FEBRUARY 2003

Thursday February 27, 2003

Sharon Lures Extremist Parties into Coalition

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Following pains-taking efforts exerted by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over the past few days to form a coalition government, Israel’s extreme parties Shinui, National Religious Party (NRP) and the National Union Party (NUP) are expected to sign their coalition agreement with Sharon’s Likud Party Wednesday, February 26.

Likud, which holds 40 seats in the newly sworn-in 120-seat Knesset, signed up the extreme-right NUP to the new coalition late Tuesday, February 25, after clinching an agreement with the secular centre-right Shinui party (15 seats), and the NRP (six seats), Agency France-Press (AFP) reported.

By so doing, hawkish Sharon bolstered his parliamentary majority with a sharp swing to the right that was likely to cripple any possibility to meet international peace demands.

Analysts say that the new Israeli line-up represents a setback for U.S.-led efforts to restart the Middle East peace process.

According to the Israeli media, Likud and the NUP managed to sidestep a deadlock over Palestinian statehood by agreeing the issue would only be brought before the cabinet "if and when it becomes relevant."

The NRP staunchly advocates the expansion of Jewish settlements and is opposed to the peace process.

Sharon had worked hard to bring the Labor Party into government as well, but the two sides disagreed sharply over the inclusion of the NRP.

Sharon's putative coalition grew from the 61 Knesset seats of Likud, Shinui and the NRP to 68 after the NUP’s seven MPs had joined the coalition.

With 68 MPs in the government alliance, Sharon's cabinet will be difficult to topple.

A recent law stipulates that an absolute majority is needed to carry a motion of no confidence.

Likud is expected to have 12 or 13 ministers in the government, in addition to the prime minister and two deputy ministers.

For the first time, Likud will also have the chair of the Knesset Finance Committee, the Israeli daily Haaretz said, Wednesday.

In addition, it will have the chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the Constitution, Justice and Law Committee, added the paper.

Responsibility for the Israel Broadcasting Authority will also remain in Likud hands, most likely one of the ministers without portfolio.

This is the first time that ultra-Orthodox parties - the traditional kingmakers of Israeli politics - have not been part of a Likud government, BBC News Online remarked.

The coalition is due to be presented to parliament on Thursday, February 27.

For their part, Palestinian officials lambasted the new Israeli line-up as a government that would expand settlements and do away with any chance of renewing peace talks.

Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi cautioned the new coalition was "very dangerous".

"It is a very dangerous government, made up only of a group of racist extremists that have never stopped calling for the expulsion of the Palestinians," Ashrawi told AFP.

Such a government "will not help at all to open the way for the peace process, and the policies of these parties will further complicate the situation given that they do not recognize Palestinian rights," Ashrawi said.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said "this government will push for the development of settlements and the escalation of the aggression against the Palestinian people, while its program will completely ignore any peace initiatives."

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Netanyahu Bumped from Key Israeli Post

By Ross Dunn

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reorganized his cabinet, removing his long-time rival Benjamin Netanyahu from the Foreign Ministry.

In a surprise move, Sharon offered the Foreign Ministry post to Silvan Shalom, who accepted the job.

Netanyahu turned down an offer from the prime minister to replace Shalom in the finance ministry.

In his discussions with Sharon, Netanyahu made it clear he was only prepared to serve as Foreign Minister.

Netanyahu was given the portfolio last year, shortly before he unsuccessfully challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud Party.

His departure from the Foreign Ministry could affect government policy towards the Palestinians.

Before last month's elections, Netanyahu said he wanted to send Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat into exile. He also voiced his strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Shalom's views on such issues are yet to be clarified. But he is known as a strong Sharon loyalist.

If Netanyahu remains steadfast in his refusal to switch portfolios, he is likely to find himself out of the cabinet.

The former mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, has been selected by Sharon to take over the Finance Ministry, if Netanyahu does not have a change of heart.

Sharon's new cabinet includes the leader of the centrist and secular Shinui Party, Tommy Lapid, who has been appointed justice minister. Shinui is the second-largest party in the new ruling coalition.

At the same time, Sharon kept to his pledge to retain Shaul Mofaz, a former head of the Israeli Army, as defense minister.

-[VOANews (voanews.com).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Israeli Shells Kill Innocence in Cold Blood

By Adel Zaarab

GAZA CITY - "Where is my beloved son?" she screamed, her knees to weak to help her stand. They carried her on a wheelchair to give a final send-off to her son.

Her tears started rolling down her cheeks as she saw her son lying in the morgue. She sat behind him, touched his forefront with her trembling hands and kissed him tenderly with everyone crying around her.

She is the mother of the 14-year-old Ahmad Abu Elwan, who was shot dead cold-bloodedly by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday, February 25, while playing in front of his houses in Tal al-Sultan district, west of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation troops fired a volley of artillery shells at the Palestinian houses in the region.

“Suddenly, we heard deafening explosions, which shook the entire area. I got out from my house, which was completely destroyed by two shells,” said Mahmoud Abul Fadl, an eyewitness to the massacre.

“I tried hard to take shelter from the 30-minute indiscriminate barbaric shelling of area. I did see a shell passing before my eyes to hit a car with shrapnel flying all over the area to kill Ahmad Abu Elwan, whose blood gushed forth by one of the shrapnel, which hit his back,” he added.

Elwan’s cousin Jihad lamented the death of Elwan by saying that he was a kind and docile sort of a person.

“He went out to bring a present to his 11-year-old brother Mahmoud on his birthday…he didn’t know that the family’s happiness would turn into sadness,” the tearful cousin said.

Jihad tried to calm down Elwan’s grandparents, who were dreaming that Elwan would someday bring them back to their birthplace in the Palestinian village of Zar Nouka from which they were forced to flee in 1948.

“The occupation kidnapped my grandson in a wink of an eye,” said Elwan’s grandmother, who was dumbfounded by the death of her grandson.

