DECEMBER 2002

Tuesday December 31, 2002

Main Headline

Troops Use Palestinians as Human Shields

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israeli troops killed four Palestinians yesterday as a leading Israeli rights group said the army beat Palestinians and use them as human shields to fire on stone-throwing crowds.

Israel Allows Known Terrorist to Nominate Himself for Knesset

HEBRON - (PC) An Israeli election committee on Monday allowed a well-known Israeli terrorist to nominate himself for a Knesset seat in the coming Israeli elections slated for 28 January.

The committee ruled that Baruch Marzel, head of the nominally-outlawed Kach terrorist organization, could nominate himself without any objections.

Marzel openly advocates the extermination or expulsion of the Palestinian people from their ancestral homeland, and on many occasions he was convicted of carrying out terror attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Hebron area.

Marzel was the right-hand aide to Baruch Goldstein, the infamous terrorist who in 1994 murdered 29 Arab worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

Monday December 30, 2002

Main Headline

PNA Calls on World Community to End Israeli Bloodshed
December 30, 2002
By Palestine Media Center

The Palestinian leadership has called upon the international community to “put an end to the Israeli bloodshed, led by (Israeli Prime Minister) Sharon, (Israeli “defense” minister) Mofaz, and (chief of staff) Ayalon.”

It further accused the Jewish state of interrupting the “Palestinian reform process as well as all [Palestinian] efforts to revive the political (peace) process by holding general elections, through which (the Palestinian) people can freely decide their own president and lawmakers, under direct international supervision.”

Israel Confirms Expulsion of Eight Belgian Peace Activists

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Israeli Interior Ministry confirmed Friday the expulsion of eight Belgian citizens who were planning to attend a conference in the reoccupied West Bank town of Ramallah.

Four other foreigners, among them three Brazilians, were in custody Friday at Ben-Gurion airport awaiting deportation.

The Belgians were among a 12-member group planning to take part in a four-day “World Social Forum” in Ramallah, Palestinian sources said.

They were detained by Israeli immigration officials when they arrived in Israel on Thursday.

Among those expelled was Pierre Galand, chairman of a Belgian-Palestinian association.

The group flew back to Europe aboard a German Lufthansa airliner Friday morning, Belgian foreign ministry spokesman Didier Seeuws said.

Forum organizers said another 10 people who arrived at Ben Gurion Friday had not been allowed out of the airport and could also be turned away.

The Palestinian social forum, based on the model of the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil last February, nonetheless opened as scheduled on Friday.

The Belgian government was not informed of the reasons for the expulsions and has protested the decision to Israel.

"Israel does not tolerate on its soil people who come to demonstrate against the state,” Israel’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Tova Ellinson said.

Israel has in recent weeks barred access to its territory and to the Israeli-reoccupied Palestinian territories of foreign peace activists seeking to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Sharon Plans Permanent Reoccupation of All Palestinian Land: Erakat

RAMALLAH - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is moving towards re-establishing a permanent reoccupation of all Palestinian land, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP Saturday.

"We have seen recently a number of developments which indicate that Sharon wants to destroy the Palestinian Authority, sabotage ceasefire talks in Cairo and rebuild the civil administration in the Palestinian territories,” he told AFP after a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

"The civil administration is already here. Every Palestinian who wants to move from one village to another to do his work needs an authorization from the Israeli army,” Erakat said.

The interim peace agreements -- signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) between 1993 and 1995 -- provided for dissolution of civil administration and an Israeli military withdrawal from cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Sharon's supposed support for a Palestinian state is contradicted by everything on the ground,” Erakat charged.

"The latest obvious examples are the decision to build 230 housing units in the settlement of Immanuel and to extend buffer zones around settlements in the West Bank,” he said.

Immanuel is an illegal Jewish settlement located between northern West Bank cities of Qalqiliya and Nablus.

Erekat added, "Israel also tried to undermine the roadmap before it was even born. It is absolutely clear that Sharon wants to revert to a full and permanent occupation of all Palestinian land.”

The so-called ‘roadmap’ for peace in the Middle East is a document drafted by the four main diplomatic players in the region (UN, US, EU and Russia), which calls for the creation of Palestinian state with definitive borders by 2005 and a freeze on all settlement activity.

The plan was due to be finalized ten days ago at a summit in Washington, but the United States and Israel pushed for any definitive decision to be delayed until after the Israeli elections on January 28.

In a bid to conquer the vote-winning center electorate, Sharon launched his campaign for re-election with a promise to support the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit with many restrictions.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Jenin Victims Narrate Israeli Atrocities in Extraordinary Book

SEATTLE (PalestineChronicle.com) - After several months of Israeli attempts to conceal the conduct of the IDF in the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, the most compelling, detailed and revealing account of the historic events will finally be available to the public.

The book entitled “Searching Jenin, Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion, 2002”, is without a doubt, a must for anyone interested in Middle East history, politics and current events. The work, which includes final statistics of casualties, human and material losses, is by far the most comprehensive and exhaustive volume written on the issue.

“Searching Jenin,” a collective effort of nearly 60 scholars, reporters, and activists, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, is edited by Ramzy Baroud, editor-in-chief of PalestineChronicle.com, and includes a Forward by the highly-renowned scholar, Noam Chomsky. The book is being published by Cune Press in Seattle, and is a part of their Bridge Between Cultures project.

“I owe my greatest thanks to our commissioned reporters in Palestine,” said Ramzy Baroud, the editor of ‘Searching Jenin”, Many of them put their safety, and in some cases, their lives on the line to collect account after tragic account for this book. Because of their integrity and professionalism, they were able to interview many high profile figures that refused to take an interview with any other news agency.”

Not only does the book include scores of telling accounts of residents who witnessed and survived the invasion, but it includes interviews with people such as the wife and the mother of Mahmud Tawalbe, the leader of the resistance in Jenin. Tawalbe was shot and killed by Israeli forces. The book also includes a detailed interview with the only eyewitness to the extra-judicial execution of Abu Jandal, the second in command of the Palestinian resistance in Jenin.

The courageous reporters who combed the streets of Jenin, interviewed medical personnel, resistance fighters, and even children, including an 8 year old girl named Rund, who complained that the army broke her only doll. Rund’s father was later shot and killed by the army. They also interviewed an elderly widow who explained how she implored Israeli forces as they demolished her small home, burying her disabled son alive under the rubble. Her son’s body was never recovered.

“We had so many obstacles to overcome, primarily the Israeli army’s refusal to allow me entry into Palestine,” stated Baroud. “For the past several months, the Israeli government has done everything in their power to cover-up their actions, including the barring of a UN investigation team to the area. Until now, the Palestinians are still unable to carry out their own official investigation due to the fact that the camp is still under a strict curfew. But in spite of all these hurdles, and thanks to the hard work and contributions of so many, the truth is going to come out into the light.”

Baroud and Cune Press are ready for the anticipated controversy such a book will stir, which follows the recent release of the film documentary titled, “Jenin, Jenin”, a film that was abruptly banned by the Israeli government. However, they both state that “Searching Jenin” will not simply add fuel to the controversy about the events in Jenin, but that it will prove to be the most revealing document to date regarding the atrocities last April that came to be a symbol of Palestinian resistance world-wide.

Ali Samoudi, the project facilitator in Jenin stressed, “The promotion of this important book is the collective responsibility of all who care about justice and truth. This book is dear to the hearts off all refugees in Jenin, because for the first time, we are narrating our own story.”

For further information or to order your copy of “Searching Jenin” contact editor, Suzanne Russ: Russ@PalestineChronicle.com

Friday December 27, 2002

Main Headline

Blair Hails Palestinian Reform Conference on January 13-14

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Talks hosted by Britain on progress in reforming the Palestine National Authority (PNA) will be held on January 13-14, Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath said yesterday.

Shaath said last Monday the Palestinians wanted the conference to have a broader political scope and not focus solely on reform efforts, as suggested by British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he issued the invitation in mid-December.

Shaath added Palestinians were working to change the meeting’s agenda in order to suit their demands.

Blair has invited Palestinian leaders as well as EU, Russian, US, and UN representatives to attend the talks.

Other Arab countries, but not Israel, are also expected to be invited.

The January 13-14 conference has the aim of "ensuring that Palestinian reform is effective,” Blair wrote in the Egyptian daily al-Ahram.

"Reform is about nation-building,” he added in explaining the invitation to Palestinian leaders that has been widely maligned in Israel.

Blair said that advancing reforms would promote the “roadmap” for peace drafted by the diplomatic “Quartet” of the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005.

"I believe that the international community should use the intervening period to boost the chances of the roadmap being implemented successfully once a new Israeli government is in place,” Blair said.

The British prime minister was alluding to Israel’s refusal to consider the roadmap finalized at a December 20 Quartet meeting in Washington until following the Jewish state’s January 28 national elections.

Blair explained he had asked Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to appoint the PNA’s delegates to the conference.

Blair said he has also extended invitations to "senior figures from within Palestinian civil society” and members of the Quartet, in addition to Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian representatives.

"Of course strengthening Palestinian democracy and rebuilding civil and security structures is only one element of a comprehensive Middle East settlement. But it is nonetheless an important element, because it is a prerequisite for success,” said Blair who announced the talks on December 16.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Occupation Soldiers Force Child to Act Like Suicide Bomber for the Camera

By Romal al-Sweiti

NABLUS, West Bank - Occupation soldiers in Nablus City yesterday committed a racist crime against a child, who carries US nationality, forcing him to sit on the floor and to tie a head band that carries the sign of 'Al-Aqsa Brigades' (Fateh militant faction) and then taking pictures of him.

The mother of the child Ahmad Abdel Haq (14 years old) from the Al-Jabal Al-Shamali area in Nablus said that occupation soldiers raided their home after blowing up the front door when her son was alone at home.

She said that the occupiers started destroying the house and all their belongings before discovering the child Ahmad. They then started beating him up brutally, despite his pleas and attempts to explain to them that he has an American passport with the number '701372809' and that he was born in California, USA.

She said that one of the occupation captains forced her son to sit down and placed behind him a Palestinian flag and 2 M-16 machineguns as well as a number of hand grenades and a gun on the table in front of him and then gave him a piece of paper and another M-16 machinegun and forced him to read a suicide bomber's will. After this was finished, he was forced to act as if he was praying on the floor.

The mother said that the soldiers placed their machineguns to her son's head threatening to kill him if he told any media channels what happened to him, and then they threw him on the stairs, which resulted in head injuries. The mother added that all this was photographed with a still camera.

She said that she informed the American consulate of the incident which she described as "racist", and expressed fear that these photographs may be used against her son or against the Palestinian people in general.

The mother confirmed that following the attack, her son suffers from a state of hysteria and fear and that she is going to have to take him to psychiatrist as a result of the horror story which he lived at the hands of the soldiers.

Published by Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily newspaper) - Dec 27, 2002 (Translated by Hear Palestine News Service)

Joy to the World and Hell in Bethlehem

By Louis Farshee

BETHLEHEM - From the same wonderful people who bring hell to Palestine every day, it’s Christmas 2002. With predictable fanfare accompanied by a chorus of uninvestigated news reports the occupation forces of the State of Israel have allegedly pulled out of Bethlehem in the spirit of Christmas. Not so!

Thursday December 26, 2002

Main Headline

Enveloped with Tanks, Bethlehem Celebrates Melancholy Christmas

BETHLEHEM - Palestinians in the biblical birth city of Jesus Christ are celebrating Christmas under Israeli occupation with no tree or decorations in the Manger Square to commemorate the once-a-joyous occasion.

Israel’s bid to score PR points amidst mounting criticism over its occupation of Bethlehem at the time when this city should be celebrating the birth of the prophet of peace, failed to reach its target.

Journalists reporting from the city say there remains a visible Israeli army presence in the city. The only signs of any celebrations are religious prayers. They also said that once the two-day Christmas celebrations are over, Bethlehem will be re-occupied again and a curfew slammed on its residents.

Redeploying its troops from the Manger Square to posts several meters away did not bring any joy to the Christians and Muslims of Bethlehem, who were broke and hopeless with tourism in the West Bank City almost at a standstill and unemployment rising.

Bethlehem has been under curfew since November, after a suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem.

26 months of a bloody whirlpool of violence have kept pilgrims and tourists away, causing many local businesses, which rely on this once-busy season for their livelihood, to plummet in bankruptcy.

Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser, a Christian, called it a “sad Christmas”.

“Our message to the world is to restore peace to the town of Bethlehem and all the Palestinian territories and to give the Palestinians a chance to live as real humans,” Nasser said. “We hope next year we'll have a better Christmas -- and a real one.”

In past Christmases, a huge tree would stand in Manger Square shining with bright colored. Marching Boy Scout bands and bagpipes would play as the Latin Patriarch was escorted to the Church of the Nativity.

This year at the Square, there were no Christmas decorations, no singing and very few tourists, who dared to defy Israel’s military might. The municipality refused to put up a Christmas tree to protest Israel’s occupation of the City.

The Roman Catholic Patriarch in the Holy Land, Michel Sabah, led a procession with many gathered at the Manger Square late Tuesday night, before conducting midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity.

Before mass, Palestinian Boy Scouts carrying flags and pictures of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat greeted Sabbah.

The Palestinian President was barred from attending mass in Bethlehem for the second year in row after attending it annually since he returned to the occupied Palestinian territory in 1994.

