New Page 1

Ramallah March 31, 2002, Wafa - Upon receiving an international peace activist solidarity delegation that decided to stay with H.E. in His confinement in the Presidential HQ in Ramallah, President Arafat said: “My personal safety is not important, what is happening to my people is more important, and to them I say: patience.”.

After the initial meeting H.E. said to the press that this is not the first time that the HQ have been besieged and bombed, it happened in the past.

Commenting to the Israeli allegations that H.E. will be safe, H.E. asked the press: “Do you think that a missile can distinguish between me and my fellow companions?” And H.E. emphasized that the Israeli forces have executed 9 senior Palestinian security officers in cold blood and from a short distance, HE also said that their tanks are besieging the hospitals preventing the wounded to enter for medical care as you have personally witnessed.

“That is the reason for my call, upon the international community, especially the Committee of Four, that includes the USA, the EU, the Russian Federation and the UN, headed by Gen. Zinni, who was appointed by the USA Administration, and as I have told the USA Secretary General Mr. Powell, that we need the deployment of international forces to stop this dangerous escalation against our people in their camps, villages, towns and cities” H.E. added.

President Arafat also said that many pregnant Palestinian women are unable to reach hospitals to deliver their babies, instead they give birth in front of the Israeli roadblocks and on the roads, endangering their lives and their babies, wondering if such things have happened elsewhere on the planet, adding that the occupation soldiers number stamp the arms of the Palestinian POW, the way the Nazi Germans did.

H.E. stressed that the only way to end this crisis, is by implementing the UN latest resolution, 1402, that was filed by President Bush and his Secretary of State, ordering Israel to withdraw immediately from the Palestinian cities, ceasefire, and commence implementing the Tenet Understandings and the Mitchell Report Recommendations.

About His departure H.E. said: “The Israelis have spoken a lot about this but I tell them that I Am another Palestinian Martyr”, “Yet we are committed to the Peace of the Brave choice, for we are the last remaining occupied nation in the world” HE added.

H.E. also told the press that the Palestinians have welcomed the UN Security Council’s resolution, and the Israelis responded to the Arab peace initiative by spitting in the Arab Countries face, and reoccupying the Palestinian, PNA, populated areas.

About the international moves, H.E. said that many countries have declared that they will cut their relations with Israel, and there are many huge demonstrations through out the world expressing the nations rage at the Israeli criminal actions.

President Arafat concluded as saying: “We need the French and the European support, and I hope that President Bush continues his father’s project in Madrid, the Principle of land for peace, this peace is important not only for us and our children but also for the Israelis and their children, and for the entire world”.

Ramallah 31^st March 2002 Wafa - The Israeli vicious attacks upon the cities of Ramallah and Albira, including the Presidential Headquarters, continue, causing lots of causalities, and great destruction.

Since the early morning hours the Israeli tanks shelled the Presidential Headquarters, at least twice, firing tank shells, and poisonous gas bombs, into the Headquarters, while trying to break into it.

The Israeli occupation army continued today to prevent ambulances from evacuating wounded Palestinians to hospitals, arresting medical staffs, and ambulance drivers, breaking into hospitals, and arresting wounded Palestinians.

The Israeli occupation army launched a large scale arrest campaign in Ramallah, and Albira, after breaking into houses, viciously destroying property, and shooting towards journalists and press offices, in order to prevent them from reporting the Israeli crimes committed against helpless civilians.

The latest reports say that at least 9 Palestinians were assassinated today in cold blood, by the occupation troops, and their bodies are still lying in the streets, as ambulances are not able to reach them, and that the Israeli occupation army began invading Hebron, and the surrounding villages.

Nazareth, March 31, 2002, Wafa – In a statement to the press, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel said, We are told that this is a war against terror, and that war on terror knows no geographical or other constraints. The facts tell us that this is a war against civilians, and that red lines have been crossed:

At this very moment the hospitals in Ramallah are suffering from a shortage in medical supplies. Pregnant women, the chronically ill, wounded and bleeding lie waiting for ambulances to take them to hospital, while ambulances are prevented passage, their crews are detained and humiliated and their vehicles confiscated. The emergency services of the Palestine Red Crescent Society and Medical Relief are frequently attacked by Israeli occupation forces and prevented from fulfilling their humanitarian duty.

At this very moment, tens of thousands of civilians are under military siege and curfew, and suffering from a shortage of basic provisions.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel calls upon the Israeli government to put an end to the occupation and the resultant severe and systematic violations of human rights. However, as long as the attack on Palestinian society continues, Israel must adhere to International Humanitarian Law – designed precisely for times of occupation and armed conflict – to avoid harming civilians, and allow free and safe passage of medical personnel, ambulances, patients, food and medical supplies.

The principles of protection of medical personnel, allowing the treatment of the sick and wounded, are among the most basic foundations of International Humanitarian Law, the violation of which is crossing a dangerous red line. In the face of these severe abuses of medical neutrality and attacks on the fabric of Palestinian civil society, we call for immediate international intervention.

PARIS: Thousands of people marched in support of the Palestinian people and their besieged leader Yasser Arafat in France, Germany and other European countries Saturday, as Israel continued its operations against the Palestinian Authority.

In central Paris around 1,000 people demonstrated in a protest against the "logic of war" of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In Lyon, France's second city, police said around 5,500 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Around 150 people were meanwhile reported to have turned out for a peaceful demonstration in Oslo, calling for a boycott on Israeli goods.

In the German capital Berlin, around 800 people took part in a pro-Palestinian rally.

In Strasbourg in eastern France, between 2,000 and 3,000 people from France as well as from nearby Germany and Belgium took part in a protest called by the Party of French Muslims (PMF).

Its president, Mohamed Laprecje said: "Our goal is to give our support to the Intifada (the Palestinian uprising), to uplift a people in the face of a colonizing army."

In Marseille, in southern France, a city with a large Muslim population, around 1,600 people demonstrated in favour of "respect for the rights of the Palestinian people."

Easter peace marches in Hanover, Munich, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart, with between 250 and 1,000 protesters in each, also had a strong pro-Palestinian element.

In Bordeaux in southwestern France a pro-Palestinian demonstration of around 300 people took place in the city centre, while similar protests saw 600 people turn out in the southwestern city of Toulouse and around 250 in the northwestern Rennes.

In Lille, organizers claimed up to 3,000 people marched to demonstrate against Israeli policies, in a protest described by police as passing without incident.

In Athens, around a dozen members of parliament demonstrated in front of the Israeli Embassy and called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Ramallah.

The Israeli ambassador to Greece, David Shasson, refused to meet them and said in a statement that, "while the protesters are upset by the Israeli army actions, they showed no reaction to the terrorist attack in Netanya." Agency France Press

Imminent Humanitarian Crisis as Israel Re-Occupies West Bank; Internationals Take Action in Ramallah

RAMALLAH, West Bank: As the Israeli army starts its process of reoccupation, its creating a humanitarian crisis. The main problem is a lack of water as water tanks have been destroyed and the main water supply cut, electricity and telephones have also been cut, the injured and ill are unable to receive medical care, and food is in short supply.

The assault on medical services continues, with instances of medics being arrested and beaten on the street.

Meanwhile the Israeli soldiers continue their massive scale house-to-house searches detaining men, destroying personal property and terrorizing the civilian inhabitants - nine Palestinians have thus far been executed.

As the plan to re-occupy is carried out, the assault on Palestinian infrastructure continues – both at the PA and civil society levels. The Ramallah Municipality has been attacked and burned, as have the Chamber of Commerce building, Al-Amal Rehabilitation Center, and others. This morning the Human Rights Organization, Al Haq, was invaded; currently the army is invading Ramallah hospital.

Furthermore, in an attempt to prevent information about events on the ground from being reported, members of the press are being deliberately impeded from working.

The situation is dire - the Israeli army is carrying out a war against the Palestinian people. Sharon is implementing complete occupation of the West Bank, and it is probable that these criminal actions will continue for weeks.

