NOVEMBER 2003

Saturday November 29, 2003

Main Headline

PLO observer at UN to propose Int'l Court discuss fence

By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and the Associated Press

Friday November 28, 2003

Main Headline

By PRISCILLA CHEUNG, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that Israel is violating a General Assembly resolution to halt construction of barrier that juts into the West Bank and to dismantle the 90-mile section already built.

Saturday November 22, 2003

Main Headline

Israeli Payment for Shot Briton Rejected

LONDON - The family of a British photojournalist, shot in the head by Israeli troops in April, is still awaiting payment for his treatment and repatriation costs after a check bounced.

A check from the Israeli regime for Pnds 8,370 was not paid by the London branch of Bank of Israel due to insufficient funds in the account, according to the family of Tom Hurndall, quoted in the Guardian newspaper Friday.

The British photojournalist has effectively been left brain-dead and is not expected to recover from his deep coma after being brought back to the UK for in intensive care at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney, southwest London.

Hurndall`s mother, Jocelyn, has been leading a campaign for an independent investigation into the shooting of her son, who was fired upon by an Israeli commander while stopping to carry a Palestinian girl to safety at Rafah Refugee Camp in Gaza.

His family has criticized the British government for even failing to condemn the shooting and has written to Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding that he puts more pressure on Israel to conduct a full and transparent inquiry.

In a recent article for the Guardian, Hurndall`s mother condemned Israel as a "deeply immoral regime which is cruel beyond human understanding."

"The tragedy that has befallen Tom and our family was a microcosm of the wide-scale terror felt by thousands of other families in the occupied territories," she said.

The photojournalist is one of the three Britons shot by Israeli troops in the past year.
In May, the Israel troops killed another British journalist, James Miller in the same refugee camp and last November, Iain Hook, a UN worker, was shot dead by the Israeli army in Jenin Refugee Camp.

The families of all three British victims have regularly criticized the UK government for being more concerned with not damaging relations with the Israeli regime than being proactive in collecting evidence into the shootings.
Source: IRNA News Agency

Israel Admits it Lied Over Missile Raid on Camp

By Chris McGreal

The Guardian

The Israeli military has admitted that it lied about a rocket attack on a Gaza refugee camp, which according to the army led to no casualties, but which the Palestinians have claimed killed 14 civilians. A leftwing member of the Israeli parliament, Yossi Sarid, forced the confession from the air force chief after he threatened to release evidence that the military had used a weapon more destructive and indiscriminate than it had publicly claimed.

A month ago, the air force launched an assassination strike against a Hamas activist who was driving through Nuseirat refugee camp. The Palestinians claimed that the attack caused a large number of civilian casualties, but the air force commander, Major General Dan Halutz, produced video footage of the car being hit by two missiles that showed no one standing near the wrecked vehicle as the rockets struck.

The military said that Hellfire missiles were used, producing a concentrated explosion over a small area. Gen Halutz likened the effect of the missiles to "two grenades". The video footage was widely shown on Israeli television.

But the army now admits that it lied in briefings to the Israeli and foreign press, because the second rocket was not a Hellfire missile.

The military refuses to identify the weapon used, on the grounds of "operational security". But the speculation is that it was an American-made Flechette, which is illegal under international law because it fires thousands of tiny darts over hundreds of meters, causing horrific injuries. Israel has used similar weapons in Gaza in the past.

A political source said the air force had also admitted that the weapon was not fired from an Apache helicopter as it had originally claimed. The source said the information raised the possibility that the Israelis were using a new type of aircraft or weapon.

Evidence from the attack scene indicated that the second missile exploded in the air, not on impact, suggesting an intention to cause casualties in a wide area instead of just destroying the vehicle.

The truth began to emerge a fortnight ago when Mr. Sarid, a Meretz party MP, asked the defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, in a parliamentary hearing, what kind of ammunition was used in the attack on Nuseirat. Mr. Mofaz refused to answer.

