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| Iraq + war on terrorism + Middle East conflict + critical perspectives |
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IS THIS PART OF GEORGE BUSH'S "MARSHALL PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN"? The Shebergan famine Editorial, Washington Post, April 26, 2002 The signs of growing disorder and lawlessness in Afghanistan are abundant. There are the gangs of thugs who swagger through the streets of Khost, openly brandishing their Kalashnikovs and grenade-launchers. There are the rival militias that continue to fight for control of the north of the country, making a mockery of the central government's authority. And then there is the prison in Shebergan, 60 miles west of Mazar-e-Sharif, where conditions for the 2,700 inmates -- all men who were captured by U.S.-backed forces in last year's military campaign -- are so bad that the International Red Cross was forced to step in last week to avert mass starvation. Nearly 100 prisoners were put on an emergency diet of liquid feeding, and officials say up to 500 will soon have to be moved into tents for medical treatment. In a way, they will be the lucky ones: The rest of the detainees at Shebergan will go on living 50 to a room, without toilets, clean water or sanitary measures, in an environment where tuberculosis and cholera are rampant. Scores have already died. Some may think this shameful and inhumane treatment is the just deserts of fighters who joined with the Taliban and al Qaeda. And yet most of those held at Shebergan had little or nothing to do with either Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization or its Afghan allies. [The complete article] Settlements stand in the way of Mideast peace George E. Bisharat, San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2002 Hope for peace in the Middle East hangs by a thread. The apparent unwillingness of the United States to halt the Israeli mauling of the West Bank has devastated our credibility worldwide. Dramatic steps are needed to address the core reasons for the violence afflicting the region. Confronting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip should head the list. The Palestinians' resort to violent resistance is inexplicable without reference to a century of experience, in which Jewish settlement brought Palestinians financial ruin and frustrated aspirations for freedom. [The complete article] Across West Bank, daily tragedies go unseen Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, April 27, 2002 While the world has been preoccupied with the camp [at Jenin], the stories beginning to unfold from the Palestinian cities, towns, refugee camps and villages that lie between Jenin and Dura show that the Israeli army has been engaged in systematic abusethe length of the West Bank. "Jenin is not so different from any of the other attacks," said Peter Bouckaert, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The focus of the international community has been on events in Jenin, but equally serious violations took place in Ramallah, particularly, and in Nablus." [The complete article] Pumping up the pressure Saudi Arabia may join other Arab states in using oil as a weapon in the Middle East conflict Jeremy Rifkin, The Guardian, April 26, 2002 Up to now, the prevailing wisdom on Wall Street has been that there was "a very low possibility" that Arab oil producers would cut supplies. This may, however, be wishful thinking. What no one seems to be taking into account is how powerless and desperate millions of Arabs are likely to feel in the months ahead if the violence between Israel and the Palestinians continues. The bottom line is that the oil card may be the only weapon open to the Arab world. If the collective rage of the Muslim world boils over, look for young Muslims to take to the streets in large numbers, as they already have in Iraq, chanting "Arab oil for the Arabs". The public pressure to use oil as a weapon against Israel, the US and the west might be too politically charged for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf governments to ignore. [The complete article] Journalists fight 'hidden war' in Afghanistan Jessica Hodgson, The Guardian, April 26, 2002 "I think we did a terrible job in Afghanistan and I think there are some lessons which need to be learned," he said, adding that the coverage was "misleading" and, in the case of the US networks, "almost McCarthyist in approach". In addition to problems caused by the terrain, weather and political instability, Smith said journalists were all too willing to present images of Afghans posing for the media as if they were objective reportage. "One of the most common things I heard was that journalists were getting Afghans to fire guns and filming them. Many Afghans were saying they do far more firing for journalists than they did in combat," he said. Smith's claims were backed up by the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, Bridget Kendall, who said that at times the coverage had descended into "farce". [The complete article] Bush struggles with 'foreign policy stuff' Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, April 26, 2002 Mr Bush [this week] repeated his hegemoniacal mantra that, in the battle against global terrorism, "nations must choose - they are with us, or they're with the terrorists". He claimed for his policy a high moral purpose, aimed at bolstering "the dignity and value of every individual" in what, under American guidance, would become "a better world". And he warned that the US would readily resort to military means to "defeat the threats against our country and the civilised world" - without identifying the "uncivilised" bits. There was a time, not so long ago, when this sort of language from an American political leader would be discounted abroad as mere demagoguery, aimed perhaps at winning an election. The problem nowadays, the world has learned, is that Mr Bush really believes this stuff. It may be simplistic, superficial nonsense; it may be harmful to international stability and mature dialogue between nations; it may indeed be counter-productive, having the effect of alienating and alarming friendly countries and antagonising potential enemies. To non-American ears, it certainly sounds arrogant and foolish in the extreme. But it has become the "Bush doctrine" and as such, it