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THE BIG
PALESTINE PUSH
ABBAS/ALA/SHAATH REGIME RUNNING FAST Mustapha Barghouti in the muck Marwan Barghouti in prison cell "The Israeli soldiers responded by screaming and cursing at them and physically beating people and forcing them to the ground at gunpoint... Dr. Barghouthi was then thrown forcefully on the ground...for an hour and fifteen minutes. If anyone attempted to move or talk to their colleagues, they were immediately beaten. Dr. Barghouthi...was later rushed to Ramallah’s Sheikh Zayed Hospital for X-rays." MIDDLEEAST.ORG - MER - Washington - 9 December: The big U.S. and Israeli Palestinian push is on. Put in place a new 'moderate' under control Palestinian regime, pump in some money for bribes and payoffs, train more regime 'security police', declare an end to the uprising against occupation (the Intifada), hard repress any and all opposition, kill and arrest those who continue to fight, and presto maybe you have a new police-state client-regime dutifully labled 'moderate' and 'democracy' however quisling in reality. After Gulf War 1 it was all tried before a decade ago with Arafat and cronies; then known as the 'Oslo Peace Process' and actually bringing Nobel Peace Prizes to both Arafat and Shimon Peres. Great fanfare and many wasted billions and years later it all erupted in far greater bloodshed than ever. Now, even as the Iraqi occupation explodes into civil war, the Israelis and Americans are at it again. But this time the Palestinian people, though not their imposed VIP leaders, are far more brutalized as well as far more radicalized. The road to this new resurrection of the peace process was paved through the elimination by death, imprisonment, or exile, of the most senior and popular Palestinian leadership who weren't fully on the take and completely under control; most especially Sheik Ahmed Yassin and then Yasser Arafat himself. Now the Israeli-chosen and U.S.-blessed Palestinians -- Abu Mazen, Abu Ala, Nabil Shaath, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Saeb Erakat, Sari Nusseibah, et. al. -- are everywhere freely on the go and the recipients of every kind of financial and intelligence assistance; not so of course the opposition. Abu Mazen and Abu Ala are making the Arab rounds, most recently in Lebanon declaring the Intifada over while at the same time rather grossly inconsistently insisting they will adhere to the policies of Yasser Arafat. Nabil Shaath is off in Oslo collecting more billions from the misguided 'foreign donors'; even though he was the overseer of the miserably corrupt squandering of so much from before. The most popular grassroots Palestinian, Marwan Barghouti, remains in Israeli imprisonment and is being further threatened as well as bribed to withdraw from the January election. And the other credible Barghouti candidate, Mustapha, has found himself quite literally down in the muck Israeli guns to his head -- read today's press release that follows:
Mustafa Barghouthi PRESS CONFERENCE - 8 December 2004 SUMMARY: Palestinian Presidential candidate Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi confirmed today that Israel's official policy seems to be one of tampering with elections results, possibly undermining their legitimacy, by putting serious obstacles in the way of most Presidential candidates and making no arrangements for East Jerusalemites to vote. These actions have been taken despite public declarations by the Israeli government that they would cooperate as fully as possible to make the elections free, fair, and comprehensive. If these problems are not solved within 36 hours, Palestinian citizens, led by Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, will strongly protest and begin major peaceful demonstrations. The Palestinians will not let these violations of their democratic rights stand. FULL TEXT: At a press conference at the Palestine Media Center in Al-Bireh, West Bank, Presidential candidate Dr. Barghouthi stated that the upcoming elections in Palestine are critical and historical because they can prove to the world that Palestinians deserve their own state and can support true multi-party democracy with viable opposition candidates. If successful, these elections can inspire other nations in the region to do the same. However, only one Presidential candidate, Abu Mazen, has been given accommodation and permission to move freely within and between the West Bank and Gaza. Dr. Barghouthi and all other Presidential candidates have been prevented from entering the Gaza Strip and many areas of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Dr. Barghouthi entered East Jerusalem without an Israeli permit when he declared his presidential candidacy on 29 November in order to confirm that decisions regarding Palestine can and must be made by the Palestinian people, and that East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian people. But on December 6, Israeli occupation forces prevented him from visiting a Palestinian neighborhood in the Old Town of Hebron. They stopped him at a checkpoint and said that he could not pass. He explained to them that he was a Presidential candidate and asked them to contact