JANUARY 2003

Friday January 31, 2003

Sharon could stand trial in Belgium

By The Associated Press

BRUSSELS - The Belgian Senate ratified two key amendments early Friday aiming to keep alive a ten-year-old war crimes law under which international leaders can be indicted. Under the new amendments, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could stand trial in a Belgian court after he retires from Israeli politics.

Following a four-hour debate, the 71-member upper chamber of the parliament ratified the amendments 34 to 6, with 6 abstentions, clearing the way for the House of Representatives to approve the texts in the next few weeks. The two revisions hope to toughen the 1993 law and make it easier for victims of war crimes to bring cases against sitting or retired world leaders.

One of the proposed amendments would allow Belgian prosecutors to start preliminary investigations into suspected war criminals even if the suspects are not in Belgium, doing away with current restrictions in the law that state accused persons must reside in the country. However, the amendment also allows Belgian authorities to better screen out and reject those cases which do not have a link to Belgium.

The second proposed law would grant Belgian courts jurisdiction over cases that cannot be brought before the newly formed International Criminal Court.

Human rights groups and the Belgian government - which backs the amendments - have argued that without the changes, the law would be useless in bringing war crimes cases to Belgian courts against such world leaders as Sharon or Cuban President Fidel Castro. Both of them, including other notable leaders such as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had claims brought against them in the last few years.

Eight human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the Belgian government to move quickly in adopting the revisions, adding that time is running out. The amendments must be fully approved by the national parliament before it dissolves ahead of the May 18 elections. "Laws like this one are essential to overcome the walls of immunity behind which tyrants and torturers brutalize people in their own countries," the group of eight said last week.

The Sharon case was thrown out last June on the basis that the prime minister was not living in Belgium, raising doubts whether cases against other world leaders under the contentious law could go ahead.

Israel has already expressed its strong concerns to Belgium on the amendments, fearing it could restart the case against Sharon. Belgian prosecutors accused Sharon of responsibility for the 1982 massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians near Beirut.

So far, the only people tried under the Belgian war crimes law are four Rwandans sentenced between 12 and 20 years last year for their role in the 1994 genocide of the country's Tutsi ethnic minority.

Belgian Senate Okays Law Interpretation Allowing Trial of Sharon

BRUSSELS - Reviving hopes of 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre victims that Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon could be prosecuted for war crimes, the Belgian Senate sponsored Friday, January 31, a new interpretation of the "universal competence" law which was used as a basis for lawsuits in Belgium against foreign leaders.

The senators endorsed the new interpretation by 34 votes whereas six voted against and six others abstained, Agency France-Press (AFP) reported.

The new interpretation has now to be brought before the House of Representatives for ratification.

The unique "universal competence" law, adopted in 1993, enables Belgian courts to examine cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide regardless of where the outrages were perpetrated.

The new interpretation says that lawsuits under the law can proceed even if the person being prosecuted is not on Belgian soil.

An "interpretation" of the law -- as opposed to a modification -- would allow already-launched legal suits to be reopened.

If the law is modified, with government backing, it would only cover acts committed after its adoption and would not provide a basis for legal suits brought in the past.

The Senate vote came amidst heavy pressure from Israel, which decided to recall its ambassador to Belgium if the proposal was adopted, the newspaper Le Soir reported on Thursday, January 30.

But a lawyer representing victims of the 1982 massacre welcomed the Belgian legal move.

"This is an important victory for all human rights groups and the victims of crimes against humanity," Chebli Mallat said.

Mallat, who represents parents of people killed in the Sabra and Shatila massacre, hoped that Belgian justice would take "its normal course."

The change comes as a reaction to a court ruling last year, which effectively shelved lawsuits brought under the law against some 30 foreign leaders or ex-leaders, including Sharon.

In June 2002, a Brussels appeal court ruled that "for cases based on universal competence ... it is necessary that the alleged perpetrators be in the territory of the kingdom (of Belgium)."

The ruling halted one of the most high-profile suits brought under the law -- one filed by 23 survivors of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre against Sharon, the then Israeli defense minister.

The decision drew harsh criticism from human rights watch-dogs which considered the ruling a great disappointment not only to the victims of the massacre but to atrocity victims everywhere who placed high hopes for justice in the Belgian court.

The Sabra and Shatila massacre, during which between 800 and 2,000 Palestinian refugees were slaughtered, was carried out by the Israeli proxy South Lebanon Army (SLA) during Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

An Israeli tribunal in 1983 found Sharon to be indirectly but personally responsible for the carnage. As a result, Sharon was forced to resign from his post as defense minister.

Under the universal competence law, four Rwandans were found guilty in 2001 of participating in the 1994 genocide in their homeland, which left an estimated one million people dead.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Thursday January 30, 2003

Israeli voters Say 'No' to Peace as Arafat Offers Talks

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - After 28 months of Palestinian intifada and with a war in Iraq looming over the region, Israel slid further to the right yesterday after the hard-line Likud party of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon swept to a new election victory.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he was willing to meet Sharon immediately and to return to negotiations. "Tonight!" Arafat told Israel’s Channel Ten television in an interview when asked if he would sit down with Sharon following his victory in Tuesday’s election. "We insist on returning to negotiations as soon as possible."

Arafat also said, in response to a question, that he was willing to call for a general truce.

A Sharon spokesman said the right-wing leader would meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his first meeting with an Arab leader since coming to power almost two years ago.

Sharon’s victory was tempered by the difficulties he faces in building a stable coalition with centrist parties, after Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna reiterated his refusal to join a government led by Sharon.

According to the initial count, Sharon’s Likud party landed a whopping 37 seats in Israel’s 120-member Parliament, but a figure well short of a majority. So Sharon will have to enlist the support of the centrist Shinui party, which also made major gains, and other smaller groups if he is to avoid relying on a hard-line alliance of ultra-Orthodox or far-right parties.

Binding himself to the far right, which wants no concessions to the Palestinians, would anger Israel’s key ally the United States. Washington is expected to pressure Sharon to tackle the crisis once it has wound up its anticipated showdown with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The elections marked a major setback for the Israeli peace camp. The center-left Labour took only 19 seats, down from 25. That was the worst result in its history.

Other smaller left-wing groups also fared badly, as the conflict-seared country turned again to Sharon who has fought in all the Jewish state’s wars since its founding in 1948.

The head of the left-wing Meretz party, Yossi Sarid, announced his resignation after his part scraped only six seats, down from 10.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the result a "defeat of the peace camp" but said he would stick to an internationally backed plan to form a Palestinian state by 2005.

Palestinian leaders greeted the poll outcome with dismay. Some said the convincing win could tempt Sharon to reoccupy the Gaza Strip as it has done the West Bank since June.

Palestinian leaders, both within Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and in hard-line groups like Hamas, warned that the election heralded renewed violence in the occupied territories.

But Egypt’s Mubarak, who has tried to carve out a role as intermediary in the conflict despite tensions with Sharon, quickly congratulated him and propose a first meeting once he has formed a government, Israeli officials said.

"We have to deal with the Israeli prime minister in a new way" in order to relaunch the Mideast peace process, Mubarak told Al-Ittihad newspaper in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

As the uphill task of coalition horse-trading kicked off in Israel, the death toll among Palestinians continued to rise.

A Palestinian teenager was killed in the Gaza town of Jabaliya when Israeli forces bulldozing orchards close to the border with Israeli opened fire. (Agencies)

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

Wednesday January 29, 2003

EU 'Seriously Concerned' at IOF Deadly Incursion into Gaza

BRUSSELS- The European Union (EU) said Monday it was “seriously concerned” at the deteriorating situation in the Middle East after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed twelve Palestinians during a deadly incursion into the heart of Gaza City Sunday night.

