M I D - E A S T
R E A L I T I E S - WWW.MiddleEast.Org
***************************************************************
"News, Analysis & Commentary
They Don't Want You to Know" ***************************************************************
THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW
***************************************************************
To get MER regularly email to: INFOMER@MiddleEast.Org
.
THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW
MER - 7/31/97:
.
** For years the Israelis have held the founder
of Hamas, Ahmad Yassin, in prison in Tel Aviv. Hundreds of other Palestinian
activists are in Israeli prisons under various forms of 'administrative
detention' and without trial. Large numbers of persons thought to be involved
with Hamas have been arrested and tortured in recent years, and there has
been considerable "collective punishment" -- all of which has
of course served to further radicalize and polarize Palestinian society.
It has been known for some time that these policies were fueling the growth
of militant Hamas cells determined to strike back at Israel. The recent
bombings were accompanied by demands for the release of Yassin and other
Hamas leaders from Israeli prisons by a deadline of this Sunday evening.
.
** What a contradiction! The Israeli government
has just taken a decision to jam the radio broadcasts of "The Voice
of Palestine" -- the radio station directly controlled by Yasser Arafat's
"Palestinian Authority". The Voice of Palestine is primarily
funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and European government
grants!
.
** The two Palestinian suicide-bombers who attacked
in the Israeli market of Jerusalem Tuesday lived in the Israeli-controlled
section of Heron and attacked in Israeli Jerusalem. The families of the
bombers including children have been arrested and their homes will probably
soon be blown up -- a form of collective punished outlawed by international
law but widely practiced by the Israelis.
.
** The head of Palestinian police in Gaza has
been indicted by the Israelis for terrorism. He will be arrested if he
leaves Gaza. The Israelis are even threatening to send commando squads
into Palestinian areas to carry out such arrests.
.
** Israel's consistent goal has been for some
time to demoralize and exhaust the Palestinians; to play upon and exacerbate
Palestinian divisions; and to foment a Palestinian civil war that would
finally devastate Palestinian society and destroy Palestinian nationalism.
Regardless of Israeli rhetoric about a "peace process', these are
the goals that motivate Israeli behavior.
M I D - E A S T R E
A L I T I E S
(202) 362-5266, Ext 638 Fax:
(202) 362-6965 MER@MiddleEast.Org
***************************************************************
For information about the weekly
TV program, MID-EAST REALITIES, send email
to
INFOMER@MiddleEast.Org.
***************************************************************
For previous MER information, commentary,
editorials & Readers Comments: http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org