[GushShalomBillboard] protest, disscussion, aid + struggle by pen.
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
info at gush-shalom.org
Sun Jun 30 19:23:50 IDT 2002
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// Gush Shalom Billboard //
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[Through billboard we forward about twice a week our selection of action alerts, reports
and articles. For more information, approach the addresses appearing in each item.]
[events]
[1] Peace Now calling for Labor to leave government, Monday17:30 in Tel-Aviv
[2] Israeli and Palestinian Women's Panel Discussion, Jerusalem Bat Shalom
[3] Benefit concert for projects in unrecognized villages, Ta'ayush-North.
[4] Saturday, July 6, Ta'ayush Convoy to Salfit Region
[reports]
[5] International civilians witness mass detention - ISM
[6] 44 New Settlements - Peace Now Settlement Watch
[7] Paramedics banned from entering Hebron compound - LAW
[from today's Israeli papers]
[8] A million people under curfew - Gideon Levy Ha'aretz
[9] The Penal Colonies - Tanya Reinhart in Yediot Aharonot
[10] Determined Path to Nowhere - Uzi Benziman Ha'aretz
[1 Calling for Labor to leave government, Monday17:30 in Tel-Aviv
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "Ori Ginat" <ori at peacenow.org.il>
Subject: Urgent Call for Tomorrow's Activity
Date sent: Sun, 30 Jun 2002 09:59:16 +0200
Tomorrow, Monday, July 1, 17:30 The Labor Party will hold there annual meeting at
"Heichal Hatarbut". We all must come and call the Labor Party to get out of the
government, stop building new settlements, dismantle all those who is already exists
and get back to the negotiation.
Sorry for the short notice, looking forward to see you all tomorrow, Monday 17:30 at
"Heichal Hatarbut" (Close to "Habima" National Theatre).
Basically what we need is a few volunteers to help us carry out stuff from the office, if
you can make it tomorrow, please call Ori: 03-5663291 or 054-405157, you can also
mail to: ori at peacenow.org.il
Best to you all,
PeaceNow
[2] Israeli and Palestinian Women's Panel Discussion, Jerusalem Bat Shalom
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: bat shalom <batshalo at netvision.net.il>
The implementation of a unilateral separation and the strategy of transfer have entered
the mainstream of Israeli public discourse.
The women of Bat Shalom invite you to a panel discussion focusing on these issues,
their significance, and their effect on our future and the future of our region.
It is time for women to propose a different path and create an alternative language for
the dialogue.
"Beyond the Fence": Israeli and Palestinan
Women's Perspectives
Wednesday, 3 July 2002, at 19:45
in the Notre Dame Hotel (3rd Floor) across from the New Gate, in
Jerusalem.
Participating Speakers:
MK Prof. Nomi Chazan
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi- Palestinian Legislative Council
(Dr. Ashrawi's participation is contingent on whether she is able to arrive from
Ramallah to Jerusalem)
Prof. Galia Golan- Bat Shalom
Prof. Tania Reinhart- TA University
Afnan Aghbariyah- Balad Party
Dr. Rima Hamami- Institute of Women's Studies, Birzeit University
The panel will be conducted in English and a Hebrew translation will be provided.
Free Admission.
For more details, or to receive an announcement in Hebrew, please call Liora at 02-563-
1477.
[3] Benefit concert for projects in unrecognized villages, Ta'ayush-North.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Haggai Katriel <haggaik at wowmail.com>
To: info at gush-shalom.org
Ta'ayush invites:
BENEFIT EVENING FOR PROJECTS IN UNRECOGNIZED VILLAGES
Thursday, July 4th, 2002
At Kibutz Hazorea
Performances by: Ehud Banai, George Sam'an, Dana Berger,
Salem Darwish, Said Salame, Rawda Saliman, Tamer Nafar
Tickets: 35 Shekels.
For details: 04 8622932
[4] Saturday, July 6, Ta'ayush Convoy to Salfit Region
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish" <arab_jewish at hotmail.com>
Join Ta’ayush Convoy to Salfit Region.
Ta’ayush – Arab-Jewish Partnership will be holding its next solidarity convoy on
Saturday, 6/7/02 to the Salfit region, east of Kufr Kassem. The convoy’s immediate
purpose is to bring essential medical equipment – ultrasound, photospectrometer,
computers and auxiliary medical equipment – to a medical center in the area. Sharon
is leading us all to another round of bloodshed. In these times too, we wish to
strengthen an Israeli-Palestinian solidarity which crosses borders and to point, through
our activity, to an alternative to the circle of oppression, killing and hate.
