Israelis storm Palestinian prison

[N.O.R.F]

Israeli troops have raided a prison in Jericho in the West Bank, demolishing buildings and killing at least one Palestinian guard.

 

 

They are trying to seize a jailed militant leader blamed for killing an Israeli minister in 2001. The leader, Ahmed Saadat, is refusing to surrender.

 

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has condemned UK and US prison monitors for withdrawing shortly before the raid.

 

The raid sparked protests and revenge abductions across Palestinian areas.

 

A BBC correspondent at the prison says there has been Israeli tank and helicopter fire on the jail.

 

An Israeli bulldozer could be seen demolishing walls outside the prison where a number of Palestinian guards and prisoners including Mr Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are still holed up.

 

An Israeli army spokesman said 182 people had been taken from the prison and were being questioned, including 26 wounded.

 

It is not known how many of those were prisoners or guards, or how many people are left in the compound. Reports range from between 30 to 80 people.

 

In the wave of Palestinian unrest that followed the Israeli raid in Jericho:

 

The director of International Red Cross in Gaza was kidnapped by gunmen

 

Two French members of the Medecins du Monde charity in Gaza were also seized

 

Two Australian teachers were abducted by militants from a school in northern Gaza

 

A British Council cultural centre in Gaza was set ablaze and an EU compound stormed

 

Palestinian militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Gaza City warned US and UK nationals to leave the Palestinian territories immediately

 

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated against the Israeli raid and the alleged complicity of western governments throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 

 

Mr Saadat remained defiant, saying in telephone interviews to the media that he would rather die than surrender to Israeli forces.

 

"The occupation are planning a massacre in the Jericho complex. There is shelling from all angles and destroying the prison from all sides," he told the BBC Arabic Service.

 

He said two of his colleagues had been killed, although this cannot be confirmed independently.

 

Under a 2002 deal with Israel, Mr Saadat was guarded by British and US prison monitors, in addition to Palestinian jailers, but the foreigners were withdrawn shortly before the raid for what they described as "security reasons".

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the raid and said the US and UK monitors were responsible for the prisoners' safety, calling their withdrawal a grave violation of agreements with the Palestinians.

 

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the PA had ignored repeated British requests for guarantees regarding the security of the prison guards.

 

The UK Foreign Office warned against travel to the Palestinian territories and urged all British nationals without proper security to leave.

 

Threat

 

Israeli troops are reported to have threatened to kill the prisoners if they do not surrender.

 

Reports from the scene said 50 jeeps, three tanks, and an armoured bulldozer pushed into the oasis town in the Jordan valley, as two helicopters hovered overhead.

 

Surrendering guards and prisoners were strip-searched by the Israeli troops outside the compound, where they were filmed by TV crews.

 

Mr Saadat was arrested in connection with the killing of right-wing Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi by PFLP gunmen in 2001, an attack which itself was to avenge the assassination of Mr Saadat's predecessor by Israel.

 

Mr Saadat has been in Palestinian custody since early in 2002 - and was moved to Jericho under international supervision in a deal to lift Israel's siege of Yasser Arafat's Muqataa compound in May of that year.

 

The following month the Palestinian High Court ordered his release, saying there was no evidence to link him to the Zeevi assassination.

 

Israeli officials said Mr Saadat would be killed if he was freed, and the Palestinian cabinet blocked the release.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4804424.stm

[Castro]

Published on Monday, April 1, 2002

Israel's State Terrorism

by Lev Grinberg

 

What is the difference between State terrorism and individual terrorist acts? If we understand this difference we'll understand also the evilness of the US policies in the Middle East and the forthcoming disasters. When Yassir Arafat was put under siege in his offices and kept hostage by the Israeli occupation forces, he was constantly pressed into condemning terror and combatting terrorism. Israel's Stateterrorism is defined by US officials as "self-defense", while individual suicide bombers are called terrorists.

 

The only 'small' difference is that Israeli aggression is the direct responsibility of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Ben Eliezer, Shimon Peres and Shaul Mofaz, while the individual terrorist acts are done by individuals in despair, usually against Arafat's will. One hour after Arafat declared his support of a cease fire and wished the Jews a Happy Passover feast, a suicide bomber exploded himself in an hotel in Netanya, killing 22 innocent Jews celebrating Passover. Arafat was blamed as responsible for this act, and the present IDF offensive has been justified through this accusation.