Arafat slammed Israel’s decision as provocative, and added that his Christmas message was a call for “love, peace and forgiveness.”

“Our message on Christmas Eve is a message of love, peace and forgiveness, of Israeli and Palestinian coexistence and respect for all humanity,” Arafat told a crowd of some 500 Palestinians, including prominent Christian and Muslim leaders at his battered Ramallah compound on Monday.

At the Church of the Nativity, Arafat’s chair was empty par a “Koufieh” or a head cover, which has become the symbol of the Palestinian leader.

Roman Patriarch Urges Israel to End Occupation

At Midnight Mass, Sabah called for freedom for Palestinians and said peace can only be achieved if and when Israel withdraws its occupation troops from the Palestinian territory.

Speaking at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Patriarch called on Israel to “alter its vision”.

“We ask you [Israelis] that you understand the reason for the violence, and this is [the] occupation. You need new leaders with a new vision, or you must help your leaders to adopt a new vision that will give all peoples here peace and security.”

“Blood has been flowing in your cities and streets but the key to solving this conflict is in your hands. By your actions so far, you have crushed the Palestinian people but you still have not achieved peace.” He said, addressing Israel.

Sabah also addressed President Arafat, who was banned from attending, wishing he were there with the crowds and praying that God would grant him “the wisdom and the power under this siege to continue your mission toward peace and justice”.

“We will continue to demand our freedom and dignity... the Palestinian people want to say to the Israeli people that we wish you peace, security and well-being. With such peace, Palestinians want freedom and an end to occupation,” he said.

Only some twenty kilometers away from Bethlehem, Arafat told reporters, “Now they [Israelis] have prevented me for the second time to participate with my brothers in the Nativity Church.”

“In spite of that, I am sending from my heart my greetings, ‘Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas’, and we hope that we will meet together in Jerusalem and also in Bethlehem.”

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Israeli Leaders Accuse Sharon of Lying, Creating Hysteria Over Alleged Iraqi Threat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Several Israeli leaders have lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for “disseminating lies” and “creating hysteria within the public” over possible but unlikely Iraqi attack on Israel in case of an American war on the Arab country.

Labor Party leader and prime ministerial candidate Amram Mitzna dismissed Sharon’s allegations that Iraq had transferred chemical and biological weapons to Syria and Libya as “unbelievable.”

He accused the Israeli premier of disseminating “hysteria within the public in for the purpose of advancing the political agenda of his party.”

The veteran Israeli politician Shimon Peres has also criticized Sharon’s statements regarding the alleged transfer of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to Syria.

The Israeli state-run radio quoted Peres on Wednesday as saying that he didn’t believe that Sharon’s statements were true.

A third voice discrediting Sharon’s allegations was Tsvi Farkash, the head of Israeli military intelligence.

Farkash was quoted on Monday as saying that “there is no evidence of any transfer of chemical or biological weapons from Iraq to Syria.”

Both Syria and Libya vehemently denied the Israeli allegations.

Syria called Sharon’s remarks “silly and ridiculous and completely false,” while Libya called the accusations “baseless.”

-[IAP News (iap.org).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Tuesday December 24, 2002

Main Headline

Bethlehem Embraces for the Saddest Christmas Ever

By Khalid Amayreh

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Palestinian Christians are embracing for what may well be the bleakest Christmas of their lives.

Bethlehem’s Occupation Aimed at Building Segregation Wall: City Mayor

BETHLEHEM - The mayor of Bethlehem accused Israel on Tuesday of planning to annex hundreds of acres (hectares) of land from the edge of the West Bank town during its reoccupation, in order to build a segregation wall, separating the city from Jerusalem.

“The Israeli occupation of Bethlehem is not to hunt down militants but to build a wall and confiscate 2,700 dunums (675 acres, 270 hectares) of land from the city near the Jewish settlement of Gilo,” mayor Hanna Nasser told journalists here.

He said the land grab would isolate 56 Palestinian homes, which would not be officially annexed to Israel but which would be under Israeli security control, making access to the city extremely difficult for residents.

He added that work on the wall began 10 days ago and that, when completed, it would stretch 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) and be up to eight meters (26 feet) high.

The Israeli security cabinet in September approved a plan to build a ‘security perimeter’ between Jerusalem the northern edge of Bethlehem and close to the illegal Israeli settlement of “Gilo”

IOF troops re-occupied Bethlehem last month, ending a three-month security understanding known as “Bethlehem First” reached between Palestinian security officials and the former Israeli ‘defense’ minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer.

Israel announced it had re-deployed its troops in the city prior to the Christmas season, by mainly withdrawing IOF from the Church of Nativity’s square, but said its troops were keep their presence in other areas in the southern West Ban city.

Nevertheless, Palestinian sources and witnesses said IOF soldiers were deployed in at least two nearby buildings overseeing the Square, which was set to be the center of Christmas celebrations prior to the occupation of the city more than a month ago.

-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).

Monday December 23, 2002

Main Headline

Jane Fonda Embarks on Solidarity Tour to Palestine

RAMALLAH - Hollywood star Jane Fonda spent Saturday visiting the West Bank City of Ramallah, where she toured a rehabilitation center and met with a bereaved Palestinian family at a refugee camp, before returning to her home in the US.

Her three-day visit to the region, aimed at promoting peace, came to an end in Ramallah, which she visited after having first to cross the infamous Qalandia roadblock set up by soldiers between Jerusalem and the West Bank city.

Making her way through mud and clutching a bouquet of red roses given to her by the Jerusalem Center for Women, the Palestinian women’s group accompanying her.

Escorted by a Palestinian expert on settlements, the two-time Oscar winner toured Jewish colonies nearby and moved from there to a Palestinian refugee camp near Ramallah.

Fonda, who had visited the West Bank in 1980, said she was surprised by the number and proximity of Jewish settlements to the Palestinian population.

The aerobics queen known also for her anti-war campaigns during the US war on Vietnam arrived in the region last Tuesday.

At the Qalandia refugee camp, she met with Fatima al-Kasba whose two young sons, Samer and Yasser aged 12 and 15, were killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).

The two women hugged in tears as the mother spoke of her torment and pain at losing two of her children.

Fonda later visited the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Center, where victims who had sustained injuries by IOF during the Intifada were being treated and provided with physiotherapy.

The 65-year-old ended her visit with a social encounter with artists and scholars at Ishtar Theater for Training and Production.

“It is a good time for us to come. We as American women can join with you to help resolve the conflict.” Fonda told a group of some 30 scholars, dancers and artists.

Olga Vives, vice-president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), who was also accompanying Fonda, said, “I am overwhelmed by your pain. I leave with a moral obligation to try to find way for just peace to this conflict.”

Palestine Media Center- (PMC)

Conflict Will Only End with a Two-state Solution: Lieberman

RAMALLAH - US Presidential hopeful Senator Joseph Lieberman said the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will only end with a two-state solution, with a strong peaceful Israel living side-by-side with a peaceful Palestine.

After a meeting with the Palestine National Authority (PNA) Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo on Monday in Ramallah, Senator Lieberman said he took note of the ‘desperate humanitarian problems” in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, adding that there was a very strong support within the United States Congress for (national) Palestinian aspirations.

Senator Lieberman was on a visit to occupied Palestinian territory and Israel and met with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday. He is scheduled to head to the Gulf to "review US troops" training for a potential strike against Iraq and come back to Israel on Friday, a US diplomat in occupied Jerusalem said on Sunday.

"Mr Lieberman is on a partially public and partially private visit,” the diplomat said.

Senator Lieberman is considered a potential challenger to US President George W. Bush in 2004 elections.

He was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2000, becoming the first Jewish-American to be nominated for that office.

He immediately jumped to the top of the list of contenders for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination when the 2000 nominee, former vice president Al Gore, announced last week he would sit the elections out.

Lieberman is known for his strong ties with the Jewish state.

-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Amnesty Condemns Israel’s Mistreatment of Refuseniks

LONDON - The leading International human rights group Amnesty protested at the treatment of Israeli conscientious objectors, mainly army reserve soldiers and officers who refuse to serve in the occupied Palestinian territory, who it said were being jailed while serving soldiers committed human rights violations with impunity.

In a press release sent to AFP last week, the London-based group said it had written to Israeli ‘Defense’ Minister Shaul Mofaz to express concern at the imprisonment of conscripts and reservists who refuse to do military service or serve in the occupied territories.

It said that some 180 such objectors and “refuseniks” had been jailed in the past six months, singling out such individuals as Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nephew Jonathan Ben-Artzi, who is serving a sixth consecutive prison term.

“Members of the Israeli “Defense” Forces who commit grave human rights violations and war crimes, such as killing children and other unarmed civilians, recklessly shooting and shelling densely populated residential areas or blowing up houses on top of people and leaving them to die under the rubble are not brought to justice and held accountable for their acts,” Amnesty said.

“At the same time conscripts and reservists who refuse to serve, precisely to avoid participating in such acts, are sent to jail for months,” it added, asking, “What kind of message is such a policy sending to Israel society?”

“The impunity enjoyed by “IDF” members responsible for human rights violations and the imprisonment of conscientious objectors are grave concerns, each in their own right; the combination of both constitutes an extremely worrying trend,” it said.

Amnesty noted that while conscripts unwilling to serve on grounds of conscious or because they believe the army is violating human rights are jailed, other conscripts were routinely granted exemption from call-up on religious grounds.

“Amnesty International believes that all conscientious objectors should be given an opportunity to present the grounds of their objection to a decision-making body which is established by law and is impartial and independent,” it pointed out.

“The draft resisters and refuseniks who are and have been imprisoned as a result of their conscientious objection are prisoners of conscience. Those currently detained should be released immediately and unconditionally,” Amnesty concluded.

-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Sunday December 22, 2002

Main Headline

Palestinian Leadership Forced to Postpone Elections

RAMALLAH - Citing the Israeli occupation and curfews, the Palestinian leadership Sunday, December 22, postponed January's presidential and legislative elections until after the Israeli army withdraws from reoccupied self-rule areas.

"The Palestinian leadership decided to hold the elections after the Israelis withdraw from the (reoccupied) Palestinian territories and according to the electoral law," the leadership statement said after a meeting in Ramallah.

"There is no way the elections can be held on January 20," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that under the electoral law, 100 days were needed from the announcement of polls for the preparation of the ballot.

Erakat said the Israeli curfews, occupation and blockades of Palestinian cities, towns and villages in almost the entire West Bank made the holding of elections unfeasible.

The polls had been scheduled for January 20 but the electoral committee recommended delaying them, saying Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank and the closures imposed made them impossible.

"We met with the president and recommended to him that it is highly important to delay the elections because it is impossible to hold them in the current circumstances, owing to the siege, the occupation and other circumstances," Ali Jerbawi said Friday, December 20.

Israeli forces streamed into the West Bank on June 19, imposing strict curfews and cutting off communities from each other as they persistently hunted down suspect resistance activists, hundreds of whom have been detained or questioned.

The lockdowns have made it almost impossible for the population to move around, crippling the economy, sending already chronic unemployment soaring and undermining hopes that voters could make it to the ballot boxes, as the army shows no sign of withdrawing.

Israel is demanding the Palestinian Authority undertake sweeping democratic and security reforms. However, it wanted the presidential elections delayed for fear Arafat, whom it wants dumped and who enjoys the support of most Palestinians, could win a new term as leader.

Washington also wants to see Arafat dropped, claiming that he is an obstacle to the peace process.

Israelis Protest Settlement Expansion, Army Destroys More Houses

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Around 200 Israeli activists from the Peace Now movement demonstrated Sunday in the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil ( Hebron ) against plans to extend Jewish settlements in the overwhelmingly Palestinian city.

The demonstrators, accompanied by two Knesset members, gathered at the site of a settlement outpost which was dismantled by the Israeli army on Thursday, December 19, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

They carried banners calling the settlement of Hebron a "disaster" and slamming Israel for destroying Palestinian houses in the city.

The houses, abandoned by their residents amid ongoing unrest in the flashpoint city, overlooked a road which Jewish settlers want to see turned into a well-guarded promenade linking Jewish enclaves in the city with the large settlement of Kiryat Arba on its eastern edge.

The road would give the 6,500 residents of the settlement easier access to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine sacred to both Jews and Muslims in the heart of the ancient city.

Members of Kiryat Arba set up an illegal outpost on private Palestinian land on November 20, but the army pulled down the makeshift structures last week.

Around 600 Jews live in the enclave around the Tomb, surrounded by Israeli soldiers separating them from the 120,000 Palestinian population of the city.

The Israeli army had initially banned the Peace Now demonstration but later issued a permit after the anti-settlement group received backing from the Israeli Supreme Court.

The army also destroyed the newly built house of a Palestinian man near Kiryat Arba which had allegedly been built without planning permission from the Israeli authorities, Palestinian witnesses said.

United States Veto UN Resolution Condemning Israel

NEW YORK (PC) - On Friday, the United States pronounced their veto over a United Nations Security Counsel resolution, that condemned Israel for killing three UN workers. The resolution was presented by Syria.

It has been a year since the United States last vetoed a resolution concerning the Middle East. Before the vote, Syria had declined to accept a US alternative draft that expressed regret over the UN workers’ deaths, but stopped short of a condemnation.