For many months now, ill people in the Salfit region are unable to reach the hospitals
of Nablus and Ramallah in order to receive adequate medical treatment. As in other
places in the West Bank, pregnant women about to give birth are stopped at
checkposts and the condition of chronically-ill patients deteriorates. The continuing
policy of encircling towns has turned the Palestinians into prisoners in their own
towns. This policy is an important part of the campaign led by Sharon to shake the
Palestinian population’s hold on its land and to exhaust its staying power. This
pressure is aimed especially at villages and towns near the Green Line (regions of Tul-
Karem, Kalkilya, Salfit), some of which are in areas Sharon intends to annex.
To serve the population of the Salfit region, around 60,000 people, residents of the
region have founded a medical center, intended to ease the situation and to enable the
provision of emergency medical treatment. The center has been created solely on the
basis of funds provided by the community, with no outside assistance. Ta’ayush
responded to the invitation of activists from the community and of persons involved in
the medical center, and took upon itself to strengthen it by contributing some
expensive medical equipment which is essential to its proper functioning – an
ultrasound machine, a photospectrometer for the analysis of laboratory tests, and
computers. We need your contributions to finance the purchase of this equipment. It is
also possible to contribute computers and printers. Together we will bring the
equipment, meet residents of the area and protest the policy of strangulation.
We are intent on reaching our destination, as we have done in the past. The expansion
of military activities in the West Bank may cause changes in the planned date of the
convoy. Please keep following our announcements. Full details regarding our meeting
places will be published later.
Contributions can be made to Ta’ayush bank account no. 396608, Bank Hapoalim,
Ramat Aviv branch (no. 606), or by sending a check made out to Ta’ayush to
Ta’ayush, P.O.Box 59380 Tel Aviv 61593. Contributions from abroad can be made to
Bank HaPoalim, Swift code POALILITA (Ramat Aviv branch), 12-606-396608.
If you can contribute computers or printers, please write to Yaron at
y.kaspi at weizmann.ac.il
[5] International civilians witness mass detention - ISM
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "palsolidaritylist" <palsolidaritylist at yahoo.com>
Date sent: Sun, 30 Jun 2002 11:24:46 -0000
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
Sunday, June 30, 2002 1330
INTERNATIONAL CIVILIANS WITNESS MASS DETENTION
[RAMALLAH] 20 international civilians are in Amaari Refugee Camp near downtown
Ramallah and 15 more are being detained by Occupation forces. They are
witnessing Israeli soldiers take men, ages 15 to 50, from their homes. Soldiers
are going house to house, marking those they have checked.
The internationals are reporting that over 150 men are being held in a school
field under the hot sun. Many of the Palestinian men have been held since the
operation began at 0430. The men have been split into three major groups, with
some smaller groups being held at gunpoint in other locations. Many of the men
are tied and blindfolded. The entire camp has been sealed off by Israeli tanks
and APC's.
The soldiers are interfering with witnesses who are trying to insure that the
Palestinian's human rights are not being violated. Occupation forces are
refusing to give their names or numbers to the international witnesses and have
fired warning shots over their heads. The soldiers are denying entry to one
group of internationals and have threatened individuals with arrest.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states "No protected person may be
punished for an offense he or she has not committed", and "collective penalties
and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited".
For more information in Amaari contact:
Huwaida Arraf 067 473 308
Tamara Rettino 056 489 346
Megan McKenzie 056 367 148
Amy Laura Cahn 056 383 263
For more information on The International Solidarity Movement:
Adam Shapiro 052 642 709
Huwaida Arraf 067 473 308
[6] 44 New Settlements - Peace Now Settlement Watch
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Didi Remez <ddremez at netvision.net.il>
Date sent: Sat, 29 Jun 2002 23:14:16 +0200
Jun 29, 2002
44 NEW SETTLEMENT OUTPOSTS ESTABLISHED SINCE 2001 ELECTIONS
Peace Now: "Ben Eliezer Responsible"
A new survey conducted by Peace Now has revealed that since the
elections of February 2001 and up to the present time some 44 new
settlement sites have been established in the West Bank. Nine of these
new outposts were erected in the period March - June 2002.
