JUNE 2003

Friday June 13, 2003

2/3 Of Israelis Against Assassinations, Sharon Blamed

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Two-thirds of Israelis want a halt to Israel's practice of "targeted killings" of Palestinian activists, which escalated in recent days, according to a poll published Friday, June 13, as Israeli press blasted Premier Ariel Sharon over ‘the same policy’.

The poll, published in the daily Yediot Aharonot, showed that of the two-thirds, 58 percent of those interviewed said the assassinations should be "provisionally suspended" to give new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas time to assert his authority. Nine percent want them stopped altogether.

In contrast, 30 percent favored continuing the campaign to kill senior Palestinian leaders, such as the helicopter attacks this week on leaders of the resistance group Hamas. Three percent had no opinion.

Twenty-four Palestinians have died in five Israeli helicopter missile attacks this week, including a failed attempt Tuesday to kill Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi that triggered strong protests in the Arab world.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who is pushing efforts to revive the peace process, said he was "troubled" by the raid.

The poll showed that 75 percent of Israelis expected Bush to put pressure on Israel to implement the roadmap for peace that provides for confidence-building measures ahead of establishment of a Palestinian state in 2005.

Twenty-two percent thought Bush would not put pressure on the Jewish state and three percent had no opinion.

The poll was conducted by the Dahaf Institute, which interviewed a sample of 500 Israelis. The margin of error was 4.5 percentage points.

Thursday June 12, 2003

Arafat, Abbas Condemn 'Terrorist Operations' in Jerusalem, Gaza

RAMALLAH - President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) on Wednesday condemned the “terrorist operations” against Palestinian and Israeli civilians and called on all Palestinian factions to declare an “immediate” ceasefire and a stop to all forms of operations.

“I strongly condemn the terrorist operation that targeted Israeli civilians in Jerusalem today, as strongly as I condemn the assassination attempt against our brother (Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz) al-Rantissi, and the Israeli terrorist aggressions before and after that against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestinian areas, which claimed tens of dead and wounded, including eight killed just an hour ago of whom there were two unidentified women,” Arafat said in a televised speech.

President Arafat gave a live landmark speech on television from his battered Ramallah compound after one of the worst eruptions of violence in the 32-month-old Intifada against the 36-year old Israeli occupation, which left at least 30 people dead in two days.

He was referring to three Israeli extra-judicial assassinations of Palestinian activists by Apache helicopters on Tuesday and Wednesday, which left at least 16 Palestinians dead, mostly bystanders of women and children, as well as to a bus bomb Wednesday that claimed the lives of 16 Israelis in central Jerusalem.

Twenty-nine Palestinians have been killed in extra-judicial Israeli assassinations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since Palestinian-Israeli-US Aqaba summit meeting on June 4.

“This vicious circle of terrorist operations by all parties must stop now, and immediately,” Arafat stressed.

"I call on all Palestinian national and Islamic factions and groups to uphold their responsibilities, give priority to the higher interests of the Palestinian people and our Arab nation and to refuse being dragged into the trap which Israel is trying to drag us into, with the aim of undermining the chances to save the peace process, the peace of the brave.”

Arafat appealed to US President George W. Bush to intervene urgently to stop the deteriorating situation and save the peace process.

“I call on US President George Bush, who confirmed his personal commitment to the Quartet and the Arab leaders to work towards the implementation of the roadmap, to immediately and urgently intervene to stop this deterioration, to oblige Israel to implement the roadmap and to quickly send the international monitors.”

Earlier, PM Abbas issued a statement describing the situation in almost the same words.

“Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas condemns the terrorist attack which took place this afternoon in Jerusalem and also condemns the Israeli reaction in Gaza,” the statement said.

"The prime minister stresses that in order to stop the escalation, all parties should commit themselves to a ceasefire and take serious action to implement the roadmap," the statement added.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not reciprocate.

Sharon said Wednesday that Israel would continue its extra-judicial assassinations against Palestinian activists to the fullest extent while making “every effort” on peacemaking with the Palestinians.

“The State of Israel will pursue to the fullest extent the Palestinian terrorist groups and their leaders,'' Sharon said in a speech, but he added that Israel had a “deep commitment to make every effort to move forward with the diplomatic process which we hope will bring quiet and with God's help, peace.”

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestine National Authority (PNA) have consistently urged Israel to end the extra-judicial assassinations by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) as a prerequisite to calming down the deteriorating situation on the ground, but PM Sharon’s government has so far failed to reciprocate.

