MARCH 2003

Friday March 28, 2003

British FM Straw's statements draw Israeli protest

By Aluf Benn

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned British Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles for an urgent meeting to officially express Israel's discontent with recent statements by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Straw spoke Wednesday of the West's "double standards" regarding Iraq and Israel and the demand to comply with decisions of the UN Security Council.

Yoav Biran, Foreign Ministry director-general, told the British ambassador that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom "took a serious view" of the recent British statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "particularly the baseless attempt to create a link between the international campaign against the Iraqi regime and its attempt to arm itself with weapons of mass destruction, and the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Biran praised Britain's role in the war in Iraq, stressing that, in light of such, "the recent British statements were worrying and infuriating." Such statements, Biran continued, "do not help to forward the peace process."

Cowper-Coles said Straw was well aware of the terror threat to Israel, adding the decisions of the UN equally bound all sides to the conflict. The ambassador expressed Britain's friendship and support for Israel, noting that Prime Minister Tony Blair was personally committed to the matter.

Sunday March 16, 2003

Israeli Bulldozer Runs Over, Kills U.S. Woman

By Ibrahim Barzak

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An American woman in Gaza to protest against Israeli operations was killed Sunday when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Witnesses said Rachel Corrie, 23, from Olympia, Wash., was trying to stop the bulldozer from tearing down a building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said, when she was run over. She was taken to Najar hospital in Rafah, where she died, said Dr. Ali Moussa, a hospital administrator.

Greg Schnabel, 28, from Chicago, said the protesters were in the house of Dr. Samir Masri. "Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop," he said. "She waved for bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled 'stop, stop', and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her," he said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Groups of international protesters have gathered in several locations in the West Bank and Gaza during two years of Palestinian violence, setting themselves up as "human shields" to try to stop Israeli operations there.

Corrie was the first member of the groups, called "International Solidarity Movement," to be killed in the conflict.

Schnabel said there were eight protesters at the site, four from the United States and four from Great Britain. "We stay with families whose house is to be demolished," he told the Associated Press by telephone from Rafah after the incident.

Schnabel said Corrie was a student at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Evergreen College and was to graduate this year.

Israel sends tanks and bulldozers into the area almost daily, destroying buildings near the Gaza-Egypt border. According to interim peace accords, Israel controls the border area. There are almost daily clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers in the area.

American peace activist killed by army bulldozer in Rafah

By Haaretz Staff

A 23-year-old American woman, Rachel Corrie, a college student from Olympia, Washington who belonged to the International Solidarity Movement in the territories, was killed yesterday by an IDF bulldozer during a house demolition in Rafah.

Israeli officials expressed "regret" over the incident to American officials, sources in Jerusalem said, and in Washington, a State Department statement said it had received reports of the incident, and was "assessing the situation."

The ISM activist was taking part in protest efforts yesterday afternoon in Rafah, to prevent the army from demolishing houses in a strip of land a few hundred meters wide between the Rafah refugee camp and the nearby Egyptian border, in an effort to block smuggling from Egypt.

According to eyewitnesses, a routine IDF demolition operation was underway in the area, with two D-9 bulldozers and a tank as protection. They destroyed three buildings that were already partially destroyed and a number of walls. The ISM activists then deployed in the area and used bullhorns to call on the drivers to stop. According to ISM activists, at one stage the IDF forces left the area and took up positions near the border, a few hundred meters away.

But around 5 P.M., the force returned, and the activists assumed the bulldozers were on their way to other houses. "They began demolishing one house," said an ISM activist, who said his name was Richard. "We gathered around and called out to them and went into the house, so they backed out. During the entire time they knew who we were and what we were doing, because they didn't shoot at us. We stood in their way and shouted. There were about eight of us in an area about 70 square meters. Suddenly, we saw they turned to a house they had started to demolish before, and I saw Rachel standing in the way of the front bulldozer."

According to the ISM activist, Corrie was wearing a bright jacket and climbed onto the bulldozer shovel-plow and began shouting at the driver. "There's no way he didn't see her, since she was practically looking into the cabin. At one stage, he turned around toward the building. The bulldozer kept moving, and she slipped and fell off the plow. But the bulldozer kept moving, the shovel above her. I guess it was about 10 or 15 meters that it dragged her and for some reason didn't stop. We shouted like crazy to the driver through loudspeakers that he should stop, but he just kept going and didn't lift the shovel. Then it stopped and backed up. We ran to Rachel. She was still breathing."