The term "outpost" is misleading. For all intents and purposes these
outposts are new settlements; they have independent infrastructures and
are spread over new pieces of land.
Tzali Reshef, Peace Now: "The government is systematically violating
its commitment to the Israeli public as written in the coalition
agreement that formed the basis for the National Unity Government. The
creation of new settlements harms Israel's security and unnecessarily
endangers still more IDF soldiers and citizens. It is shameful that the
Defense Ministry continues to speak of taking down settlements when
every day new ones crop up and IDF soldiers continue to endanger their
lives for this irresponsible endeavor."
In response to the criticism raised in the media regarding these
outposts over the past few weeks, the Defense Minister issued a number
of spurious claims with regard to the way in which he has dealt with the
matter:
* "I have already evacuated 15 sites." A thorough investigation by
Peace Now has found that if indeed any outposts were dismantled, they
have been built again.
* "During my term of office only 13 sites were established. The rest
were erected under the previous government." Since election night, at
least 44 new settlement sites have been established. Under Netanyahu 42
were established. Under Barak no new outposts were e at all.
* At a meeting between Ben Eliezer and Peace Now on 22 March 2002, Ben
Eliezer admitted, after some evasiveness, that he knows about the
creation of outposts but that this is a small price to pay for peace
since he is blocking "with his body" large projects for building in the
settlements. This claim, too, turned out to be false. On 20 June 2002
tenders (for which the approval of the Defense Minister is required)
were announced for the construction of 957 new housing units in the
settlements.
Further information: Dror Etkes, Peace Now Settlement Watch coordinator,
972-54-899351 or dror at peacenow.org.il
Detailed map: www.peace-now.org/NewSettlementSitesJun2002.jpg
Detailed listing (incl. date of discovery, no. of structures and exact
Position):
www.peace-now.org/NewSettlementSitesJun2002.rtf
Abbreviated listing incl. links to photos
(# corresponds to map legend; name in parentheses is of new site, zi -
zoom in photo, zo - zoom out photo)
1. Alon Shevut (Givat Hahish North)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/GivatHahish.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/GivatHahish.zo.jpg
2. Elazar (Derech Haavot)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Elazar.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Elazar.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Elazar.jpg
3. Efrat (Givat Hatamar)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/GivatTamar.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/GivatTamar1.zo.jpg
4. Beit El (Hill 857)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BetEl.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BetEl1.zo.jpg
5.Beit El (Beit El East)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BetEl.East.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BetEl.East1.zo.jpg
6. Beit Hagai (Givat Rehavam)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BeitHagai.jpg
7.Bat Ayin (Old Beerot Yizhak)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BatAyin.North.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BatAyin.North1.zi.jpg
8. Bat Ayin (Hill 652)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BatAyin.N.G652.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/BatAyin.N.G652.zo.jpg
9. Talmon North (Zayit Raanan)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/ZaitRanan.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/ZaitRanan.zo.jpg
10.Yakir (Havot Yair)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Yakir.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Yakir.zo.jpg
11. Kochav Hashachar (Mizpe Kormim)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/MitzpeKormim.zi.jpg
12. Kefar Eldad - Nokdim (Maale Zeevi)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Nokdim.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Nokdim-MaaleRehavam.zo.