On the contrary, the Israeli government on Thursday morning announced it will persist in its assassination campaign, in particular against the political leaders, the activists and the infrastructure of Hamas and other Palestinian anti-Israeli occupation groups, which threatens more deterioration on the ground.

The IOF were ordered to "completely wipe out" the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” the army radio reported.

The order directed the Israeli military to use "whatever means necessary," following a meeting of “Defense” Minister Shaul Mofaz with the army's top command.

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

Wednesday June 11, 2003

This is the Israeli Cease-Fire; This is the Israeli Good Will

By Kristen Ess,
For PalestineChronicle.com

GAZA CITY - The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military government have agreed to a 'cease-fire.' The terminology is, of course, misleading. It suggests that there are two equal sides at war. The Israeli government, receiving more than 12 million dollars a day from the US to supplement its arsenal of 'weapons of mass destruction,' has not ended its illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nor has it ceased imposing curfew on West Bank towns, building settlements and checkpoints, or using APCs, Apache helicopters, tanks, jeeps, and ground soldiers throughout the West Bank and Gaza.

Yesterday Israeli Occupation Forces assassinated five Palestinians in the West Bank town of Attiel near Tulkuram.

On Tuesday the Israeli military government released 100 out of over 8,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Most of those released were being help without charge or trial in 'administrative detention'—a six-month sentence that the Israelis renew for years if they want to. Many of those released had just a few days left of their 'sentence.' A Palestinian journalist, working for a US outlet, has just told me that amongst the released he spoke with in Ramallah, "most only had six or seven days left."

Information disseminated by the Israeli government has passed the release off as a mark of 'good faith.'

Out of the 100 released, 13 are from Bethlehem. One of them is a 23 year-old man taken out of his sleep at 2 am six months ago. He was given six months 'administrative detention,' without charge or trial. The six months is up in a few days, so he was released. This is not good will. He served his illegal sentence and now he is home.

The release of Abu Sukar, a hero to many who was imprisoned by the Israelis for 27 years, was a political gesture. He told the press, "I am happy to see my children who are grown now, my grandchildren, and all of my family, but this is not complete. This is not peace. There will never be peace until the children I raised inside the prison are also released."

The Israeli military government began this 'good-will gesture' release of Palestinian political prisoners two weeks ago. Over the course of two days, they released eight West Bank Palestinians from completed 'administrative detention sentences' and deported them directly from Israeli prison to Gaza.

For most of last month, the Gaza Strip was closed to everyone: foreigners, journalists (including CNN), diplomats. During the complete closure, Palestinians trapped inside reported intense Israeli attacks by sea, air and land, killing with impunity.

This week a few foreigners were allowed in, some working with the European Commission. Israeli soldiers opened fire on their diplomatic car as they passed through Beit Hanoun on their way to Eretz Checkpoint.

For the past several months the IOF has been destroying the northern Gaza Strip area bit by bit—demolishing the houses, displacing hundreds of Bedouins, ripping up orange groves, degrading the soil. One of the women working for the European Commission has just told me, "Beit Hanoun is gone."

The Israeli military government says that it will dismantle only ten of its roughly 267 illegal settlements. The 'Road Map,' in addition to long standing UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and international law, calls for ceasing building and dismantling all Israeli settlements. The ten the Israelis are discussing dismantling are not those creating the cantons that divide the West Bank from itself, but rather those that are considered, 'out-posts' and illegal under Israeli law in addition to international law. Another empty gesture.

The Israeli military government told the international community last week that it would lift its complete closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip so that low-wage Palestinian workers can work for the Israeli economy. A local human rights worker told me, "The Israelis have fired 20,000 imported foreign workers because they were too expensive." One strategy of the Occupation is to cripple the Palestinian economy by destroying infrastructure, agricultural land, and local industry, in addition to imposing closure and curfew, which make going to work within the West Bank impossible. All of these actions create a devastating dependence on Israeli products and jobs.

In the same breathe that the Israeli military government said it would ease the closure, it also said that Israeli soldiers would remain throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The day after the announcement of the 'good will gesture' to ease the closure, the IOF imposed curfew on Ramallah, as they have done today as well. Soldiers were filmed beating residents in the streets. A man trapped at the Qalandia checkpoint reported to me via telephone that there were up to 200 Israeli soldiers, Apaches, APCs, and tanks. He said, "There's no where to go to get away." Residents of Jenin and Nablus are suffering under frequent curfews also. Reports from Nablus indicate that last night Israeli soldiers placed a bomb in the old city.