is official US policy, and everybody has to deal with it. [The complete article] INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY Manufacturing truth about the Middle East Michael Albert, Z Magazine, April 25, 2002 The goal of the Oslo process was accurately described in 1998 by Israeli academic Shlomo Ben-Ami just before he joined the Barak government, going on to become Barak's chief negotiator at Camp David in summer 2000. Ben-Ami observed that "in practice, the Oslo agreements were founded on a neo-colonialist basis, on a life of dependence of one on the other forever." With these goals, the Clinton-Rabin-Peres agreements were designed to impose on the Palestinians "almost total dependence on Israel," creating "an extended colonial situation," which is expected to be the "permanent basis" for "a situation of dependence." The function of the Palestinian Authority (PA) was to control the domestic population of the Israeli-run neocolonial dependency. That is the way the process unfolded, step by step, including the Camp David suggestions. The Clinton-Barak stand (left vague and unambiguous) was hailed here as "remarkable" and "magnanimous," but a look at the facts made it clear that it was -- as commonly described in Israel -- a Bantustan proposal; that is presumably the reason why maps were carefully avoided in the US mainstream. [The complete interview] ISRAELI WAR ON TERRORISM BREEDS NEW TERRORISTS Young Egyptians hearing call of 'martyrdom' Tim Goldene, New York Times, April 26, 2002 Egyptian officials have confirmed that half a dozen young men and women have been stopped trying to sneak into Israel since last week, apparently to carry out attacks. One Egyptian security official said that since last month, the security forces have been arresting several such young people each day. [...] The cry for leaders to "open the doors to jihad" in Israel has become a standard of Arab street demonstrations. Despite the religious overtones of such demands, the explosive response of young Arabs is largely rooted in secular concerns. "This is about a new culture emerging in the Arab world," said Mahdi F. Abdul Hadi, a Palestinian political scientist and historian. "It is not Islamist or pan-Arab; it has to do with a new sense of dignity among young people in the Arab world who identify with the suffering of the Palestinians." [The complete article - registration required] On stopping open-ended, permanent war on terrorism Rep Dennis Kucinich, Counterpunch, April 25, 2002 On Saturday, thousands of American citizens gathered in Washington, DC to challenge the open-ended war the United States is now waging. They are right to do so, and the broader American public would do well to listen. [The complete article] Teenagers shot by Israelis, then run over with a tank Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 26, 2002 Two of the schoolboys were 14, the other was 15; they were internet surfers in the local cyber cafe, one of them idling his hours away drawing children's cartoons; all three were football enthusiasts. Hours after they had been shot dead by the Israeli army near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, their fathers received the three young bodies. They had been driven over by an armoured vehicle which in 14-year-old Ismail Abu-Nadi's case cut his corpse in half. [The complete article] Losing the peace? Michael Massing, The Nation, May 13, 2002 America's political staff in [Afghanistan] is dwarfed by its military and intelligence presence. Embassy officials do not generally circulate in the capital, making it hard for them to monitor, much less shape, events on the ground. Symbolizing the sense of removal is the forbidding eight-foot steel fence going up around the embassy perimeter. While the barrier reflects genuine security concerns, it seems to embody America's disengagement from the messy business of creating a stable Afghan state. Most Afghans, I found, feel deep gratitude for America's role in ousting the Taliban and banishing Al Qaeda. But they also worry that Washington is losing interest in their country. Over and over, Bush has said that the United States, having abandoned Afghanistan once, will not do so again. On April 17 the President recommitted America to helping rebuild Afghanistan. Invoking the Marshall Plan, he vowed to stay engaged "until the mission is done." It's a welcome statement. But the President pledged no new resources for the job. What's more, during my stay I found little evidence that the United States has the necessary will, or skill, to address Afghanistan's profound political and economic problems. [The complete article] Scientists are calling for a boycott of Israel Tamara Traubman, Ha'aretz, April 26, 2002 The first time that the international scientific community imposed a boycott on a state was during the apartheid regime in South Africa. The second time is being considered at present, and now the boycott is directed against Israel and its policy in the territories. [The complete article] Sharon's best weapon Anti-semitism sustains Israel's brutal leader - the fight against it must be reclaimed Naomi Klein, The Guardian, April 25, 2002 Jews outside Israel now find themselves in a tightening vice: the actions of the country that was supposed to ensure their future safety are making them less safe right now. Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions between the terms "Jew" and "Israeli", claiming he is fighting not for Israeli territory but for the survival of the Jewish people. When anti-semitism rises at least partly as a result of his actions, it is Sharon who is positioned once again to collect the political dividends. It works. Most Jews are so frightened that they are now willing to do anything to defend Israeli policies. So at my neighbourhood synagogue, where the humble facade was badly scarred by a suspicious fire recently, the sign on the door doesn't say, "Thanks for nothing, Sharon." It says, "Support Israel - now more than ever." There is a way out. Nothing is going to erase anti-semitism, but Jews outside and inside Israel might be a little safer if there was a campaign to distinguish between diverse Jewish positions and the actions of the Israeli state. This is where an international movement can play a crucial role. Already, alliances are being made between globalisation activists and Israeli "refuseniks" - soldiers