CONCERN FOR THE PLIGHT OF
THE “PALESTINIANS”
The Arab and larger Muslim worlds stridently claim that their trade sanctions, their diplomatic onslaught, and their support for “resistance” activities against the State of Israel stem, not from their hatred of the Jewish people, but rather from their “concern” for the “plight” of the “Palestinian” Arabs as an “occupied” and “oppressed” people denied their “right” of self-determination in the districts of Judea, Samaria, the eastern portion of Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Yet, this is not strictly accurate. For, despite the long-standing
occupation by Spain and France of the Basque homeland, and despite the
long-term occupation by France of territory on the northern coast of South
America (known as “French Guiana”), and despite the longtime occupation by
China of Tibet, and despite the lengthy occupation by Russia of four Japanese islands
at the southern tip of the Kuril archipelago (known as the Northern Territories
to the Japanese), and despite the interminable occupation by Great Britain of
the northern portion of Ireland (which occupation has prompted that country to
officially denominate itself as “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland”) and of the southern tip of Spain (known as “Gibraltar”) and
of the Falkland Islands (which are within the territorial waters of Argentina
and known as Las Islas Malvinas to that nation), and despite the massive United
States military occupation of the southeastern tip of Cuba (known as
“Guantanamo Bay”), and despite the occupation by Turkey of the northeastern
portion of Cyprus (denominated as “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”),
the Arab and larger Muslim worlds have not severed diplomatic relations
with, or otherwise assumed a hostile posture against, these oppressors. And,
although such nations as
Then, perhaps the Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim nations reserve their support only
for those victims who are fellow Muslims. Yet, neither is this
strictly accurate. For, despite the fact that
Then, perhaps the Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim nations reserve their support for Muslim victims only when they are being occupied and/or oppressed by non-Muslims. Yet, neither is this strictly accurate. For, despite the fact that (Hindu) India occupies the larger part of (Muslim) Kashmir and has gone to war three times against (Muslim) Pakistan, and despite the fact that (Christian) Russia formerly occupied (Muslim) Afghanistan and has devastated most of the rebellious (Muslim) republic of Chechnya (by virtue of having destroyed most of its infrastructure and having killed approximately 350,000 Chechens, constituting 35% of its pre-hostilities population), and despite the fact that (Buddhist) China occupies the (Muslim) Uygur homeland of Xinjiang Uygur (known as East Turkestan to the Uygur people), and despite the fact that (Christian) Armenia occupies the southwestern portion of (Muslim) Azerbaijan (namely, the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and additional surrounding territory), and despite the fact that (Christian) Ethiopia occupies (Muslim) Somalia, the Arab and larger Muslim worlds have not severed diplomatic relations with, or otherwise assumed a hostile posture against, these oppressors.
Then, perhaps the Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim nations reserve their support for Muslim victims only when they are Arabs. Yet, neither is this strictly accurate. For, despite the fact that, in 1982, Syria massacred more than 20,000 unarmed Syrian Arabs in Hama, and despite the fact that Turkey occupies the Iskenderun region claimed by (Arab) Syria (known as the Alexandretta region to the Arab world), and despite the fact that Syria itself occupies (Arab) Lebanon, and despite the fact that Iran occupies the oil-rich region of Khuzestan (known as the region of al-Ahwaz to the Arab world) which has been populated almost exclusively by Arabs for the past 600 years, and despite the fact that France occupies the island of Mayotte (known as Mahore to the Arab world) within the territorial waters of (Arab) Comoros, and despite the fact that Spain occupies the cities of Cueta (known as Sebta to the Arab world) and Melilla (known as Maliliyya to the Arab world) on the northeastern coast of (Arab) Morocco as well as four islands within the territorial waters of that Arab nation, and despite the fact that Morocco itself occupies (Arab) Western Sahara, the Arab and larger Muslim worlds have not severed diplomatic relations with, or otherwise assumed a hostile posture against, these oppressors.
Then, perhaps the Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim nations, as well as the remainder of the World, reserve their support only for the “Palestinian” Arabs. After all, the World has favored this “stateless” Arab population as it has no other. For example, the “Palestinian” Arabs have been permitted to establish a world-wide “diplomatic” structure both through their numerous (official and unofficial) “embassies” and through being accorded Permanent Observer Status at the United Nations.
