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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:09:22 |
| Here is an article from the Israeli press on the terrible situation of the Palestinians under siege from the Israeli Army in the Occupied West Bank. Ha'aretz April 8, 2002 In the gruesome wake of the Israeli army By Amira Hass in Ramallah and Joseph Algazy Sewage streams through streets, garbage is piling up, electricity fails, as does running water. Hospitals have dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine. The Israeli army denies ambulances permission to evacuate the dead and wounded lying in streets. These are some of the gruesome details of daily life since the massive Israeli invasion of the West Bank and where 400,000 people have been living under total curfew for the past five to 10 days in cities in the grip of the Israeli army. At 10 A.M. yesterday an employee at Jenin Hospital reported by cellular phone: "I'm speaking from the stairwell in the hospital corridor. The soldiers are at the entrance of the hospital and have told us not to dare to come close to the window to look out." The hospital is 200 meters from Jenin refugee camp. The sound of heavy gunfire and aerial bombing can be heard through the phone. An Israel Defense Forces unit is posted just dozens of meters away. The troops do not allow the two functioning ambulances to leave the hospital and evacuate the wounded, hospital personnel reported yesterday. "The head of the force came to us on Friday evening, shouted and shoved a bed to the edge of the emergency rooms and declared that if anyone went past the bed, he would make sure they would end up without a head," reported a hospital employee. "Meanwhile, people are calling us, crying over the phone and begging us to evacuate the wounded. They are a couple of hundred meters away, with hand, leg or head injuries, and we can't help them. They tell us of wounded and dead lying in the street. We don't know how many there are. "We couldn't even evacuate my 50-year-old aunt, who was killed at her home in the refugee camp when she opened her door to open the gate to soldiers who wanted to come into the yard. They shot her, or threw a grenade and she died on the spot. The family called me in hysterics and until now I haven't been able to send an ambulance. She's at home, dead. "There is no electricity in the hospital, we are using the generator all the time, until we run out of fuel. We are almost out of food. We don't have enough medication. We have to save on water. We don't have enough oxygen after the oxygen unit was damaged from the shooting. "There are about 50 people at the hospital: 35 wounded, many of them women and children. The rest are staff and regular patients. An ambulance driver described his saga in trying to evacuate the wounded: "I tried to leave the hospital to evacuate the wounded and the tank started to shoot at me. I appealed to a Magen David ambulance driver to help me get through, but he ignored me ... The unit officer told me not to dare to leave the hospital without coordinating first with the IDF. Two and a half hours later, I was told there was coordination between the Red Cross and the army and I ventured out again to bring a dialysis patient. But as soon as we sounded the siren, we were shot at again. We tried to explain that our departure had been coordinated but the tank commander said he know nothing about this and ordered us back, saying he would blow up the ambulance if we didn't do so." The account is backed up by the International Committee of the Red Cross which yesterday issued a sharp press release, saying it had been forced to limit its movements in the West Bank to a bare minimum due to what it described as "security incidents involving IDF soldiers and Red Cross personnel, which included attacks on vehicles and premises." It said ambulance staff have been threatened at gunpoint in Bethlehem and have had warning shots fired at them in Nablus and Ramallah. In addition two Red Cross vehicles were damaged by IDF tanks in Tul Karm. Meanwhile, the danger to public health has been increasing daily in West Bank cities due to curfews. The suspension of the curfew in Ramallah, Qalqilya and Bethlehem for a few hours two or three times last week, without prior notification, have not given Palestinians enough time to dispose of garbage piling up in the streets. Several neighborhoods in almost all cities are not linked to the sewage system and open sewage is normally carried away by special trucks every week or two. The continuing curfews have obstructed such clean ups, creating a public health hazard. Some 90 percent of households in Nablus do not have running water after heavy tank fire damaged water pipes and water storage tanks. Jenin's water supply has also been damaged. Electricity supply to the two cities has also been severely interrupted. |
| Re: articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:11:20 |
