ISM Digest 10-26-07: Apartheid roads blocked; Olive harvesters attacked; Ketziot prison raid; Activists face deportation
ISM Media Group
attacked; Ketziot prison raid; Activists face deportation
1. Brighton-Tubas Fellowship: Three British nationals go to trial
after non-violent demonstration
2. PCHR: Heart attack patient dies after being sent back from Erez
crossing twice
3. Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek of Sabeel defamed in Boston Globe by two opeds
4. ...Blocking the road to Apartheid: Palestinian nonviolent protestors
are blocking highway 443 (video is available on youtube)
5. Demonstration against Ketziot raid in Hebron (video is available on
website)
6. A United Front for Peace: Breaking the Siege on Gaza
7. Seattle P-I: Palestinians' lives invisible to Israelis
8. What is not being said about the Ketziot prison raid (video about
Ketziot on website)
9. Ongoing harassment in village near Nablus
10. Tel Harvesters Attacked by Masked Settlers
11. ZNet: Formalizing Apartheid Masked as a Peace Initiative
----------------------
1. Brighton-Tubas Fellowship: Three British nationals go to trial
after non-violent demonstration
October 27th, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brighton-Tubas Fellowship:
***Update, after being sent to the Ministry of the Interior to begin
the process of deportation, the three women were released.
Three British women, Kate Harrison, Caroline Bailey and Sarah Cobham
representing the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity group, were
arrested during a non-violent protest at Al Mazra'a al Qibilya in the
West Bank on Friday 26th October and will appear at 7pm this evening
in the Jerusalem Peace Court, located in the Russian Compound in
Jerusalem.
The women, aged 45, 60 and 62, who are facing deportation, are being
charged this evening with "participating in an illegal demonstration",
"damaging a barbed wire fence" belonging to settlers erected on
Palestinian land and uprooting settler owned grape vines planted
illegally on Palestinian land.
The women, two of whom are members of Amnesty International, did not
actively participate in the demonstration but intended to act as
observers. They were arrested as the protesters retreated under live
fire.
Members of a ten person delegation to Palestine organised by the
Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group joined a demonstration
in Al Mazra'a al Qibliya in the occupied West Bank today. Al Mazra'a
is surrounded by seven illegal Israel settlements known collectively
as Talmund B.
The settlements have been steadily expanding. In the last few years
they have expropriated 14,000 dunums of Palestinian land (4 dunums= 1
acre) and uprooted Palestinian olive trees.
The settlement also monopolises water resources in the area.
Settlements like Talmund B are illegal under international law.
However, the Israeli state encourages the growth of settlements by
subsidising colonisers who move to the occupied territories.
Three months ago a further 500 dunums were confiscated from the
village and were planted with grape vines.
The Brighton group joined the villagers in marching to the confiscated
land. They reached the area where a barbed wire fence marked the
boundary of the stolen land. Approximately 50 people crossed the fence
and started to remove the grape vines from the land. Also the pipes
that take the stolen water were partially destroyed.
As the demonstrators entered the land settlers fired live ammunition
at them. Soldiers also fired live ammunition. No warning was given.
The group included old people and many young children.
The villagers told the remaining members of the Brighton group that it
was because of their presence that no-one was killed.
------------------------
2. PCHR: Heart attack patient dies after being sent back from Erez
crossing twice
October 26th, 2007
Left on the Ground for Nearly an Hour, a Patient in a Serious
Condition Dies Due to Restrictions at Erez Crossing
PCHR strongly condemns the unjustified complicated procedures adopted
by Israeli occupation authorities at Erez crossing, which have led to
the death of an old patient from the Gaza Strip, who was suffering
from diabetes and hypertension, although they had already agreed to
allow him to receive medical treatment at an Israeli hospital. PCHR
calls upon the international community, particularly the High
Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, World
Health Organization and the ICRC to exert pressure on Israeli
occupation authorities to allow access of patients from the Gaza Strip
to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel through Beit Hanoun (Erez)
crossing.
According to information available to PCHR , Nemer Mohammed Salim
Shuhaiber, 77, from al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, was admitted
into the ICU at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on 21 October 2007 as he
was suffering from an acute heart attack. Since he was in a serious
condition, the Palestinian Ministry of Health decided to transfer him
to an Israeli hospital. On Monday, 22 October 2007, the liaison
officer at the Ministry was able to coordinate with Israeli occupation
authorities his passage through Erez crossing. The patient's sons,
Nahidh and 'Adnan, also obtained permits to accompany him to the
Israeli hospital. According to Nahidh, 42, he accompanied his father
to Erez crossing. The ambulance driver was permitted by Israeli
occupation authorities to pass through the crossing. When the
ambulance moved forward, Israeli occupation troops fired at it, so the
driver was forced to drive back and the patient was not able to travel
to the Israeli hospital on that day although he was in a serious
condition.
Also according to Nahidh, he and his brother 'Adnan accompanied their
father in a Palestinian ambulance, which transported them to Erez
crossing at approximately 09:30 on Tuesday, 23 October 2007, as the
Palestinian Ministry of Health coordinated their passage again with
Israeli occupation forces. However, they were forced to wait for
nearly 3 hours. Israeli occupation authorities then allowed the
ambulance to pass towards the Israeli side of the crossing. The
patient needed additional oxygen, which was brought by the ambulance
driver from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israeli occupation troops
forced them to wait for two additional hours to conduct security
checking on the ambulance. During the checking, Israeli troops placed
the patient on the ground under the sun for nearly an hour, although
his health condition was deteriorating. At the end of the security
checking, Israeli troops ordered taking the patient back to Shifa
Hospital, but he died soon.