The death of Elwan makes him the 216th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli troops in Rafah and the 76th child.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Tuesday February 25, 2003

Shin Bet chief canceled trip to Belgium fearing arrest

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter recently canceled a planned trip to Belgium for fear the Belgians would try to arrest him because of his involvement in Israel's counter-terrorism war in the territories, defense establishment officials confirmed Tuesday night after Channel 10 reported it.

Dichter was scheduled to deliver a lecture on international terror at a conference. Although the law enabling Belgian courts to prosecute alleged crimes against humanity was in appeal in court, the Shin Bet chief asked for a legal opinion on the possibility he might be arrested.

Dichter's staff asked the foreign ministry and defense establishment experts to look into it and when they did not provide an unequivocal answer, Dichter decided to cancel his trip.

Since the intifada began two and half years ago, and because of the increasing European criticism against Israel, many senior officers have consulted jurists prior to visiting Western European countries. However, this is the firs time a senior security official cancels a trip abroad fearing legal problems.

IOF Demolish 5,000 Houses, All Public Facilities in Jenin: Mayor

JENIN - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have demolished 5,000 houses, destroyed all public service facilities and buildings, detained 13,000 Palestinians and soared unemployment to 70 percent in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, its mayor Walid Musa told reporters in Kuala Lampor, Malaysaia, on Saturday.

“Houses are demolished, people killed on a daily basis by Israeli forces, claiming that Jenin is producing terrorists. This is not true at all. The city is now under siege,” Musa told reporters after a 30-minute courtesy call on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at his office in Putrajaya.

Walid Musa said the Israeli forces had also destroyed the city’s infrastructure and that the people were living without proper sanitation, water and electricity.

The city is home to more than 50,000 Palestinians and traces its history back to more than 4,000 years.

“Jenin had reached 70 per cent unemployment, all our service facilities and buildings have been destroyed,” he said.

Moreover, he said 5,000 houses had been demolished in the Jenin province to date; 1,360 of which were in the city of Jenin, while about 13,000 Palestinians had been jailed, including 2,030 from Jenin.

The mayor of Jenin also stressed that the city had seen too many killings, especially of children and women, and since last April, it was being invaded regularly by Israeli occupation forces.

Musa said Israeli tanks often barged into schools without any prior thought to children in the area. Recently a nine-year-old girl was killed after she was steam-rolled by tanks.

The city had one hospital but this too was destroyed, forcing the people to seek medical treatment in other provinces.

“But this too is a problem as Israel had built (military) checkpoints everywhere and it takes more than six to seven hours to get to a point only five kilometers away. It took me three days to get here (Malaysia). From Jenin to the Jordanian border, it took me 14 hours although the distance is not far (less than 100km),” he added.

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

NAM Summit Urges Trial of Israelis Suspected of War Crimes

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israelis suspected of war crimes against Palestinians should be tried in the International Criminal Court, the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) said in a draft statement released Sunday.

The NAM leaders “strongly condemn the systematic human rights violations and reported war crimes that have been committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people,” the draft statement to be adopted at the end of the summit said.

The call for trials follows a decision by a Belgian appeals court earlier this month to uphold a far-reaching law against war crimes that paves the way for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be prosecuted.

The court ruled that officials such as the Israeli leader may be prosecuted after they leave office.

Twenty-three Palestinians who survived a massacre by an Israeli-allied Christian militia at two refugee camps in Beirut in 1982 are suing Sharon in a Belgian court.

An Israeli tribunal found Sharon, then “defense” minister, “indirectly but personally responsible” for the carnage. He was forced to resign but never prosecuted. He was earlier this year re-elected to a second term as prime minister of Israel.

The forum representing billions of the world's poorest people will urge "legal remedies without impunity to war crimes" and will note the role of the new court to be inaugurated in The Hague next month.

The statement, thrashed out by delegates meeting ahead of the main summit, also condemns the absence of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from the meeting. Israel has reportedly refused to guarantee the Palestinian leader's right to return to his territories.

"The Heads of State or Government expressed regret at the absence of President Yasser Arafat due to the continued obstruction of his freedom of movement by Israel," the statement said.

Leaders from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America will also call for sanctions against Israel to secure its withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

"NAM countries represent two thirds of the countries of the world and have to shoulder the task in the UN of trying to impose sanctions as they were imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa," said the head of the political directorate in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Farouq al-Qaddoumi.

The call for trials and sanctions is a step up from the usual condemnations of Israeli actions by the NAM, which has been meeting since 1961 and opens a two-day summit Monday.

"You can see that the text is still very strong and we think that it takes the position of the movement an important step forward," the United Nations' Palestinian delegate Naser Alqedwa told AFP.

The NAM leaders decided to come up with a separate statement on Palestine, which will be a reflection of the current situation, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

The statement was in addition to the Final Document, which would include NAM's continuous position on the plight of the Palestinians, he said.

“This has been a long-drawn issue. A lot of killings have been carried out,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Syed Hamid said the injustices against the Palestinians were unacceptable, adding that NAM supported the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.

“We are also against the continuous Israeli occupation of Palestine,” he said.

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

Detainee Dies of Lack of Medical Attention, Mistreatment

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - An investigation carried out by leading Palestinian human rights organization LAW following the death of Palestinian detainee, Walid M. Amre, 35, in an Israeli prison last week, has revealed that the he has died as a result of lack of medical attention and the mistreatment that he received from the prison authorities.

His family in the town of Dura in the southern West Bank has accused the Israeli occupation authorities of torturing him and withholding medical care from him.

The family also said that Amre had been kept in solitary confinement in sub-zero temperatures.

Walid had been held for approximately 16 months at the notorious Nafha prison in the Negev desert, although he had not been sentenced.

According the Palestinian Prisoners Association (PPA), he was imprisoned on December 12, 2001.

He was married and had six children; the oldest of whom is 13 years old, the youngest one and a half years old.

LAW as well as many other local human rights organizations has consistently spoken out against the poor treatment of Palestinian detainees at the hands of Israeli prisons administrations.

Monir Manasra, a prisoner who was able to see LAW’s lawyer, Jawad Imawi, during his visit to Kfar Asion detention center, spoke of the case of Abd al-Hakim Talahmeh, 47, also from Dura, who suffers from high blood pressure, depression, and memory loss.