This is the Israeli 'cease-fire,' the Israeli 'good-will.'

For several days in a row, F16s flew over Bethlehem and helicopters circled. Israeli tank shelling and shooting is still frequent. This week Israeli jeeps drove into the center of Manger Square in front of the Church of Nativity and shot a child in the eye and another in the leg. The children threw stones. Yesterday Israeli soldiers, with tanks and jeeps, forced Palestinians to crouch on the ground with their hands on their heads near Bethlehem University.

This is happening amidst 'Road Map' talks in the Sinai, Aqaba, and Jerusalem. The 'Road Map' itself is loaded with points that have been negotiated in the past, ones the Israelis have not been honoring, and points that cannot be negotiated. UN Resolution 194 demands the Right of Return for all Palestinians as a collective and an individual right. As such, it cannot be negotiated.

The Israeli military government is openly reporting that it will not cease its illegal practice of targeted assassinations, as it demonstrated yesterday in the West Bank.

This is the Israeli 'cease-fire,' as Occupation, humiliation, home-demolitions and killings, have been part and parcel to the Israeli idea of 'peace.'

Yesterday a Palestinian journalist working for an American television network spent five hours, from 11 am to 4 pm, traveling from Ramallah to Bethlehem, a short distance that without Israeli checkpoints and soldiers obstructing movement within the West Bank, would take only 40 minutes.

He says, "Now there are more checkpoints than before this week. I think at least three or four more now around Ramallah."

I ask him why the Israelis are building more checkpoints at a time when they should be dismantling them. He replies, "When they want to show the world that they are implementing the Road Map, they will show pictures of themselves on the news removing these new checkpoints and the regular ones will remain. They want to trick the world as usual."

Sabra and Shatila Plaintiffs Welcome Ruling by the Brussels Appeals Court

BRUSSELS/BEIRUT – Yesterday’s ruling brought a clear, decisive victory in the legal battle waged for the last two years by the survivors and victims of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre.

The Brussels Court of Appeals decided that none of the numerous arguments developed by the State of Israel and by Mr. Sharon and Yaron can invalidate or oppose a criminal investigation, in Belgium, into the massacre that took place in Sabra and Shatila more than twenty years ago.

Vigorous attempts by our opponents to invoke state sovereignty, double jeopardy, and other legal obstacles have now reached a judicial dead-end. Although theoretically Mr. Yaron could decide to file a petition before the Supreme Court of Belgium appealing today's ruling, it is unlikely he will do so, since he in fact abandoned the legal arena on May 27, just before this case was scheduled for a hearing before the Court of Appeals. Yaron's judicial capitulation, confirmed today in court, stands in sharp contrast with the adamant position of Messrs.

Sharon and Yaron, who claimed in September 2001 that their legal arguments would prevail.

Sharon and Yaron have now abandoned the judicial arena, retreating fully to the political and diplomatic arena, where they hope that the Belgian government will use the newly amended anti-atrocity (universal jurisdiction) law to send the case to Israel. The new law allows such a move only when the plaintiffs have fair access to justice in another country, a presumptuous allegation, in this case, as the victims and plaintiffs, being Palestinian refugees, do not exist legally vis-a-vis the Israeli legal system in the first place.

This new mechanism itself is quite rightly challenged, however, and will most likely be subjected to the scrutiny of the constitutional court, since it violates the fundamental principle of the separation of powers in Belgium, in addition to the basic human rights required by a fair procedure and trial.

In our case, this was seen clearly when the Public Prosecutor himself has asked for an investigation, the Attorney General insisted on the continuation of the investigation throughout the two years of sustained legal battle, and the Supreme Court decided that the law against massive crimes should now apply to the Israelis accused in this matter. Today, we have the unambiguous confirmation by the Court of Appeals, which, despite claims by Sharon and Yaron that the amended law's new mechanisms should benefit them, that the investigation and full trial can now be developed.