“The EU member states had an in-depth discussion of the Middle East peace process against the background of the further deterioration of the situation on the ground and the upcoming Israeli elections,” said a statement after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“Grave concern was expressed for yesterday’s extensive Israeli military operations in Gaza,” the statement said on Monday.

IOF troops, backed by at least 50 tanks and columns of armored vehicles, protected by Apache helicopter gun ships, thrust into central Gaza City Sunday night under a barrage of heavy gunfire.

The Israeli force, composed of tanks and missile-slamming helicopters, advanced 100 meters into the city’s main square, making it the deepest incursion into the densely populated city since the beginning of the Intifada 28 months ago.

Hospital officials said at least 12 citizens were killed, most of the fatalities were civilians hit by shrapnel from exploding tank shells and missiles fired by the helicopters.

The Brussels statement also said EU members continued to support the need for speedy implementation of the “roadmap” endorsed by the Quartet of international mediators, comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the EU.

George Papandreou, Foreign Minister of Greece, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is due to travel to the Middle East region at the beginning of February, visiting Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, the statement added.

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

Sharon Appeals For Governing Partners After Winning Israeli Election

By Sonja Pace

JERUSALEM - According to initial, unofficial results, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his right wing Likud party won a sweeping victory in legislative elections on Tuesday.

But, Likud did not win an outright parliamentary majority and so Sharon now begins the task for negotiating with other parties to try to form a coalition government.

Israel is on its way to a new government. Initial projections by Israeli television networks show that Ariel Sharon's right wing Likud party has won between 32 and 36 seats in the 120-member parliament. That means Sharon will be asked to negotiate a coalition of parties to form the next government.

Sharon was greeted by jubilant supporters when he appeared at Likud Party headquarters in Tel Aviv. In his acceptance speech, he appealed for national unity.

Sharon said the difference between the various political parties amount to nothing in light of the 'terrorist threat' facing the country. He said Israel must not be divided internally. Israel needs unity and stability. Sharon made an appeal to other political parties to join him in a broad unity government.

Likud's main rival, the Labor Party was dealt a crushing blow in Tuesday's elections, heading to its worst showing in the party's history. In conceding defeat, Labor leader Amram Mitzna vowed his party would not join a Likud coalition.

Mitzna told supporters that while voters chose Sharon to lead the next government, they also chose the Labor Party as the alternative. He vowed that Labor would not join in a Likud coalition, but would instead be the opposition and would work hard to replace the Sharon-led government.

Israeli analysts predicted this kind of outcome. They say two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence has left many Israelis disillusioned about prospects for peace and has increased support for Sharon's tough policies against the Palestinians.

Analysts also predicted that Israelis were unlikely to vote against an experienced incumbent in favor of the relatively inexperienced Mitzna, who wants immediate resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Sharon is expected to have weeks of complex negotiations ahead to form a ruling coalition of several parties with potentially very diverse views. Among those likely to play a role will be the vehemently secular party Shinui, which looks to rank third with the strongest showing in the party's history.

Palestinians are reacting with dismay to the initial election results. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says Sharon's victory means Israel is preparing for more violence and not for peace.

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

Tuesday January 28, 2003

Mitzna: We don't plan to join Sharon gov't; we will replace him

By Ha'aretz Service

Defeated Labor leader Amram Mitzna reiterated Tuesday his vow not to join a coalition government under Ariel Sharon.

Speaking less than two hours after television projections gave his party its lowest Knesset representation in its history, Mitzna told the party faithful that "it is no disgrace to be in opposition. But I promise you this: our time in opposition will be short."

"Politics is a marathon," said Mitzna, "and we are in the opening kilometers of the race. The people chose Ariel Sharon to be prime minister, and chose us as the alternative."

In a remark apparent reference to his predecessor as Labor leader, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Mitzna said that Labor would not agree to "act as a fig-leaf for Sharon's failed policies. We have no intention of joining him, rather replacing him. I will not give up our path for a ministerial position."

Mitzna called on Shinui to stand by its commitment not to join a coalition of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Mitzna said he would stand fast in opposition until Labor succeeded in toppling the Likud-led government.

But signs energed that Mitzna would first have to answer to critics within Labor, who as late as last week had briefly hinted at a movement to replace him as the party's standard-bearer with Labor elder statesman Shimon Peres.

Asked to comment on the stresses within Labor, where a struggle to unseat Mitzna could be imminent, Peres told reporters that whether or not a power struggle ensued, "either way, he will contunue to lead" the party at least until primaries are held. "Possibly even after that." Peres added that there was "no basis" for a unity government.

Earlier in the day, former Labor cabinet minister Ephraim Sneh, a Ben-Eliezer loyalist, dismissed suggestions that party figures were drawing knives in preparation for a bid to replace Mitzna. "You're invited to accompany me to the metal detector, to see that I am carrying no knives," said Sneh, who was reprimanded during the campaign for suggesting that there were circumstances under which Labor could agree to a unity government under Sharon.

IOF Kill Nine Palestinians, Storm Jenin

JENIN - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed nine Palestinian civilians in three separate assaults early Tuesday, just hours before Israel’s general elections, which public opinion polls predict to give the right wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon another term as prime minister.

Palestinian sources said that a teenage girl, her father, and another man were killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip, while two other civilians were killed following an incursion into the West Bank town of Jenin.

Nine other civilians were injured in the Israeli attack in northern Gaza, hours before the polls opened for Israel’s general election, according to Palestinian security sources in Gaza

“Israeli helicopters targeted a house, killing three people” and wounded at least eight others, a Palestinian security official said. Five other houses were destroyed.

Medical sources said they had received the bodies of two men and a teenage girl, and body parts belonging to another man.

They named two of the dead as Mohamed Salama Shahine, 30, and his daughter Sabrine Shahine, 15, and said nine people received moderate shrapnel injuries in the assault.

Palestinian security officials named the third victim as Mohamed al-Atul, a Palestinian citizen in his twenties.

Palestinian security sources initially said they did not know what caused the explosion, noting that Israeli helicopter gunships were firing machineguns in Beit Hanun, three kilometers to the east.

They said they were investigating the source of the blast but later placed blame for the midnight attack in Beit Lahia on Israel.

Elsewhere in Gaza, IOF troops killed two Palestinians after opening fire at them near an illegal Israeli settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip late Monday, an Israeli military official said, claiming that both were armed.

Soldiers operating near the illegal settlements of “Atzmona” and “Rafiah Yam”, close to the border with Egypt, saw two Palestinians moving into a closed security zone.

“The patrol opened fire and hit them, but we don't know how badly they were injured,” he said, saying both men had fallen to the ground and not moved since.

The area was sealed off, but IOF troops left the injured men bleed to death until daylight for “fear that explosives were concealed on or near their bodies”.

Earlier this week, thirteen Palestinian civilians were killed in what was described as the deepest incursion into the densely populated Gaza City in more than two years. The Israeli deadly assault also left 64 civilians injured.

Despite the heavy international criticism, Israel warned it could re-occupy the entire Gaza Strip if “necessary”.

Meanwhile, four Palestinian civilians were killed Tuesday by Israeli occupation troops in the West Bank town of Jenin, just hours after Israeli forces rolled into the town, Palestinian security sources said.

They said 28-year-old Rashid Arabi was killed by a shot to the head when soldiers in a tank opened fire on him while he was standing right outside his home.