Mr. Sarid said that he had obtained information that the missiles were not, as the military claimed, small explosives. He threatened to go public with the information if questions on the issue were evaded.

The military reportedly tried to prevent him discussing the issue. But he said: "I will not allow anyone to gag me."

In an attempt to stave off further revelations, Gen Halutz met Mr. Sarid on Wednesday. The general admitted that the military had lied, but tried to persuade the MP that the missiles could not have caused large numbers of casualties.

Afterwards the military released a statement, saying: "For reasons of securing information and for operational reasons, it was not possible to state completely events at Nuseirat. In any case, the version shown and the explanation given regarding those hurt in the action, along with the video footage, are correct."

Mr. Sarid is unconvinced and is still threatening to go public with the information he has.

"It is evident the number of casualties is higher than the military claimed," he said. "It is now clear how incorrect the information the military gave was. Further clarification is needed to determine how deceptive the information was intended to be."

· The family of Tom Hurndall, a British peace activist who was left brain damaged after being shot in the head by an Israeli soldier, says a cheque from the Israeli government to cover his treatment and repatriation costs has bounced. The family waited months for the £8,370, but on receipt the London branch of the Bank of Israel said there were insufficient funds in the government account. The Israeli embassy in London later said it would ensure the family was paid.

Israel Misinformed Journalists

By John Ward Anderson

Washington Post

The Israeli military gave journalists incorrect information last month about a helicopter attack on a Gaza Strip refugee camp in which at least 10 Palestinians were killed and more than 55 injured, the military chief of staff said in a statement released late Wednesday.

Sources said the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz, gave inaccurate information in an Oct. 21 briefing for Israeli military correspondents, apparently in an effort to avoid revealing details about Israeli operational techniques and equipment that could be useful to Palestinian militants. The information at issue centered on the types of missiles fired and military methods used in the engagement, according to the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

Senior air force officials previously had said that the two missiles fired during the Oct. 20 nighttime attack at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza were so small they were incapable of causing a large number of casualties. They accused Palestinian witnesses and officials of lying and inflating the number of dead and injured.

The statement Wednesday, citing "security sensitivity," did not specify which part of the initial report on the operation was incorrect. In addition, Israeli journalists and lawmakers familiar with the facts of the case were prohibited by government censors from divulging the details of the false information.

According to Israeli media accounts Thursday, Halutz told Israeli reporters that the two missiles were Hellfires -- laser-guided missiles made in the United States -- when he knew they were not. In a separate briefing for foreign reporters, including one from The Washington Post, another air force official refused to identify the type of missiles that were fired.

The sources said the Israeli military now maintains that the missiles that were fired were not significantly more powerful or destructive than Hellfires and would not have caused more casualties.

But the issue has added to the controversy over the military and its tactics in responding to the Palestinian uprising.

The air force was sharply criticized in September, when 27 current and former pilots signed a public pledge to boycott missions over Palestinian civilian areas. Israeli news media have reported several other cases of pilots refusing to obey direct orders to drop bombs or fire missiles at Palestinian targets because of the potential for civilian casualties.

"The question is: Is the IDF allowed to lie -- not to stay silent, but to lie -- regarding the details of any operation to the press, and expect afterward that anybody will believe them?" said Nahum Barnea, a leading Israeli newspaper columnist, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. "We are living in 2003, and the truth doesn't matter anymore. It's not the censorship that's the problem. It's the lying, the cover-up. It's a big scandal, and it's a big problem for the army and the people."

In a vaguely worded statement issued Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the military chief of staff, said that when reporters were briefed in October, "it was not possible to give full details regarding the incident . . . due to field security and operational concerns, and in order not to compromise vital security details."

"Perhaps, due to the operational and security sensitivity of the matter at hand, we erred in the way we chose to define the operational means we used," the statement said. "It is important to stress that there was no intention to mislead."

Israeli military officials would not elaborate on the statement.

The incident in Nuseirat was one of five attacks launched on Oct. 20 against Palestinian targets in Gaza. In the attacks and related operations, at least 15 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were injured, according to Palestinian hospital records.