Furthermore, the United Nations itself has established a well-funded official infrastructure for their exclusive benefit via the creation of the:
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (which, inter alia, issues periodic recommendations to the U.N. General Assembly on achieving the “inalienable rights” of the “Palestinian” people, and which constitutes the only Committee in the U.N. system dedicated exclusively to the agenda of a single group);
Division for Palestinian Rights (which is a special unit established within the Department of Political Affairs of the U.N. Secretariat, and which constitutes the only Division in the U.N. system dedicated exclusively to the agenda of a single group);
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (which is observed annually on November 29, in lamentation over the issuance of the U.N.'s Palestine Partition Plan on that very date in 1947, and in commemoration of the rejection by the recognized leadership of the Arabs of Mandatory Palestine of the Plan's recommendation for the creation of a Jewish state therein);
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (which was created for the sole purpose of administering international assistance to the “Palestinian” Arab refugee population exclusively, while international assistance to all other refugee populations in the World -- without exception -- continues to be apportioned and administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees);
United Nations Human Rights Commission’s (now its successor United Nations Human Rights Council’s) “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since 1967” (which produces an annual report detailing Israel’s “atrocities” against the “Palestinian” people); and
United Nations Register of Damage caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (which was created to catalogue the “damage claims” accumulated by the “Palestinians” against Israel on account of the latter’s construction of a security fence to prevent “Palestinian” suicide bombers and other terrorists from perpetuating atrocities against Jewish population centers located within pre-1967 Israel).
Moreover, on a per capita basis (adjusted to present currency values), the
“Palestinian” Arabs have, to date, received more than twice the amount
of financial aid provided to a devastated Europe under the post-World War II
Marshall Plan; and despite the catastrophic conditions now obtaining elsewhere
in the World (e.g., inter-ethnic genocide, pestilence, flooding, drought and
famine in sub-Saharan Africa and much of
Yet, even this is not strictly accurate. For, despite the fact that, in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait unceremoniously expelled, respectively, 750,000 and 300,000 resident “Palestinian” Arabs -- many of whom had resided in those lands for generations -- the nations of the World, including its Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim components, have not severed diplomatic relations with, or otherwise assumed a hostile posture against, these oppressors. Furthermore, despite the fact that, in 1982, 800 Muslim “Palestinian” Arabs were murdered at Sabra and Shatilla by the Christian Lebanese Forces led by commander Elie Hobeika -- who had acted upon instructions from Syria and who later became a respected pro-Syria member of the Lebanese parliament -- the nations of the World, including its Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim components, have neither instituted sanctions against Syria for procuring the massacre nor against Lebanon for protecting its perpetrator. Moreover, despite the fact that, from 1948 to 1967, Jordan and Egypt illegally occupied portions of Mandatory Palestine (i.e., Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria and the eastern portion of Jerusalem, while Egypt occupied Gaza), and despite the fact that, in 1970, Jordan killed 2,000 and expelled 10,000 resident “Palestinian” Arabs -- among them then Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat -- in a brutal campaign that became known among “Palestinian” Arabs as “Black September”, the nations of the World, including its Arab and (non-Arab) Muslim components, have not severed diplomatic relations with, or otherwise assumed a hostile posture against, these oppressors.
It seems, then, that Sherlock Holmes' famous dictum -- namely, that if one
eliminates all other possibilities, then whatever remains,
however improbable, is nevertheless the Truth -- has once again
proven to be correct. What, then, is this hard-to-accept Truth? -- simply that
the World, especially the Arab and larger Muslim components thereof, “cares”
about the “Palestinians” only when
© Mark Rosenblit
[Note: In 2005, following the
assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri by
[Note: Some 40,000 “Palestinian”
Arabs have lived in
[Note: Although the below-claimed
numbers of “Palestinian” Arabs in
Palestinians in
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2005) Following reports that Palestinians have been
involved in the latest wave of terrorist attacks in
The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Iraqi security forces had recently
arrested dozens of Palestinians in
The Palestinian community in
"We're very concerned for the safety of the Palestinian community in
Iraqi security officials confirmed last week that a number of Palestinians had
been arrested for allegedly aiding insurgents in carrying out suicide attacks
that killed hundreds of Iraqi civilians over the past two months. Some of the
suspects later appeared on Iraqi TV, where they confessed to their role in the
carnage.