According to the activists, the tank arrived on the scene and was only 20 meters away, but the soldiers did not offer any assistance. A little while later, the heavy equipment pulled away, and a Red Crescent ambulance took the badly injured woman to Abu Yusef Najar Hospital in Rafah, where she was declared dead on arrival. A second activist was slightly injured. The destroyed house belonged to Dr. Samir Nasrallah.

Army sources said the demolitions were meant to prevent sabotage along the Philadelphi road parallel to the Egyptian border. The sources said the bulldozer driver deviated from the track and apparently was moving a block of concrete that hit the woman.

The ISM is an international pacifist movement that draws its inspiration from a quote by Albert Einstein: "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

Since the start of the intifada, hundreds of the foreigners, mostly students, have taken a rigorous course in nonviolent theory and practice and then been placed in Palestinian towns and villages, where they report on events at checkpoints, villages under curfew and house demolitions, help move humanitarian aid into besieged areas, and accompanying ailing Palestinians to hospitals. As non-Palestinians, they enjoy a certain measure of immunity - Corrie was the first ISM casualty in the nearly 30 months of intifada.

Thursday March 13, 2003

Trying to Shout Before it Happens - Warning to Soldiers Ad in Ha'aretz

The following is an ad that ran in Israel’s daily Ha’aretz on 11 March, The ad was placed by the Israeli Human Rights Group, Gush Shalom

Soldier - Civilian - IDF Civil Employee – WARNING

Powerful factors in Israel may intend to take advantage of the American attack on Iraq in order to transfer parts of the Palestinian population.

According to article 4 of the Geneva Convention, the following acts constitute war crimes:

- Expelling the population from occupied territories to other countries. (For example: deportation to Jordan or Lebanon.)

- Transferring the population from one part of the occupied territories to another. (For example: Deportation from Kalkilya and Tulkarm to Nablus.)

- Demolition of homes without an immediate military necessity.

If you have received, in the course of your duties or any other way, information that may be connected to such acts, including:

- An exceptionally large order for means of mass transportation.

- An order for or preparation of tents, blankets, food packages etc..
- Infrastructure works for large camps in unexpected localities.

- Preparations for calling up large numbers of reserve logistic units.

- Plans or preparations for cutting off communications or electricity in the occupied territories.

- Other plans or preparations that might suggest a connection with possible plans of expulsion.

You are requested to report this information to the Army Chief Advocate, military post 9605, fax 03-5694370, or the Legal Advisor to the Government, fax 02-6274481.

Any person who participates in the planning or execution of war crimes is in peril of being indicted sooner or later, in Israel or abroad. The statute of limitations does not apply to war crimes, nor is it a valid defense that one "only followed orders".

GUSH SHALOM

Tuesday March 11, 2003

Settler on Trial Wednesday for Attacking Peace Activist

On the morning of Wednesday, March 12, the Israeli judicial system will be, for once, dealing with a case of settler violence - after numerous other cases have gone unpunished, and mostly unreported.

The incident in question happened at the outskirts of Yanoun - the tiny West Bank village which had been the years-long target of settler violence, and whose inhabitants had been, in autumn 2002, on the brink of giving up and leaving the place altogether.*

On February 1, David Nir - a Gush Shalom peace activist, who participated in the Ta'ayush iniative of taking turns in Yanoun as human shields and witnesses - was himself violently assaulted by two settlers, beaten, kicked and hit in the face with a rifle butt.

Among the attackers was the notorious Avri Ran, nicknamed "The Sheriff", who leads a settler militia based nearby at the illegally-established Gid'onim settlement outpost (an offshoot of the Itamar settlement). He already led many attacks upon Palestinian villagers - not to speak about his earlier provocations towards Israeli or international peace activists. The second attacker, named Issachar Bender is also a notorious figure.