Israeli occupation authorities have continued to close Erez crossing,
banning free and safe passage of the Palestinian civilian population,
including patients. The obstruction of the passage of patients through
Erez crossing has caused 5 deaths in the past 6 months. For instance,
on 3 August 2007, Wa'el Hasan Khalil Abu Warda, 27, from Jabalya
village, died from a kidney failure when he was on his way to Ichilov
Hospital in Israel. On 23 May 2007, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim Mansour,
23, died as Israeli occupation forces obstructed for 3 hours his
passage into Israel to receive medical treatment. Mansour had been
seriously wounded by several gunshots during internal fighting on 15
May 2007.
In a few examples, Israeli occupation authorities have allowed
patients to pass through Erez crossing, but under unjustifiable
complicated security procedures endangering the lives of such
patients, especially as the majorities of cases transferred to
hospitals in the West Bank and Israel are critical or serious. Such
patients need advanced medical treatment, which is not available in
the Gaza Strip. The closure of Rafah International Crossing Point has
also precluded the transfer of patients to Egyptian Hospitals. Such
restrictions imposed on the passage of patients are part of measures
of collective punishment adopted by Israeli occupation authorities
against the Palestinian civilian population, in violation of
international law.
PCHR calls upon the international community, particularly the High
Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, World
Health Organization and the ICRC to exert pressure on Israeli
occupation authorities to allow access of patients from the Gaza Strip
to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel, and the entry of medicines
and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip.
-------------------
3. Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek of Sabeel defamed in Boston Globe by two opeds
October 25th, 2007
The combination of opeds: one from Jeff Jacoby and the other from
CAMERA says more about the Globe than either of the slanderous pieces
written.
Tactics are the usual:
Criticism of Israel or it's brutal and illegal and immoral policies is
anti-Semitic..... But both of these opeds are particularly disgusting.
Please write and call the Globe to demand some balance and scrutiny in
their editorial section. An apology or a full oped by Rev. Dr. Naim
Ateek is also in order.
GLOBE CONTACT INFO:
Letters to Editor: let...@globe.com
Ombudsman: om...@globe.com
Phone to leave a message, 617.929.3022.
Marjorie Pritchard, Oped Editor, 617.929.3041
Sabeel Purpose Statement
Sabeel is an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among
Palestinian Christians. Inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus
Christ, this liberation theology seeks to deepen the faith of
Palestinian Christians, to promote unity among them toward social
action. Sabeel strives to develop a spirituality based on love,
justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation and reconciliation for the
different national and faith communities. The word "Sabeel" is Arabic
for 'the way' and also a 'channel' or 'spring' of life-giving water.
Sabeel also works to promote a more accurate international awareness
regarding the identity, presence and witness of Palestinian Christians
as well as their contemporary concerns. It encourages individuals and
groups from around the world to work for a just, comprehensive and
enduring peace informed by truth and empowered by prayer and action.
The op-eds can be read here:
Hate at the altar
By Dexter Van Zile | October 25, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/25/hate_at_the_altar/
Criticism gone too far
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | October 21, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/21/criticism_gone_too_far/
SAMPLE LETTERS WRITTEN
1
CAMERA, Jacoby, and the ADL, apologists for Israel 's brutal policies
towards the Palestinians, viciously attack Sabeel, the international
peace group initiated by Palestinian Christians that opposes the
Israeli occupation of Palestine , and its founder, Rev. Naim Ateek.
As usual, they designate critics of the Israeli government's 60-year
oppression of the Palestinians as anti-Semitic. End of discussion.
What makes them particularly apoplectic this week is that Sabeel is
holding a weekend conference at the Old South Church , titled "The
Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel" . Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
who knows something about apartheid, is delivering the keynote
address.
Rather than dealing directly with the issues raised by the Occupation
and Israel 's abuses of international law and human rights, these
defenders of Israel 's military government obfuscate Israel 's crimes
by focusing on Ateek's use of religious metaphors, likening them to
racist symbols and blaming Jews for killing Christ.
Sabeel says that Israel dominates the Palestinians by taking their
land and pushing the owners into enclaves where they have no power or
self-determination over their lives. Nelson Mandela and other leaders
have made the analogy with apartheid in South Africa , and some say
the conditions are even worse in Occupied Palestine today. This is
not anti-Semitism; it is reality.
2
To the Editors:
I understand that under the principles of freedom of the press a
newspaper has the right to print and offer opinion as it wishes. But I
would hope that a paper that is often referred to as Boston's "paper
of record" would attempt to offer balance in reporting the major
issues of our times. However, in reporting on the issue of Israel/
Palestine that has hardly been the case. It is not enough that you
have a regular columnist, Jeff Jacoby constantly pressing Israel's
positions (there is no comparable columnist arguing the Palestinian
side or criticizing Israel), but now you offer an op-ed article to an
organization with the Orwellian name of Committee for Accuracy in the
Media , an organization which systematically cherry picks quotes taken
out of context to attack people and organizations as they have done
with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theolgy Center, rather than
simply challenging positions and ideologies. I suggest that the Globe
review the investigative report that Columbia University published
repudiating the CAMERA/David Project's smear campaign against
Professor Joseph Massoud before it offers them another chance to carry
on such similar attacks against others.
Why will the Globe not print op-ed articles or letters presenting an
opposing position instead of just reiterating one side of the issue. A
balanced approach to reporting would have dictated that Sabeel or Old
South Church would have been offered an op-ed piece since they were
attacked by Jacoby, rather than offering an echo from CAMERA.
3
To the Editor
In reading "Hate at the Altar" Globe 10/25/07 I don't get any
indication that Israel is actually occupying land - in addition to
it's own state - that doesn't belong to itself. I also don't learn
anything about the nature of that occupation - or for how long it's
been going on.