Another official here said Palestinians living in the Iraqi capital were being
systematically harassed by Iraqi security forces. He claimed that most of the
attacks were being carried out by Shi'ite soldiers serving in the Iraqi army.
Wajih al-Aghbar, 30, a Palestinian who has been living in
Aghbar said he was stopped by members of the Iraqi National Guard as he was on
his way to work in
"When they discovered that I was a Palestinian, they handcuffed and blindfolded
me and took me to prison," he said. "They beat me severely and cursed
me repeatedly. They told me that we Palestinians are terrorists who carry out
suicide attacks that threaten world peace and security.
They told me to leave
few weeks. "Many Palestinians have been thrown out of their homes and are
sleeping in public parks and schools," he said. "Many Iraqis are
accusing the Palestinians of destroying their economy."
Ali al-Shalah, an Iraqi academic, defended the crackdown on Palestinians in his
country. He said many Palestinians had made a mistake by joining Saddam's
security services and participating in the oppression of Iraqi citizens.
"Some Palestinians reached very high ranks in Saddam's secret
police," he said. "Some of them were even promoted to generals. One
of them even served as head of Saddam's intelligence service."
Shalah said Saddam used the Palestinian group led by Muhammad Abbas, who was
known as Abu Abbas, to crush the popular uprising against his regime in 1991.
Abu Abbas, who died in US custody two years ago, was responsible for the
hijacking of the Achille Lauro ship in 1985.
Zuheir Andraus, editor of the Nazareth-based weekly Kul Al-Arab, described the
attacks on Palestinians in
"Palestinians living in
Adli Sadek, a prominent columnist and PA official, warned that the Palestinians
living in
"The situation is very grave and unbearable," Sadek added. "Our
leadership must raise this issue with
(©) The
[Note: For more information on the suffering of “Palestinians” at the hands of the Iraqis -- still being underreported some 19 months after the publication of the preceding article, and some 3 years after the escalating persecutions first commenced -- please read on! -- Mark Rosenblit, February 2007]
Palestinians: 'Ethnic cleansing' in
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2007) After 18 members of her family were brutally
murdered by Shiite militiamen in
In 2006, more than 600 Palestinians were killed in the Iraqi capital in what
Palestinian leaders and political activists are describing as a
"systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing." Thousands of Palestinian
families have been forced to flee
Until three years ago, the number of Palestinians living in
Today, Nadia said, "There are less than 10,000 Palestinians living in
Nadia's decision to leave her home came shortly after one of her brothers,
Muhammad Rashid, was killed by Shiite gunmen as he was on his way to the school
where he worked as an Arabic language teacher.
"The murderers stopped him in the street, asked for his ID documents, and
when they saw that he was a Palestinian refugee, they immediately fired three
bullets at his head," she said. "On the same day, they kidnapped and
murdered Farid Al-Sayed, chairman of the Palestinian-controlled Haifa Sports
Club in
Another Palestinian who fled
He said Palestinians who were still living in
In the past few months, he added, he heard "horror" stories about
Palestinians who were kidnapped and brutally tortured by the Shiite militiamen.
"Some have had their ears and noses cut off," he said. "I saw
them with my own eyes. The heads of some victims were severed and sent to their
families. Many families have had their homes ransacked before they were forced
to leave."
Zakariya Al-Agha, head of the PLO Refugees Department, expressed deep concern
over the fate of the Palestinians in
"A large number of Palestinians who ran away from
Agha said another 400 Palestinians were now living in tents provided by
humanitarian organizations along the border between
According to information gathered by Agha's department, some 100 Palestinians
who were kidnapped in the past few months are still missing and presumed dead.
In addition, the Iraqi authorities have arrested dozens of Palestinians for
unspecified charges.
