Email this article | Print this article | Link to this Article
ISRAELI CONCENTRATION CAMPS
March 12, 2001
If barbed wire were used, the symbolism would be too much like concentration
camps of old. It's quite worse than Apartheid ever got. The White South
Africans never did to the Blacks the kinds of things the Israelis are doing
to the Palestinians.
The Israelis -- always with American, European, and world Jewry complicity
-- use other means than barbed wire and official looking concentration
camps. The result is the same however, especially with the new Sharon/Peres
policy of "trenches", on top of military checkpoints, on top of colored
identity passes and license plates, on top of the new high-tech means of
following, monitoring, and targeting those who are Palestinian.
Have those who continue to support the Israelis no shame? Have those
who support the Palestinians no power?
PALESTINIANS TRY TO BREAK BLOCKADE
Ariel Sharon appears on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer"
RAMALLAH, West Bank, 12 March, CNN -- Israeli soldiers have fired tear
gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of Palestinians trying to tear down
an army blockade using a bulldozer.
About 1,500 Palestinians, led by Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo,
marched towards a barrier north of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday
to protest against the blockade.
It had been constructed using tanks, trenches and ramparts the previous
day, in an effort to cut off all access to the town, which is home to about
50,000 people.
The violence broke out when a bulldozer, draped in a Palestinian flag was
driven at Israeli positions.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had earlier defended the tightening
of the blockade.
The new leader said the move had been in response to reports that Palestinians
were allegedly stepping up their plans for further attacks against Israelis.
His office said in a statement: "In light of specific information on an
attack from within the city of Ramallah, the closure has been intensified
and operational activity has been intensified in order to thwart the attack.
"The policy of Prime Minister Sharon is to make things easier...but it
will act in those places where terrorist activity is carried out, all this
as part of a policy to thwart attacks and fight against terrorists and
those who send them."
Sharon's adviser, Raanan Gissin, said the blockade was aimed at preventing
attacks on Israelis, both by restricting travel and by exerting pressure
on Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat.
The statement, released before talks between European Union representatives
and Arafat, gave no details of the attack.
Sharon was expected to face opposition against the measure from coalition
partners at the first cabinet meeting since he took power last week.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh,
both of the Labor Party, have questioned the effectiveness of the move.
But Sharon laid out his policy on CNN's Late Edition over the weekend,
when he said he would not negotiate with the Palestinians as long as there
was violence.
During the interview he did offer sympathy to the plight of Palestinians,
and spoke of a willingness to "ease conditions" of those living in the
West Bank -- but only once the violence had stopped.
"There is a famous saying, 'It's hard to be a Jew,'" he said.
"It's also hard to be a Palestinian. I know that. I would like to take
all those steps, but first of all it should be quiet.
Sharon said he sent a message to Arafat, telling him that he would "like
very much to ease the conditions" of Palestinians.
Sharon said it was a "major mistake" of Ehud Barak, his predecessor, to
negotiate with the Palestinians while violent clashes were erupting between
Israelis and Palestinians. He said Barak made too many concessions and
Israel became "weaker and weaker."
"I think that Arafat has not reached yet the point that he understands
that he's facing now a different government," the 73-year-old ex-general
said.
Israeli media reports said the closure was part of a new army plan, approved
by Sharon, under which troops will cut up the West Bank and Gaza into dozens
of smaller areas, and tightly control each subdivision.
The blockades on the West Bank and Gaza, which hampers Palestinian movement,
have been criticised by the international community for creating an economic
stranglehold.
Hussein al-Sheikh, a representative of Arafat's Fatah movement in the West
Bank, told Army Radio the blockades would not douse the uprising.
"Do they think this blockade will lead the people to raise the white flag?
I say this is stupidity.
"I am sure that this blockade pushes people into a more serious situation
and act more strongly in the Intifada."
Hardline Palestinians have called for "days of rage" against Israeli troops
on Wednesday and Friday this week.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo on Monday to prepare for an Arab summit
expected to focus on the Palestinian situation.