Luc Walleyn, Michael Verhaeghe, Chibli Mallat. Brissels and Beirut, 10 June 2003. For more information visit: http://www.indictsharon.net/

Abed Rabbo: Attack Against Rantisi is Attack Against ‘Roadmap’

RAMALLAH - The PNA minister of Cabinet Affairs has condemned the extra-judicial assassination attempt on Abdel Aziz Rantisi and said the attack against him was effectively an Israeli attack against the roadmap.

In a press release today, Yasser Abed Rabbo said the latest Israeli attack was aimed at “sabotaging all efforts being undertaken by the Palestinian government to start Palestinian dialogue aimed at reaching a united Palestinian consensus to reach a cease-fire and an end to the violence.”

The minister also stressed that the Israeli Premier is in fact “committing all forms of provocation in order to halt any possibility of implementing the roadmap.”

“Sharon’s enemy is the roadmap and he wants to obstruct the ongoing efforts of President George Bush to start the implementation phase of the roadmap peace plan.” He added.

Abed Rabbo urged the American President and his administration to take “real, direct and immediate intervention” to put an end to what he called Sharon’s ongoing policy of assassinations and escalation.

Commenting on the removal of settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, the minister called upon the international community, most notably the US, “not to fall into the trap Sharon has set up.”

“The theatrical step Sharon undertook by which two caravans were removed and claimed this was a removal of settlement outposts is meaningless. What was meaningful was his decision to demolish fully occupied, inhabited Palestinians’ homes in Beit Hanoun and Hebron—not unoccupied random caravans.” Abed Rabbo said.

The minister further said that the Israeli premier is in fact using the removals of a few rogue empty settler caravans as a guise under which he can launch a campaign of provocations and assassinations to increase the cycle of violence and bloodshed.

“This is the true aim of Sharon’s policy and not the theatrical steps of removing several rogue caravans and watchtowers.” He added.

Moreover, the minister highlighted that while Sharon’s government just removed two empty caravans, the real colonies (exceeding 100), which Sharon planted throughout the Occupied Palestinian territory, were still intact and growing.

“In theatre, this maneuver of removing two empty caravans is called bad acting, whereas in politics it is called deception.” Abed Rabbo said.

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

Bush, Annan, Arabs Warn Israel against Derailing Peace Efforts

RAMALLAH - Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) condemned an Israeli missile strike against the political leader Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi Tuesday as a “terrorist” attack, as the US, UN, UK and Arab foreign ministers warned that the Israeli extra-judicial assassination attempt could sabotage the “roadmap” peace-making efforts.

“We consider this (assassination) attempt an awful crime and a terrorist operation in the full sense of the word because it targets innocent people,'” Abbas told the Palestinian satellite television channel in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He also said in a written statement issued by his office, “Such attacks obstruct and sabotage the political process.”

Abbas demanded immediate action from the United States, the main Middle East peace broker, to stop what he called a “serious deterioration.”

“He (Abbas) demanded immediate action from the United States to stop this serious deterioration,” the statement issued by Abbas’s office said.

However, he also vowed to continue trying to reach an agreement with all Palestinian factions towards calming down the deteriorating situation.

“The prime minister emphasized that the Palestinian government will continue consultations with all Palestinian factions to reach an understanding and an agreement despite this foolish Israeli attack,” his office said.

Abed Rabbo Urges US Intervention

Similarly, other Palestine National Authority (PNA) officials stressed that the failed Israeli extra-judicial assassination of Al-Rantisi was an attempt by Israel’s government to derail a “roadmap” to peace promoted by the US President George W. Bush at two Middle East summits in Egypt and Jordan last week.

The PNA Minister for Cabinet Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Israeli actions signal that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon doesn’t want to accept the “roadmap.”

“It is an assassination to the roadmap itself,” he told CNN Tuesday. “That’s why we are now asking for an American intervention at the highest level to stop this cycle of violence.”

“This attack today in Gaza aims at the destruction of the ‘roadmap’ and of the efforts exerted by Mr. Bush and his administration in order to start the process of implementing the ‘roadmap.’” He added.

Abed Rabbo also said that the Israeli assassination attempt was premeditated to foil the efforts of the Palestinian government to pacify the conditions on the ground and to start Palestinian national dialogue.

“This attack is directed against the efforts of the Palestinian government to pacify the conditions on the ground and to start Palestinian dialogue with Hamas and other factions in order to have a Palestinian unanimous position concerning the cease-fire and the truce so that we will be able to implement all our commitments that are included in the road map,” Abed Rabbo said.