Word has just reached us that 40 members of the Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP), including nationals of France, Italy and Ireland, have managed to enter the PA headquarters (the ‘Muqataa’) and refuse to leave. This means that whatever happens to Mr. Arafat will also happen to them. 15 other internationals have joined medical teams and are moving around the town protecting the medical teams as they provide medical assistance.

Palestinians are calling for more people to come to Palestine as volunteers as we anticipate that the events occurring in Ramallah will also happen in other Palestinian areas.

US ignores international mood and lays blame on Palestinians

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

01 April 2002

Amid a wave of international concern over Israel's ongoing siege of Yasser Arafat, the United States again condemned the latest Palestinian suicide bombings yesterday and said Mr. Arafat could do more to stop such attacks.

Several world leaders made direct appeals to Israel, asking it to show restraint and to ensure Mr. Arafat's safety. The foreign ministers of China and Japan, and Morocco's King Mohammed called either the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, or the Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, to voice concern. France, Germany, Turkey and Arab states also urged restraint.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has called on Mr. Sharon to pull back his tanks from Mr. Arafat's headquarters. Mr. Straw tried to speak to Mr. Arafat by telephone but the line went dead. He hopes to speak soon to Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, about the siege.

The Speaker of Greece's parliament accused Israel yesterday of committing "genocide".

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates all made diplomatic appeals, and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia contacted the US to voice his concerns.

Germany's Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said in a statement: "The military confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians is cause for great concern. It holds the danger of a destabilization of the entire region. The German government urgently appeals to the Israeli side to guarantee Palestinian President Arafat will not be harmed."

Amid such growing concern over Israel's siege of Mr. Arafat's compound in Ramallah, the US has stood almost alone – backing Mr. Sharon's right to defend his country.

On Saturday – with Mr. Arafat still trapped and with his communications under threat – President George Bush told reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that the Palestinian leader could, and should, do more to prevent suicide attacks, including the most recent in Tel Aviv.

Yesterday, a senior official repeated Mr. Bush's assertion. "We condemn these terrorist attacks," the official said.

"Chairman Arafat knows what he needs to do. President Bush was very clear about that yesterday and in previous days and our heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to the victims and the families of the victims of these brutal attacks."

Washington's refusal to express anything other than "grave concern" about the situation in Ramallah underlines the difficulty which the Bush administration faces in addressing the problem of the Middle East, while also prosecuting its so-called war on terror.

When Mr. Bush came to office last year, it was immediately made clear that the United States would play a much-reduced role in trying to achieve a peaceful settlement in the region and that the President would not expend the sort of personal and political capital that the previous president, Bill Clinton, had. A series of initiatives aimed at attempting to bring both sides together was terminated.

The attacks of 11 September have made criticism of Israel more difficult for Mr. Bush – even if he wished to indulge in such activity. In the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington, Mr. Sharon visited Mr. Bush, and argued the Palestinian suicide bombers were no different to those who had attacked the US. It was an argument which the US did not seek to counter.

While Mr. Bush last year became the first US President to use the word "Palestine" in terms of an independent state, his administration's dealings with the two sides remain unbalanced. Though Mr. Arafat has repeatedly condemned the spate of suicide bombings, Mr. Bush has refused to meet the Palestinian leader until he makes a public call in Arabic for the suicide bombings to end and to arrest those involved in the attacks.

GAZA CITY: Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on Sunday accused Ariel Sharon of "closing all the doors" to peace, after the right-wing Israeli prime minister branded Yasser Arafat an "enemy of the free world."

"Sharon has closed all the doors to the peace process and to international efforts to end the violence in the region," Erakat told AFP by telephone.

"His speech proves to the whole world that he is the number one enemy of peace. He will press on with his military plan to destroy the Palestinian Authority and kill President Arafat," he said.

"We call on the international community to stop the Israeli terrorism, since the occupation is terrorism," he said.

Saturday March 30, 2002

UNITED NATIONS, March 30, 2002, Wafa - Security Council vote Saturday calling on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, where President Yasser Arafat’s headquarters have been under attack

The 14-0 vote, Including USA, capped a marathon emergency council session called at the request of the Palestinians as Israeli troops raided President Arafat's West Bank headquarters.

It was the second time in a month that the United States voted with the Council for a Middle East resolution after years of abstaining and vetoing council measures that were critical of Israel. On March 13, the United States voted with the council calling for a Palestinian state.

The council resolution called on "both parties to move immediately to a meaningful cease-fire; calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah; and calls upon the parties to cooperate fully with (U.S.) Special Envoy (Anthony) Zinni" to work to get a cease-fire and start negotiation for a political settlement.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened the five-hour debate, urging Israel to stop its assault on President Arafat's compound, saying destroying it will not bring peace.

At the beginning of the emergency debate, Deputy U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham warned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government "to carefully consider the consequences" of attacking President Arafat's headquarters.

Cunningham said Arafat must not be harmed. "Chairman Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people. His leadership is now, and will be, central to any meaningful effort to restore calm," Cunningham said.

U.N. Palestinian Observer Dr. Nasser al-Kidwa called the Ramallah assault one more in a series of "insane" steps by Sharon. "Any harm to President Arafat would be the mother of all these mistakes," he said.

Saying he was trying to salvage the situation, al-Kidwa called for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities.

Annan, who flew home Friday from the Arab summit in Lebanon, said he was "deeply alarmed at the rapid escalation of the violence."

"Israel should halt its assault on the Palestinian Authority" Annan said. "Destroying the Palestinian Authority will not bring Israel closer to peace."

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities drew Israeli criticism and a qualified Palestinian welcome on Saturday.

The United States joined other Security Council members in adopting the resolution after Israeli troops tightened their siege of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in his battered headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Authority called the resolution positive and demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah, where Israeli tanks blasted their way into Arafat's offices on Friday.

Israel said in a statement that the resolution should have stressed Palestinian responsibility for "terrorist" attacks which it said had prompted its drive into Palestinian areas.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir went further, saying there must be a cease-fire and a halt to what he called terror before the Israelis would pull out.

"We will have to be there (in Palestinian cities) to root out terror as long as there will be terror and the Palestinian machine is producing suicide bombers and Palestinian mothers are proud of their children exploding themselves among innocent Israelis," he told Reuters.

The U.N. Security Council resolution urged Israelis and Palestinians to move immediately to a "meaningful cease-fire" and called for "the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah."

"We look at it (the resolution) positively provided that Israel implements it immediately and does not use it as a cover for procrastination and to prolong the invasion and the siege of the president," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.

U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni has been trying to broker a cease-fire to halt 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence in which 1,112 Palestinians and 383 Israelis have died.

A Palestinian revolt against Israel's 34-year-old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip erupted in September 2000 after U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations became deadlocked.

The Foreign Ministry said Israel had no interest in remaining in Ramallah or any other areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, but gave no hint that it would leave.

"The resolution correctly notes the need for a cease-fire as the first stage. Unfortunately, until now the Palestinians have acted to torpedo any effort to achieve such a cease-fire," an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said.

"The only reason we are there is because the Palestinians are launching terrorism against our citizens rather than eradicating the terrorism and implementing a cease-fire."

"It would have been preferable if the resolution had more clearly stressed the Palestinian responsibility for the deplorable terrorist attacks which constitute the sole reason for the Israeli army's present operations," it added.

The Foreign Ministry's Meir said Palestinian attacks had to be rooted out and resolutions were not enough.

"The international community must put pressure on Arafat who is the one encouraging terror," he said. "We are only at the beginning of our operation, the operation against terror."

"Our first and foremost duty is to defend Israelis ... I don't see the world doing anything to protect the Israeli people," he added.

CHICAGO (AP) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday urged President Bush to protect Yasser Arafat, saying he feared the Middle East will erupt in war if Israelis kill the Palestinian leader.

``It would be unthinkable foreign policy if we were to use less than our full efforts to stop this escalation, this aim at killing him,'' Jackson said.