-----------------
ISRAELI SIEGE INTENSIFIED, STRANGLING PALESTINIAN HEALTH AND EDUCATION
SERVICES
[The Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees - Jerusalem - 12 March
2001]:
The Israeli government has severely tightened the closure and siege of
Palestinian towns and villages in the past week, further isolating communities
from each other and strictly limiting freedom of movement throughout the
Occupied Palestinian Territories. Last week, Israeli bulldozers dug a two-meter
wide ditch across the road connecting Ramallah with Bir Zeit and 33 outlying
villages, denying approximately 70,000 residents access to the city of
Ramallah. In the process, Israeli forces destroyed water, electricity and
telephone networks. The Israeli army has also erected a new checkpoint
at the Jerusalem airstrip, opposite Qalandia Refugee Camp, to prevent West
Bank residents from reaching Jerusalem.
Checkpoints, barriers, and the destruction of major roads prevent Palestinians
from traveling and keep goods from reaching villages. This situation has
led to a national health emergency. The vaccination system is completely
paralyzed due to the inability of primary and emergency health care units
to travel to rural areas that lack health services. The vaccination program
at UPMRC clinics in Turmus Ayya and Sinjil is not functioning. This program
is conducted in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and
although the nurse giving the vaccinations lives nearby, the vaccination
serum is not arriving to the clinics due to road closures.
Two million Palestinians, or 68% of the population, live in rural areas
that now lack access to hospitals and are without educational and health
services in their communities. Many health clinics located in these remote
areas are forced to close because physicians and nurses are unable to reach
their clinics due to the blockade. Furthermore, ambulances cannot reach
dozens of villages due to the destruction of roads. Palestinians are being
denied access to health care services, and this puts pregnant women, children,
and those suffering from chronic diseases at particular risk.
Israel is trying to force the Palestinian civilian population into political
submission by denying them basic rights and services.
|
March 2001
SHARON UPSCALES VIOLENCE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS (March 31, 2001) Yesterday, on Palestinian Land
Day, the Israeli army killed five Palestinians in Nablus and one in Ramallah
during civilian demonstrations protesting the Israeli occupation. 150 Palestinians
were injured, several of them in critical condition.
CHOMSKY ON THE MID-EAST CONFLICT (March 31, 2001) Well, just how dangerous is the crisis in the Middle East? There is a UN Special
Envoy, a Norwegian, Roed-Larson. A couple of days ago, he warned that Israel's
blockade of the Palestinian areas is leading to enormous suffering and could
rapidly detonate a regional war.
FIVE PALESTINIANS KILLED AS WAR OF WORDS FLARES IN MIDDLE EAST (March 30, 2001) Clashes
raged across the Palestinian territories Friday, killing five Palestinians, as
Israelis and Palestinians exchanged fiery rhetoric on the traditionally violent
anniversary of a 1976 Israeli crackdown on Arab demonstrators.
CLASHES ERUPT AMID WAVE OF ANTI-ISRAELI PROTESTS (March 30, 2001) Israeli troops opened fire with live rounds on
Friday to try to halt Palestinians marching in cities across the West Bank and
Gaza Strip to demand civil rights and an end to Israeli occupation.
AN ISRAELI OFFERS HOPE AMIDST THE DARKNESS (March 30, 2001) In the past two weeks, we are witnessing the beginning of a new phase: Israelis
and Palestinians are extending a hesitant hand to each other, across the IDF's
barricades and checkpoints.
A CONFLICT SINKING TO NEW DEPTHS (March 29, 2001) The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has sunk to appalling new
depths with several days of intensified violence that left children on both
sides to form the bulk of the dead.
ISRAELIS STRIKE, NOBODY RESPONDS (March 29, 2001) The Egyptians and Jordanians could and should totally suspend their relations
with Israel; but they do not. The Arabs could collectively demand Israel be suspended from the U.N. General
Assembly; but they did not decide to do so at their little summit just ended
where they in fact did nothing serious.
ASSAD & SADDAM "ATTACK" (March 28, 2001) Lot of rhetoric, more than expected in fact. But mostly a smookescreen for never-ending
impotence and inexcuseable weakness. So much for the Arab Summit in Amman.
Until those Arab "leaders" who have squandered the wealth and heritage of their
countries, and indeed of their once powerful civilization, are replaced; until
the "client regimes" of the Arab world are no more; this tragic spectacle known
as Arab "summits" will continue to be a deep embarrassment and a historic tragedy.