who refuse to serve their mandatory duty in the occupied territories. The most powerful images from Saturday's protests were rabbis walking alongside Palestinians. [The complete article] Bush's master oil plan Michael T. Klare, Pacific News Service, April 23, 2002 With so many new international crises erupting every day, it is hard to detect any clear forward direction to American U.S. foreign policy. At times, it appears that providing a response to the latest upheaval is about all that Washington can accomplish. But beneath the surface of day-to-day crisis management, one can see signs of an overarching plan for U.S. policy: a strategy of global oil acquisition. [The complete article] Once upon a time in Jenin Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves, The Independent, April 25, 2002 While the Israeli operation [in Jenin] clearly dealt a devastating blow to the militant organisations – in the short term, at least – nearly half of the Palestinian dead who have been identified so far were civilians, including women, children and the elderly. They died amid a ruthless and brutal Israeli operation, in which many individual atrocities occurred, and which Israel is seeking to hide by launching a massive propaganda drive. [The complete article] Battle for truth in Jenin Israel insists it has nothing to hide in Jenin. So why is it trying to prevent the world discovering its innocence? Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, April 23, 2002 Amnesty has collected a number of witness statements alleging, among other things, that extra-judicial executions took place, that some Palestinians were shot while in the process of surrendering or even afterwards, that detainees were used as human shields and that medical workers were attacked in circumstances where there was no reason to suspect they were terrorists in disguise. Apart from these specific incidents, where the complaints suggest a pattern rather than isolated cases of indiscipline by Israeli forces, there are two very disturbing allegations about the way the "operation" against Jenin was conducted. The first is that Israel failed to take reasonable steps to protect civilians in the refugee camp. This is highly reminiscent of the Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982 - for which an official Israeli inquiry decided that Ariel Sharon, the current prime minister, bore "personal responsibility". [...] The second allegation of systematic criminality is that even after the battle of Jenin was over, Israel wilfully prevented humanitarian access to the camp, including attempts to save the injured and dying. [The complete article] JENIN: WHILE ISRAEL BLOCKS U.N. INVESTIGATION, IT ALSO OBSTRUCTS AID TO THE SURVIVORS Greek rescue team denied entry to Jenin to search for bodies Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, April 24, 2002 Israel is preventing a Greek team made up of 34 earthquake rescue experts from coming to Israel to help salvage bodies from beneath the ruins in the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian and Greek sources have confirmed to Ha'aretz. Queried on the issue, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said, "Israel does not prevent humanitarian aid. We are aware of the problem and it is being handled by the relevant authorities." A plane loaded with equipment has been delayed for two days at the Athens airport since the Foreign Ministry informed the Greek embassy that "there is no need for such a team." [The complete article] Israeli army continues to shoot at Palestinian civilians Brian Wood, Counterpunch, April 23, 2002 For the last four days I've been in the Jenin Refugee Camp trying to help in digging the corpses from under the rubble. Every day more corpses are dug out, and somehow some people still have come out alive. It has been quite miraculous because some have been under their homes for two weeks. There were three people yesterday I heard that came out alive. Today one person came out alive. The problem is that the people here don't have the equipment to do this kind of rescue operation and they are still receiving so little help from outside. They have only three bulldozers working in the entire refugee camp removing some of the rubble and getting closer to where the bodies are and removing them by hand. In an area of four city blocks long and two city blocks wide, there are two hundred homes that are all completely destroyed. So this is where the majority of the rescue operation is taking place. [The complete article] Jewish minister in South Africa calls for boycott on Israel Reuters (via Ha'aretz), April 24th, 2002 A Jewish minister in the South African government threw his weight behind pressure for sanctions against Israel on Tuesday and said in an interview he would take the call to the cabinet soon. [The complete article] West Bank 'evacuations' -- prelude to ethnic cleansing? Robert Blecher, Pacific News Service, April 22, 2002 The recent assault on Palestinian cities and refugee camps may be an ominous harbinger of Israel's future strategy in the Occupied Territories. After issuing calls for the complete evacuation of the Jenin refugee camp, the Israeli army launched a massive attack that flattened entire neighborhoods, leaving thousands homeless and an untold number of dead. Might the forced exodus of Palestinians from Jenin and other areas of the West Bank be preparing the ground for mass expulsions? [The complete article] Brutalised by war, a savage mob turns on its own Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 24, 2002 By 9.30 yesterday morning, the Al-Aqsa brigades and probably Hamas, and no doubt a vast rabble of Palestinian youths, decided to take revenge on the Israelis [in response to the assassination of Marwan Zalum by an Israeli helicopter-borne death squad] by slaughtering Israel's three Palestinian collaborators who sat, helpless, in the local jail. A civil engineer watching the crowds told me that they were dragged to the scene of the car explosion, beaten insensible by the mob and then shot by gunmen. [The complete article] Israel blocks UN mission to Jenin Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, April 24, 2002 Israel reneged on its commitment to an international investigation of its offensive against the Jenin refugee camp last night, throwing the United Nations mission into disarray. Hours after a chorus of