Manasra told LAW that an Israeli medical officer gave Talahmeh pills, which caused him to lose consciousness for three days.

The prisoners told Imawi they are beaten regularly and forced to sit on a ‘shabeh’—a chair, which forces the back forward to an extremely painful position.

The detainees also complained of extremely poor food, and that they are fed the leftovers of the Israeli soldiers’ meals, and are given very small portions. They are only given breakfast at 2 pm, while ‘dinner’ is served at 1am.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees “does not meet the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, and the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners,” LAW said.

It further called on the Israeli government to ensure that the rights of detainees are protected in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law.

Around 2,300 Palestinians are currently in Israeli detention, the human rights group says.

During the Intifada, or uprising against occupation, over 24,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. Detentions have ranged from hours to months to years.

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

Sharon Forms Governing Coalition with Slim Majority

By Larry James

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has signed an agreement with the centrist Shinui Party that paves the way for the creation of a new government, almost one month after national elections.

The deal with Shinui comes a day after the National Religious Party joined the coalition.

Even though Shinui, the third-largest party in parliament, wants to see the influence of the religious establishment reigned in, its leaders have also said it is possible to form a working relationship with the NRP. The party is the most mainstream of Israel's religious parties. Still, it supports the expansion of Jewish settlements and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

Analysts here say the makeup of this new government does not bode well for the peace process.

"Well, the new Israeli government is a hardliner government, and from the point of view of peace lovers, I don't think it's a good message," said Danny Rubinstein, a columnist for Ha'aretz newspaper. "But you know, we are in bad shape in our relations with the Palestinians, so it doesn't change a lot, and we don't see any light at the end of the tunnel, unfortunately."

Rubinstein said the right-leaning nature of this new government, as it now stands, may seem a surprise, since the major partner, Shinui, includes many moderate components.

However, its leader, Tommy Lapid, has priorities other than making peace with the Palestinians. In particular, he wants parliament to rescind laws that give orthodox Jews special privileges, including an exemption from army service. At the same time, he may be a moderating influence on the Palestinian issue, as he claims his party is more liberal than Prime Minister Sharon's Likud, but not as liberal as Likud's chief rival, Labor.

Even though Sharon has agreements with enough partners to form a government that controls 61 seats in the 120-member parliament, there are indications that the coalition-building process is not over yet.

Columnist Danny Rubinstein says he believes there is even an outside chance that Labor may still be persuaded to join the government. "There's a lot of pressure from outside. We face now a terrible economic crisis, and we need, desperately, the American loan guarantees, and the only way to pursue [them] is to convince the American administration that it will not be a hardliner government. That's why Sharon needs the Labor Party in the Cabinet, not because he likes the Labor Party, but because he [needs to] creates the sort of image of a moderate and reasonable leader," he said.

Whether Labor can be convinced to join Sharon remains to be seen.

Labor favors an immediate resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians and the dismantling of some Jewish settlements, policies sharply opposed by Sharon.

The Labor Party leader, Amram Mitzna, has repeatedly said his party wants to fulfill the role of opposition, and therefore, he will not join the government.

Despite such public statements he met twice with Prime Minister Sharon over the weekend, exploring that very possibility.

-[VOANews (voanews.com).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Murder in the Gaza Strip

By Kristen Ess

An independent journalist from the US asked me why even the friendly press is ignoring the atrocities committed by the Israeli military against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Yesterday Israeli soldiers beat two Palestinian men to death with the butts of their M16s and slit their throats while an Aljazeera camera filmed from 2 feet away.

The Israeli military government needs no permission for its ethnic cleansing campaign, it need not cover up its acts. No one is trying to stop them, no one can.

An elderly man died from a heart attack in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip while trying to protect his 15 year old son from Israeli soldiers who were shelling from an illegal Israeli settlement near by.

The massacre in the Gaza Strip continues while the international press watching when and in what form the US will attack Iraq.

Israeli Soldiers Mutilate Bodies of Palestinian Victims

NABLUS - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed four more Palestinians in a renewed assault on various areas in the occupied Palestinian territory, raising the death toll to over thirty-eight in one week.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian medical sources said a Palestinian man died of a heart attack early Monday in Balata refugee camp, after Israeli occupation soldiers forced him and his family out in the cold, while they demolished their house before their eyes.

Mohammad Msemi, 52, was woken up before dawn by IOF soldiers coming to detain his son Iyad.

When the soldiers realized that Iyad was not there, they told the family to get out of the house, witnesses said.

When Msemi went back inside and saw the damage done to his home, he suffered a heart attack and died instantly, they added.

A Palestinian civilian was also killed by IOF in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem Sunday, Palestinian security officials said.

The man was identified as Moayed Salameh, 24; a worker who was driving close to the border with Israel when IOF troops ordered him to stop then opened fire at him and killed him instantly, the officials said.

Another Palestinian civilian was killed earlier Sunday in an Israel tank raid on Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the incursion to seven, Palestinian medics said.

He was identified as Baraa al-Afeefi, 16, who was hit by a bullet in the chest and died in the hospital several hours later, medics said.

Israeli Soldiers Mutilate Bodies of Palestinian Victims

Meanwhile, the director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Mu’awia Abu Hassanein, said the bodies of the two Palestinians killed earlier by IOF in Beit Hanoun, identified as Abu Shara and Garbawi, had been mutilated by the Israeli occupation soldiers, and said it was possible the men had been still alive when their throats were stabbed.

He said both men had been shot but also had “deep stab wounds on the neck.” He said Abu Shara had also had his eyes “cut out” and that his skull was smashed.

The Jazeera Satellite Television on Monday screened a footage showing Israeli soldiers mutilating the body of at least one Palestinian, apparently using axes and large knifes.

Five other Palestinians were killed in the reoccupation of the town, while another was killed trying to infiltrate an illegal Jewish settlement in southern Gaza.

A 16-year-old Palestinian teenager was also killed in the southern Gaza Strip Sunday, Palestinian medical officials said.

