OccupationalHazard.org 07.30.02

The Occupation - 07/30/02

A Report From Palestine

Sean Love - Amnesty International Irish Section

I have just returned from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Most of the international media coverage of the situation there does not begin to provide a full picture of what's happening. In Tel Aviv I met victims and families of Palestinian armed groups' suicide bombings at the Sheba Medical Center. Since second Intifada started in Sept 2000 over 500 Israelis have been killed, over 300 of these civilians.
There is no justification under any circumstances in international law for the deliberate or probable killing of civilians. I met El-Ad Vassa, a 25 year-old single man from a family of 11 children. His family moved from Ethiopia to Israel when he was six, and they run a vegetable stall in Netanya market. A bomb was detonated just beside the stall, in mid afternoon. He received horrific burns to 30 % of his body, and x-rays show large nails embedded in him, including one in his spine which has left him paralysed. His family is poor, and Netanya is a distance from Tel Aviv, but relatives visit every day. El-Ad showed no signs of bitterness, but he and his family could not begin to comprehend why someone had done this to him. Such attacks mean great and justifiable fear among Israeli civilians.
When one visits the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the background to the suicide bombings and other attacks becomes clearer. What I witnessed was the attempted systematic suffocation of an entire society, allied to the introduction of a comprehensive system of segregation that would provide a control structure for society into the future. The Palestinian territories have been occupied by the Israeli armed forces, to varying degrees, since 1967. The entire area of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is something akin to Munster, with about 6m Israelis and 3m Palestinians.
Towns such as Nablus, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Bethlehem on the West Bank, a strip of land between Israel and Jordan, have for some time been besieged by the Israeli armed forces. With an Irish:EU passport, representing Amnesty, and not without considerable obstruction from soldiers, I managed to get into several of these towns. Residents are forbidden to travel outside. Senior academics I spoke with in Nablus University told me they have not been able to leave the city in 22 months.
There is evidence of wanton destruction by Israeli tanks on their frequent forays into these towns, with infrastructure such as electricity, water, businesses, mosques, health, education and tax records deliberately destroyed. Sudden curfews are frequently imposed on towns, apparently at the whim of quite junior Israeli army officers - during these curfews you can expect to be shot if you stick your nose outside the door. One village near Ramallah, Ain Ariq, has been under continuous curfew for 108 days, with people just allowed to try to get food every week or so for an hour.
Even ambulances cannot properly operate. It was confirmed to me by Physicians for Human Rights, based in Tel Aviv, that ambulances continue to be obstructed, delayed and in some cases fired on, with many deaths reported as a result. I spoke with a Red Crescent ambulance driver in Tulkarem who had seen colleagues shot dead on duty, had himself been arbitrarily detained for hours with a sick child in the vehicle, and who had been used by the soldiers as a human shield as they checked buildings.
I met an elderly man, Mahmud 'Umar al-Shabi in Nablus, whose home was bulldozed by soldiers in April. Because a curfew was in place he had to wait a week, when the curfew was lifted for two hours, to dig
in the rubble for his family. He was fired on while he dug, but he eventually found his 67 year-old wife and 68 year-old uncle alive. Then he found eight other family members - all dead, huddled in a circle. They included his 85 year-old father, a pregnant cousin, and several very young children.
Before going to the region I received a letter from an Irish Amnesty member who questioned Amnesty's critical reporting of the behaviour of the Israeli army. I know this was sent to me in good faith but on the evidence of what I witnessed and heard - including from Israeli-based organisations - either there is serious indiscipline rampant in this army, or they are being given what amount to criminal directions.
Yes, I saw some very professional and courteous behaviour at some checkpoints, but I also experienced totally unjustifiable harassment (including of EU diplomatic personnel). This apparently unaccountable abuse of power by low ranks is perhaps best exemplified by the young soldier who reportedly said to three Palestinian women trying to get to a doctor "I won't get in to trouble if I shoot you, but I will get in to trouble if I let you through".
Entire Palestinian towns are under permanent siege; villages between these towns are completely closed off to all external transport, the frequent curfews mean schools can barely function, and there is evidence of traumatised children on a large scale - starkly described to me by teachers trying to work at the Quaker school in Ramallah. Palestinians based in Gaza (geographically at the other side of the territory) are not allowed to visit the West Bank or Jerusalem. As a result some families have not seen their close relatives in over 10 years. It appears every effort is being made to coral Palestinians into more easily controlled ghettoes, and to make their very existence entirely dependent on the State of Israel. Central to this policy is the ongoing multiplication of Israeli settlements - illegal under international law - in the Palestinian Territories. These settlements now total over 300,000 people, are heavily fortified militarily, and are strategically placed to apparently facilitate military control of the region, including of essential resources such as water. One by-product of this strategy is that it will make it impossible for any Palestinian administration to effectively govern such disparate and cut-off areas.
This apparent policy of suffocating an entire society's ability to function may be far less sensational grabbing than military incursions into Jenin and Nablus or suicide bombings in Israel - both of which result in brutal killings on a huge scale; But in terms of finding a solution to the misery, despair and destruction for everyone in the region, the policy will have to be challenged.

