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SHARON COMETH
March 14, 2001
Monday in Washington the various Arab-American groups will stage a protest
demonstration outside the Washington Hilton where now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will be talking to the lead organization that makes up the Israeli-Jewish
lobby in Washington. But it's far too little far too late far too misleadingly
put together and sponsored by groups and persons who long ago lost their
credibility and vibrancy. The impotence of those opposed to what Israel
is doing to the Palestinians, and to what the Americans are doing to the
Middle East, has deep roots in both Washington and the Middle East region
itself.
And it's the same in general with the "Palestinian Authority". After
so many years of ineptitude, corruption, duplicity, and double-dealing
its not easy to consider these "leaders" credible or trustable no matter
what they now say or do.
The week ahead will be one of considerable posturing, and possibly considerable
violence. Everyone is now positioning themselves for the complicated battles
ahead that involve many kinds of power and authority -- and at least for
the foreseeable future the Israelis continue to be prepared and positioned
far better than their opposition and are emensely more powerful in all
measures, as much as their policies are deplorable and Apartheid-like.
As for the Europeans (see The Guardian article that follows), it's not
that difficult to look more reasonable and thoughtful when the Americans
and the Israelis do what they do and are what they are. But they too have
a long history of saying one thing and doing another, and they too after
so many years can't be trusted or even believed in a serious way on issues
relating to the Middle East.
Furthermore it's not just Sharon who is coming to Washington. One of
the additional reasons the Arab "leaders" and their associated groups lack
credibility is because of how they have played around with Rabin, Peres,
and Barak; with the "Peace Process" and the "Peace of the Brave" and Bill
Clinton; demonstrating their own lack of understand what has really been
happening to them for some time and making those who want to support a
just and honorable Middle East peace cringe at so many of the things they
have done and said over the years.
So now Sharon cometh once more to the capital of the modern world, this
time as the Prime Minister of Israel...and with "Nobel Peace Prize recipient"
Peres at his side and friends George W. in the White House and General
Powell at the State Department.
ISRAELI TROOPS KILL PALESTINIAN ON "DAY OF RAGE"
By Deborah Camiel
JERUSALEM, March 14 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian
in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday while Palestinians in the West Bank took
to the streets in mass demonstrations to protest against an Israeli blockade.
Israeli troops at the Karni commercial crossing on the Israel-Gaza border
killed 19-year-old Ahmed Bannar, a resident of a nearby village, medical
workers said.
They said Bannar was shot in the back by a single bullet and that no clashes
were taking place in the area at the time. The Israeli army said it was
checking the report.
Bannar's death brought the death toll to at least 345 Palestinians, 13
Israeli Arabs and 65 other Israelis, since a Palestinian uprising erupted
in late September.
Chanting "Get out occupation," about 500 flag-waving Palestinian protesters
marched towards a military checkpoint near the West Bank town of Ramallah
during a "Day of Rage" organised by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's
faction.
Israeli soldiers later wounded 10 Palestinians when they fired rubber-coated
metal bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing youths who lobbed rocks at
soldiers positioned nearby.
"We broke the Israeli siege with our hands and it is a message to (Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon that the siege will not kill the Intifada
(uprising)," said Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti after the soldiers withdrew
from a roadblock to a nearby hill while youths dug Palestinian flags in
the ground.
Palestinians sent a bulldozer to fill in a trench ploughed by the army
as part of its blockade of Ramallah which it says it has implemented to
prevent a group of Palestinian militants in the town from carrying out
a bomb attack in nearby Jerusalem.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers fired bullets and tear gas
at stone-throwing Palestinians near the town of Qalqilya, witnesses said.
There were no reports of casualties.
A Palestinian woman died on her way to hospital after Israeli troops turned
her away from a roadblock at the entrance to the town of Jenin, a relative
said.
At the refugee camp of Qalandia on the outskirts of Ramallah, soldiers
shot rubber bullets at Palestinians pelting them with rocks. No injuries
were reported in either place.
PALESTINIANS SLAM CLOSURE
Likening the Israeli clampdown to a policy of apartheid, Palestinian Information
Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Tuesday his people were determined to
resist Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza until they won independence.
He accused Israel of provoking a war by sealing off Palestinian areas,
and a Fatah leaflet called on Palestinians to "break the siege using all
means."