 

At the same time, Sharon's responsibility for Israeli war crimes is being completely ignored. Who should be arrested for the targeted killing of almost 100 Palestinians? Who will be sent to jail for the killing of more than 120 Palestinian paramedics? Who will be sentenced for the killing of more than 1,200 Palestinians and for the collective punishment of more than 3,000,000 civilians during the last 18 months? And who will face the International Tribunal for the illegal settlement of occupied Palestinian Lands, and the disobedience of UN decisions for more than 35 years?

 

Suicide bombs killing innocent citizens must be unequivocally condemned; they are immoral acts, and their perpetrators should be sent to jail. But they cannot be compared to State terrorism carried out by the Israeli Government. The former are individual acts of despair of a people that sees no future, vastly ignored by an unfair and distorted international public opinion. The latter are cold and "rational" decisions of a State and a military apparatus of occupation, well equipped, financed and backed by the only superpower in the world.

 

Yet in the public debate, State terrorism and individual suicide bombs are not even considered as comparable cases of terrorism. The State terror and war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli Government are legitimized as "self-defense", while Arafat, even under siege, is demanded to arrest "terrorists."

 

I want to ask: Who will arrest Sharon, the person directly responsible for the orders to kill Palestinians? When is he going to be defined a terrorist too? How long will the world ignore the Palestinian cry that all they want is freedom and independence? When will it stop neglecting the fact that the goal of the Israeli Government is not security, but the continued occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people?

 

As Israelis in the opposition, we are fighting against our government, but the international support that Sharon receives is constantly jeopardizing our struggle. The whole international public opinion must be reverted, and the UN must deploy intervention forces in order to stop the bloodshed and the imminent deterioration. Israelis and Palestinians desperately need the awakening of the international community's public opinion and a reversal in the global attitude. These are needed both in order to save our lives (literally), and preserve our hope in a better future.

 

Dr. Lev Grinberg is a political sociologist, and Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben Gurion University

 

Source

[Naden]

An Experiment in Anti-Semitism vs. Anti-Arab Racism

 

Imagine if an Arab spiritual leader referred to Jews as "foul", a

"disease" or as a "devil". What if he called them "asses" and asked "why did

God not create them walking on their fours?" In reply to his own

rhetorical question, the imaginary Arab spiritual leader then coolly replies,

"The answer is that they need to build and wash." You would be right to

be angry and disgusted by such vile racism. And you would be right to

wonder what institutional and cultural influences help create,

perpetuate and sustain such anti-Semitic garbage.

 

But would you feel and think the same way if it was a Jewish spiritual

leader targeting Arabs with this hateful, racist nonsense? We certainly

hear, see and read both genuine and exaggerated claims of anti-Semitism

almost daily in radio, T.V. and newspaper reports. But we don't see

balanced attention given to anti-Arab racism. If we had the resources to

conduct a methodical and systematic study documenting the discrepancy

between media coverage of anti-Semitism and media coverage of anti-Arab

racism I'm willing to bet that we'd find conclusive evidence of a

profound neglect. And the source of this neglect can be found in the

hesitation and fear of criticizing the state of Israel's policies and illegal

occupation; the fear of being called an anti-Semite. Since all Jews do

not identify with the state of Israel, or Zionism, despite Zionism's

claim to act on behalf of all Jews, the accusation of anti-Semitism is of

course nonsense.

 

I opened this commentary with "Imagine if an Arab spiritual leader...".

There is in fact no real person as such. However, all the insults and

vitriol spewed in this hypothetical anti-Semitism are the real words of

a Jewish spiritual leader, Rabbi David Bazri, directed at Palestinians.

His racist attack comes in the wake of a very sane, reasonable and

necessary proposal for the establishment of a mixed Arab-Jewish school in

Pat, Jerusalem.

 

Now it is true that anti-Semitism exists in the Arab World, just as

anti-Arab racism exits among Jews. But not all Arabs are anti-Semites,

just as not all Jews are racist. But it is not true, as the well

documented daily humiliations of occupied Palestinian lives testify, that these

forms of racism are given equal attention and consequently have equal

outcomes. If the particular hypothetical anti-Semitism used here were a

real incident, you can be sure it would receive wide spread media and

political attention, used to justify Israel's illegal occupation - more

rational to reign collective punishment down upon the Palestinians.