He made his plea hours after Israeli troops stormed Arafat's headquarters in response to deadly anti-Israeli attacks this week.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Friday that Israel's ``endgame is to kill Arafat,'' however Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sharon aide Ranaan Gissin dismissed the allegation as ``nonsense.''

Jackson said the United States and the United Nations ``have the burden and capacity to move in'' to keep Arafat from being killed. He said he had not been able to get through to the White House.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that Israel has promised not to harm Arafat during the assault on his compound. But Jackson said the United States ``cannot be passive third parties'' to the attack.

J E R U S A L E M, March 30 — An American, Adam Shapiro, spent the night trapped alongside Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian leader's offices, surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks. His message to his fiancee on Saturday: "Phone lines have been cut. Need Red Cross."

Shapiro, a 30-year-old volunteer medic orginially from New York City, entered Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday to evacuate Arafat guards wounded in exchanges of fire in the Israeli assault, said his Palestinian fiancee, Huweida Arraf.

When the Israeli troops and tanks took over the compound an area about the size of a city block and sealed it off, Shapiro was trapped. Arraf said Israeli troops prevented Shapiro and another foreigner, Caoimhe Butterly of Dublin, Ireland, from leaving the compound.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of foreigners in Arafat's headquarters, but said no one was permitted to enter or leave the compound, except in humanitarian cases.

One Palestinian was killed and more than two dozen wounded in Arafat's headquarters during the Israeli assault, launched as part of a large-scale military operation after a string of Palestinian attacks. Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed elsewhere in Ramallah Friday.

Shapiro, a member of an international solidarity movement with the Palestinians, spent the night sitting on the floor in a room in Arafat's three-story office building. "He's physically fine, although worried and a little scared," Arraf told The Associated Press by telephone from Ramallah.

Shapiro communicated with his fiance by cell phone, sometimes by text message. He told her that two of the wounded Palestinians in the compound need oxygen, including one who had suffered a mild heart attack.

Arraf last spoke to Shapiro at 9 a.m. Saturday, but since then has lost all contact with him. Earlier, Shapiro had called her to tell her about the meal he had shared with Arafat.

"I don't think there's a lot of food. He was like `I just had breakfast with the president,'" Arraf said.

Shapiro, a native of Brooklyn, has been living in the West Bank town of Ramallah for three years, said Arraf.

The occupation tanks rumbled into Beit Jala town which is adjoining to Bethlehem

RAMALLAH-MARCH 30 , 2002-WAFA - Israeli occupation troops backed by tanks and bulldozers swarmed into H. E. President Yasser Arafat's headquarters, punching holes in walls and fighting room to room, while the occupation tanks also rumbled into Beit Jala town which is adjoining to the biblical city of Bethlehem, where Christians are observing Easter weekend, Palestinians Official said Saturday.

Seven Palestinians were killed and more than 40 were injured as the occupation forces took over Ramallah and Al Beirh, officials said.

Throughout Friday, the occupation army tanks shelled buildings in the compound and troops broke into structures next to H.E offices and punched holes in walls, moving room to room toward his building.

At one point, they broke through a wall into the office building itself and traded fire with the Presidential security through the hole.

By nightfall, the three-story office building, plunged into darkness when the occupation soldiers cut off electricity and destroyed a generator. Phone links were blocked, leaving the President with only a cell phone to connect him with the outside world.

H. E was in his room, giving phone interviews to satellite TV channels and speaking by cell phone to more than a dozen world leaders.

Among those the President spoke with were U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Arab League leader Amr Moussa , King of Jordan and the Egyptian President.

A submachine gun placed on the table in front of him, H.E was defiant. "They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," he said in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel.

In yet another interview, , the President described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as "bloodthirsty" and bent on "blowing up" a collective Arab peace initiative endorsed Thursday. He added that the United States "could have ordered Sharon to end the attacks. Why are they quiet despite all that is taking place?"It is the real terrorism of the occupation," the President added. "They are using all the American weapons against us ... F-15s and F-16s and rockets and bombs and artillery and everything," '' But our people will continue (to be) steadfast in the face of this terrorism. .. the real terrorism of the occupation''. The President scoffed at the assurances of his safety, which some world leaders talked about.

"They are shelling us continuously in the last 24 hours," Arafat said in a telephone interview with CNN, during which machine-gun fire could be heard in the background. "What do you think, it's by chance?"

'' They have destroyed completely seven of our buildings. Completely around my office and firing (at) my office with all their armaments," H.E said as the soldiers were outside his office.

"I hope I will be a martyr in the Holy Land. I have chosen this path and if I fall, one day a Palestinian child will raise the Palestinian flag above our mosques and churches."

HANOI, March 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam strongly condemns Israeli's military attack on Ramallah city of Palestine, said a Vietnamese spokesperson on Saturday.

　　The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in his statement said that Vietnam was deeply worried about the Israeli administration's use of troops and tanks to attack Ramallah and blockade President Yasser Arafat's office on Friday.

　　"This action on the part of Israel, that conducted right after the Arab Summit in Beirut had adopted a peace initiative to settle conflicts with Israel and right after President Yasser Arafat had declared a cease-fire, threatens to destroy the peace process," the Vietnamese spokesperson said.

　　"Vietnam calls on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Ramallah and other cities of Palestine and put an immediate end to the blockade of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat."

　　"Vietnam calls on concerned parties to exercise restraint, put an end to the violence, and resume negotiations in order to find a solution to the conflict," the spokesperson stressed.

　　"The United Nations Security Council's resolution, which demands that Israel should withdraw from the territories it occupied in recent days, is a positive development," said he, adding that "however, this resolution's influence in practice depends on the U.S. warning against the Israeli Prime Minister."

　　Referring to the detention of four Turkish journalists by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Ecevit said that "it cannot be accepted in regard to the freedom of press, adding that "we have launched necessary initiatives for their release."

RAMALLAH (LAW SOCIETY): this morning, five Palestinians have been found dead in Taiboun building in Ramallah. The bodies were found by Maher Shalabi, correspondent for Dubai TV.

This morning at 10.30 he entered the building and discovered the bodies of Khaled Fathi Mahmoud Awad (33), Ismail Ibrahim Zaid (56), Said Hamam Abdelrahman (60), Abdelrahman Tawfiq Abdallah (58), and Omar Muhammad Musa (54).

Last night, Israeli forces had surrounded the building and prevented anyone from entering. The building includes offices of several media agencies, including MBC, Dubai TV, internet provider Palestine Online, and Cairo Amman Bank.

All five have been identified as officers in the Palestinian security forces. They were found in one room. All five bodies were lying next to each other. They were injured in their faces and killed by gunshots in the head. Furthermore, eyewitnesses have told LAW that it seemed that the bodies were sprayed by bullets. On the ground lay many shells of bullets. Blood was found on the walls.

LAW's assessment suggests that these five officers have been executed.

LAW emphasizes that extra-judicial executions constitute willful killings, which are a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and as such constitute war crimes subject to universal jurisdiction. Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, these grave breaches constitute war crimes. Whatever policy the Israeli government chooses to implement, it must by within the limits imposed by international humanitarian and human rights law.

Extra-judicial killings cannot be reconciled with the Fourth Geneva Convention, which seek to protect the lives of protected persons, and violate human rights norms that affirm the right to life and the prohibition on execution of civilians.

Israel's ongoing human rights violations further illustrates the need for the immediate deployment of an international protection presence to prevent violations of the Fourth Geneve Convention and to protect Palestinian protected persons within the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment calls for a thorough, independent, and effective international investigation into violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including war crimes, and calls for those found responsible for such actions to be tried before an international court.

Friday March 29, 2002

RAMALLAH - MARCH 29, 2002- WAFA - In their latest brutal war against the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian People, Israeli occupation forces acting by orders from the war criminal Sharon, occupied Ramallah and Al Beirh and entered H.E.

President Arafat's headquarters compound on Friday, knocking down walls and exchanging fire with his security guards, Palestinian officials said.

H.E. President Arafat was not hurt, but the occupation fire wounded dozens of His guards and at least one tank shell hit the building where President Arafat was.