I agree with the writer that "...Jews as Christ killers has
contributed to untold violence and hostility toward Jewish people."
and, I say, can never be tolerated or justified, and Israel is
occupying land not it's own, and that cannot be tolerated or
justified.
We need to be as clear as possible about what the issues are, and work
together to create a world of fairness and justice - where we stop
killing each other!
4
Dear Editor
I want to address the vile piece in the Globe today "Hate at the
Altar" by Dexter Van Zile. This is not an oped, this is slander.
Combined with the usual slander from Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby on
Oct. 21, I can only assume that this represents the point of view of
the Boston Globe. You have chosen to attack not just the Rev. Dr Ateek
and Sabeel but you are attacking all Christians suffering under
Israeli occupation. You have also chosen to offend Christians
everywhere who disagree with the horrendous policies of the state of
Israel and you have chosen to offend Black Americans.
To misuse of the image of the noose by Mr. Zile was particularly
disgusting and offensive to anyone who understand its meaning and
symbolism. Blacks who suffered the noose were oppressed as slaves by
white landowners, overlords and later by racist organizations such as
the KKK.
Palestinians are the oppressed in this case.; oppressed by the state
of Israel with the full support of the US. Maybe the Globe or Mr.
Zile could explain how exactly Israelis are oppressed by
Palestinians. If anything, the noose is much more symbolic of Israeli
tanks, roadblocks, checkpoints and settlements which strangle the life
out of Palestinians.
The Globe continues to disappoint on this issue.
-------------------
4. ...Blocking the road to Apartheid: Palestinian nonviolent protestors
are blocking highway 443
By: Apartheid Masked
October 25th, 2007
For a video of the action click here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Uq9vbVy-Y
An anti-apartheid protest today blocked busy Highway 443, one of many
highways that run on occupied Palestinian land but are reserved for
Israelis only. Israeli Security forces used force to move the
demonstrators. Three of the protesters, Blake Murphy, from Boston and
Yonatan Polak, and Dmitri from Tel Aviv were arrested and released
with conditions limiting their movement.
The protesters blocked the highway for over fifteen minutes by
organising a mass sit down in the road backed by six protestors
chained into a four metre pipe. Rush hour traffic was backed up for
miles before the protestors were removed by force. They distributing a
message to the drivers on the highway: "We know what it feels like to
be blocked. We experience it daily."
The masses of Israelis who regularly travel to Jerusalem via the
settlement of Modi'in were surprised this morning to find the highway
blocked by non-violent protesters. Despite obvious road blocks at the
junctions with roads from the Palestinian villages along the highway,
few are aware that for seven years now, Highway 443 has been
accessible to Israelis only. Palestinians are forbidden to travel on
the highway, even on the 9.5 kilometer-long segment which passes
through occupied West Bank territory and is built on land that has
been confiscated from Palestinians whose olive trees have been cut
down "for the benefit of the local population." [See comment from
Israel's newspaper Haaretz, "The Law as Roadkill"
The Israeli military claims that the prohibition of Palestinian
traffic on the main road is temporary and subject to security
considerations. But their actions on the ground suggest otherwise. In
order to "compensate" the communities, the military has confiscated
more land for the creation of what they term "fabric of life" roads at
an estimated cost of 177.9 million shekels (approximately US$44.5
million). These roads will funnel Palestinian traffic under the
Israeli road network via tunnels and underpasses connecting
communities in nearby enclaves, thus putting the Palestinians out of
sight and out of mind for Israelis.
The Israeli Human rights group B'tselem states that the prohibition on
Palestinian use of Highway 443 appears to be based on Israel's desire
to annex the area along which the road runs. B'tselem explains that if
Israel was only interested in protecting the lives of Israelis, rather
than annexing the area, it could limit or even prohibit the travel of
Israelis on the road cutting through the West Bank and build roads
inside Israeli territory, thus providing safe channels of
transportation to connect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The policy of prohibiting movement on this road is not an isolated
case but is part of a general widespread policy [see map]. On 312
kilometers of main roads in the West Bank, vehicles bearing
Palestinian license plates are forbidden or restricted access. The
creation of a regime of "forbidden roads" has converted the right to
freedom of movement in the West Bank into a privilege that is
dependent upon the national origin of an individual. [see
International Convention on Apartheid] These roads, in addition to the
segregation wall, carve up Palestinian areas into isolated enclaves.
This fragmentation is at the root of the West Bank's declining
economy.
In an appeal, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI )
states that the term "Crime of Apartheid," applies to acts that are
used as a means for establishing and maintaining domination of one
racial group of persons over any other racial group and systematically
oppressing them. ACRI states that an accepted systematic policy of
discrimination against the Palestinian population constitutes a
practice of apartheid as defined by the International Convention on
the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. Separation
exists between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank in many
other aspects of life, as with the two separate legal systems that
exist for the two populations.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Movement said:
"Israel wants to legitimize apartheid and call it peace. This is the
first in a series of popular non-violent protests against the Israeli
system of apartheid. "anti-apartheid activists block highway 443
Thursday morning, protesting the Israeli-only road which traverses
occupied Palestinian land. A major highway, it is inaccessible to
Palestinians.
For more information see:
www.apartheidmasked.org
For pictures of the action see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/1744235236/
-------------------
5. Demonstration against Ketziot raid in Hebron
Video is available here:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/26/demonstration-against-ketziot-raid-in-hebron/
25 October, Hebron
Palestinian residents in Hebron protesting the Ketziot prison attack
were subject to an all-day onslaught of rubber bullets, tear gas and
sound grenades by the Israeli soldiers.
The protest took the form of a strike, organised by the Islamic
National Forces in response to the killing of one Palestinian prisoner
and the injuring of up to 250, by Israeli prison guards at the Ketziot
prison, three days ago.