The Minister added that Sharon "knows very well" that an assassination attempt on a Hamas leader would result in the group rejecting any cease-fire. The attacks, he said, are an attempt "to provoke Hamas -- so there will be no cease-fire and we will not succeed in putting an end to the cycle of violence."

Similarly, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr called the attack a "stupid act" that will have "completely counterproductive results" and lead to more retaliation.

Bush ‘Deeply Troubled’

In Washington, the White House said that Bush was "deeply troubled" by the Israeli helicopter strike against al-Rantissi and does not think it promotes Israel's security.

"I am troubled by the recent Israeli helicopter gunship attacks. I regret the loss of innocent life," Bush said. "I am concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks."

Bush added, "I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace. And I believe with responsible leadership by all parties, we can bring peace to the region -- and I emphasize, all parties must behave responsibly to achieve that objective."

Israeli military sources said Rantissi was targeted because he has been stepping up his involvement, his incitement and his coordination of attacks against Israel since the US-led “road map” for peace was introduced, the CNN reported.

The 55-year-old political leader of Hamas suffered leg, arm and chest wounds in the missile attack on his car in Gaza.

Witnesses said Israeli helicopter gunships fired five or six rockets on Rantissi’s car and another vehicle parked nearby.

Two bystanders, a 50-year-old woman and Rantisi’s bodyguard were killed.

More than 20 other people were wounded, including Rantissi, his son Ahmad and two bodyguards, Palestinian medical sources said.

Only hours after the attempt on Al-Rantisi’s life IOF Apache gunships launched a second air strike in which three more innocent Palestinians of the same family were killed when an Israeli rocket missed its target and hit their house instead.

The Israeli sources said the second Apache helicopter strike in Gaza on Tuesday was aimed at people who fired six homemade Qassam rockets toward Israel. No one was injured by the Qassam rockets.

The “roadmap” calls on Israel to take "no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians, confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property," and other actions. However, there is no direct ban on what Israeli officials term as “targeted killings” of Palestinian activists.

Annan ‘Seriously Concerned’

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced “serious concern” Tuesday over Israel’s attempted extra-judicial killing of Rantisi and again called on the Israeli Government to "desist from the disproportionate use of force."

"He reiterates his consistent opposition to such actions," a statement issued by a spokesman for Annan said of the attempt against Al-Rantissi. "Today's action is likely to complicate even further the efforts by the Palestinian Prime Minister to halt violence and terrorism by Palestinian groups."

Annan condemned the killing in the attack of Palestinian civilians, including a 50-year-old mother, whose daughter was badly injured. "He calls again on the Government of Israel to desist from the disproportionate use of force, especially in densely populated areas," the statement added.

In occupied east Jerusalem, the British Consulate General said in a press release Wednesday that Foreign Office Minister Mike O’Brien was “very concerned by the recent violence between Israel and the Palestinians in recent days, especially the attack launched” by the IOF against Al-Rantisi.

“We have always recognized Israel’s right to protect its own security...but the extra-judicial killings or the assassinations” of Palestinians “undermine the prospect of a peaceful settlement,” the British press release said.

Arab Foreign Ministers Slam Israel

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Bahrain’s capital condemned Israel’s failed assassination and accused Israel of seeking to quash revived peace hopes.

Israel's helicopter raid was "an act that is condemned, condemned, condemned," said Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud al-Faisal, who wrapped up with his Arab counterparts a meeting of the Arab League follow-up committee in Manama Tuesday.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said "everyone has denounced this operation," which was "part of Israel's attempts to torpedo the situation created by the US-backed peace roadmap.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher accused Israel of "pretending to implement the roadmap while carrying on with its aggressive policy" against the Palestinians.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, for his part, told reporters that the attempt on the life of the leader of the radical Islamic movement Hamas "threatens the peace process.”

The attack violates the roadmap, said Mussa, accusing Israel of trying to "thwart any attempt to establish a just and comprehensive peace" in the Middle East.

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

Thursday June 5, 2003

Israeli Settlers Occupy Palestinian’s House, Establish New Illegal Outpost

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Armed Israeli settlers, headed by the Israeli ministers of tourism and communications, occupied on Wednesday a house owned by a Palestinian family in occupied east Jerusalem and established a new illegal settlement outpost in the Hebron area.

Israeli minister, Bini Ayalon, heading a group of Israeli settlers, attacked a house owned by Palestinian citizen Rashad Maqdisyya, and occupied it after kicking the family out at gunpoint.