The attack in Nuseirat was the most deadly. It began when Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants who were trying to sneak up to the border fence to plant a roadside bomb. An Israeli AH-64 Apache helicopter followed the car that had dropped off the militants. When the car reached Nuseirat, the helicopter fired two missiles at it.

Some Palestinian officials and witnesses said that after firing the first missile, the Israeli pilots waited for a crowd of rescuers to gather in the street before firing the second -- a charge denied by Israeli military officials.

The day after the attack, which drew wide international condemnation, Israeli military officials organized separate briefings for small groups of Israeli and foreign reporters to rebut the Palestinians' allegations regarding deaths and injuries. The officials showed a videotape of the attack shot by a remote-controlled drone. The tape, they said, showed no crowds in the street when the missiles struck.

In the foreign press briefing, officials said that the missiles used were only "a few" pounds and would not have caused collateral damage more than four or five yards from the point of impact. They said it was possible that the second missile might have hit explosives inside the car, magnifying the explosion's impact.

But in interviews conducted during the days following the attack, witnesses said many people were on the side of the street when the attack occurred but that trees and overhangs would have obscured them from an aerial view. Buildings as far as 30 yards from the car had deep shrapnel marks, and evidence suggested that the second missile fired missed the car and struck the pavement in front of it.

Thursday November 20, 2003

Main Headline

Israel Says 'Not Bound' by Security Council's Adoption of Roadmap

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Palestine National Authority (PNA) welcomed, but Israel said it is not bound by, Resolution 1515, which was endorsed by all 15 members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Wednesday to back the “roadmap” peace plan to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Britain, Bulgaria, Chile, China, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain as well as Russia.

“We welcome this resolution and hope there will be mechanisms to implement it through reactivating the role of the Quartet” of international mediators comprising the UN, US, EU and Russia who drafted and adopted the “roadmap,” PNA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday.

Despite strong objections from Israel and initial opposition from the United States, the council voted unanimously for the Russian-backed resolution to put its stamp of approval on the plan, which envisages a Palestinian state by 2005.

The Security Council recalled all its previous relevant resolutions, in particular resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002) and the Madrid principles as the basis for adopting the new resolution.

It lauded the diplomatic efforts of the international Quartet and others and decided to endorse: “The quartet performance-based road map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (S.2003/529).”

It also called on “the parties to fulfill their obligations under the road map in cooperation with the quartet and to achieve the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security.”

The Security Council concluded by deciding “to remain seized of the matter.”

Israel said it is not bound by the resolution.

"It is possible that we will hold talks with the new Palestinian Government on the basis of the roadmap but ... Israel does not feel that it is bound by the resolution," deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert told Israeli public radio.

Moscow's UN ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, first circulated the resolution late last month and introduced it to the 15-member council on Monday. The United States then hesitated in backing the resolution, arguing that the timing was not right but it endorsed the resolution Wednesday after making some minor changes.

Israel believes such a resolution is unnecessary and does not want UN involvement in the peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, during a visit to Moscow in early November, tried to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to drop the quest for a resolution. The Russian president was reported to be considering it but then went along with his foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, to push the measure.

"More resolutions are not the solution," said Israel's deputy ambassador to UN Arye Mekel. "We need to see action on the ground."

The resolution however expresses the council's "grave concern at the continuation of the tragic and violent events in the Middle East" and reiterates "the demand for an immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction."

Source: Palestine Media Center

Monday November 17, 2003

Main Headline

Blaming Israel, ICRC Ends West Bank Food Program

LONDON - Heaping blame on Israel for the failing to face up to its responsibilities as an occupying power, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) decided to end its emergency food program in the occupied West Bank, a leading British newspaper reported on Sunday, November 16.

The move comes as the Israeli media reported that ICRC representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, François Bellon, told senior Israeli generals that the Palestinian Authority was on the verge of an "explosion" that could lead to "the worst ever humanitarian crisis" in the occupied territories, The Independent said.