Another Palestinian civilian, 25 year-old Nidal Kistoni, was killed by IOF gunfire, medical sources said, adding that several citizens were hospitalized for treatment, including an AFP Palestinian photographer Saif al-Dahalan, who was covering the incursion.

Later, Palestinian medical sources said two more Palestinians Mohammad Subhi el-Tubasi, 25, and Yousef Amer al-Sa’di have been killed by the IOF in Jenin.

Israeli forces moved into Jenin with some 20 armored vehicles and jeeps, Palestinian security sources said. A curfew was imposed on the residents while soldiers were storming into houses and vandalizing the citizens’ property, witnesses said.

The Israeli army also imposed a curfew on the towns of Qalqiliya and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.

IOF also raided several areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip overnight and detained at least seven citizens, an Israeli military spokesman said.

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

Omri Sharon wants Labor in government

By Ha'aretz Staff

In his first interview as an MK-elect, Omri Sharon, the prime minister's son and confidante, told Channel 10 he hopes "Labor and its leaders will understand the importance of a unity government. I hope we will convince them that it is good for them and the country."

"Contacts for a coalition don't need to be conducted on TV, and now is not the time. People will start speaking seriously, there's much to discuss," said Sharon.

He denied he had heard any talk in the prime minister's circles about new elections if Sharon is unable to build a broader base than the narrow right-wing coalition that appeared possible from the exit polls of the three TV stations last night.

Omri Sharon declined to discuss any government details other than emphasizing that the prime minister wanted "a broad coalition with unity." He said "this is not a time for joy or sadness. Now begins the next stage."

He refused to answer any questions about police investigations into his family's business dealings or his management of illegal foreign contributions to his father's 1999 election campaign inside the Likud. "Every second question you ask me is about that," he joked with interviewers, but refused to comment.

Asked what he planned to specialize in as an MK, Omri said "I'm interested in many subjects." Pressed to name one, he finally said "environmental issues," which he said was something of interest "in my previous life, before all this politics."

He is known as a photo hobbyist who likes to take pictures of wild flowers.

Sharon will try to tailor the 'road map' to suit coalition

By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz Correspondent

The first mission of the new Sharon government will be to thwart the imposition of an international initiative - the "road map" - for settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The road map calls for the establishment of a temporary Palestinian state by the end of this year and a final accord by 2005. The timetable is tight: the American administration agreed to postpone the approval of the plan until the next government is formed in Jerusalem.

The foreign ministers of the international Quartet (the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia) will then convene in one of the European capitals to ratify the final version of the road map and impose it on both sides.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been told that he really has nothing to worry about. Defense officials regard the road map as mere "lip service" and expect it to eventually be shelved together with all of the administration's previous plans for the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.

The assessment of the Foreign Ministry is that the U.S. will first be busy with Iraq and then focused on the presidential elections. Still, Sharon is concerned that the circumstances may change and that he will be compelled to evacuate the territories and settlements.

No military option
Sharon does not have a military option. Senior security officials believe that the removal of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is the key to ending the warfare with the Palestinians and resuming the peace process.

Statements by the defense minister and chief of staff suggest that they have given up hope of defeating the Palestinians through the use of force. Shaul Mofaz and Moshe Ya'alon no longer talk about winning a "decisive" victory in the conflict. Instead, they are pinning their hopes on an American victory in Iraq that will send shock waves throughout the region and American pressure to replace the Palestinian leader.

The elections in Israel were held as hundreds of American soldiers are deployed in the country and as the White House reviews the largest aid request ever presented by Israel to Washington. Under Sharon's leadership, Israel has become more dependent than ever on political, security and economic support from the U.S. - not only against Iraqi missiles, but also on the Palestinian front.

Sharon will have to maneuver between conflicting interests during the coming weeks. In order to lure the Labor Party into his government, he would need to emphasize his readiness for "painful concessions." But, at the same time, he needs to stake out a "tough" position to keep his Likud colleagues and ideological right-wing partners at his side.

Farewell road map
Sharon would really like to clear the road map from his desk, without undermining his political support in the United States.

Sharon's strategy has been to cling to President Bush's speech of June 24, which called for establishing a Palestinian state - but under different leadership. Sharon was reluctant to submit these principles to his outgoing cabinet, but said he would ask the next government to approve them.

During the campaign, Sharon said that the Bush plan was coordinated with Israel in advance and that Israel must stick to it. According to the prime minister's associates, the road map was formulated as a compromise between the U.S. and its European partners, and does not represent an authoritative interpretation of Bush's vision.

The Bush plan includes two stages, according to Sharon. First, the Palestinians must stop terror, replace their leadership and implement extensive reforms in the PA, including the security, economic and educational spheres.

Only after all of this is achieved will it be Israel's turn to make concessions, including troop withdrawals and a settlement freeze, which would eventually lead to a temporary Palestinian state with limited sovereignty.

Sharon's three "No's"
Sharon has laid down three "No's" - no negotiations under fire; no talks with Arafat; no set timetable for Israeli concessions (the timetable would depend on Palestinian implementation of their commitments).

Likud ministers have heard Sharon talk recently about his intention to move quickly on the diplomatic front after the elections. The prime minister has formed two teams to handle this task. A team headed by his bureau chief Dov Weisglass is formulating the official response to the road map proposal, based on input from the Foreign Ministry and IDF. The final version will likely be tailored to fit the demands of the new coalition.

It would be difficult for Israel to insert significant revisions to the road map, which is already in its third draft. The Europeans are opposed to any further revisions, but Washington is prepared to accept additional comments from the two sides, as long as they are not too extreme.

A homegrown 'Quartet'
Sharon's second team - nicknamed "the Quartet" - is headed by Minister Dan Meridor and includes Weisglass, Major General Amos Gilad and national security adviser Ephraim Levy. Meridor has been asked to present a diplomatic plan to the next government.

The fact that Sharon selected the most moderate of Likud ministers for this task (and bypassed Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) was meant to signal that he is indeed interested in an accord with the Palestinians.

Meridor's team has talked about the need to remove Arafat from Palestinian "consciousness" and not only his physical expulsion from his Ramallah headquarters. That is, the Palestinians need to realize that they will be better off without Arafat.

The team discussed ways of providing economic incentives to help an alternative leadership rehabilitate Palestinian society and thus prevent Hamas from taking over after Arafat's exit.

Government officials do not expect Arafat to leave the scene anytime soon and do not take seriously the ambitious timetable set out in the road map. The question is how long Israel would be able to withstand an ongoing conflict and whether it would be ready to pay the political price demanded by the Americans in return for Arafat's head.

Thus, despite the campaign rhetoric, there is some talk in high government circles about whether it might be better, after all, to try to reach an accord with Arafat, rather than wait indefinitely for his demise.

Monday January 27, 2003

Israel Army Kills 12 in Gaza: Eyewitness Report

By Kristen Ess in Gaza

GAZA CITY (PalestineChronicle.com) - The Israeli occupying army attacked Gaza City again last night. They killed 12 Palestinians (now the death toll is at 14 in the City) Palestinians and targeted infrastructure. They destroyed homes, shops, roads, and electricity.

Over 40 people are injured. Friends called throughout the night, terrified. "What can we do? We sit here and wait." Another who left his home in the Zaytun neighborhood which was surrounded by tanks told me from his safe place, "They are close to here now too. Listen." He held the phone out to the air.

Tank shells and missile fire were heard throughout the Gaza Strip. This morning a friend from a Gaza City NGO was at what was once the print shop we use. It is the place that prints human rights pamphlets
and posters. Now it is completely destroyed.