| JOINT STATEMENT IN THE NAME OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS 7 April 2002 Given by Mark Neuman, Program Director of Campaigns and Crisis Response International Secretariat Amnesty International at a Press Conference in Jerusalem Ladies and Gentlemen, Ordinary people are the main victims of the tragic conflict that has unfolded here over the past eighteen months. Day after day the news is of people killed, or maimed for life, and of homes and livelihoods destroyed. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists want to send a clear, unambiguous message to all parties to this conflict, and to the international community. Stop the deliberate targeting of civilians and other persons protected by international humanitarian law. Stop actions that harm them. Immediately deploy international monitors to protect the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis. As a fully-fledged State and as an Occupying Power, Israel has clear obligations under international law, and in particular under the Fourth Geneva Convention. This Convention provides for security measures that can be taken to protect itself, but these do not include the excesses now undertaken by the Israeli government. We strongly deplore actions by the state of Israel that harm persons protected by international humanitarian law. These include prolonged curfews with severe restrictions on the movement of people and access for medical personnel; intensified collective punishments; wanton damage to homes, cars and civilian property; looting and theft; and the coerced use of civilians to assist military operations. Such actions violate international standards and transcend any justification of military necessity. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has recently declared whole areas, such as Ramallah and Bethlehem, closed military zones, and impeded the entrance of outside observers, including journalists, human rights activists, government officials, United Nations representatives, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The IDF has forcibly entered and ransacked the offices of human rights organizations such as al-Haq. LAW and Addameer. Both Palestinian and Israeli organizations have shown great determination in continuing to work under these circumstances, but it has been almost impossible to verify alarming reports about extrajudicial executions, "liquidations" of "wanted" Palestinians, and use of lethal force against civilians and other persons protected by the Geneva Conventions. As a result of the IDF military operations, hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested. The identities and whereabouts of detainees are not known, and the ICRC has not been allowed access to them, raising concerns about their conditions and treatment. Several released Palestinians have reported that, depending on the IDF unit guarding them, prisoners were at times beaten. In entire cities and towns, ambulances and emergency medical services have ground to a halt. Medical workers and ambulances have been fired upon. The wounded have been denied access to medical treatment; Palestinians have been killed attempting to reach hospitals for routine medical care. Such abuses raise not simply humanitarian issues: they are serious violations of international humanitarian law. Even in the face of this situation, we are appalled by an increase in the use of suicide bombers by armed Palestinian groups to attack Israeli civilians. Such deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited by international humanitarian law. These actions tarnish the Palestinian cause and will not at all help the situation - they only increase the fear and mistrust of ordinary Israelis as well as adding to the suffering in the region. Over the past week there have also been increasing signs of a breakdown in law and order within Palestinian territories as well, including the street-killing of alleged collaborators with Israel. All these violations must be stopped by those in a position to do so and perpetrators must be brought to justice. In the face of such a human rights crisis, it is time for the international community to act. Our three human rights organizations welcome the proposal by Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, that the UN Commission on Human Rights send an immediate mission to the area. We also repeat our call for international permanent presence to be dispatched to Israel and the Occupied Territories to monitor the situation, restore respect for human rights and humanitarian law standards and to help protect civilians. The international community, and in particular the United States, should exert its utmost influence to ensure that both the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority cooperate with and facilitate the work of these missions. The presence of international monitors does not absolve the relevant parties from their human rights responsibilities or obligations. On the contrary it should help enhance them. Ladies and Gentlemen, civilian suffering is not inevitable in a time of war or occupation. Ordinary people should never become the target of those with arms. All our organizations have witnessed, documented, and reported a wanton disregard for the right to life over the past eighteen months. Such abuse must stop now. Those who commit such crimes must cease them. And the international community is morally, and legally, obliged to act to ensure respect for such basic humanitarian principles. Irene Khan Kenneth Roth Louise Doswald-Beck Secretary General Executive Director Secretary General Amnesty International Human