Palestinian medics said Mahmoud Abu Zaher, 16, was shot dead and two other youths were injured when IOF opened fire on the nearby town of Khan Younis.

IOF also destroyed a Palestinian house in Khan Younis, which it claimed was being used to monitor movements in the neighboring illegal Jewish settlement bloc of “Gush Katif”.

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

Saturday February 22, 2003

Sharon Poses Bigger Threat: Moussa

MADRID/GAZA (Agencies) - The hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon poses a far greater regional threat than Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa warned in an interview published yesterday. Moussa told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that more than a decade of UN sanctions and arms inspections in Iraq meant Saddam was “much weaker than he was in 1990 and doesn’t constitute a threat” to the Middle East.

“The serious and chronic danger for this region comes from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the irresponsible, aggressive policies of the Sharon government,” he said, in comments translated into Spanish. Moussa pointed out that UN Security Council Resolution 687 called for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in the entire Middle East region — not just Iraq.

“Everyone knows Israel possesses many weapons (of mass destruction),” he said. “It’s a scandalous example of double standard. There’s a lot of attention to the possibility that Saddam could possess weapons of mass destruction, yet it’s accepted that another country in the region should have them. Israel is allowed to carry out violent acts with complete impunity that no other country in the world could get away with. Israel can ignore Security Council resolutions,” the Arab leader said.

Middle East Quartet Voices 'Serious Concern' at Continuing Cycle of Violence

LONDON - Envoys for the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace process – comprising the United States, Russian Federation, European Union, and United Nations – today voiced their “very serious concern” at the continuing cycle of violence in the region and repeated their call for an immediate ceasefire.

A statement issued by the Quartet in London said the Envoys “expressed very serious concern at the continuing acts of violence and terror planned and directed against Israelis, and at Israeli military operations over the past several days in the West Bank and Gaza which led to Palestinian civilian fatalities.”

The group reaffirmed their call in December for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire. “All Palestinian individuals and groups must end all acts of terror against Israelis, in any location,” they said.

In New York, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the Envoys' statement. "It is a matter of vital interest to peace and security in the Middle East that the Quartet maintain its efforts with the parties to achieve the two-state solution that is the cornerstone of international consensus on the comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Arab conflict," Hua Jiang said.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, represented the UN at yesterday's talks, which reviewed the current situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prospects for giving new impetus to peace efforts. The meeting also focused on the next steps towards the adoption and implementation of the Quartet’s so-called road map, which the group reaffirmed should be formally adopted and presented to the parties as soon as possible.

Today’s statement reiterated the Quartet’s call for the Palestinians to build "credible institutions" to prepare for statehood and welcomed the Palestinians’ decision to appoint a Prime Minister as a significant step. The Envoys also underscored the importance of appointing a credible and fully empowered Prime Minister.

“They urged the immediate convening of the relevant legislative and executive Palestinian bodies to exercise their authority in this regard, and called on the Government of Israel to facilitate these meetings,” the statement said. “The Quartet also encouraged the Palestinians to continue the process of preparing a constitution that would form the basis for a strong parliamentary democracy.”

Noting Israel’s important role in facilitating the Palestinian reform process, the Quartet recognized the positive effect of the resumption of monthly revenue transfers and return of outstanding arrears.

“Likewise, the Quartet Envoys emphasized Israel’s obligation, consistent with legitimate security concerns, to do more to ease the dire humanitarian and socio-economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza, including facilitating freedom of movement and access, alleviating the daily burdens of life under occupation, and respecting the dignity of Palestinian civilians,” the statement said. “They welcomed the opportunity for direct discussions between the donor community and Israelis and Palestinians to address this critical issue.”

In related news, the Task Force on Palestinian Reform also wrapped up its latest meeting today in London, welcoming the “clear and considerable” progress made in several areas of Palestinian civil reform.

The Task Force is composed of the Quartet, Norway, Japan, Canada, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Thursday February 20, 2003

Israel Rejects Distributing Gas Masks to Palestinians under Its Occupation

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PMC) - Israel, which has been occupying Palestinian Territory since 1967 and is currently occupying most of the West Bank, has distributed gas masks to Israelis and has begun distributing them to 250,000 immigrant workers, but says it has no obligation to distribute the masks to Palestinians under its occupation.

Articles 31 and 32 of the fourth Geneva Convention stipulate that an occupying power must provide protection for civilians in time of war.

The Israeli High Court on Tuesday rejected a petition demanding that Israel supply gas masks to over three million Palestinians, in the event of a war with Iraq.

The petition argued that Israel had a duty to protect Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza after the Israeli reoccupied the Palestinian population centers in a major offensive against the PNA civilian autonomous administration last June.

“The state of Israel, as an occupying force, cannot ignore its responsibility for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza only because there is some kind of authority that Israel does not allow to function properly,” said Mohammed Dahleh, a lawyer for the Physicians for Human Rights group.

In its ruling Tuesday, the Supreme Court said Israel is only obliged to supply masks to those Palestinians living in the “C” zones of the West Bank, which are under the occupation of the Jewish state under the terms of the autonomy accords, but not in areas controlled by the PNA.

“If Israel was preventing the distribution of gas masks by the Palestinian Authority, there would be a reason for the petition,” Israel radio quoted one of the judges as saying.

Dismissing a petition from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Israeli Physicians for Human Rights, Israel’s supreme court said the Israeli government has responsibility only for the Palestinians living under its administrative as well as security control.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which has responsibility for health, shelter construction, fire prevention and emergency services, should therefore take responsibility for the distribution of gas masks in areas under its civil control, the Israeli state attorney argued, ignoring that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have been reoccupying most of the Palestinian territory since June.

The Israeli army will begin distributing gas masks from Wednesday to about 250,000 foreign workers in case of Iraqi missile strikes in response to any US attack on Iraq, an army spokesman said.

The appeal lodged by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) calls for equality in the distribution of free gas masks and protection kits to all residents of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT).