Israeli soldiers started firing into the crowds in response to
Palestinian children throwing rocks at the bulletproof checkpoint
leading into the Tel Rumeida settlement - the checkpoint that controls
movement of Palestinians from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas
into Israeli-controlled areas, areas of residence for both
Palestinians and illegal Israeli settlements.
The checkpoint is a daily frustration for the people of Hebron, who
are often delayed for long periods or denied entry altogether. It also
serves as a potent symbol of the illegal annexation of Palestinian
land by Israeli settlements in Hebron, contravening the 4th Geneva
convention.
Soldiers fired from rooftops - shooting rubber bullets, tear gas and
sound bombs into the crowded marketplace, wounding a 15 year old boy
in the neck. Other children were also hit with rubber bullets, and an
elderly man was hospitalised after being struck in the chest.
Approximately 15 people were hospitalised, with more people suffering
the effects of tear gas.
The checkpoint remained closed throughout the day - stranding school
children and residents.
-----------
Conditions of Ketziot Prison
According to a reliable source associated with Ketziot Prison, 700 out
of 2500 prisoners are solely held under administrative detention,
which means they do not have a determined time sentence. The prison is
surrounded by eight metres of concrete and fence wall with additional
barbwire fences separating each section. The prison appears more like
a camp, hidden away in the Negev Desert and subjecting the inmates to
live in plastic tents.
It is reported that the prisoners live under heavy tension. They are
guarded 24 hours a day by surveillance towers and if the prison guards
suspect any movement, they're ready to shoot.
The prisoners are denied simple utilities, such as cleaning supplies
which they are forced to buy on their own with money which must be
deposited into Israeli banks. The only people allowed to send money
are family members, many of them not able to go to Jerusalem in order
to visit an Israeli bank. Along with poor conditions, they are denied
medical treatments and given aspirin to cure anything, including high
blood pressure and diabetes. Even after the raid by the Metzada
(Israel Prison Service) some of the injured detainees were denied
medical treatment for injuries caused by rubber bullets and tear gas.
International third parties such as the Red Cross have been denied
intervention.
------------------
6. A United Front for Peace: Breaking the Siege on Gaza
October 25th, 2007
A United Front for Peace
December 2007- May 2008
We, the National Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza (hereafter the
National Committee), have adopted the initiative of the Gaza Community
Mental Health Programme to launch an international campaign for
breaking the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip since June 2007.
The aim of this humanitarian, non-political campaign is to put
pressure on the Israeli government in order to lift the siege imposed
on the population of Gaza. By raising the awareness of the
international community on the deteriorating life conditions resulting
from the siege, we aim at other governments to stop the boycott of
Gaza. We are pleased to note here that the European Parliament has
recently adopted a resolution calling on the Israeli government to end
the siege.
It is important to declare that this campaign is not affiliated or
endorsed by any political party. The National Committee is composed of
representatives of the civil society, business community,
intellectuals and advocates for human rights and peace from the West
Bank and Gaza. We are all guided by our commitment to peace and our
respect to human dignity.
We believe that it is a moral and ethical duty to rescue the lives of
human souls living under bitter circumstances that sabotage their
right to exist. People in Gaza are deprived of the simplest
requirements for a decent life. We are determined to move hand in hand
and shoulder to shoulder with all people who believe in freedom, human
dignity and peace.
The National Committee needs the support of all people, who believe in
humanity all over the world, and in particular Arab people and
governments, to contribute to the success of this campaign. We also
call upon all Palestinians, whether in Gaza, the West bank or anywhere
else to support our efforts and join our activities. It is a genuine
call to rescue people not governments or political parties. It is time
to put aside any partisan conflicts and unite people in the pursuit of
freedom, justice, and peace. We particularly call upon Jews whose
history of trauma, discrimination and suffering should guide them to
stand up today against the suffering of others.
The Impacts of the Siege on Gaza:
The Gaza Strip has two main crossings that connect it to the whole
world, i.e. Rafah in the south and Erez in the north. There are three
other crossings that are used to exchange goods and bring in food to
the Gaza Strip; Today all are closed partially or completely.
Since the winning of Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative Council
elections in 2006, the Israeli government, with the support of the US
administration, has imposed a siege on all the Palestinian occupied
Territories, declared its boycott on the new Palestinian government,
and refused to transfer customs revenues to the Palestinian
government. After taking these measures, several donor countries
including major donors like Europe have severely cut off their
development assistance offered to the Palestinian people. The result
of that form of collective punishment was a gradual deterioration of
life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Following Hamas military take-over of Gaza strip in June 2007, the
siege imposed by Israel was tightened to an unprecedented level.
Citing the continuing rocket attacks from inside Gaza, the Israeli
government has recently declared Gaza as a hostile entity and
threatened to cut electrical power, fuel supply to Gaza and to
substantially decrease the number of people allowed in and out; as
well as, the amounts of goods and food supplies, and money needed for
the daily life of people of Gaza.
The Israeli policy of unlawful collective punishment has always had
its serious impact on the lives of the Palestinian civilians.
Collective punishment is expressly forbidden under international
humanitarian law. According to this principle, persons cannot be
punished for offenses that they have not personally committed. In its
authoritative commentary on Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, the International Committee of the Red Cross has clarified
that the prohibition on collective punishment does not just refer to
criminal penalties, "but penalties of any kind inflicted on persons or
entire groups of persons, in defiance of the most elementary
principles of humanity, for acts that these persons have not
committed."
The siege that was imposed on the Gaza Strip has created excessive
loss and damage in the different aspects of Palestinian life. The Gaza
Strip has turned into a huge prison with no access to the outside
world.
The health sector has been dramatically affected by the siege.