The ICRC said that the incessant Israeli military closures and curfews left the Palestinian economy in tatters, adding that the closures made it impossible for Palestinians to move or travel to jobs in other cities or in Israel.

"You cannot go on for ever with the curfews and closures which are destroying the Palestinian economy. They have to find a different way to guarantee their security. If they lifted these security measures, the Palestinian economy, though damaged, would start again," said Vincent Bernard, an ICRC spokesman.

"It is not our responsibility to take care of the economic needs of the Palestinians. We have repeatedly said it is the responsibility of the occupying power," he stressed.

He continued: "This was humanitarian relief designed to assist in a humanitarian emergency, not to address the longer-term problems caused by curfews, closures and the collapse of the economy that has occurred."

Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon lambasted last month that the continued curfews, reoccupation of towns and severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, combined with the economic crisis they have caused.

As a result of economic collapse, a fifth of Palestinian children are malnourished, according to a report last year by an American government aid agency, the daily said.

The ICRC has launched its emergency food program in the wake of the invasion and reoccupation of West Bank cities last April.

The paper said that the organization has spent $46m over the past year and a half, providing for around 300,000 of the most needy Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel is concerned that other international organizations may follow the Red Cross, which would leave Israel to face the cost of providing the services they currently provide - a cost that some estimated at as high as $1.1bn a year.

Last week, the United Nations condemned the Israeli separation, warning that it would lead to severe humanitarian consequences for more than 680,000 Palestinians (30 percent), according to a new United Nations report.

Friday November 14, 2003

Main Headline

Ex-Shin Bet heads warn of 'catastrophe' without peace deal

By Haaretz Service and Agencies

In unusually brazen criticism of the government's handling of the conflict with the Palestinians, four former heads of the Shin Bet security service warned Friday of a "catastrophe" if a peace deal is not reached with the Palestinians.

"We are heading downhill towards near-catastrophe. If nothing happens and we go on living by the sword, we will continue to wallow in the mud and destroy ourselves," ex-security chief Yaakov Perry told the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth, reflecting a consensus among his three colleagues - Ami
Ayalon, Avraham Shalom and Carmi Gillon.

Asked to comment on the interview, a senior government source described the former security
chiefs' approach as naive.

"The situation is not as weak as they describe," he said. "We have made major achievements in
our fight against terrorism... [but must try] every place where it is possible... to relieve pressure on the Palestinians, we will do it."

But Perry told Israel Radio on Friday that the only way forward was for Israel to take unilateral steps, such as withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Doing so, he said, could help draw the Palestinians to peace talks, minimize terror and help Israel improve economically. It would also raise Israel's status in the eyes of the world, he said.

"We need to take the situation into our own hands and leave Gaza with all the difficulty that that entails, and to dismantle illegal settlements," said Perry, who headed the agency for seven years, including during the 1987-1993 intifada. If Israel fails to take such steps, he said, it will remain under a constant threat
of terror.

Ayalon, a left-leaning former general who directed the Shin Bet from 1996 to 2000, urged the government to act unilaterally and pull troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip, a position which Peri told the newspaper he also supported.

"We are taking sure, steady steps to a place where the state of Israel will no longer be a democracy and a home for the Jewish people," Ayalon told the newspaper.

Ayalon is the author of the "People's Voice" unofficial peace plan together with Sari Nusseibeh, a leading Palestinian intellectual and president of Al-Quds University.

Shalom, who served as Shin Bet head from 1980 to 1986 and is the veteran of the group, called the government's policies "contrary to the desire for peace."

"We must once and for all admit there is another side, that it has feelings, that it is suffering and that we are behaving disgracefully... this entire behavior is the result of the occupation," Shalom told the newspaper.

The four said that Israel needs to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip even if it entails
an inevitable clash with the settlers.

"There will always be some groups... for whom the Land of Israel nestles in the hills of Nablus and inside Hebron and we will have to clash with them," Perry said.