Rights Watch International Commission of Jurists -------------------------- Peres calls IDF operation in Jenin a 'massacre' By Aluf Benn and Amos Harel (Ha'aretz, April 9, 2002) http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=150051 Foreign Minister Shimon Peres Peres is very worried about the expected international reaction as soon as the world learns the details of the tough battle in the Jenin refugee camps, where more than 100 Palestinians have already been killed in fighting with IDF forces. In private, Peres is referring to the battle as a "massacre." IDF officers also expressed grave reservations Monday over the operation in Jenin. "Because of the dangers," they said, "the soldiers are almost not advancing on foot. The bulldozers are simply 'shaving' the homes and causing terrible destruction. When the world sees the pictures of what we have done there, it will do us immense damage." "However many wanted men we kill in the refugee camp, and however much of the terror infrastructure we expose and destroy there, there is still no justification for causing such great destruction." Peres, who is feeling increasingly isolated in the government - Sharon added three hardline ministers to his cabinet Monday - believes Arafat is still irreplaceable at this stage. He does not regard the documents that Sharon presented Monday in the Knesset as a "smoking gun" that irrefutably proves that Arafat was directly linked to ordering terrorist activity. And Israel's isolation of the Palestinian leader, he believes, only enhanced his prestige and turned him into the key player. Despite his harsh criticism, however, and his belief that Labor will not be able to remain much longer in the government, Peres is in no hurry to quit. He is telling his closest associates that after the fighting ends and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has visited, the decision will be made. If Powell presents a political plan, Labor will want to fight for it in the government. ------- (*) a reminder from Haaretz, 25.1.2002: "In order to prepare properly for the next campaign, one of the highest Israeli officers in the territories said not long ago, it's justified and in fact essential to learn from every possible source. If the mission will be to seize a densely populated refugee camp, or take over the casbah in Nablus, and if the commander's obligation is to try to execute the mission without casualties on either side, then he must first analyze and internalize the lessons of earlier battles - even, however shocking it may sound, even how the German army fought in the Warsaw ghetto". |
| Re: articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:18:01 |
| What follows is a letter (minus the more intimate segments) from a friend of mine, who is presently in Cairo and surrounding environs. He is trained as a social scientist, is politically aware, and is a very compassionate person. Thus I feel his eyewitness perspective is valuable to share here. James ---------------- It is now Sunday afternoon in Cairo- April 7th, 2002 ... Well, as you know, the past week there have been massive demonstrations in Cairo. Today, walking around, I can see the changes a week has made. The streets are tense, and there are numerous troop transports circulating through the city packed with riot police heading to spontaneous demonstrations. One hears sirens more often too. Just an hour ago, I was watching from my pension’s balcony a demonstration just a block away. The riot police were lined up three deep keeping protestors from entering a main street. Frankly I’d really like to join the protestors, but don’t worry, I’ve made promises to keep away from danger and ‘watch my ass,’ and I’m much more cautious than I was ‘in my youth.’ Although the Egyptian security forces are known to change over to live rounds at demonstrations, so far the repression tactics are no more than what I have seen pro-democracy and anti-homeless protestors face from the Canadian state. What I’ve been thinking quite a bit about in the last week, as things heated up considerably, is about two questions: the media’s influence in THE conflict, and why are the Arabs are so reasonable when it comes to the Israeli public. Both are connected with my own perceptions of Arabs and Jews. I am particularly concerned about media representations. Most of the world seems to believe now that the only country that can pressure Israel to stop its genocidal tactics is the US (which may well be true). Yet, despite the fact that the present conflict is in the media constantly on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, etc., etc., most Americans (and shall we include Canadians too?) are incredibly ignorant about the present conflict. I don’t think I have to cite much more than a recent statistic that found that only 3% of Americans even know that the Palestinian areas were taken over by the Israelis, and remain occupied despite long-standing UN resolutions demanding their immediate return. If 97% of Americans don’t know the most basic, fundamental reason for the conflict, then there isn’t much hope. I have now come to the point where I am much more uncertain as to my reaction should I encounter someone who says that there is a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ (and/or