officials said.
"We won't hesitate to carry out extreme action to bring Gilad back to his family," Olmert said. "All the military activity that started overnight will continue in the coming days. We do not intend to reoccupy Gaza. We do not intend to stay there. We have one objective, and that is to bring Gilad home," he added.
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel would try to assassinate Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who Israel thinks ordered the soldier's capture.
Abbas deplored the Israeli invasion in a statement.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza & Egypt, Gaza's main link to the outside world, has been closed since the attack Sunday in which the Israeli soldier was taken captive. Usually, there is some activity in the area, even when the passage is closed, but on Wednesday, it was empty.
Masked militants from various armed factions took up defensive positions around Gaza City in the northern part of the strip. Militants said they fired a rocket early Wednesday at the Israeli village of Nahal Oz, Israeli forces' staging area, and at other Israeli targets.
The militants who seized Shalit have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian women & children held in Israeli jails in exchange for information about the captured soldier. Nizar Rayan, a leading Hamas political figure, urged fighters on the Hamas radio station to take up arms and fight the Israeli troops in "the battle of liberating the prisoners."
Ahlan Firwana, mother of a militant killed in an Israeli raid, was representative of Palestinian public opinion on Wednesday when she said she supported the release of the soldier on condition that Palestinian prisoners held by Israel also be freed.
Trying to defuse building tensions, negotiators from the ruling Hamas movement said Tuesday they had accepted a document implicitly recognizing Israel. But 2 Syrian-based Hamas leaders, who hold great weight within the movement, denied a final deal had been reached.
Complicating matters was a new claim by the Hamas-linked Popular Resistance Committees, one of the 3 groups that carried out Sunday's assault, that it had also kidnapped a Jewish settler in the West Bank. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the report was being taken "very seriously," and military officials said there was "rising fears" the claim was true.
Israel wishes it were in the position of the U.S. & Britain, able to farm out all but major invasions to private military contractors.
Israel sends troops into Gaza Strip
Gaza City, Gaza Strip Israel threatened Wednesday to widen the conflict over the abduction of one of its soldiers, sending thousands of troops into Gaza, arresting a Palestinian Cabinet minister and buzzing the summer home of Syria's president, who is blamed for harboring Hamas leaders.
Israel's concern goes beyond the rescue of the soldier and the negative precedent abducting soldiers would set. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's govt is alarmed by the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza and support for Hamas in the Arab world, especially from Syria.
Increasing pressure on Hamas within the Palestinian territories, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian labor minister Mohammed Barghouti early Thursday in city of Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military refused to comment, saying the operation was still in progress.
The area's normally bustling streets were eerily deserted, with people taking refuge inside their homes. Witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza's long-closed airport, which Israeli troops took over. Dozens of people living near the airport fled to nearby Rafah. In Rafah, 23 yr old mother of 3 Nivine Abu Shbeke hoarded bags of flour, boxes of vegetables and other supplies. "We're worried about how long the food will last," she said. "The children devour everything."
Dozens of Palestinian militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades took up positions, bracing for attack. Anxious Palestinians pondered whether the incursion, the first large-scale ground offensive since Israel withdrew from Gaza last year, was essentially a "shock and awe" display designed to intimidate militants, or the prelude to a full-scale invasion.
Further complicating the situation were militant claims that they had kidnapped two more Israelis: an 18-year-old Jewish settler in the West Bank named Eliahu Asheri and a 62-year-old Israeli from the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. Asheri's mother confirmed her son was missing, and police said they had a missing person's report that matched the older man.
Abbas & Egyptian dignitaries tried to persuade Assad to use his influence with Khaled Mashaal, Hamas leader exiled in Syria, to free Shalit. Assad agreed, but without results, said a senior Abbas aide. As for Mashaal, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said the hard-line Hamas leader, who appears to be increasingly at odds with more moderate Hamas politicians in Gaza, is in Israel's sights for assassination.
The European Union on Wednesday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "step back from the brink" and, echoing a statement from State Sec Condoleezza Rice, to give diplomacy a chance. The White House kept up its pressure on Hamas, saying the Palestinian govt must "stop all acts of violence & terror". But the U.S. also urged Israel to show restraint.
Hamas' negotiators' tentative acceptance Tuesday of a document that Abbas allies claimed implicitly recognizes Israel appeared beside the point a day later, with Israel saying no political agreement can substitute for Shalit's freedom.
Gaza's economy was already in the doldrums before the Israeli assault, result of 5 years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and an international aid boycott that followed Hamas' parliamentary election victory in January. The Israeli assault threatened to turn a bad situation into a disaster, underscoring the extent to which hopes have been dashed following the optimism that accompanied Israel's pullout.
Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed
Gaza City, Gaza Strip Israeli forces arrested one-third of the Hamas-led Palestinian Cabinet and 20 lawmakers early Thursday and pressed their incursion into Gaza, responding to the abduction of one of its soldiers. … Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered northern Gaza before daybreak Thursday, adding a second front to the Israeli action in Gaza that began early Wednesday when thousands of Israeli troops crossed into southern Gaza. The Israeli military denied it moved into northern Gaza.
Adding to the tension, a Palestinian militant group said it killed an 18-year-old Jewish settler kidnapped in the West Bank. Israeli security officials said Eliahu Asheri's body was found buried near Ramallah. They said he was shot in the head, apparently soon after he was abducted on Sunday.
…. In Gaza late Wednesday, Israeli missiles also hit two empty Hamas training camps, a rocket-building factory and several roads. Warplanes flew low over the coastal strip, rocking it with sonic booms and shattering windows. Troops in Israel backed up the assault with artillery fire.
The militant Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said it fired a rocket with a chemical warhead at the Israeli town of Sderot Wednesday night, the first such claim. The Israeli military said it did not detect a rocket fired then. Al Aqsa is linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. …
Palestinians seek concessions for soldier
Rafah, Gaza Strip Many Palestinians think a captured Israeli soldier should not be released without major concessions from Israel, despite an Israeli ground and air assault on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday meant to recover him. Many in this impoverished coastal strip were savoring a rare feeling of military superiority following the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit during an attack on an Israeli military post Sunday.