The occupying Israeli military went into Beit Hanoun again. They closed the main street with sand and barbed wire. There is no way out.

Israeli soldiers just shot a man in Rafah's Brazil refugee camp. One man in the area told me, "It's just getting worse here."

Israeli "Defense" Minister Moufaz is talking about a full occupation of all of the Gaza Strip.

These assaults constitute war crimes under humanitarian law. The targeting of civilians and civilian property during the above incursions are grave breaches of Articles 33, 53 and 147 of the 4th Geneva Convention, which also prohibits collective punishment.

This is occurring while the Israeli military government dissembles that it is a democratic state and is holding elections.
Earlier Invasion

At 9 o'clock yesterday morning the Israeli military destroyed all of the bridges that lead in and out of Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks and helicopters then shelled the town for 18 hours.

Night before last Israeli occupation forces invaded Gaza City. One of the houses they destroyed is near where I used to live, next door to where many Palestinians still live. It is unusual for the Israeli military to invade Gaza City by land the way they do in the rest of the Gaza Strip.

In the south, in Rafah for instance, every house I've lived in is now destroyed. I left one house for an hour in Rafah's Block O and the Israeli military destroyed it. But usually the IOF attacks Gaza City by air, by firing missiles from Apache helicopters, as they also did last night.

My friends from the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City wrote this: "In the early morning hours of Friday, January 24, 2003, the IOF entered az-Zaytun area, west of Gaza City, and destroyed a house with explosives. The house is owned by the family of Masud Ayad, who was assassinated by the Israeli military in 2000. Also, the IOF arrested four Palestinians; three of them are from the Ayad family.

About twenty homes were damaged in the area due to the explosion. The same night Israeli helicopters shelled a metal shop in Gaza with five missiles. One of the missiles struck Saint Philips Church, which is located inside the Al Ahly Hospital, while a second missile hit a house directly, destroying it.

One elderly woman died from a heart attack and three other people were injured." There is more from this morning. "At approximately 9 am Friday, January 24, 2003, the IOF attacked the town of Beit Hanun, in the north of the Gaza Strip. They destroyed four bridges at the entrances of the town isolating the town completely.

Israeli tanks and helicopters then shelled the town until 3 am killing 18-year-old Hasan Yusif Fayad, and injuring 20 others. In addition, numerous homes were damaged from the shelling, which also damaged electricity and phone lines.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the IOF murdered 24-year-old Muhammad al-Musadar, who was mentally disabled, from the refugee camp of Al-Maghazi."

In Rafah the Israeli military is still smashing through people's houses. They plowed into Block O again yesterday and destroyed twenty-one homes. The area is already flooded with sewage and nearly uninhabitable.

There is another wall next to the apartheid wall the Israeli military government is building made of broken toys and beds, bits from the houses. The children have nowhere to go. No one has anywhere to go.

How is the Israeli propaganda machine managing to sell this to the international community? The kids from Jenin wrote: "Whose the terrorist? You're the terrorist. How am I the terrorist living in my homeland?" Last week in Khan Younis 70 Israeli tanks tore through the main streets of the town targeting auto repair shops and other similar industry.

It is a common practice of the Israeli military government to destroy any mode of Palestinian economic sustainability. Targeted shootings are also common, not always to kill, but often to maim in specific areas of the body making a future of working or mobility difficult if not impossible.

In Bethlehem's Aida Refugee Camp when Israeli soldiers shot the children who threw stones at the heavily armoured invading Israeli jeeps and tanks, they aimed at the legs of the children. Two, one who was just 10 years old (not 12 as was reported earlier), and a young teenager, will never walk properly again.

Last summer a young man was hit by an Apache missile. He lived through it, but cannot walk without a limp and is in constant pain.

Another boy is about to undergo a long term operation and recovery in order to have bullets removed from his leg. In the prisons the torture is often disabling. Israeli soldiers broke a friend's arm at the shoulder during interrogation. He put it back in place himself since he was denied medical treatment. He cannot move his arm properly now and is always in pain. He has a bullet in his back. The pain makes sleeping and using stairs difficult.

Another friend who has an illicit mobile telephone inside an Israeli prisoner tells me that what I imagine happened to him at the hands of Israeli soldiers is true. He is being held without charge.

When he gets out, if he gets out, the Israeli military government will be more easily able to sell their propaganda to the international community that it's just terrorists and felons that they are killing and that they must keep all Palestinians under curfew in order to "protect themselves."

Israeli occupation forces abducted ten Palestinians from their sleeping homes in Bethlehem. As Israelis enjoy the ability to hold elections, Palestinians in the West Bank remain under house arrest, unable to go to school, to work, and certainly unable to conduct elections.

[Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com).]

Sharon Seeking Victory at Elections Through Show of Force: Erekat

RAMALLAH - The Palestine National Authority (PNA) accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of launching a massive deadly raid against the people of Gaza City on Saturday night, early Sunday in an attempt to improve his chances to win in Tuesday’s general elections.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Sa’eb Erekat accused Sharon of seeking victory at Tuesday’s general election through a ‘show of force’.

The latest bloodshed was seen as adding ammunition to the security pledges Sharon made to Israelis.

“Prime Minister Sharon is determined to end his election campaign with more Palestinian blood and with more destruction and with more aggression and escalation,” Palestinian cabinet minister Sa’eb Erekat told Reuters.

At least 12 Palestinian citizens were killed in the raid while at least 51 others were wounded, some of them critically, Palestinian medical sources said.

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), using tanks and armored vehicles, opened fire at residents’ houses in what was described as the widest incursion into Gaza since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted more than two years ago.

Among the victims were six killed in a missile strike by an Apache helicopter, witnesses and security sources said.

A weekend poll for the Israeli daily newspaper Ma’ariv predicted that Sharon’s Likud Party would win the most seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament, with 32, while the main opposition, the Labor Party, led by Amram Mitzna, would win 19.

Nevertheless, the pollsters have been wrong before, and many voters are still undecided.

In fact, another poll for the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper found most Israeli voters unhappy with Sharon’s handling of the economy.

The polls suggest, for most voters, the ideal outcome would be a “national unity” coalition of Likud, Labour and a third party, Shinui, with Sharon as Prime Minister.

But Mitzna has previously announced that Labor would not serve under Sharon. That would force Sharon into a coalition with the far right, and probably with religious parties too.

Such alliance, according to the polls, would be unpopular with the secular majority, and Sharon says he does not want a coalition with the far right. He is still thought to be keen to secure a coalition with Labor.

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

Annan ‘Regrets’, Fails to Condemn Israeli Killing in Gaza

NEW YORK - Deploring the "ominous escalation" of violence in the Gaza Strip over the past few days, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the parties to halt their attacks and stressed the need for a comprehensive approach to securing peace in the Middle East.

In a statement released by his spokesman, Annan said he was "concerned by Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip that place Palestinian civilians in harm's way."

He voiced deep regret at the loss of life and injury resulting from Saturday night's deadly Israeli incursion into Gaza City. Approximately a dozen people were killed and scores wounded in that incident.

The statement also expressed the Secretary-General's concern about Friday's rocket attacks against Israel launched from the Gaza Strip, and a similar attack earlier today. He called these actions "counterproductive to peace efforts such as the Palestinian ceasefire talks under way in Cairo."

The Secretary-General called on both sides to act with restraint, in keeping with their obligations under international humanitarian law, and urged them to take steps to "break the cycle of violence that has claimed so many Israeli and Palestinian lives in recent years."