According to the latest Humanitarian Situation Report of the Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released on
October 9th, 2007, fewer than five patients crossed into Israel/West
Bank each day for medical treatment compared to an average of 40
patients per day in July. World Health Organization has indicated,
though, that an average of 1000 patients used to leave Gaza for
treatment each month prior to the mid-June closures.
As a result of the continuous closures, the United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP) has reported significant increases in the costs of
some food items. The price of 1 KG of fresh meat has increased form
NIS 32 to NIS 40 (20%) while the price of chicken rose from NIS 8 to
NIS 12 (33%). According to OCHA's report of October, 9th, during the
month of September, a total of 1508 truckloads of goods crossed into
Gaza. This compares to 2468 truckloads in the month of August and 3190
in July. There are no food stocks anymore and that contributes to the
rising of prices.
The educational system in Gaza has also been affected by the siege.
With the start of the new school year, there has been a serious lack
of books and a shortage of the raw materials needed for printing.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one
third of the students started the school year without the needed text
books. The closures also deprived thousands of students from reaching
their universities outside the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Civil
Affairs Department has declared that more than 5000 people, half of
which are students, have applied to leave Gaza via Israel and have not
yet been able to leave.
On the industrial level, preventing the import of raw materials
essential for Gaza businesses and industry, and the export of final
goods, resulted in the shut down of many manufacturing businesses.
According to Paltrade's assessment on 12 September 2007, over 75,000
private sector employees have been laid off in the latest three
months.
The agricultural sector is also at risk. According to ACHA's report,
the export season for Gaza's cash crops (strawberries, carnation
flowers and cherry tomatoes) is expected to begin in mid-November.
This year, 2,500 dunums of strawberries have been planted with an
expected production of approximately 6,250 tons of strawberries
including 2,500 destined for European markets. 490 tons of cherry
tomatoes are also expected to be produced. If exports are not allowed
by this time, farmers will be exposed to tremendous losses in terms of
production cost and potential sales.
The WFP reported that poverty now affects 80 percent of the Gaza
population. Since human beings are the products of the environment in
which they live, the Palestinian environment today is a combination of
deprivation, poverty, anger, feelings of powerlessness and despair.
Such feelings will inevitably lead to simmering anger which will
eventually brew into more violence and defiance.
Palestinians have gone through repeated traumas of death and
destruction of home and life over the past few decades. The current
siege provokes the previous traumas making people re-experience the
negative feelings that they have previously encountered and passed
through.
It is only to be expected that in such an environment extremist
ideologies will flourish. This will impact on the Palestinian society
internally as well as the political environment in the whole region,
destroying the possibilities of peace and security.
Putting all in a nutshell, with this immoral siege, Gaza is meant to
be the city of death where everything is destroyed. It is our duty to
rescue life.
Planned activities of the campaign:
The campaign is planned to take place from December 2007-May 2008. It
is proposed that the National Committee will start the campaign with a
press conference, announcing the launching of the campaign and asking
friends at the local and international level for their contributions
and participation in the activities of the campaign.
An international petition to break the siege on Gaza will be
disseminated worldwide.
The first major event of the campaign will be organizing an
international symposium entitled "Breaking the Siege on Gaza: Together
for a United Front for Peace".
The campaign will also include a variety of activities including
inviting international visitors from around the world for an on-going
individual or group visits to Gaza. The visitors will have first hand
information on the Palestinian life in order to disseminate such
information in their own country. Visitors will be hosted in
Palestinian homes in order to closely get acquainted with the
Palestinian hardship realities and their living conditions. Media
coverage of the activities in Gaza will be documented.
We will rely on our Israeli friends to host and help our friends from
abroad who, if not allowed to enter Gaza, are expected to make media
converge of such incidents in order to expose the Israeli policies.
We will arrange for a peaceful march to Erez checkpoint from both the
Israeli and Palestinian sides of the borders. It will include peace
activists from all over the world.
As part of the campaign, solidarity meetings, cultural activities, and
discussion will take place.
Internationally, we seek to mobilize people for the campaign in all
parts of the world, particularly in the US, Europe and Israel using
printed and media materials documenting the effects of the siege.
The campaign will be concluded in May by a major event, which is the
arrival of 120 human rights activists including Noble Prize winners to
Gaza via sea coming from Cyprus. This event will be titled "Free Gaza
Movement Day" and is planned by a solidarity group in USA.
The campaign will have special posters as well as a website where all
relevant materials will be published. The site will give special
opportunities for people to exchange information, ask questions, and
have their comments on the planned activities.
Throughout the campaign, close contact with the media will be
maintained with regular feeding of information and news and updates.
------------------
7. Seattle P-I: Palestinians' lives invisible to Israelis
October 25th, 2007
By Edward Mast
On a visit to Tel Aviv last month, I asked some Israeli friends what
people in Israel were saying about the Palestinian situation. Not
much, they told me. Israelis are more concerned about the corruption
charges against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, coming on the heels of
corruption charges against previous governments. Palestinians and
their issues, my friends told me, are becoming more and more invisible
to the Israeli people.
Palestinian lives are kept invisible in David Brumer's Oct. 10 guest
column, "Despite concerns, Israel a vibrant country." Also invisible
are Israel's military occupation and the ongoing takeover of
Palestinian land. If Brumer had traveled to the other side of the
wall, as I did, he could have witnessed the many ways that the Israeli
occupation crushes people with poverty, violence and injustice.
Before visiting Tel Aviv, I spent two weeks working with a theater in
the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank. During that short
time, the Israeli army killed at least 15 Palestinians in the occupied
territories; several killed were children. For Palestinians, these are
regular occurrences. Over the past seven years, the Israeli army has
killed more than 4,000 Palestinians. The majority of these, even
according to Israeli statistics, have been unarmed civilians. Many
thousands more have been wounded or kidnapped. The severe
underreporting of Palestinian casualties in the U.S. and Israel can
leave the impression that Palestinian lives have less value.