government) in the media as I have in the past. In the past my brain would have immediately signaled that this person is obviously ‘anti-Semitic,’ and if I had the time, would have challenged the basis of his or her understanding. Thinking about it, now what would I say? Maybe something like this: “Yes, it is clear that there is a bias in many respects. In Canada, the Jewish owner of the largest media empire which control newspapers in almost every city in Canada, including a national daily and the Global Media television empire, has come right out and said that he can and will proprogate a pro-Israeli perspective and has the right to exclude any alternative view. Yes, it has been clearly demonstrated that the New York Times, one of the most influential newspapers in the world, is frequently uncritical of Israeli tactics, but it is often a subtle pro-Israeli perspective. For example, despite the widespread practice of torture by Israel (it is a leading torture state, in fact the Israeli Ambassador to Denmark outraged Danes when he openly advocate the use of torture) you will find little or no mention of Israeli in published articles and features on torture (nor for that matter on their biological, chemical and nuclear weapons). As for CNN and the other networks, it is clear that there is a bias, but how systematic the lobby and influence is, I can’t exactly say.” And then I would have to add, if asked today: “But of course we can’t say that all Jews agree with Israeli policy. I am not up to date on what is going on in Canada now, but I’m sure that there are frequently protests taking place right now dominated by Jews opposed to the Israel repression, and I am sure that they are boycotting Global Media products, flooding the editorial pages of the newspapers with demands for fair coverage and the rehiring of journalists who were excluded because they presented balanced accounts. They would never sit in silence and condone such a situation that recreates exactly for the Arabs the hatred experienced by the Jews in Nazi Germany.” The second question I’ve had in my mind recently is “Why are the Arabs I meet so damn reasonable, and so willing to excuse the Israeli people for the atrocities?” Now, this again recalls the matter of media representations. Were I to imagine the situation from the images in the Western media, I would probably assume that most Arabs fully support a religious war against the Israelis and positively hate them. The Jews of Israel, so the dominant story goes, are the victims of terrorism, only want to live in peace, and have given a reasonable offer to the Palestinians which was rejected. Perhaps I have still been brainwashed by the Western media, because I am still amazed that the situation almost exactly the reverse. I enjoy talking to people, especially about politics, and in the nine months I have spent in the Middle East over the past ten years I’ve had maybe a few hundred conversations about the Palestinian situation with Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, Turks, Palestinians and Israelis. And what is the result of these conversations? Despite clearly articulating my politics (which are, of course, quite critical of Israeli actions) I have only twice ever heard something that could be described as hatred of the Israeli people. I am embarrassed to say that I have even tried occasionally to goad Arabs into saying something… something hateful that surely must be there, lurking under the surface, since I’ve seen it on TV. The only excuse I can offer for such tactics is that I am still incredulous at the response. Just the other day I happened to meet a Palestinian guy from Haifa, about my age, visiting the Sinai for a week of peace he admitted he desperately needed. He spoke to me in a very soft voice, the voice of one who is injured by grief and exhaustion. We had dinner and, of course, discussed his situation and THE situation. He works for a cell-phone company and is doing reasonably well since he has good computer skills. Being employed with a known company was the only reason he was able to make it to Egypt through borders and countless checkpoints, and then with a lot of hassle. The poor guy had actually made it to the Egyptian town of Tarabin for his rest, only to find that his ‘camp’ was run by an Israeli, who didn’t want a Palestinian around because it ruins the atmosphere for the other Israeli guests. Several hours later he was in Dahab and we were chatting over dinner. Like quite a few middle-class Palestinians, he would never condemn the suicide bombings, but is opposed to them as an effective tactic of resistance. In fact, he lives in fear like Israelis of being bombed in a restaurant or bar. One such bomb exploded in a restaurant he liked to eat at. In making a sweep of his neighborhood to find those involved (or really just for collective punishment), the Israelis arrested him and he was held without his family knowing for weeks whether he was dead or alive. In the end he spent four months in a jail for nothing…on suspicion. Actually, he said, they knew he did nothing and really was of little use to them. Otherwise, he would have been systematically tortured, as others were, rather than just mildly tortured. We talked about the politics of THE situation. He doesn’t believe that