Speaking to Al Jazeera TV the President said '' They (the Israeli occupation government) want me either a hostage, a runaway, or a martyr. I tell them I will be a martyr, a martyr, a martyr....''

H.E. added ''This is a response to the Arab summit in Beirut, to the initiative of the Arab summit which adopted the Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative.

This initiative was adopted and approved now by the whole Arab summit, and became a Saudi-Arab initiative. ''This is the Israeli response to any peace attempts''.

Because they don't want peace, they don't want peace. We have to remember. Weren't these extremists elements the ones that assassinated my late partner Yitzak Rabin?. Why did they kill him? Because they don't want peace.'' said the President.

The raid came as the so called Israel's Cabinet formally declared H.E. President Arafat an “enemy” and said it would isolate him, in response to a string of attacks on Israeli civilians!, which the Palestinian leadership and the President had strongly condemned.

Palestinian hospital official in Ramallah said that three civilians killed including a women and dozens others were injured by the occupation army fire.

The Israeli army has now completely invaded Ramallah including the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, with more than 150 tanks and military armaments. The Israeli government has announced that it intends to occupy areas of the West Bank that are under the Palestinian Authority, reconstituting a complete military occupation and has made a declaration of war on the Palestinians.

The Israeli army is occupying civilian homes in Ramallah and conducting house to house searches. A major threat to the population at this stage is the lack of access to health services. Up till this time four Palestinians have been killed and there are reports of at least ten - probably more- injured by Israeli gunfire who are being left untreated as tanks are blocking access of ambulances and medical personnel to the wounded.

Foreign peace activists, including British, French, Swiss, Italian and American delegates, are now in Ramallah. Three hundred more international peace activists were prevented by the Israeli authorities from entering Ramallah yesterday and will try again this morning to access the city from Jerusalem. The press is invited to attend a demonstration to be held by the peace activists at 8:30a.m. at al-Ram checkpoint.

The Israeli government's declaration of war on the Palestinians and the complete Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories will only aggravate this crisis, the root cause of which is the longest military occupation in modern history. We urgently call upon the international community to intervene to stop the atrocious actions of the Israeli military and to place the utmost pressure on the Israeli government to allow free movement of medical personnel and ambulances.

Copenhagen, March 29, 2002, Wafa - Denmark will donate $936,500 to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in order to help the agency deal with the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller announced yesterday.

Moeller said it was "essential" to help Palestinians, who he said "want nothing more than peace and calm and the chance of a normal life."

The situation in the Palestinian territories has deteriorated to the point that half of Palestinians live below the poverty line, unemployment is high and health care has declined, he said. Denmark has said the creation of a Palestinian state would help Israel find security and has urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Palestinian Territories.

UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Amid rapidly escalating violence in the Middle East, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Friday that destroying the Palestinian Authority will bring the region closer to war.

　　"Destroying the Palestinian Authority will not bring peace; it will bring the region even closer to war," Annan said in a statement issued here at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

　　The U.N. chief condemned the suicide bombing killing Israeli civilians, noting that the purpose of these attacks "is to undermine any prospect for a political settlement."

　　The Secretary-General called on both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to exercise responsible leadership, at a time when "the Arab League Summit in Beirut presented a new opening for peace."

　　Israeli tanks smashed their way into Arafat's presidential compound on Friday, after Israeli cabinet turned down the Palestinian leader's offer for a cease-fire.

Israelis from the progressive left and peace camp have been active today in organizing protests and actions against Sharon's declaration of war against the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian people.

- A petition signed by 1000 Israelis was sent to the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan calling for immediate international intervention to halt Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians.

- The weekly women in black vigil held in Jerusalem this afternoon was augmented by approximately 400 international activists present in the region to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

-Approximately 300 Israelis are currently (4.00 p.m. local time, 1.00 p.m. GMT) demonstrating outside the prime minister's residence. The demonstrators are braving the inclimate weather and heavy rain to call for an end to Sharon's plans for war. Other slogans include a call for international intervention and compare the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories to terrorism. The demonstration, initially organized by the soldier's movement against serving in the occupied territories, was joined by a large delegation from Taayush: Jewish Arab Solidarity.

A large demonstration is planned for Saturday night in Jerusalem, again outside the residence of the prime minister. This demonstration, although under the auspices of Peace Now, is expected to be attended primarily by members of Israel's progressive left and the international delegations currently in the region.

7 dead, 78 wounded in Israeli military strikes on Arafat's Ramallah HQ

5 Palestinians were killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli military raid on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound Friday afternoon.

Combined with an earlier Israeli raid on Arafat's compound this morning, the number of Palestinian dead in Ramallah is 7 with at least 78 wounded.

Ramallah hospitals are reporting severe shortages in medical supplies and space for the numerous injured. Anticipating further Israeli strikes, efforts are currently underway to establish field hospitals, efforts which are hampered by the unusually inclimate and cold weather.

RAMALLAH, West Bank: International civilians are trying to assist ambulance teams in Ramallah as they attempt to get to wounded and dying people.

The ambulances of the International Red Cross, Red Crescent and U.N. have been prevented from moving in the city.

The ambulances are now coming under fire and international civilians have been trying to act as human shields on board since 1400 today.

Internationals will continue to ride aboard the ambulances in the hope that this may increase the chances of getting to those in need.

The muka'ta has been under constant tank shelling and the electricity has been cut in the city since early this morning.

Cameraman wounded in Ramallah fighting

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- A Palestinian cameraman working for Egyptian Nile TV was shot in the mouth Friday while riding through an area where Israelis and Palestinians were fighting.

Videotape from his camera shows a rainsoaked street in Ramallah as gunfire is heard. The cameraman runs from the van and screaming is heard as he is shown lying on the ground.

A second camerman, who was also riding in the van and suffered a less serious wound, told the Al-Jazeera network, "I wanted to stop the blood while screaming 'ambulance, ambulance, ambulance!'

"My soul was leaving my body with him. He was dying. ... I was calling ambulance, ambulance, and no one was coming for me!"

Thursday March 28, 2002

Ramallah - March 28, 2002- Wafa -The Palestinian leadership condemned on Wednesday the attack against Israeli civilians in the town of Netanya, and said that it determined to take severe actions against persons involved.

"The Palestinian leadership is strongly condemning the Netanya attack that targeted civilians during the Jewish Holiday of the Passover," said the leadership official spokesman in a statement to Wafa .

The statement said that the attack was carried out at a time when U.S. Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni was continuing his mission and the Arab Summit is held in Lebanon to discuss Saudi Arabia's Mideast peace initiative.

"The Palestinian leadership believes that this denounced attack that targeted Israeli civilians is aiming to undermine Zinni's efforts, Arab peace initiatives and the Arab summit," the statement said, ''the statement reiterated that the Palestinian leadership is against targeting and killing civilians no matter whether they are Israelis or Palestinians.

"We will not take it easy with those who are responsible for the attack. There will be tough measures to be taken to bring those responsible to justice," said the statement.

The statement called upon the Israeli government to come back as fast as possible to the negotiating table to put an end to the bloodshed between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples

European peace activists released from Ben Gurion airport arrived to Ramallah

After international pressure, the entire delegation of European peace activists that was held at Ben Gurion airport this morning has now been released and allowed entry into Ramallah.

The delegation, 300 Italian and 17 Swiss nationals, support the ending of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the right of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace. On their 6-day journey in the region they are due to meet with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists.

At present (4.00 p.m. local time, 2.00 p.m. GMT) the delegation is on its way into Ramallah.

Israeli Forces Closing in on Ramallah, Gaza

RAMALLAH, West Bank (PINA): Palestinian witnesses report that Israeli military forces have begun moving tanks closer towards Ramallah and Gaza City.

Israeli strikes are expected following the suicide bombing that killed 20 Israelis and left at least 20 others in serious condition at a Passover seder Wednesday evening.

Palestinian Authority security forces have reportedly evacuated all government and military buildings in Ramallah and all PA military installations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While foreign consulates have not told citizens to evacuate or made plans for evacuation, many internationals have left Palestinian cities for Jerusalem in anticipation of harsh Israeli military strikes or re-occupation of Palestinian areas.

