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National Catholic Reporter, April 4, 2003

Palestinians Under Siege

By Sister Miriam Ward

Palestinians desperately need international protection now. Should America go to war with Iraq, Palestinians fear it might be used as a cover for Israel to begin threats of transfer, i.e., mass expulsion. Fearing this, Palestinians have formed The Palestinian Emergency Committee, a coalition of NGOs, religious, political, and professional organizations centered in Ramallah, to organize the community and to appeal for world protection. Recently published threatsinclude:

*imposing a total curfew (read "lockdown") on 3.2 million Palestinians
*excluding foreign and local journalists to prevent public exposure of Israeli actions against Palestinians
*intensification of mass detention of Palestinian activists without charges
*wholesale demolition of Palestinian homes *elimination or deportation of Yasser Arafat
*mass transfer of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories to neighboring countries.

An Israeli government minister has already said, "Make their life (Palestinians) so bitter that they will transfer themselves willingly." Shulamit Aloni, former Knesset member, comments, "This is done on a daily basis."

Israelis in Gush-Shalom (Peace Block), in solidarity with Palestinians, are trying to prevent the exploitation of a war situation. Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom fears most "internal transfer," i.e., deportation of Palestinian population from towns near the 1967 borders. This happened in 1967 when Moshe Dayan drove whole neighborhoods of Palestinians in Qalqilya on foot to Nablus. Armed settlers, not subject to closure, are planning to grab adjacent Palestinian land, and terrorize Palestinians into fleeing.

For information of how you can help, e-mail: protectpalestinians@yahoo.com, and info@gush-shalom.org.

Miriam Ward, RSM
Burlington, VT