Sharon will kill Arafat, mainly because that would create a full-scale international war, and because it has been made clear, through a bombing near Sharon’s house (one of the most secure areas in the world), that he can be ‘got to’ anywhere. The Israelis army, he says, is currently insane with bloodlust, they want to inflict collective punishment on Arabs and raze their cities to the ground. Along with this is a desire to provoke more attacks because they want to reoccupy every inch of Palestinian land. The pretext is terrorism, as always. And they will continue to manufacture ‘terrorists,’ because those who have nothing to lose have nothing to lose. The limits of their assault and damage is nearly done, he hopes, and he believes that things may quiet down for a month or two so that the farcical negotiations will begin again. No doubt it is now clear to Israel that the US is more interested in its war on Iraq, and it wants a cooling off period. In talking to Egyptians on the street, for example, one clear distinction is that they do not share in the false hope of the Western media that is periodically presented concerning THE situation. That negotiations will or are beginning again is meaningless to them. They know that while Sharon and Bush are in power the slaughter will continue, and the negotiations will only be used, as Sharon once said, as a pretext to have more time to extend the Israeli colonization of Palestinian land. Perhaps not surprisingly, Egyptians speak really positively about Rabin, the ex-Prime Minister of Israel who was assassinated by Jewish fundamentalists, as someone truly wanting to end the conflict. It is, however, what is said about the Israeli people that still baffles me. I swear that whenever I probe about Arabs about their opinion of the Israeli people, they say that they believe they want peace too and blame the violence not on the Israeli people, but on their government. “It is Sharon, not the Israelis.” “We can live together,” Jordanians, Egyptians, and Palestinians have repeatedly told me. Whereas, my conversations with Israelis, on two visits mainly to Jerusalem, have been stomach turning. There were some who were very reasonable, but in general how I cringed as Israeli after Israeli had no hesitation in telling me quite openly and matter of factly that “they (Palestinians) should be killed like dogs,” or “we will not have peace till will exterminate every last one,” or “they are inhuman and so we treat them like that.” My god, I thought, have these people not studied history? Flickering black and white images of Nazi Germany constantly came to mind. I have never heard such vile hatred as that which came from the lips of nice, respectable-looking Israeli men and women. It was there in the papers, too, in subtle and rationalizing language. The impression is also strong from my walks through the ‘two worlds’ of Israel. One was the secure Western-style enclaves, where Israelis and foreign Jews sipped their cappuccinos at cafes while discussing the ‘Palestinian Problem,’ the other, in stark contrast, was the Palestinian ghettos, where poverty, unemployment and utterly unbearable living conditions were widespread, but so too an incredible dignity. Really, I am still in shock by the ‘Arab response’ I have had. Given all they have heard and know, why this so very reasonable attitude to the Israeli people? Have the Israeli people not used their democratic right to give Sharon (a proven war-criminal involved in the massacre of women in children in Lebanon and countless other evil acts) a landslide victory in the previous elections? Have they not given him, up till now, considerable support to proceed with an incredibly bloody and ugly genocide? Do not 30% of Israelis openly support the total removal of the Palestinians? As we know now, the allegations that the Israelis hold up ambulances will dying people and pregnant women, that they inflict collective punishment on whole cities, that they intentionally destroy Palestinian, schools, roads, sewer systems, electrical systems, and water systems are utterly true. They have deliberately killed journalists, they have deliberately killed medical personnel. The more extreme fundamentalist Jews in the army take great pleasure in taunting Palestinian children with racist slurs on loudspeakers, then gunning them down in cold blood from their tanks. They destroy homes, bulldoze them daily. In short, I ask, are not the Israeli people to blame for electing a genocidal war criminal? And those Jews who support Israel and lobby from afar? And those who remain silent about the media propaganda in North America? Hopefully I can one day have the same patience and optimism concerning the Israeli public that the Arabs I have met possess. They are truly reasonable and peace-loving people, the vast, vast majority of them. As for the Israelis and Jews, I can feel only a great sadness. While in Jerusalem during the previous Intifada, I met on a bus an old Jewish man, probably in his early seventies. He was a survivor of the Holocaust and also an Israeli citizen. When he heard of where I had been and some of my thoughts he said with great sadness that the Israelis are recreating the Nazi experience. To survive the Holocaust was one thing, he said, it hurt him much more to see Jews doing the same to the Palestinians. To him it is the greatest tragedy of human history. There is no excuse, and it goes to prove, I would now reply to him, that for every chosen people there is a holocaust. |
