This article addresses one week of it no different than most others. It shows the road to peace isn't through Annapolis nor can it be achieved without a willing partner or with the legitimate Palestinian government excluded.
Talks are futile as long Israel spurns peace, violates
international law, attacks Palestinian civilians, seizes their land,
destroys their homes, restricts their movements, conducts targeted
assassinations, denies them essential services, and holds Gaza under a
medieval siege in the world's largest open-air prison while blaming the
victims.
Unreported is that the West Bank is also under siege
that's been tightened in recent weeks on targeted communities.
Palestinian civilians are severely impeded especially in their movement
in and out of Jerusalem. Other communities affected include Nablus,
Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron and Ramallah. None of this is
reported in the mainstream.
Each week, the Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights reports on conditions on the ground by
documenting Israeli human rights violations in the Territories. They're
systematic, unending and savagely brutal by a nation pretending to want
peace in the latest theatrics going nowhere. Against a backdrop of
talks, photo-ops and high-sounding rhetoric, here's the reality on the
ground from November 22 to 28. It's much like most previous weeks and
those yet to come. It's why talk of peace is pretense, and the struggle
continues. Here's an unreported snapshot of life in occupied Palestine
amidst all the Annapolis hoopla:
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF):
- killed 11 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; one victim was
extra-judicially assassinated; two others were killed by banned
flechette shells that propel metal fragments on detonation for maximum
destructive effect against human targets; an Israeli Air Force raid
killed another five Palestinians in Gaza early Saturday and wounded
eight others as part of its regular terror-inflicting operations the
IDF complements with savagery on the ground;
- wounded 28
Palestinians, including four children and an Israeli human rights
defender; prevented ambulances from reaching victims to provide medical
aid and transport to hospitals; one or more victims bled to death as a
result;
- conducted 12 incursions into the West Bank and two
into Gaza; targeted in the West Bank were al-Bireh and the neighboring
al-Am'ari refugee camp; Ramallah; Jenin town and refugee camp; Azzoun
village, east of Qalqilya; and Nablus and neighboring Balata and Ein
Beit al-Maa refugee camps; Gaza targets included al-Shouka village,
east of Rafah; in all cases, civilians were victimized;
- conducted air strikes at locations in Gaza including against the
Palestinian naval police in Khan Yunis and Hamas' Izziddin al-Qassam
Brigades military wing;
- arrested 30 Palestinian civilians in
the West Bank plus 12 in Gaza making the total number of arrests this
year 2476 in the West Bank; year to date Gaza arrests weren't reported
but may be comparable in number to the West Bank; as many as 12,000
Palestinians are in Israeli prisons under deplorable conditions, most
are uncharged under administrative detention, and Israeli human rights
organization B'Tselem estimates 85% of them are subjected to torture or
abuse; Israel continues making more unreported illegal arrests than the
number of prisoners theatrically released; most are near the end of
their unjustified sentences;
- destroyed one house and razed 7 donums (about 2 acres) of agricultural land in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza;
- destroyed buildings and factories in the Gaza Erez industrial zone that remained after others there were destroyed earlier;
- allowed one patient to die because she was denied access to treatment outside Gaza;
- continued construction of the illegal annexation wall in the West Bank on seized Palestinian land;
- used force to disperse peaceful demonstrations protesting the wall's
construction in Bal'eom village, west of Ramallah, and al-Ma'sara,
south of Bethlehem;
- continued illegal West Bank settlement activities;
- allowed Israeli settlers to continue attacking Palestinian civilians
and their property; attacks also injured 13 Palestinian civilians
traveling in a minibus;
- continued to violently beat
Palestinians attempting to bypass checkpoints to enter Jerusalem; this
happens mostly on Fridays when they wish to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque;
- seized the homes of three Palestinian families for use as military sites; and
- Israeli settlers attacked a Hebron school causing damage; they broke
windows, uprooted trees, demolished walls and tried to burn down the
building; Settlers also attacked a private home; they set fires, broke
windows and damaged a car and barnyard; in both instances, IDF forces
were nearby but didn't intervene as they almost never do in situations
like this so settlers can freely terrorize Palestinian civilians.
In
addition, the IDF has kept all Gaza border crossings closed for almost
17 months as part of a total siege on the Territory. Rafah
International Crossing bordering Egypt is Gaza's only connection to the
outside world, and it's been closed since June 25, 2006. Currently,
around 6000 Palestinians are trapped on the Egyptian side unable to
return home. Most have depleted their funds and rely on spotty
assistance. Deaths have resulted, now at least 19 in number.
The
result is a humanitarian and economic disaster. The flow of essential
food, medical supplies and fuel as well as construction and other
materials have been severely impeded or stopped altogether. Conditions
became especially severe after the Israeli government declared Gaza a
"hostile entity" on September 19, 2007 and escalated further collective
punishment measures. Fuel supplies, already low, were cut again and are
at critical levels. In addition, plans were to scale back electricity
December 2 until Israel's Supreme Court ruled November 30 the action
must be postponed for at least a week pending a full presentation of
the proposed operation.