their superiors. The Israeli soldiers left him for one hour before they returned with the verdict: he was just a regular Palestinian citizen, and he could not pass. Dr. Barghouthi took this as evidence that the restrictions on movement of all Palestinian Presidential candidates except Abu Mazen is a policy of Israel rather than isolated cases of miscommunication. Dr. Barghouthi attempted to pass the checkpoint peacefully, but several Israeli soldiers pointed guns at his chest and forced him to leave. Israeli soldiers also delayed him at a checkpoint near Biddya village, Salfit region, for over an hour. If acts like these continue, they will undermine the democratic election process and possibly affect the results of what could be a very close race. Dr. Barghouthi said that free movement should be a protected right not only of candidates but also of all Palestinian people, including constituents, supporters, and campaign staff. He said that the Palestinian people are strong and will continue the campaign to the end and resist all Israeli restrictions and violations. The second major problem is that there have been no guarantees that Palestinians from East Jerusalem will be allowed to participate in the elections. Registration centers have been closed down, their staff have been intimidated, and no voting centers have been set up or planned. Even if voting centers are opened in East Jerusalem, there have been no guarantees that voters will not be harassed or intimidated if they attempt to vote. The Central Elections Commission, which has declared that is has not been provided with the means to plan elections in East Jerusalem due to Israeli activities, must be absolutely clear about its intentions for East Jerusalem and must make concrete plans and actions to guarantee these citizens their right to vote. If freedom of movement and concrete plans for voters' rights in East Jerusalem are not instated within 36 hours, Dr. Barghouthi said that major demonstrations and protests are planned. These issues were discussed in Dr. Barghouthi's recent meetings with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, and UN Middle East envoy Terry Larson. Dr. Barghouthi also said it was strange and unacceptable that some outside parties have tried to influence the results of the election by acting as if the elections have already taken place and the results are already known. Such actions are clearly not conducive to a democratic process. He said that Palestinians have never interfered in the elections of other countries, and Palestinians expect others not to interfere with theirs. On the 9th of January, the Palestinian people and the Palestinian people alone will decide who their next President will be. Dr. Barghouthi announced that he has left all of his other obligations and official positions to focus only on the elections. He called for all other candidates to do the same and to avoid any conflicts of interest. Mustafa Barghouthi PRESS CONFERENCE - 9 December 2004 Regarding Yesterday's Attacks by Israeli Occupation Forces Against Presidential Candidate Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi Palestinian Presidential Candidate Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi briefed the world press about the events surrounding the physical and verbal attacks against him and his entourage by Israeli Occupation Forces yesterday when he was returning to his home city of Ramallah after attending meetings in Jenin. At 9:00 p.m. yesterday Israeli soldiers stopped his group at the Sanour checkpoint outside the northern West Bank city of Jenin. They ordered him and his five companions out of their car. Dr. Barghouthi immediately made it clear to the Israeli soldiers and officers and that he was Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a Presidential candidate returning home to Ramallah after meetings in Jenin. The Israeli soldiers responded by screaming and cursing at them and physically beating people and forcing them to the ground at gunpoint. When Dr. Allam Jarrar, a 50-year-old man with a heart problem, was struck and injured by Israeli soldiers, Dr. Barghouthi attempted to intervene and help Dr. Jarrar stand up. Dr. Barghouthi was then thrown forcefully on the ground, and everyone was made to stay in one position on the ground in the cold for an hour and fifteen minutes. If anyone attempted to move or talk to their colleagues, they were immediately beaten. Lu’ai Arafat was hit with the butt of a rifle near his ear, another member of the team was struck in the abdomen, and another was hit on the neck. Dr. Barghouthi sustained soft tissue injuries to his thigh and back and was later rushed to Ramallah’ s Sheikh Zayed Hospital for X-rays. Dr. Barghouthi characterized as a form of torture the forcing six people to lie still in an uncomfortable position in the cold for one hour and fifteen minutes and beating them if they moved or talked. This is the third time in less than a week that Dr. Barghouthi has been delayed, harassed, or prevented from free movement. Near Biddya village, Salfit region, on December 4, he was detained at a checkpoint for two hours. On December 6, he was surrounded by Israeli soldiers and forced at gunpoint to