However, Ayalon said he expects that only 10 percent of the more than 220,000 settlers would
resist an evacuation of settlements. "We have to be capable of facing such a number," he said.

Carmi Gillon, whose term as Shin Bet chief was cut short in 1996 when he resigned after agency
bodyguards failed to prevent the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist, described the government as short-sighted. Gillon was recently elected head of the Mevaseret Zion council.

"It is dealing solely with the question of how to prevent the next terrorist attack," Gillon said, referring to Palestinian suicide bombings. "It [ignores] the question of how we get out of the mess we find ourselves in
today."

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat praised the former Shin Bet leaders on Friday. "It reflects the realistic policy required from the Israeli side," he said.

Former President Ezer Weizman called the ex-security service chiefs the "four musketeers" and accused them of bringing a catastrophe of their own upon Israel.

"This really makes me furious," Weizman told Channel One. "We have a country that is in a very delicate situation."

Two weeks ago, the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon also criticized government policy, saying the roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were fuelling Palestinian resentment and leading to an increase in support for Hamas and other militant groups.

Ya'alon also accused the government of contributing to the failure of the Abbas government, claiming that Israel did not take enough steps to bolster Abbas, who ultimately resigned after a failed power struggle with Yasser Arafat.

Saturday November 1, 2003

Main Headline

Tens of thousands mark eighth anniversary of Rabin murder

By Haaretz Service and Agencies

Tens of thousands gathered Saturday night in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv to mark the eighth anniversary of
the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the day after unknown vandals daubed swastikas on a monument at
the site and scrawled graffiti across a poster of the slain prime minister.

Some 1,500 police officers, bomb disposal experts and volunteers were present to provide security at the
rally, which began at 8 P.M.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the "terrible" vandalism Friday and called Rabin's daughter, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, to express his shock.

"Everything should be done to find those responsible for the act of vandalism, and to uproot such phenomena," Sharon told the former Labor Knesset member.

One of the security guards at the adjacent city hall informed police Friday morning that vandals had painted swastikas in silver spray paint on the monument and scrawled "Kahane was right" - a reference to the extreme-right Kach leader Rabbi Meir Kahane - across a banner on the stage erected ahead of Saturday's event, which marks eight years since Rabin was assassinated by right-wing extremist Yigal Amir at the end of a peace rally at the site.

Workers used high-pressured water sprayers to clean the paint from the black memorial stones
and plaque in the plaza.

In the wake of the vandalism, members of a Labor-affiliated youth movement stood guard at the monument overnight Friday, Israel Radio reported.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident in the square, which was named for the late prime minister after his assassination.

Graffiti targeting Rabin and his wife Leah, who died in November 2000, was also painted on the
Sha'ar Hagay overpass near Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported.

In Herzliya, the words "Kahane was right" were also daubed on a wall in a public park near the
home of Rabin's assassin Yigal Amir, the radio said.

Further graffiti was found on Dizengoff Street in central Tel Aviv and on buildings in Ramat Aviv, Holon and Bnei Brak, Army Radio said.

Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum expressed outrage Friday at the vandalism.

President Moshe Katsav called Friday for those behind the vandalism to be brought to justice,
and urged the public to attend the memorial service Saturday.

Rabin-Pelossof was quoted by Israel Radio on Friday as saying that it was time to hold a public debate on the issue of incitement and violence, before it was too late.

National Religious Party MK Shaul Yahalom also slammed the vandalism, saying that "every attack on Rabin's memorial was an attack on democracy," Army Radio reported.

Army Radio quoted Meretz MK Yossi Sarid as condemning the act, but saying that it was more
important to catch those who had actually killed the prime minister than the vandals.

The monument had previously been vandalized ahead of memorials for Rabin, and police had placed a guard in the area to prevent that from happening again. But the vandals apparently took advantage of the fact that the guard left the site at dawn.

Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Rabin-Pelossof were also
expected to attend.