jpg
13. Karmei Tzur - (Tzur Shalem)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/KarmeiZur.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/KarmeiZur.zo.jpg
14. Mevo Dotan (Maoz Zvi)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/MevoDotan.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/MevoDotan.zo.jpg
15. Migdal Oz (Migdal Oz West)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/MigdalOz.West.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/MigdalOz.West.zo.jpg
16. Migron
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Migron.jpg
17. Mehola (Givat Salit)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Mehola.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Mehola.zo.jpg
18. Maale Michmash (Neve Erez)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/NeveErez.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/NeveErez.zo.jpg
19. Maon (Avigail)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Avigail.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Avigail.zi.jpg
20. Maon (Hill 833)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Maon.833.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Maon.833.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Maon.833.1.zo.jpg
21. Maon (Maon Farm)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/HavatMaon.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/HavatMaon.zo.jpg
22. Negohot (Mirsham)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Negohot.zi.jpg
23. Nahliel (Nahliel South)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Nahliel.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Nahliel.zo.jpg
24. Suseya (Suseya North)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Susia.North.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Susia.North.zo.jpg
25. Einav (Einav North-East)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Einav.East.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Einav.East&West.zo.jpg
26. Einav (Einav South-West)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Einav.West.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Einav.West.zo.jpg
27. Einav (Einav South-East)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Enav-SouthEast.jpg
28. Ofra (Ginot Arieh)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/GinotArieh.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/ GinotArieh.zo.jpg
29. Ofra (Mizpe Asaf)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Ofra-MizpeAsaf.jpg
30. Ofra (Tal Binyamin)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Ofra-TalBinyamin.jpg
31. Ofra (Ofra South - Hirbet Shbab a-Shimalia)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/OfraSouth.jpg
32. Eli (Eli South)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Eli-Hill762.jpg
33. Otniel (Mizpe Eshtamoa)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/MitzpeEshtamoa.jpg
34. Psagot (Psagot North East)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/Psagot-NorthEast.jpg
35. Kedumim (Mahaz Gilad)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/MaahazGilad.jpg
36. Kedumim (Havat Gilad)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyJune2002/HavatGilad.jpg
37. Karnei Shomron (Alonei Shilo)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/KarneiShomron.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/KarneiShomron.zi.jpg
38. Karnei Shomron (Ramat Gilad)
http://www.peace-now.org/SetllementSurveyJune2002/KarneyShomron-GivatDegel.jpg
39. Rachelim (Rachelim West)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Rechelim.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Rechelim.zo.jpg
40. Rachelim (Nofei Nehemya)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/NofeiNehemya.zo.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/NofeiNehemya.zi.jpg
41. Shevut Rachel (Esh Kodesh)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/EshKodesh.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/EshKodesh.zo.jpg
42. Shavei Shomron (Shavei Shomron West)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/ShaveiShomron.zo.jpg
43. Shani (Asahel)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Asael.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Asael.zo.jpg
44.Tekoa (Tekoa D)
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Tkoa.zi.jpg
http://www.peace-now.org/SettlementSurveyFeb2002/Tkoa.zo.jpg
[7] Paramedics banned from entering Hebron compound - LAW
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: law at lawsociety.org
Israeli forces ban paramedics from entering Hebron Compound
June 29, 2002 - LAW
Israeli troops continue military operations in Hebron banning paramedics,
local, and international rescue workers from entering the governor’s
compound, which came under Israeli forces siege for four days that ended
Saturday (June 29, 2002) when the forces blew up the building.
The rescue workers and paramedics arrived to search for potential
casualties in the rubble and to assist residents living near the compound
whose homes were damaged in the blast. However, according to LAW’s
information, Israeli forces turned down a request from the International
Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian District Coordination
Office to allow paramedics and rescue workers to enter the compound to
search for and rescue potential casualties.
Israeli commandos detonated explosives in the northeastern wing of the
compound on Friday evening, June 28, 2002. Israel F16 fighter jet and
helicopter gunships shelled the building late Friday evening and early
Saturday morning destroying the structure.
The Israeli military operations in Hebron started five days ago.
The Israeli destruction and bulldozing operations in the compound are
underway at press time. The fate of people holed up in the compound is
still unknown.
_____________________________
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation
for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organization Against Torture
(OMCT).
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2-
5833317, email: law at lawsociety.org, web: www.lawsociety.org
[8] A million people under curfew - Gideon Levy Ha'aretz
A million people under curfew
By Gideon Levy, June 30
Few if any Israelis can understand what it means to be under full curfew for 10 days,
incarcerated with the children in a crowded house, usually without an air conditioner or
a computer or games to play, maybe a barely functioning television set. But the worst
thing is the unnerving density of the close quarters.
Even Israeli parents - who as of today have to figure out how to get through their
children's endless summer vacation and are worried about having to keep them cooped
up at home for fear of terrorist attacks - are also incapable of grasping how intolerable
it is for the Palestinians to be imprisoned for days and weeks at a time with the
children in their meagerly furnished homes, while threatening tanks continually rumble
by and every sortie outside is liable to end in disaster.