On November 22nd , Israeli soldiers killed British UN worker Iain Hook in the Jenin refugee camp on the illegally occupied West Bank, where he was shot in the back. A week later, two UN workers were killed by the Israeli army in Gaza. All victims were working for the UNWRA, the UN organization that provides relief for Palestinian refugees.

Saturday December 21, 2002

Main Headline

Jane Fonda visits refugee camp, hospitals in Ramallah

By Ha'aretz Staff and Agencies

American actress and activist Jane Fonda visited a refugee camp and a hospital in the West Bank on Saturday, capping a three-day visit to the region aimed at promoting peace.

Fonda, who was celebrating her 65th birthday, passed through a West Bank crossing point at Qalqilyah, trudging through mud and clutching a bouquet of red roses given to her by a Palestinian women's group.

She toured West Bank villages and nearby Israeli settlements and was led through a Palestinian refugee camp near Ramallah in a daylong tour by the Jerusalem Center for Women. Fonda also paid a visit to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at his Muqata headquarters in the city.

It was the final visit of a trip organized by a global movement to stop violence against women. The movement, called V-Day, was inspired by the off-Broadway hit "The Vagina Monologues" and its playwright, Eve Ensler. Ensler accompanied Fonda and led discussions with Palestinian women.

"This is the focal point of so many conflicts," Fonda said. "Both sides aren't hearing each other's narratives, and maybe that's our role as artists."

Fonda and Ensler met with Fatima al-Kasba, 37, who lost two sons in fighting. Kasba said her sons, Yasser, 12, and Samer, 15, were killed a little over a month apart by IDF troops.

Later, Fonda and Ensler toured the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Center, where victims of violence and spinal cord injuries are treated and provided with physiotherapy.

Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner and fitness guru, said she had been to Israel and the West Bank in 1980, but what she saw today was dramatically different. She said she was most surprised by the number and proximity of settlements to the Palestinian population.

On Thursday, the American actress met with MKs Yael Dayan and Naomi Chazan in Jerusalem. She also visited Israelis wounded in suicide bombings who are recovering at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.

Friday December 20, 2002

Main Headline

Mideast Mediators Meet, Divided on Peace Plan

WASHINGTON - The Quartet of Middle East mediators — the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations — met yesterday to decide whether the time was ripe to tell Israelis and Palestinians of their peace plans.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, host of the high-level talks, was alone in favoring a postponement until after Israeli elections scheduled for Jan. 28. But the informal group works by consensus and the United States was expected to have its way because of its unique influence over Israel, which requested the postponement.

The mediators — Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and three European Union leaders — have been working for months on a peace plan known as the “road map,” which lays out the steps Israelis and Palestinians must take to put peace talks back on track.

The plan ends in the creation of an independent Palestinian state, possibly in 2005, but the two sides have never agreed on who must take the first steps to break the current stalemate.

Arab and European governments and the Palestinians have argued that Israelis should have a chance to vote in January on a known peace plan, even at the risk they will reject it.

“It’s very important that the voters of Israel know what the world thinks about the situation. I think that being an enlightened voter means that you also have the information on which you build your vote,” one of the European Union leaders, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, said this week.

But a US official said yesterday that injecting a peace plan into the Israeli election campaign was a bad idea.

“If you are entering a phase where there are likely to be difficulties by one side or the other, then it would add a degree of difficulty that the process doesn’t need,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

“With the climate in both communities the way it is, we’re facing a collapse of confidence at this time. There’s a chance it might be rejected and where does that get you?” he added.

The United States has also linked progress with an end to Palestinian attacks on Israelis and a change in the Palestinian leadership — diplomatic code for the removal or demotion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The Europeans say that the Israelis can also help break the deadlock, for example by stopping Jewish settlement activity in Palestinian areas.

“The way the settlements are now growing means that you will end up with a Palestinian state looking like a Swiss cheese — a lot of holes. So if you are going to have this vision with two viable states, then you also have to make the Palestinian state viable,” Moeller said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, writing in The New York Times on Friday, said the Jewish settlements were making a two-state solution impossible.

“This map (the Quartet’s road map) will lead nowhere unless it stops Israel’s ongoing land grabs,” he said.

After talks at the State Department, the mediators will go to the White House to see US President George W. Bush.

The other European Union leaders are foreign policy chief Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten. (R)

-Arab News (arabnews.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).

Quartet Reports Progress on Roadmap for Resolving Middle East Crisis

NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East - comprising the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States - was "very close" to finalizing a roadmap for resolving the region's crisis, which it will soon present to the Israelis and Palestinians.

Speaking to reporters before the Quartet's meeting in Washington, D.C., with US President George W. Bush, the Secretary-General said that the group believes the roadmap "can help bring about the vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side."

A joint statement issued after the meeting said President Bush expressed his "strong support" for the group's efforts as well as his firm commitment to its roadmap, "which would realize his vision of two States - Israel and Palestine - living side-by-side in peace and security."

In addition to Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller of Denmark, which currently holds the EU's presidency, High Representative for European Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten attended the meeting with President Bush and US Secretary of State Powell.

According to the statement, the Quartet agreed to further intensive work to develop a credible and effective monitoring mechanism. "In the meantime, the Quartet calls on the parties to carry out as rapidly as possible their responsibilities to restore calm, pursue reforms, and improve the humanitarian situation - steps that will lead to a political process culminating in Palestinian statehood," it said.

Specifically, the Quartet called for an immediate, comprehensive, ceasefire. "All Palestinian individuals and groups must end all acts of terror against Israelis, in any location," the statement said, noting that such a ceasefire should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by the Government of Israel. "As calm is established, Israeli forces should withdraw from Palestinian areas and the pre-Intifada status quo on the ground should be restored."

The Quartet also expressed concern at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank and called for increased effort by the Government of Israel to ease the humanitarian situation in those places. "The Quartet reiterates the importance of immediate Israeli measures, consistent with legitimate security concerns, to improve the lives of Palestinians, including allowing the resumption of normal economic activity, facilitating the movement of goods, people, and essential services and lifting curfew and closures," the statement said. "The Quartet calls on Israel to avoid actions that undermine trust and create further hardship for innocent Palestinian civilians, including demolition of houses and civil infrastructure."

During a press encounter after the White House meeting, Annan said the Quartet is determined to finalize its plan as quickly as possible, and release it to the parties. "We all agree that that is the only solution," he stressed. "Our challenge now is to work with them to get there in the next couple of years. And we are very pleased to also hear the President's strong support for the work of the Quartet and the achievement of his vision."

-United Nations News Center (http://www.un.org/news/)

Thursday December 19, 2002

Main Headline

Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch Appeals for End of Israeli Occupation

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah in his Christmas message appealed for an end to the Israeli siege and occupation of Palestinian Territory and foe a stop of the bloodshed.

“Our Christmas message... is an appeal to put an end to the siege and then to the occupation and an appeal to stop bloodshed on both sides, in the Palestinian towns and villages and in the Israeli towns and streets,” he said in a sermon delivered ahead of Christmas.

He urged the world "to wake up and to come and help both people of this land to make peace" and appealed to Israel "to take away once and for all, the checkpoints around the Palestinian towns and villages."

"If they (the checkpoints) have to remain, we say to our faithful: transform them into places of worship."

Patriarch Michel Sabbah added that "those being oppressed are the Palestinians. Israelis have to ask themselves why Palestinian are behaving this way instead of just saying it's terrorism."

"If you take away the occupation, you stop all the violence," he said.

He described Israel’s decision to ban President Yasser Arafat from attending the December 24 Christmas midnight mass in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ’s birthplace, as "a useless measure."

"If the Israeli authorities were on the real path towards peace, they would have refrained from issuing such an inappropriate measure," he said.

But he also told journalists "Arafat's presence in Bethlehem is not the central issue, let's not mix political and military decisions with religious matters."

"Of course, he's always welcome," Sabbah said.

Israel is barring Arafat from attending Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for the second year in a row because it deems the Palestinian President has not done enough to stop so-called ‘terrorism’.

He did not deny in his sermon that Israelis were suffering as well during the Palestinian two-year old Intifada.

Bethlehem, like all West Bank towns but Jericho, is under the control of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and subject to curfews and military closures.

-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).

Bush to Mubarak: Peace Plan Is Not Ready

WASHINGTON - US President Bush has told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that a U.S. Middle East peace plan is not ready to be finalized this week, but that he is committed to moving it forward "at the soonest possible moment."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday that the two leaders discussed the "roadmap" by telephone.

Fleischer said the United States has many ideas that it wants to share at Friday's Washington meeting of senior officials from Russia, the European Union, United Nations and the United States. The session is to focus on ways to keep the Middle East peace process moving forward.

European and Arab leaders have been urging Washington to release a final draft of the plan, which calls for a permanent Palestinian state by 2005 and a complete halt to construction in the Jewish settlements at Friday's meeting.

But, U.S. officials say the plan will not be released until after Israel's January elections. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat charged that the decision shows Washington is trying to help Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the elections.

Meanwhile, in continuing violence in the occupied territories, Palestinian security sources say an 11-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers Thursday. Palestinians say the girl was looking out a window of her home in the town of Rafah, when the soldiers at the nearby border post opened fire.

-voanews (voanews.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).

Wednesday December 18, 2002

Main Headline

IOF Soldiers Kill 16-year-old

GAZA CITY - A 16 year-old Palestinian boy was killed and two other persons were injured, when a shell fired by an Israeli tank, slammed into a house in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Palestinian security and medical sources reported Tuesday.

The victim, Jawad Zidane, was inside his home when IOF tanks started shelling residential neighborhoods, witnesses told reporters. A 65-year-old man was also reportedly injured, while he was inside his house.

Also in Khan Younis, IOF soldiers sealed the Salah Eddine Street with cement blocks, while occupation soldiers searched cars and checked identity cards.

At least ten people were detained, including a mother and her two children, at al-Matahin military roadblock in Al-Qarara town, north Khan Younis.

A 10-year-old Palestinian girl was also wounded Tuesday when the Israeli army demolished three houses in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said.

The girl was shot in the leg while Israeli occupation troops, backed up by bulldozers, demolished three houses near Rafah refugee camp, the sources added.

In the meantime, over 1000 people took part the funeral of Eid Abu Hilal, who was shot dead by IOF soldiers last night near the border strip separating Palestine and Egypt in Rafah.

Israeli occupation soldiers based near Salah Eddine Gate, south of Rafah, opened heavy fire at the unarmed civilian and left him to bleed for over two hours, while it prevented ambulances from rescuing him.

President Arafat: Israel is Violating Freedom of Worship

RAMALLAH - President Yasser Arafat stressed, following a meeting Tuesday with a Christian delegation at his headquarters in Ramallah that the Israeli government continues to violate freedom of worship, calling upon international community to pressure the Jewish state into allowing the Palestinian people to celebrate Christmas.

“They [The Israelis] had declared once again today that they will not pull back from Bethlehem, and that they will only allow a few people to enter the church of Nativity. This is an outrageous violation of the freedom of worship and of holy Islamic and Christian shrines”, the President said following the meeting.

President Arafat briefed the delegation on the dire humanitarian and economic situation plaguing the Palestinian people in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and occupied east Jerusalem.

He also pinpointed to the dangerous implications of the Israeli occupation of Bethlehem and its surroundings, which is preventing thousands of pilgrims from reaching the Church of the Nativity.

The meeting was attended by the Guardian of the Holy Land, Father Giovanni, escorted by Father Ibrahim Felts, pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, as well as Dr. Emile Jerjoui, a Christian member of the PLO executive committee.

President Arafat further expressed his astonishment over the continuation of Bethlehem’s occupation, in spite of promises Israeli President Moshe Katsav made to Pope John Paul II that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) will withdraw from the Palestinian city before Christmas.

“It’s a pity that in spite of all the promises they made to his eminence the Pope to withdraw from Bethlehem before Christmas, all this is happening, and we can't celebrate with the citizens there side by side as we used to on this great occasion.”

The Vatican had earlier urged Israel to allow “free access” to the holy sites during the holiday season in Bethlehem, the home to some of Christianity’s holiest sites, among them the Nativity Church; the site said to be where Jesus was born, and the adjoining Church of Saint Catherine where midnight mass is traditionally celebrated on December 24.

Israel has decided to ban President Arafat from attending this year’s Christmas mass in Bethlehem, warning that IOF would go back and raid the presidential compound in Ramallah City if the President decided to leave the compound to go to the Church of Nativity.

Tuesday December 17, 2002

Main Headline

Arafat Accepts British PM’s Invitation

RAMALLAH - The Palestine National Authority (PNA) has welcomed an invitation from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to attend talks in London next month aimed at boosting the Middle East peace process and Palestinian reforms.

President Yasser Arafat, who received a letter from Blair delivered by the UK Consul General in occupied Jerusalem, Jeoffry Adams, has been asked to nominate senior figures to attend the talks in London in the new year.

Blair told the House of Commons on Monday that representatives of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, together with countries from the Middle East region, would also be invited to attend the talks.

“I can announce today that I am inviting leading Palestinians to come to Britain in January to a conference along with members of the quartet and other countries from the region closely involved in supporting the reform efforts,'' Blair told parliament.

"It will discuss progress on reform and look at how the international community can help," said Blair, who was reporting back to members of parliament on the outcome of the EU summit in Copenhagen Thursday and Friday.

"It is in the interests of both the Palestinians and Israelis that these reform efforts succeed, so that we can make a reality of President (George W.) Bush's vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," he said.