Annan "remains convinced that the only way forward is a process that addresses political, security and economic issues in parallel, as set forth in the Quartet's Road Map," the spokesman said, referring to the outline for achieving peace put forward by the diplomatic grouping comprising the UN, United States, Russian Federation and European Union.

Sunday January 26, 2003

Powell: Israel must offer Palestinians more than a 'phony state'

By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz Correspondent, and Agencies

In remarks foreshadowing U.S. pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to make concessions for peace, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Switzerland on Sunday that Israel must offer Palestinians more than a "phony state diced into a thousand different pieces."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ron Pros-Or responded cautiously, saying only that Powell's statement was "very important" and Israel "would take it into consideration."

Speaking in Davos, Powell urged Israel to do more to "deal with the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people," adding "you have to understand that a Palestinian state must be a real state."

Saturday January 25, 2003

Palestinian University Students Detained and Taken to Illegal Jewish Settlement

NABLUS, West Bank (PalestineChronicle.com) - a group of students trying to leave the city of Nablus were detained by Israeli forces, Friday morning, at Zawata army check point near Nablus.

Since the curfew in Nablus was reinforced, many students have found themselves stranded, away from their families, usually without enough food and life necessities. They have also been forbidden to attend their lectures at Al Najah University.

After being held for over twelve hours in the cold and rain, the group of students, averaging 100, were taken to Shafi Shomron settlement with army jeeps and trucks.

It is unknown why they were taken to the illegal Jewish Settlement, nor is it known how long they will be detained, or the conditions of their detention.

Friday January 24, 2003

Coalition May be Hard for Sharon to Form After Elections: Analysts

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Forming a governing coalition may be much harder for Israel’s PM Sharon than winning the January 28 general elections, political analysts say.

Israel’s premier, Ariel Sharon is likely to be he winner of upcoming elections, in which polls show that his Likud party is ahead of its rival, the Labor party, by about a dozen seats, despite financial scandals.

Nonetheless, surveys show that there is a large possibility that no party will gain an overwhelming majority in the Knesset (parliament), ensuring that political instability will again be the highlight of this year for Israeli voters, who have been to the ballots four times in seven years.

“In my view the government won’t last until 2007 (the end of its term),” said political analyst Orit Galili told Reuters.

The most recent poll carried out for the Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronot, shows that the Shinui party is expected to bag about the same number of seats as Labor.

According to the poll, Likud is expected to win 33-34 seats, Labor 18-19 with Shinui 16-17.
11 % of those represented in the poll said they were undecided yet.

Formulating a coalition from a number of parties with so many apparent differing ideologies will be a difficult hurdle Sharon will have to surpass.

Many political analysts see that building a stable coalition will be an impossible task, most notably after many parties have expressed their unwillingness to participate in a coalition with Sharon unless a rival party is excluded.

“The way it looks now, it’s not going to be easy to form a government. We will be back where we were because of the coalition options that are available,” said Michal Shamir, a political scientist from Tel Aviv University.

Sharon’s first step is to try and convince his rival, Labor party chief Amram Mitzna, to retract his pledge not to form a unity government with Likud.

If that works, Sharon would have the most stable coalition he could hope for, ahead of a looming war on Iraq.

If that fails, Sharon will have to use his skills to convince Shinui to be part of a collation with its enemy, the ultra-religious Shas party.

Unless Labor and Shinui agree to a new set of conditions, Sharon may be forced to form a narrow government with ultra right-wing parties, which is exactly what he wanted to avoid.

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

Activist Detained by Israelis on Her Way to World Social Forum in Brazil

0CCUPIED JERUSALEM - In a move likely to further enrage a Palestinian population living under Israeli siege and curfew, the Israeli military yesterday confirmed that it had arrested the wife of Palestinian activist Ahmad Saadat, currently being held under joint US and British supervision in a prison in Jericho.

Abla Saadat was traveling to Jordan en route to the World Social Forum to speak as a representative of Addammer, the Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association. The Forum is scheduled to take place 25-30 January in Porto Alegre, Brazil and will bring together activists from around the world to make their voices heard on issues of democracy and human rights.

According to friends and family, Abla Saadat, 47, was last heard from on Tuesday, just before reaching the Allenby Bridge on the border between the West Bank and Jordan.

Saadat’s flight to Brazil was due to leave Amman at 4.00 am yesterday. However, her parents received a telephone call from her at 11.00 am on Tuesday, informing them that Israeli soldiers had detained her. Later that day, at 4.30 pm, a Palestinian who was crossing the border from Jordan to the West Bank called Addameer, informing them that Saadat had been detained.

Addameer lawyers frantically called Israeli authorities several times on Tuesday and Wednesday to ascertain Saadat’s whereabouts, but the authorities denied having custody of Saadat each time.

This morning at around 9.00 am, Israeli authorities finally admitted to Addameer that they had indeed arrested Saadat, but refused to tell them the reason for her arrest. Saadat is currently being held in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison in the Beit Il settlement near Ramallah.

“This was clearly a political move designed to silence the wife of a political prisoner by preventing her from telling the world about the Palestinian people’s suffering under this brutal Israeli occupation,” said Khalida Jarrar, Executive Director of Addameer, the Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association. “But no matter how many people Israel detains, it will not be able to hide from the eyes of the world the racism, violence and human rights violations it is perpetrating against the Palestinian people. Their ‘dirty secret’ is out of its box – and it can’t be shoved back in.”

Saadat traveled to Jordan as recently as July, when she was allowed to cross the border without incident.

“Under Israeli law, the Israeli courts can now deal with Abla Saadat in two ways: first as a person with an Israeli ID, in which case she must appear before a court today, when the judge will give the reason for her arrest; or under military law, in which case the authorities have 12 days before they must charge her,” said Jarrar. “We demand that the Israeli authorities either charge her with a recognizable offence or release her immediately.” Palestine Monitor

Letter from Bethlehem

By Samia W. Ata

BETHLEHEM (PalestineChronicle.com) - At the turning point of the New Year 2003, I am writing this letter to reflect on the current state of life in my city. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is my hometown. Here I was born, grew up, became a teacher and continue to live.

As I look back through the most recent events in the area, I struggle to restore my thoughts and energy after the many and varied shocks that we have been exposed to. I compare this year to past years when it would have been highly unlikely for me to spend the Christmas and New Year seasons as a ‘recluse.’ It would have been unusual to plan for a tomorrow that would unexpectedly be cancelled. What is the difference this year from other years? Israeli military enforced curfews on the Bethlehem region, causing Christmas and New Year’s Day to pass gloomily, without decorations or celebrations.

The most recent incursion of Israeli military forces, beginning November 22, 2002, placed the Bethlehem area and its 160 thousand inhabitants under siege and day after day curfew. What does this mean? Basically, curfew means the imposition of prolonged ‘house arrest’ 24 hours/day, four – five days in a row, week after week for the entire population. This causes complete disruption of life and confusion in many ways. Institutions, schools, and universities are closed, opening for only a few hours whenever curfew is lifted, the same for stores, markets and banks. For two Sundays in Advent, churches were prohibited from holding worship. (In the whole of 2002, this was true for approximately 15 Sundays). Likewise, work has been obstructed, leaving workers without income at all. In Bethlehem alone 70 per cent of the people have become unemployed and many scrape an existence below the poverty line. There is no tourism, causing hotels, restaurants and craft shops to release their employees. Since September 2000, the economy in the Bethlehem region, as well as the whole of the West Bank and Gaza, has been devastated. Suffering is the state of all inhabitants of the town!