Israeli officials, including the foreign minister, Shimon Peres, said Israel had nothing to hide, the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, decided the team, announced just 24 hours earlier by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, was no longer acceptable. The mission - led by the former Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari - had been planning to move quickly, and was expected to arrive in Jenin at the end of this week. [The complete article] Toxic diplomacy US unilateralism claims another victim Lead Editorial, The Guardian, April 24, 2002 Exactly why the Bush administration insisted on sacking the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons this week remains unclear. But on the face of it, it looks like yet another example of disdainful American unilateralism, of US contempt for and bullying of international bodies and officials who decline to toe Washington's line. [The complete article] Bush's Bay of Piglets Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, April 24, 2002 President Bush said after Chavez's return that he hoped he had "learned the lesson", but the main lessons need to be learned further north in Washington itself. The precise part played by the US in the coup remains unclear. What is known is that in January Mr Bush appointed, against the advice of the senate foreign relations committee, a man with a shabby record of covert meddling in Latin American politics: Otto Reich. Reich, a Cuban-American who was once the US ambassador to Venezuela, is now the assistant secretary at the state department for the western hemisphere and as such calls the shots for the US - almost literally - in Latin America. [The complete article] Operation Destroy the Data Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, April 24, 2002 It's a scene that is repeating itself in hundreds of Palestinian offices taken over by IDF troops for a few hours or days in the West Bank: smashed, burned and broken computer terminals heaped in piles and thrown into yards; server cabling cut, hard disks missing, disks and diskettes scattered and broken, printers and scanners broken or missing, laptops gone, telephone exchanges that disappeared or were vandalized, and paper files burned, torn, scattered, or defaced - if not taken. And it's all in rooms full of smashed furniture, torn curtains, broken windows, smashed-in doors, walls full of holes, filthy floors and soiled bathrooms. Here and there, the soldiers left obscene graffiti or letters full of hatred, but compared to the data that was destroyed or taken, the insults read like poetry. Even the overflowing toilets look more like human weakness compared to the organized vandalism reflected in the piles of smashed computers. [...] The scenes of systematic destruction show how the IDF translated into the field the instructions inherent in the political echelon's policies: Israel must destroy Palestinian civil institutions, sabotaging for years to come the Palestinian goal for independence, sending all of Palestinian society backward. It's so easy and comforting to think of the entire Palestinian society as primitive, bloodthirsty terrorists, after the raw material and product of their intellectual, cultural, social and economic activity has been destroyed. That way, the Israeli public can continue to be deceived into believing that terror is a genetic problem and not a sociological and political mutation, horrific as it may be, derived from the horrors of the occupation. [The complete article] April 20 anti-war protests overwhelm expectations Don Hazen, AlterNet, April 22, 2002 Huge anti-war demonstrations on Saturday in Washington, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Salt Lake City and Houston turned out considerably more people than organizers and police authorities expected. District of Columbia Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey estimated that 75,000 marched in Washington, while estimates in San Francisco varied between 30,000 and 50,000. [The complete article] Interview: the Middle East according to Robert Fisk Marc Cooper, LA Weekly, April 22, 2002 Interviewer: In your public speeches, you have been suggesting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might turn into something as apocalyptic as the French-Algerian war of four decades ago -- a horrendous war that took well over a million lives. Are things that dark? Fisk: I think we already have reached those depths. If you go back and read the narrative history of the Algerian war, you'll see it began with isolated acts of sabotage, a few killings of French settlers, followed invariably by large-scale retaliation by the French authorities at which point, starting in the '60s, the Algerians began a campaign against French citizens in Algiers and Oran with bombs in cinemas and discotheques, which today translates into pizzerias and nightclubs in Israel. The French government kept saying it was fighting a war on terrorism, and the French army went in and erased whole Algerian villages. Torture became institutionalized, as it has by the Israeli authorities. Collaborators were killed by Algerian fighters, just as Arafat does so brazenly now. At the end of the day, life became insupportable for both sides. At Christmas, Ariel Sharon called French President Chirac and actually said, We are like you in Algeria, but "we will stay." [The complete interview] COMMENT -- For anyone not already familiar with the Algerian war for independence, the 1965 film The Battle of Algiers is required viewing. "This study of the Algerian guerrilla struggle against the French colonialists in the 50s ought to be looked at not just as pure cinema but as a warning to those who seek by force to crush independence movements." Worse than no deal at all Reviewing the Clinton-Barak peace proposal Ahmad Faruqui, Tom Paine.com, April 22, 2002 Characterizing Israel’s offer as “generous” has been a tenet in U.S. policy-making circles and punditry. Many in the Bush and Clinton administrations, on editorial pages, and in the American Jewish community have argued that Arafat's failure to accept this offer betrays an underlying rejection of Israel's right to exist. [...] But how generous was the Clinton-Barak plan? This is a critical question, because this proposal is a historic baseline for any new ‘progress’ or ‘hope’ in resolving the conflict. [...] The