Friday, March 04, 2005
An End to Israeli Violence?
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An End to Israeli Violence?
CNI Info Alert
Date: March 4, 2005
The suicide bombing a week ago, on February 25, which left 5 Israelis dead, sent shivers up and down the collective spine of peace watchers in the West. Would the Israelis resume their traditional response policy of raids, assassinations, bombings and arrests? Would the Sharm al-Sheikh "understanding" that had brought "relative calm" in the area collapse under the weight of retaliations?
As Alison Weir reminds us in If Americans Knew, the term "relative calm of late" has become a wildly misleading cliché, bearing no meaning for Palestinians since the "understanding" was proclaimed at Sharm al-Sheik on February 8. Since that time, according to the Palestine Center for Human Rights, 11 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including 3 children, have been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces; according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, another 30 suffered injuries or wounds at the hands of the IOF. In the period between January 15, the date of the Palestinian elections that brought Mahmoud Abbas to power, and February 8 Sharm al-Sheikh meeting between Abbas and Ariel Sharon, 32 Palestinians had been killed, and 12 wounded. Between November 8, the last previous suicide bombing, and January 15, 115 had been killed and 187 wounded. We are looking at a total of 158 Palestinian dead and 229 wounded, between the two suicide attacks.
In the meanwhile, and almost every day, the IOF makes incursions into Gaza and the West Bank, usually resulting in raids, shooting, bombings, and arrests. In the period of the "relative period of calm" between February 8 and February 25, dozens of incursions, shelling and raids occurred. More than 70 people were arrested. They can be read in the Weekly Reportsavailable on the Palestine Center for Human Rights website.
They also make it clear that despite pronouncements to the contrary, the closures of checkpoint crossings between Israel and Gaza continue enforce, and Gazans are unable to cross into Israel for any reason.
In addition, the IOF supervises the steady construction of the Apartheid Wall, now working its way around Jerusalem. The Palestine Center for Human Rights reports show that almost every day, Israelis cease land from the Palestinians - 50 dunums here, 301 dunums there. During the week of 10-16 February, for example, the people in the villages of Hazma and Anata northeast of Jerusalem lost 50 dunums due to the construction of the Wall; in the same week, some 301 dunums was taken from villagers living in Toura al-Gharbiya. A dunum is one-quarter of an acre.
Admirably, the Israeli High Court has issued a series of rulings recently halting the construction of the wall so that grievances brought buy Palestinians can be heard. But, as the Palestine Center points out, these are almost always ignored by the IOF, and construction of the wall resumes, regardless of the law.
The suicide bombings are deplorable as innocent lives are lost, but the behavior of the Israeli army toward the civilian population of Palestine goes unchecked or undeplored by the western media. Congressional representatives, most recently Congressmen Weiner (D-NY) and Crowley (D-NY) in a "dear colleague letter" continually rant about the need to check the violence of the Palestinians before aid to the Palestinians can be given. But when it comes to real numbers, Americans need to realize that the Palestinians, not the Israelis, are the chief victims of this conflict - regardless of what the US and Israeli national leaders say, and even during a so-called "period of relative calm."
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posted by Somebody @ 8:29 PM Permanent Link
 
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