A Palestinian man who was released two weeks ago from prison in
"When we arrived at the prison," he said, "the Shiite militiamen
began shouting, 'We have brought the Palestinians, we have brought the
terrorists!' After they beat us for hours, they took us for questioning. They
kept asking, 'Why do you Palestinians love Saddam Hussein so much? Why did you
take to the streets to protest against his execution? We want all the
Palestinians out of
Khairiyeh Yehya, director of a think-tank organization in Jenin, said
Palestinians in
"The defenseless Palestinians... have become easy prey for the agents of the American occupation and all those who hate our people," she said. "How can anyone justify these killings?"
Atef Udwan, minister for refugee affairs in the Hamas-led government, said
his office was searching for a way to allow the Palestinians in
"This requires a political solution," he said. "We need to
persuade
(©) The
[Note: Since latter part of 2006, the
“Palestinian” Arabs have been in the midst of a civil war, with Fatah
(representing Arab nationalists) and Hamas (representing Islamists) killing each
other as well as multitudes of
“Palestinian” civilians. Unremarkably,
despite their obsessive “concern” for the “plight” of the “Palestinians”,
neither the United Nations, nor the European Union, nor the League of Arab
States, nor the Organization of the Islamic Conference, nor the Non-Aligned
Movement, nor the
Another Tack: The slaying of Yihyeh Abu-Bakra
|
Sarah Honig, THE |
Feb. 1, 2007 |
Let's indulge briefly in a hypothetical case history. Two-year-old Yihyeh
Abu-Bakra is shot dead in
Photos of the martyred infant are dramatically splashed over every front page everywhere. What fodder these prove for post-colonial discourse! The free world's decent and upstanding citizens all know who deserves sympathy. They likewise know who aimed at the wee underdog. The circumstances of the atrocity are incidental.
Unanimous revulsion is underscored by video footage, which foreign TV crews solicit from local Gazans. It's safer than entering the Palestinian fiefdom itself. A small outlay of cash buys fetching ratings-grabbers.
The fact that said tapes are in all likelihood also Arab propaganda productions bothers no one. In fact, the amplification of tendentious cant and deliberate disinformation potentially purchases some terrorist protection. The objective international media know which side needs to be feared and sweetened, and it's certainly not the liberal, tolerant and angst-ridden Israeli one.
Inevitably, tiny Yihyeh becomes another icon of
The visuals of him crouching near the Netzarim junction alongside his father as the lethal slug found its 12-year-old mark became best-sellers. Indeed, ever since, official Palestinian Authority TV hasn't ceased indoctrinating its littlest viewers, barely older than Yihyeh, with stirring reruns of Muhammad's last minutes, accompanied by emotive chants, rousing songs and poignant poetry exhorting other youngsters to go forth, espouse martyrdom, become suicide bombers and blow up Israeli kids to redeem Muhammad's blood.
Curiously, videos of the incident show no blood, not even a spatter, which was merely the first telltale hint of much amiss, leading more than one expert to deduce that this scene was ingeniously stage-managed. There were plenty more indications supporting suspicions of fraud.
It wouldn't be the first instance of brazen Palestinian fabrication, for instance the trumped-up yarns about a Jenin-massacre-that-never-was during Operation Defensive Shield.
One thing is beyond debate -- even if Muhammad was killed, it couldn't possibly have been by an Israeli bullet. The trajectory was all wrong, considering where the Israelis were. But it was perfect from the position of Palestinian snipers.
NONE OF this prevented the summary and blanket blaming of
[United States Secretary of State] Condoleezza [Rice] vigorously wags that
schoolmarmy finger with particularly displeased dourness. [British Prime
Minister] Tony Blair solemnly reminds all and sundry -- including his ethnic
Pakistani electorate -- that until
[French President] Jacques Chirac pompously pontificates to all Frenchwomen
and Frenchmen that those domineering and arrogant Jews (to borrow a phrase from
Charles de Gaulle) continuously commit the unpardonable cardinal sin of extreme
hubris by not bowing to directives from morally irreproachable and singularly
omniscient
Even the hero of
Our in-house guardians of other folks' conscience -- representing a plethora of platitude-spouting bleeding hearts from all left-of-political-center niches -- mercilessly beat their fellow Israelis' breasts and boastfully broadcast embarrassment for their affiliation with this accursed collective. They thereby bask in the glowing limelight of the unstinted outpouring of enlightened universalist approval for post-Zionists raking their benighted compatriots over the coals.