President Arafat accepted the offer to send a delegation, a senior Palestinian official said.

“The British consular authorities in Jerusalem delivered a letter from Mr Blair to President Arafat indicating he wishes to hold talks with a Palestinian delegation on the means to re-launch the peace process,” said chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat.

Erekat said that President Arafat had “appreciated [PM Blair’s] letter and accepted the invitation,” adding he “has to draw up the list of members of this delegation,” he said.

The cabinet minister added that the British prime minister, in the letter, also stressed his concerns over the situation in the Middle East “and the necessity for reforms within the PNA.”

The talks, a date for which has yet to be set, will be chaired by Foreign Secretary Jack Staw and will be attended by Blair, a Downing Street spokesman said.

While countries from the Middle East region are to be invited to attend, Israel has not been invited to the talks.

“In the short term, progress on the Israeli side will be limited by the general election campaign,” Blair said.

Last month, British officials said Blair was hoping to convene a conference with both Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

“We are already in direct contact with the Israeli government and keep them briefed of our plans, and we will talk with them afterwards, but for a number of reasons, including the ongoing electoral process, we are not inviting them to this,” said the Downing Street spokesman.

Israelis go to the polls on January 28.

The meeting is to focus on reform of the Palestinian Authority rather than on the peace process.

Blair called the meeting "to talk about Palestinian reform and in particular the reform agenda that the Palestinian Authority has signed up to and which the quartet is keen to get the Palestinian Authority to implement," said a UK Foreign Office spokesman.

However, PNA international cooperation minister Nabil Sha’ath warned that, while Palestinians would be happy to attend the talks, they do not want the agenda to solely deal with the issue of reform.

"We care about Britain playing a positive role...but we will want to discuss the agenda," Sha’ath said.

"We want to see how far this will put us forward in trying to regain the peace process and to end the suffering of our people," adding he was sure discussion would be "fruitful" and ultimately worthwhile for the Palestinians.

Arafat Asks ‘Quartet’ Members to Push for Peace

Blair’s invitation comes three days ahead of a meeting hosted by the United States for a meeting of the so-called ‘Quartet’, who are Middle East peace mediators representing the UN, US, EU and Russia.

The level of representation of the ‘Quartet’ has yet to be decided.

President Arafat has asked the members of the ‘Quartet’ to quickly get the process back on track, Erekat said Monday.

“Arafat wrote letters to members of the quartet, asking them to do everything possible to immediately re-launch the peace process,” Erekat said.

‘Quartet’ members are to meet in Washington Friday to study a ‘roadmap’ for peace that includes the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

“They should act as soon as possible to end Israeli attacks, destruction of homes, murders and occupation so presidential and general elections may be held,” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Erekat added.

Those elections are scheduled for January 20, but an electoral commission is to consider Thursday an eventual postponement owing to the reoccupation of most of the West Bank by Israeli forces.

Last Friday, the United States refused to endorse a EU call for the adoption of a long-awaited ‘roadmap’ for Middle East peace at Washington meeting.

The EU leaders declared at a summit in Copenhagen last week that the plan, which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005, should be finalized at ministerial-level talks of the diplomatic ‘Quartet’ next Friday.

But the United States refused to commit itself to such a step, and Israel has warned that the ‘roadmap’ should not be adopted until after its elections on January 28.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose nation is wrapping up its turn at the EU presidency, said Friday he was confident that Washington would support the EU line on the ‘roadmap’.

“I’m sure that the United States and the European Union will look upon the roadmap with the same eyes,” he told reporters.

Moeller also opposed Israel’s position that the document should not be finalized before the election.

"I think that the Israeli electorate has the right to know about the two states solution we are proposing and then they can decide whether to support it or not," he said.

Arabs Push for Condemning Israel for Murder of Three UN Workers

NEW YORK - Amid increasing UN concern over the safety of their staff in the occupied Palestinian territory, Arab states are pushing for a condemnation of Israel for the slaying of three UN workers by its soldiers.

As the United Nations called upon the Jewish state to stop using disproportional, excessive military force in civilian population centers, Syria drafted a resolution expressing “grave concern” at the murder of UN staff as well as Palestinian civilians by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).

This comes after the senior United Nations Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen slammed Israel on Monday, calling for its IOF soldiers to “behave with greater restraint and discipline.”

Speaking at an open Security Council meeting, Roed-Larsen spoke of the murder of three UN workers by IOF late last month and early December.

The British relief official Iain Hook was killed by IOF soldiers in Jenin refugee camp last month and his murder sparked an outcry by the international community and the world body for whom he was working for.

Hook was shot dead by a soldier whom Israel claims mistook a mobile phone the relief worker was carrying for a gun.

The UN was quick to condemn his slaying and called for an official, scrutinized investigation. Another two staffers-- a caretaker and a teacher working for a local UN-funded school-- were also killed. All three victims worked for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The Mideast envoy also criticized Israel for its “troubling indifference to the sanctity of U.N. facilities,” and said the Jewish state should ensure that its soldiers do not place civilians in harm’s way and act in conformity with international humanitarian law.

Recently, the world body came down on Israel after its IOF soldiers destroyed a building housing a World Food Program warehouse containing thousands of tons of foodstuff, which were to be distributed to impoverished Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his dismay at the killings of Hook, Usama Tahrawi and Ahlan Kandil at a early Monday meeting with Israel’s ‘Defense’ Minster, Shaul Mofaz, which was also attended by Larsen.

Israel had previously claimed that gunmen had entered the UN compound, which housed Hook’s trailer. The UN relief agency refuted that claim.

The secretary-general reiterated his call for “a rigorous investigation” and a written report on Hook’s death, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Annan also urged Mofaz to improve access for UN and other humanitarian personnel to aid them in their work, he said.

The United Nations has seen “little improvement” in the pledges Israel gave to help alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the occupied territory, Larsen said at the council meeting.

These include shorter waiting times for ambulances, assistance to Palestinians seeking urgent medical attention at roadblocks, speeded-up passage for water tankers, and free movement for representatives of international organizations, AP said.

Larsen also told the council issue that Israeli soldiers must “refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of deadly force in civilian areas.”

Larsen added that humanitarian aid alone could not alleviate the humanitarian crisis now prevailing in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that “lasting security for Israel will only be found through a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement in the Middle East; meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis cannot and should not be solved by donor support alone.”

The envoy also said “the steadily growing gap between the deteriorating situation on the ground and the growing consensus about where to go has to be resolved.”

The roadmap for peace outlined by the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States provides the best tool to achieve this goal, he added.

Arafat Asks for Arab League Help to Draft Constitution

RAMALLAH - President Yasser Arafat officially called Monday for Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa to reactivate a committee tasked with helping to draft a Palestinian constitution.

Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told reporters after talks with Mussa at the League’s headquarters in Cairo that Arafat made the request in a telephone call during their meeting.

Mussa accepted immediately, he said, adding that the League chief's predecessor Esmat Abdel Meguid would be in charge of the committee, which will be enlarged to include legal experts from different Arab countries, AFP reported on Monday.

Members of a special League committee already created in 1999 met earlier to discuss the draft constitution. Apart from Abdel Meguid and Shaath, Egyptian and Palestinian legal experts also took part.

Shaath said in Gaza on Saturday that the committee's work was being resumed after a two-year interruption due to the ongoing Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

A “basic law,” a provisional constitution governing the institutions of the Palestine National Authority (PNA), took effect on July 7.

Shaath said the expanded League drafting committee is to hold its first meeting in three weeks and aim to draw up a constitution, which lays down a democratic republic with a multi-party system and Jerusalem as capital.

After approval by Palestinian MPs, the constitution will be put to a vote in a referendum, the minister said.

Israel Forbids Palestinian President to Attend Christmas Worship Service in Bethlehem

RAMALLAH (PC) - For the second year in a row, Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat is barred from attending Christmas services at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. For more than eight years the Palestinian leader has attended services at the historic birthplace of Jesus.

While emphasizing their commitment to religious freedom, the Israeli government claimed that banning Arafat was solely based on “security measures”.

Meanwhile, signs of the holiday season are rare in the city that is usually filled with tourists and festivities this time of year. Shops are closed and shelves are empty. Residents say that they are concerned about feeding their children, and that there will be few gifts to open on Christmas day.

Palestinian leaders denounced Israel’s decision, saying it was “stupid and a provocation to the Palestinian people, as well as being a challenge to international law.”

Israeli officials said that while Arafat is banned from the city, and while Israeli troops will continue to occupy the city during the holiday season, local Christians will be permitted to attend worship services on Christmas eve as well as Christmas day.

But since the city is surrounded by checkpoints, Christians from neighboring areas will not be allowed to attend those services.

Monday December 16, 2002

Main Headline

Blair Invites Palestinian Leaders to London

LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday, December 16, he was inviting Palestinian leaders to London for talks, as visiting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said he was “optimistic” that a U.S.-led war on Iraq could be avoided.

Blair - who met earlier Monday with Al-Assad - told the House of Commons that he would in the new year invite Palestinian leaders to discuss progress on reform and to look at how the international community could help.

He added that representatives of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, together with countries from the Middle East region, would also be invited to attend the talks.

“It will discuss progress on reform and look at how the international community can help,” said Blair, who was reporting back to members of parliament on the outcome of the E.U. summit in Copenhagen last Thursday and Friday.

“It is in the interests of both the Palestinians and Israelis that these reform efforts succeed, so that we can make a reality of President (George W.) Bush’s vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,” he said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

It was not immediately clear which Palestinian leaders were being invited to London, or whether President Yasser Arafat would be among them.

Israeli Army Invades Nablus University

NABLUS, West Bank (PC) - On Saturday, December 14th, Israeli forces invaded al-Najah University in Nablus. At 8:30 in the morning, two Israeli tanks stopped in front of the main gate as thousands of students were arriving to the campus.

For the first time in fifteen years, Israeli troops invaded the campus, ordering security, staff and faculty to evacuate the building, giving them thirty minutes to leave, and threatening them with force if they refused to leave.

The University was forced to suspend classes for the day.

In a press release issued by the University, the Administration stated that it “insists on its nonnegotiable right of practicing its academic mission without any interference from the Israeli army.”

The Administration also denounced the action, claiming that its was an act of aggression on the freedom of education, which is secured under international law.

They called on human rights organizations and the international community to hold the army accountable for violating the academic life of the institution and advocated their right to carry out their academic role and mission in Palestinian society.

Jerusalem Chorus to Perform Christmas Concert at Israeli Checkpoint

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PC) - The Jerusalem Chorus, a group of Palestinian and international singers, will perform the annual Christmas concert at the Qalandya checkpoint today, in protest of the Israeli occupation, which forbids many of the Chorus members to travel to Bethlehem, where the concert traditionally takes place.

The group will gather and begin their concert at 11:00 am, and will sing in defiance of the Israeli edict that denies the group, as well as other worshippers to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, the historic birthplace of Jesus.

In a press release, the group expressed that they would perform in defiance of the occupation, and in the name of Palestinian children who cannot reach their schools due to curfews and checkpoints.

They also stressed that they would protest on behalf of farmers who cannot reach their fields, patients who are denied access to medical facilities and families who are separated, due to the checkpoints, which are imposed in many Palestinian towns and villages.

The group stated, “We urge people of conscience around to the world to break the silence and act for he sake of humanity in this holy season.”

The Jerusalem Chorus was established in 1955. The group has performed in Palestine as well as internationally.

Thursday December 12, 2002

Main Headline

Carter Offers to Mediate Mideast Talks

By Nazir Majally

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Former US President Jimmy Carter yesterday offered to mediate talks between Israel and Palestinians as fresh violence claimed the lives of nine people, five of them unarmed Palestinians, in the occupied territories.

Speaking to students at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize said he “would go immediately and with great alacrity,” to the Middle East, but only if the parties concerned and the US government asked him to.

Carter gave no indications he had been asked to do so, however. He helped broker the 1978 Camp David accords that led to peace between Israel and Egypt. The agreement resulted in the Peace Prize for Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Carter said escalating tension between Israelis and Palestinians has not been stemmed and asserted that US President George W. Bush was not impartial about the issue.

“Until President Bush, every president, Democratic or Republican, has in my opinion played a balancing role as a trusted mediator,” he said. “Now though it seems obvious that the present administration in Washington is completely compatible with the Israeli government and they have completely ignored...the Palestinian Authority.”

Seven Palestinians and two Israelis were killed in separate incidents yesterday in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli forces near the Karni border crossing in the Gaza Strip killed five unarmed Palestinians they believed were planning to climb a security fence to get into Israel, an Israeli military source said. Palestinian security sources said the men were laborers trying to sneak into Israel to find work.

Beilin, Dayan Quit Israel’s Labor Party, Join Meretz

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - (PC) Two leading doves quit Israel’s Labor Party Wednesday and joined Meretz Party, deepening a crisis in the battered Israeli peace camp as it faces next month’s elections, amid an increasingly hawkish mood toward the Palestinian people.

Yossi Beilin, an architect of Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords, and Ya’el Dayan, an outspoken advocate of peacemaking, decided to join the more left-wing Meretz Party list after being sidelined in this week’s Labor primary.

“Our place ideologically is in the peace camp,” said Dayan, daughter of the late general-turned-politician Moshe Dayan. “In view of the political wilderness we had been consigned to in Labor, our place is ... not there,” Reuters quoted her as saying.