The Court's directive stopped short of
an injunction halting the measure. Instead the justices said they
"assumed that until the required additional information and necessary
clarifications are received, the plan to limit electricity to (Gaza)
will not begin to be implemented."
Now a delay of at least
three weeks is likely because authorities have 12 days to provide the
requested information after which groups opposed have a week to file
briefs with their positions. At the same time, the Court approved the
government's plan for further fuel supplies cuts that attorney Hassan
Jabarin, representing the Adalah center for Arab minority rights in
Israel, said "constitutes serious harm to the basic principle of
international humanitarian law." He added that international law
prohibits collective punishment for any reason or using a civilian
population for political purposes. Gaza fuel supplies were already low,
and further cuts threaten all aspects of civilian life - health
services, sewage disposal, drinking water wells, transportation,
commerce, industrial production, agriculture and education.
Other
collective punishment measures include allowing only nine basic
materials into Gaza. The result is severe shortages of everything
including vital supplies. Local markets ran out of many goods and can't
get banned ones. In addition, prices have risen sharply and in some
cases fivefold making them unaffordable. People report being unable to
get razors and shaving material, coffee, diapers, printing paper or
even shoes, socks, underwear, wool clothes or jackets. Medical supplies
are also exhausted so critical items like life-saving drugs and oxygen
aren't available.
Other banned items include furniture,
electrical appliances, headstone materials for graves and cigarettes.
Restricted also are fruits, milk and other dairy products. In addition,
severe restrictions have been imposed on fishing. This affects 35,000
people in coastal communities, including 2500 fishermen as well as 2500
support staff and their families. In addition, Palestinians in Gaza
aren't able to enter Israel or the West Bank for any purpose including
essential medical care unavailable in the Strip. The result is
predictable - needless deaths and great human suffering.
UNRWA
Gaza field office director, John Ging, expressed great concern about
Israel's actions with comments about "crushing sanctions, significantly
adding to the human misery and suffering of 1.5 million civilians in
Gaza (that) are in fact counterproductive to their stated
purpose....You must be on the ground for days and weeks to begin to
appreciate the full horror of the situation....living conditions
continue their relentless downward spiral, to what can now only be
described as truly appalling."
Ging continued saying: "The
impact on the medical situation for those affected is quite simply
atrocious (with) essential drugs....in chronically short supply or have
run out altogether (and) 800 patients needing treatment abroad (can't)
leave Gaza (and are enduring great) physical suffering and mental
anguish. The food situation is equally bad (for 80% of Gazans)." UN
"handouts" can only provide 61% of their daily caloric intake to
sustain life.
After two years of UN service in Gaza, Ging added
that the occupation caused the education system to collapse with a 90%
literacy and numeracy failure rate the evidence. He also felt
"compelled to discard the usual niceties of diplomatic speak" for blunt
talk about the appalling Israeli policy of collective punishment and
inhumane illegal sanctions against defenseless civilians suffering
hugely.
None of this was on the table at Annapolis, and Ging's
boss, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, didn't raise them. Nor was the
following discussed: the refugees' right of return, ending the
occupation, the rights of Palestinian Israeli citizens, the annexation
wall, dismantling West Bank settlements, Jerusalem as the Palestinian
capital or a legitimate integrated Palestinian state and not one
cantonized in the West Bank and separated from Gaza. The so-called
"peace process" instead demands that Palestinians recognize Israel as a
Jewish state; give up their right of self-defense against the world's
fourth largest military power; legitimize an ideology of racism, ethnic
cleansing and colonization; and have a Palestinian security force be
Israeli enforcers against the legal rights of their own people.
Fatah
Palestinian Authority (PA) Security Force Repression Ordered by
Quisling President Mahmoud Abbas to Please Israel and Washington
Many
thousands of Palestinians in communities throughout Gaza and the West
Bank took to the streets on November 27 in peaceful protests against
the sham peace offensive they denounce. Demonstrations were organized
by several political parties and civil society organizations and were
held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem, Bethlehem
and Nablus in defiance of a Fatah-imposed ban on them. As a result,
they were repressively met by hundreds of Fatah security personnel.
Fist fights broke out, dozens were arrested, and police beat
demonstrators with batons to disperse them. They also used tear gas and
fired indiscriminately in the air and into crowds that responded by
throwing rocks. One civilian died from a gunshot to the chest. Thirty
others were injured, some seriously.
Journalists covering the
event were also attacked, beaten, detained and prevented from doing
their jobs. In addition, the evening before (November 26) and
throughout November 27, demonstration organizers were arrested. Some
were later released. Others remain in custody. Similar protests also
took place around the region as Palestinian refugees and their
supporters in other Arab countries publicly demanded their right to
return be honored according to UN Resolution 194 Israel won't even
acknowledge, let alone observe.