"Even if they slaughter 100,000 Palestinians, this is a chance that can't be lost. It's the only way the prisoners will be able to get out," said Bassem al Khoudry, 35, owner of a fast food stand in Gaza City. "If they release him with nothing in return, they would betray their nation, their prisoners."
Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel is leading an international economic boycott of the Palestinian govt that has deepened poverty in Palestinian areas, especially in Gaza. Palestinians see the abduction as a legitimate attack on a military target, far different from a suicide bombing aimed at Israeli civilians, and no Palestinian leader has condemned it.
The kidnapping of a soldier also hits a nerve with Israel, where most citizens have served in the military. Israel in the past has made lopsided prisoner exchanges to secure the return of dead soldiers. In January 2004, Israel released 436 prisoners, including Palestinians, in a deal with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah for the release of a captive Israeli businessman and he bodies of 3 Israeli soldiers.
Palestinians said they were confused by Israel's refusal to negotiate an exchange. Palestinian prisoners are no less "precious" than Lebanese prisoners, said Nihaya Armelad, a 31-year-old mother of 5 who lives in the southern town of Rafah, which would likely be the front line of any Israeli ground assault.
The last time an Israeli soldier was abducted by Palestinians was 12 years ago when Hamas militants kidnapped Cpl. Nachshon Waxman and demanded a prisoner release. Waxman was killed in a botched rescue operation.
Attala Azzam, an unemployed construction worker from Mughraga, just outside the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim, also expressed reservations, saying the militants had the right to abduct Shalit but should perhaps make concessions now.
Analysis: Lebanese rules of war
Events of the last few weeks in and around Gaza, rocket fire on Sderot, roadside explosions, Israeli air raids, "collateral damage," capture of an IDF soldier, captors' psychological warfare, all lead to one sinking, unmistakable feeling: Lebanon is here.
If the Palestinians from Gaza shoot rockets on Israel as though they were in Lebanon, if they plant roadside bombs as though they were in Lebanon, if they attack IDF outposts and kidnap soldiers as though they were in Lebanon, then they should not be too surprised when Israel treats the Palestinian Authority like Lebanon and acts accordingly.
It's not as if Hizbullah is uninterested in making our lives miserable, but rather that Israel has simply, through military action and clear diplomatic messages over the last 6 years, made it clear that, if Israel gets hit by Hizbullah, Lebanon and the Lebanese will pay the price.
Hizbullah doesn't attack Israel, or at least not much, because they know Israel can wreak devastation on southern Lebanon and that the Lebanese will then hold Hizbullah accountable. Israel's activities in Gaza Wednesday seem designed to create a similar situation in Gaza.
It is not at all clear whether Israeli military action in Gaza hurts Hamas politically. In what to Israeli eyes seems like the logic-defying reality that is Gaza, it is not at all clear whether blowing up bridges and knocking out electricity in Gaza weakens public support for Hamas, or paradoxically whether it might in fact strengthen it.
Before disengagement from Gaza, there were some dreamers who said that if everybody just played their cards right, Gaza could someday turn into the Hong Kong of the Middle East. |
3.17.02 Romesh Ratnesar Time magazine [ Orwell's Big Brother, guardian of Jordan River democracy ]
Aid groups say Israel impedes relief work
Jerusalem The U.N. ambulance had just dropped off a patient in critical condition at a West Bank
hospital and was headed back to a nearby refugee camp when it came under fire. One bullet narrowly missed the
oxygen tank. A second came within inches of a nurse's head. A third entered the back of 43-year-old assistant
Kamal Hamdan, piercing his aorta and killing him almost immediately.
Arrests, deportations, visa and travel restrictions, checkpoint harassment, threats, injuries and deaths are among
the impediments that humanitarian groups say they're facing at the hands of Israeli immigration and military
authorities as they struggle to deliver food, medicine and humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "We in no way condone what is done from the other side with the suicide bombers and understand the Israeli need for security," Cook said. "If there's some sort of problem, show us the proof. But stop targeting our ambulances and stop killing our staff."
Israeli govt and military officials strongly deny any discipline problems or any policy to hamper aid efforts,
adding that any delays, gunfire or inconveniences are solely the result of real or perceived threats linked to their
fight against Palestinian militias and suicide bombers.
Suzie Mordechay, a member of the Jerusalem-based Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, insists there is another reason for the difficulty aid groups face. "The Israeli military doesn't want humanitarian workers in these areas because the army's doing a lot of things that violate international law and don't want it reported," she said. "They always give reasons, like the area's booby-trapped, blah, blah, blah, so they can't let ambulances in to help wounded people. But that's just an excuse to close things off to world scrutiny."
In addition to the aide killed in March, the U.N. agency says that a doctor, nurse and two ambulance drivers have
been wounded while trying to deliver food and medicine--all but one wearing U.N. vests. Save the Children USA
coordinator Sarah Saleh said an Israeli soldier fired warning shots over her head--followed quickly by an offer to
improve his aim. "Soldiers seem to have a lot more impunity now to do what they wish," Saleh said.
According to Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper, about 200 people identifying themselves as humanitarian aid
workers have been denied entry to Israel in the last few months, with about 50 others expelled. Longtime foreign
aid workers in the region also say they're coming under far greater scrutiny as once-routine visas are delayed,
downgraded or denied.
Most local employees have passed security checks for years to obtain their credentials, aid executives say. Many
have worked at organizations for a decade or more and are well-known to the Israeli authorities. The restrictions on movement are so onerous that many agencies say privately they're forced to turn a blind eye as their workers take risks, slipping across back roads themselves to save their jobs. "At what point do you fire someone who can't get into the office, adding injury to insult?" one senior aid official asked. "At other times, we've all had to resort to smuggling our staff in."
Israeli officials counter that the U.N. is biased against Israel. They also say the Geneva Convention doesn't apply to the West Bank or Gaza Strip because they aren't "occupied" territories as outlined in the convention but are instead "disputed" territories, an argument that's not accepted by the international community. Agency directors say they understand the pressure that Israel's military is under and make every effort to comply with added reporting requirements, passport numbers, license plates, names and other details despite fluid field conditions. Even so, they say, they often reach checkpoints at the appointed time only to have soldiers hold them up for hours.