Very few Israelis have experienced curfew and it is very unlikely that many of them are
spending their time thinking about the fact that within an hour's drive from their homes
nearly a million people - some 800,000 in the cities of the West Bank along with the
residents of some of the surrounding localities - have been locked into their homes for
days under severe conditions. Not far from Tel Aviv, which on Friday hosted its annual
Gay Pride parade, with all the color and merriment of past years, increasing numbers
of Palestinian detainees, some of them innocent, were made to walk in a procession of
humiliation. While the cafes in our cities were packed with people relaxing on the
weekend, even if in the back of their minds they were afraid of terrorists, people in the
West Bank can only dream of sitting in a coffee shop these days.
The protracted curfew that has been imposed in the West Bank within the framework
of Operation Determined Path, which is a more comprehensive curfew than any in the
past, is not present in the Israeli consciousness. The media barely reports on it and no
one is moved to speak out against the situation. Immersed in our justified concerns,
we do no more than take note of the fact that since curfew was imposed there have
been no terrorist attacks.
However, this is ultra-short-term thinking that is also morally flawed. The test of the
war against terrorism is not 10 days of quiet but the eradication of terrorism. It is
difficult to believe that after the failure of Operation Defensive Shield, which failed to
bring even a month of quiet, there is anyone who still seriously believes that these
invasions of the cities in the West Bank provide a true answer to terrorism. The day
after the Israeli forces leave the cities - and Israel maintains that it is not planning a
permanent occupation - the terrorist attacks will be renewed in full force.
The collective punishment that we are imposing on a million people is only postponing
the next wave of attacks slightly, and may even have the effect of intensifying it. It is
not hard to guess the plans that are being hatched in the curfew period by those who
have been condemned to such a hard life: One thing we can be sure of is that no one
there is planning to absorb a further 35 years of occupation without resistance.
We have to remember that even without the curfew, these are people who in the past
year and a half have been deprived of their basic freedom and are living in conditions of
soaring unemployment and dire poverty. A.F., a resident of the Deheisheh refugee
camp near Bethlehem, related at the end of the week that for the majority of the
camp's residents the hardest time is during the few hours when the curfew is lifted so
they can buy food and other basic items, because then they discover that there is
nothing to buy. (...)
This curfew is also exacting a price in blood from the Palestinians, yet it is scarcely
creating echoes in Israel. In Jenin, four children were killed in two separate incidents
when they ventured outside. Most Palestinian children are by now cued to run when
they hear the sound of a tank approaching in the terrible silence of the curfew and feel
the earth tremble under the tank treads - but they don't always succeed in getting
away. The mourning in Israel for the five victims of the terrorist attack at the settlement
of Itamar, including, horrifically, three children from one family, need not diminish the
scale of the tragedy that occurred in Jenin the next day: three small children, two of
them brothers, were killed by a tank shell as they rode their bicycles, only because
they were under the mistaken impression that the curfew had been lifted for a moment
and they could go outside for a little while.
[9] The Penal Colonies - Tanya Reinhart in Yediot Aharonot
THE PENAL COLONIES
Tanya Reinhart
This is an expanded version of an article in Yediot Aharonot, June 30, 2002.
The Gaza strip is a perfect realization of the Israeli vision of
"separation". Surrounded with electric fences and army posts, completely
sealed off the outside world, Gaza has become a huge prison. About onethird
of its land was confiscated for the 7,000 Israeli settlers living there
(and their defense array), while over a million Palestinians are crowded in
the remaining areas of the prison. With no work or sources of income, about
80% of its residents depend, for their living, on UNRWA, or contributions
from Arab states and charity organizations. Now Israel is considering the
imprisonment there of families of suicide bombers from the West Bank (1).
As a senior Israeli analyst stated, Gaza can now serve as "the penal
colony" of Israel its "devils island, Alcatraz". (Nahum Barnea, Yediot
Aharonot June 21, 2002).
This is the future that Sharon and the Israeli army designate for the West
Bank as well. While the external fence is presently being built, Israel's
current military operation is set to be the final step in the
implementation the IDF plans for reestablishing full military rule (which
was abolished in large parts of the West Bank during the Oslo process).
Though Israel describes everything it does as a spontaneous reaction to
terror, the plan was fully spelled out in the Israeli media already back in
March 2001, soon after Sharon entered office. Alex Fishman, military and
strategic analyst of Yediot Aharonot, explained at the time that since
Oslo, "the IDF regarded the occupied territories as if they were one
territorial cell", and this placed some constraints on the IDF and enabled
a certain amount of freedom for the PA and the Palestinian population. The
new plan is a return to the concept of the military administration during
the preOslo years: the occupied territories will be divided into tens of
isolated "territorial cells", each of which will be assigned a special
military force, "and the local commander will have freedom to use his
discretion" as to when and who to shoot. (Yediot Ahronot weekend
supplement, March 9.2001).