In a joint statement, the two organizations said such kits should be freely distributed to all residents of the OPT, to prisoners and detainees, to migrant workers and their families, and to the thousands of Bedouins living in Israel’s Negev desert.

It calls “for a fair and equal approach to all people living in Israel and in the territories under its effective control.”

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

World Bank: Palestinians Face Similar Malnutrition as Congo

RAMALLAH (PMC) - The Palestine National Authority (PNA) called for $1.5 billion in aid to deal with the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory at talks in London Tuesday.

Palestinian Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said his delegation was seeking foreign backing to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation plaguing the Palestinian people.

“In the absence of a full-blown political process that will lead us back to the peace process...at least we need support from the international community to protect the Palestinian people to reduce its suffering,” he told reporters.

The PNA’s plea for funds was issued after UNRWA, a UN agency that feeds Palestinian refugees in the Occupied Territory, said it needed $94 million immediately for food.

Meanwhile, the World Bank warned that Palestinian society is facing acute malnutrition similar to that in Zimbabwe and Congo.

It also said the Palestinian economy suffers from a 53% unemployment rate and has shrunk to half its size in the past two years, blaming Israeli closures as the “proximate cause” thereof.

This worsening plight of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip was shown in a draft World Bank report presented to the international donors meeting in London Tuesday.

“The second year of the Intifada has witnessed a further precipitate decline in all Palestinian economic indicators,” it said.

The Israeli restrictions had tightened over the past year, the report mentioned, adding that “No Palestinian economic recovery is possible without the removal or significant reduction of current restrictions on the internal movement of Palestinian people and goods”.

Palestinian families had endured long periods without work or income, forcing them to sell their assets, borrow money and cut consumption of food and other items, the report said.

“Real per capita food consumption has dropped by an estimated 25-30 percent since September 2000, and the incidence of acute malnutrition recently observed, 13.3 percent in Gaza, is similar to levels found in Zimbabwe and Congo,” it said.

Moreover, the report said that Palestinian health and education ministries had somehow maintained basic services despite curfews, closures, and financial difficulties.

Meanwhile, UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said the crisis was the result of conflict and required a political solution.

With a possible Iraq war threatening to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Larsen and several other participants called for early action to publish and implement a “roadmap” to peace prepared by international mediators.

Larsen said peace efforts also hung on formation of an Israeli government ready to endorse the “roadmap” and Bush’s call for a two-state solution and an end to Israeli occupation.

Britain’s International Development Minister Clare Short told the meeting in London that Israeli “restrictions” were a key factor in an alarming decline in the Palestinian economy since the beginning of Intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation, which erupted in September 2000.

“Donors must remain engaged,” she urged at the start of talks among an international liaison group that has channeled aid to the Palestinians since the 1993 Oslo peace accords.

Two thirds of Palestinians were now living on less than two dollars a day, Short said.

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

Call For Year-Long Intifada Truce

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies) The Palestinian leadership called for a one-year “demilitarization” of the uprising yesterday, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continued to try to woo his left-wing rival into a national unity coalition.

Two Palestinians were also shot dead in the Gaza Strip in fresh violence which capped a week of bloodshed during which 34 Palestinians and four Israelis were killed. Palestine Liberation Organization No. 2 Mahmud Abbas, said after meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov that “the Palestinian leadership has decided to demilitarize the intifada for one year”.

He stopped short of clearly calling for an end to the armed struggle against Israeli occupation. But his wording implied an end to attacks not only against civilians inside Israel but also Jewish settlers and soldiers, going further than past calls by the Palestinian leadership.

Abu Mazen, a likely candidate for the newly created position of Palestinian prime minister, said the truce could be a step toward implementation of a peace roadmap — drawn up by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.

Sharon, meanwhile, met with the Amram Mitzna for the third time yesterday in a last-ditch bid to convince the Labor Party leader — who has consistently refused to compromise his dovish platform by entering a coalition — to join a national unity government.

The premier’s office said the talks lasted two hours and would resume after Shabbat tonight, but commentators were pessimistic about the talks.

Meanwhile violence continued in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military sources said the army killed a Palestinian who attempted to enter the northern Jewish settlement of Dugit. A few hours later, another Palestinian was shot down by border guards at the Erez crossing point, also in the north, after attacking the post with hand grenades and an assault rifle.

-[Arab News (arabnews.com).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Wednesday February 19, 2003

Israel Annexes Bethlehem Holy Site, PNA Outraged

RAMALLAH - The Palestine National Authority has condemned Israel’s decision to annex vast areas of Palestinian land near a holy site sacred to both Muslims and Jews in Bethlehem to build a wall that would in effect isolate these areas from the southern West Bank city.

Bethlehem’s mayor, Hanna Nasser said he received formal notice from the Israeli authorities that they are annexing 3.5 acres (14 dunams) of Palestinian land for three years, but Nasser fears the land will be isolated from the rest of Bethlehem by the so-called “security wall,” which will cover about 1,000 acres (4,000 dunams).

Israeli officials confirmed the order was sent to residents of the area but denied claims by Nasser that several homes would be destroyed to make way for the wall, AP reported.

The area to be seized is near the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, also known to Jews as Rachel’s Tomb—a holy site scared to both Muslims and Jews—on the northern edge of Bethlehem.

Seizing the land will also mean a de facto annexation of the area, which includes Palestinian neighborhoods and a refugee camp with an area of 3,000 dunams that will in turn be cut off by the wall and annexed to Isarel.

Accordingly, Palestinian officials said they would appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court. The order gives them 10 days to do so.

PNA Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo said the decision to annex the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque area and deport its inhabitants is the gravest measure perpetarted since the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, as it constitutes the practical beginning of the Israeli apartheid policy of “transfer”.

Israel retained control over the Mosque—Rachel’s Tomb—in December 1995, as part of the Oslo Accords peace agreement.

Since the Intifada erupted more than 28 months ago, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have reoccupied most of the West Bank, including Bethlehem. Annexing the site, which is situated at the heart of a Bethlehem neighbourhood, appears to be of a more permanent nature, however, because of the construction of the security wall, wires reported.