So much for the hypothetical.
IT'S NOT really all strictly imaginary. Much rings familiar because we've
been there, seen that. We've suffered the outrageous slings and arrows of sanctimonious
indignation time and again. But most of all, this isn't entirely make-believe
because toddler Yihyeh was truly shot dead in
It happened just last weekend. Others died too. An 11-year-old was gunned down
and, in all, the bloodbath claimed dozens of lives.
Only the outcry was missing. Yihyeh's untimely demise made no headlines. His mother's grief tugged no heartstrings. PATV didn't sanctify his sacrifice, and the World continues as it had smugly before. Not a ripple. Nothing out of place. No pandemonium. No commotion.
Why? Because there was no opportunity to claim that Israelis pulled the deadly trigger. Yihyeh fell victim to terrorist infighting.
We always realized the world retains incredible composure when Arabs deliberately target Jewish babies. We now learn that it's also unmoved when Arabs murder Arabs -- even when the casualties include juvenile Gazans.
Bottom line: it's not who's slain but by whom. If Jews cannot be implicated, it doesn't matter.
(©) The
[Note: The below articles are just some of the many documenting the intra-“Palestinian” carnage -- including massacres of women and children, blowing up homes, attacking mosques, ambulances and hospitals, forcing people to abandon their houses, and throwing people off the tops of high rise buildings -- that the World is so content to ignore simply because Jews are not the perpetrators thereof. Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]
25 Gazans dead in Fatah-Hamas clashes
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, January 28, 2007) The number of Palestinians killed in fierce
fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip over the weekend rose
to 25 on Saturday night, with dozens more wounded in the clashes. At least six
of the victims died on Saturday.
Among the casualties was two-year-old Yehya Abu Bakreh, who was killed when
Fatah gunmen fired at his father's car.
Fatah gunmen and Palestinian Authority policemen also attacked a mosque
in Gaza City, killing a number of worshipers.
The fighting, the heaviest between the two parties since Hamas came to power a
year ago, left the streets of Gaza City completely deserted except for hundreds
of militiamen and police officers. The PA Ministry of Education announced that
studies in universities and schools would be suspended until further notice due
to the growing violence.
A public opinion poll published Saturday showed that more than half of
Palestinians believe that a civil war has begun. Sixty-six percent expressed
pessimism regarding the general situation in the PA-controlled territories,
while more than 88% said they no longer felt secure.
The poll, conducted by
Fatah officials accused Hamas of declaring a "public war" on the
party and vowed to avenge the deaths of their colleagues. They said Hamas
snipers were using mosque rooftops to fire at Fatah members.
Hamas said the fighting was triggered by Fatah leaders with the aim of toppling
the Hamas-led government.
Two Fatah-run radio stations in
The latest clashes prompted Hamas to suspend talks with Fatah over the
formation of a PA unity government. Hamas said a decision had been taken to
protest against "crimes committed by Fatah gangs."
Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman in
Taha and other Hamas representatives called on PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to cut
short his current European tour and return immediately to the Gaza Strip to try
and calm the situation.
Tawfik Abu Khoussa, a senior Fatah official in the Gaza Strip, came out with a
scathing attack on Hamas, accusing its members of "practicing all forms of
sadistic crimes and thuggery."
Abu Khoussa said a "bloody gang" within Hamas was responsible for
driving the Palestinians toward civil war.
"They are perpetrating daily massacres against our people," he added.
"They blew up the offices of a TV station and killed dozens of security
officers and civilians."
PA Attorney-General Ahmed al-Mughni held PA Interior Minister Said Siam of
Hamas responsible for the latest killings, kidnappings and anarchy in the Gaza
Strip. He announced the formation of a commission of inquiry to investigate the
"crimes" perpetrated in there over the weekend.
As interior minister,
Mughni condemned the Executive Force as illegal and accused it of targeting
commanders and members of the PA security forces. "
Mughni also said the PA security forces had failed to execute thousands of
arrest warrants issued against suspected murderers and other criminals.
The clashes began late Thursday night when one member of the Executive Force
was killed and seven were wounded by a roadside bomb near the Jabalya refugee
camp.
In response, Hamas gunmen killed Nabil Jarjir, a senior member of Fatah's
armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.