| Re: articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:50:51 |
| Christian Right Wing rallies to support Israel and to pressure President Bush to support the slaughter of Palestinians. Believe it or not! This is an example of Christian Zionists lobbying in support of Israel's onslaught against the Palestinians. Subject: EVANGELICALS TO BUSH Date: The, 11 Apr 2002 10:57:59 EDT Gary Bauer/Leading Evangelicals to Bush: Stand With Israel WASHINGTON, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- In a letter to President George Bush on Thursday, prominent evangelicals led by former Presidential candidate Gary Bauer, urged him to support Israel in its war on terrorism and not weaken that nation with the "dangerous message" that their efforts to defend themselves must stop. "It is because we so strongly support the moral case you have made against terrorism that we write you today with heavy hearts. We believe the Bush Doctrine is in great jeopardy and the war on terrorism with it." The letter was signed by Gary L. Bauer - President, American Values, the Reverend Jerry Falwell - Chancellor, Liberty University, the Reverend John Hagee - Cornerstone Church, Marlin Maddoux - USA Radio Network, Ed McAteer - National Religious Round Table, and the Reverend Tim Timmons - Frontlines Network of America. The letter reads as follows: "We, the undersigned, wish to take this opportunity to commend you for the enlightened leadership you have provided in the global war against terrorism, and your efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. "We also wish to express our support for the Bush Doctrine -- your moral conviction that terrorism can never be justified no matter the cause or grievance. As you have repeatedly made clear those who intentionally slaughter non-combatants for political purposes are at war with the United States and with the entire civilized world. "It is because we so strongly support the moral case you have made against terrorism that we write you today with heavy hearts. We believe the Bush Doctrine is in great jeopardy and the war on terrorism with it. We believe it is imperative for the United States to stand with our friend and ally Israel as they attempt to defeat the same forces of terrorism that we have been battling since September 11th, 2001. We would ask you to end pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon so that he has the time necessary to complete the mission he has undertaken -- the elimination of terrorists cells and infrastructure from the West Bank territories. "Prime Minister Sharon has made clear that he intends to keep troops in the West Bank no longer than absolutely necessary. But, as he has also made clear, to leave armed and dangerous terrorists at large among the general Palestinian population would not facilitate the cause of peace. Indeed, such terrorists pose an unacceptable threat not only to innocent Israeli civilians, but also to those Palestinians who sincerely seek a way out of the current conflict. If suicide bombings prevail in the Middle East surely America will see such attacks on our own families and communities. "No one knows what tomorrow will bring in the Middle East, but we can determine what Israel's brief offensive has accomplished so far: Five bomb- making facilities have been discovered and destroyed, including 17 bombs that were ready to be used. In addition, documentary evidence was discovered in the offices of Yassir Arafat, evidence showing that he personally approves and finances bombings and other terrorist activities. "Given these revelations, it seems to us that Secretary Powell's current peace-making trip is sending a dangerous message. The focus of the trip appears to be more pressure on Israel to withdraw without any commitment by Arab nations to control the terrorists dedicated to Israel's destruction. And we are pressuring Israel to negotiate with Arafat in spite of his complicity in promoting terror. Both of these outcomes violate your well-articulated anti-terror doctrine. "Mr. President, under your leadership the civilized world is making great progress in the global war against terrorism. Israel is finally making progress on the Middle Eastern front in this war. "Israel is America's reliable -- and valuable -- ally. We urge you to continue to provide Israel the support it deserves." MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X26469661 SOURCE American Values CO: American Values ST: District of Columbia, Israel SU: http://www.prnewswire.com 04/11/2002 09:46 EDT |
| Re: articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:52:48 |