During the assault, five IDF soldiers stood by and did nothing to stop the settlers. However, Nir -- who had to undergo medical treatment at the Ichilov Hospital where his face had to be sewn up, and damage to his nerve system was diagnosed -- lodged a complaint at the police. The captain of the local IDF detachment could not avoid to testify, as did Nir and his friends.

The public prosecutor ruled that "there was no sufficient evidence" against Bender, but since several witnesses were clear in describing how Ran repeatedly hit Nir with his rifle butt, he was charged with assault and causing bodily damage. His trial is due to open at 9.30 AM on Wednesday, March 12, before Judge Feder of the Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court.

Meanwhile, it is reported from Yanoun that since the proceedings against Ran started, he and his militiamen have stopped appearing at the village, giving the long-suffering villagers their first respite in years.

Gush Shalom

Sunday March 9, 2003

Compassionate Covering of Palestinian Plight Yields Israeli Journalist UN Award

A leading Israeli journalist has been awarded a prestigious UN award for her courage and compassion in covering the plight of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

Ha'aretz journalist, Amira Hass, who covers her stories from the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where she resides, was awarded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/Guillermo Camo World Press Freedom Prize for 2003, UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura said Thursday.

"Amira Hass has been showing outstanding professional commitment and independence as well as personal courage, over the past decade," Matsuura said. "If peace is to be established between Israelis and Palestinians it will be thanks to people like Ms. Hass, who are able to look at the facts and understand them."

The $25,000 prize is awarded based on the recommendations of an independent jury of international media professionals. It is named after the Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano, who was murdered in 1987 for having criticized the country's powerful drug cartels.

Following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords in December 1993, Hass moved to Gaza, where she wrote her book, "Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege."

In 1997, she settled in Ramallah, where she continues to cover her stories for Ha'aretz.

The prize will be awarded on May 03 at a ceremony to commemorate World Press Freedom Day in Kingston, Jamaica.

Palestine Media Center- (PMC)

Thursday March 6, 2003

Israeli Aggressions Draw World Fire

With mounting international criticism of incessant Israeli aggressions on armless Palestinians, the World Bank charged in a new report released Wednesday, March 5, that Israeli closures of and daily aggressions on Palestinian self-rule areas wreaked havoc on Palestinian economy and citizens.

"The Palestinian economy is traumatized," said Nigel Roberts, the World Bank country director for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, adding that "donor assistance cannot sort out this mess."

He cited Israel's closure of the occupied Palestinian territories as the main reason why Palestinians' incomes have dropped by an average of nearly 50 percent, half of Palestinian workers are unemployed and six of every 10 Palestinians live below the poverty line, Agency France-Press (AFP) reported.

But Roberts, who was presenting new economic data on the territories at a press conference with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, cautioned that "until there is a political breakthrough, donors need to sustain their commitment to the welfare of the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian economy can only be saved by a political solution to the 29-month-old conflict with Israel, not by trying to jump-start it with billions of dollars in funding, said the two international officials.

Roberts said the 1.1 billion dollars believed needed to support Palestinian needs was "a low estimate," and that only 700 million dollars had been secured. The World Bank estimated that physical damages from the conflict hit 738 million dollars by August 2002, while overall economic losses totaled 5.4 billion dollars for the past two years.

Roberts said the bulk of money from donor countries goes toward helping pay the salaries of 125,000 civil servants in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's National Authority.

He argued that was "a more efficient support than food aid and other poverty tackling schemes" since the funds are re-injected into the local economy.

"Those employed in the public sector support the other two-thirds in the private sector," he said. "Billions in aid is not the answer," agreed Roed-Larsen, adding that "the best way to address the humanitarian crisis is to give Palestinians the means to support themselves and manage their own lives."

He said that even the "one billion in aid was doubled" the situation in the occupied territories would not improve, and that "donor assistance is a stop-gap measure to prevent of total economic collapse and humanitarian disaster."

Sweden Critical of Israeli "Extra-judicial Executions"

In another criticism of Israeli oppressive practices, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh blasted the Israeli army's "extrajudicial executions" of Palestinians. "Extra-judicial executions continue unabatedly.

Building demolitions have become increasingly common. Palestinians are humiliated daily at Israeli roadblocks," she said in a statement.

