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‘Human rights violations’ is too mild a term for Israel’s actions against the Palestiniansby Kaleem OmarThe International News (Pakistan)14 July 2007 |
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The Zionist state of Israel has a long and sorry track record of committing acts of state terrorism against the Palestinian people, including killing innocent women and children and other innocent civilians, assassinating Palestinian activists in acts of murder euphemistically referred to by Israeli government spokesmen as Ïtargeted killingsÓ, forcibly expelling Palestinians from their land, using Israeli army tanks and bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes, cutting down olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers, encouraging illegal Israeli settlers to attack Palestinian civilians in occupied Palestinian territory, deploying the Israeli armed forces to impose a total siege on Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, arresting Palestinian civilians including women and children and holding them in Israeli jails sometimes for years on end without trial, torturing Palestinian prisoners, confiscating Palestinian land in the West Bank, using force to disperse peaceful Palestinian demonstrations organised in protest to the continuing construction of an Annexation Wall on Palestinian land in the West Bank, attacking Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and murdering hundreds of inhabitants in the camps, often crushing scores of them to death while demolishing their homes with Israeli army bulldozers. The list of these and other continuing Israeli atrocities is a very long one indeed. In this context, consider, for example, what Israel did in just one week in December 2005, when three Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Nablus; 10 Palestinian civilians, including three children, were wounded by the IOF; the IOF carried out at least 15 air strikes on the Gaza Strip, destroying a number of roads and other civilian facilities; the IOF conducted 30 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank; the IOF raided Palestinian homes in the West Bank and arrested 35 Palestinian civilians, including 10 children and a woman; two Palestinian houses were transformed by the IOF into military sites; the IOF arrested four Palestinian civilians, including two children, at checkpoints in the West Bank; the IOF razed areas of Palestinian land in Bethlehem and Hebron; the IOF confiscated 231 donums of Palestinian land in Hebron (1 donum is equal to 1,000 square metres); the IOF cut 100 olive trees belonging to Palestinians in Bourin village near Nablus; and the IOF demolished a Palestinian house in Bet Hanina village near occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem). The IOF also escalated the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). especially in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, December 25, 2005, the Israeli government decided to create a buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip, through shelling Palestinian communities in the area. Immediately, IOF aircraft dropped leaflets on the area demanding Palestinian civilians to vacate their houses in the area. Three days earlier, on December 22, the IOF besieged an under-construction building in Nablus, opening fire on the building and killing three Palestinians who were inside. During the reported period, the IOF conducted more than two dozen military incursions into Palestinian territories in the West Bank. During these incursions, the IOF raided many houses in the area and arrested nearly three dozen Palestinian civilians. The IOF used trained dogs and undercover units during these incursions. As the IOF declared their intention to create a buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip, they carried out more than a dozen air strikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip. A number of civilian facilities and roads were destroyed or damaged. During the reported period, 10 Palestinian civilians, including four children, were wounded by the IOF gunfire. All through 2006 and 2007, the Israel Occupation Forces have continued to impose a comprehensive siege on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in violation of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the Gaza Strip, transforming it into a big jail. Rafah International Crossing Point on the Egyptian border, the sole outlet for the Gaza Strip to the outside world, was partially reopened for a brief period and then closed again. The IOF have closed Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for Palestinian workers and traders. The IOF have also continued to impose severe restrictions at commercial border crossings in the Gaza Strip. In addition, the IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on fishing by chasing and firing at Palestinian fishing boats. The IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on Palestinian communities in the West Bank. The IOF has tightened the siege on occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and isolated it from the rest of the West Bank. In December 2006, they also imposed severe restrictions on access to the holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem during the Christmas celebrations. As a result of IOF measures, hundreds of Palestinian Christians who do not hold Israeli identity cards were not able to enter Jerusalem or go to Bethlehem to participate in the Christmas celebrations. The IOF has continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in Ramallah . The IOF has re-established its presence on the Attara bridge checkpoint at the northern end of Bir Zeit village. It frequently closes the checkpoint without any advance notice, leaving long queues of cars extending from the checkpoint to the outskirts of Bir Zeit. IOF personnel positioned at the gate of ÏHalmishÓ settlement, northwest of Ramallah, close the gate controlling Palestinian traffic almost daily in the face of commuters from Salfit and the western Bani Zeid area. As a result, Palestinian commuters are forced to wait for long periods of time and Israeli soldiers subject them to humiliating search procedures. In the same context, a report prepared by former World Bank President James, Wolfensohn (who was the Envoy of the Middle East Quartet until he was replaced by Tony Blair earlier this month) indicated that the number of checkpoints in the West Bank was increasing, although an agreement concluded between the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority called for decreasing the number of checkpoints. The report, which covered the period from November 26 to December 9, 2005, pointed out that the number of checkpoints increased from 196 to 403. The Israeli Occupation Forces have also continued work on the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank territory, in flagrant violation of a July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague calling upon the Israel government to immediately demolish the infamous wall Ò also known as the ÏNew Berlin WallÓ and the ÏApartheid WallÓ. On December 22, 2005, the IOF razed areas of Palestinian agricultural land in the villages of Sourif and al-JabaÌa, northwest of Hebron. They uprooted at least 200 olive trees. They also razed areas of land in Beit Jala. During that same week, the IOF issued three military orders confiscating a large chunk of Palestinian land in the villages of Yatta, al-Zahiriya and al-Sammou, south of Hebron, to establish a fence between the three villages and the Annexation Wall. The fence will isolate thousands of donums of Palestinian agricultural land. The IOF also regularly uses force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organised by Palestinian civilians and international activists to protest the construction of the Annexation Wall. In one such recent demonstration in BalÌein village, west of Ramallah, six demonstrators were injured and three others were arrested by the IOF. In breach of international humanitarian law, illegal Israeli settlers continue to reside in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and have launched a series of attacks against Palestinian civilians and property, with the connivance of the IOF. The Israeli authorities have never taken any legal action against the Jewish settlers involved in such vigilante attacks. Israeli settlers have cut thousands of olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers, depriving them of their main source of livelihood. Illegal Israeli settlers have established 25 more illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank. The Israeli Ministry of Communications and Housing is building 228 new housing settlements for illegal Israeli settlers in West Bank settlements. As if all this were not bad enough, the Israeli Occupation Forces continue to demolish Palestinian houses in the occupied Gaza Strip, the West Bank and occupied Al-Quds. Israel has a great deal to answer for. But with America continuing to extend unquestioning support to its close ally, who will hold the Zionist state to account?
Kaleem Omar is a prolific Pakistani journalist and an English language poet. Link |
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