Some blame an Israeli military structure that seems to give a lot of discretion to low-level soldiers. Others say many in the military appear to view them as an enemy solely because they're providing aid to the needy from the same ethnic group as those the army is fighting.
Still others say they suspect that their status as outside observers may represent a threat to some. "When Israeli
spokesmen say they're not impeding humanitarian aid, that's a plain, flat-out lie. This policy comes right from the
top," said Thomas Neu, Jerusalem-based director of Americans for Near East Refugee Aid and a dean of the aid
community. "We're witnesses to a lot that's going on in the West Bank.... And I think all these restrictions are a
sneaky way to punish the Palestinians without having it show up on CNN."
Israeli govt and military officials acknowledge that there have been some problems but say these are
unusual times and they're doing their best. Avraham Lavine, international relations coordinator for the last three
decades with the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, says Israel's long-term record on humanitarian aid is exemplary. While coordination between different Israeli ministries sometimes runs into glitches, he said, his office is close to a solution on the visa issues. Palestinian travel permit issues, he added, are up to the military. "The fact they're frustrated, I understand completely," Lavine said. "In some cases, we can alleviate some difficulties; in others, we can't."
The military's Levy added that the army is very disciplined, among the best organized in the world, and in no way
sets out to harass aid groups. In fact, he said, the army is doing many things to support aid agencies' efforts on
behalf of ordinary Palestinians, and has allowed a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial park to continue functioning
despite an armed attack there, he said. Senior U.S. & European officials have raised their frustrations
repeatedly with their Israeli counterparts at the highest levels, so far without much result. In the meantime, groups
say they'll keep trying to do their job under difficult circumstances. "In the U.N., we don't know of another
conflict area in the world where we've had these problems, even in Kosovo," said the U.N. agency's Cook.
"The problem is, the goal post keeps changing."
Cousins slain in Gaza were desperate for work
Khan Younis, Gaza Strip The 5 cousins left their identification as Gaza Palestinians at home. They dressed in layers because of the winter wind, and because the clothes on their backs would be their only wardrobe during the weeks or months they planned to stay in Israel, working illegally.
The cousins' mangled bodies were returned yesterday to this struggling town in southern Gaza. The army said that
soldiers, operating on intelligence that predicted a terrorist infiltration, opened fire with tanks when they detected
shadowy figures crawling toward the fence.
The cousins, all Astal family members, were well aware of the risks, their relatives said. But 2 of them had pregnant wives, and others already had children. One was trying to pay off debts, incl money owed for the meat served at his wedding 2 years ago. Another was one of only two breadwinners in a household of at least 30.
They melted into Israel's Arab minority population to work in construction or other menial jobs for perhaps $12 to
$20 a day, half the wages of legal Palestinian workers. They wired the money home, and when they felt they had
made enough, or missed their families too much, or wearied of living as fugitives, they returned to the Gaza
boundary and handed themselves over to Israeli soldiers, who eventually expelled them back to their homes.
Crying to see their loved ones, family members pounded on the steel door of the morgue of Nasser Hospital
yesterday. As the blows echoed inside the cramped room, workers prepared Muhammad al-Astal's body for burial. His right arm was ripped away, and his abdomen had been torn to shreds.
Palestinians are being robbed by Israel 2.21.06 Amira Hass Haaretz
Ramallah It is evidently difficult to scrub off the sticker that is glued onto the front window. That's why when a new car from Germany or South Korea or the U.S. rolls onto the packed streets of Gaza or Ramallah, it generally has the big label with thick, red Hebrew letters forming the word "Checked" stuck on its windshield for several months.
At the ports, Palestinian importers are required to pay the Israeli authorities the value-added tax of 17%, as well as whatever custom taxes are due on goods that come in on their way to the West Bank or Gaza. These transactions (along with direct Palestinian transactions with Israeli firms and merchants) last year yielded revenues of $711 million.
To judge by the actions of the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday, the money belongs to Israel. The Cabinet announced that it was going to withhold Palestinian tax and customs revenues, at least for the moment, as a response to Hamas' electoral victory. Until the money is released, if it is released, the Israeli treasury will earn the interest.
Since 1994, these revenues, transferred each month from the Israeli Ministry of Finance, have made up a critical portion of the Palestinian Authority budget. When Israel briefly stopped transferring the revenues in 2001, pressure from the EU and other countries, including the U.S., forced Israel to reverse its decision. Unfortunately, after the Hamas victory, such pressure seems unlikely.
What debilitates and cripples the Palestinian economy is Israel's heavy, systematic restrictions on movement within the occupied territories, hundreds of roadblocks and military checkpoints that delay, prolong and sabotage normal economic activity and, hence, potential tax revenues.
In the Palestinian territories, 35% of residents between the ages of 20 and 24 were unemployed during the third quarter of 2005. About 43% live below the World Bank's poverty line, and 15% live in deep poverty, which means, according to the World Bank, that they are unable to meet subsistence needs.
Israel agrees to transfer millions to Palestinians
Officials say future transfers will stop once Hamas forms next govt
2.5.06 AP
Jerusalem Israel agreed Sunday to transfer $54 million in desperately needed tax money to the Palestinian Authority, but said it might freeze payments after the Islamic group Hamas forms the next Palestinian govt. Israel’s monthly transfer of the taxes and customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinians is crucial to the functioning of the Palestinian Authority. Halting the payments would deepen the govt’s financial crisis and add to the growing international pressure on Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel before it takes power.
Also Sunday, the army conducted a wave of airstrikes in Gaza that killed 5 militants. The army said the strikes were meant to deter rocket fire from Gaza.
Among the dead were the group’s rocket launching team leader Jihad Sawfriri, and Adnan Bustan, who was in charge of producing rockets for the group, according to Islamic Jihad’s military commander in Gaza Khaled Dadouh, who threatened retaliation.
The violence was the worst since 1.25.06 Palestinian elections that Hamas won in a landslide. After the election, U.S. & E.U. threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid to the Palestinians if the Islamic group does not moderate itself.