Oppressed and angry at the many injustices, namely the confiscation of the land inherited from their ancestors, as well as their expulsion from their homes, they find themselves in despair. But, Palestinians are determined to resist occupation and defend what remains of their land, seeking freedom and the right to build their own state in their own homeland. We as Palestinians as a people have a right to exist and a right to be free! This is our cause and a just one.

For more than two years now, we have known only disruption and violence. Each side of the conflict, both Israeli and Palestinian, claims ownership of the land. Each side blames the other for the cycles of bloodletting and violence. Each has argued what has to happen from the other side for their side to cease hostility. But to date, we only see the situation worsening with a growing number of casualties.

In the midst of the turmoil, one becomes tired with what was seen, with what one is still experiencing. So many killings, so many injuries, so many arrests that break the heart, as curfews are imposed on the town again and again. The siege has blocked people from visiting their relatives, seeking medical care, worshipping or traveling out of town.

And what is it like to be under curfew? For those who have not experienced it, or for those who take freedom of movement for granted, it is not a normal situation. It is not a vacation or a rest. To be locked in for days at a time is to lose physical contact with other people. To be grounded and deprived from going out is to hibernate, or – as one author puts it -- “to rust, to have one’s dignity humiliated, to be isolated, to be damned.” It is mass punishment that creates a cycle of problems which require resolution.

Yet a curfew is treated as though it is supposed to become ‘a habit’ and that Palestinians should adapt to it. But, Palestinians are not convicted prisoners or animals, doomed to live under oppression. Palestinians have a long history. They are rooted through their ancestors to this land and should not be treated as ‘non-people,’ but as a nation deserving justice and human rights. We are all people on this planet and we need a change! A change of heart, a change of attitude towards humanity. As Palestinians, we need the world to look at us with transformed vision. We need the world to listen to us, to see us as fellow human beings.

During Christmas week, I received email greetings from my ‘beloved’ around the world. The letters carried common wishes for peace, success and happiness. They were of some relief and I was grateful for them. But those greetings also evoked in me alternative wishes: wishes for Hope, Courage and Freedom! For how can I be happy, successful and peaceful when I yearn for+ all of these? We certainly need your support.

We know we are people that don’t break down easily despite occupation, oppression and frustration. Yet, people here do need help. They need to be told that the world does care about them. They need telling! Palestinians {just as much as other peoples) need support from all friends and neighbors, materially, emotionally, morally and spiritually. They need to be given Hope, to be encouraged in times of despair, to be helped to gain their liberty. They need to see light in the valley of darkness. To ‘Live and Let Live’ will ultimately bring peace in a natural way.

[Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com).]

Dreams of a Nation: Palestinian cinema is showcased in a weekend of films in New York

By E. Tailor

(PalestineChronicle.com) - Palestinian cinema didn’t enjoy the most positive of starts to 2003. Despite two awards at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Divine Intervention, Elia Suleiman’s film about a love affair stifled by checkpoints, roadblocks and curfews, was barred from Oscar nomination because, in the words of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Palestine was not a recognized country.

Amidst such (sadly typical) negation, Dreams Of A Nation, a weekend-long festival of Palestinian films, beginning Friday, January 24th, at New York’s Columbia University, could hardly be more appropriately named.

Showcasing the breadth and depth of Palestinian filmmaking, each of the 34 short films, documentaries and video diaries articulate the many dimensions of the Palestinian experience. The themes range from the hardships of occupation, the isolation of exile and recollections of Palestinian childhood — and their cultural connectivity highlights the subtle difference between nationhood and statehood, a difference the Oscar committee would be well advised to acknowledge.

“The only criteria for consideration was that the participants had to be Palestinian,” says Annemarie Jacir, the curator of the festival. “It didn’t matter where they grew up, or the story they wanted to tell. We wanted as many different voices as possible.

“We are showing 34 films in total, many of them are showing in the US for the first time. Another positive element is that half of the filmmakers are women, that is very encouraging and inspiring.” One of those women is Annemarie herself, whose short film Satellite Shooters centers on a young cowboy-obsessed Palestinian boy growing up in Texas. But unsurprisingly many of the contributions come from, and directly focus on, Palestine, where the recent Israeli assaults have created the desire for Palestinians to generate their own narrative.

“The video diary format has become very popular in the West Bank. As such, it was difficult to select which ones we would use — in the end, we had to go with just two. I think these are particularly significant inclusions simply because of the difficulties the diarists encountered: it is almost impossible to leave your house, never mind reach a post office.”

The two video diaries that are included, both of which are playing on Sunday evening, are Saed Andoni’s A Number Zero, which takes place inside a Bethlehem barbershop, and Local, three filmmakers’ chronicle of life under siege. Annemarie is convinced that conditions in the West Bank may actually help provide further generations of Palestinian filmmakers able to add their voice.

“The local TV stations in each town — Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah, wherever — allow for members of the community to produce their own material,” she says, with some delight. “But now a lot of local children are having to learn without adult supervision how to work in a studio and put together programmes. They know that these will be watched by all their neighbors, and that provides a wonderful education in technical skills and storytelling.”

Back in New York, though, there has been some criticism directed at the festival. There have been charges of bias and lack of the alternative point of view. But Annemarie is unconcerned. “I’m like, ‘What? Do you want me to include Israeli films? This is a Palestinian film festival!’ It’s strange just how threatened people feel just mentioning the word ‘Palestine’.

“But it is also pleasing that there’s been an awful lot of interest and attention from those who perhaps wouldn’t normally have an interest in this issue. The screening of Divine Intervention on Monday is already sold out. In fact, you could say that the controversy over the Oscars — which was disappointing but hardly surprising — has helped bring attention to the film, as well as the festival. We are all very excited about it.”

The festival starts on Friday morning, at 9.30am, with Kais al-Zobaidi’s Palestine, A People’s Record.

For more information, please visit the website: www.dreamsofanation.org

[Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com).]

Thursday January 23, 2003

Int’l Community Must Solve Middle East Conflict: Former Russian PM

JEDDA - Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has urged the international community to find a settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, adding that Moscow now believes that with the peace process stalemated, the ‘Quartet’ of peace mediators should find a final solution with moderate Arab states, which the UN would in turn impose on the Israelis and Palestinians.

Primakov was referring to the ‘Quartet’ of Middle East peace mediators comprising of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.

Primakov, who now presides over Russia’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry and who has close ties with President Vladimir Putin, was speaking on the final day of the Jeddah Economic Forum.

The solution, he said, should be based on the plan worked out by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, which insists that Israel must unconditionally withdraw to its pre-1967 borders; a Palestinian state must be created and Arab governments must recognize the Jewish state.

It was no good waiting for the Israelis and Palestinians to resolve the issue themselves, the former premier told delegates to the forum. The world wants a settlement now, in particular, because the conflict feeds “international terrorism”, as he put it.

Israel, he said, had not been created through negotiations between Jews and Arabs. It had been created by the will of the international community, which forced Arabs to accept it. Such action should happen again, he said.

Primakov condemned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s attack earlier in the week on the ‘Quartet’ and their peace-making efforts as well as Sharon’s suggestion that the US and Israel should alone decide the next step.

In another matter, Primakov warned that an attack against Iraq could re-divide the world into two blocs, as was the case during the Cold War. Echoing Samuel Huntington’s Clash of the Civilizations theory, he feared this time the divide would be on the basis of religion and civilizations; between Islamic and non-Islamic states.

