"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. there were well over a hundred of them. A baby lay without a head. The Israeli shells had scythed through them as they lay in the United Nations shelter, believing that they were safe under the world's protection. Like the Muslims of Srebrenica, the Muslims of Qana were wrong."

The man who was "indirectly responsible" for and tried to cover up the Sabra and Chatila masacres in 1982 was Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, now about to become Prime Minister. The man who was "indirectly responsible" for and tried to cover up the Qana massacre was Prime Minister Shimon Peres, now about to again be the Foreign Minister (after being rejected by the Israeli Knesset for the Israeli Presidency). They've long been friends meeting usually weekly though secretly; now they are out-front partners in the ongoing campaign to vanquish and subjugate the Palestinians through a kind of ongoing collective torture and slower forms of smaller but cumulative massacres. And now they are taking still further steps to seal off the Palestinians in the separated "population centers" they brought about under cover of "Oslo Peace Process" and "Arafat Authority". From today's headlines - Jericho is the "test case":

TEL AVIV (Jerusalem Post March 2) - The IDF has surrounded Jericho with two-meter deep anti-tank ditches in an effort to stop Palestinians from leaving and Israelis from entering.

If it works, then the IDF will consider encircling other cities in the West Bank with similar trenches, military sources said.

The army said that the measure was taken after a number of shooting incidents in the area and infiltration into Israel of Palestinian gunmen from Jericho.

"The trenches were dug near the road to prevent attacks and the IDF will take these actions according to its operational needs in order to protect Israeli civilians and soldiers," an army statement said.

Head of operations in the Central Command, Lt.-Col. Gil said that the trenches would save manpower previously needed to patrol around the city of 30,000. Jericho was chosen as a test case since it is relatively isolated and surrounded by open territory which allowed the easy digging of the trenches, he told the IDF weekly Bamahane.

Gil said that the trenches were aimed at stopping Palestinian cars from bypassing IDF checkpoints on the main roads.

According to the army, the trenches are not aimed at preventing people from crossing by foot, but are mainly a barrier against vehicles, including possible car bombs.

The army also said that the trenches could be easily filled in at a later, more peaceful time.

Residents told AP that the trenches are 1.5 meters wide and amounted to collective punishment.

"They close all the roads," said Yasser Affouneh, 18. "They don't let us go. They only want to make a big jail."

TEL AVIV (March 2) - The IDF has surrounded Jericho with two-meter deep anti-tank ditches in an effort to stop Palestinians from leaving and Israelis from entering.

If it works, then the IDF will consider encircling other cities in the West Bank with similar trenches, military sources said.

The army said that the measure was taken after a number of shooting incidents in the area and infiltration into Israel of Palestinian gunmen from Jericho.

"The trenches were dug near the road to prevent attacks and the IDF will take these actions according to its operational needs in order to protect Israeli civilians and soldiers," an army statement said.

Head of operations in the Central Command, Lt.-Col. Gil said that the trenches would save manpower previously needed to patrol around the city of 30,000. Jericho was chosen as a test case since it is relatively isolated and surrounded by open territory which allowed the easy digging of the trenches, he told the IDF weekly Bamahane.

Gil said that the trenches were aimed at stopping Palestinian cars from bypassing IDF checkpoints on the main roads.

According to the army, the trenches are not aimed at preventing people from crossing by foot, but are mainly a barrier against vehicles, including possible car bombs.

The army also said that the trenches could be easily filled in at a later, more peaceful time.

Residents told AP that the trenches are 1.5 meters wide and amounted to collective punishment.

"They close all the roads," said Yasser Affouneh, 18. "They don't let us go. They only want to make a big jail."

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/3/89.htm