Beilin said, “Our task is to attack the blind policy of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon.”

The veteran peace campaigners quit Israel’s main opposition party after a primary ballot assigned them and other doves to virtually unelectable places on the list of candidates.

Labor withdrew from Sharon’s unity coalition in November, ending an uneasy 20-month partnership and precipitating a crisis that forced the prime minister to call an early election.

In elections set for January 28, Labor is expected to win only about 21 seats, 4 fewer than it holds currently. Other Labor candidates gained enough votes in this week's elections to claim all those seats.

In Israeli parliamentary elections, citizens vote only for parties, which then apportion their seats among the top finishers in internal ballots like those held this week.

Meretz, which advocates moves toward an immediate peace with Palestinian representatives, agreed to rank Beilin and Dayan higher on their candidates’ list in exchange for their departure from Labor.

Beilin’s decision to leave Labor stands as a measure of the party’s shift to the right since the Palestinian uprising began 26 months ago. He was one of the primary movers behind the interim peace accord that Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed in Oslo in 1993.

Labor party hawks muscled their way up the party's list of candidates for the Israeli general election Tuesday.

The final results of Israel's center-left's party's rank-and-file voting to choose candidates for the January 28 polls showed those who favored a tougher line against the Palestinians fared slightly better.

Labor had already reserved the top spots for its party leader Amran Mitzna, his predecessor and rival Binyamin Ben Eliezer and former foreign minister Shimon Peres, while dovish former sports minister Matan Vilnai won the much-contested fourth spot.

However, in a sign of the hawks’ pre-eminence, Labor bumped Beilin, one of the party’s leading doves, far down the list, leaving him slim hopes of being elected to parliament.

“This list shows that the Labor party does not only want peace but also security ... We are not a ‘Meretz number two’,” Ben Eliezer said after the results.

Israel Kills Five Unarmed Palestinians

GAZA CITY - (PC) Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed five unarmed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Thursday in what Palestinian sources described as a cold-blooded murder.

An Israeli army spokesman admitted the five were unarmed, but claimed they intended to climb an Israeli fence between the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1948.

The Israeli spokesman said occupation soldiers opened fire on "suspicious figures" near the border early in the morning Wednesday.

A few hours later the bodies of five unarmed Palestinians were found. The Israeli media quoted army sources as saying that ladders were found near the bodies.

Palestinian officials have long accused the Israeli army of adopting a policy of producing a daily death quota of three to five Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly asked the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people.

Wednesday December 11, 2002

Main Headline

Palestinian Elections 'Impossible' Unless Israeli Army Withdraws: Parliament Speaker

RAMALLAH - (PC) Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qorei said Tuesday it will be practically impossible for the Palestinian people to go ahead with the scheduled January 20 presidential and legislative elections.

"We can't do it in the shadow of Israeli tanks, so I think it will be difficult to organize the polls," he told reporters following talks with French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin.

"Practically speaking, I don't see how it's possible," he said.

The Palestinian leadership announced last June that presidential and legislative elections would be held on January 20, 2003, and local elections in March.

Israel has reoccupied most of the West Bank since June and carries out regular incursions into the Gaza Strip.

Qorei also said he had discussed with De Villepin "how to get out of the trap of the blockade that Israel is imposing on the Palestinian people and the way in which those who defend peace can help a return to (Israeli-Palestinian) political negotiation."

He said, "We have found with our French friends a wish to help and support a return to a political path to peace."

Qorei was to meet Wednesday with President Jacques Chirac and National Assembly speaker Jean-Louis Debre. On Thursday, he is slated to meet Senate speaker Christian Poncelet, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General, Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) said on Tuesday that the withdrawal of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from Palestine National Authority (PNA) territories they reoccupied in June was a prerequisite to holding Palestinian elections.

Abu Mazen told the Lebanese satellite TV channel LBC that the PNA needs a few months after the withdrawal of IOF to pre-September 28, 2000 lines to prepare for the elections.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sunday told the Arab satellite TV channel MBC that a general election set for January will have to be delayed unless Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) withdraw from reoccupied PNA towns.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Arafat said at least one month and perhaps three months free of Israeli military occupation was necessary to allow for election campaigning, before the vote could go ahead.

On Monday Palestinian chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat told Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel that one hundred days were necessary to arrange for elections, after the withdrawal of IOF.

The Palestinian central elections committee will decide next week whether presidential and legislative elections slated for January should be scrapped due to Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank, its secretary general said Monday.

“As long as the situation on the ground is the same and the occupation remains, it is not possible to hold elections,” Ali Jarbawi told AFP.

“We are approaching a critical moment and the central committee will meet next week to decide on the issue,” he said. “We will assess the situation, and it there is no change, there will be no elections” on the scheduled date.

“Technically, we are paralyzed,” Jarbawi explained. “There are half a million new voters who still need to be registered and even the central committee has only been able to meet twice, through video-conference,” he said.

Tuesday December 10, 2002

Main Headline

Will There Be Peace in Bethlehem This Christmas?

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by

Yet in the dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

MASON, Michigan (PC) - These are the first verses of the Christmas song, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." More than 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in the town of Bethlehem. His name was Jesus and He came to earth to bring hope. According to Christian teachings, Jesus believed in spreading goodwill toward all men. But the current residents of Bethlehem know anything but. In fact, the town's residents who consist of Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians -- often referred to as the "living stones" of Christianity -- are mainly familiar with fear.

Christmas has taken on special meaning during these trying times. In fact, Bethlehem's residents are waiting specifically for this holiday season in the hopes that increased world attention to this area would result in a marked improvement of their lives. Bethlehem, a once bustling city of noise, movement and color is a ghost town, with damaged buildings. Silence is broken only by the rumbling of Israeli tanks and the sporadic gunfire of soldiers. It is a city imprisoned behind a wall. Currently, Israelis have enforced a curfew on the residents which allows people to leave their homes for a few hours; travelling outside the city is prohibited; beatings of residents by Israeli soldiers are a regular occurrence; the youth cannot go to school and adults have no jobs to go to.

Recently, my friend, whose parents reside in the war-torn Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, described a desperate, young father. He approached my friend's father.

"Sir, can you give me a job for 30 shekels [the equivalent of 10 US dollars]?" asked the young father. "My children have no food to eat, and I have no money."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could, my son, but I need a job myself," was the response.

This sad scenario is a familiar one that plays out whenever the curfew is lifted, but United Nations figures show that most Palestinians are now living on less than $2 per day. So even loosening a curfew means little to the purchasing power of parents in Bethlehem and other Palestinian cities/towns.

Even the famous Bethlehem holy site hasn't escaped the wrath of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Who can forget the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem earlier this year? The tense drama pitted a well-equipped Israeli army against trapped Palestinian fighters. Caught in the middle, as the bullets flew and psychological warfare raged on were members of the clergy and dozens of innocent Palestinian civilians. Prior to the siege, a Palestinian choirboy was shot dead by IDF soldiers outside Manger Square.

Whether the Christmas season will renew hopes for a better tomorrow is difficult to say. For the second year in a row, the Israeli government has declared Bethlehem as being off-limits to Christian tourists during Christmas. Israelis say that the violence has forced them into cancelling Christmas. They say their presence is needed in Bethlehem and other cities in the Occupied Territories. But the Israeli Occupation is in its 35th year. Twenty-seven of the 35 years were marked with no violent uprisings for freedom, but rather general strikes and leafleting. So why didn't the Israelis leave during the 27 years of "quiet?" Even Ehud Barak's "generous" Camp David plan allowed for illegal settlers to remain in 80% of the current settlements.

A new poll, conducted among Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans, may provide a glimmer of hope for two-state solution advocates, however. According to a joint Arab American Institute/Americans for Peace Now survey, there is strong backing in both communities for secure and independent states for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Perhaps someday, there will even be overwhelming support for a democratic bi-national state where Palestinians and Israelis live as equals in one state. Psalm 133 begins, "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!" The psalm ends, "For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore."

But peace and freedom are foremost on the minds of Palestinians in Bethlehem and beyond. The words of Christ, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God," particularly resonate with Bethlehem's residents these days.

Peace, Christmas, and Bethlehem. Now that has a nice ring to it.

Sherri Muzher, JD in International Law, is a Writer and Media Analyst based in Mason, Michigan. She is a regular contributor to the Palestine Chronicle

A Salute to Jimmy Carter: The Bridge Over Troubled Waters

By Leila Diab

WASHINGTON (PC) - Nobility comes with pomp and a circumstance befitting a king or a ruler of a great nation in this day and age, as it was mirrored in the past. However, nobility is also a measure of man's worthiness of character, dedication, practicing faith, acknowledgeable deeds and self-sacrifices for the good of humankind.

This year's 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter encompasses the mere image of nobility, a man of noble means, actions with a persona that has won the minds, hearts, admiration and respect of people from all four corners of the world.

Jimmy Carter's humanitarian mission in life was to be the symbol of hope in times of despair for the world's population in Africa, the Middle East, Central America and regions that have not, ideally, coveted their basic universal human rights, freedoms. equality and an enduring peace.

Carter and his wife, Rosalie, however, chose to be the light and shield of progress, humanity and reasoning in times of adversity and misfortune in American and throughout the world. Jimmy Carter, "such a worthy, honest, and most deserving Nobel Peace Prize winner" were the most notable words of praise that could be heard throughout the world. Many people in the world have called him a man of peace and a man with a humanitarian mission.

Carter's long list of humanitarian accomplishments should continue to be emulated.

In many past interviews that I have seen on TV or read in various print media, Carter, in his unassuming nature always spoke honestly of his deep seeded faith in humankind and his desire to change situations that eluded him while he was still president. His sense of human rights, justice for all, fairness, and universal freedoms and peace, laid the foundation for many peoples dreams to come true. while fanning the flames of human despair.

Habitat for Humanity, an organization which he established in the late 80's, made it possible for poor people to own their own houses. He rolled up his sleeves and wiped his sweat, along with hundreds of volunteers who joined him to build homes for the needy, and made the American Dream of owning a home come true. And in the United States, Jimmy Carter's work in Habitat for Humanity placed a renewed emphasis on community service work for the young and the old nationwide.

Since leaving the U.S. Presidential Office in defeat in 1980 to the then elected President Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, 78, was determined to view the world as his open window and center stage to exert his influence with previous governmental experiences, for the good of humankind, at home and around the world. And since out of public office, for more than two decades ago, Carter's honesty, self sacrifices and genuine human convictions have helped to promote, nurture and sow the seeds of human understanding, as well as earn him respect and universal appeal.

To make a difference in the world today, there are those of us who are motivated by our choices, the usage of standard language, and how we choose to communicate our words and actions, especially in times of crises, world conflicts and human despair. These essential elements of communication will ultimately impact and help to shape the nature and outcome of our projected goals and reactions. That is the recipe for world peace and an end to human suffering. Jimmy Carter is a valuable mixture of those essential ingredients that have made the world a better place.

As the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jimmy Carter is the quintessential communicator of humanity and dignity that has shaped the nature and true meaning of human responsibility, trust, hope, promotion of universal human rights and peace worldwide. Jimmy Carter, we salute you, as the bearer of peace, the bright ray of light and hope and the bridge over troubled waters.

Above all, the Palestinian people cry out to you too...to end their insurmountable human suffering.

Netanyahu's Nephew Jailed over Refusal to Join 'Israeli Occupation Army'

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Israeli army sentenced Jonathan Ben Artzi to a 35-day prison term Sunday, December 8, for refusing to serve in the army, his sixth sentence since he was first jailed on August 8. He has since spent 126 days in prison, in what his father says is a record in Israel for a conscientious objector.

Artzi hates war and would rather spend time in jail than serve in the army. But, he is not just any conscientious objector, he's the nephew of Israel's ultra-nationalist foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

For the same reasons, the army handed a 28-day prison term to Uri Yaacobi, who has already spent 106 days behind bars.

Israelis are called to arms when they turn 18. Men serve for three years and women for 21 months, while ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempted on religious grounds.

"Yoni", 20, is the youngest son of the Ben Artzi family, who divide their time between occupied Jerusalem, France and the United States.

Before leaving Israel to work in New York, both his brother and his sister completed their compulsory military service in Israel.

"But they weren't very enthusiastic either," said the father, Matania Ben Artzi, who served 13 years in the army, first in an elite unit and then as a mathematician for military scientific research.

His wife Ofra was also in the army when they met, but she was the one who turned him into a pacifist. Jonathan has always been revolted by violence and everything related to the army, AFP said.

"His first real shock came when he was 12," his father recounted.

"We were visiting the Verdun battle field in France and the sight of those endless crosses and the ossuary with the remains of 150,000 unknown soldiers killed in World War I had a traumatic effect on him."

During his time in high school in occupied Jerusalem, he actively promoted issues linked to pacifism.

He enjoyed sports but refused to learn karate, and one day even gave up on a school outing because the bus had to drive through the Palestinian territories, where the army had imposed a curfew.

"Already back then, it was his way of protesting against the Israeli army's occupation of the Palestinian territories," his mother said.

It came as no surprise when at the age of 17, Jonathan refused to join up after receiving his first conscription call.

"He didn't even try to be exempted for medical reasons or anything else," his father said. "He demanded, in vain, the right to be a civilian conscript and even insisted on his pacifism to publicize his struggle."