Cabinet minister Zeev Boim said the funds would be cut off if Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, does not change its ways.
Mushir al-Masri, an incoming Hamas lawmaker from Gaza, termed Israel’s payment freeze “theft” and said it should not “blackmail” Hamas. Mohammed Abu Teir, another incoming Hamas lawmaker, said the group already has lined up $100 million in funding from an Arab country he declined to name.
Govt corruption was a major factor in Hamas’ landslide victory over the long-ruling, corruption tainted Fatah party.
Meanwhile, Israel reopened the Karni cargo crossing into Gaza, more than 3 weeks after closing it because of intelligence that militants were planning an attack there. Palestinian officials estimated the Gaza economy lost $30 million due to the closure.
EU to release aid to Palestinians despite Hamas
Brussels The European Union threw the Palestinians a short-term aid lifeline on Monday to help stave off imminent financial collapse, despite the appointment of a leader of the Islamist militant group Hamas as prime minister. But the 25-nation bloc made sure most of the 120 million euros ($142 million) would bypass the Palestinian Authority, sharpening pressure on Hamas to moderate its radical policies when it takes over govt responsibility.
The package included 40 million euros to pay energy bills and 64 million euros channelled through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). But only 17.5 million euros will go to the PA to help pay salaries.
The Quartet of international mediators, U.S., EU, Russia & UN, would review aid if Hamas failed to renounce violence, disarm militias and stand by previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, a State Dept spokesman said.
International envoy James Wolfensohn warned in a confidential letter obtained by Reuters that without emergency funds, the Palestinian Authority faced financial collapse within 2 weeks now that Israel has cut off tax transfers.
The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians but its funding has been thrown into doubt by the ascendancy of Hamas, which the 25-nation bloc lists as a banned terrorist group.
Israel has stopped monthly transfers of $50-$55 million in tax payments to the Palestinians and U.S. has demanded the return of $50 million in aid.
Wolfensohn said even if the PA survived with emergency funding, the financial crisis could bring violence and chaos unless the Quartet developed a long-term funding plan once a Hamas-led govt is in place. Ferrero-Waldner noted that even when Israel transferred the tax revenues which it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, "the Palestinian Authority cannot achieve balance in its finances without outside help."
Hamas official spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the EU decision a step in the right direction "as long as it is not restricted by any conditions or a swap with the rights of our Palestinian people.
Arab nations say they will offset funds withheld by Israel
But despite statements of support for the Palestinian Authority, Arab League leaders fail to reach an agreement on a funding plan.
Arab and Muslim leaders said Monday that they will find ways to provide funding to a Hamas-led Palestinian government. The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that the Arab leaders made the announcement following the Israeli govt's decision to withhold from the Palestinian Authority (PA) the $50 million a month it collects in tax revenues. The tax funds amount to one-third of the national budget for the PA.
"Cutting the aid is very serious issue. It is an attempt to starve the Palestinians and a recipe for chaos," Arab League chief Amr Moussa deputy Mohammad Sobeih told AP. Sobeih said the Arab League can guarantee that all the money donated to the Palestinian Authority "will go to those who really deserve it."
Christian Science Monitor reports that the Muslim Brotherhood, which has organizations in 86 countries, announced it would launch a donation campaign for the new PA. Al Jazeera reports that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on all Muslims worldwide to provide money for the Palestinian Authority.
The Swedish news site The Local reports that Sweden's state-run aid group, the International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), said in a statement it would provide an extra $6.4 million to UN aid programs in the Palestinian territories. "According to the fourth Geneva convention, the occupying power has a particular responsibility to support and ensure the human dignity of the occupied," [Peter Lundberg of the group's humanitarian unit] said.
The Arab News reports that former US President Jimmy Carter, in a Washington Post opinion piece published Monday, cautioned the US and Israel not to punish the Palestinian people for electing Hamas. Carter said "any tacit or formal collusion between Israel and the US to disrupt the process by punishing the Palestinian people could be counterproductive and have devastating consequences."
U.S. freezes assets of group linked to Hamas
zakat
Wash. D.C. U.S. Treasury Dept on Sunday ordered U.S. banks to freeze the assets of an Ohio-based group the govt claims funnels money to the militant organization Hamas. The organization, KindHearts of Toledo, Ohio, was connected with the Hamas-affiliated Holy Land Foundation and the al-Qaida-affiliated Global Relief Foundation, the Treasury Dept said. The govt took similar action against those groups in late 2001.
KindHearts describes itself on its Web site as a nonprofit charitable organization administering humanitarian aid to the world’s poor. In the past, its officials have denied being connected to any terrorist group or individual. KindHearts board member and Cleveland lawyer Jihad Smaili reiterated that position on Sunday.
Smaili added that his group understands the current political climate after 9.11.01, and is “hoping the govt will play fair and play by the rules even though the rules are made by the govt.”
The govt claims KindHearts officials have coordinated with Hamas leaders and made contributions to Hamas-affiliated organizations.
U.S. considers Hamas, now the most powerful political group in the Palestinian parliament, a terrorist group.
A call to the KindHearts office in Toledo was answered by a man who identified himself as a federal officer. “We’re padlocking the office,” said the man, who did not give his name.
Palestinians give back $30 million in U.S. aid
Wash. D.D. The Palestinian Authority has refunded $30 million in U.S. aid, meeting Washington's demand to keep it out of the hands of a new govt being formed by Hamas, a militant group on the U.S. terrorist list.
A senior State Dept official said the $50 million would probably be "reprogrammed" for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but Congress would have to agree to that.
The Bush administration says U.S. law forbids it from giving assistance to a Hamas-led govt because of the group's listing as a terrorist group. Since Hamas' victory, Washington has launched a review of aid to the Palestinians and their cash-strapped govt. a
In the past decade, U.S. has given $1.5 billion in aid to the Palestinians, most via nongovt groups. HIRC chair Rep. Henry Hyde R-IL said a cut-off in aid for humanitarian purposes would enable other "terrorist regimes" such as Syria and Iran to fill the funding gap.
