Tag: Gaza

One Palestinian Killed an Another Injured as Military ‘Disengages’

By the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Today as Israeli forces completed their redployment to the border areas of the Gaza Strip on Monday the 12th of September, 2005 one Palestinian youth was killed and another was injured while they were standing beside their home in the al Salam quarter of south-east of Rafah town, adjacent to the border with Egypt.

According to initial investigations by PCHR at about 15.00, Nafez Adnan A’tia, 34 years old, a resident of Rafah town, came under fire at al Salam quarter. A’tia was injured while he was crossing the border from Egyptian Rafah to Palestinian Rafah (Rafah was divided in due as a result of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel) he was injured by a bullet in the eye and a bullet in his left hand. He died instantly.

Mohammad Fa’isal Abu Ta’ha, 22 years old, a resident of the same area was injured by a gunshot in the left thigh while he was standing on the Palestinian side of the border.

Both Egyptian and Palestinian sides of Rafah saw attempts by large numbers of civilians today in an attempt to see relatives on the other side of the border – many of them have not been able to see each other since the Intifada broke out and Israel imposed severe collective punishment measures on the civilian population.

At the time of the incident both Egyptian and Palestinian forces had deployed in and around the border areas. No one from these forces prevented Palestinians from reaching the others.

PCHR condemns this killing and calls for an immediate investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding it. PCHR insists that the results of the investigation be made public and the perpetrators of this act be brought to justice.

Gaza occupation continues after disengagement

From the CNI Foundation

The Israeli settlers have left, but the siege of Palestinian towns and villages in Gaza that lie near the old settlements continues unabated, according the latest report of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The Israeli Defense Forces razed houses and leveled areas on the eastern border with Israel. They have limited the number of Palestinians from using the international border at Rafah – the only way Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are able to gain access to the international world. All Palestinians between the ages of 16 and 35 are prohibited from leaving Gaza, for example, a prohibition that has been in effect for some time.

Unspecified attacks and sometimes unreported attacks are taking place against Palestinian civilians, for example, a 19-year-old living in Rafah, which was reported on a Rafah blog site. The PCHR reported paralyzing roadblocks on the main road of the Gaza Strip. “Thousands of Palestinian civilians were seen waiting at the roadsides to travel between the north and south of the Gaza Strip.” Moreover, the occupation in the West Bank continues at full force. During the period August 25-31, PCHR reported more than 30 military incursions into the West Bank, the raiding of private houses and arrest of civilians. The Israeli military continues to raze houses that have been constructed “without permits,” and to confiscate land for checkpoints. In Hebron, where Israli settlers have attacked Palestinians repeatedly, a new attack took place on August 25. According to PCHR, they “threw stones and empty bottles at a house belonging to Mohammed Hamed Abu ‘Eisha. They also demolished the fence of the house. The Israeli military were present in the area, but did not intervene to stop this attack. The house was damaged.”

In Gaza, we don’t yet see the peace that’s supposed to be in the plan

by Khaled Nasrallah

If you asked me about the withdraw from Gaza, I would tell you that sure, it’s a step ahead. That is, if it really is something that is a start toward real peace. Is it? Real peace is something we’ve not yet seen. We are tired of the images on television depicting this current unreal peace, which is not connected to the daily life of people here.

We also are tired of peace plans which are created only with the benefit of one party in mind, instead of both parties.

We still need a real peace plan. We need a real withdrawal that will give us the authority to control our lives independently. This “disengagement” isn’t it. Israel will continue to control our borders though third parties, control our airspace and access to the sea. we’ll still need to get Israeli permission even to dig water wells.

So you if you look at Israel’s evacuation in this way, you can see that it’s an incomplete solution that will keep the seeds of instability in place for another five to eight years.

So, the question is, who benefits most from this sort of plan, and why are international powers supporting a plan that has such a short life.

We must also remember the crisis happening on the other side of Palestine, in the West Bank. While we do not know what the future holds, we worry that under this plan Palestinians will lose the West Bank and Jerusalem, and whether this incomplete withdrawal from Gaza will mean many more years of continued occupation.

Khaled Nasrallah lived in the house in Rafah, located in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, where ISM activist Rachel Corrie was killed by a soldier driving a bulldozer to destroy the Nasrallah family’s home on March 16, 2003.

All Eyes On Gaza Disengagement

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip?
A Warning from Israel
By Uri Davis, Ilan Pappe, and Tamar Yaron

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

We held back on getting this statement published and circulated, seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha’aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister’s Office, motivated us not to delay publication and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television to the effect that “Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the disengagement is being implemented” and that “If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people.”

We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep them out of harm’s way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees.

The scenario could be similar to what has already happened in the past – a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career – i.e., utilizing provocation in order to launch massive attacks.

Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks in the near future on the approximately one and a half million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a possible combination of intensified state terror and mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be involved in employing ground troops on a large scale in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of Staff they don’t need to. It was General Dan Halutz, in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force, who authorized the bombing of a civilian Gaza City quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only thing he feels when dropping a bomb is a slight bump of the aircraft.

The initiators of this alarm have been active for many decades in the defense of human rights inside the State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the academic evidence to support our feeling, but given past behavior, ideological leanings and current media spin initiated by the Israeli government and military, we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with matters pertaining to the defense of human rights has been more often correct than otherwise.

We urge all those who share the concern above to add their names to ours and urgently give this alarm as wide a circulation as possible.

Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a significant factor in deterring the Israeli government, thus protecting the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip from this very possible catastrophe and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from occurring.

Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without delay! call for action from peace and human rights organizations now:

Please send notification of your signature to Tamar Yaron: tiyaron@hazorea.org.il