The first stage of this plan the destruction of the institutions of the
Palestinian Authority was completed in the previous 'Operation Defensive
Shield' in April of this year. In practice, from that time on, the towns
and villages of the West Bank have been completely sealed. Even exit by
foot, which was possible up to that point, became blocked, and movement
between the "territorial cells" now requires formal permits from the
Israeli military authorities. Soldiers and snipers prevent any
"unauthorized" walking to agricultural fields, to places of work and study,
or for medical treatment.
However, unlike the preOslo period of Israeli military rule, the army makes
it clear that there is no intention to construct any civil administration
that will take care of the basic daily needs of the two million
Palestinians, such as food supplies, health services, garbage and sewage.
For these tasks, some form of a Palestinian Authority will be maintained,
though in practice it will not be allowed to function.
As a 'military source' told Ha'aretz, "Internal conclusions of the security
echelons, following operation 'Defensive Shield', assessed that the
functioning of the civil branches of the Palestinian Authority had reached
an unprecedented nadir, mainly due to the destruction the IDF operation
left behind in Ramallah (including the systematic destruction of computers
and databases)... Combined with the severe restrictions on movement, the
Palestinian population is becoming, as the military source defined it,
'poor, dependent, unemployed, rather hungry, and extreme'... The financial
reserves of the Palestinian authority are reaching the bottom... In a
future not far off, the majority of Palestinians will only be able to
maintain a reasonable life through the help of international aid."
(Ha'aretz Hebrew edition, June 23, 2002, Amos Har'el). Thus, the West Bank
is being driven to the level of poverty of the Gaza strip.
Nevertheless, at the same time that Israel deprives the Palestinians of
their means of income, it also makes a substantial effort to diminish or
block international aid, under the pretext that the aid is used to support
terrorists or their families. At the outset of its new 'operation', Israel
"decided to stop the flow of foodaid and medicine from Iran and Iraq to
Palestinians in the territories" (Ha'aretz, June 24, 2002, Amos Har'el).
Iranian and Iraqi aid is an easy target for Israel, as these countries
belong to the "Axis of Evil". However, Israel started launching a more
ambitious campaign: The EU the largest PA donor is under constant
pressure from Israel to cut its aid, which is used, inter alia to pay the
salaries of teachers and health workers. The tactics are always the same:
Israel provides some documents presumably linking the PA to terror. Any aid
to the PA is, therefore, aid to terror (2).
UNRWA's aid is the next target. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for
Palestinians in the Near East (UNRWA) has become a major source of food for
Palestinians in the besieged territories. Its food supplies are now
delivered not only to the refugee camps, but also in towns and villages.
The amount of food UNRWA supplies has increased fourfold in two years (3).
Recently, "Israel has begun a campaign in the United States and the United
Nations to urge a reconsideration of the way the UN Relief and Works
Agency, which runs the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza,
operates. Israel charges that UNRWA workers simply ignored the fact that
Palestinian organizations were turning the camps into terrorist bases and
it is demanding the agency start reporting all military or terrorist
actions within the camps to the UN.... Meanwhile, Jewish and proIsraeli
lobbyists in the U.S. are waging a parallel campaign ... American Jewish
lobbyists are basing their efforts on the fact that the U.S. currently
contributes some 30 percent of UNRWA's $400 million a year budget, and is
therefore in a position to influence the agency: A congressional refusal to
approve UNRWA's funding could seriously disrupt its operations. (Ha'aretz
June 29, 2002, Nathan Guttman). The campaign is not yet demanding cutting
UNRWA's aid and presence altogether, but raising the impossible demand that
UNRWA should serve as an active force in "the war against terror"
("reporting military or terrorist actions") is the first step towards such
a demand.(4)
Since September 11, Sharon has been constructing an analogy between the
occupied territories and Afghanistan (with the PA as Al Qaeda). He keeps
declaring that the solution to Palestinian terror, and the required
'reforms', should be along the lines set in Afghanistan. The analogy is
frighteningly revealing: As it established the 'reforms' in Afghanistan,
the US forced starvation upon millions of people. This is how Noam Chomsky
described it: "On Sept. 16, the New York Times reported that 'Washington
has also demanded [from Pakistan] a cutoff of fuel supplies...and the
elimination of truck convoys that provide much of the food and other
supplies to Afghanistan's civilian population.' Astonishingly, that report
elicited no detectable reaction in the West, a grim reminder of the nature
of the Western civilization that leaders and elite commentators claim to
uphold. In the following days, those demands were implemented... 'The
country was on a lifeline,' one evacuated aid worker reports, 'and we just
cut the line' (NY times Magazine, September 30). According to the world's
leading newspaper, then, Washington demanded that Pakistan ensures the
death of enormous numbers of Afghans, millions of them already on the brink
of starvation, by cutting off the limited sustenance that was keeping them
alive." (Interview with Michael Albert, reprinted in Noam Chomsky, 911,
Seven Stories, 2002). Arundhati Roy, summarized this at the time: "Witness
the infinite justice of the new century. Civilians starving to death while
they're waiting to be killed" (Guardian, Sept. 29).