"Israel must realize that injustices and confrontation do not lead to security," she said, noting that 72 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed as a result of the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the West Bank in the past month.

"It is only through negotiation and an end to the occupation that Israel can be guaranteed a peaceful future," she said.

Britain Concerned

Britain also accused the Israeli army of using indiscriminate force against the Palestinians, and called on the Jewish state to do its best to prevent further civilian deaths.

"The indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli Defense Force only fuels the cycle of violence, denying both Israelis and Palestinians the security they deserve," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday, March 3.

"Our ambassador to Israel will raise our concerns with the Israel authorities today and I call on them to do everything within their power to prevent further deaths of civilians," he added.

Straw's comments come after eight Palestinians, including a nine-month pregnant woman and a child, were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip Monday.

Soldiers blew up four Palestinian houses after telling residents to leave, but the 33-year-old pregnant woman failed to do so and was crushed to death. Straw expressed deep concern over the civilian deaths, and noted that some 36 Palestinians had been killed on the West Bank and Gaza since February 20.

He urged both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume the political process so that they can reach a political settlement by 2005.

"Leaders on both sides must show statesmanship and rekindle hopes for peace," said Straw.

The U.S. State Department had Monday sharply criticized Israel's policy of demolishing homes and civilian buildings, noting with deep concern that innocent people were killed as a result.

Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Annan Voices Grave Concern for Steady Rise in Violence in Middle East

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced grave and increasing concern for the steady escalation in violence between Israelis and Palestinians, urging both sides to take urgent steps to step back from such confrontations.

The Secretary-General "utterly condemns its latest manifestation, today's terrorist attack in the Israeli city of Haifa," said a statement issued by a spokesman for Mr. Annan, noting that 176 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have died in the violence since the beginning of the year.

"The Secretary-General strongly believes that the parties should take urgent steps to draw back from this dangerous and de-humanizing situation," spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "He once again calls on both sides to respect fully their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the lives of civilians."

The spokesman added that Mr. Annan remained convinced that violence will produce "neither security nor lasting peace," and reiterated his call on the parties to let the international community help them find a peaceful way out, based on the two-state solution set forth in the road map plan of the diplomatic Quartet, comprising the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States.

United Nations News Service

Israeli Bus Blown Apart, Scores Killed by Bomber in Haifa

At least 15 people were killed and more than 30 wounded yesterday as a bomber blew himself up on a bus in the northern Israeli town of Haifa, the first bombing in the Jewish state in exactly two months.

The bus was ripped to pieces while traveling between a residential area on the city’s Carmel heights and Haifa university, public television said. Ten of the wounded were said to be in serious condition.

The bomber was wearing a belt packed with several dozen kilos of explosives and nails to cause maximum damage.

Hard-line Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the blast, which created chaos and carnage in the city, was revenge for a string of bloody raids by the Israeli Army into the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

But the Palestinian leadership condemned the attack, saying it would divert international sympathy away from the far higher Palestinian civilian death toll.

“We condemn all attacks against civilians including today’s attack in Haifa,” said Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

The Palestinian Authority said the attack would serve as “a pretext for Israel’s government and occupation army to step up its deadly campaign which caused the deaths of 77 Palestinians in February”.

It was the first bomb attack inside Israel since Jan. 5, and came just days after hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed the most right-wing government in Israel’s history on a pledge to get tough on security.

In the January attack, which was claimed by an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, two Palestinian bombers blew themselves up in central Tel Aviv, killing 23 other people.

Yesterday’s blast occurred less than 25 meters from the house of the dovish Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna, who led his center-left party to a historic defeat in last month’s elections on a pledge to leave Gaza and renew talks with the Palestinians.

“The explosion occurred inside the bus, and was very powerful. There’s almost nothing left of the bus,” fire brigade officer Gershon Zoberman said. “The scenes are horrific here, twisted metal, it is very difficult to look at,” one eye-witness told public radio. “The center of the bus lifted up into the air, the roof was torn off. It looked like a blast inside the bus, and within seconds people began taking the wounded out,” another witness told private television.

US President George W. Bush condemned the “attack on innocents in Israel,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, adding that “his message to the terrorists is: Their efforts will not be successful”.