U.S. & its partners in Middle East peacemaking, UN, Russia & E.U., issued a 1.30.06 statement in London that all international aid would be reviewed if Hamas did not change. They say Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept existing agreements with the Jewish state.
California Democrat Tom Lantos, a survivor of the Holocaust, said he was sickened by contacts between Hamas and countries such as Russia and Turkey. |
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Major British charity 'a Hamas front' Security sources: UK reluctant to close Interpal because of internal politics 12.21.04 Aaron Klein WorldNetDaily.com ª
A major Islamic charity raising millions of dollars in Britain "to provide humanitarian aid to peoples of the Middle East" is actually a Hamas front that channels funds from British Muslims to support Hamas terrorism, Israeli security sources told WorldNetDaily. According to its website, Interpal, established in 1994, is a British charity "that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine and the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon."
Interpal was declared an illegal, terror-supporting organization in Israel because of its alleged links to Hamas and was outlawed in U.S. Aug. 2003 after being designated by a U.S. executive order "an entity that commits, threatens to commit or supports terrorism."
¹
But documents discovered and recently declassified from Israel's 2002 Operation Defensive Shield in the Palestinian territories, along with other supportive evidence released through the Center for Special Studies in Israel, including bank-transfer information, should warrant Britain reopening its investigation into Interpal, security sources say.
The source said activities financed by Interpal include "money for the families of suicide bombers, which raises morale and provides motivation for others to become terrorists, and education services that teach kids the importance of jihad." The source said Hamas also uses the funds for other humanitarian purposes "to endear itself to the Palestinian population."
The site doesn't specify which local organizations the charity works with, but Israel says security forces uncovered documents showing Interpal's affiliates consist mostly of prominent Hamas institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One document, a trustees report entitled "Interpal Activities and Achievements in the Year 2002," lists ten of Interpal's beneficiaries, all of which are official Hamas organizations.
Interpal's founder Ibrahim Brian Hewitt, a British citizen who converted to Islam reportedly in the 1980s, told the British daily Guardian newspaper it was "possible" some of Interpal's funds may have gone to Hamas, but he claimed Hamas' social services were not managed by the terror group's "military wing."
2 British members of Al-Muhajiroun became suicide bombers for Hamas, killing 3 Israelis when they blew up Mike's Place pizza shop in Tel Aviv in 2003. Following a media campaign in 1995 against Hamas charities, British security investigated Interpal and temporarily froze its assets. Then-British Home Secretary Michael Howard said a 1996 investigation concluded no illegitimate financial activity was found. |
UK cash funded Hamas suicide bombings
British charity still operating in open
2.2.05 Aaron Klein
WorldNetDaily
A major Islamic organization raising millions of dollars in Britain "to provide humanitarian aid to peoples of the Middle East" transferred money to a Hamas charity that provided funds to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and pays for suicide operations, according to documents found in the Palestinian territories.
On its website, Interpal, established in 1994, says it is a British charity "that focuses solely on the provision of relief and development aid to the poor and needy of Palestine and the world over, primarily in Palestine and the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon." The charity reportedly raised more than $8 million last year.
But documents discovered and declassified this month from Israel's 2002 Operation Defensive Shield and operations in the Palestinian territories last year, along with other supportive evidence released through the Center for Special Studies in Israel and shared with WND, show Interpal transferred large sums to the Bethlehem Orphan Care Society.
The society, outlawed in Israel in 2002, was being run by Dr. Ghassan Issa Mahmoud Harmass, a high-ranking Hamas figure in Bethlehem. Security sources say that aside from some humanitarian work it did to endear itself to the Palestinian population, the society passed on funds to Hamas’ terrorist apparatus, and gave money to the families of Hamas suicide bombers.
Documents found in the Palestinian Preventative Security offices in Bethlehem shows the PA ordered its security services to infiltrate the society and discovered it was being run by known Hamas activists, obtained money from Interpal and worked in conjunction with other Hamas institutions in the West Bank. The PA often spies on Hamas to ensure it does not gain enough power to challenge the dominant Fatah party.
According to other documents later found by the IDF in the society's offices, the charity received funds from Interpal on many occasions. One report dealing with contacts between Hamas members and representatives of the society mentions the receipt of funds from Interpal. Also found was a memorandum from Interpal regarding a donation it made to the society.
The documents are the latest evidence connecting the British charity to Hamas. Documents released last month also showed Interpal funded other Hamas organizations. Among them is Hamas' Al-Islah Charitable Society in Ramallah. A receipt from Jan. 15, 2001, printed on Interpal stationary, showed the transfer of $33,800 through the City Bank of New York. It was signed by Jamal Muhammad al-Tawil, the founder and chairman of Al-Islah and a high-ranking West Bank Hamas activist recently arrested by Israeli forces.
… "The [British] authorities are afraid of the large Muslim community," said a security source. "Britain's failure to close Interpal and take action against Hamas' charities is coming from internal politics."
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Abbas doubts Iran aid would reach Palestinians 3.2.06 Reuters
Cairo Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in remarks broadcast on Thursday he doubted funds pledged by Iran in case of Western aid cuts would reach the Palestinians because of global checks on the flow of funds.
A senior Hamas official said this week Iran had agreed to provide the Palestinians with enough money to make up for any cuts in foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians are dependent on foreign aid totalling more than $1 billion a year. European Union announced a special aid package of 120 million euros ($143 million) on Monday to help stave off an imminent financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority.
Abbas orders inquiry into cash smuggling
Gaza City, Gaza Strip A senior Hamas official on Friday tried to sneak $817,000 into the Gaza Strip in a pouch under his shirt, the first major cash smuggling attempt by an increasingly desperate Hamas govt choked by Western sanctions.
Hamas demanded that the money, all in 500-euro bills, be returned, saying private donors abroad intended it for Gaza's poor. The alleged smuggler, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, "resorted to this way … when all other ways were blocked," said govt official Ghazi Hamad. "This money is donated from abroad, it was meant for poor people," Hamad said.