| from the british Independent By Justin Huggler outside Jenin 12 April 2002 Middle East The world finally got to see what Israel has done in the Jenin refugee camp yesterday. Piles of rubble where homes once stood. Gaping holes rent in the sides of buildings. Electricity wires torn down and strewn amid the wreckage. Water flooding out of broken mains and running down the broken streets. This was our first glimpse of what is left of the packed warren of narrow lanes that became the scene of the worst fighting of Israel's onslaught in the West Bank. These are scenes of devastation that will haunt the mission of Colin Powell, who flew in yesterday. This is the wreckage where hundreds of terrified civilians were trapped inside their homes as Israeli helicopters poured rockets all around them, ambulances not allowed to treat the wounded as they bled, where Palestinians captured by the Israelis say they were forces to strip in front of their families, where Palestinian fighters armed only with rifles resisted the Israeli attack for nine days. This is where the Israeli army admits it killed 100 Palestinians. For out of the misery, humiliation and death of Jenin camp, the Palestinians are already fashioning a legend. Out of the rubble staggered a 13-year-old boy yesterday. Amazingly, he was one of the last group of fighters who held out against the helicopters and the tanks. And already the stories are being passed from Palestinian to Palestinian: how the 13-year-old fought because his father was killed fighting the last time Israeli forces moved into the camp in March; how, when they ran out of ammunition, the fighters started throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers. "I feel very proud of what the fighters did in Jenin," Deya al-Ahmad, a Palestinian in a neighbouring village, said yesterday. "I will tell my children this story, and I hope they will tell it to their grandchildren." The Palestinians wrested this from a battle in which those detained tell horrific tales of their treatment by the Israelis. One told us he was forced to strip naked and act as a human shield, standing with an Israeli soldier behind him resting his gun on his shoulder. Another told us when he asked for a drink the soldiers forced a stick into his mouth. Then, he said, they brought him water that tasted of urine. The shots were still echoing over the camp yesterday, even as Israeli forces claimed the battle was all but over. A few pockets of Palestinian fighters were holding out, though they had no chance of winning. Rashid Hassan said: "I don't believe this is a victory for Israel, because a victory would mean they had achieved their goals and solved their problem once and for all. But I think the problem is going to start again for Israel. If they killed so many people, the next generation will fight even harder." The Israeli authorities insist their onslaught on the West Bank is the only way to stop suicide bombings. Among the refugees who fled Jenin camp, we found a teenager who would not give his name. He had been separated from his family and could not find them. He told us he was going to be a suicide bomber. The Palestinians are claiming that far more than 100 of their number were killed in Jenin. Many of those who fled say they saw civilians, including women, carelessly cut down. The last thing Israel wants the world to see are the bodies of women in the streets. Rumours abound that the bodies are being hidden, taken away in trucks and buried by Israeli soldiers. But local Palestinians say they are not going to allow the Israelis to hide the evidence. They have painstakingly documented the stories of those who have fled the camp. They claim their notes account for about 200 dead. The Independent has seen the detailed handwritten notes. That means that it should be possible to find the bodies at specific addresses. Bodies such as that of Mufid Ahmad's mentally disabled aunt Yusra. He says he saw her die when a helicopter round came through the wall of their house. When police captured him and took him away he says Yusra's body was still in their second-floor flat. He told us the address. It should be possible to find the block of flats if it is still standing, but many have been bulldozed by the army to make a route for tanks. But the figure of 100 dead, from military sources, means at least 100 bodies were lying among the ruins of Jenin. Even if someone has hidden them, 100 bodies are not going to do Israel's image any good at all. |
| Re: articles related to Israeli occupation |
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| amatullah |
| 04/14/02 at 22:54:24 |
| Israel no longer dependent on U.S. military assistance By David Wood Newhouse News Service Seattle Times; April 09, 2002 WASHINGTON — There was a time when the United States was the unquestioned military superpower in the Middle East and drew obedient if grudging respect from all sides. No more. Now Israel is the region's superpower, and where it once looked to the United States not just for diplomatic support but also for military rescue, now Israel can thumb its nose at Washington and go its own way. Israel can field 19 divisions of ground troops, by some counts; the United States boasts 13 divisions worldwide and would need weeks to move any significant military force into the region. Israel's air force, which flies souped-up U.S. F-15 and F-16 fighters, can generate nearly 3,000 sorties, or combat missions, per day. The United States can sustain about 1,600 sorties a day. That kind of combat punch has given Israel unprecedented freedom of action, not just against lightly armed Palestinian street fighters, but against its traditional enemies of Syria and Egypt as well. "We have created an 800-pound gorilla," said Kenneth Brower, an independent military consultant in Washington, assessing decades of U.S. military aid to Israel. Yesterday, the 11th day of its invasion of Palestinian territories, Israel initially shrugged off U.S. demands that it begin withdrawing "without delay," as President Bush put it. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a speech to the Knesset in Jerusalem that "the army will continue operating as quickly as possible until the mission has been completed." Later, Sharon relented — somewhat. He withdrew from two West Bank cities as his government claimed military success. The United States has given Israel about $3 billion a year for weapons purchases since the late 1970s, and has transferred new or used weapons and military technology for free or at deeply discounted prices under other government programs and commercial arrangements. The United States also has stored millions of dollars' worth of ammunition, fuel and spare parts and even built a field hospital in Israel, ostensibly for use by American forces. The agreements under which the equipment was stored in Israel are secret, but most analysts assume Israel has access to the storage sites. "It's always been said there are 'tripwires' that would permit Israel to use that stuff," said Shoshana Bryen, an analyst for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, a think tank in Washington. The increase in Israel's combat clout comes less from size than from other, intangible factors. For instance, Israeli technicians have added digital and other improvements to their F-16 fighters, making them even more capable than versions used by the U.S. Air Force, Brower said. And Israel can fly so many combat sorties per day because it has a huge pool of seasoned combat pilots. That enables its air force to use one aircraft again and again during a 24-hour period while exchanging fatigued pilots for fresh ones. The United States does not maintain as many combat pilots per airplane as Israel. Israel relies heavily on its reserve forces. There are almost 1 million Israelis under the age of 48 liable to be recalled to duty. All have done three years' active duty as well as reserve training. Reserve troops are organized into units already matched up with vehicles and weapons. "It's one of the most efficient military forces around," said Anthony Cordesman, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Can they thumb their nose at us? Well, for a while. But they don't have the technical or production base to sustain these capabilities without some resupply by us." But Cordesman estimated it would take about two years of fighting before Israel needed help. It was a much closer thing in 1973, when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, one of the Jewish high holy days. As Egyptian tanks swept across the Sinai Peninsula and plunged through Israeli defenses, a panicked Israeli government pleaded with the United States for help. Then-President Nixon quickly stationed two aircraft carriers off the Israeli coast and put U.S. combat forces on alert. Eight days later, U.S. cargo planes began delivering what would be more than 22,000 tons of supplies to Israel, including tanks and jet fighters. The deliveries tipped the military balance. Israel counter-attacked with its tank forces, under the leadership of then-Gen. Sharon, chasing Egyptian troops back across the Suez Canal and reclaiming the Sinai. From that experience came the U.S. pledge that Israel would never lose its "qualitative edge" in military power to any Arab neighbors, and U.S. military aid to Israel that backed up that pledge. U.S. military support to Egypt, which began after Egypt and Israel signed their 1979 peace treaty, is about two-thirds what Israel gets. Despite the images of violence broadcast from the Palestinian territories, very little of the Israeli military is being used in current operations, analysts said. Israeli officials declined to say how many tanks have been deployed in the current fighting, but analysts estimated that not more than a few dozen of Israel's 4,000 main battle tanks were on the streets. In an all-out war where civilian casualties were not a concern, Israel "could roll up the West Bank in 36 hours," Bryen said. As for igniting a wider Middle East war, most analysts said the Israelis are confident they can handle any contingency — at least in the short run. Syria's military forces have atrophied badly since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main benefactor. Egypt is said not to have the stomach for another wider war. "We have to be realistic," Brower said. "We are the world's superpower in some respects, but we don't have a big capability in the Middle East and the Israelis know that. They can count." ========================================================= Dissident Voice is a semi-regular newsletter dedicated to challenging the lies of the corporate press and the privileged classes it serves. "To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair inevitable." -- Raymond Williams Editor: Sunil K. Sharma DV welcomes your feedback/free use of your country vacation home/fine ales/excess wealth. Dissident Voice Santa Rosa, CA USA (707) 545-6458 email: dissidentvoice@earthlink.net www.dissidentvoice.org |
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