“He will continue to pursue the path to peace in the Middle East, and he urges all to condemn today’s attack.”

EU foreign policy supremo also slammed the attack, although also took a jab at Israel, saying, “There have been too many civilians killed in the last weeks and the last days.”

The attack came two days after Israeli forces staged a bloody raid into a refugee camp in Gaza. Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi, a senior Hamas leader, said the attack “is a response to the Jewish terror that killed an 85-year-old man and the day before a pregnant woman.”

Arab News

Wednesday March 5, 2003

Nablus Man Murdered by Israeli Soldiers in "Point-Blank Shooting"

On March 4th, Israeli soldiers murdered a 23-year-old man in what some are saying may have been a point-blank shooting of a man already in restraints.

Mohammad Hassan Ali Issa, from Nablus, was attempting to reach his job at a supermarket in Jerusalem when he was denied access to cross the Hawwara checkpoint by Israeli soldiers.

Issa tried to continue his journey via a back road near Til village.

Reports indicate that Israeli soldiers stopped him, arrested and handcuffed him, and then shot him. "The bullet entered his thigh and traveled to his abdomen - causing serious internal injuries," said Dr Hussam Al Johary, head of Rafidia Hospital.

"Soldiers kept him at the checkpoint for approximately three hours before they allowed Palestinian bystanders to contact an ambulance, which rushed Issa to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus."

"By the time Mohammad was brought into the hospital, he had lost an enormous amount of blood," said Dr Al Johary.

"If the Israelis had allowed him to go to the hospital earlier - instead of keeping him at the checkpoint for three hours -- we might have been able to save him."

Another doctor who treated Issa said, "When he arrived he was dying. Hewas in shock. As we began to treat him, he revived enough to be able to tell us what had happened."

According to the doctor, Issa's final words were, "They shot me. They blindfolded me and they handcuffed me. They kept me at the checkpoint for more than two hours. After this I can't remember anything."

The doctor said, "We saw the marks of handcuffs and a blindfold on his hands and face. But what was most strange was the trajectory of the bullet. The fact that it went from the thigh to the abdomen - rather than simply exiting the back of the leg - indicates that Mohammad was lying down when he was shot. Therefore, it is conceivable that he was arrested and perhaps even handcuffed, made to lie on the floor and then shot - execution-style."

Mohammad Issa leaves behind a mother, six brothers and four sisters. His father was murdered by Israeli soldiers in 1989, during the first Intifada. He was in his sixties at the time and was working for the Nablus Municipality when Israeli soldiers shot him in a municipality car.

Palestine Monitor

Tuesday March 4, 2003

Israel Kills Pregnant Woman, Child In Gaza Raid

Eight Palestinians, including a nine-month pregnant woman and a child, were killed in the Gaza Strip Monday, March 3, as Israel intensified its barbaric incursions in Gaza.

Around 35 Palestinians were also wounded as Israeli occupation tanks and armored personnel carriers accompanied infantry units into the El Bureij refugee camp south of Gaza City, security sources said, reported Agency France-Press (AFP).

Soldiers blew up four Palestinian houses after telling residents to leave, but the 33-year-old pregnant woman who did not leave her house was crushed to death. Among those shot dead was a 13-year-old boy. The six others killed were aged between 17 and 24.
I
“U.S. Concerned”

"We continue to be seriously concerned about civilian casualties and we have urged the Israeli government to take all appropriate precautions to prevent the death and injury of innocent civilians and damage to civilian and humanitarian infrastructure," U.S. state department spokesman Richard Boucher said, reported AFP.

"We are also deeply concerned at the increasing Israeli use over the past few months of demolitions and the civilian deaths that have resulted from this practice."

Since June 2002, the Israeli army has destroyed more than 150 houses belonging to Palestinians allegedly involved in attacks, a policy human rights groups describe as collective punishment and which has drawn U.S. criticism in the past. Palestinian health minister Ahmad al-Shibi issued a statement describing the latest incursion as a "massacre" and condemning the fact that Palestinian medics were denied access to the injured.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said the real aim of the latest attack was to torpedo upcoming talks within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on constitutional reforms.