Hamas has been digging in, rejecting Western demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence. Instead it has launched fundraising drives in mosques, asking worshippers to donate to public coffers. In one Gaza City mosque, about 500 people dropped cash and gold jewelry into collection boxes after Friday prayers.
Abu Zuhri was returning from Qatar when he was caught with the cash in a white pouch under his shirt and jacket at the Rafah border crossing, said, spokesman Julio De La Guardia for European observers who monitor the crossing.
Abbas sent the money to the Palestinian attorney general, with the request to open an investigation, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser. Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau based in Damascus,
Syria, said the money should be returned. "This money is part of the money supporting the Palestinian people which the (Palestinian) Authority cannot confiscate," he told Associated Press.
In another area of dispute, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he would not disband the new Hamas security force, made up of militants, and might even expand it. Hamas deployed the 3,000-strong force earlier this week, despite Abbas' vehement opposition. |
Israel firm cuts Palestinian gas supplies 5.10.06 Ali Daraghmeh, Josef Federman AP
Palestinian gas stations began shutting down and motorists lined up at pumps after an Israeli fuel company cut off deliveries Wednesday, deepening the humanitarian crisis that has followed Hamas' rise to power. An end to fuel supplies for the West Bank and Gaza could cripple hospitals, halt food deliveries and keep people home from work, a devastating scenario for an economy already ravaged by Israeli and international sanctions.
Israeli co. Dor Energy, sole fuel provider to the Palestinians since interim peace agreements were signed in the mid-1990s, cited growing debts for its decision, Palestinian officials said. Dor officials declined comment, but the company had threatened to cut off supplies twice before this year, only to be paid at the last minute by the Palestinians.
But Palestinian officials said their cash-strapped govt is one of the biggest users of gasoline and unable to pay the bill. Palestinian petrol authority head Mujahid Salame predicted fuel supplies would run out in many areas by Thursday. "If this happens, there will be a humanitarian crisis," he said.
Top Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain warned that the area's hospitals, already suffering from a shortage of medicines, would cease to function without fuel. He said ambulances would stop running, employees would not be able to get to work and gas generators, used to compensate for ongoing electric outages, would be hobbled.
In the West Bank, the situation was more dire. Many stations said they were out of fuel, in some cases laying their dry nozzles on the ground.
The fuel crunch is the latest sign of trouble for the Palestinian economy, which has been hit hard by a cutoff in Western aid. The donors halted the money flow in response to Hamas' victory in legislative elections, demanding the group renounce violence and recognize Israel. The U.S. and European Union, the two biggest donors, consider Hamas a terrorist group.
Compounding Hamas' woes, Israel has cut off about $55 million in monthly transfers of tax money it collects for the Palestinians. Israel has placed the money in escrow. Israel dipped into this money last month to pay Palestinian bills to govt-owned companies, such as the Israeli electric monopoly. The Palestinians rely on Israel for many key supplies, including fuel, electricity and water.
In Brussels, European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said more work was needed before the new mechanism would start to channel funds to the Palestinians. She said there is no timeline, only that "we want this to move as soon as possible."
Justice Minister Haim Ramon on Wednesday gave Hamas until the end of the year to prove it is willing to negotiate a peace deal. |
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Palestinian petrol crisis 'over' 5.11.06 BBC
A Palestinian official has said the fuel crisis threatening the occupied territories has been resolved. The head of the Palestinian Petroleum Agency told the BBC an agreement had been reached with the Israeli supplier. Dor Energy is the only company supplying petrol and cooking gas to Gaza and the West Bank. |
A plan to channel donor aid directly to the Palestinians, bypassing the Hamas-led government, was agreed on Tuesday. The EU, UN, Russia and the US said they would set up a "temporary international mechanism" to channel the money for an initial 3 month period.
The US also said it would separately give $10m (£5.4m) in aid to the Palestinians through medical and children's charities.
BH UNRA is obviously are supported by U.N. member nations. Who and how much, roughly?
Ginsberg Right now, the rough budget is about $340 million per annum, of which the U.S.
contributes about 30%, which is approximately $90 million. Arab countries collectively are contributing less than
5#37;. That equals between $5 million to $7 million.
BH A graphic on screen now shows U.S. & the E.U. are the principle contributors, accounting
for more than half. Incl U.K., about 60%. Sweden has a big chunk. Saudi Arabia, 0.6%; Kuwait, less than
that. These are the people that would tell that you that they're the ones most concerned about the
Palestinians.
Ginsberg They're least concerned about making sure that these refugees are left in anywhere but
independent part of UN responsibility because they don't want to have responsibility for care & feeding
because they want this issue to remain alive as an issue that they don't want to resolve themselves.
BH How is that issue useful to them?
Ginsberg It's useful because it continues to perpetuate the myth of the right of return that these
people eventually return to what is now Israel. They believe that by keeping the issue alive it deflects attention
away from their own preoccupation with other domestic issues.
BH In other words, they have got their people worried about the plight of these refugees still stuck in
these crowded refugee camps, and therefore they're not thinking about whether Saudi Arabia has a democracy or
whether the Saudi royal family are the right people to be governing and that sort of thing.
Ginsberg Also, Arafat himself, Brit, has continued to perpetuate the myth that these refugees should
not be resettled, that they should not go back to Arab countries and be resettled, largely because he wants to
continue the campaign, so to speak, of ensuring that these people believe that they have a right of return and that
they're his constituency.
BH These places, supported 30% by U.S., are rabidly anti-American, from what we can tell. And
if the Israelis are right, they are a hotbed of terrorism. Why is that?
Ginsberg They're the poorest people, the ones who are the most radicalized, the ones who claim
that they've been denied the most by anyone, the ones who are the poorest of the poor, and the ones who have
been actually mistreated the most by Arab states.
BH Do these people know how much support that their place where they live gets from U.S.?
Ginsberg Absolutely not. Collectively the Arabs contribute less than 3% of the total budget. They
think it's coming from the UN.
BH Why has the UN acquiesced in a system that has kept these people ghetto-ized for more than a
half century?