turn away and not enter the Old Town of Hebron. Israeli soldiers claimed they talked with their Commanding Officers for one hour before coming back with the verdict that he was just an ordinary Palestinian citizen, and thus had no right to pass. These violations of freedom of movement have taken place alongside Israel’s continuing refusal to allow presidential candidates to visit East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip to consult with constituents there. Only one presidential candidate has been granted this freedom. Israeli restrictions of movement should not be tolerated by Palestinians or by the international community. Dr. Barghouthi said that the most important thing he had to say today was that what happened yesterday, although a clear insult to all Palestinian people and to the institution of democracy, was nothing compared to what normal Palestinians endure on a daily basis at the 703 checkpoints (OCHA figure) that divide their world into dozens of prisons whose gates are controlled by a foreign military force. Yesterday was just an example of the racism, humiliation, and brutality endured by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians daily. The Israeli soldiers refused even to talk to Dr. Barghouthi and his colleagues, he said, in English, Arabic, Russian, or Hebrew. They did not allow them to use their phones or even talk to each other. If Israeli soldiers felt they could get away with doing such things to Dr. Barghouthi, a person sure to get publicity about it, imagine what they do to Palestinians with no protection or attention. What his team endured, Dr. Barghouthi said, was nothing compared to what 21-year-old Aisha Ali Hassan Abasi suffered. She was a dialysis patient who was repeatedly prevented from crossing the checkpoint out of her village of Qibiyyeh, Ramallah District, to receive dialysis treatment. She died at home. Or Lamis Qasim, one of 55 women forced to give birth at checkpoints. She lost her twin baby girls after being delayed for hours while she was in labor at a checkpoint near Deir Ballut, the same checkpoint where Dr. Barghouthi was stopped on December 4. Or Tahani Fatouh, whose newborn baby boy died of respiratory failure after ambulances were prevented from reaching their Bethlehem home by Israeli Occupation Forces, even though the hospital was only two kilometers away from their house. The time has come, said Dr. Barghouthi, to ask Israel and the world how long this can go on. The time has come to ask, why are the checkpoints there? For legitimate security reasons? Or to destroy the economy, humiliate the people, and destroy the very fabric of life in occupied Palestine? The recent shootings of at least three young schoolgirls in Gaza, including Iman Al-Hams who was shot 20 times by an Israeli officer, and countless other incidents show that the Israeli Army has sunk to a serious low. It is time for Israeli society to rethink its policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and to carefully consider the consequences of Israel’s young people growing up in an atmosphere of racism and severe violations of human rights carried out in an atmosphere of impunity. Israel’s interventions to block the movement of Presidential candidates, and of all Palestinian citizens, must stop immediately, in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Dr. Barghouthi called Israel’s claim that the incident at Sanour checkpoint would not have happened if his team had coordinated their movement with the army ahead of time “completely silly and unacceptable.” This would mean Presidential candidates must get a permit from Israel every time they wish to travel between cities, villages, and neighborhoods. It is tantamount to paralysis – it means even Presidential candidates are in prison. How can democracy be meaningfully established, Dr. Barghouthi asked, in a nation of citizens and candidates blocked inside prisons? Dr. Barghouthi said that he and all Palestinian people demand and hope that the international community will intervene to reinstate their natural human right of free movement, and to remove all internal checkpoints within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, not just for candidates but for all Palestinian citizens. Dr. Barghouthi also requested that an adequate number of international observers be sent to make sure the elections are free, fair, and comprehensive, to witness and understand the scope of Israeli attacks and assaults, and to travel with candidates to observe the obstacles in their way. Dr. Barghouthi reiterated that the attack against him and his supporters would not affect their will to improve the situation of Palestinians, to achieve freedom, to build democratic institutions, and to fight corruption and mismanagement. True democracy equals true peace and security, and his team and supporters will continue to struggle for it. He said that Palestinians must and will do everything possible to reach out to the world and to organize every possible mass popular protest against Israeli violations of their basic human rights. Palestinian Authority to follow in Arafat's
footsteps
Qorei: We 'insist on the main principles' of our cause By Mohammed Zaatari and Mayssam Zaaroura
