Palestinians Choose Life
By MIFTAH, June 16, 2003
The insanity of the past week seems to remind both Israelis and Palestinians that the only alternative to political dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the conflict is a vicious cycle of endless violence, in which innocent civilians are most often the primary victims. Israel’s intentional provocation in attempting to assassinate Hamas’ top leader in Gaza last Tuesday, Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantisi, ignited another round of retaliation and counter retaliation which left 60 Palestinians and Israelis dead and scores injured (some with critical injuries and permanent disabilities). For the past 32 months, Israel has unleashed a full scale military assault against a predominantly civilian Palestinian population, killing and injuring women and children, and strangulating the entire Palestinian territories. Palestinian trees have been uprooted, Palestinian homes have been demolished, and Palestinian civil institutions have been systematically targeted and destroyed. In exploiting the “war against terrorism” analogy, Israel is attempting to justify its own practice of state terrorism against the Palestinians, unilaterally giving itself the authority to judge and execute whomever it deems a “threat to its security.” Political assassinations, extra-judicial killings, and collective punishment all contribute to Israel’s policies of repression against the Palestinian people. The result is imminently more Palestinian suffering, more anger, more desperation, and ultimately more Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation and violent attacks against Israeli military personnel and civilians. Ariel Sharon’s wilful ignorance and short-sightedness in choosing to negate Palestinian rights, and his brutal measures against the Palestinian people, have contributed to the killing of innocent Israeli civilians. Sharon must be held accountable for provoking Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, and his shameless attempts in exploiting such attacks for his own political gains should also be fully exposed.

Jewish Settlements as a Weapon of War
By Roger Harrison, Arab News, June 19, 2003
Settlements are as much a weapon of war as tanks. Since the 1967 war, Israel has used them to create “facts on the ground.” Through settlements, the Zionist movement aimed, in David Ben-Gurion’s words, “to establish a great Jewish fact in this country” (emphasis in the original) that was irreversible. Moshe Dyan later added an apologetic and self-justifying note when he wove armed forces and settlements into the fabrication: “We are a generation of settlers and without the combat helmet and the barrel of a gun we will not be able to plant a tree or build a house.” Bearle Katznelson has a reputation as the conscience of the Zionist movement. He eulogized “there has never been a colonizing enterprise as typified by justice and honesty toward others as our work here in Eretz Israel.” It is hardly surprising that America supports the process. Theodore Roosevelt in his 1889 book “The Winning of the West” concluded of the dispossession of the native population of North America: “No other conquering nation has ever treated the savage owners of the soil with such generosity as the United States.” It ignores the fact that the “savages” are the original owners of the soil and there is no reflection on what the recipients of the ‘blessings’ of occupation and theft have to say. The simple facts are these. It is illegal under international law for an occupying power to transfer citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory. That law is stated unequivocally in the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Hague Regulations prohibit an occupying power from making permanent changes in the occupied area unless they are due to military needs (defined in the narrowest of senses) or for the benefit of the local population. The population of Palestine has hardly benefited from Israel’s permanent changes made by the building of settlements on Palestinian lands, the restriction of access to farmlands and movements between areas of Palestine. Israel has flouted international law and resolutions of the United Nations. If it was not for the financial, military and moral support of the United States, then based simply on its occupation and aggressive tactics, it would have been roundly condemned as a “rogue state.” Certainly, in terms of the definitions used by the United States to define rogue states viz. military aggression, non-compliance with UN resolutions, occupation of territory, possession of weapons of mass destruction and record of human rights violations, Israel is a prime candidate.