Israel said it imposed a blockade on Ramallah, an important Palestinian
business centre, to try to catch a group of militants who have killed eight
Israelis in shooting attacks and were planning more.
Israel eased the closure on Tuesday by opening two entrances to the city
for vehicles passing through a security check.
The army said it had loosened its hold on four other West Bank cities in
recent days. But it said troops had reclosed roads around Qalqilya after
gunmen fired on an Israeli car.
Sharon was due to convene his security cabinet on Wednesday to consider
a further loosening of the blockades before talks next week in Washington
with President George W. Bush.
Washington and the 15-member European Union have criticised the blockade.
Russia added its criticism on Tuesday.
Brigadier-General Benny Gantz said on Tuesday the army would ease the restrictions
when it saw a reduction in the fighting that flared when a Palestinian
uprising against Israeli occupation began in late September after peace
talks deadlocked.
European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten and Swedish Foreign
Minister Anna Lindh, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency,
said after a visit to the region that economic chaos in Palestinian areas
would set back peace hopes.
Abed Rabbo said the blockade had turned Palestinian areas into detention
camps and had forced the closure of hundreds of schools. More than 160,000
Palestinians are also being prevented from reaching their jobs in Israel
and in Palestinian areas.
Palestinians say the closures are collective punishment that cripple the
Palestinian economy.
A senior Israeli military source told reporters on Tuesday the army was
bracing for an escalation of violence towards the end of the month when
Arab leaders meet in Amman, Jordan.
"The Palestinians will try to provoke the area as much as they can. They
would like to reach the Arab summit with higher flames in the area... escalation
is a real potential," he said.
EUROPE TURNS HEAT ON ISRAEL
France leads call for action over
blockades of Palestinian cities
and human rights abuses as EU
seeks greater role in Middle East
Ian Black in Brussels and Suzanne Goldenberg in Jerusalem
The Guardian - 14 March 2001:
Israel could have a key agreement with the European
Union suspended if it does not end human rights abuses
and blockades of Palestinian areas in the West Bank
and Gaza.
In their first practical response to the Middle East
crisis, EU governments are considering punitive
measures to underline that the policies of the new
Likud prime minister, Ariel Sharon, are not
acceptable, the Guardian has learned.
Robin Cook and fellow EU foreign ministers are to
review options next Monday after Chris Patten, the
commissioner for external relations, warned Israeli
leaders yesterday that their economic stranglehold
must be lifted.
"It does not seem to us that everything that is being
done in the West Bank and Gaza can be justified in
security terms," Mr Patten said during a visit to the
area with Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden,
the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency.
France is leading calls for tough diplomatic action
against Israel, seeking to boost the EU's role in a
region traditionally dominated by the US at a time
when the new Bush administration has not made its
policies clear.
In a strongly worded paper on the Middle East
submitted to EU governments last month, the French
foreign minister, Hubert Védrine, argued: "Europeans
have shrunk from making the effort needed to overcome
their contradictions and apprehensions [and] are not
prepared to pay the political price of a genuine role,
and have become accustomed to their role as bit
players.
"The EU should make the US recognise that it is
legitimate for Europe to take its own approach to
peace. If the union really wishes to pay a role, it
must escape from the situation where defining a common
position comes down to seeking the lowest common
denominator in platitudinous declarations or
ritualised diplomatic tours."
The EU could decide to suspend all or part of its 1995
association agreement with Israel - which includes
high level political dialogue, cooperation in several
key areas and valuable trade preferences worth
millions of pounds a year - with immediate effect.
Britain and Germany would be unlikely to favour such
action but France would have the backing of Spain and
Greece.
EU diplomats said last night that other less drastic
measures under consideration included suspension of
cooperation with Israel in the areas of science and
technology or agricultural liberalisation talks.
The EU-Israel agreement was only ratified last year
after the previous Likud prime minister, Binyamin
Netanyahu, was replaced by the Labour leader, Ehud
Barak, who was in turn defeated by the hardline Mr
Sharon last month.
Israel bowed to its critics yesterday by easing its
blockade of cities in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip. Two roads to the West Bank town of Ramallah
were reopened.