In September, Israel’s security cabinet passed a decision to maintain its grip on the area; a move that was met with Palestinian denouncement and an appeal to the international community to intervene to stop what it called “a new crime”.

At the time, Israeli authorities said they were considering expanding Jerusalem’s borders further to include Rachel’s Tomb, which would mean expropriating Palestinian land in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which is situated to its south.

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

Suffering of Palestinians, Israelis Can End Only Through Political Solution, UN Envoy Says

LONDON - The suffering of Palestinians and Israelis - the deaths and injuries, the economic devastation, the profound insecurity - can end only through a political solution, a top United Nations envoy in the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said today at a meeting in London on Palestinian reform.

"The humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is not caused by a natural disaster. It comes from a conflict," Mr. Roed-Larsen said in a speech delivered to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Palestinian Reform, part of a number of activities of the so-called Quartet - comprising the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States - taking place in London this week.

"Bringing this conflict to an end is entirely within the power of the parties here today," stressed Mr. Roed-Larsen, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

He said the task of the meeting will be to seek ways "to break the dilemma that has us maintaining our intense humanitarian engagement - despite the lack of political progress," and that a start would be an agreement on the minimum needs and basic rights of the civilian population, whatever the prevailing security circumstances.

"We must ensure that every teacher and pupil is able to get to school, every patient has access to health care, every worker can reach his or her workplace; every household has access to safe and affordable water," Mr. Roed-Larsen told the participants.

The UN Envoy reiterated the fact that only a comprehensive plan like the Quartet's road map can succeed in resolving these dilemmas. "Regrettably, while the road map's clock is wound, it is not yet ticking," Mr. Roed-Larsen said. "And while we are confident that will start soon, there is an absolute imperative to improve the lives of ordinary people right now."

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Tuesday February 18, 2003

Palestinian Basic Law Must Be Amended to Appoint PM: Abed Rabbo

RAMALLAH - A Palestinian delegation is set for talks with the Quartet’s International Task Force on Palestinian Reform, and its Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which brings together major aid donors to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), a Palestinian official said.

Among those attending would be culture and information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, PNA’s chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat, finance minister Salam Fayad and economy minister Maher al-Masri, the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported Saturday.

Unlike in January, when Israel blocked Palestinian officials from attending a British-sponsored conference, which Israeli officials had not been invited to, Erekat said he had received assurances from Israel the delegation would be allowed to travel this time.

Erekat told AFP the talks would review “reforms, aid to the Palestinians and the Quartet’s roadmap.”

The PNA had taken several concrete steps to reform its administration, the most important of which was President Yasser Arafat’s announcement on Thursday that he will call the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to convene to take the necessary measures to appoint a prime minister for the PNA.

Abed Rabbo Sunday elaborated on Arafat’s move to stress that appointing a prime minister is a completely serious national and legislative process.

“Naming the Palestinian prime minister will only be announced within the framework of Palestinian legitimate institutions,” he told al-Quds daily.

“This is a serious issue related to making amendments to PNA’s basic law. New articles and clauses must be introduced to the basic law to stipulate the role of the prime minister, his authorities and responsibilities as well as his terms of reference,” he added.

Abed Rabbo confirmed that a Palestinian delegation would go to London, indicating that the delegation will take part in a series of meetings for three forums: the Quartet, the AHLC and the task force on PNA reforms.

He said these meetings will start Tuesday and last three days.

The meeting of the AHLC, which identifies priority areas for donor assistance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was called on Friday by Norway, which chairs the committee.

Among those invited to the AHLC meetings, which will take place in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, were the United States, the EU, Japan, Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, along with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Norway said.

The meeting is scheduled to open on February 18 by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, who chairs the AHLC. It is also being presided over by Greece, the current holder of the European Union presidency.

Britain is being invited as a guest.

Although Israel is not part of the task force, an Israeli delegation was invited by the Quartet. The Israeli delegation is to head out Monday afternoon to participate in a series of sessions about economic reforms, foreign ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said.

The group will include Yossi Gal, deputy director general of the finance ministry and two other unidentified officials.

“The Israeli delegation is going to meet members of the Quartet's task force (on Palestinian reforms) and is to be involved in only one part of the series of meetings, that which involves economic issues,” Peled said.

He was referring to the diplomatic Quartet comprising the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, which is developing a “roadmap” for Middle East peace.

“Israel is expecting to be able to show there has been progress in economic issues at this meeting,” he added, without giving further details.

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

UN to Help Repair Damage in Palestinian Environment

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - According to United Nations’ sources, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) will receive UN support to repair damage to its environment caused by decades of Israeli occupation, which rendered the environmental infrastructure in the territories in urgent need to be reconstructed to avoid a predicted catastrophe.

At the UN Environment Program Council meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya last week, environment ministers unanimously endorsed a report by the UN’s Post Conflict Assessment Unit on the deteriorating state of the OPT’s environment.

The Council agreed on a package of recommendations to help the Palestine National Authority (PNA) improve its water supply, waste disposal system, degraded land and endangered habitats.

“Our main hope for the region is that the conflict can be resolved and the suffering brought to an end,” said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director, adding that environment cooperation could act as a tool for the peace process, whilst solving urgent problems.

Recommendations include reviving existing international environmental agreements, implementing water saving strategies, repairing cesspits to reduce groundwater contamination, building wastewater treatment plants, and making the Dead Sea a World Heritage Site.

The UN’s environment agency had said last week it was “gravely concerned” about the destruction of Palestinian environment, caused mainly by Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territory.

The UN agency concerns were presented in a report issued last Friday, at the end of an international meeting, which called for giving the UNEP the green light to solve the environment problem in occupied territory.

“The Governing Council is gravely concerned over the continuing deterioration and destruction of the environment in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories),” it added.

Palestinian environmental problems include water scarcity, pollution of aquifers, rapid population growth, the burden on the environment from refugees, overgrazing, loss of forests and vegetation cover, and land degradation, experts say.