Jonathan is slowly making a name for himself in Israel, where conscientious objectors are few and far between. The young man even went as far as dragging the army in front of the supreme court, although nothing came of it.

"In a country where the army is divine and sacred, he's more than a traitor," the father said, charging that "Israeli democracy is nothing more than a facade."

During a recent family diner, Netanyahu, who is married to the sister of Jonathan's father and leads the ultra-nationalist camp in the right-wing Likud party, briefly broached the sensitive issue: "Maybe you'll change your mind".

In his army years, the charismatic nationalist politician served in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. His brother commanded the same unit when he was killed in a 1976 rescue mission on a hijacked plane in Entebbe, Uganda.

But his notorious uncle's gentle prodding did not shake Jonathan's determination. Quite the opposite.

A mathematics student in occupied Jerusalem, he has taken up law on the side. On Sunday he told his parents he intended to lodge an appeal over his jail sentence with the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Peace Group Slams Israeli Plans to Demolish Hebron Houses

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - (PC) The Israeli peace group Gush Shalom demanded that their government halt plans to demolish dozens of Palestinian houses in the West Bank city of Hebron, warning that it would constitute a “war crime”.

The Israeli left-wing group sent a letter on Saturday to Israeli attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein saying there were no true “military needs” behind the demolition orders.

“It seems that [Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)] have turned into a tool which carries out the demands of the most extreme settlers,” wrote Gush Shalom founder Uri Avineri.

Avineri called on Rubenstein to advise Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his defense minister Shaul Mofaz and the head of the IOF central command Moshe Kaplinsky that the move was “illegal”.

Avineri warned the demolitions would likely be considered a “war crime” and added, “through (this act), the army is taking the risk that those carrying out the decision will be one day brought to justice before an international court.”

The Gush Shalom letter comes after Israel ordered Monday the demolition of 15 Palestinian houses to secure “territorial continuity” between the illegal Israeli settlement of “Kiryat Arba” and the Jewish settler enclave piercing the heart of Hebron’s Old City.

The Palestinian leadership slammed the Israeli decision, warning that Sharon is planning to “Judaize” Hebron.

“These buildings, dating back to the Mameluke and Ottoman eras, are considered an integral part of the cultural heritage of Hebron City, which international conventions and agreements have called for safeguarding,” Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said Monday in a letter of protest to Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of the UNESCO.

Gush Shalom have in the past slammed the Israeli government as well as IOF’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The group threatened in August to press war crimes charges against reserve army officers before the newly-founded International Criminal Court (ICC), triggering Sharon’s anger, who ordered an investigation into the activities of Gush Shalom.

However, the 600-member group responded that collecting information on human rights violations was not a crime.

Gretta Duisenberg Receives Human Rights Award in Belgium

BRUSSELS (PC) - On December 10, the day on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued in 1948, the League for Human Rights, from Belgium, awards a prize every year to someone, who has been actively involved in speaking out against human rights violations.

This year, the award was granted to Gretta Duisenberg, wife of the President of the European Central Bank, for her activities in forming the Dutch action committee “End the Occupation”, which aims to restore the human rights of the Palestinians.

Mrs. Duisenberg drew international attention in April and May this year, when she kept a Palestinian flag hanging from her balcony for six weeks, in spite of numerous threats, lawsuits and other means of pressure from pro-Zionist organizations and individuals.

According to the League, “campaigning against the colonial occupation of Palestine, is standing up for the honoring of UN resolutions concerning self-determination, for a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East and for the principle of an anti-racial, and therefore multicultural society here and elsewhere.”

On Thursday, December 10, Gretta Duisenberg received her prize in an art center in Gent, Belgium.

Gretta Duisenberg is scheduled to travel to Palestine in January with a small delegation of sympathizers, after a UCP (United Civilians for Peace)-led delegation’s visit in November, in which she was to participate, was cancelled due to pressure from right-wing political parties in the Dutch government.

Monday December 9, 2002

Main Headline

6,000 U.S. Dollars for Every Israeli Since 1973

WASHINGTON - According to a report released Monday, December 9, Israel has, since 1973, cost the United States about $1.6 trillion, that is more than $5,700 per person if divided by today's population.

Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington, tallied the total cost to the U.S. for its backing of Israel, and discovered that the bill doubled the cost of Vietnam War, reported the Christian Science Monitor.

"And now Israel wants more. In a meeting at the White House late last month, Israeli officials made a pitch for $4 billion in additional military aid to defray the rising costs of dealing with the Intifada [against Israeli occupation] and suicide bombings. They also asked for more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help the country's recession-bound economy," reported the Monitor.

Considering Israel's deep economic troubles, Stauffer doubts the Israel bonds covered by the loan guarantees will ever be repaid, said the paper, adding that the bonds are likely to be structured so they don't pay interest until they reach maturity.

"If Stauffer is right, the U.S. would end up paying both principal and interest, perhaps 10 years out," said the paper.

The Monitor said that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. "It is already due to get $2.04 billion in military assistance and $720 million in economic aid in fiscal 2003. It has been getting $3 billion a year for years," said the paper, adding that the U.S. has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace treaties with Israel.

According to Stauffer, there is a higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the U.S. after Israel-Arab wars.

Other additional U.S. help to Israel include the fact that the U.S. Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $50 billion to $60 billion, said the Monitor.

In addition, the U.S. has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel, and $600 billion in "housing loans," it added. The U.S. has also given $2.5 billion to support Israel's Lavi fighter and Arrow missile projects.

The Monitor listed the following as add-on values to the Israeli-U.S. relations:

• Israel buys discounted, serviceable "excess" U.S. military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to "several billion dollars" over recent years.

• Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of U.S. weapons, to buy Israeli-made hardware. It also has won the right to require the Defense Department or U.S. defense contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the U.S. gives to Israel.

U.S. help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. U.S. defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.

• U.S. policy and trade sanctions reduce U.S. exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs, Stauffer estimates. Not requiring Israel to use its U.S. aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.

• Israel has blocked some major U.S. arms sales, such as F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That cost $40 billion over 10 years, says Stauffer.

Israeli Chief of Staff Justifies Killing of Civilians

TEL AVIV - (PC) Israeli Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday claimed that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) recent harming of Palestinian civilians was “a consequence of dealing with a civilian population while fighting terror.”

Addressing an IOF operational meeting, the general said most of these deaths were brought about by the “complexity of operating in populated areas,” Israel Radio reported.

An Israeli army statement released after the meeting claimed that most of the harm caused to innocent people was a result of the “complexity of the situation in the territories and only a small number of incidents had been caused by a failure to follow standard procedure.”

However, the Palestinian health ministry has revealed that during the past two years, IOF have killed 500 Palestinian children during their military offensives in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Moreover, and only hours after the meeting, however, a Palestinian woman was killed by Israeli occupation army’s tank fire in the southern Gaza Strip while her three children were also wounded.

The mother and her children came under machinegun fire from tanks positioned near the neighboring illegal Israeli settlement of “Rafiah Yam”.

The victim, Nahla Akel, 41, was hit in the neck and soon after reaching the hospital she died.

Her two sons aged four and twelve, and a 15-year-old daughter were being treated for shrapnel wounds. Their lives were not in danger, hospital sources added.

Sunday December 8, 2002

Main Headline

Al-Bureij Massacre Triggers World Condemnation

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - (PC) The Israeli massacre perpetrated Friday against the residents of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip has triggered worldwide condemnation of Israeli Occupation Forces’ aggression against Palestinian civilians.

Several world bodies, including the UN and the EU have voiced out their condemnation of the massacre.

Meanwhile, Israel’s closest ally, the US, has urged Israel to consider the consequences of its military actions in the occupied Palestinian territory.

France also condemned the massacre reminding Israel that it should “take into consideration the limitations imposed by the international humanitarian law” on its army actions in the state of conflict.

IOF “used excessive forces in a crowded area, which lead to a number of fatalities, among them civilians,” the French foreign ministry stressed.

Jordan also condemned the latest Israeli atrocity, which was described by Nabil Abu Rudeina, a senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, as “a new massacre and crime against our unarmed people.”

“This shameful aggression constitutes a horrible new crime by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people,” Jordanian Information Minister Mohamed Adwan was quoted by the official Petra news agency as saying.

“It equally constitutes proof of Israel's refusal to bend to the international will ... this camp, in particular, being under the protection of the United Nations,” he added.

Adwan reiterated Jordan’s condemnation of any violence against civilians.

He also said it “is time to withdraw from the cycle of violence and give a chance to current diplomatic efforts, notably those of the quartet.”

He was referring to the United States, Russia, United Nations and European Union, who have put together a ‘roadmap’ for Middle East peace, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

In the Arab Gulf, almost all daily newspapers lashed out at the Israeli occupation army’s “barbaric practices”.

“This massacre is the Eid gift for Palestinians from the man US President George Bush likes to call a ‘man of peace’,” said Qatar’s Al-Watan daily referring to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Israel, which likes to remind the world that it is the most barbarous and bloody state, has given an Eid gift to the Palestinians by carrying out a new massacre,” said Saudi Arabia’s Al-Watan.

For Al-Madina, also published in the kingdom, “Sharon has attacked the sacred nature of the Eid,” following a message from Bush to Muslims.

The daily urged Washington to “take a clear stance on this massacre carried out in the middle of a Muslim festival, the importance of which to most families could be compared to Christmas in the mainly Christian West.”

10 Palestinians, including two UN employees, were killed early Friday when some 40 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, stormed the densely populated camp casting a pall over celebrations of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holidays.

In Doha, Al-Raya urged the Arabs “to change strategy and tactics in the face of Israel and those who support it in the United States.”

Meanwhile, the Dubai government daily Al-Bayan said, “The massacre message is that the terrorist Sharon no longer takes any account of the anger of Arabs and Muslims.”

Al-Khaleej, in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah, said the deadly Israeli offensive required a new definition of terrorism to be drawn up.

“What is terrorism if not targeting innocents in their homes in the middle of a religious festival?” the daily asked.

Earlier in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana struck out at Israel over the Israeli massacre.

“A massive intervention of that type in a densely populated urban area can only lead to the loss of innocent lives, as was the case today,” he said.

“This sort of excessive use of force cannot be conducive to the lowering of tension and an end to the cycle of violence, towards which all should be working,” he added.

The EU’s Danish presidency said it “strongly condemns military or other violent actions directed indiscriminately against a civilian neighborhood, whether Palestinian or Israeli.”

“There can be no justification for the high number of killed and injured as a result of last night’s Israeli incursion into the El-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza,” a statement issued by the EU said.

The EU “has consistently rejected Israeli methods of extra-judicial killings and house demolitions and Israel's excessive use of force.”

“Neither this nor any other actions causing civilian casualties will bring security to the Israeli public. On the contrary, military and violent actions from both sides only serve to breed more hatred and undermine the attempts by the parties and by the international community to bring about reconciliation and a negotiated end to the conflict,” it added.

Moreover, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller denounced Israel’s “excessive use of force against innocent civilians.”

“It’s deeply tragic ... being a witness to such operations that we strongly condemn because they do nothing but stoke the flames of hate,” he said.

“There is only one path to peace: that will end with the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel,” he added.

‘Christian Zionist Embassy‘ Vilifies Christian Leader for Criticizing Israel

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The so-called “Christian Embassy,” in West Jerusalem, run by a group of European and North American Jews, has sent a threatening letter to the Christian Orthodox Patriarchy headquarters in East Jerusalem, demanding the dismissal of an outspoken Orthodox leader for criticizing ‘Israeli state terror’ against Palestinians.

The letter, written in a vitriolic tone, demanded that the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem punish and banish Rev. Hanna Atallah because of “his incitement against Christian Zionism churches.”

The letter also recommended that Atallah be declared an “enemy of Judaism and Jews.”

The Orthodox Church dismissed the letter as “insignificant,” adding that the so-called Christian embassy of Jerusalem was not an authentic Christian body.

“Those people are not really Christians, they are Zionist Jews in heart who bear Christian names and titles in order to deceive common people,” said a source at the Orthodox Patriarchy offices.

“The raison d’être of this group is to enlist Christian support for Israel’s genocidal terror against Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike. In light, I would like to ask: Since when supporting terror and murder and all other acts of repression represent the way of Christ?”

The “Christian embassy,” while ignoring Christian Palestinians, often raises money to build Jewish-only settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and also finances the transfer of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Palestine.

-IAP News (iap.org). Redistributed via Press International News Agency

Film Excluded from Oscar Competition for Being Palestinian

WASHINGTON (PC) - On the grounds that “Palestine is not a nation”, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has refused the Palestinian entry “Divine Intervention”, for the nomination of “Best Foreign Film”.

The movie, which was directed by the renowned Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, recently won the Jury Award in the world famous “Cannes Film Festival” of France.

The film describes a love story between a Palestinian man from Jerusalem, and a Palestinian woman from Ramallah, set against the background of the harsh conditions of Israeli occupation and repression.

The American film industry has often been accused of “backwardness” with regard to the recognition of Palestinian rights, and of the standard portrayal of Arabs in negative stereotypes of aggression and savagery.

The sharp contrast between the film coming out as a winner in the Cannes festival on the European continent, while not being allowed to enter the competition in the United States, also illustrates the differences in the political climate between the two continents.