The Road Map and Settlements
By Leena Dallashesh, Alternative Information Center, June 19, 2003 
In his speech at the Aqaba summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that “we can also reassure our Palestinian partners that we understand the importance of territorial contiguity in the West Bank, for a viable Palestinian state.” Sharon added: “[the government] will immediately begin to remove unauthorized outposts.” In an effort to distinguish between unauthorized outposts and authorized settlements (illegal under international law), Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, declared that while outposts would be dismantled, the current Sharon government would refrain from dismantling a single established settlement for as long as the government held power. At the same time, the settlers’ leadership announced that they would do everything possible to avoid clashes with soldiers, but if evacuated they would return the next day to establish two outposts in the place of every dismantled outpost. Ever since the Israeli government endorsed the road map, the Israeli society has been engaged in broad discussions about its implementation, particularly with regards to the issue of settlements. In a survey that was published on ‎June 8,‎ 59% of the Israeli-Jewish public agreed to give up all settlements that were not part of big settlement blocks. Several reactions represent the attitudes prevalent within the settlers’ community regarding the possible dismantling of established settlements: Rejection: On June 6 a mass settlers’ demonstration against the “road map,” and against the establishment of a Palestinian state was held in the streets of Jerusalem. After the announcement that 15 outposts were to be evacuated, settlers’ leaders declared their rejection of the plan and their intention to take over 10 hilltops in return to any outpost evacuated. Disbelief: some of the settlers’ leaders expressed disbelief to the possibility of evacuation, and claimed that there is no chance that they will be evacuated.  Acceptance: some of the settlers announced their willingness to evacuate. In fact, some settlers have already appealed to the government for compensations in return to leaving the settlements.  Alternative Plans: The Yesha Council has an alternative plan for dismantling the settlements that is being prepared by settlers’ local councils, suggesting that Israel “gives up” 30% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, where Palestinians will have full civil control. The roads in the area will also be divided to “Arabs only roads” and “Jews only roads” and many of the enclaves on both sides will be kept, with a fence separating both sides.

Not Quite a Parallel Media Universe
Norman Solomon, Arab News, June 19, 2003
LONDON — The people of Britain and the United States are living in parallel, yet substantively different, media universes. Bonds of language and overlaps of mass culture are obvious. But a visit to London quickly illuminates the reality that mainstream journalism is much less narrow here than in America. One indicator of a robust press: Nearly a dozen ideologically diverse national daily papers are competing on British newsstands. Granted, the picture isn’t all rosy. Tabloids feature lurid crime headlines and include exploitive photos of bare-breasted women. Several major newspapers reflect the distorting effects of right-wing owners like Rupert Murdoch (who has succeeded in foisting the execrable Fox News on the United States). And the circulation figures of Britain’s dailies show that the size of press runs is inversely proportional to journalistic quality, with the Sun at 3.5 million and the Daily Mail at 2.3 million — in contrast to two superb dailies, the Guardian (381,000) and the Independent (186,000). Yet the impacts of the Guardian and the Independent, along with the Observer on Sunday, are much greater than their circulations might suggest. They’re unabashed progressive newspapers that combine often-exemplary journalism with a willingness to take on the powers that be. Those papers function with vitality in news reporting — and left-oriented political commentary — that cannot be consistently found in a single US daily newspaper. Overall, in British newsprint, the spectrum of thought ranges so wide that a progressive-minded American might be tempted to take up residence here. In comparison, the leading “liberal” dailies across the Atlantic — the New York Times and the Washington Post — are mouthpieces of corporate power and US empire. If the Times and the Post were being published in London, then British readers would consider those newspapers to be centrist or even conservative. The airwaves are also very different. The British Broadcasting Corp. has been faulted by some media critics for filtering out anti-war voices during the invasion of Iraq in early spring. But the baseline of the BBC’s usual reportage compares very favorably to what’s on US networks, including such public TV and radio mainstays as PBS and NPR.

Israel’s new poor
By Avi Temkin, Globes, June 18, 2003
The unemployment numbers may point to a social crisis about to hit Israel. -- There is no clear-cut evidence for the argument that follows, but here goes: the substantial rise in unemployment in recent months represents a real change in the pattern of employment in Israel, and is liable to lead to change in Israel’s social fabric. The new unemployed, some of who are liable to become the new poor, come from the middle class, from the thousands who were used to reading about poverty and distress in the newspaper, but never actually came close to the reality. If this unproven argument is correct, then we must prepare for something we have never known before. A class of new poor will form, of people who not long ago were used to regarding the future with a certain optimism, who managed through years of economic crises, galloping inflation, economic plans and recessions, to keep their heads above water. These are households that always took care to keep up their mortgage payments, to save for a rainy day through funds of different kinds, who now and again could afford to splash out. There is no proof at present that Israeli society is being damaged by the creation of newly poor people. On the contrary, to judge from the equanimity that greets unemployment statistics Israelis have become inured to the fact that there will be double-digit unemployment rates for the foreseeable future. The question is, what can be dome now to prevent what could turn into a real economic and social disaster. A crisis among the middle classes has long-term consequences hard to estimate.