While I was there, Brian Avery came from the United States to testify
in Jerusalem against the Israeli army. Avery is a peace activist who
was shot in the face by the Israeli army in 2003. At first the Israeli
army denied that the shooting took place, but has been forced to
launch an investigation now that Avery is bringing a suit.
In Ramallah, I learned that, though there is plenty of water near the
city, the several hundred thousand residents had spent the summer with
running water available only three or four days each week. That sort
of fact tends to be invisible to Israelis, along with the reasons.
Ramallah is near the cluster of West Bank aquifers, which are the main
sources of water for both the West Bank and Israel, but 80 percent of
the West Bank's water goes to Israel and Israeli settlements. For
decades, Israel has used its military occupation of the West Bank to
build an illegal network of settlements around the water sources.
Palestinians have been beaten, killed and driven away to make space
for these settlements, and Israel has built a continuous wall, not on
the border of Israel but inside Palestinian territory, which
effectively annexes the settlements and water resources into Israel.
Israelis are told the wall is for their security. Palestinians call it
the annexation wall, and it is difficult for them to believe Israel
can be a partner for peace while the Israeli government continues
taking Palestinian land for settlements, building the wall to annex
them and maintaining the system of checkpoints that paralyze movement
and life in the West Bank.
With some colleagues, I spent one day traveling from Ramallah to
Jerusalem. The eight-mile trip took 2 1/2 hours. In Ramallah, the wall
is 25 feet high, and the Israeli checkpoint is like an airport
security station. We lined up for more than half an hour with
Palestinians at a remote-controlled 8-foot turnstile where people had
to crowd like cattle and wait for a green light to get as many through
as possible before the light turned red.
Once past X-ray security and more turnstiles, we boarded shared taxis
for what should have been a short ride to Jerusalem. However, the
Israeli military had set up an additional temporary "flying
checkpoint" some 1,640 feet down the road, forcing several lanes of
traffic down to a single lane for stopping and searching. That took
almost an hour.
Business in Ramallah is at a standstill. Poverty is everywhere; jobs
are not to be found. The people at the checkpoint said to us, "Take
pictures. Tell people what is happening here."
Some Israelis, such as my Tel Aviv friends, no longer accept the
excuse that the virtual imprisonment and killing of Palestinians are
justified by the need for security.
The Israeli government has recently confiscated more Palestinian land
near Jerusalem to build a segregated road, literally underground, for
Palestinians. Israeli settlers will be able to commute back and forth
from the territories without having so much as to see a Palestinian.
Invisibility here is no accident.
Edward Mast is a Seattle playwright who volunteers with the Palestine
Information Project; palestineinformation.org.
For the original article click here:
seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/336015_insivible19.html
Comments on this article are being made here:
seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=336015
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8. What is not being said about the Ketziot prison raid
October 22nd, 2007
For Immediate Release
On October 22nd, at two in the morning, Israeli prison guards from
Ketziot prison in the Negev desert began searching the tents and
belongings of Palestinian inmates. Searching prisoners' tents in the
middle of the night is a classic form of harassment; keeping people
from sleeping. Some prisoners resisted the search due to the early
hour and the army responded by throwing sounds grenades and shooting
tear gas canisters into the tents of prisoners and at prisoners
themselves.
It has been reported in the news that between 30 and 250 inmates have
been injured, and that the Israeli forces used 'non-lethal' methods to
subdue the prisoners. It has also been reported in Israeli and
international news that in the 'riot' that the prisoners created, the
Palestinian prisoners burned their own tents. When tear gas is shot
the canisters are extremely hot, they frequently start fires when
landing near grass or trees. More likely than Palestinians burning the
tents in which they sleep, with their possessions, is that the tear
gas canisters or the explosions from sound grenades started the fire.
The information that the Israeli military unit Nahashon have used only
'non-lethal' methods has also proved to be misleading, or to use
another word, false. What has gone unreported in Israeli and
international news is that one inmate, Mohammed Al-Ashkar, was shot in
the head and died at Soroka Medical Center, in Israel. Al-Ashkar was
twenty-five and had only one month left on his term. Sources are
mixed, some people say it was a rubber-coated steel bullet, some
people say it was live ammunition. Regardless of the type of bullet, a
man died, so it was clearly a lethal weapon which killed him.
If live ammunition was used, one must wonder why prison guards would
find the need to open fire on their unarmed inmates. If it was rubber-
coated steel bullets that killed Mohammed Al-Ashkar, then the farce of
calling such bullets 'non-lethal' must end.
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9. Ongoing harassment in village near Nablus
October 20th, 2007
The village of Sarra lies west of Nablus, near the villages of Tel,
Jit, and Qusin. From Nablus to Sarra it would be a less than 10 minute
drive were it not that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have
designated the road "a closed military zone." As a consequence,
villagers must take a circuitous route, via Tel, along winding
mountain roads, adding to the trip a 35-40 minute detour.
At the end of August, 2007, villagers came together with Israeli and
international activists to remove the concrete blocks which bar entry
onto the closed military road, a road which aside from being so-
designated is a Palestinian road. The successful removal of the blocks
was promptly followed by their replacement, with an additional barrier
of earth piled on top.
Sarra has long been a village collectively terrorized for a few
reasons: its proximity to the road, one which is a main back entrance
to Nablus when the IOF invades; its proximity to the illegal Israeli
settlement of Qedumim and the military base neighbouring it; and
recently, its defiance of IOF arbitrarily-imposed closed zones and
harassment.