The scene in Gaza was another
story. Huge crowds of well over 100,000 (some estimates were 250,000)
assembled to protest and were addressed by the legitimate Hamas Prime
Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. He denounced the Annapolis talks saying they
"don't represent the Palestinian people." The sentiment in the streets
was powerful with chants of "No recognition of Israel, America is the
head of the snake," and cries calling Abbas a traitor by tens of
thousands of outraged and unrepresented people.
One woman
summed up the prevailing sentiment saying: "We don't want more alleged
peace conferences, which bring us more suffering. We prefer poverty to
accepting shameful peace." Others expressed similar views preferring to
suffer than to give up their legitimate rights long denied and won't be
resolved at Annapolis or what follows next. And their allies extend
beyond Hamas. They include Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Liberation Party,
Palestinian Liberation Organization-linked parties and responsible
intellectuals who believe real peace won't come through Annapolis or
other sham processes like it.
Life in the Occupied Territories
goes on where Palestinians won't accept surrender for peace. Their
struggle for freedom and justice continues. Israel remains defiant so
expect many more weeks on the ground like the last one. It's so future
generations can be free because past ones endured so much for them.
Ramallah Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Summit
Palestinians
have allies everywhere outside seats of power, and 300 of them gathered
on November 22 in Ramallah. Activists, union members and NGO
representatives came to plan a global civil resistance campaign against
Israel's repressive occupation and rule. Their aim: an action plan for
boycott, divestment and sanctions that proved successful liberating
India from Britain and South Africa from white supremacist apartheid.
Where negotiation fails, pressure may succeed and conference
participants see it as a priority in the current environment.
The
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) convened the conference along with the
OPGAI Coalition (Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy
Initiative), PACBI (The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel) and Stop the Wall (The Anti-Apartheid Wall
Campaign). Dr. Allam Jarrar of PNGO called the conference an historic
event 60 years after the Palestinian Nakba. Now "we are beginning to
revise the strategy of our struggle for the inalienable rights of the
Palestinian people, foremost among them our rights to
self-determination, independence and (right of) return. The boycott
campaign will re-vitalize popular resistance and restore dignity" as
well as dispel the myth that Palestinians can only engage in
negotiations that have never worked and won't now.
The balance
of power can only shift through sustained and effective pressure, and
Stop the Wall representative Jamal Jum'a believes that the BDS movement
today is so diverse and widespread the Zionist Lobby can't destroy it.
Neither can Annapolis obscure it. Only ineffective resistance can do it
that must be avoided. To prevent it, consensus was reached that
building a civil resistance campaign is crucial, and recommendations
were made as follows:
They involve forming a Steering Committee for the Campaign and more:
(1) The local Palestinian BDS Campaign:
- consumer boycott of Israeli products by Palestinians; use of local
alternatives instead; dialogue with Palestinian companies to support
them and expand employment of the Palestinian work force;
- educate by reviewing the Palestinian curriculum to ensure its historic
accuracy; enlist students in the BDS campaign; urge the Ministry of
Education to urge private schools stop selling Israeli products and
refrain from normalization projects with Israeli organizations;
media awareness pressure to stop advertising Israeli products; public awareness measures to support the boycott; and
- mechanisms for campaign building and promotion by forming popular
boycott committees to raise public awareness, initiate action and build
a popular culture supporting boycott instead of normalization that's
futile; pressure PA officials to support the effort and express
solidarity with other Global South popular struggles to gain theirs in
return.
(2) An Arab World Campaign
- cooperate and
coordinate with other Arab world anti-normalization committees; lobby
for reactivating the Arab League boycott committee; inject BDS into the
mainstream Arab media; urge Arab investors to support the Palestinian
economy; promote Palestinian products in Arab countries.
(3) An International/Global Campaign
- an overall strategy to challenge Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state
and a colonial apartheid one; the boycott to include targeting Israel's
economy, academia, culture and sports.
Success depends on
building alliances with unions, faith-based organizations and other
potential allies in the Arab world, throughout the Global South, and
with marginalized Global North communities. In addition an emphasis
must be placed on coordinating global activities and campaigns to build
a worldwide BDS effort.
On its web site, the Palestine BDS
Campaign targets Israel with punitive non-violent measures "until it
complies with international law and universal principles of human
rights." As representatives of Palestinian civil society, it "call(s)
upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience
(everywhere) to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment
initiatives against Israel (like) those applied (against apartheid)
South Africa....for the sake of justice and genuine peace." It must
include an end to occupation and colonization, granting Arab Israeli
citizens equal rights to Jews, and letting Palestinian refugees return
to their homeland as stipulated under UN Resolution 194.
These
are fundamental principles of international law applying to all
nations. They're not negotiable, and no nation gets a pass. Peace isn't
possible until Israel goes along and becomes a member in good standing
in the world community. Up to now, it's never been one. It's about time
that changed, and it's hoped an effective BDS campaign is the way to do
it because other ways for 60 years haven't worked.
Writings 
Against the sham backdrop of Annapolis, life in occupied Palestine is a daily struggle to endure and survive what Edward Said once referred to as Israel's "refined viciousness." 
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