Palestinian state, according to diplomats and academics familiar with the details, would have consisted of five cantons, four of which would be located in the West Bank and one in the Gaza strip. The two million Palestinians living in 200 scattered areas around the West Bank would have been consolidated into three cantons. The Israeli army would have control of the eastern border of the state, the Jordan Valley, for an indefinite period of time. A fourth canton would have been created around East Jerusalem. Much of the water infrastructure would have remained under Israeli control. Most importantly, the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam, would have remained under Israeli control. For its part, Israel would have annexed 69 of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, containing 85 percent of the 200,000 settlers that have stayed in the West Bank -- a violation of the Oslo Accords. The settlement blocs intrude into the existing road network and this would have severely disrupted Palestinian road traffic in the West Bank. To compensate the Palestinians for the loss of prime agricultural land, Israel offered stretches of desert adjacent to the Gaza Strip that it currently uses for dumping toxic wastes. [The complete article] The Palestinian side must be told Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, April 23 2002 Is there media bias against Israel? The claim, hotly expressed in thousands of angry e-mails and subscription cancellations, that the U.S. media are anti-Israel is so absurd as to suggest hysteria. Are American Jews in such deep denial about the brutality of Israel's recent actions that they would damn those who report the truth? [The complete article] Ending the death dance Richard Falk, The Nation, April 29, 2002 Few would deny that September 11 unleashed a fearsome sequence of reactions, and none so far worse than the anguishing fury of this latest cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Surely the United States is not primarily responsible for this horrifying spectacle of bloodshed and suffering, but there is a gathering sense here and overseas that the US government has badly mishandled its crucial role for a long, long time, and especially since the World Trade Center attack. As the situation continues to deteriorate for both peoples, there is a rising chorus of criticism that paradoxically blames the United States both for doing too much on behalf of Israel and not enough to bring about a durable peace. Both lines of criticism seem justified. [The complete article] Sharon 'aimed to destroy Palestinian rule' Stephen Farrell and Janine Di Giovanni, The Times, April 23, 2002 The Palestinians are now convinced that Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister, used the anti-terrorist operation as a cover for destroying the Palestinian Authority’s infrastructure to the point where it can never operate again. Visiting government buildings in Ramallah and Bethlehem, The Times saw scores of offices — some of them intact, others destroyed — where the hard disks had been removed from computers. Ministry of Education officials, forced by Israeli soldiers to open their premises, said they were convinced that the mainly reservist units included computer specialists charged with acquiring and analysing Palestinian Authority data. In Bethlehem, Ministry of Health archives and computer disks were seized by the Israeli Army, including vital material, such as vaccination records. At the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Public Works and other government departments across Ramallah similar scenes testified to the organised removal of computer information, with desks and filing cabinets ransacked for paper records. “They knew what they were doing. They were trying to destroy the administrative infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority,” Yassir Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian Information Minister, said yesterday. “The fact that files, archives, records, computers and the servers themselves were destroyed shows they wanted to erase our memory, to create chaos, chaos, chaos." [The complete article] im·pe·ri·al·ism n. The policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. Diplomacy US style George Monbiot, The Guardian, April 23, 2002 Tony Blair might believe he belongs to an international coalition, but George Bush has other ideas. Bush's international war against terrorism has not stopped him from waging a parallel war against cooperation. [...] This month's attempts to damage international law follow America's unilateral abandonment of the anti-ballistic missile treaty, its successful sabotage of the biological weapons convention and its rejection of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the UN treaty on gun running and the international criminal court. America is pulling away from the rest of the world, and dragging our treaties down as it goes. [The complete article] Amnesty demands war crimes inquiry into Jenin invasion Phil Reeves and Cahal Milmo, The Independent, April 23, 2002 International pressure on Israel to explain its army's conduct during the invasion of Jenin's refugee camp grew yesterday after Amnesty International accused it of "very serious human rights abuses", and called for a war crimes investigation. The human rights group said that it reached the preliminary conclusion there was evidence of crimes, including extra-judicial executions and the use of human shields. Javier Zuniga, Amnesty's regional director, said: "We have concluded, on a preliminary basis, that very serious violations of human rights were committed. We are talking here [about] possible war crimes. We believe Israel has a case to answer." [The complete article] Palestine militias rising Graham Usher, The Nation, April 29, 2002 Israel's latest military offensive in the West Bank, code-named Defensive Wall, was met with fierce armed resistance, as Palestinians fought house to house and sometimes hand to hand to repulse the reconquest of their towns, villages and refugee camps. Some of the young defenders are guerrillas from new Palestinian militias forged by the intifada, others are Palestinian Authority police officers and many are both. [The complete article] Witness in the Territories Russell Banks, The Nation, April 29, 2002 In the last days of March, at the end of a five-day