Ginsberg Because of General Assembly resolutions. The General Assembly passed resolution #194
in 1948, which largely said that the refugees either have a right of return to what is their ancestral homes that is
now Israel, or they have to be compensated. There has been no other resolution ever adopted that have permitted
them any other status. The only country since 1948 that supported the nationality has been Jordan. (In) Lebanon,
they're stateless persons. They're stateless persons in Syria. They're stateless persons in Gaza as well as in Egypt.
These countries have never granted them any rights of citizenship.
BH Refugee camps exist in all those countries?
Ginsberg Yes. There are 59 refugee camps, about 18 in Lebanon, 12 in Syria, 15 in Jordan, 22 in
Egypt.
BH They look the way they look because the U.N. has built with U.N. aid, buildings have been built,
utilities provided, that sort of thing.
Ginsberg These are the people who are the ones who need the greatest support from the
international community to rectify their status because they are providing the hotbed for terrorist activities. They're
the ones who we are talking about in terms of relieving their plight. They're the ones who are the most deserving
ultimately of a final status in their situation.
10.6.99 BBC Vast areas of savannah in E.Africa are dominated by Whistling Thorn trees (Acacia drepanolobium). These plants produce swollen thorns which ants bore into and use to house workers and raise young. These "tree-houses" are popular, with less than 1% of the trees over 50cm tall being unoccupied. But 4 different species of ant can colonise the trees and the scientists noted that: "The canopy architecture varies significantly among trees occupied by the different ants."
Only one type of ant is found on each tree and those swarming with C. nigriceps have far more branches than
others but do not spread as widely. The ants had been seen nipping buds and preventing flowering but to prove
that the ants were controlling the tree's architecture, the scientists banished them from some trees. After two full
growing seasons, the empty trees had 25% fewer branches than control trees on which the ants were still
working. This showed the ants were practising topiary but the reason for their time-consuming efforts was not
known. "Competition for host trees leads to violent conflicts between the 4 species of acacia ant. We have
observed a number of take-over raids in which colonies stream onto trees and attempt to dislodge the workers
& their brood from inside the swollen thorns," reported the scientists. So, the team staged dozens of inter-
species ant battles to see if C. nigriceps was particularly prone to invasion.
They tied together branches of adjacent trees which had different colonies living on them and waited six months. C.
nigriceps was forced out more often than any of the other ants. Their unique pruning skills therefore seem to be
used to keep their tree away from others and prevent any invasions. "This avoidance strategy allows these ant
colonies to persist longer, almost like fugitives in hostile neighbourhoods," said Professor Stanton. The scientists
believe the ants detect their nasty neighbours through pheromones which drift across on the breeze.
IDF to probe settler attacks on Palestinian olive pickers
11.29.02 Amos Harel Ha'aretz
Police & the Israel Defense Forces are investigating settler attacks on Palestinian olive pickers in the West
Bank, govt activities in the territories coordinator Maj.General Amos Gilad said yesterday. The number of such
attacks has declined recently, Gilad said, following IDF efforts to provide harvesters with better protection.
The daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported last week that Israeli contractors building the fence between Israel
& the West Bank are uprooting Palestinian olive trees and selling them to Israeli nurseries. The
report claimed this theft has been abetted by someone in the IDF's civil administration.
Gaza berry farms pinched
Israel closed key trading point, costing Palestinians $500K a day, says UN.
Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip The strawberry fields of Gaza are at their peak this time of year, yielding fruit so shiny and red they seem like plastic replicas of themselves: too pretty and sweet to be true. But for farmers like Mohammed Sarsak, growing berries on the land he leases here has become an increasingly dangerous and a markedly less lucrative proposition than in seasons past.
Once plucked and packaged, the berries from Mr. Sarsak's fields would usually sell in Israel for $6 to $11 a box at the height of the season, and for more than that in Europe. But because Karni is closed, most of the berries will be dumped on the local Palestinian market, where the same box goes for $3 to $4.25. Sarsak estimates that he's lost about 100,000 shekels this season, or about $21,000.
"The entire northern Gaza area, including Beit Lahiya, is based on agriculture and in particular, strawberry growing, and a huge amount of it has been destroyed because of the closure," says Dr. Jabir. During the recent closures, he says, PED has been losing an average of 120 tons of produce each day, valued at $130,000.
Israeli military sources said that although Karni remains closed, Israel has offered the Palestinian Authority (PA) the option of transferring goods out of Gaza through another gateway, the Kerem Shalom crossing, but the Palestinians have declined the offer because they say that crossing is too small and because of restrictions on Palestinian officials being present at the crossing.
Caught in the crossfire are the average people on either side of the border. In Israeli communities near here such at Netiv Haasara, residents are regularly jolted by the crash of rockets. The growers and their farmhands here say that they sometimes feel frightened coming to work.
Who is attacking whom is always a matter of opinion around here: Israel says it is only returning fire when its communities are being fired on, while Palestinians here say they're under attack without cause. After Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer, it worked out an agreement on border crossings with the PA, brokered with the help of US Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice. But after Jan. 2006 election of Hamas, most forms of cooperation have declined. According to a plan floated in several of Israel's newspapers this week, Israel's defense establishment favors a more complete separation from Gaza, making all border crossings fully international and giving Palestinians authority to operate their own seaport and airport, and to export goods accordingly. |
No olive branches in the grove Jewish settlers in W.Bank dispense frontier justice to hinder attacks. Palestinians insist they only want to harvest their crops. 11.7.02 Barbara Demick L.A. Times Yasuf, W.Bank The villagers gathered at first light on a road running along the ridge of a hillside dusted with olive trees. They carried burlap sacks, rakes and tarpaulins, and their donkeys carried ladders, as they prepared to harvest olives with the same techniques used since biblical times. They were scampering down the hill toward the trees when four jeeps came careening down the road, churning up dust and screeching to a halt. Out of one jeep hopped a red-haired man wearing a skullcap and earrings and swinging a metal pipe, a resident of the nearby Jewish settlement of Tappuah. Three others carried automatic weapons. Another settler with a grizzled beard arrived on a donkey. He carried a machete along with an M-16.
"Get the hell out of here!" screamed one of the men as he ran down the hillside after the Palestinian olive pickers.