Prison and the beast
By Huwaida Arraf, International Solidarity Movem,ent, June 18, 2003
Dear Friends, Thank you for the calls and the emails. I am embarassed to have taken up your time with my case when there are so many other Palestinians that need your help. The officer filling out my release papers commented that I "must have many friends all over the world." I was put under arrest today for "obstructing the work of soldiers" and though I didn't go to prison, I'd like to ask a few minutes of your time to tell you about what happened today, and the larger prison that all Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are in.  I arrived at the Huwwara checkpoint at around 12:30pm with a newly arrived American volunteer, Rick; we were on our way to Nablus. The queue was long, at least 70 people, and it didn't look like the three Israeli soldiers that were manning the checkpoint were letting anybody through. A few of the Palestinian men, who had already been at the checkpoint for over an hour, seeing my companion was an international, advised us to walk around the checkpoint to avoid what would surely be another 3-hour wait, at least; "If you have an American passport, you'll pass, no problem." Though we were in a hurry to get Rick to the ISM training in Nablus, there was no question that we'd refuse to take advantage of the racist system that would allow an American into Nablus, but require a resident of Nablus or a surrounding village to wait for hours, to be checked by Israeli soldiers and then given a verdict of whether he/she could go home, to work, or to school. So we waited. Soldiers make Palestinians stand in a female line and a male line and so our Palestinian friends, who were trying to save us time, urged us to at least get into the shorter female line. We did. A half an hour later a soldier came over and let a handful of women pass. I was one of the ones singled out to pass. Rick came with me. When we approched the soldier that was to check our IDs, we noticed a family, a man, woman and two children who were standing aside. Apparently the soldiers did not want to let the man through (he had a British passport) and his wife, a Palestinian from Nablus, was refusing to leave without him. They were also refusing to turn back. The soldiers kept asking of the Brit, his "hawiyya" - ID, insinuating that he had a Palestinian ID (in addition to the passport) and was just refusing to show it. I then noticed two yound Palestinian men, in their early twenties, crouching up against the cinder blocks that form the checkpoint, their hands tied behind their backs. An old woman was pleading with the Israeli soldiers, her son (one of the young men), was sick and had back problems and was on his way to Rafeedia Hospital in Nablus. She was trying to show the soldier her son's papers and x-rays, but he wasn't interested.

Rafah The Cursed
By Silvia Cattori, Palestine Chronicle, June 18, 2003
"Rafah! Oh Rafah! Even if being there was painful, I don’t regret a thing. I can now understand better those wonderful children of the ISM who loved it so and who died for its children .." -- GAZA CITY - The tens of thousands of soldiers sent by the Israeli army to Palestine are not at all the angel like beings that the media strive to picture us. But they are not Nazis either. The reality is that the process of Apartheid they sat up and that consists in asphyxiating the whole population , is far more sophisticated and far more atrocious than what has been described to us until now. Nothing looks like life in this no man’s land. Situated on the border of Yibna, a refugee camp where Egypt is at sight; like a mirage. The only left are women, children and elderly who try to hang on to their walls. Half of the houses are already deserted. Those who stayed will die here: "this is our life". Israeli fired mercilessly at close range on the houses for their inhabitants to leave for good. That way, they were able to grasp every month, a little bit more of the land. Egypt , that one can gaze upon from the minaret –the only thing still standing erect- is over there, but only brings despondency. Between that country and the dilapidated houses that unluckily, were on the front line ; there is a huge desert like zone and it is strictly controlled by Israel. To feed its greed, the invader decided that it would become a ‘restricted military zone". The bandits pulled down everything, metamorphosed it all. There is not a living soul around any longer. The minaret is the only thing that one can hang on to , looking at it makes us realise that there is still some kind of human life around.. The old Abu Ahmad , who has been deprived of all his lands in this ugly device, gently talks to you about the old times ; before 1948.Listening to him, you start dreaming about all the houses growing back out all around. Rafah used to be the natural frontier between Egypt and Palestine. Israeli settled in, confiscated everything and threw the people out of their home. Since then, they brutally occupy the wide empty land situated near this very silent neighbor that is Egypt. The land, harassed by the anxiety of the unknown, wounded by Israel’s guns, looks like the end of the word. It is today the most dreadful place in Palestine.. At any time, vehicles raising the Israeli flag can burst in.