Daily Star staff Friday, December 10, 2004
RASHIDIEH REFUGEE CAMP, LEBANON: Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said Thursday that the Palestinian Authority continues to follow the main principles of the Palestinian cause and has not veered from the footsteps of its late president, Yasser Arafat. Speaking during a visit to the Rashidieh refugee camp in Tyre, where they were welcomed by the commander of Fatah in Lebanon, Sultan Abul-Ainayn, Qorei stressed: "We cannot fill the void left behind by Abu Ammar [Arafat], but we will try to follow in his footsteps and continue the mission and fulfill the trust. "All of Arafat's principles, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the right of return, are a paramount will that must be followed by every Palestinian." Qorei spoke to the crowd on behalf of Abbas after health reasons delayed his arrival. In his speech, Qorei reassured those gathered about their national rights under the new Palestinian leadership. Qorei also vowed to continue the struggle toward statehood and allowing Palestinians living in the diaspora to return to their homes in accordance with UN Resolution 194. "We will not compromise over this right. We will cling to it and we will struggle for it," Qorei said. He reiterated the long-standing Palestinian position that East Jerusalem should be the capital of any future Palestinian state. "No state without Jerusalem, no independence without Jerusalem, no peace without Jerusalem - just like other national legitimate Palestinian rights," Qorei told the crowd. Speaking on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Hotel in Beirut, Abbas had stressed that there was no compromise on the Palestinian peoples' right to return and on the need to provide a safe environment in the Occupied Territories. But he added that there were no political talks taking place with Israel at all. "There are talks, but they are of an agricultural, economic nature ... or of that kind, but no political talks. It is not the time yet," Abbas said. Qorei backed Abbas' statement, adding that the "region can no longer handle the current situation," and that a "comprehensive solution" is more necessary than ever. On Thursday, Palestinians in the camp welcomed their leaders with a marching band and honor guard. The gathering amounted to an election rally in which Qorei outlined the process that led to Abbas' candidacy for the presidential elections to be held on Jan. 9 - as appointed by interim President Rawhi Fattouh. The Palestinian delegation had visited Syria earlier in the week to mend relations with Damascus and to try to reach a common goal with Palestinian opposition groups there. On Wednesday, replying to reports that the Palestinian factions would be boycotting the elections, Qorei said: "Everyone was afraid when Abu Ammar passed away because we did not have his protection any longer. But the factions and we want to agree on a common political agenda, and the factions want to participate in the political process ... which is their legitimate right." Qorei also said talks with the Lebanese government had gone well and that the situation of the camps had been discussed. "Steps are being taken to improve the refugees' situation in the camps until they can return home," he said. The status of refugees in camps here is the worst in the region, and although they cannot vote, their numbers - and the fact that their cause has been at the center of the political dispute - keeps them an important constituency. Rashidieh has an estimated 17,000 population and is controlled by Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement. The Lebanese Army maintains checkpoints at all entrances - as it does at the other 11 camps in Lebanon. Abbas was awarded the President Arafat honorary shield by Abul-Ainayn. Qorei received a similar shield. A meeting was later held by the visiting delegation and Fatah officials. Earlier, Qorei visited Martyrs' Square in Tyre, laying wreathes to commemorate those killed during Israel's 1982 invasion. Fatah official Brigadier General Khaled Aref said the delegation's visit sought to reassure Palestinians that they will return to their homeland. However, Fatah's general supervisor in Lebanon, Colonel Mounir Maqdah, expressed surprise that the Palestinian delegation did not visit the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon. Maqdah said he hoped all the Palestinian leadership, not just Abbas and Qorei, would visit Ain al-Hilweh, which he called the "capital of the Palestinian diaspora, as it is the biggest camp in Lebanon." Ain al-Hilweh houses at least 70,000 Palestinians. Maqdah said he hoped the delegation's failure to visit Ain al-Hilweh was not due to rumors about security instability in the camp, and he reiterated that the camp would welcome any visitor and provide the necessary security. "The delegation's visit did not yield any results because refusing the settlement and clinging to the right to return were already undisputed issues," Maqdah said. If you don't get MER, you just don't get it! MID-EAST
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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2004/12/1231.htm |