The house of is located in Nablus Street, next to the US Consulate.

Earlier, armed Israeli settlers established a new illegal settlement outpost in Wadi Mozayyen area near Hebron.

Israeli settlers put a number of caravans in the area near the illegal Israeli settlement of “Kiryat Arba”, witnesses said.

Settlers Say No to “Roadmap”

Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli settlers, living illegally in the West Bank, organized a rally in west Jerusalem Wednesday night to protest the Aqaba peace summit, which they described as a “humiliating ceremony in which the Israeli government celebrated its surrender to Palestinian terror.”

The so-called “Council of Israeli Settlements” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip organized the demonstration, held in Jerusalem’s Zion Square.

Speaking Wednesday afternoon following the conclusion of the Aqaba meeting between U.S. President George Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the “Yesha Council” Secretary-General Adi Mintz told the Israeli army Radio that the Israeli government was likely take steps that would cross “red lines.”

“When the government begins taking practical steps that will lead to a Palestinian state, this is for us a red line beyond which I think nationalist parties cannot participate,” Mintz said.

“When the government evacuates Jews from their land… I think that evacuation of this nature in the context of the creation of a Palestinian state is certainly a red line that nationalist parties - this includes many Likud members - do not accept,” he added.

About 430,000 Israeli settlers live illegally in 150 West Bank and Gaza settlements created with the approval of Israeli governments since 1967.

Settlements are deemed illegal under international law and are considered a serious obstacle to stopping more than 31 months of bloodshed.

Meanwhile, Israeli parliament members Zvi Hendel and Uri Ariel, the two representatives of Tekuma - one of the three parties that make up the extremist right-wing National Union -sent a letter to Ariel Sharon hinting that the moment the government starts implementing the “roadmap” and evacuating outposts, they will quit the ruling coalition.

Senior Likud legislator Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) Foreign Affairs and “Defense” Committee, also said that Sharon was mistaken in agreeing to take part in the Aqaba summit.

“Even great leaders sometimes make mistakes, and this was certainly a mistake, at least tactically. Sharon was capable of saying no. I assume that for various reasons, Sharon decided to reserve the 'no' for a slightly later stage,” Steinitz told the radio.

However, many other Israelis say the problem of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory get in the way of a deal that could unburden their country of the costly occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

According to the Israeli Peace Now group, 117 “unauthorized” outposts have been created since 1998, 62 of them since the March 1 date.

Some of the outposts consist of no more than a few trailers or an antenna, and many are positioned on hilltops. Some are unpopulated; most have fewer than a dozen settlers.

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

Wolf to Lead Team of US Monitors to Oversee Palestinian-Israeli Commitment to Roadmap

WASHINGTON - US assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation John S. Wolf will soon lead a team of monitors to the Middle East to help the Palestinians and Israelis fulfill their obligations under President George W. Bush’s “roadmap” peace plan, and to publicize it when either side falls short of their responsibilities.

The team will consist solely of American officials in at least its early phases, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

“This mission will be charged with helping the parties to move towards peace, monitoring their progress and stating clearly who was fulfilling their responsibilities,” Bush said Wednesday in a statement following a day of summit meetings with Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.

The Palestinian leadership has been a long-time advocate of bringing international observers to the region, arguing that only outside monitors could hold Israel accountable to the world for its promises to withdraw from reoccupied territory.

“We welcome and stress the need for the assistance of the international community and, in particular, the Arab states, to help us,” Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, said. “We also welcome and stress the need for a US-led monitoring mechanism.”

To win Israeli support for the new team, the Bush administration promised that all the monitors would be Americans at least initially. But senior American officials have not foreclosed on the possibility of adding monitors from Europe or Russia — whose governments helped develop the peace plan, known as the “roadmap” — to the group, The New York Times said.

"It is an understanding between the United States and Israel that the only party that has proven an honest broker in the peace process is the United States," said Ra’anan Gissin, a foreign affairs adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Wolf is a 33-year veteran of the Foreign Service who has worked in Australia, Vietnam, Greece, and Pakistan. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he was ambassador to Malaysia from 1992 to 1995 and ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation from 1997 until 1999.

Bush on Wednesday said that Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, and Colin Powell the Secretary of State would be his “personal representatives” to the two parties.