Residents have flooded stores to stock up on water, bread, and other necessities should Israeli military forces invade. Sources report that stores in Ramallah have already run out of bread.

Israeli officials are planning to meet on Thursday evening to determine the exact scope of the response. Palestinian sources have conflicting ideas on when a response would begin.

U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni remains in the region as part of his mission to achieve a cease-fire.

Palestinian sources report that Zinni is meeting with Arafat in Ramallah Thursday, along with several other foreign diplomats in order to discuss the cease-fire. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned Wednesday’s suicide bombing and repeated that Arafat needs to do more to stop the violence.

However, Powell said that Zinni will remain in the region for the time being.

Palestinian officials have also condemned the attack, but have also called attention to the Israeli attacks on Palestinian cities and refugee camps in the past month that left more than 100 Palestinians dead.

Palestinian Preventative Security Chief Jibril Rajoub also pointed to the Israeli blockades and closure of Palestinian areas as the cause of attacks against Israelis.

Arab Leaders Adopt Saudi Peace Initiative

BEIRUT: The Arab League summit in Beirut has unanimously endorsed a Saudi plan for peace in the Middle East.

Arab leaders capped their two-day meeting Thursday by approving the plan, which calls for normal relations between the Arab world and Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from territories occupied since the 1967 Mideast War.

The plan, presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, also calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for the return of Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is not attending the summit, has praised the Saudi proposal. Israeli officials have criticized the plan as too vague.

Thursday's closing session was delayed for more than two hours, as delegates haggled over the wording of a draft resolution that would incorporate the Saudi plan.

Tuesday March 26, 2002

Statement: Palestinian Leadership Says No Palestinian Participation with Israeli Conditions

RAMALLAH (PMC): In an emergency meeting in Ramallah on 25 March, the Palestinian leadership reiterated that President Yasser Arafat would not attend the Arab Summit if it entails complying with any Israeli conditions.

In its statement, the leadership considered that "the Israeli government is making a grave mistake if it bases its calculations on the fact that its closure and killing of our People can have political implications in favor of its occupation and illegal settlements". It added, "The main cause with which the President is concerned is ending the brutal Israeli aggression, closure, and collective punishment against our People".

The leadership further stressed, "It is extremely crucial that the Israeli government abides by all the agreements signed with the Palestine National Authority and its President. Israel's disregard of its commitment to such agreements and its subsequent military aggression and closure to usurp compromises is no more than Israeli illusions that will never be attained and do not serve Palestinian, Arab, international, or Israeli interests".

The Palestinian leadership also reaffirmed its commitment and preparedness to implement the Tenet understandings and Mitchell report recommendations. It also welcomed Anthony Zinni's mission in the region, which "Israel aims to defeat through isolating the security arrangements from the political situation and political horizon".

Finally, the leadership underscored its "commitment to peace and to international legitimacy, namely Security Council Resolution 1397 on the establishment of a Palestinian State".

RAMALLAH: Israeli and Palestinian officials continue working to clarify details of a U.S. compromise cease-fire plan designed to end 18 months of bloodshed.

U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni met again with both sides Tuesday, but no agreement has been announced.

Israel says a ceasefire must be in place before it will allow detained Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to attend an Arab League summit in Beirut. Israel has confined the Palestinian leader to the West Bank since December.

It remains unclear whether any truce deal is possible before the Arab summit opens Wednesday, and it is not clear whether Arafat will choose to go if Israel grants him permission to do so.

The Palestinian leadership says it considers Arafat's participation in the Arab summit to be an absolute right.

But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is urging the Palestinian leader to stay home. In an interview
published in a Beirut newspaper, Mubarak said he feared Israel would not allow Arafat to return home, if he departs the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The United States wants Arafat to attend the summit, to solidify Arab support for a Saudi plan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The plan involves an Israeli withdrawal from territories it has occupied since the 1967 Mideast War, in exchange for peace and normal relations.

The Arab summit hosts leaders and top officials from 21 nations and the Palestinian Authority.

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel will prevent Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from returning home from an Arab summit in Lebanon if there are any attacks on Israeli targets during his absence.

The Palestinian leader has been confined to the West Bank by Israel since December, and Sharon has not yet granted permission for Arafat to attend Wednesday's Arab League summit in Beirut.

But the prime minister's latest edict casts widespread doubt about whether Arafat will risk leaving the West Bank to attend the summit.

Earlier Tuesday, Egypt said President Hosni Mubarak will not attend the summit, which was widely seen as a forum for Arab nations to express unified support for a Saudi plan for peace in the Middle East. No reason was given for the Egyptian leader's withdrawal.

Earlier this week, Israel said an interim ceasefire deal backed by the United States must be in place before Arafat could attend the summit. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni continues negotiating details of the ceasefire with Palestinian and Israeli delegates.

It remains unclear whether any temporary truce deal is possible before the Arab summit opens Wednesday. And it is not clear whether Arafat will choose to go if Israel grants him permission to do so.

The Saudi permanent peace plan calls for all Arab nations to normalize relations with the Jewish state, in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Mideast War.

Heads of state from at least 10 of the 22 Arab League member nations are not expected to attend the summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he regrets promising the United States he would not harm Palestinian President Mr. Yasser Arafat.

Monday March 25, 2002

Rafah, March 25, 2002, Wafa – In a fresh invasion Monday, by the unleashed Israeli occupation forces to neighborhoods in Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian young man, Samer Abed Aljawad, 23, was killed and at least three more Palestinians were seriously wounded.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation bulldozers accompanied by 15 tanks invaded the Assalam and the Austrian residential projects in the city of Rafah, uprooting groves, demolishing Palestinian houses and taking over others, shooting randomly in all directions, spreading killing and terror among the innocent civilians.

WASHINGTON (PINA): The Washington Post reported that the Israeli military is planning a massive attack on Palestinian areas, an attack that would reach cities, towns and refugee camps.

According to Israeli army officials quoted by the Post, the attack would take place once the ceasefire talks with the Palestinians fail. However, while officials said that Israel will give the talks a chance, they expressed their pessimism that such ceasefire agreement is possible.

The officials who spoke to the daily on condition of anonymity said that there is a growing support in the Israeli government and in the military for a "comprehensive military confrontation" with the Palestinians.

Although a massive assault took place earlier this month where over 200 Palestinians, mostly civilians were killed and hundreds more wounded, in additional to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, the officials say that the new attack would be broader and deeper.

"The next days might be crucial, because if we don't succeed (in the talks), we may come to the conclusion that there is no hope, and we have to choose the other way," one top Israeli official told the Post.

PARIS (PMC): Thousands marched in the French capital Paris on 22 March to protest against the continuous Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.

The protesters also called for achieving a "just peace in the Middle East".

The protest was organized by fifty French organizations, including the "Jewish French Union for Peace" and the "French Socialist Party".

The protesters also called for "implementing the Unite Nation's resolutions and the Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Marching down Paris' main roads, the protesters chanted, "We are all Palestinians" and "Sabra Shatila, Gaza Ramallah, Sharon, this is enough".

The protest was attended by a number of well-known French figures such as the French actress, Juliet Binoche, who said, "It is impossible to stay negative regarding this matter. Negotiations must resume because violence leads only to more violence".

Olivia Zimore, one of the protesters, stated, "We want to tell the Israelis that we are shocked because of the violent policy conducted by the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon".

"We also demand that the French government and the European Union apply economic pressure on Israel to stop its attacks against the Palestinian People", she added.

Friday March 22, 2002

RAMALLAH - MARCH 22, 2002, WAFA - H.E. President Yasser Arafat on Thursday condemned the attack against Israeli civilians which occurred in West Jerusalem, and Pledges to take immediate measures to put an end to such attacks.

''We strongly condemn this operation that took place in west Jerusalem today, especially since it was against innocent Israeli civilians," H.E. told reporters at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

''We would take all the needed and urgent measures to put an end to all those actions and those who stand behind it." the President added.