The new stage of Israel's 'separation' can no longer be compared to the
Apartheid of South Africa. As Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa's Minister of
Water Affairs, said in an Interview with Al Ahram Weekly, "the South
African apartheid regime never engaged in the sort of repression Israel is
inflicting on the Palestinians" (Issue of March 28 April 3, 2002). We are
witnessing the daily invisible killing of the sick and wounded being
deprived of medical care, the weak who cannot survive in the new poverty
conditions, and those who are bound to reach starvation.
Nevertheless, the public debate in Israel revolves around questions of
efficiency: Is it possible to stop terror in such methods. Let us suppose
even that it is. Is it allowed? Is this what we (Israelis) want to be?
One people stole the 'Lamb of its poor neighbor'(5): Gaza and the West Bank
are 22% of the land of IsraelPalestine, where the Palestinians lived in the
past. On this small piece of land, three million people live, with hopes,
needs and dreams, just like ours. Since Oslo, they have been lured with
promises that we are about to evacuate the settlements and give them back
their land, at the very same time that we have been imprisoning them in
Gaza, stealing more of their land in the West Bank, and leaving them no
hope whatsoever. The Palestinian people are fighting for their freedom. The
crimes of Palestinian terror do not remove our culpability for our own crimes.
Before Oslo, as well, there was a wave of horrible terror attacks. But at
that time, after each such attack, the call was heard get out of the
territories! Then it was still understood that when you leave people no
hope, there is no way to stop the madness of suicide bombing. It is not too
late to get out of the territories.
========
(1) In its meeting on Friday, June 21, 2002, the Israeli cabinet "decided
in principle in favor both of the expulsion of families of suicide strikers
from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip... The implementation of this
expulsion policy depends upon the outcome of a legal review." ('IDF set to
expel bombers' families' By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel and Gideon Alon, Ha'aretz
June 23, 2002).
(2) Here is one example of the pressure on the EU:
"The documents seized from PA offices in recent months, some of
which were included in the document compiled by minister without portfolio
Dan Naveh following Operation Defensive Shield, were presented last week to
the EC delegation in Israel and representatives of the International
Monetary Fund at a meeting with IDF intelligence officers. Naveh claims the
documents prove European financial aid has been used to finance terrorism
and incitement, and has also found its way into the pockets of senior PA
officials.
The head of the EC's delegation to Israel, Giancarlo Chevallard,
told Ha'aretz that at the meeting, the delegation saw evidence that Arafat
is financing terrorism, but added Israel had not provided evidence that
European financial aid which is designated to pay the salaries of PA
employees is being used to finance terrorist attacks. Another senior
delegation official said he was extremely skeptical Israel had evidence to
prove European aid is being used by the PA to finance terrorism...
Meanwhile, in the shadow of the Israeli accusations, the European
Parliament's budgetary committee last week delayed the transfer of 18.7
million euros in financial aid to the PA until the EC reports how the money
is to be distributed..." (Ha'aretz, June 6, 2002, Yair Ettinger)
This specific frozen amount was released in the meanwhile, however Israel's
pressure continues.
(3) Amos Har'el, 'The IDF neutralizes the Palestinian Authority, and
humanitarian organizations try to replace it', Ha'aretz Hebrew edition,
June 23, 2002. (Quoted before).
