[GushShalom] Rafah Invasion - the end? Adam Keller doubts it

[Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)]

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/

International release

===================
Rafah Invasion - the end? 
Adam Keller - Tel-Aviv, May 25, 2004 
============================

At long last, the Israeli armed forces have ended their invasion and 
occupation of Rafah. It had cost the lives of 59 Palestinians - 12 of 
them unarmed civilians according to the army's own account. The invasion 
aroused  worldwide condemnation, including a censuring resolution by the 
UN Security Council which the United States exeptionally did not veto, 
and aroused widespread controversy inside Israel. 

After the fatal "warning shots" fired last Wednesday by a tank at an 
unarmed demonstration, it was widely expected that the Rafah operation 
would be terminated. But with the tacit agreement of Washington, the army 
continued its operation and even extended it into hitherto untouched 
neighborhoods of Rafah. On Sunday, there came the news of widespread home 
demolitions at the Barazil Neighborhood - first from Ha'aretz 
correpsondent Amira Hass, the only Israeli journalist to be present at 
Rafah 
from the beginning of the invasion. Then Kol Israel military correspondent 
Carmela Menashe gained entry to Barazil and broadcast a shocking account 
on the station's noon news maganize, which she later published also in a two-
page article in the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot. Finally, Israel's two 
commercial TV stations, Channel 2 and Ch. 10, broadcast extensive footage 
of Palestinians digging in the ruins of their homes and trying to salvage some 
possessions (such footage was conspicuously absent on the government-
controlled Channel 1). 
In the cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Yosef ("Tommy") Lapid sharply 
criticized the house demolitions, stating: "The sight of an old Palestinian 
woman digging in the ruins for her medicines reminds me of my 
grandmother". Since Lapid is a Holocaust survivor, this was taken as a 
comparison between the army's conduct and that of the Nazis. 
The fact that the Shinuy leader said this means that he thinks it  is what his 
constituency feels.  Lapid, a former TV talk-show commentator, is quite a 
demagogue. 

This morning Kol Yisrael interviewed Brigadier-General Shmuel Zakai, 
commander of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, and asked him to account 
for the fifty-six houses the army now admits to destroying at Rafah (after 
several days when they claimed to have demolished "only five"). His answer: 
"We had reason to think that the Palestinians had mined the roads, so we 
wanted to create a cleared space to let the tanks and armoured personnel 
carriers pass through".  General Zakai evidently assumed that the Israeli 
public would accept this as an acceptable reason for wiping out whole 
streets...

Now, the army is out of Rafah, and the Israeli headlines are caught by 
Sharon's plan to pass through his cabinet some form of a "Gaza 
Disengagement Plan" - though, it seems, one even more partial and vague 
than the earlier one.  And meanwhile, the issue of Rafah is far from off the 
agenda. In today's Yediot Aharonot General Gabi Ashkenazi, deputy Chief-of-
Staff, reiterated the army's position: "We must keep hold of the Philadelphi 
Route" (the Israeli-controlled wedge seperating the Palestinian Gaza Strip 
from Egypt). The plans to widen "Philadelphi", at the expanse of destroying 
some 2000 houses (!) at Rafah are not off the agenda, either. They are likely 
to resurface in the event of a new attack on Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip - 
or  of any other event which would provide a "need for a retaliation."
 
# The Colonel's Mother demonstrated against the military operation 
(translated from Yediot Aharonot, 25/5/04)

Aliza Tibon, mother of Colonel Noam Tibon who commands the Nahal 
Brigade and whose soldiers are engaged in various tasks in the Territories, 
joined in yesterday's protest outside the Defence Minstry in Tel-Aviv calling 
for evacuation of the army from Rafah. Tibon arrived there together with 
other women active in the left-wing movement "The Fifth Mother", having 
last week participated in a vigil at the Kisufim Chackpoint at the Gaza Strip 
entrance to protest what the movement termed "the harm caused to 
innocents". 
Tibon, who lives in Kibbutz Tzor'ah, came yesterday morning by train to Tel-
Aviv and stood in front of the Defence Ministry, holding a sign reading 
"Down With the Occupation". She told her fellow activists that she could 
not remain silent in face of the sights from Rafah which she saw on TV, and 
felt she must take personel action to help get the army outof there. She told 
journalists "I am proud to be Noam's mother and I am proud to demonstrate 
against the occupation".   

# For photos & report of May 21 demonstration at Kissufim Checkpoint:
  http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html

# Donations for the families in Rafah whose houses were demolished 
can be sent by cheque - in your own currency! -  made out to Anat 
Matar,  33 Bernstein-Cohen Street, Ramat Hasharon 47213.
Bigger sums can be deposited to the Ta'ayush' bank account: 
Bank Hapoalim, acc. no. 396608, Ramat Aviv branch 606 
(Please avoid international bank transfer of two-digit sums because of 
prohibitive bank fees).  
NB:  in both cases you should inform Anat Matar about the sum you 
have donated,  by sending her the details at  <matar at post.tau.ac.il>

# Boycott List of Settlement Products (newly updated)
   
Hebrew
http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boycheb.htm

English
http://gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boyceng.htm

# Sharansky and the New Antisemitism, by Adam Keller - 
  http://otherisrael.home.igc.org/sharansky.html

  More selected articles of The Other Israel May issue accessible via 
  http://otherisrael.home.igc.org/contents.html 

  Order your one time free sample (hard copy) from 
<otherisr at actcom.co.il>
  NB: Don't forget to include your postal address

 
# Against the Wall

*
ðåëçåú áëôøéí îàéîéí ò"é äçåîä ìúàí òí 
àééáé 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il
àøé÷ 050-607034  info at rhr.israel.net

Presence at villages threatened by the wall, contact:  
Ivy Sichel 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il 
Arik Asherman 050-607034  info at rhr.israel.net 

*
Eye-witness reports from the Occupied Territories: 
http://www.machsomwatch.org 
  (Israeli women monitoring the checkpoints)
http://www.palsolidarity.org/pressreleases/pressreleases.php
  (internationals throughout OT)


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Help us free our children from the military prison! (parents of The Five)
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