The President said that the Palestinian National Authority would exert every possible effort to make the mission of U.S. peace envoy General Anthony Zinni succeed.

"Our aim is to end the escalated cycle of violence and to start immediately implementing Tenet plan and Mitchell report to achieve a just and comprehensive peace for our children and their (Israeli) children," H. E said.

Earlier, the Palestinian leadership issued a statement condemning the attack and calling for stopping attacks on civilians "to allow U.S. peace envoy General Anthony Zinni to continue with his mission."

''Those violent attacks against civilians would never serve the Palestinians' aspirations for freedom and independence." the statement said.

The leadership called upon the Israeli people "to exert pressure on their government to stop the Israeli army's aggression on the innocent Palestinian civilians."

Meanwhile, Mr. Nabil Abu Redeneh, President Arafat media adviser said that H.E. President Arafat received a telephone call from U.S. Secretary of State Mr. Colin Powell and discussed with him the current political situation in the Palestinian territories.

He added that President Arafat and Mr. Powell also discussed Zinni's mission and to what extent it could help in implementing Tenet ceasefire plan and the recommendations of the Mitchell report.

Late on Thursday the President received another phone calls from Jordan foreign minister and the U.N secretary general.

Ramallah, March 22, 2002, Wafa - Three paramedics of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) who sustained severe burns in the attack by the Israeli occupation forces, that caused the death of Dr. Khalil Sulieman, head of the PRCS in Jenin on 04 March, left for further treatment to Amman today (21 March).

Taher Samuri, Mohammed Alaweh and Mahmoud Al Saadi were taken to the Allenby bridge in three PRCS ambulances, escorted by a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who organized the necessary permits for their travel. They were accompanied by a Norwegian Red Cross nurse and family members, to ensure medical care and psychological support during their trip and initial stay in Amman.

Jordanian Red Crescent ambulances transported the patients from the border to Al Bashir and Arabic Medical Centre hospitals in Amman. Specialized treatment and reconstructive surgery will be required.

The treatment is sponsored by the Norwegian Red Cross and the Ambulance Club of Oslo, Norway.

The three paramedics sustained burns of 2nd and 3rd degrees over 20% to 50% percent of their bodies. They were initially treated in the Maqassed hospital in Jerusalem, where an ICRC doctor and a Norwegian Red Cross burns specialist examined their conditions.

New York, March 22, 2002, Wafa - The Israeli mission to the United Nations yesterday criticized U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for the letter he sent to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week denouncing Israel's recent military action in the occupied territories, calling the letter "most inappropriate and contrary to basic diplomatic conduct." The letter was made public Monday.

Uncharacteristically blunt, Annan's letter had denounced the latest Israeli offensive as resembling "all-out conventional warfare" that has resulted in wrongful attacks against civilians, ambulances and schools, which he said violates the principle of protecting civilians under international law.

Meanwhile, Annan yesterday responded to a graphic exhibit of the ongoing violence in the Middle East -- more than 1,000 symbolic coffins draped with Israeli and Palestinian flags lined up in a plaza across from U.N. headquarters in New York -- in a message delivered on his behalf by U.N. Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast. The display was organized by the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace group.

"Grief for lost loved ones has become the prevailing mood, funerals as frequent as trips to the market, and fear of sudden death the cloud that darkens the eyes of everyone, even the youngest boy or girl," Annan's message said, expressing hope that the Israelis and Palestinians would "allow themselves to see a different future, return to the negotiating table and begin the necessary and long overdue work of building peace."

"The sight of these coffins brings no solace and perhaps fresh sorrow to the families of the victims," Annan added. "But the symbolism and the loss they represent should bring wisdom to the two communities and leaders and spur the rest of us to do all we can to bring an end, once and for all, to this long season of tears".

Thursday March 21, 2002

RAMALLAH - MARCH 21 , 2002 -WAFA - Following the attack against Israeli civilians which occurred in West Jerusalem today, the Palestinian leadership issued a statement in which its reject and denounce this latest attack.

The statement said that the leadership affirms its strong condemnation of the attacks against Israeli civilians and will take an immediate legal procedures against those responsible for the attack and bring them to justice.

The statement added that these condemnable attacks must cease in order for the international efforts, the Quadripartite Committee and General Zinni mission to succeed in establishing a ceasefire, in preparation for an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an Independent Palestinian state, and for security, peace, and stability in the region.

NEW YORK - March 21 , 2002 -WAFA - The New York-based National Lawyers Guild (NLG) called on the United States Administration to condemn Israel’s widespread military incursions and acts against Palestinian civilians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In a statement issued following the reoccupation of Ramallah, the NLG also called for immediate action to protect Palestinian citizens from the continuous Israeli aggression and to work on making an independent Palestinian state a reality.

The Guild also called upon the American Administration to suspend all economic and military aid to Israel until Israel’s military forces withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Further, it called for the immediate deployment of a “United Nations peacekeeping force” to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The National Lawyers Guild recognizes the need for affirmative, difficult steps both from Israel and Palestine and condemns the killings on both sides. However, the horror of the recent state-sponsored carnage and atrocities Israel is inflicting against the Palestinian people must stop”, the NLG stressed in its statement. It also pointed out, “Since September 2000, the Israeli [occupation] army and Israeli settlers living illegally in the Palestinian territories have killed over 1,200 Palestinians, one third of them children, and the vast majority civilians uninvolved in any clashes with Israeli soldiers or settlers”.

The Lawyers Guild also condemned the recent Israeli attacks against Palestinian cities and towns, particularly the recent assaults against refugee camps. It stressed, “In the past week, Israel has systematically directed military incursions into refugee camps, and has now occupied the Palestinian towns of Ramallah and El-Bireh. Medical personnel have been killed while attempting to rescue the injured. Palestinian civilians have been arrested, detained and imprisoned. Hundreds more have been killed; thousands wounded”.

The American organization said that Israel has used American weapons, provided to Israel through American military assistance, to assassinate Palestinian activists and to collectively punish Palestinian civilians. It stressed that the Israeli acts are in violation of American federal laws, including the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act, and international treaties such as the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The National Lawyers Guild defines itself as “an organization of lawyers, legal workers, and law students, in the United States, dedicated to social and political justice”. It had sent an investigators delegation in January 2001 to the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, after which the Guild published a report with scathing criticism of Israel’s innumerable human rights violations.

Jerusalem, March 21, 2002, Wafa - The chief representative for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Israel and the Palestinian areas has lambasted the Israeli Forces' behavior toward medical teams in the territories.

Rene Kosirnik said he felt "betrayed" by the Israeli army’s actions, and that the army had "wantonly and crudely trampled" all over the Fourth Geneva Convention protocols, which expressly forbids shooting at ambulances.

Speaking with members of the French Senate's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, on a visit to the area, Kosirnik said that in his 25 years in the field, he has never experienced such a difficult time as this current point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He mentioned the four doctors, medics and Palestinian ambulance drivers killed by the Israelis fire in recent weeks, and another 12 who have been wounded, five of them seriously.

"I was shocked and deeply hurt," said Kosirnik. "I expected much more of the Israeli army. Nothing justifies such behavior."

He went on to say that he was yet to receive any proof of the Israeli army’s claims that the Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulances were being used to smuggle armed activists and he said there was no "terrorist or warrior" among the medical workers who had been killed or injured.

Kosirnik talked of how he felt betrayed by the Israeli army, as it had promised his organization that it would allow ambulances to pass through checkpoints unscathed, but had, in some cases, opened fire on them anyway. “there is a serious problem here with the Israeli forces operations."

When asked to talk about what had happened to the medical workers hit by Israeli forces fire, he said they had been "murdered." Kosirnik said he had recently visited the family of the Palestinian medical workers who had been killed and the medical teams working in the territories. "I was shocked by the fear I saw in the ambulance drivers' eyes," he said. "They are scared of the Israeli soldiers. It is sad.”