But the Palestinian information minister, Yasser Abed
Rabbo, said the changes were cosmetic and aimed "at
deceiving the world that the closure has been lifted".
Washington warned Israel on Monday that if the
economic pressure brought about a collapse of the
Palestinian Authority, then it would harm prospects
for peace.
The Israeli army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza
when the intifada erupted, blocking more than 100,000
workers from jobs in Israel that are the lifeline of
the economy.
Since then, the army has intensified its stranglehold
on Palestinian cities, sealing off roads with concrete
blocks and mounds of earth, positioning armoured
personnel carriers at the entrances to towns and, in
the last few weeks, digging an 11-mile waterless moat
around the desert town of Jericho.
Mr Patten said the EU urged Mr Sharon to transfer £36m
in tax revenues it has withheld from the Palestinian
administration. He said the siege, which has cost the
Palestinian economy at least £1bn and driven up
unemployment, was counter-productive.
"If the economy continues to deteriorate in the West
Bank and Gaza and if more people lose their jobs, if
the Palestinian administration is undermined as a
potential centre of authority, it will be more
difficult to deal with security issues," Mr Patten
said.
In his visit to the Gaza Strip on Monday, Mr Patten
also issued a warning to Yasser Arafat, saying the EU
did not want to continue its financial bail-out unless
the Palestinian leader ended corruption and imposed
some order on the Palestinian Authority.
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March 2001
SHARON UPSCALES VIOLENCE TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS (March 31, 2001) Yesterday, on Palestinian Land
Day, the Israeli army killed five Palestinians in Nablus and one in Ramallah
during civilian demonstrations protesting the Israeli occupation. 150 Palestinians
were injured, several of them in critical condition.
CHOMSKY ON THE MID-EAST CONFLICT (March 31, 2001) Well, just how dangerous is the crisis in the Middle East? There is a UN Special
Envoy, a Norwegian, Roed-Larson. A couple of days ago, he warned that Israel's
blockade of the Palestinian areas is leading to enormous suffering and could
rapidly detonate a regional war.
FIVE PALESTINIANS KILLED AS WAR OF WORDS FLARES IN MIDDLE EAST (March 30, 2001) Clashes
raged across the Palestinian territories Friday, killing five Palestinians, as
Israelis and Palestinians exchanged fiery rhetoric on the traditionally violent
anniversary of a 1976 Israeli crackdown on Arab demonstrators.
CLASHES ERUPT AMID WAVE OF ANTI-ISRAELI PROTESTS (March 30, 2001) Israeli troops opened fire with live rounds on
Friday to try to halt Palestinians marching in cities across the West Bank and
Gaza Strip to demand civil rights and an end to Israeli occupation.
AN ISRAELI OFFERS HOPE AMIDST THE DARKNESS (March 30, 2001) In the past two weeks, we are witnessing the beginning of a new phase: Israelis
and Palestinians are extending a hesitant hand to each other, across the IDF's
barricades and checkpoints.
A CONFLICT SINKING TO NEW DEPTHS (March 29, 2001) The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has sunk to appalling new
depths with several days of intensified violence that left children on both
sides to form the bulk of the dead.
ISRAELIS STRIKE, NOBODY RESPONDS (March 29, 2001) The Egyptians and Jordanians could and should totally suspend their relations
with Israel; but they do not. The Arabs could collectively demand Israel be suspended from the U.N. General
Assembly; but they did not decide to do so at their little summit just ended
where they in fact did nothing serious.
ASSAD & SADDAM "ATTACK" (March 28, 2001) Lot of rhetoric, more than expected in fact. But mostly a smookescreen for never-ending
impotence and inexcuseable weakness. So much for the Arab Summit in Amman.
Until those Arab "leaders" who have squandered the wealth and heritage of their
countries, and indeed of their once powerful civilization, are replaced; until
the "client regimes" of the Arab world are no more; this tragic spectacle known
as Arab "summits" will continue to be a deep embarrassment and a historic tragedy.
ARAB SUMMITS - RIDICULOUS SPECTACLES (March 27, 2001) Arab "leaders", the "client regimes", and Arab "summits", have been ridiculous
spectacles for a long time now.
Last time they met like this the American armies were descending on Arabia, getting
ready to destroy Iraq and put one of their own, the despicable British-created
Emir, back on his oil throne in Kuwait City.