Powell said that Wolf, who is expected to resign his State Department post to lead the team, was notified of his new assignment two weeks ago and would be arriving in the region “very soon.”

Powell added that the American ambassador to Israel, Daniel C. Kurtzer, and the acting consul general, Jeffrey Feltman, would play major roles in helping oversee the monitors.

“We’re going to have a very strong team here,” Powell told reporters as he prepared Wednesday to leave Aqaba with Bush for Doha, Qatar.

However, US Administration officials released few details on the team, its mission or its timetable for reaching the region, saying that it was still being assembled in the United States. But they said that initial plans called for the team to be relatively small — about 10 people or so — and to consist mainly of intelligence officials and diplomats. Senior officials have said the team was likely to be based in Jerusalem, but they said that could change.

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

Tuesday June 3, 2003

Occupation Army Imposes Strict Curfew on Ramallah, Kills Palestinian Officer

RAMALLAH - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their military aggression against the Palestinian people, shot dead a Palestinian police officer, imposed a strict siege and curfew on Ramallah and totally closed the cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus, only two days ahead of a US-Palestinian-Israeli summit meeting in Aqaba.

The IOF shot dead the Palestinian police officer Nasser Abdulqader Bakr, 54, when their tanks shelled a security post between Biet Lahya and Biet Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday.

The IOF troops also on Monday imposed a strict siege and curfew on the West Bank city of Ramallah, isolating completely the actual Palestinian political capital from tens of towns and villages, and totally closed other West Bank cities, “in the context of Israel’s collective punishment policy,” a Palestinian official spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the IOF have tightened their siege on the northern West Bank cites of Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Nablus, while continuing their reoccupation of the whole northern Gaza Strip, and in particular Biet Hanoun.

Meanwhile Palestinian Salem Sulaiman Al-Masdar, 57, died in a Gaza city hospital Monday of wounds sustained from IOF gunfire on April 6, Palestinian medical sources announced.

These escalating military measures “refute all what has been declared by the Israeli official spokespersons on easing the siege” imposed on Palestinians, the Palestinian official spokesperson said Monday.

The Israeli escalation also is an attempt to avoid implementing the so-called internationally-adopted and US-backed “roadmap” peace plan, the spokesperson added, ahead of a US-Palestinian-Israeli summit meeting in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba on Wednesday.

The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last Thursday promised Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), in their second meeting in occupied Jerusalem, that Israel would ease the siege the IOF impose on reoccupied Palestinian territories and would free some Palestinian detainees as a gesture of good will.

Sharon delivered none of his promises so far, except the release of the PLO executive committee member Tayseer Khalid, who was detained in mid-February.

Khalid stressed to reporters, shortly after a brief meeting with President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah late Monday, the importance of the detainees issue.

Sharon pledged Thursday, May 29, to Abu Mazen to set free Taisseer Khaled and Ahmed Jbara Abu El-Sukkar, detained since 1975.

The families of thousands of Palestinian detainees, in Israeli jails as well as in IOF detention camps in occupied Palestinian territories, gathered Monday, June 2, in Gaza in the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Crescent to denounce Sharon’s decision to set free selectively a few of Palestinian detainees.

They called upon the Arab leaders participating in Sharm El-Sheikh summit Tuesday and the Palestinian delegates to the Aqaba summit meeting with the Israeli and the US President George W. Bush to “set free all prisoners without exception” and to “pay heed to the catastrophe befalling their sons.”

The detainees decided to go on a hunger strike Tuesday, June 3, to attract the attention of the leaders attending Sharm El-Sheikh summit.

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

Monday June 2, 2003

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority health minister, Kamal Sharafi reported on Monday that the number of Palestinian children killed by the Israeli occupation army since the outbreak of the Intifada 33 months ago has reached 571.

The Palestinian daily newspaper, al Ayyam, quoted Sharafi on Monday as saying that most of the victims were killed as a result of indiscriminate Israeli artillery and aerial bombardment of Palestinian population centers.

The Palestinian official pointed out that during the past month alone, the Israeli army killed 21 Palestinian children, 12 in the Gaza Strip and nine in the West Bank.

He added that since the beginning of the year 2003, the Israeli occupation army has killed 107 children, 60 in the Gaza Strip, and 47 in the West Bank.

The minister stressed that the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish terrorists 'knowingly and deliberately kill Palestinian children'.

Normally, the Israeli regime refuses to carry out genuine investigations into the killings.