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

EU Welcomes Arafat’s Decision to Appoint Prime Minister

BRUSSELS - European Union leaders Monday reiterated their firm belief in the need to invigorate the peace process in the Middle East and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In their conclusions issued after the emergency EU summit on Iraq in Brussels Monday night, the 15-member bloc said "we continue to support early implementation of the roadmap endorsed by the Quartet (EU, US, UN and Russia).

"Terror and violence must end. So must settlement activity. Palestinian reforms must be speeded up and, in this respect, President Arafat's statement that he will appoint a prime minister is a welcome step in the right direction," they said.

The conclusions stressed that "the unity of the international community is vital in dealing with these problems.

"We are committed to working with all our partners, especially the United States, for the disarmament of Iraq, for peace and stability in the region and for a decent future for all its people," they added.

Sunday February 16, 2003

Amnesty Disappointed with Belgian Court’s Ruling on Sharon’s Trial

LONDON - Amnesty International expressed disappointment Thursday at a Belgian court ruling that said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cannot face trial for war crimes until he leaves office.

“Belgium has taken a lead role in the fight against impunity to ensure an effective system of international justice,” said Amnesty’s assistant legal advisor, Jonathan O’Donohue.

“On the other hand we regret that the court held that immunity exists for heads of state,” he told AFP, saying that Amnesty had found no such justification in international law to cover the most serious crimes.

Belgium’s Cour de cassation ruled Wednesday that Israel’s Prime Minister Sharon could be tried for war crimes under the country’s “universal competence” law, but only after he leaves office.

The Cour de cassation is the top Belgian appeals court. The court overturned a June ruling by a lower court that had said Belgium’s “universal competence” law only applied if the alleged perpetrator was in Belgium.

The ruling halted one of the most high-profile suits brought under the law -- one filed against Sharon by 23 survivors of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp massacres in Lebanon in 1982.

Twenty-three Palestinian survivors of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp massacres in Beirut are trying to sue Sharon for war crimes under the law, which allows for such prosecutions wherever the alleged offence took place.

Between 800 and 2,000 Palestinian refugees were slaughtered in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

An independent Israeli tribunal in 1983 found Ariel Sharon, who was Israeli “defence” minister at the time, to be indirectly but “personally responsible” for the carnage. Sharon was forced to resign.

O’Donohue cited a decision a year ago by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop Belgium’s bid to prosecute former DR Congo foreign minister Abdulaye Yerodia on charges of war crimes and genocide.

The ICJ found that a Belgian warrant issued in April 2000 for Yerodia’s arrest was illegal because he was still a minister in 1998, when he made remarks that allegedly incited racial hatred against ethnic Tutsis.

However, O’Donohue said, the principle that a minister enjoys immunity while he holds office was not itself upheld by the world court.

The Amnesty official said there was no such immunity from prosecution allowed by the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations “or any other treaty.”

“In fact the evidence under international law is the opposite,” he said, citing also the Rome statute that last year created the International Criminal Court (ICC), which so far has the backing of 89 countries.

The United States is refusing to support the court unless its nationals are given immunity from prosecution.

The ICC, based in The Hague, will be able to hear cases for crimes committed after July 1, 2002, and only if the country of the accused has proved unwilling or unable to prosecute him.

O’Donohue said the Belgian law was thus “the most comprehensive” in the world and part of a welcome international trend.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denounced the ruling by the Belgian court.

“What happened yesterday in Belgium is a calumny. A serious attack was launched against truth, justice and morality, as well as against the state of Israel and the fight against terrorism,” Netanyahu told public radio.

Netanyahu made his remarks after meeting with Belgian ambassador to Israel Wilfred Geens, who was summoned after Belgium’s top court issued its ruling Wednesday against Sharon.

“When you accuse those who fight against terrorism, thus rewarding terrorism, you are harming the global fight against international terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

“When you falsify the facts and allow anti-Semitic rhetoric denying the Jewish people the right to defend itself and to have its place in the sun,” he added.

Israel’s Public radio said the Belgian ambassador refrained from any comment after the meeting.

HRW Hails New Belgian Ruling

The New York-based lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) hailed the new Belgian ruling.

“It’s a huge victory not only for the victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacres but for all victims of grave crimes who have put their hopes in the Belgian law of universal competence,” HRW’s Reed Brody said Wednesday.

One of the lawyers for the Palestinian survivors, Chibli Mallat, was delighted that Sharon could eventually stand trial in Belgium.

“It’s one of the most important rulings that there has been in international law,” he said.

The rule also cleared the way for a war crimes trial of Israeli General Amos Yaron, who oversaw the Beirut sector in 1982.

Shimon Peres, the centre-left Labor party’s foreign minister in Sharon’s last government, called the ruling “very serious” and said Belgium did not have the right to judge Israel, public television reported.

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

Raiding the U.S. Treasury

By Ronald Forthofer, Ph.D.

(PalestineChronicle.com) - Like a thief in the night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is planning a raid on the U.S. Treasury to the tune of $12 to $14 billion.

This amount is in addition to about $3 to $5 billion Israel already receives each year from U.S. taxpayers. Shamefully, the Bush administration agreed to this raid, but asked Sharon not to campaign openly for these funds. Bush wants to keep the U.S. taxpayer in the dark about this incredibly huge transfer of our tax dollars to Israel. Bush is probably afraid that we taxpayers would question this gift in a time when he claims we can't afford to fund many programs here at home.

For example, $12 billion could provide health care for millions of our children who currently have to go to emergency rooms for treatment. Or it could fund affordable housing programs for hundreds of thousands of Americans. Some might prefer to use it to put money into the cleanup of Super Fund sites. Others might use it to jump-start a renewable energy program to decrease our reliance on foreign oil. It is clear that there are many pressing needs here at home. There are also tremendous needs internationally where this money could make a huge difference in reducing poverty and help restore our image as a caring nation.