Hollywood producer Phil Ed sharply criticized the Academy’s stance, stating : "it seems to me that the Academy and the entire Hollywood film industry has lost yet another piece of its credibility. "

Israeli Opposition Leader Calls on Jews to Abandon Settlements

TEL AVIV - (PC) Israel's opposition Labor Party candidate for prime minister is urging Jewish 'settlers' living in the Palestinian territories to abandon the settlements and come home to Israel.

Labor Party chief Amran Mitzna told the French News Agency Sunday Jews have to free themselves of the nightmare in the Gaza Strip.

He repeated his promise to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank if he is elected prime minister on January 28.

Mitzna told the news agency he would refuse to enter into a coalition with Ariel Sharon if the Israeli leader is re-elected unless the prime minister radically changes his position.

Also Sunday, Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian woman and wounded three of her children in the southern Gaza Strip.

The witnesses say the victims were shot while walking through a refugee camp.

The Israeli army claims its soldiers fired on "six armed militants" approaching the nearby Jewish settlement of Rafah Yam and it has no information about civilians being hit.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says a general election set for January 20th will have to be delayed unless Israel eases its incursions into Palestinian-ruled areas.

The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, the so-called Mideast Quartet, laid out a peace plan in September that includes Palestinian elections next year.

The elections would be followed by the introduction of a Palestinian constitution and the creation of an interim Palestinian state.

Israelis Kill Palestinian Mother

By Nazir Majally

GAZA CITY - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian mother yesterday and wounded three of her children as they walked through a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said.

Nahla Aqel, 41, was killed in the street on her way to visiting neighbors for an Eid Al-Fitr holiday meal when troops opened fire with machine guns from a tank near the Jewish settlement of Rafah.

The Palestinian leadership reacted in anger, slamming the death as another example of Israel’s “state terrorism.” In a separate incident, two other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, sources said.

Earlier, under cover of heavy shooting, Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved around the refugee camp in Gaza where 10 Palestinians were killed in raids two days ago. Two Palestinian boys were slightly injured.

Two tanks and a bulldozer were raiding a farm in Deir Al-Balah, not far from Bureij, the sources said. Officials at Al-Aqsa hospital said they were treating two Palestinian boys for minor gunshot wounds.

At the same time, seven tanks and two bulldozers moved into farming areas of the Bureij camp, security sources and witnesses said. No injuries were reported in that lightly populated area.

Friday December 6, 2002

Main Headline

Muslim Feast in Gaza Turns to Massacre

NUSSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (PC) - The Israeli army has reportedly killed ten Palestinian civilians and wounded scores more in the Buraij refugee camp in Gaza.

Eyewitnesses told the Palestinian Chronicle that over 50 Israeli armored vehicles invaded the camp, located in the center of the impoverished Gaza Strip, and opened fire on civilian homes.

“They are killing us, they are killing us,” a Palestinian eyewitnesses told the Chronicle by phone from the outskirts of the camp, while sounds of explosions were heard in the background.

The eyewitness who requested that his name be withheld, said that the Mosques in the Buraij camp, and the nearby Nusseirat camp called on Palestinians to resist the invading army.

Scores of panic-stricken civilians took to the streets as Israeli army gun ships began systematic bombardments of the small refugee camp.

While some of the wounded are in serious condition, ten have already been confirmed dead, according to hospital reports. Four of those killed are from the same family. Three others were killed by an Israeli missile fired from an Apache helicopter, eyewitnesses said. One of the victims is reportedly an elderly woman who was shot dead.

Ahmad Rabah, the head of the Martyrs Hospital in the area said that the Israelis blocked the movement of ambulances, which contributed to the increase in the number of dead.

The number of wounded has been estimated at 20, of whom five are in serious condition.

“Over half of those killed could have been saved if the Israeli army allowed them transportation to a hospital,” Rabah said, adding that five of them were left to bleed to death while the residents put up a good fight to save them.

Scores of homes were damaged by the Israeli attack, and several homes were detonated by army explosives.

The latest massacre took place while the residents of the camp were celebrating the first day of the Muslim Eid, which follows the holy month of Ramadan.

Buraij is a crowded camp, with over 20,000 refugees who were driven from their homes in Palestine in 1948. The camp underwent a massacre in the early 1950’s at the hands of an Israeli army unit led by now Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.

Wednesday December 4, 2002

Main Headline

Israel Plans Increased Settlement Activity

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM -(PC) The Israeli housing ministry and the illegal so-called Settlers Council in the occupied Palestinian Territory have drawn up a plan for increased settlement activity in the West Bank over the next three months, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported on Tuesday.

The plan provides for dozens of new houses to be built in 14 different settlements, creating facts on the ground in isolated settlements, which Israel’s Labor party says it wants to dismantle if it wins the January 28 legislative elections.

The plan was drawn up during a meeting between Settlers Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman and Avi Moz, the director general of the housing ministry, Ma’ariv said.

A spokeswoman for Housing Minister Nathan Sharansk said that a tender for the construction of 150 new houses in the large settlements of Ariel and Efrat, northeast of Tel Aviv and south of Jerusalem respectively, had been issued two months ago.

However she denied that such a plan had been agreed. "The ministry does not plan any stepped up development ahead of the elections," she told AFP.

According to Ma’ariv, the housing ministry initiated the construction of a record 1,894 new housing units in the West Bank, more than twice the 2001 figure.

Some 210,000 Jewish settlers live in 160 settlements across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while another 200,000 live in the 12 settlements in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.

Coinciding with Ma’ariv’s report, Israel's military chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday he opposes any dismantlement of any Jewish settlements.

"If we dismantle a settlement while under fire, hoping to spare military forces, we will achieve the opposite (of security)," he said, speaking at the annual Herzliya conference on “The Balance of Israel's National Security”.

"We will have to deploy much larger forces because a dismantling will galvanize the Palestinian struggle," he added.

His comments were a clear response to opposition Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna's proposal for the dismantling of all settlements in the Gaza Strip and some isolated settlements in the West Bank.

A ‘roadmap’ for peace in the Middle East being drawn up by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia demands a freeze of settlement activity and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

Illegal Jewish settlement of Palestinian territory under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) since 1967 has been the hardcore of Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Since Palestinians and Israelis signed the Declaration of Principles in Washington in 1993 the number of illegal Jewish settlements and settlers almost doubled in occupied Palestinian territories.

US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer on Tuesday reiterated US opposition to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Settlement activity has "severely undermined Palestinian trust and hope. It pre-empts and prejudges the outcome of negotiations and in doing so cripples chances for real peace and security," Kurtzer told a conference on national security near Tel Aviv.

Statement From International UN Workers Operating In Occupied Palestinian Territories

To whom it may concern,

We, the undersigned, are staff members of the United Nations, but we write in our personal capacities. All of us work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip bringing badly needed humanitarian relief to a population in distress. In the course of our duties we have witnessed much tragedy on both sides of the conflict. We have come from all over the world to work, without bias or favour, to try to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that has for too long afflicted this land.

Now we find that, once again, tragedy has touched us. For us, expressions of sadness and grief are not enough. The diplomatic language of the bureaucrat will not suffice. We write to express our absolute condemnation at the senseless killing of Iain Hook in Jenin on November 22. Based on publicly available information, we condemn the Israeli army in the strongest possible terms for this wanton act against an unarmed man - a man shot in the back by a military sniper while negotiating with the Israeli army to evacuate the women, children and UN staff who were in the UN compound at the time.

Our condemnation is reinforced by the knowledge that the soldiers refused to allow an ambulance called to evacuate Iain to travel the last few yards needed to reach him. Instead, UN staff here forced to seek an alternative route to rescue him. This caused a delay and made sure that the work done by a bullet was completed by the Israeli army's refusal to respect the most elementary standards of humanity.

The shock of that day's events does not come in isolation. For two years, United Nations staff have been subject to escalating harassment and violence by Israel's military, so that the protection supposed to be afforded by the blue letters of the UN is being steadily eroded.

UN staff - international and Palestinian alike - have been verbally abused, stripped, beaten, shot at and killed by Israeli soldiers. There has been armed interference with UN employees and vehicles, including attacks on UN ambulances and medical personnel. UNRWA schools, health clinics and offices have been hit by bombs, rockets, tank shells and gunfire even during daytime, thereby endangering the lives of staff and, in the case of schools, the lives of refugee children. Buildings occupied by UN staff have been repeatedly damaged during Israeli airforce bombing.

Tragically Iain Hook was not the first person working with the UN to die at the hands of the IDF this year. In March, Kamal Hamdan was shot and killed while travelling in a clearly marked UNRWA ambulance in the West Bank.. In April, Husni Amer died in Israeli military custody in Jenin after, according to witnesses, receiving a brutal beating by the soldiers at the time of his arrest. From its silence, we presume the Israeli authorities have ignored UN requests for an investigation and report of these two incidents, and have not seen fit to take any disciplinary action against the soldiers involved. To us, this seems to confirm a pattern of utter contempt on the part of the Israeli army for the lost lives of these men, the safety of UN staff or the minimum standards imposed by international law which should protect UN staff and other humanitarian workers.

The official military spokesperson's statement on the initial investigation into Iain's killing asserts that shots were fired from UNRWA's compound in the Jenin refugee camp towards Israel's forces. This contradicts eyewitness accounts of our colleagues in Jenin and the information relayed to UNRWA's Field Office by Iain just prior to his death. The most charitable characterization one can make of this statement is that it lacks any credibility. To us, it has all the makings of propaganda designed to tarnish the reputation of the UN, excuse the killing of an unarmed man and perpetuate the false charge that UNRWA shelters terrorists, in the public mind. We strongly request that any investigation carried out by the Israeli government will be independent, transparent and impartial. We strongly request that the Israeli government will bring those responsible for Iain's killing promptly to justice. Only the most lawless societies allow gunmen in uniform the impunity to kill aid workers without fear of punishment.. We are confident Israel does not wish to see its troops painted in the same colours as the militiamen who have stalked some of the world's other conflicts.

As UN staff, we expect the protection of the Israeli government to enable us to undertake our humanitarian responsibilities wherever they are needed. This is not a matter of courtesy or favour, but rather an implementation of Israel's own obligations under international law and its express commitment to UNRWA to facilitate the Agency's operations in the occupied territories.

Israel's often stated regret at the loss of civilian lives is not an impervious shield that can deflect all criticism. It is a shield that is, in our view, tarnished by the attempts of Israeli spokespersons to link Iain's death to wider political issues or to claim that the UN was somehow culpable for his killing. In these tragic circumstances, rather than easily uttered regrets, we expect the Israeli Government take the necessary steps to stop the harassment, beating and killing of UN staff. We expect respect and protection as United Nations employees. As international staff members, we hope and expect to return alive to our own countries and families after our work here is done. We hope and expect no less for our Palestinian colleagues so they can live and work in safety until the parties to the conflict eventually find the road to peace.

Sally Airs, Australia; Naomi Ando, Japan; Ignacio Artaza Zuriarrain, Spain, Alan Barnie, Australia Peter Bartu, Australia Pamela Bell, USA Susan Brannon, USA Marlise Brenner, Australia Deidre Connolly, USA Marisa Consolate Kemper, Canada Joanna Corbin, UK B. Scott Custer Jr., USA Omar Dajani, USA Calvin Dasilvio, USA Isabelle dela Cruz, Germany Marc De la Motte, Italy-France Mark Dennis, USA Ray Dolphin, Ireland Juliet Dryden, UK Teresa Fallarme, Philippine Jean-Marie Frentz, Luxembourg Christopher Gabelle, UK Jagannathan Gopalan, India Philippe Grandet, France Pentti Hakonen, Finland Roger Hearn, Australia Grigor Hovmannisyan, Armenia Thierry Kaiser, France Sima Kanaan, Jordan Elizabeth Kawambwa, Tanzania.

Jan Kolaas, Norway Antje Kunst, Germany Marc Lassouaoui, France Brett Lodge, Australia Ali Mahmuda, Canada Henrik Mathiesen, Norway Carlos Mazuera, Columbia Paul McCann, UK Amanda Melville, Australia Severine Meyer, France Zeina Mogarbel, Spain Merethe Nedrebo, Norway Gustav Nordstrom, Finland Patrick O'neil, Ireland Melissa Parke, Australia Joachim Paul, German Alex Pollock, UK Gerhard Pulfer, Austria Timothy Rothermel, USA Sam Rose, UK Ehab Shanti, Canada Shahwan Huda, Jordan Jean-Luc Siblot, France Guy Siri, France Elna Sondergaard, Denmark Juerg Staudenmann, Switzerland Angelo Stefanini, Italy Gretta Van Bleek, Netherlands Arjan Van Houwelingen, Netherlands Andrew Whitley, UK Hanna Wintsch, Switzerland Cecilia Wreh-McGill, USA Ros Young, UK Kirsten Zaat, Australia

Tuesday December 3, 2002

Main Headline

Israeli Law Mocks Justice, Shatters Decency

By William Hughes

BALTIMORE (PC) - American law schools regularly hold seminars and workshops in Israel. Usually, the subject matters deal with topics like Comparative or International Law. These legal sojourns are generally led by fully tenured professors, who have been able, quite amazingly, to go about their teaching business, in the mother of all colonial police states, without publicly addressing the systematic violations of the legal and human rights of the Palestinians. Now, this is all a mystery to me.