"Israel launched its bloody operation in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and in the El Bureij camp to sabotage the meeting of the PLO central committee," Erakat said, referring to a meeting slated for next Saturday.

On Monday, thousands of Palestinians followed the bodies of eight Palestinians killed the same day in an Israeli raid from Deir el-Balah hospital to the refugee camps of El Bureij and Nusseirat, where they were buried.

Also Monday, a Palestinian teenager was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire fired from a tank as he threw stones with other youths in Tulkarem, Palestinian security and medical sources said.

Ahmed al-Hamashi, 15, was hit in the head while one of his fellow stone-throwers was moderately injured, the sources told AFP. The tank and another armored vehicle were patrolling the West Bank town at the time.

In another development, Palestinian housing minister Ghassan Khatib said Monday that the Palestinians are awaiting a green light from Israel to go ahead with meetings aimed at naming a prime minister as part of the reforms process. He said a top Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) body, the Central Council, is due to convene on Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Meanwhile, members of the Fatah central committee, the movement which is headed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, officially approved the appointment of a new prime minister at a meeting in Ramallah late Monday, the group said in a statement.

The Palestinian Authority is seeking the European Union's help to secure Israeli authorization for delegates to travel to Ramallah where Arafat has been pinned down by the Israeli army for the past year, Khatib told AFP.

The army has also reoccupied most of the West Bank and controls the crossing to the territory from the Gaza Strip via Israel.

Veteran leader Arafat, under Israeli and international pressure to reform his administration, announced his acceptance of the creation of a prime minister's post on February 14.

But Arafat said Monday that if Israel prevented the planned reform meetings from going ahead it would be proof that it wanted to stifle the very democratic changes it has said it wants to see, said AFP.

"A continuation of Israeli military operations and not allowing Palestinian officials to move will show there is a conspiracy to prevent us following through on our reform decisions," said Arafat after meeting with EU, UN and Russian officials.

Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Israeli Deadly Attacks Sabotaging Imminent PLO, PLC Meetings: Erekat

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) accused Israel Monday of wanting to sabotage an upcoming PLO central committee meeting by launching deadly military onslaughts on the Gaza Strip.

"Israel launched its bloody operation (Saturday) in the Khan Younis refugee camp and (Sunday at dawn) in the al-Burreij camp to sabotage the meeting of the PLO central committee,” said Palestinian chief negotiator and local government minister Sa’eb Erekat.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) central committee is set to finalize the constitution, which will come into effect when a Palestinian state is created.

Next week, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), or parliament, is scheduled to convene to amend the Basic Law, the current de facto constitution, and allow for the appointment of a prime minister by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

“Israel wants to reoccupy the whole of the Gaza Strip and (Israel's Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon wants to take advantage of the fact that the world's attention is focused on Iraq to carry on his war and destroy the PNA and the peace process,” Erekat said.

Palestine Media Center - (PMC)

UN Official Condemns Israeli Attack on UNRWA School

Peter Hansen, Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Working Agency (UNRWA) in the Near East, on Sunday condemned Israel’s military aggression against an UNRWA school and its pupils in the Gaza Strip.

Hansen paid a visit to al-Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City, where Huda Darweesh, an 11-year-old schoolgirl, was pronounced clinically dead at the Intensive Care Unit. She was shot on Saturday at her school set up by UNRWA in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hansen said UNRWA condemns the actions targeting its educational and medical institutions, especially firing at the elementary school in Khan Younis and critically wounding one of the pupils. He said he would send a report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on what had happened, adding that UNRWA always sends reports to the secretary general on the Israeli breaches.

Somaya Darweesh, 32, said on Saturday her daughter was sitting on her desk in classroom at one of UNRWA elementary schools in the camp, when Israeli soldiers suddenly opened gunfire directly at the school.

“My daughter was not throwing stones, and didn't fire a mortar shell at the Israelis. She was just sitting at her classroom when she was shot in her head.

Palestine Media Center - PMC

Monday March 3, 2003

US Peacekeeper Susan Barclay Successfully Resists Deportation from Israel

By Morgan Guyton

After tenacious physical resistance aboard a 5:20 AM KLM Airlines flight at Ben Gurion Airport, Seattle resident, Susan Barclay, appeared before an Israeli judge this morning and has been released, free to stay in Palestine through March 10th.