Some claim that Israel is our ally and therefore deserving of this huge subsidy. This is the same country that spies on the U.S. and which provided the Soviet Union with information obtained from Jonathan Pollard, the American who spied for Israel. Casper Weinberger, then U.S. Secretary of Defense, said about Pollard's treason that: "It is difficult for me ... to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by the defendant in the view of the breadth, the critical importance to the U.S., and the high sensitivity of the information he sold to Israel." Israel has also provided China with weapons based on advanced U.S. technology. In addition, Israel is the nation that deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in open waters, killing 34 U.S. sailors and wounding another 171. With friends like Israel, who needs enemies?

If this aid were granted, how would Israel use it? Four billion dollars are for additional military aid and the rest is loan guarantees. Sharon, a war criminal to many throughout the world, claims Israel needs more military aid because of the second Palestinian Intifada. Talk about chutzpah! Sharon, along with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, were the ones who lit the match that sparked the Intifada.

Sharon can point out that it costs a large amount to maintain the brutal, illegal and immoral oppression of three million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Paying for bulldozers used in the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian homes and small businesses is costly. Maintaining thousands of Israeli troops along with supporting tanks on Palestinian lands does not come cheap.

Israel is also building a high wall between Israelis and Palestinians and this is a costly venture. Perhaps constructing a wall could be considered reasonable given the violence conducted against innocent Israelis and Palestinians. However, this wall is being built on Palestinian lands, taking about another 10% of the West Bank from Palestinians. The wall will divide Palestinian agricultural land from their villages, making life even more difficult for Palestinians.

Some of the funds will be used to expand create more illegal Israeli settlements, settlements that are the major obstacle to peace. The U.S. has repeatedly asked Israel to stop building settlements, but to no avail. This means, if these funds are granted, that the U.S. will continue helping to create more obstacles to peace.

Without this aid, Israel might be forced to adopt reasonable policies and to comply with numerous UN Security Council resolutions that it has flouted, seemingly, forever. Israel might finally realize that reaching a just peace with its neighbors is in its best interests.

To stop this high jacking of your tax dollars, contact your senators and representatives and demand that they say no to aid for Israel.

The author visited Israel/Palestine twice with the Christian Peacemaker Teams, most recently in 2001. He is a retired professor and was a Green Party candidate for Congress from Colorado in 2000 and for Governor of Colorado in 2002.

[Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com).]

Millions Demonstrate Against War

By Barbara Ferguson in Washington, Intisar Al-Yamani in London, and Paul Michaud in Paris

Several million people from all walks of life took to the streets yesterday in what was billed as the biggest global anti-war demonstration in history.

People of all faiths from Antarctica to Iceland, in more than 600 cities and towns, were united in their contempt for US President George W. Bush’s hawkish stance on Iraq.

Those protesting were given added momentum when Hans Blix, the UN’s chief inspector in Iraq, told the Security Council in New York on Friday that his teams had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Thousands of protesters throughout the US told the White House to “give peace a chance.” The display of public dissent took place in over 300 cities and towns. Rallies and marches were held in places that have not held protests since the Vietnam War, and in others where people have never protested anything.

There were huge rallies not only in New York and Los Angeles but also in Watertown, New York, and Fargo, North Dakota where anti-war zeal meant coping with temperatures that dipped to 30 degrees below zero with three feet of snow on the ground. Las Vegas, the gambling haven of the world, also protested the war, as did down-home cities such as Fort Wayne, Indiana; Bisbee, Arizona; Hilo, Hawaii; Sitka, Alaska; Fresno, California; Reno, Nevada, and the well-heeled retirement community in St. Augustine, Florida.

In Washington, several Muslim-American and Arab-American organizations were also urging their people to participate in a march on Washington, D.C. “to demand an end to the mounting attack on the civil rights of Muslims in America.”

Organizers said the Memorial Day weekend event will be the largest ever gathering of Muslims in the nation’s capital.

“The time has come where we must draw a line in the sand, stand up for ourselves, and demand an immediate and unconditional halt to the Bush administration’s profiling, harassment, and abuse of our community,” Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Washington-based Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, told Arab News.

Others protested in all six continents.

“The whole world is against this war. Only one person wants it,” said Muslim teenager Bilqees Gamieldien as she protested in the South African city of Cape Town.

“What the US is doing now is wrong. We are on the brink of World War III,” said Japanese housewife Mariko Ayama at a Tokyo rally.

One Russian protester’s banner in Moscow showed a photograph of the US president with the words: “Butcher: Get out of other people’s lands.”

In mainly Muslim Malaysia, about 500 protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur waving placards reading “Drop Bush not bombs”.

German police said more than 100,000 people attended a rally in the center of Berlin. “We haven’t seen anything comparable in Germany since the 1980s,” organizer Malte Kreutzfeldt said. “And it is the first global demonstration of such a scale,” he added.

In Italy, an estimated one million people, from dreadlocked teenagers to graying pensioners, gathered in Rome.

In Baghdad, two massive anti-war rallies, each snaking over several kilometers, filled the streets, with many protesters carrying guns to demonstrate their opposition to US threats.

In Britain, an estimated half a million people of all ages, nationalities and religions began their demonstration at noon, when the huge crowd started its journey from Westminster, near the Houses of Parliament, to Hyde Park.

A Scottish woman in her 40s told Arab News that, although her mother was very ill with diabetes and could not walk properly, “she insisted on joining me and the rest of the demonstrators to call for peace.”

An Englishwoman, who was also with her mother, told Arab News in Hyde Park that there has never been a more crucial time for ordinary Britons to make their voices heard.

In France, where the government has given a voice to anti-war sentiment throughout the world, the police initially estimated the number of protesters in Paris to be only 25,000, by late afternoon it was obvious that more than 10 times that number had turned out.

They met at Place Denfert Rochereau near Montparnasse, paraded through the Latin Quarter, and eventually reached Place de la Bastille, where an important all-night celebration was expected to attract tens of thousands of additional participants.

The numbers would normally have been greater, noted the event’s organizers, except that the anti-war march fell in the winter school holiday, when a good many Paris-region families are off skiing in the French Alps. Organizers also said that the French had little to protest about, since their country has been in the forefront of the movement to block a US-led attack on Iraq.

Arab News - ArabNews.com - Additional input from Agencies

Saturday February 15, 2003