In the past three weeks, Sarra has near-nightly been invaded by the
IOF, usually entering in the evening and harassing villagers. Between
6 and 8pm on October 18, two IOF military vehicles, with approximately
6 soldiers each, entered via a dirt road leading from the militarily-
closed road. Soldiers drove up and down village roads, chasing
children and adults.
Israeli soldiers overturned a pan of hot frying oil on one restaurant
owner, who was just barely able to jump backwards enough so that the
oil burned his legs rather than his face and entire body. Another shop-
owner reports soldiers entering and stealing candy and cola. A Masters
student from Najah University was chased along a street by soldiers
throwing rocks. IOF soldiers also attacked and pushed a 10 year old
boy to the ground.
Israeli soldiers shot at the water pipes of one house, leaving
sizeable marks in the concrete from at least two bullets.
During this time, the IOF did not call a curfew, did not announce any
official military order to return to houses, but did maintain a two
hour campaign of bullying villagers.
Two weeks prior, in another IOF harassment invasion, soldiers without
reason shot at one villager's car, deflating the tires, riddling the
car body with bullet marks, and shattering the windshield.
Three weeks ago, IOF soldiers entered the village throwing sound bombs
and tear gas at residents.
This is a village surrounded by olive groves and agricultural land,
much of which is inaccessible due to Israeli military orders and
closed military zones. The District Coordinating Office (DCO) this
year gave permission for only 3 days of olive harvesting on lands cut
off from villagers for a task which should take nearly 2 weeks.
Villagers tending trees and farmland alongside the militarily-closed
road leading to Nablus are routinely interrupted and harassed by
passing IOF soldiers, who threaten villagers and order them off of
their land.
Jit village lies approximate 2 km away from Sarra but might as well be
30 km away. Rather than being permitted to travel the militarily-
closed road, or even the Palestinian land alongside the road, Sarra
residents must travel back to Nablus, through Beit Iba checkpoint, and
return back in the direction they have come from along a parallel
road, a detour which amounts to an hour's detour.
Jit, in addition to sitting across from the illegal settlement,
Qedumim, lies at the road leading both to Ramallah and Tulkarem, an
additional reason banned access to the road is a painful reality for
Palestinians in the region.
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10. Tel Harvesters Attacked by Masked Settlers
October 16th, 2007
Villagers from Tel, southwest of Nablus city, had been harvesting
their olives in the countryside just outside the village, for about
one hour when settlers were spotted on the ridge of the hill
overlooking the slope where villagers were at work.
One Palestinian man received an injury to the head from the rocks
being slung by the settlers. He later reported that rocks hit him
twice in the head, as well as once in the body.
Four international Human Rights Workers (HRWs) working alongside the
farmers heard other harvesters' calls and ran up the hill to join
them.
HRWs observed the settlers throwing and slinging large stones in the
direction of the Palestinians. Approaching the settlers, HRWs
attempted to talk with them but were met with stones.
The settlers, at least six between the ages of 15-18, hesitated only
briefly after seeing the internationals but soon continued slinging
stones and additionally calling out "you Nazi" to the internationals.
The settlers wore scarves wrapped around their heads and covering
their faces.
In the ensuing 30 minutes of the attack, the settlers continued
slinging rocks, approaching the Palestinians and internationals and at
various times trying to take or break the internationals' cameras,
realizing that they were being filmed.
While the throwing of rocks sounds somewhat harmless, the rocks being
thrown and slung by the settlers were sizeable.
In response to an HRW that one such rock slung at such close distance
would kill somebody, the settler replied: "Yes, I know." One
international HRW took numerous hits from stones and sticks wielded by
the settlers, at close range.
Rabbis for Human Rights appeared, quick to assist, and call for
medical help. They additionally assured that they would be present
with Palestinians in their harvest in the coming days.
The area suffered settler attacks one month prior, when 60 dunums of
villagers' olive groves were burned and destroyed by settlers. Also
one shepherd from the area at this time was beaten severely by
settlers and had his life threatened with a knife, afterwards they
stole his sheep. Every year proves challenging, throughout the West
Bank, for Palestinians who wish to access and harvest their olive
trees.
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11. ZNet: Formalizing Apartheid Masked as a Peace Initiative
by Neta Golan and Mohammed Khatib
October 13, 2007
Next month the US plans to host a regional meeting to discuss peace in
the Middle East, or at least peace between Israel and the
Palestinians. The maneuvering, deal making and negotiating about what
will be on the table has been going on for some time. But the details
of the agreement being discussed have been a well guarded secret but
for the steady flow of leaks and trial balloons. Deciphering this
information combined with facts on the ground, one can put together a
clear outline of Israel's "next generous offer."
Political maneuvers can be spun to sound good if the details are kept
vague, but when held to scrutiny it becomes obvious that the upcoming
Israeli offer is not so generous. Like the Oslo Accords and the
"disengagement" from Gaza, the peace process being cooked now is a
move to consolidate Israeli control of all of historical Palestine
while taking a large portion of the Palestinian population off
Israel's hands. The devil is in the details that follow. The agreement
on the table offers Palestinians what Israel's president Peres calls
"the equivalent of 100% of the territory occupied in 1967." According
to Peres, Israel will retain its major West Bank population centers,
also known as settlement blocs, which Peres claims make up only 5% of
the West Bank. In exchange Israel will offer to give the Palestinians
the same amount of territory elsewhere. According to Peres, Israel
will exchange land in Israel populated by Palestinians who hold
Israeli citizenship. This will allow Israel to remove some of its Arab
population, which most Jewish Israelis perceive as "demographic
threat" to the nature of the Jewish state.