GAZA - March 21, 2002- Wafa - The Israeli occupation army incursion into refugee camps and the bombing of Gaza City center during March will cost the United Nations Relief and Works Agency at least $3.8 million in immediate needs, an officials statement made by the UNRWA said on Wednesday.

The occupation aggression actions caused damage to'' 22 UN schools, four UN health clinics, two UN ambulances and four camp service centers. The entire military exercise will cost UNRWA at least $270,000 in immediate repairs to it's installations while the UN alone will have to spend $225,000 on urgently needed road and infrastructure repairs inside the camps'' the UNRWA statement said.. Much more will need to be spent by the wider Palestinian community on rebuilding the overall environment of the camps, it's added.

"At the end of January UNRWA called on the international community to donate $117 million to help us give emergency care to Palestinians refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory during 2002. A little over a month later there was a ferocious assault on the refugee camps by Israel's military. An assault that has multiplied the burden on UNRWA's scarce resources not only by damaging much of our infrastructure and installations, but by creating more victims of violence and destruction. Now more than ever, the refugees urgently need the international community to come to their aid." the statement quoted Mr. Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of UNRWA.

According to early estimates it will cost UNRWA over $2.3 million to rebuild the 141 refugee homes that were destroyed during the Israeli Forces' action in the camps. A further $540,000 is needed to repair the 1,800 shelters that suffered minor damage. This comes besides the more than 5,000 refugees whose homes had already been damaged or destroyed by the bulldozing and shelling since September 2000.

During the assault on the camps, and at great risk to their own safety, UNRWA staff distributed emergency food rations and cash support to 717 families, gave blankets to 166 families, allocated 36 tents and passed out 116 kitchen kits – at a total cost of $416,000.

Over 100 Palestinians were killed in the assault on the camps and another 500-plus injured. The dead and injured are each an individual tragedy for their families, families with few other places to turn for help and assistance than UNRWA. The Agency will now try to find the resources to provide welfare services for families without a breadwinner, physical rehabilitation for the injured and trauma counseling for the children who witnessed the battles in their streets and homes.

President Yasser Arafat separately received yesterday in the Presidential HQ in Ramallah; a French delegation consists of French Senators headed by Mr. Xavier Velian, Mr. Steve Hebard the Canadian representative to the PNA, H.E. also received the European Envoy to the peace process Mr. Miguel Angel Muratinos, and received phone calls from the Greek and from the Spanish Foreign ministers, H.E. briefed them with the continuous Israeli aggression and discussed with them the exerted efforts to stop the attacks against the Palestinian people.

President Yasser Arafat held a meeting in the Presidential HQs in Ramallah, with the USA envoy to the Middle East Gen. Anthony Zinni, to discuss the implementation of the Tent Understandings and the Mitchell Report Recommendations, President Arafat’s media advisor Mr. Nabil Abu Redeneh said that these meetings will continue to end the Israeli occupation to the areas “A” and to stop all Israeli practices against the Palestinians.

The international Churches Council in Geneva condemned the Israeli ongoing killing of Palestinians and destruction of their property, also condemned the continuing blockades, curfews, and siege, demanding the Israeli government to stop the collective punishments against the Palestinian civilians.

Nabil Abu Redeneh, President Arafat’s media advisor, said that the Israeli government did not commit itself to any agreement and the coming days will be decisive.

Wednesday March 20, 2002

The Palestinian leadership have condemned and rejected the operation against civilians near Um Al Fahem

RAMALLAH - MARCH 20, 2002- WAFA - Following the attack against Israeli civilians near the town of Um Al Fahem this morning, the Palestinian leadership issued this statement:

"The international community and the whole world who have stood firm with our people in the face of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians, cities and refugee camps does not accept any Palestinians to target Israeli civilians inside Israel.''

''In spite of the Israeli continuation of their siege, assignations and killing of civilians, there are honest efforts by Gen Zinni and other international parties after the UN resolution 1397 to end this war against our people and put an end to the Israeli occupation.''

''The Palestinian leadership's efforts are concentrated right now on ending the Israeli aggression and lifting the siege and putting an end to the collective punishment. This requires from all not to do any military operations against civilians inside Israel, specially operations like this one in Um Al Fahem which the Palestinian leadership have condemned and rejected.''

''Such operations may delay the implementation of the ceasefire and the implementation of tenet and Mitchell’s plans.''

''The Palestinian leadership calls on all the Palestinian people to work hard to achieve the Palestinian national interest and not to give the Israeli extreme forces an excuse by these operations to cover its attacks against our Palestinian people.''

Tel Aviv, March 20, 2002, Wafa – In a press release, The Jewish and Arab women of “Bat Shalom” peace movement, said that they will jointly observe Land Day, which the Israeli public generally considers as a Palestinian day, on March 24^th and 25^th, 2002.

Symbols of the event: the expropriation of land and the erasure of identity, which led to clear changes in the balance between Jewish and Arab societies, and which have been primarily connected to men.

Since 1948 the State of Israel has expropriated hundreds of thousands of dunams of land belonging to the Palestinian Arabs in Israel.

In 1976, in the wake of increasing land expropriation in the Galilee, which was part of government plans for "Judaizing" that area, the Palestinian Arabs in Israel held protest demonstrations, and at the peak of the demonstrations 6 demonstrators, including one woman, were shot at and killed.

Since that day, Palestinian Arabs in Israel have observed March 30^th every year as a day commemorating those killed on Land Day, and marking the struggle against inequality, injustice, and the continued implementation of a policy of expropriation.

“We want to hear and make heard the voices of Palestinian women who have taken part in the struggle and the suffering”.

“We believe that Land Day affects all of Israeli society. For some of us it is a day symbolizing struggle and destruction; for some of us it is an expression of responsibility and solidarity”.

* We are grieved and shocked by the continuing carnage, violence, and the war being waged in the Occupied Territories.

* We believe that the endeavors to oppress and negate the rights of 3.5 million Palestinians is leading to de-homogenization and racism within Israeli society, and to the slaughter of innocents.

H. E. President Yasser Arafat met in Ramallah with the United States Mideast US envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni, who was briefed on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories in view of the Israeli military escalation against the Palestinian people, as well as the efforts exerted to implement Tenet understanding and Mitchell report.

The Palestinian leadership said on Tuesday that it is ready to start implementing the Tenet plan immediately, In a statement issued after it's meeting in Ramallah, the Palestinian leadership said ''we are ready to fully implement Tenet understanding and Mitchell report according to an agreeable time table".

The statement called for the immediate implementation of the plan "far away from the Israeli maneuvering and postponement."

"After the implementation of Tenet plan and Mitchell report, we must move immediately to final status talks and implement the new Security Council resolution 1397," the statement added.

The leadership reiterated that it is still committed to the speech of H.E. President Yasser Arafat he addressed on December 16, 2001, and said "the leadership is fully committed to reinforce the ceasefire and to implement Tenet plan and Mitchell report recommendations,".

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher stressed on Tuesday that H.E. President Yasser Arafat has the right to attend the Arab summit, and no one has the right to deprive him of returning home.

"An Israeli blockade on the Palestinians and their leader should be brought to an end," Maher told reporters in Cairo.

Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday that H.E. President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, discussed with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney over phone the Mideast situation, and the necessity of boosting cooperation among concerned parties to help reach a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis and realize an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.

Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, reiterated her call for the deployment of international observers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

"I reiterate my call for international observers to be present on the ground as a deterrent to the violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to promote human security against suicide and other attacks on Israeli civilians". She said during her speech at the opening of the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights.

Ms. Robinson stressed, "Regrettably, as we know all too well, efforts of the international community, including those of the Commission on Human Rights, have not brought an end to the hostilities and Palestinians continue to be subjected to a wide range of human rights violations related to the ongoing occupation".

She underlined the negative impact of the ongoing conflict on the whole region. and said "it risks undermining respect for the principles and common values that we have struggled to build over the past 50 years".

In a letter he addressed to Ariel Sharon recently, United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan delivered a strong reproach to Israel, accusing its military of using tactics that have killed and injured hundreds of Palestinian civilians.