It could even break up countries themselves, he warned, such as Russia with its 20 million Muslims and those states in Europe with growing Muslim populations.

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

B’Tselem: Demolitions in West Bank Village Constitute a Breach of International Law

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israeli army bulldozers razed to the ground dozens of houses and shops belonging to residents of Nazlat Issa village, north of the West Bank Tuesday, as hundreds of Palestinian women, men and children watched helplessly.

Israel’s destruction of this small West Bank village’s market is aimed at making way for a wall between the Jewish state and the occupied Palestinian territory, which has already engulfed hundreds of acres of Palestinian land.

Women were seen crying, while young men tried to block the way in front of the bulldozers, on the biggest demolition spree in the West Bank in years.

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) razed 62 shops and market stalls, the mayor of the village said, accusing Israel of waging war on the Palestinian economy.

Seven bulldozers, guarded by about 300 soldiers, began tearing down shops in the village. By midmorning, 62 shops had been demolished, said Mayor Ziad Salem.

Dozens of foreign and local protesters threw stones at troops who fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Other demonstrators chanted, “Down with the occupation.”

The 170-shop market in Nazlat Issa drew many Israeli customers before the outbreak of Intifada in September 2000.

The market is also deemed the lifeline of the village, providing the main source of income for its 2,500 residents, Salem said, adding that Israeli officials informed the shop owners that the entire market would be demolished.

Residents said that demolition orders were distributed earlier this month, and shop owners were told they had 15 days to file court appeals.

The mayor said the market has been operating for more than 10 years and that this was the first time the merchants received demolition orders.

The market contains 200 commercial shops, workshops and stools, and is located to the west of the military roadblock set up by the occupation army in the center of the village.

“This will kill the village’s economy,” the mayor said, adding that troops tear gas and sound bombs at the demonstrators.

Local sources described demolitions as a new ‘Nakba’ (Catastrophe), reminiscent of 1948, when thousands of Palestinians were forced into exile and on their land a state of Israel was born.

Sources added that another ‘Nakba’ is awaiting Palestinians; that of the Segregation Wall being built east of the Green Line, which in effect is de facto annexing more and more Palestinian land.

Its erection would result in the confiscation, annexation and destruction of thousands of agricultural dunums of land and the prevention of thousands of families from their only source of income.

A spokesman for the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement-ISM described how the “market place on which a good chunk of the destroyed stores stood has become unrecognizable.”

US citizen Jonathan Elsberg, who came to the village to protest the demolitions, said he had been hit in the leg by a tear gas canister and temporarily detained by IOF.

He confirmed that some 500 people including a dozen foreigners and Israeli rights activists protested the demolitions.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem said it had appealed to Israeli ‘defense’ minister Shaul Mofaz against the decision, warning that it would “severely violate the human rights of hundreds of residents and constitute a breach of international law which binds Israel as the occupying force in the territories.”

Palestinian Cabinet minister Sa’eb Erekat slammed Israel over the demolition of the Palestinian houses and stores in Nzlat Issa, adding that the demolitions “reflect the fait accompli policies of Sharon on the ground, knocking down homes, livelihoods.”

Israeli troops have demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes, many in the Gaza Strip, in the past 28 months. In Gaza, more than 5,700 Palestinians have been made homeless, according to Palestinian officials.
-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Wednesday January 22, 2003

Palestinians See Israel's Elections as Choice between War and Peace

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Palestinian leaders are monitoring Israel's elections on January 28 as a clear choice for Israeli voters between war and peace, while the right-wing Likud's comfortable lead raising fears that the peace process will remain a long way off after the polls as the Israeli battered peace camp tries to limit damage.

Officially the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) views the election on January 28 as an "internal Israeli affair."

However Palestinian President Yasser Arafat "knows very well that a re-election for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will have consequences for Palestinian politics," said Mamduh Nawfal, a close Arafat aide.

Sharon’s right-wing camp includes parties that publicly call for the “transfer” of Palestinians.

In a Monday interview, the Palestinian President expressed fears that Israel might take advantage of a possible war on Iraq to deport him from the territories.

"They (Israelis) are talking of transfer for the Palestinians openly. I hope this will not happen but we have to put it in your consideration and I am sending this message especially to (US) President Bush. If it will happen it will be catastrophic in the all areas," he said.

Palestinians are pinning their hopes on a change of government in Israel as a means of moving the Middle East peace process forward, the PNA interior minister Hani al-Hassan said in Rome Monday.

Hassan was addressing a council of the Socialist International grouping attended by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and ex-justice minister Yossi Beilin, both of whom helped create the 1993 Oslo Accords.

"Today, we are waiting for elections in Israel and we hope to open a new era with a new government," he said.

"The Palestinians are ready to make peace," Peres said, calling on Israeli leaders to show "wisdom and courage" in their response.

However, "a Sharon re-election will make a peace accord difficult," said Nawfal.

In January the Palestinian leadership called on all Palestinian groups to exercise restraint ahead of the elections, in spite of the continuing Israeli “provocations.” It also reiterated its condemnation of "all acts of violence against Palestinian or Israeli civilians."

On her part Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian lawmaker, said: "Israel controls our daily life and it's impossible to say that a political change in Israel will have no impact on us.”

"Any political change in Israel will have an effect on the Palestinians and the re-election of Sharon will mean the continuation of destruction and killing," she said.

"We have no illusions and we know very well the Labor party and the left are not the ideal solution, but they are ready to respond to a dialogue," she added.

Sharon looks set to emerge victorious from a scandal-marred election campaign as the Palestinian uprising continues unabated and a war looms in Iraq.

The latest polls on the January 28 legislative vote credit his party with at least 30 seats in the next parliament while the rival Labor party, led by the newcomer Amram Mitzna, could only garner 20.

Israeli "voters only care about security issues," was how the daily Haaretz summed it up, which indicates that security is once again the main issue in the run-up to the election.

Mitzna's campaign centerpiece has been a resumption of dialogue with the Palestinians, combined with a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip within a year and separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories, whether unilaterally or as a result of negotiations.

Israel's peace camp is hoping that in this election it can present itself an alternative to the ruling right-wing government and limit the damage the unrelenting violence has done to its standing.

But the Labor party is experiencing its most serious crisis of the campaign, as the latest polls predicted Monday it would be crushed by Sharon's Likud.

"Labor's problem is not that it didn't believe in peace but that it was associated with a policy that offered no political horizon to the Palestinians by sitting for almost 20 months in Sharon's cabinet," Beilin said.

Sharon has failed to curb Palestinian uprising or stop the decline of the Israeli economy, and corruption allegations surround his entire family. Yet he is on course to a comfortable re-election as Israel's prime minister on January 28.

A poll carried by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot confirmed Labour's poor performance, crediting the party with 19 or 20 mandates after the January 28 vote while Likud would pocket 32 or 33.

However, the Yediot Aharonot poll showed that 21 percent of Israeli voters are still hesitating about their vote, notably between Likud and the centrist Shinui, currently tipped to win between 15 and 16 seats.

But in a statement carried by Egypt's state-run news agency MENA, Abdel Wahab Darawshe, president of the Arab Democratic Party, expressed the fear that "the elections will result in the return to power of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."

"Sharon might return as head of a narrow, fascist government, which would allow the peace camp to form a strong opposition, but what would be worse is his return to power as head of a national unity government with Labor," he said.

The deputy of the Arab Democratic Party, Taleb Saneh, meanwhile, said the Israeli elections would constitute "a kind of referendum on the future of the region" and urged "Arab voters to take part massively in the elections."