ARAB SUMMITEERS AND CROCODILE TEARS (March 26, 2001) "They will talk and talk and talk and look important
and remain as always, impotent, indecisive and inactive.
They might pledge a few pennies to the Palestinian dying
or the mortally wounded, they might voice support of the
6-month-old Intifida, but nothing but pomp and ceremony
will come of it all."
TIME TO FORCE A U.S. VETO AND TAKE SERIOUS ACTION AGAINST ISRAEL (March 25, 2001) What the Arab States meeting in summit in Amman on Tuesday should do is not
a mystery: First they should insist on a U.N. Security Council resolution that has teeth;
and if the U.S. vetos so be it.
THE U.N. AND THE ARAB LEAGUE CHARADES (March 25, 2001) The U.N. and Arab League charades have gone on for so many years now. Never
has either body taken serious action when it comes to Israel. Always the U.S.
is there to block the way, to twist things from potentially useful to impotent,
to manuever so that the U.S. remains dominant internationally and Israel remains
dominant in the region.
ISRAELI ARMY BRUTALLY ATTACKS PEACEFUL CIVILIAN PROTEST MARCH (March 24, 2001) Today at 1:00 p.m., the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber
coated steel bullets at thousands of peaceful protesters at the Al-Ram
checkpoint.
SHARON MOVING FAST (March 24, 2001) haron and company are now likely to move quickly to further "control"
the Palestinians and establish their hegemonic and war-threatening policies
in the Middle East.
Today in Occupied Palestine (March 23, 2001) Amr Moussa and the Arab political elite representing the "client regimes"
have been deceived and acted foolishingly, as well as selfishly, for quite
a long time now.
AL-JAZEERA - ARAFAT STILL TWISTS TO ISRAELI AND U.S. TUNE (March 22, 2001) Al-Jazeera satellite TV now feeds a hungry Arab world, one starved for
so long that even this carefully-controlled Qatari-financed TV news and
pictures source has met with considerable success.
WHAT SHOULD BE WITH ISRAEL (March 22, 2001) If the Arabs regimes were serious, indeed if they were truly independent,
they would institute a Arab and Muslim regional boycott of Israel at this
point, at least suspend all diplomatic and economic relations with Israel,
and forcefully move to have the U.N. General Assembly suspend Israeli credentials
(as was done with South Africa in the days of Apartheid) as soon as the
U.S. again prevents the Security Council from acting in the days ahead.
ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS IN USA WORSE THAN EVER (March 20, 2001) We were wrong in our analysis earlier today. The Arab and Muslim groups
did not even manage a few hundred protestors at the White House today --
the number was closer to a few dozen at most, including the handful of
fanatical bearded and side-curled Naturei Karta Jews who are encouraged
by these groups to show up these days.
WASHINGTON SCENE: ARAB AND MUSLIM GROUPS PROVE IMPOTENCE ONCE AGAIN (March 20, 2001) It's depressing, almost pathetic, to watch the Arab and Muslim American
groups "protest" these days. Leaderless and strategyless, though as usual
feverishly combining all of their capabilities together to create even
this, the groups managed to bring maybe five or six hundred persons to
the sidewalk across from the Washington Hilton last evening for a carefully
self-controlled demonstration.
WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING IS "FORBIDDEN" (March 19, 2001) "What is being done in the territories is simply forbidden. To safeguard against such acts, people have established laws and norms; those who wish to return to the norms current a century ago ought not to be surprised when they are treated as pariahs - indeed, as ghosts from bygone days."
ARABS URGE U.N. TO SEND INTERNATIONAL FORCE TO PALESTINIAN (March 16, 2001) The Israelis will insist on a U.S. veto of any Security Council resolution
involving any serious observer force.
And Shimon Peres willingly serving Ariel Sharon as his Foreign Minister
makes it much easier for the Israelis to deflect international pressures.
WE DIDN'T SEE; WE DIDN'T KNOW (March 15, 2001) The Palestinian people have many symbols, and one of them is Bir Zeit
university near Ramallah - the secular intellectual center of the
society.