''Hundreds of innocent non-combatant civilians - men, women and children - have been injured or killed, and many buildings and homes have been damaged or destroyed". Annan told Sharon.

He added, "Judging from the means and methods employed by the [Israeli Occupation Forces] - F-16 fighter bombers, helicopter and naval gun ships, missiles and bombs of heavy tonnage - the fighting has come to resemble all-out conventional warfare".

Tuesday March 19, 2002

Tel Aviv, March 19, 2002, Wafa - An aerial survey conducted by Peace Now has revealed that thirty four new settlement sites have been established in the West Bank since the election of Ariel Sharon in February 2001.

Most of the new settlement sites are 700 meters or more from existing settlements, and some are as far as 2000 (and more) meters distant. The survey did not count military or quasi-military sites. Nor were temporary memorial sites included. The term "outposts" accorded the settlement sites is a misnomer. These "outposts" are, for all intents and purposes, new settlements since they have an independent infrastructure and control new terrain.

1. The government has been systematically violating the commitments it gave to the public in the Coalition Guidelines. These guidelines it was stated that "no new settlements will be created".

2. With the compliance of the (army) Minister, Ben Eliezer, the settlers appropriated, to an unprecedented extent, additional amounts of land. Either Ben Eliezer has no control over the settlers, or he has surrendered to their pressure. In either case, we are witness to a grave dereliction of duty by someone who is supposed to be a candidate for Prime Minister in the future.

3. The government cannot begin implementation of the Mitchell Committee Recommendations for a cease-fire, which include a freeze on settlement building, without controlling the actions of the settlers. A broad expansion of the settlements is currently taking place and the geopolitical map is changing daily.

Prof. Arie Arnon, Peace Now: "The detrimental impact of the settlements on Israel's future is clear for all to see. But the government, with the backing of the Labor Party, is continuing their expansion. The creation of new settlements jeopardizes Israel's security and places its soldiers in greater - and unnecessary - danger. Ben Eliezer is directly responsible for the creation of these new settlements. Apparently, unlike former Prime Minister Rabin, he has yet to understand that for thirty years the settlers have been leading Israel along a road of political and security suicide."

RAMALLAH - MARCH 19 , 2002- WAFA - The International Parliament of Writers stressed that the end of Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian Territory, along with the resumption of political negotiations, are the only possible option that can lead to a lasting peace in the region.

In a press release issued on Monday, Parliament expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations, which are severely affected by the conflict, and urged that these populations be given international protection under the auspices of the United Nations, as quickly as possible.

They further stressed, "There is a war going on in Palestine. It is not a war between the armies of two enemy states but between one of the most powerful armies in the world and an occupied People".

The Parliament also denounced the choking closure imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, emphasizing that "entrances to villages have been walled over, civilian population movement has been paralyzed, ghettos and reservations are being created, where the only traffic is for [Israeli], settlers or tanks on patrol and the incessant fly-bys of helicopters".

Moreover, the International Parliament of Writers formed a delegation of writers, which will be in Palestine and Israel from 24 to 29 March 2002 to meet with Israeli and Palestinian writers and artists, as well as representatives of civilian peace movements struggling for peace and cultural dialogue.

Henceforth, the Parliament is taking all the necessary steps to host Palestinian writers and artists in its "Network of Cities of Asylum" and has made its website available to all Israeli and Palestinian writers and artists "wishing to organize and provide evidence of the situation".

Members of the delegation include the American writer Russell Banks, Mr. Jose Saramago, a Portuguese writer and a 1998 Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature, in addition to Mr. Wole Soyinka, a Nigerian writer and Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature in 1986

LONDON - MARCH 19, 2002 -WAFA – A London based International Human rights group revealed increasing Israeli acts of aggressions against Palestinian medical teams working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

"The Israeli [occupation] Forces have fired on vehicles trying to reach hospitals, causing deaths and injuries, and doctors and other health workers have been killed by army gunfire while traveling in ambulances, in breach of international humanitarian standards", Amnesty International (AI) confirmed in a statement issued at the end of last week.

AI reported numerous Israeli breaches against the Palestinian medical teams and ambulances in the past two weeks.

It pointed out, "On 4 March 2002, Dr. Khalil Suleiman, aged 58, was killed when an ambulance he was traveling in was hit by gunfire from members of the Israeli [occupation] Force. Dr. Khalil Suleiman was head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in Jenin in the West Bank. Also injured were four Red Crescent paramedics and a driver who were traveling in the ambulance. An injured girl was being transported in the ambulance at the time".

"Four days later, Dr. Ahmad Nu'man Sabih al-Khoudari, the director of the small Yamama Hospital in al-Khadr, was shot dead as he drove to the al-Dheisheh refugee camp, on the fringes of Bethlehem. The doctor had received assurances from an Israeli official that his security would be respected", the statement added.

The group also condemned "The 120 staffed Israeli checkpoints in the Occupied [Palestinian] Territories [that] regularly block the passage of ambulances or patients traveling by car to hospital". It added, "Doctors and other health professionals can also be blocked at such checkpoints.

The impact of this is to deny Palestinian villagers access to health care either in their own village or at hospitals in the main cities. The [Israeli] human rights organization B'Tselem refers to 23 people having lost their lives due to delays at checkpoints".

Amnesty International called upon Sharon government to "respect medical neutrality as set out in the Geneva Conventions of August 1949 and the 1977 Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions".

Geneva, March 19, 2002, WAFA - The United Nations Human Rights Commission opened its fifty-eight session in Geneva yesterday, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, describing the gathering as the forum at which the most comprehensive debate on the state of human rights around the world takes place.

On the situation in the Middle East, Mrs. Robinson said Palestinians continued to be subjected to a wide range of human rights violations related to the ongoing occupation.

Mrs. Robinson re-iterated her call for the international observers to be present on the ground as a deterrent to the violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Monday March 18, 2002

Congressional and pro-Israeli sources in Washington say the delay in approving supplemental aid for Israel is probably not a diplomatic tool to pressure Israel to ease its positions in its conflict with the Palestinians, despite the timing of the leak about the delay. Israeli diplomats are divided on the subject.

Last Thursday, ''Reuters'' reported that $200 million in special aid to Israel was being delayed. ''Reuters'', the only agency reporting the story, attributed it to Congressional and Bush Administration sources. The report linked the delay to concerns in Washington that Israel was going to attack the Palestinians, size of Israel’s annual aid package and the burdens on the federal budget.

Other sources told ''Globes'' that the delay was caused by internal disagreements within the Bush Administration over the size and composition of the supplemental budget bill for the current fiscal year, of which aid to Israel was only one item.

The budget supplement, estimated at $10-15 billion, is intended to finance the Department of Defense's war effort, aid countries in the front line in the war against terrorism, aid for New York City and expenses related to internal US defense.

The sources emphasized that the last word on the subject has not yet been said. A decision will have to made this week, probably tomorrow or Tuesday, before the Administration is scheduled to submit the bill to Congress. Even if the special aid to Israel is not included in the supplemental budget request, this does not mean that all or part of the aid will not be delivered at a later date, through a different legislative device.

In press statements issued on Saturday in Cairo, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak strongly denied that Syria has any intention to provoke war in the Middle East region. He criticized what has been rumored on that the Hizbullah Party threatens Israel's security by Katyusha missiles.

The Egyptian president also warned against the Israeli attempts which aim at settling the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, considering that expelling the Palestinians from their homeland to any other place is the greatest danger to Israel.

Replying to a question on whether the Iraqi president will target Israel if the US will direct a blow against Iraq, President Mubarak said he did not hear any statement by the Iraqi president that he

Sunday March 31, 2002

US ignores international mood and lays blame on Palestinians

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

01 April 2002

Saturday March 30, 2002

Friday March 29, 2002

Cameraman wounded in Ramallah fighting

Thursday March 28, 2002

Tuesday March 26, 2002

Monday March 25, 2002

Friday March 22, 2002

Thursday March 21, 2002

Wednesday March 20, 2002

Tuesday March 19, 2002

Monday March 18, 2002