ARAB SUMMITS - RIDICULOUS SPECTACLES (March 27, 2001) Arab "leaders", the "client regimes", and Arab "summits", have been ridiculous
spectacles for a long time now.
Last time they met like this the American armies were descending on Arabia, getting
ready to destroy Iraq and put one of their own, the despicable British-created
Emir, back on his oil throne in Kuwait City.
ARAB SUMMITEERS AND CROCODILE TEARS (March 26, 2001) "They will talk and talk and talk and look important
and remain as always, impotent, indecisive and inactive.
They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian dying
or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the
6-month-old Intifida, but nothing but pomp and ceremony
will come of it all."
TIME TO FORCE A U.S. VETO AND TAKE SERIOUS ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL (March 25, 2001) What the Arab States meeting in summit in Amman on Tuesday should do is not
a mystery: First they should insist on a U.N. Security Council resolution that has teeth;
and if the U.S. vetos so be it.
THE U.N. AND THE ARAB LEAGUE CHARADES (March 25, 2001) The U.N. and Arab League charades have gone on for so many years now. Never
has either body taken serious action when it comes to Israel. Always the U.S.
is there to block the way, to twist things from potentially useful to impotent,
to manuever so that the U.S. remains dominant internationally and Israel remains
dominant in the region.
ISRAELI ARMY BRUTALLY ATTACKS PEACEFUL CIVILIAN PROTEST MARCH (March 24, 2001) Today at 1:00 p.m., the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber
coated steel bullets at thousands of peaceful protesters at the Al-Ram
checkpoint.
SHARON MOVING FAST (March 24, 2001) haron and company are now likely to move quickly to further "control"
the Palestinians and establish their hegemonic and war-threatening policies
in the Middle East.
Today in Occupied Palestine (March 23, 2001) Amr Moussa and the Arab political elite representing the "client regimes"
have been deceived and acted foolishingly, as well as selfishly, for quite
a long time now.
AL-JAZEERA - ARAFAT STILL TWISTS TO ISRAELI AND U.S. TUNE (March 22, 2001) Al-Jazeera satellite TV now feeds a hungry Arab world, one starved for
so long that even this carefully-controlled Qatari-financed TV news and
pictures source has met with considerable success.
WHAT SHOULD BE WITH ISRAEL (March 22, 2001) If the Arabs regimes were serious, indeed if they were truly independent,
they would institute a Arab and Muslim regional boycott of Israel at this
point, at least suspend all diplomatic and economic relations with Israel,
and forcefully move to have the U.N. General Assembly suspend Israeli credentials
(as was done with South Africa in the days of Apartheid) as soon as the
U.S. again prevents the Security Council from acting in the days ahead.
ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS IN USA WORSE THAN EVER (March 20, 2001) We were wrong in our analysis earlier today. The Arab and Muslim groups
did not even manage a few hundred protestors at the White House today --
the number was closer to a few dozen at most, including the handful of
fanatical bearded and side-curled Naturei Karta Jews who are encouraged
by these groups to show up these days.
WASHINGTON SCENE: ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS PROVE IMPOTENCE ONCE AGAIN (March 20, 2001) It's depressing, almost pathetic, to watch the Arab and Muslim American
groups "protest" these days. Leaderless and strategyless, though as usual
feverishly combining all of their capabilities together to create even
this, the groups managed to bring maybe five or six hundred persons to
the sidewalk across from the Washington Hilton last evening for a carefully
self-controlled demonstration.
WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING IS "FORBIDDEN" (March 19, 2001) "What is being done in the territories is simply forbidden. To safeguard against such acts, people have established laws and norms; those who wish to return to the norms current a century ago ought not to be surprised when they are treated as pariahs - indeed, as ghosts from bygone days."
ARABS URGE U.N. TO SEND INTERNATIONAL FORCE TO PALESTINIAN (March 16, 2001) The Israelis will insist on a U.S. veto of any Security Council resolution
involving any serious observer force.
And Shimon Peres willingly serving Ariel Sharon as his Foreign Minister
makes it much easier for the Israelis to deflect international pressures.
WE DIDN'T SEE; WE DIDN'T KNOW (March 15, 2001) The Palestinian people have many symbols, and one of them is Bir Zeit
university near Ramallah - the secular intellectual center of the
society.