voyage with seven fellow members of the International Parliament of Writers (IPW) through the battered archipelago of reservations that make up the Palestinian territories, I met for breakfast at the King David Inter-Continental Hotel in Tel Aviv with two young leaders of the so-called refuseniks, the members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who have publicly declared their refusal to serve in the occupied territories. These men are not peaceniks or pacifists; they're not of the left or veterans of the now-demoralized Israeli peace movement; and they are certainly not cowards. They are Zionists, university-educated, articulate, patriotic sons of Israel, and their stand has become in these terrible dark days the most serious challenge that anyone has put to Israel's moral credibility from inside the family. [The complete article] WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD CONDEMNS ACTIONS OF ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCE, US CONGRESS LOOKS FOR WAYS TO BOOST MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL Supporters consider how to increase military aid for Israel Dan Morgan, Washington Post, April 22, 2002 Is this the moment for Congress to go over the president's head and give Israel additional military aid? Some congressional supporters of Israel say the idea deserves consideration as Congress takes up President Bush's $27.1 billion emergency appropriations request for homeland security, economic recovery and the global war on terrorism. [The complete article] Judge questions U.S. actions in war on terror Lawsuit by Islamic charity raises 'significant' allegations Neely Tucker, Washington Post, April 22, 2002 A federal judge said today that a suit filed by the nation's largest Islamic charity raised "significant and distressing allegations" about government actions in its war on terror, signaling that the case may challenge the Bush administration's ability to quickly strike domestic organizations alleged to have links to international terrorists. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said that the government's lightning-strike seizure of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation in December – on allegations the charity was a fundraising front for the terrorist organization Hamas – was a matter of "great significance." She also warned government lawyers that she would not look favorably on their request to keep classified information concealed from public view. "I'll make no secret that the government is going to have a very heavy burden to submit information ex-parte [in secret, in the judge's chambers]," Kessler said. "In a case with as many serious ramifications as this one, unless the law is crystal clear . . . everything should be in public and on the record." [The complete article] Sharon plans to annex half the West Bank, says coalition ally Inigo Gilmore and David Wastell, The Telegraph, April 21, 2002 Ariel Sharon wants to annex up to half of the West Bank under an unpublished plan for the Palestinian territories that he is drawing up with close advisers. [The complete article] Journalists accuse Israel of media violation Jessica Hodgson, The Guardian, April 22, 2002 Reporters Sans Frontieres, the international pressure group for journalists, has condemned Israel in the strongest terms for its "grim toll of attacks on press freedom". In an outspoken statement, RSF accused Israel of taking a "racist attitude to the Arab media" and claimed its violations of press freedom were "deliberate". "The policy of the Israeli authorities towards the international media, especially Palestinian journalists, must be condemned for what it is: a massive, deliberate and conscious violation of press freedom and an unprecedented low in the history of Israel," the organisation said. [The complete article] ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL COMMENT -- While the feebleness of George Bush's recent appeals for the Israeli Defense Force to "withdraw [from the Occupied Territories] without delay" was clearly regarded by Ariel Sharon as an indication that the US administration dare not stand in his way, the real leverage that the US possesses in abundance (even if it lacks the political will) is economic power. Although the US Congress, beholden to pro-Israeli special interests, may not be willing to cut off aid to Israel, the European Union is not encumbered by the same constraints. Fear of European economic sanctions is already sending shockwaves through the Israeli economy. Those US citizens who may be experiencing frustration in their attempts to influence their own legislators may find that expressing support for European sanctions is a viable alternative means to exert political influence. See below for contact information at the European Union. Continental divide Growing talk in Europe of trade sanctions, embargoes and boycotts against Israeli goods may already be hurting the local economy Leora Eren Frucht, Jerusalem Post, April, 21 2002 The EU is Israel's most important trade partner, accounting for 31 percent of exports and 41 percent of imports last year. The wide-ranging economic ties are regulated by the 1995 EU-Israel Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement, which grants Israel preferential trade status with the EU (and lays out the legal framework for relations between Israel and the 15-member body.) Last week the EU Parliament called for a suspension of this agreement, effectively demanding trade sanctions against Israel. The clause invoked by the parliament is the one stating that "all provisions of the agreement are to be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles which guide the internal and international policies of the parties." "This vote wasn't the result of the whim of a few anti-Israel parliamentarians. They didn't act in a vacuum. They were affected by public opinion in their countries," says Avi Primor, former ambassador to Europe. "Our real concern," concurs Alon of the Agriculture Ministry, "is that these recommendations represent part of a wider trend that 'Israel is not okay.'" The mere discussion of sanctions could have grave economic consequences. "There is a bad smell in the air of a general embargo, one that threatens our trade with all of Europe, spreading to other key markets," said Dan Gillerman, president of the Federation of Israel Chambers of