SHARON COMETH (March 14, 2001) Monday in Washington the various Arab-American groups will stage a protest
demonstration outside the Washington Hilton where now Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will be talking to the lead organization that makes up the Israeli-Jewish
lobby in Washington.
U.S. MEDIA ESTABLISHMENT HELPS PREPARE SHARON'S WAY (March 13, 2001) Sharon's PR people are working hard preparing his way for a triumphant
visit to the USA in a few days. They choose Lally Weymouth, long a "friendly
journalist", for one of his first major interviews -- published in Newsweek
this week.
ISRAELI CONCENTRATION CAMPS (March 12, 2001) If barbed wire were used, the symbolism would be too much like concentration
camps of old.
BIR ZEIT UNIVERSITY CRIES OUT FOR HELP (March 11, 2001) As usual these days, the Palestinian people are being collectively
tortured into submission with still expanding forms of bondage, oppression,
and brutal force.
PERES FRONTS FOR SHARON AS ISRAELIS PUSH FORWARD MAJOR PROPAGANDA (March 10, 200198) Who is more despicable is debateable these days. But surely Shimon
Peres is deserving of nomination. As Israeli army snipers pick off Palestinians and as Israeli army bulldozers dig trenches around Palestinian towns and cities, Peres fronts for the new Sharon regime telling the world the Israelis are going to "make life better for the Palestinians"!
TRENCH AND SIEGE WARFARE (March 8, 2001) The words, and the acts, go back before the bible itself -- trench warfare
and siege. The Romans built walls and laid siege to Jerusalem and Masada.
Trenches, though for a different purpose, became synonymous with World
War I.
CRIES FROM PALESTINE AND CRIES FROM ISRAEL (March 6, 2001) My sister-in-law just called crying - about 4 hours
ago Al-Bireh had about 3 minutes of heavy gunfire.....
her neighbor, Aida, was walking back home on the Friends
road from Ramallah after shopping for the Eid holiday.
OH MY GOD! CLINTON WON'T LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE! (March 5, 2001) They came to Washington -- the two-for-one power couple -- with the campaign
promise to bring health care to all Americans; they left (but Hillary is
already back on Capitol Hill) with the dangerous corporate for profit HMO's
in power and more uninsured than ever despite the economic juggernaunt.
MIDEAST CONFLICT TEARS AT BROTHERLY BOND (March 5, 2001) Hostilities engulf West Bank siblings,
who remain close despite their split between
Jewish and Muslim faiths.
BOMB BLAST IN ISRAELI COASTAL CITY (March 4, 2001) A powerful bomb exploded during morning rush hour
Sunday in a crowded open-air market in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.
ISRAELIS LAY SIEGE TO PALESTINIAN CITIES (March 3, 2001) Sometime in the future there will be a day of reckoning for the Israelis.
But that day is not yet here while the suffering of the Palestinians is, literally,
more and more as each day dawns.
FIELD OF THORNS (March 3, 2001) The Palestinian uprising in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, which in late September 2000 began as a wave of popular
protest against Ariel Sharon's belligerent incursion into Jerusalem's sacred
Haram al-Sharif, has developed into a full-fledged war of attrition against
the Israeli occupation, which rather ironically paved the aggressive right-wing
leader's path to power.
REGIONAL WAR PREPARATIONS AND PUBLIC OPINION MANIPULATION ESCALATE (March 2, 2001) Iraq responded to U.S. air strikes
on Feb. 16 by deploying thousands of troops from six divisions to positions
near the Jordanian border, triggering military alerts in Tel Aviv, Washington
and in several Gulf capitals.
SHARON AND PERES TEAM UP (March 2, 2001) It was a massacre. Not since Sabra and Chatila
had I seen the innocent slaughtered like this.
The Lebanese refugee women and children and men
lay in heaps, their heads or arms or legs missing,
beheaded or disemboweled.
SHARON GETS READY TO ACT. ARAFAT GETS READY TO LEAVE? (March 1, 2001) Arafat and regime are about collapse -- i.e., the money and capabilities provided
by the U.S. and Israel to keep the PA going are being cut off if Arafat doesn't
shape up!
BLEAK FUTURE FOR BOTH PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS (March 1, 2001) Shimon Peres has many secrets to try to keep, and that explains his desperation
to stay in power practically at any cost. Ariel Sharon knows this.
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