(4). The campaign against UNRWA started earlier: "In letters written to
Annan in May, Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and Democratic U.S.
Representative Tom Lantos accused the U.N. agency of allowing and promoting
terrorist activity in the camps. Specter said UNRWA schools promoted
antiIsraeli and anti Semitic sentiments and Lantos said the agency allowed
terrorists to organize in the camps."(Inter Press Service, June 24, 2002)
(5) Bible, Samuel II, 12:11: "12:1The LORD sent Natan to David. He came to
him, and said to him, "There were two men in one city; the one rich, and
the other poor. 12:2The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 12:3but
the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought
and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of
his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him
like a daughter. 12:4A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take
of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who
had come to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man
who had come to him." (http://ebible.org/bible/hnv/2Sam.htm)
[10] Determined Path to Nowhere - Uzi Benziman Ha'aretz
-------
Ha'aretz Sunday, June 30, 2002
Determined Path to Defensive Shield
By Uzi Benziman
During the same week when IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz acknowledged to
members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Operation
Defensive Shield failed, Israel Defense Forces troops moved into West Bank cities,
undertaking Operation Determined Path. The circumstances and atmosphere were
similar: After a wave of cruel Palestinian terror attacks, there was general
agreement that Israel had no choice but to deploy unusual means of force to quell
terror. The IDF submitted an operational plan, and the political leadership
authorized it, virtually unanimously. Soldiers, including reservists conscripted under
emergency orders, fully identified with their assignments.
And thus for the second
time in three months, the State of Israel found itself with its army in control of Area A
(designated in the Oslo Accords as being under full Palestinian control) lands, and
undertaking a dangerous, taxing effort to locate and destroy Palestinian terror sites.
But unlike the case of Defensive Shield, the current extreme move is being carried out
in the absence of public debate about its meaning. The IDF is reoccupying the West
Bank, with the apparent intention of remaining in these lands for a long, indefinite
period - and the public views the situation apathetically.
Extrapolating from the precedent of Defensive Shield, the following events are liable to
occur in coming days: More Palestinian civilians will die as a result of mistakes;
international pressure will pick up steam, calling for an end to the siege on the
Palestinian population; the government will, to some extent, be influenced by this
pressure, and as a result the IDF will claim that it isn't being allowed to finish the job;
developments within the Palestinian Authority, or in the international arena, will cause
Israel to relinquish some of the objectives it set at the beginning of the operation; the
terror attacks will resume, and sometime later Chief of Staff Mofaz (or his successor)
will concede that the operation didn't meet expectations.
There is, of course, another possibility. Israel will not face genuine pressure calling on
it to abort the operation; the lessons of Defensive Shield having been learned well, the
IDF will not make any significant mistakes that disrupt the original plans and intentions
of Determined Path; new international circumstances (such as the U.S. position
regarding Yasser Arafat) will enable the Sharon government to carry out its plans fully;
Palestinian suicide attacks will not resume, owing to the IDF's imposing presence in
West Bank cities and the refugee camps around them.
Careful thought about its meaning and implications must be given to this
optimistic scenario. One possibility is that it will become clear that the IDF doesn't
have the wherewithal to eradicate the threat of lethal Palestinian terror. A second
possibility is that it will become clear that a powerful show of military force (the
regular army plus a limited call-up of reservists) can restore quiet to Israel - but the
only way to maintain such quiet is to deploy troops massively on the West Bank for an
unlimited length of time. In other words, it might be that only a reoccupation of
Palestinian Authority lands, and the imposition of tough military rule (curfews and
closures, violent, unending searches) can guarantee the welfare of citizens of Israel.
After one week of the current operation, it has been reported that more than 2,000
people have been detained and await questioning, and that the Shin Bet security
service has stretched itself to the limit, trying to extract crucial information from these
detainees. This is just the tip of the iceberg: The number of Palestinians who have
been involved in violent activity against Israel, or who have pertinent information, is
very, very large. Palestinian terrorists do not set out on strikes without widespread,
popular support, from which they obtain shelter and logistical help.
Israel is caught in a trap, and military operations cannot free it from this bind. The
choice being offered by its current government is reconciliation with abominable terror,
or a corrupting conquest. Nobody in the political leadership is offering a different route -
separating from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
----
Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
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