The Israeli Interior Ministry suffered an embarrassing defeat this morning, February 28th, when Judge Mikhaela Shidlovsky-Or of Jerusalem District Court ruled that Seattle native Susan Barclay should be released and allowed to stay in the country through March 10th. Susan, her lawyers, and co-peacekeepers are currently considering their legal options to challenge the March 10th deadline.

At 5:20 am this morning, the Israeli police literally dragged Susan onto a KLM Airlines flight but due to her physical resistance onboard and the defiance of airline personnel, they were forced to take her off the plane. It was the second time the Interior Ministry had tried to fly her out since her removal from the Mikhal Detention Facility.

The attempted secret deportation directly violated the February 23rd ruling of Hadera District Court in Susan’s favor. Susan had been detained Thursday, February 20th, during the Israeli military’s incursion into Nablus, Palestine where she had been working as a peacekeeper for 10 months. Her lack of access to an attorney and the lack of criminal charges against her were among the many violations of her human rights recognized in the
Geneva Convention.

Susan’s case has provoked an increased awareness of what she refers to as the “scandalous duplicity” of the Israeli judicial system, in which thousands of Palestinians are being held in “administrative detention” with no criminal charges filed against them. supporters of Susan from all over the United States managed to tie up many of the 75 phone lines at the Israeli Embassy on February 27th.

“The case of Susan Barclay has been a wakeup call for peace activists in the United States,” said Morgan Guyton of Saginaw, Michigan, “We now realize the extent to which the Israeli military is willing to violate the laws of its own country and the amount of effort it will require to demand respect for the international peacekeeping work that will enable Palestinians and Israelis to live harmoniously.”

Morgan Guyton is a member “Tri-City Action for Peace”

Nine-Year-Old, Two Others Killed in Fresh Israeli Raid

Three Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured by gunfire yesterday in daylong Israeli Army incursions into southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical sources reported.

The sources said that early yesterday two Palestinians were killed and 39 were injured west of Khan Younis as Israeli Army tanks and bulldozers raided the Al-Namsawi neighborhood.
Three houses and a hospital fence were destroyed.

During the funeral of the two who were killed in the incursion, Israeli soldiers opened fire at hundreds of Palestinian mourners near the graveyard.

Among the injured was a nine-year-old boy who later died of his wounds in hospital. Two others were in serious condition.

Meanwhile, a 53-year-old woman died of wounds sustained when Israeli soldiers demolished her house while she was inside in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 23.

Palestinian Authority Local Affairs Minister Saeb Erekat condemned the incursion, saying that the Israeli Army deployment of tanks and bulldozers into Khan Younis “is an Israeli preparation for reoccupation of the entire Gaza Strip”.

“The Israeli government of war is using the world’s silence to commit more crimes and more killing, destruction and escalation against the Palestinian people,” said Erekat.

He called upon the international community and the Quartet Committee “to start as urgently as possible to implement the US roadmap peace plan in the Palestinian territories”.

Meanwhile, Shaul Mofaz began his second term as defense minister with a vow to crack down harder on Palestinians.

Israeli troops have relentlessly pounded Gaza in recent weeks and there was little hope of any respite as one of the most hawkish governments in the Jewish state’s history was taking office.
Most of the newly appointed ministers in the 23-strong lineup took over their respective portfolios yesterday, with the priority clearly set on rescuing the country from its dire economic state.

Sharon’s inaugural speech last Thursday put peace efforts on the back burner, as he admitted that far-right elements in his Cabinet could complicate peace initiatives.

Commentators have argued that Israel would now wait for the United States to wrap up its military campaign to topple the Iraqi regime before considering any peace moves.

They say that Sharon hopes by then Amram Mitzna’s Labor Party could replace the extreme right in the coalition and stabilize the government in its drive for talks with the Palestinians, as demanded by the US administration. However the Palestinians have already taken significant steps toward meeting international demands for reform of their institutions.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called a meeting for this week to discuss the appointment of a prime minister, a senior aide said Saturday.
The bets were on Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) number two Mahmud Abbas — better known as Abu Mazen — being appointed to the new post.

Arab New

Saturday March 1, 2003