When he was just above them, he scooped up a stone and took aim. An elderly Palestinian supervising his sons at work propped himself up with his cane and gestured for his family to run to safety.
So began a fairly typical morning in the olive groves of the West Bank. Almost every day since the start of the olive harvest early last month, Jewish settlers have harassed or even attacked Palestinian pickers. These ugly
encounters represent some of the most in-your-face violence between Jew and Arab and are frequently likened to
the Wild West, although a more geographically appropriate analogy might be the eye-for-an-eye code of the
Bible.
The settlers also fear that Palestinians will use the olive trees as cover to creep up on their homes and attack. "We live out here, and sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands," Hayman said. Most of the olive battles take place near the West Bank city of Nablus, where some of the most militant settlers live. The jeeps at the Yasuf skirmish, which was witnessed by a reporter, photographer and peace activists, were plastered with bumper stickers advocating the expulsion of Arabs from Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One settler wore a T-shirt bearing the image of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the late militant. Kahane was the spiritual inspiration for Kahane Chai, which is banned in Israel and listed by the State Dept as a terrorist organization.
The so-called olive wars have been waged in the West Bank since Jewish settlements started sprouting in the late 1970s, but never have they had such ferocity. A 24-year-old Palestinian was shot to death Oct. 6 as he helped a neighbor pick olives in Aqraba. Scores have been injured, among them four peace activists who were
beaten with stones and rifle butts Oct. 27 while helping olive pickers in the village of Yanoun.
"They will make us go hungry by preventing us from picking our olives. It is their way of kicking us out," complained Obya, the old man who went slinking home after the incident in the groves. Obya is the patriarch of a family of 27: 5 sons, their wives & children, all living under one roof. Theirs is a rambling 3 story house, attesting to the $1,000 a month each that 4 of the sons, the fifth a student, used to earn working in Israel before the current uprising.
When the men had jobs, they would send their wives and children into the groves. Olive picking is not terribly
arduous work; it involves brushing one's hands along a branch until the olives fall into a basket or onto a tarp.
Picking was more of an autumnal picnic than serious employment. Families would gather under the trees, bringing thermoses of tea and eating fresh figs; a fig tree is planted on each terrace of olives to provide the snacks.
"You couldn't build a house like ours with olives. When the work was good, some people wouldn't bother to take a
day off for the olives," Obya said. "Now everybody is out of work. The olives are all we have." The Obya family
owns 300 trees, each producing on average enough olives to give a barrel, or 5.3 gallons, of oil. Prices are low this
year because the harvest is especially bountiful and the economy poor. Still, the oil should fetch at least $30 a
barrel. (The leftover chaff is used for fire-starter.) That means that after expenses the family could get about $5,000
for its oil. Not much for a family of 27, but enough to get by, if only they can pick the olives.
The problem is that about half the family's trees are near Tappuah. The Jewish residents have decided that no
Palestinian may pick olives within a clear view of the settlement, whose red-roofed homes are perched high on a
hill that can be seen from more than 2 miles. And the Obya family takes the settlers seriously when they say no. In
1988, two relatives were shot in a skirmish with Tappuah residents. The radical settlement, which is built largely on
land confiscated from families in Yasuf, has a yeshiva dedicated to Kahane. The late militant's son, Binyamin, lived
in Tappuah until December 2000, when he and his wife were slain by Palestinian militants.
"We know enough to be scared of those people," said one of Obya's sons, Wajdi. "We've tried four times to get out
to pick those olives, and each time they chase us away." "Those olive trees were there when I was boy, when my
father was a boy, before the settlers ever came here," interjected his father. Mahmoud abu Salah, the head of
Yasuf's council, says many families are in a worse predicament. "The poor people don't have anything more than
olive oil and bread," he said. "We used to grow wheat here too, but the land was confiscated."
About 30 minutes down a bumpy dirt road lined with prickly pear cactus is a slightly larger town, Salfit, where Yasuf
residents bring their olives to be pressed. The press is an elaborate contraption that fills a garage. It cleans the
olives, grinds them pits and all, then presses out the oil. The machine was imported from Italy three years ago at a
cost of $350,000 by an agricultural cooperative, which receives as compensation one barrel of oil for every 10 it
presses for the farmers.
The Salfit area used to boast the best olive oil in the region and exported it to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. To the
extent that Yasuf (population 2,300) has a tourist attraction, it is an olive tree that legend says dates to the Roman
period. When villagers grow new trees, they graft a branch from the ancient tree onto a sapling grown from an olive
pit that is fed to a sheep, then extracted from its stool, a West Bank tradition that is believed to give strength to the
new tree.
The olives have become a favorite cause of Israeli and foreign peace activists. Each morning for the last month,
volunteers have traipsed into the groves, bringing cameras and cell phones, to help the Palestinians, who are often
too terrorized to call the police.
In Aqraba, also near Nablus, villagers complain that police ignored an Oct. 5 attack by 20 settlers who surrounded
6 pickers, beating them with rifle butts and stones, seriously injuring four people. "I would know his face. He had
red hair, sideburns," said olive picker Atef Beni Jaber, 41, of the settler who led the pack. Beni Jaber sustained a
deep gash in his forehead, which required seven stitches. His cousin lost an eye from being hit by a rifle.
The next day, the settlers struck again. This time Hani Minyeh, a grocery clerk who was helping a neighbor pick
olives, was shot & died. Gil Kleinman, an Israeli police spokesman, said seven settlers were detained for
questioning in the killing and later released. A gun belonging to one of them was seized for ballistics testing.
"We do arrest Israelis if they are breaking the law. We try not to make distinctions between Israeli and Palestinian
lawbreakers," Kleinman said. There were nine arrests in the last two weeks of settlers who allegedly attacked
Palestinians or picked olives from trees that were not theirs. All have been released on bail. |
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OCIAL JUSTICE |
Barak & his foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, had the opposite view. They believed that since the city is
already divided in many ways, it should be institutionalized in the framework of a permanent agreement with the
Palestinians. Barak went to Camp David with 3 alternative solutions to the Jerusalem problem, all prepared by a
team at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