 

But the opposite is true; a particularly nasty anti-Arab racism was

expressed. Will we see newspaper, T.V. or radio reports covering these

extremely hysteric remarks? Why not? Do we even care? Can we even begin to

ask what institutional and cultural influences help create, perpetuate

and sustain such anti-Arab garbage? Would equal attention and

examination of these issues illuminate the failings of a flawed ideology -

Zionism, or the brutalities of Israel's occupation? In contrast to the

hypothetical anti-Semitism above, the response to real anti-Arab racism

directed at Palestinians from a Jewish spiritual leader is a vacuum of

silence from our political leaders and dominant media institutions.

 

Walla!News (Haaretz) reported on Jan. 10, in a news item appearing only

in Hebrew (see here for an unofficial English translation), that "Today

the school is running in a temporary building and is looking for a

permanentresidence in the Pat neighborhood of Jerusalem. The municipality

assigned a territory for the school but because of repeating appeals to

court the process isdelayed. Today [Jan 10.] the matter is scheduled

for a debate in the High Court."

 

A Rabbi named Yehuda Der'i also participated in the conference against

the school and said that "this is a thing that the Jewish mind, logic

and soul cannot tolerate. We have to go from house to house and raise

supporters in the neighborhood to prevent this horrid punishment."

 

More vacuous comments, and the news item quoted here is actually worse

than I've let on...

 

Here are Rabbi David Bazri's words, in full, which I quoted above for

the hypothetical anti-Semitism, "The establishment of such a school is a

foul, disgraceful deed. You can't mix pure and foul. They are a

disease, a disaster, a devil. The Arabs are asses, and the question must be

asked, why did God not create them walking on their fours? The answer is

that they need to build and wash. They have no place in our school".

 

This gross racist assault against a proposed school provides one window

peering into the daily humiliations that Palestinians suffer in Israel.

It is the foundation for the belief that there are "pure" and "foul"

races, ethnic groups and cultures; and in the particular case of Israel,

that there can be a "pure" "Jewish State". It enables the existence of

second class citizenship for Palestinians in Israel, identification

cards for Palestinians, checkpoints for Palestinians, systematic house

demolitions for Palestinians, extra judicial executions and assassinations

for Palestinians, an Apartheid Wall for Palestinians, a brutal military

occupation which has practiced ethnic cleansing and denied Palestinians

their Right of Return. It is a backward and insipid thinking that

belongs to the Stone Age.

 

Sadly, anti-Arab racism is not confined to Israel alone. The US and

Canada are both engaged in the illegal detention, deportation and torture

of Arabs. As Noam Chomsky has noted "Anti-Arab racism in the US has

long been extreme, the last "legitimate" form of racism in that one

doesn't even have to pretend to conceal it. That's long before 9-11, and a

deep problem in the society, which can't be ignored, any more than other

forms of racism can." But that will have to be the topic of another

commentary.

 

Chris Spannos is an anti-war activist, anti-capitalist, ZNet volunteer

and member of the Vancouver Participatory Economics Collective.

Source

[opportunist]

Isreals this and palestines that is getting a bit tad retarded,

The Israelis and the Palestinians are both two traumatized people who have both suffered from and committed acts of terrorism and violence against one another. eventhough Israeli government is in a position of power and is oppressor to the Palestinians. Lets face it retaliation by the palestinians isnt solving any problems. One must also acknowledge that at least half of Israeli citizens are againist such oppression to fellow palestinians and favour peaceful coexistence.It might look easy or seem more compassionate to grieve for the Palestinian suffering and the injustices they experience. But one must also consider that, It is not so easy as well to see the suffering of Israelis, and to consider them brutal and unapproachable for innocent Isreal civilians to suffer suicide bombings.

Then again shidh happens and life goes one, lets give this Isreal/palestine issue a bit of rest, lets hope the world leaders come to some solution, as we have our own daily misfits to worry about

[FatB]

you now its not like all thes arab-Israeli frictions is new. this eye for an eye has been happening since the time of abrahim (ibrahim csw), for the last centries the muslim ummah had the power and opresed the jews only just now the shoe is on the other foot

 

and if history is anything to go by, time will repeat its self until the bitter end....