Why haven’t the American legal eagles spoken out about the ongoing human rights abuses in Israel? Why don’t they get their noses out of the law books, and tell the world what is really going on in occupied Palestine? It’s nice to visit Haifa and Jerusalem, but why not check in on Jenin and Nablus, too? And what about the legality of the U.S. government funding the state sponsored terrorism of Ariel Sharon’s government? Don’t these kind of important legal and moral questions ever cross their minds? If they haven’t, then it is high time that they did.

For instance, I would like to know about the highly dubious Israeli procedure that permits its officials to get a “warrant” to destroy the home of a Palestinian. In Hebron, recently, the Israelis secured warrants to destroy 15 homes, belonging to 30 Palestinian families. Can the homeowner protest or challenge this kind of warrant? If he does, will he get a due process hearing before an impartial tribunal? Is there a right of appeal? What legal safeguards are there to protect a homeowner from an Israeli official exercising his authority in an arbitrary or capricious manner? We know that the collective punishment of a people is a war crime. Is this warrant procedure a clever device to paper over that kind of wrongdoing?

As an American, I watch on television, every week, in horror, as the ubiquitous Israeli bulldozers destroy home after home and also the orchards of the Palestinians. It reminds me of the British imperialists dispossessing the Irish peasants during the horrific days of great famine (1845-50). The Israelis claim that they have a “demolition order.” Who gave them that demolition order? Is this so-called “demolition warrant procedure” yet another one of the cruel legal jokes of the Zionists, like their notorious “torture warrants,” championed by that old softy and Sharonist, Alan Dershowitz? From 1967 to 1999, Israel demolished over 8,500 Palestinian homes, according to the LINK, April-May, 2002 issue.

Because the Israeli warrant system is supposedly “legal,” (I use that word advisedly), does that make it also just and moral and beyond the condemnation of the rest of humanity?

On another subject, when the Israelis send their death squads out to target Palestinians for summary and extra-judicial executions-there have been at least 95 such killings since 02/09/ 2000-do they also get a “warrant” from a legal authority to murder that individual? Does someone sign a “death warrant” that is placed in a file? Or, do they prefer, like their death squad counterparts in Central America, not to leave a paper trail of their crimes? As Central America has proven, the truth will come out.

What effect, if any, does administering these kinds of draconian laws have on the Israeli bureaucrats themselves? Back in the 70s, a Baltimore lawyer, Fred E. Weisgal, now deceased, emigrated to Israel. There was a lot of positive publicity about it at the time. When he lived in America, he was known as a flaming liberal and a civil rights advocate. His Op Ed pieces, too, when he was at the top of his legal crusading, were always a joy to read. I recall trying cases against him, when I was in the State’s Attorney’s office in the mid 60s. He was a terrific lawyer and a very engaging individual. He was also a respected musician and had a sprightly personality. In Israel, however, he had a Franz Kafka-like transformation. He went from defending the needy in America to representing the greedy in Israel: its national government!

I visited Weisgal at his home in Jerusalem, in December, 1977. It was like I was talking to an entirely different man then the person I had once known. The spirit had somehow been driven out of him. I remember, too, the last time he returned to Baltimore for a visit. He had penned an Op Ed piece for the local paper. It was about getting a flat tire on one of our major highways. It was boring drivel and embarrassing to read. The truth is that he no longer had anything worthwhile to say. He didn’t even bother to try to defend his “new” legal career or his new “beloved” fatherland.

Since then, I’ve always been curious if the government work that Weisgal had done in Jerusalem, hadn’t deprived him of his humanity. If so, it was, indeed, a heavy personal price for him to pay for serving the political cause of Zionism, whose very essence depends on the subjugation of another people. For someone, like Weisgal, once a compassionate person, who had dedicated his earlier life to fighting for civil rights and justice, it must have an abrupt change. Did he feel at the end like a hapless character in Kafka’s “The Trial,” sentenced by some arbitrary authority to a slow but certain spiritual death? I suspect that he did, knowing, too, that he had chosen, willfully, to put himself in that position.

There are many sides to this evil. It is clear that Israeli law mocks justice, and that many have turned a blind eye to it, and to its victims, the Palestinians. But, I also suggest, that there may be a few Fred E. Weisgal-like souls out there, who have also paid a severe personal price for serving such an oppressive system.

William Hughes is the author of “Andrew Jackson vs. New World Order” (Authors Choice Press) and “Baltimore Iconoclast” (Writer’s Showcase), which are available online. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.

Israeli Soldiers Near Ramallah Murder 95-Year-Old Woman

RAMALLAH - Israeli soldiers shot to death a 95-year-old Palestinian woman in an attack on a minibus near Ramallah earlier today, making her the oldest known victim of the current Intifada.

Fatima Mohammad Hassan Abeid, from Attara village, was traveling to Ramallah to buy gifts for her 19 grandchildren ahead of the Eid holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Because Israeli forces had closed Surda, the main entry point to Ramallah from her village, Fatima was forced to take a detour through the Jawwal crossing in order to reach the city.

According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces stationed at the Jawwal crossing violently attacked the minibus she was traveling in, smashing the windshield with the butts of their guns. They then shot randomly at the vehicle, with the full knowledge that the van was packed with civilians. Fatima was shot in the back by one or two live bullets at close range.

Another passenger, Kifaya Rafat, 41, was shot in the thigh and is now in the hospital. Another unidentified woman was slightly injured in the attack.

Monday December 2, 2002

Main Headline

Israel Should Probe its Demolition of UN Food Warehouse in Gaza: Annan

NEW YORK - (PC) Reacting to the weekend destruction of a United Nations food warehouse in the Gaza Strip, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on Israel to investigate the incident.

"The Secretary-General is extremely concerned at the demolition by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) of the World Food Program (WFP) warehouse," a spokesman for Annan said in a press statement issued in New York.

According to WFP, over 500 tons of food was destroyed when the IDF entered Jaballia and blasted the agency's warehouse, which was clearly marked and held food for tens of thousands of Palestinians suffering from the current humanitarian crisis.

Annan voiced support WFP's request that the Israeli Government thoroughly investigate, and repeated his call on the Israeli authorities "to live up to their commitments and obligations to facilitate emergency humanitarian assistance in the occupied Palestinian territory," the spokesman said.

Israel Snubs Statements by its UN Ambassador, Chief of Staff on Palestinian State

TEL AVIV - (PC) Israel’s PM Ariel Sharon and FM Benjamin Netanyahu denied Sunday on-record and off-record statements made in Washington and New York by their senior diplomatic and military subordinates to the effect that the Jewish state supports the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israel's ambassador to the UN Yehuda Lancry was reported on Friday to have gone on record and told a UN General Assembly session that Israel accepted the principle of "two states living side by side in peace and security."

Meanwhile, Israeli ‘Defense’ Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon was reported to have told off-record a closed session of a Washington-based Middle East research institute that "at the end of the day, most of the settlements will be evacuated" and a Palestinian state will be established, Israel Radio reported Monday.

"Sharon and Netanyahu stressed that the ambassador was not authorized to make such a declaration, which does not reflect the government's position," Israeli Finance Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu ordered the Foreign Ministry Sunday to issue an announcement according to which the statement made Friday by Israel's ambassador to the UN General Assembly on Israel's acceptance of the vision of "two states living side by side" was made on his own volition, and did not represent Israel's stand.

Netanyahu coordinated the publication of the announcement with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday.

Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister told ministers at Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting Sunday that the Yehuda Lancry's statement that Israel accepts the vision of "two states living side by side in peace and security" as a basis for a peace deal with the Palestinians, was not made with their agreement.

Sharon said he did not know who had authorized Lancry to speak to the matter, and he asked Netanyahu to look into the issue. The foreign minister said he had ordered his people to begin a probe.

Lancry's on-record announcement was the first time any official Israeli representative had explicitly used the "two states for two peoples" formula. Hitherto, Israeli officials have always said merely that they accept the principles outlined in US President George Bush's June 24 speech, but without elaborating on these principles.

Lancry made the statement during the General Assembly's annual debate on the Palestinian issue on Friday, and his remarks were included in the UN's official protocols.

A spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed Lancry's declaration, adding that the ambassador had merely reiterated Israel's support for US President George W. Bush's position on the conflict, AFP reported on Sunday.

Bush has repeatedly said since a key policy address last June that his administration backs the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

But Israel has not yet officially formulated its position on a US-backed ‘roadmap’ for peace that envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of 2005.

While Sharon has voiced his support for the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit only on part of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israeli since 1967, the Jewish state has ruled out endorsement of the US-backed plan at least until after its January 28 general election.

Netanyahu, for his part, is firmly opposed to any Palestinian state.

Lancry, a former ambassador to France, was appointed to represent his country at the UN in 1999 by the then center-left Labor government.

Refuting the off-record statements made by the Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon was left to Israel’s army.

“Senior IDF officials rejected Monday the statements made by Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon before a closed session of a Washington-based Middle East research institute on the evacuation of settlements and establishment of a Palestinian state,” Israel Radio reported Monday.

Ya'alon said that both the Israelis and Palestinians know that "at the end of the day, most of the settlements will be evacuated."

Ya'alon's statement, made last week during a discussion at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, came during a question-and-answer session. It did not include details about the future he expected for the settlements or the political circumstances surrounding the evacuations.

Sharon’s determination to deny on record and publicly the statements by his top diplomatic and military subordinates contradicts his own recent statements supporting the creation of a Palestinian state and goes contrary to US President Bush’s vision of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Sunday December 1, 2002

Main Headline

16 Year Old Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (PC) - A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli forces in Gaza Saturday, according to Palestinian officials.

The circumstances around his death are unclear, but witnesses say that Israeli forces opened fire on a group of youth who were walking to school. No one claimed that the youth were provoking the soldiers.

Israelis officials defended the army’s actions, saying they fired warning shots before firing into the crowd of students. Of the thousands of Palestinians killed in the past two years of the Palestinian Uprising, hundreds have been children.

The Israeli army said that they would “investigate the incident.”

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli forces invaded the town of Beit Lahiya, destroying three Palestinian homes and killing at least two residents.

Army Forces Bury Elderly Man under Rubble of his House

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - (PC) Amidst tears and sorrow over the deaths of a Palestinian child and a toddler killed in cold blood by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Gaza City and Hebron, columns of tanks and armored personnel carriers thrust into the Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia overnight, killing two Palestinians and injuring at least a dozen others.

Backed by two Apache helicopter gunships, IOF soldiers stormed the town at mid-night and killed two Palestinians, security sources said Sunday.

A 32-year-old man, Mahmoud Saleh Al Narani, was shot dead when IOF raided the northern Gaza Strip town under a barrage of indiscriminate, heavy gunfire. Medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza said than man’s body was riddled with bullets.

Witnesses reported machine-gun fire and firing from helicopters, which were dispersed across residential neighborhoods, causing alarm amidst civilians to say the least and causing damage to several homes. It also knocked out the town’s power transformer, swallowing entire neighborhoods in total darkness.

An elderly man was meanwhile found dead under the rubble of his home, which IOF dynamited while he was still inside, Palestinian medical sources said.

Ashur Salem Deeb, a 70-year-old with speech and hearing impairment, was found crushed under the debris of his home by Palestinian civil emergency workers and neighbors after the army blew up three buildings Israel says belong to activists, sources said.

The elderly man was inside his 6- story house when IOF threatened to demolish it. Sources say the man was not given enough time to evacuate the building. It was leveled to the ground with him inside. Neighbors speculated he had not heard the army call over loudspeakers for people to vacate their homes.

Wires reported dazed residents gazing at the rubble, most barefoot and in pajamas in the dust, some sobbing.

Human rights groups have repeatedly denounced this policy as collective punishment since it renders entire families homeless.

Hours before the deadly Saturday-night incursion, IOF shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy on his way home from school in Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources said.

The sources said Hatem Al-Ajla was struck in the back by bullets fired by IOF soldiers.

Earlier on Thursday, a three-year-old toddler was killed by IOF in the city of Hebron, south of the West Bank.

Eyewitnesses said the victim, identified as Abbas Al-Atrash, was standing near the window of his house in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood when Israeli occupation troops opened heavy gunfire, wounding the boy in the abdomen and killing him instantly.

Three other Palestinians were lightly wounded by Israeli fire in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources.

UN Demands Israel Punish Soldiers Responsible for Relief Worker’s Killing

NEW YORK - (PC) Israeli relations with the UN faced a further downslide, as the world organization demanded the Jewish state punish soldiers responsible for the killing of one of its top relief officials in the West Bank town of Jenin.

Iain Hook, a 53-year-old British national was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Jenin refugee camp last Friday. Hook was working for UNRWA, a UN body responsible for aiding Palestinian refugees, on a project to rebuild the Jenin refugee camp, which was almost totally leveled by IOF during an April onslaught.

In a letter over the killing of Hook sent to Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said he “expected Israel to carry out a rigorous investigation of the incident, share its results with the United Nations and hold accountable those responsible,” a UN spokesman said on Friday.

Israeli officials claimed clashes erupted between IOF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen shooting from inside the UN compound. The UN refuted that claim saying no one without proper authorization was allowed inside the clearly marked compound surrounded by gates.

Israel also previously said a preliminary inquiry showed that Hook was killed by mistake, when he emerged out of his tailor carrying what a soldier mistook for a gun. Israel then said the soldier thought it was a hand grenade. The gun and hand grenade turned out to be nothing but a mobile phone hook was using to evacuate his staff.