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A Report From Palestine
Sean Love - Amnesty International Irish Section





I have just returned from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Most of the international media coverage of the situation there does not begin to provide a full picture of what's happening. In Tel Aviv I met victims and families of Palestinian armed groups' suicide bombings at the Sheba Medical Center. Since second Intifada started in Sept 2000 over 500 Israelis have been killed, over 300 of these civilians. There is no justification under any circumstances in international law for the deliberate or probable killing of civilians. I met El-Ad Vassa, a 25 year-old single man from a family of 11 children. His family moved from Ethiopia to Israel when he was six, and they run a vegetable stall in Netanya market. A bomb was detonated just beside the stall, in mid afternoon. He received horrific burns to 30 % of his body, and x-rays show large nails embedded in him, including one in his spine which has left him paralysed. His family is poor, and Netanya is a distance from Tel Aviv, but relatives visit every day. El-Ad showed no signs of bitterness, but he and his family could not begin to comprehend why someone had done this to him. Such attacks mean great and justifiable fear among Israeli civilians. When one visits the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the background to the suicide bombings and other attacks becomes clearer. What I witnessed was the attempted systematic suffocation of an entire society, allied to the introduction of a comprehensive system of segregation that would provide a control structure for society into the future. The Palestinian territories have been occupied by the Israeli armed forces, to varying degrees, since 1967. The entire area of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is something akin to Munster, with about 6m Israelis and 3m Palestinians. Towns such as Nablus, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Bethlehem on the West Bank, a strip of land between Israel and Jordan, have for some time been besieged by the Israeli armed forces. With an Irish:EU passport, representing Amnesty, and not without considerable obstruction from soldiers, I managed to get into several of these towns. Residents are forbidden to travel outside. Senior academics I spoke with in Nablus University told me they have not been able to leave the city in 22 months. There is evidence of wanton destruction by Israeli tanks on their frequent forays into these towns, with infrastructure such as electricity, water, businesses, mosques, health, education and tax records deliberately destroyed. Sudden curfews are frequently imposed on towns, apparently at the whim of quite junior Israeli army officers - during these curfews you can expect to be shot if you stick your nose outside the door. One village near Ramallah, Ain Ariq, has been under continuous curfew for 108 days, with people just allowed to try to get food every week or so for an hour. Even ambulances cannot properly operate. It was confirmed to me by Physicians for Human Rights, based in Tel Aviv, that ambulances continue to be obstructed, delayed and in some cases fired on, with many deaths reported as a result. I spoke with a Red Crescent ambulance driver in Tulkarem who had seen colleagues shot dead on duty, had himself been arbitrarily detained for hours with a sick child in the vehicle, and who had been used by the soldiers as a human shield as they checked buildings. I met an elderly man, Mahmud 'Umar al-Shabi in Nablus, whose home was bulldozed by soldiers in April. Because a curfew was in place he had to wait a week, when the curfew was lifted for two hours, to dig in the rubble for his family. He was fired on while he dug, but he eventually found his 67 year-old wife and 68 year-old uncle alive. Then he found eight other family members - all dead, huddled in a circle. They included his 85 year-old father, a pregnant cousin, and several very young children. Before going to the region I received a letter from an Irish Amnesty member who questioned Amnesty's critical reporting of the behaviour of the Israeli army. I know this was sent to me in good faith but on the evidence of what I witnessed and heard - including from Israeli-based organisations - either there is serious indiscipline rampant in this army, or they are being given what amount to criminal directions. Yes, I saw some very professional and courteous behaviour at some checkpoints, but I also experienced totally unjustifiable harassment (including of EU diplomatic personnel). This apparently unaccountable abuse of power by low ranks is perhaps best exemplified by the young soldier who reportedly said to three Palestinian women trying to get to a doctor "I won't get in to trouble if I shoot you, but I will get in to trouble if I let you through". Entire Palestinian towns are under permanent siege; villages between these towns are completely closed off to all external transport, the frequent curfews mean schools can barely function, and there is evidence of traumatised children on a large scale - starkly described to me by teachers trying to work at the Quaker school in Ramallah. Palestinians based in Gaza (geographically at the other side of the territory) are not allowed to visit the West Bank or Jerusalem. As a result some families have not seen their close relatives in over 10 years. It appears every effort is being made to coral Palestinians into more easily controlled ghettoes, and to make their very existence entirely dependent on the State of Israel. Central to this policy is the ongoing multiplication of Israeli settlements - illegal under international law - in the Palestinian Territories. These settlements now total over 300,000 people, are heavily fortified militarily, and are strategically placed to apparently facilitate military control of the region, including of essential resources such as water. One by-product of this strategy is that it will make it impossible for any Palestinian administration to effectively govern such disparate and cut-off areas. This apparent policy of suffocating an entire society's ability to function may be far less sensational grabbing than military incursions into Jenin and Nablus or suicide bombings in Israel - both of which result in brutal killings on a huge scale; But in terms of finding a solution to the misery, despair and destruction for everyone in the region, the policy will have to be challenged.
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