When Israeli politicians like Peres talk about retaining 5% of the
West Bank, they do not include occupied East Jerusalem. Israel
illegally and unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem in 1967-68. Hence,
Israeli sources claim there are 250,000 Israeli settlers in the West
Bank, completely discounting the estimated additional 250,000 settlers
in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel's settlement blocs are being created and built as you read
these words. For years Israel has been creating population centers on
strategic land that will carve the West Bank into disconnected
islands, maintain Israeli access to the West Bank water resources and
surround and strangle Arab Jerusalem. The de facto annexation of this
strategic 9.5% of the West Bank's land behind Israel's apartheid wall
has already taken place. The "peace" process will simply make it
official.
In March 2006 the newly formed Kadima party was elected to implement
Ariel Sharon's "convergence plan." According to this plan, the non-
strategic settlements outside of the settlement blocs would be
dismantled. The evacuated settlers would be resettled in the "blocs"
behind the wall that would in turn be annexed by Israel.
On April 14, 2004, President Bush wrote to then Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, "In light of new realities on the ground, including already
existing population centers it is unrealistic to expect that the
outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete
return to the armistice lines of 1949..." This letter was subsequently
ratified in both US Houses of Congress.
Israel took this as a green light from the US to keep whatever areas
they can fill with settlers. Therefore, despite the Road Map
requirement that Israel freeze settlement expansion, Israel
accelerated the creation of so called "existing" population centers in
strategically important areas, otherwise known as the settlement
blocs.
In the same letter to Sharon, Bush also stated, "It seems clear that
an agreed, just, fair and realistic framework for a solution to the
Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will
need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and
the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel."
Consequently, in the offer to be made by Israel, Palestinian refugees
will be allowed the right to return, not to their homes, but to small,
non-contiguous parts of their original homeland, divided into
disconnected territorial units, with no chance of maintaining a
sustainable economy and with no control over water, power, or other
necessary resources. They will be allowed to return to a cage, with
Israel manning every door. Israeli plans, backed by these US
guarantees, create an unlivable apartheid situation for Palestinians.
But Palestinians are not even likely to receive such a "generous"
apartheid offer in November. Now, with less than sixteen months left
in the Bush administration, Ehud Olmert lacks the political clout to
carry out Israel's end of the deal. Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud
Barak recently stated his opposition to what he called "withdrawal
from Israeli principles that have stood for 40 years, merely to gain
favor in the eyes of an American president who is leaving office in a
year." Therefore, at the Olmert's administration's insistence, the
goals of the regional meeting have been watered down to a joint
statement that will outline the basis of the future agreement. Olmert
is demanding that the joint declaration include a reference to Bush's
April 2004 letter to Sharon and to the Road Map.
Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni's stated objective is to declare
a "transitional" Palestinian state with "provisional" borders, an
option that appears in the second phase of the road map. When Israel
accepted the road map in March 2003 it attached "14 reservations."
Israel considers these reservations as integral parts of the road map.
Israel's fifth reservation states: "The provisional state will have
provisional borders and certain aspects of sovereignty, be fully
demilitarized..., be without the authority to undertake defense
alliances or military cooperation, and Israeli control over the entry
and exit of all persons and cargo, as well as of its air space and
electromagnetic spectrum." Such a state would be squeezed between the
separation wall, Israel's demographic border", and the Jordan Valley,
Israel's "security border" with Jordan. With the Jordan Valley making
up approximately 30% of the West Bank, under this scenario Israel
would likely retain more than 40% of the West Bank. This transitional
Palestinian state would consist of a series of isolated Bantustans, or
as Sharon, who fathered the plan, preferred to refer to them,
"cantons."
In the past the Palestinians have pressed to have this option of the
temporary state removed from the road map, since the history of
Israel's occupation shows that "temporary measures" are almost always
permanent. However, Palestinian negotiators now accept the possibility
of a temporary state on the condition that they receive international
assurances that the third and final phase of the road map, that
includes a permanent settlement, will be implemented within six
months. Israel has no intention of accepting this condition.
It is questionable whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be
able to accept this offer without a timeframe for a permanent
settlement. But perhaps he is not even meant to accept. For if Abbas
refuses another Israeli-American "generous offer" his rejection could
be presented to the world as more proof that there are no Palestinian
"partners for peace." Israel would then be "justified" in implementing
its convergence plan unilaterally. Unilateral "convergence" will make
it possible to create a situation in the West Bank similar to what
unilateral "disengagement" has created in the Gaza. Gaza's residents,
70% of whom are refugees from what is now Israel, are currently
isolated, starving and under total Israeli blockade from land, air and
sea.
Olmert, Bush, Blair and their accomplices in the "Quartet" have vast,
sophisticated and boundlessly resourced PR machinery that, through
unlimited access to an uncritical media, can put a compelling "peace
spin" on an apartheid process. During the November meeting they will
assure the world of their commitment to a Palestinian state (with the
appropriate Abbas/Olmert/Bush photo ops). They will promise to commit
millions of dollars, funding Palestinian "institution building" and
humanitarian aid and arming troops in order to "keep the peace" inside
the Bantustans. Arab states will normalize relations with Israel,
strengthening the "moderates" of the entire region, thus softening the
Arab street as a prerequisite for an American led strike on Iran.
Even the participants in the summit realize that the Israeli
occupation is no longer sustainable in its current form. If we, the
peace and justice community, manage to expose this latest maneuver for
what it really is, Israel could be forced into fair negotiations for
the first time.
For this to happen we must mobilize immediately. It is our job to
educate the rest of the world about what these talks really mean and
the truth about what is happening. The writing is literally on the
wall and on the ground. It took many months if not years to expose the
ugly truth behind the first "generous offer." Let's not make that
mistake again.
Neta Golan is an Israeli peace with justice activist living in
Ramallah and a co-founder of the international solidarity movement.
Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil'in's Popular Committee
Against the Wall and the secretary of Bil'in's Village Council.
For more information: www.apartheidmasked.org
For original article click here: www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=14031