Ten Israeli Arabs were deputies in the previous parliament.

Israeli Arabs, who account for 15 percent of the electorate and 18 percent of the population, will be represented by four lists out of 28 in next week's polls.

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

Israeli Prosecutor Suspended For Leaking Info about Sharon

TEL AVIV - A Tel Aviv prosecutor has been suspended for leaking information implicating Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a loan scandal, while the reporter who broke the story has been questioned by investigators.

Israel's Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein announced Wednesday that prosecutor Liora Glatt-Berkovich acknowledged leaking the document that the Ha'aretz newspaper used for its report.

Rubinstein said the reporter was questioned due to allegations of obstruction of justice - not for reporting the information in the leaked document.

Ha'aretz condemned the questioning of its reporter.

In the Ha'aretz report, it was reported that Sharon and his two sons accepted illegal campaign funds from a South African businessman. Sharon has denied any wrong-doing.

The scandal slowed the ascent of Sharon and his Likud party in the polls, just weeks before the January 28 elections. But recent surveys show the party is once again ahead of the rival Labor party in the polls.

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

Tuesday January 21, 2003

One Week Before Elections, Israel’s Labor Party in Disarray

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - One week before legislative elections, Israel’s Labor party is experiencing its most serious crisis of the campaign, as the latest polls predicted Monday, January 20, it would be crushed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud.

Even more worrying, the survey carried by the Ma’ariv daily questioned Amram Mitzna’s leadership, by revealing that Labor’s ratings would be much better were it still headed by peace process veteran Shimon Peres.

However, Mitzna rejected suggestions emanating from within his own party that he step aside and let Shimon Peres run in his place.

“I came here to win, and I will stay on as chairman. Whoever doesn’t want to help should step aside and not be a disturbance,” he said, according to Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

Mitzna’s comments followed a stormy meeting of the Labor Party leadership in Tel Aviv Monday morning, during which Knesset member Weizman Shiri, who is 23rd on the party’s list of candidates, proposed replacing chairman Mitzna with Peres.

“If it’s going to happen,” Shiri told his party colleagues, “the initiative has to come from one person alone: Mitzna himself. He should step forward and say ‘I am not well enough known so, I plan to step aside for Peres’.”

Shiri is considered a supporter of former Labor Chairman Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who Mitzna defeated in the primary elections.

Following Ben-Eliezer’s defeat, Shiri announced that he was leaving the Labor Party, but he changed his mind and decided to remain in the party at Mitzna's urging, according to Ha'aretz.

Shiri said that if Peres is so popular in the polls, it is proof that the public still believes in Labor’s policies. He suggested that the party spend the next few days examining whether Peres as party leader would indeed improve Labor’s chances in next Tuesday’s election.

The poll said that under the 79-year-old Peres, Labor would garner 29 seats in the next parliament, 10 more than its current score and only two short of the same poll’s prediction for Likud.

A poll carried by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot confirmed Labor’s poor performance, crediting the party with 19 or 20 mandates after the January 28 vote while Likud would pocket 32 or 33.

“The entire leadership of the party, including Shimon Peres, is standing as one man behind Amram Mitzna and will go all the way by his side,” a Labor spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP) to quell any rumors that an internal coup was looming.

For his part, Peres has remained silent over the latest speculation of yet another comeback.

Peres, a seasoned politician who has been prime minister twice already, went through a similar situation two years ago, just before Sharon’s crushing defeat of then Labor leader Ehud Barak.

With polls predicting Labor could win if it was led by Peres, the architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize jumped back into the election swamp the next year and challenged Barak for the head of the party with only a few weeks to go.

After several days of intense negotiations within the Israeli left, the secular left-wing party Meretz opposed Peres’ candidacy.

“I could have won these elections,” said a bitter Peres after Sharon’s landslide victory.

“It seems Labor has not fully recovered from this defeat,” said professor Eytan Gilboa, from Bar Ilan University’s political sciences department.

“One has to bear in mind that Peres has always been the king of opinion polls,” he told AFP, in reference to his unwavering popularity but repeated failures to win any election.

Sharon Riding High

Meanwhile, Sharon is riding high, according to new polls released Monday.

The polls show Sharon’s Likud party taking between 31 and 33 seats in the 120-member Knesset, which would still allow the hard line leader to form a right-wing coalition if Mitzna sticks to his pledge not to join a national unity government.

But one poll published by the Yediot Aharonot showed that 21 percent of voters are still hesitating about their vote, notably between Likud and the centrist Shinui, currently tipped to win between 15 and 16 seats.

Sharon’s chances appeared unlikely to be affected by new unemployment statistics showing 268,000 Israelis, or 10.5 percent of the working age population, are without jobs, an increase of 50,000 since the same time last year.

The figures add to indicators published last week showing the damage caused to Israel’s economy by 28 months of Palestinian intifada and the global high-tech slump.

But other opinion polls last week showed Israelis much more preoccupied with political issues than with the economy.

Only 14 percent of those polled said the economic crisis was likely to influence their vote.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Israel to Carry out Spate of Ethnic Cleansing Against Palestinian Villagers

By Khalid Amayreh

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Israeli government said on Monday it would go ahead with destroying hundreds of homes and businesses in two Arab villages bordering an apartheid fence Israel is building inside the west Bank.

According to Palestinian sources in the Northern West Bank town of Tulkarm, the Israeli occupation army has already notified the proprietors of more than 170 homes and businesses that the structures will be destroyed in a few days.

Many of the homes and other buildings slated for destruction are at the villages of Nazlat Isa and Baqa al Gharbiaya, both located along the former armistice line between the West Bank and Israel.

In addition to the homes, the Israeli army informed villagers in the area of its decision to confiscate thousands of hectares of their land “for security reasons.”

Shocked by the Israeli decision, the villagers appealed to the international community, especially the European Union, to pressurize the "apartheid state" to reconsider the draconian measure.

One villager from Nazlat Isa, Mahmoud As’ad, opined that the wanton destruction of villagers’ homes and business as well as the wild seizure of their land was only the first step of what he called “a systematic Nazi-like campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

“The Jews are doing to us what the Nazis did to them. They are destroying our homes, seizing our land and property, and telling us to leave,” she said.

Last week, the Israeli army also notified villagers in several parts of the West Bank of decisions to destroy hundreds of homes located at or near the former armistice line.

Some Palestinians and human rights activists are making analogies between the current rampage of home demolitions and land confiscation and the what the destruction by Israel in 1948 of 450-500 Palestinian villages and small towns for the purpose of preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes.

“If you count the number of homes they have dynamited in the course of the past two years alone, you will find out that they are after something very very evil. They destroy the homes, seize the land, and then evict us…Isn’t that what the Nazis did in Europe,” said Muhammed al Shawarib, one of the villagers affected by the latest house demolition campaign.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army on Monday destroyed a home in Hebron which the Israeli radio said belonged to the family of a Palestinian activist.

The home was reportedly dynamited in early morning hours after several children and their mother were evicted at gunpoint.

Last week, the United States mildly rebuked Israel for wantonly destroying civilian homes.

However, the Israeli government ignored the American rebuke, arguing that the rebuke was issued for public relations purposes.

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

Monday January 20, 2003

By Anne Gwynne in Nablus

NABLUS, West Bank (PalestineChronicle.com) - If crossing Kalandia and on to Ramallah brought tears, then traveling to Nablus from Ramallah by UPMRC ambulance is beyond tears, beyond words, beyond description, beyond anything I could have imagined experiencing. All senses are numbed; you ride on a sea of despair.