SHARON COMETH (March 14, 2001) Monday in Washington the various Arab-American groups will stage a protest
demonstration outside the Washington Hilton where now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will be talking to the lead organization that makes up the Israeli-Jewish
lobby in Washington.
U.S. MEDIA ESTABLISHMENT HELPS PREPARE SHARON'S WAY (March 13, 2001) Sharon's PR people are working hard preparing his way for a triumphant
visit to the USA in a few days. They choose Lally Weymouth, long a "friendly
journalist", for one of his first major interviews -- published in Newsweek
this week.
ISRAELI CONCENTRATION CAMPS (March 12, 2001) If barbed wire were used, the symbolism would be too much like concentration
camps of old.
BIR ZEIT UNIVERSITY CRIES OUT FOR HELP (March 11, 2001) As usual these days, the Palestinian people are being collectively
tortured into submission with still expanding forms of bondage, oppression,
and brutal force.
PERES FRONTS FOR SHARON AS ISRAELIS PUSH FORWARD MAJOR PROPAGANDA (March 10, 200198) Who is more despicable is debateable these days. But surely Shimon
Peres is deserving of nomination. As Israeli army snipers pick off Palestinians and as Israeli army bulldozers dig trenches around Palestinian towns and cities, Peres fronts for the new Sharon regime telling the world the Israelis are going to "make life better for the Palestinians"!
TRENCH AND SIEGE WARFARE (March 8, 2001) The words, and the acts, go back before the bible itself -- trench warfare
and siege. The Romans built walls and laid siege to Jerusalem and Masada.
Trenches, though for a different purpose, became synonymous with World
War I.
CRIES FROM PALESTINE AND CRIES FROM ISRAEL (March 6, 2001) My sister-in-law just called crying - about 4 hours
ago Al-Bireh had about 3 minutes of heavy gunfire.....
her neighbor, Aida, was walking back home on the Friends
road from Ramallah after shopping for the Eid holiday.
OH MY GOD! CLINTON WON'T LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE! (March 5, 2001) They came to Washington -- the two-for-one power couple -- with the campaign
promise to bring health care to all Americans; they left (but Hillary is
already back on Capitol Hill) with the dangerous corporate for profit HMO's
in power and more uninsured than ever despite the economic juggernaunt.
MIDEAST CONFLICT TEARS AT BROTHERLY BOND (March 5, 2001) Hostilities engulf West Bank siblings,
who remain close despite their split between
Jewish and Muslim faiths.
BOMB BLAST IN ISRAELI COASTAL CITY (March 4, 2001) A powerful bomb exploded during morning rush hour
Sunday in a crowded open-air market in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.
ISRAELIS LAY SIEGE TO PALESTINIAN CITIES (March 3, 2001) Sometime in the future there will be a day of reckoning for the Israelis.
But that day is not yet here while the suffering of the Palestinians is, literally,
more and more as each day dawns.
FIELD OF THORNS (March 3, 2001) The Palestinian uprising in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, which in late September 2000 began as a wave of popular
protest against Ariel Sharon's belligerent incursion into Jerusalem's sacred
Haram al-Sharif, has developed into a full-fledged war of attrition against
the Israeli occupation, which rather ironically paved the aggressive right-wing
leader's path to power.
REGIONAL WAR PREPARATIONS AND PUBLIC OPINION MANIPULATION ESCALATE (March 2, 2001) Iraq responded to U.S. air strikes
on Feb. 16 by deploying thousands of troops from six divisions to positions
near the Jordanian border, triggering military alerts in Tel Aviv, Washington
and in several Gulf capitals.
SHARON AND PERES TEAM UP (March 2, 2001) It was a massacre. Not since Sabra and Chatila
had I seen the innocent slaughtered like this.
The Lebanese refugee women and children and men
lay in heaps, their heads or arms or legs missing,
beheaded or disemboweled.
SHARON GETS READY TO ACT. ARAFAT GETS READY TO LEAVE? (March 1, 2001) Arafat and regime are about collapse -- i.e., the money and capabilities provided
by the U.S. and Israel to keep the PA going are being cut off if Arafat doesn't
shape up!
BLEAK FUTURE FOR BOTH PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS (March 1, 2001) Shimon Peres has many secrets to try to keep, and that explains his desperation
to stay in power practically at any cost. Ariel Sharon knows this.
|