Commerce last week. "The call [by European parliaments] for sanctions could lead other countries independently to set aside their economic ties with us, leading to less investment in the Israeli economy." [The complete article] Contacts in the European Union: Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission: Romano.Prodi@cec.eu.int Guy Legras, Director-General External Relations, European Commission: Guy.Legras@cec.eu.int Gunter Burghardt, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission based in Washington DC: Gunter.Burghardt@cec.eu.int European Parliament: civis@europarl.eu.int Thousands march in S.F. protest At least 20,000 decry Bush's Mideast policy, Israeli actions Jim Herron Zamora, San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2002 In one of the largest Bay Area protests in recent years, at least 20,000 people marched through San Francisco yesterday in opposition to U.S. policy in the Mideast, transforming 2 miles of city streets into a sea of red, green, black and white Palestinian flags. [The complete article] 50,000 protesters march peacefully in Washington D.C. David Ho, Associated Press, April 20, 2002 Tens of thousands of protesters joined forces on a warm spring Saturday to demonstrate peacefully against everything from U.S. policy in the Mideast to globalization and corporate greed. [The complete article] If you want a free vote, ask nicely The American President has a singular view of democracy. After all, look what happened in Florida Terry Jones, The Observer, April 21, 2002 Since its ground-breaking experiments in vote-counting in Florida two years ago, the United States has been universally recognised as the chief innovator in the field of democratic principles. Therefore, one of the factors that must surely confer legitimacy on any democracy would be approval by the United States. [The complete article] Wider Arab protest movement takes root Palestinian woes inspire activism in unlikely places Howard Schneider, Washington Post, April 20, 2002 As the violence burns in the West Bank, it is not only college protests in Egypt or sporadic gunfire at Israeli soldiers from such groups as Hezbollah that demonstrate popular rage. It is groups of Arab women organizing blood donations, or benefit choral concerts and poetry readings in Amman and Beirut. It is telethons for Palestinian relief that have drawn an estimated quarter-billion dollars in cash, gold, cars and other donations, largely from places such as Kuwait and Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have close ties to the United States. It is not just Palestinian refugees up in arms in Lebanon and Jordan -- a standard sight -- or the canned and planned protests that the governments of Iraq and Syria stage when it suits them. It is Bahrainis in the usually placid Persian Gulf region attacking the U.S. Embassy, Kuwaitis whose 1991 liberation from Iraq no longer hinders them from burning the American flag and, perhaps most notably, the small knots of Saudi protesters given an unprecedented green light by their government to gather publicly. [The complete article] What you can do Human Rights Watch No matter where you live or who you are, you can take action to try and improve the human rights situation during the current violence in Israel, the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Authority Territories. [More information] Apartheid in action: celebrating Israeli independence day in al-Isawiye Neve Gordon, Yuri Pines, Catherine Rottenberg, Alternative Information Center, April 19th, 2002 At approximately 8:30 am, the Israeli police and military imposed a curfew on the village, located in north east Jerusalem just a few meters from Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, and adjacent to Jerusalem’s French Hill. The 8000 Palestinians who live in al-Isawiye are Israeli residents; they pay Jerusalem municipality taxes - although they receive almost no services - and hold blue (Israeli) identity cards. Sick people who had left their homes earlier for checkups, children who were coming back from school, university students and others stood for hours waiting to enter the village. The police allowed these resident to enter, but in increments and according to the whim of the checkpoint guard. At around 4:00 in the afternoon the police stopped letting people in and imposed a total closure and curfew on the village. One couple returning from Sharei Tzedek hospital with their baby, who had been hospitalized for 3 days, were refused entry. They waited at the checkpoint until 2:00 am, when finally neighbors took them in. Ta’ayush members demanded that the family be allowed to return home, but were ignored. The alleged reason for the curfew was that a “terrorist was loose in al-Isaw.” However, most of the other Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem were also under curfew that night, suggesting that at least one of the reasons the authorities imposed the curfews was to make sure that Palestinians stayed home while Jews celebrated Independence Day. [The complete article] From the ruins of Jenin, the truth about an atrocity Phil Reeves and Justin Huggler, The Independent, April 20, 2002 Israel has launched a huge publicity drive to counter the international community's anger over the events of the last fortnight. The prize – ultimately – is history itself. Israel's task has been made easier by Palestinian officials who rushed to declare a "massacre" – an allegation which has not been proved. Israel's host of government spokesmen and its media have seized on such claims to mount an argument tantamount to saying that, as there is no proof of a massacre, there is no case to answer at all. This is akin to a policeman being called out to investigate a murder, and – finding only a rape – ignoring the crime altogether. But enough is already known about what went on in Jenin to say Israel has committed an appalling atrocity. [The complete article] What kind of war is this? Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, April 19, 2002 Umm Yasser rescued a year-old baby from the neighbors' house, which was shelled. The baby's father, Rizk, she related, crawled out with his two legs injured and his back burned by fire. He came out with his arm stretched forward, bleeding, she said. The house was surrounded by soldiers. A military doctor or paramedic came, cleaned the wounds, bandaged them, and soldiers took him to the area of the cemetery and left him there. [The complete article] Profound contempt Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, April 15, 2002 Perhaps the lies being disseminated about the Palestinians during these days of war actually express the contempt of the Israeli authorities toward the Israeli public, and an implicit assumption that it will continue to swallow them. That it will always make do with intelligence analyses, and will avoid sociological, historical and political ones, and therefore will not ask why so many Palestinians want to blow themselves up and take others with them, and how hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are holding out in intolerable conditions of shelling and continuing curfew, without water, electricity and food? [The complete article] Israel: the generals’ grand design Tanya Reinhart, Open Democracy, April 18, 2002 Tel Aviv University professor Tanya Reinhart writes, "In conventional political discourse, Israel’s recent attacks on Palestinian civilians, villages, and governmental institutions are described as “retaliatory acts”. They are justified as a “response” to the latest wave of terror attacks on Israeli civilians. In fact, these “retaliatory measures” are part of a systematic assault on the Palestinian Authority that was carefully prepared long before the current “war on terrorism.” As far back as October 2000, at the outset of the Palestinian uprising and before the terror attacks had started, military circles in Israel had prepared detailed operative plans to topple Arafat and the Palestinian Authority." [The complete article] Standing alone with our views on terrorism Shibley Telhami, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2002 The Bush administration has been waging the global war on terrorism as if terrorism is a movement, an ideology, a political coalition, with little differentiation from case to case. This has distorted our moral view of the world and enabled even Slobodan Milosevic to justify his horrific policies of death and ethnic cleansing. Terrorism is an instrument, not a movement. It is an immoral means employed by groups, some of which have just causes, some of which don't. [The complete article] Why Bush must send in his troops Imposing a two-state solution is the last chance for Middle East peace Michael Ignatieff, The Guardian, April 19, 2002 Two years ago, an American friend took me on a helicopter ride from Jerusalem to the Golan Heights over the Palestinian West Bank. He wanted to show me how vulnerable Israel was, how the Arabs only had to cross 11km of land to reach the sea and throw the Israelis into it. I got this message but I also came away with another one. When I looked down at the West Bank, at the settlements like Crusader forts occupying the high ground, at the Israeli security cordon along the Jordan river closing off the Palestinian lands from Jordan, I knew I was not looking down at a state or the beginnings of one, but at a Bantustan, one of those pseudo-states created in the dying years of apartheid to keep the African population under control. [...] Now that its troops have pillaged the offices of the Palestinian Authority, confiscated hard-drives, emptied safes, destroyed records, Israel has destroyed the one entity that might be able to control the territory it cannot. Repressing a population bent on national independence destroyed the French Fourth Republic in Algeria, and it will kill Israel. Absorbing the entire Palestinian population into Israel as equal citizens would be an excellent idea, but it is neither what Palestinians want, nor is it compatible with the continued existence of Jewish majority rule in the Jewish state. Expelling the Palestinians across the river into Jordan, another extremist option, will only start a regional, and possibly nuclear, war. Building a wall to keep an enraged people out, the current strategy of desperation, will reduce but not stop terror attacks. [...] The time for endless negotiation between the parties is past: it is time to say that all but those settlements right on the 1967 green line must go; that the right of return is incompatible with peace and security in the region and the right must be extinguished with a cash settlement; that the UN, with funding from Europe, will establish a transitional administration to help the Palestinian state back on its feet and then prepare the ground for new elections before exiting; and, most of all, the US must then commit its own troops, and those of willing allies, not to police a ceasefire, but to enforce the solution that provides security for both populations. Imposing a peace of this amplitude on both parties, and committing the troops to back it up, would be the most dramatic exercise of presidential leadership since the Cuban missile crisis. Nothing less dramatic than this will prevent the Middle East from descending into an inferno. [The complete article] Start with Palestinian statehood A European plan to end the occupation first is the best formula Graham E. Fuller, Los Angeles Times, April 18 2002 What does it take to recognize failure? Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip has ended in complete collapse, as the administration remains mired in a "peace process" that is empty of content. We are back to a brutal and hopeless impasse. The reason for continuing failure? Let's reduce it to a bumper sticker: "It's the occupation, stupid." Until that issue is addressed, nothing else will fall into place. [The complete article] Israel accused of using 'human shields' Sebastian Usher, BBC News, April 18, 2002 A leading human rights group has accused the Israeli army of routinely using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Human Rights Watch said the tactic could be considered a war crime. [The complete article] In a dark hour: The use of civilians during IDF arrest operations [The complete report from Human Rights Watch] What Israel has done Edward Said, Al-Ahram, April 18, 2002 No other state on earth could have done what Israel has done with as much approbation and support as the US has given it. None has been more intransigent and destructive, less out of touch with its own realities, than Israel. [The complete article] HOME | ABOUT | CONTACT | Copyright © 2002-2004 Paul Woodward 
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