Jarjir was wounded when his home came under fire. Hamas gunmen
subsequently stopped the ambulance that was carrying him to a hospital and shot
him in the head, killing him instantly.
On Friday, dozens of Hamas gunmen attacked the home of Mansour Shalayel, a
top Fatah operative in the northern Strip. The attack lasted for several hours,
only ending when hundreds of Fatah gunmen and PA policemen repelled the
assailants.
Although the house was completely destroyed by missiles and explosive devices,
Shalayel was only lightly wounded. Eight Hamas members and two Fatah men were
killed in the confrontation outside the house.
Also Friday, hand grenades were thrown at the homes of PA Foreign Minister
Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas and Gen. Rashid Abu Shabak, a Fatah leader and top PA
security commander in the
"The renewed fighting between Fatah and Hamas is a real national tragedy
for the Palestinians," said independent legislator Rawya Shawwa.
"They have crossed all red lines by storming homes and killing and
terrorizing women and children. Palestinians here are living in a state of
panic and despair."
(©) The
Analysis: Hamas's
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2007) Jamal Abu Jadian, a top Fatah commander, fled
his home in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday evening dressed as a woman to avoid
dozens of Hamas militiamen who had attacked it. He and several members of his
family and bodyguards were lightly wounded.
But when Abu Jadian arrived at a hospital a few hundred meters away from his
house, he was discovered by a group of Hamas gunmen, who took turns shooting
him in the head with automatic rifles.
"They literally blew his head off with more than 40 bullets," said
a doctor at
Abu Jadian, a close ally of Fatah warlord Muhammad Dahlan and a sworn enemy of
Hamas, was the third top Fatah commander to be killed by Hamas in the northern
Gaza Strip in the past few weeks. The other two were Muhammad Ghraib, a senior
commander of the Fatah-dominated Preventative Security Service, and Baha Abu
Jarad, a leading member of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing.
All three were killed after dozens of Hamas militiamen surrounded their
homes for hours, firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive
charges.
Hamas targeted them because it believed they were heads of a Fatah group that
has been targeting Hamas officials and activists over the past year. This
group, Hamas officials claim, is headed by Dahlan and other senior Fatah
leaders who, with the help of the
Three other senior Fatah leaders from the northern Gaza Strip who are allegedly
involved in the "plot" have also been targeted by Hamas. But the
three -- Sameeh Madhoun, Maher Miqdad and Mansour Shalayel -- have managed to
escape unharmed with their families.
In yet another blow to Fatah, about 200 Hamas gunmen on Tuesday stormed the
home of Nabil Sha'ath, a senior Fatah official who was closely associated with
Yasser Arafat.
Sha'ath was not at home, but one of his bodyguards was shot and wounded before
the Hamas attackers went on a rampage inside the villa.
In addition to attacking Fatah officials, Hamas has also driven many members of
the Palestinian Authority security forces out of the northern Gaza Strip. Since
the beginning of the year, Hamas militiamen there have taken over the
headquarters of the PA's General Intelligence, Force 17, Preventative Security,
National Security and Military Police.
Earlier this week, Hamas also "liberated" a large mosque in the
northern town of
On Tuesday it became clear that Hamas was now trying to extend its
"victories" to the rest of the Gaza Strip, particularly
"Hamas is effectively in control of the northern part of the Gaza
Strip," said a senior Fatah official. "Now they are trying to take
control of the entire Gaza Strip, and I'm afraid they are close to achieving
their goal."
Many Fatah officials in those areas have fled their homes over the past few
weeks for fear of being targeted by Hamas. One of them, Rashid Abu Shabak, is
Fatah's highest ranking security official in the Gaza Strip. He and his family
left the Gaza Strip after Hamas militiamen raided their villa in
Dahlan left the Gaza Strip two months ago and has been living in
Reports from the Gaza Strip Tuesday evening indicated that Hamas was close to
taking control of Khan Yunis, a traditional Fatah stronghold, which is also
Dahlan's hometown. Hamas militiamen occupied the most important symbols in the
area -- the headquarters of the Fatah-affiliated governor and buildings
belonging to different branches of the PA security forces.
A sign of Fatah's predicament in the Gaza Strip was illustrated late Monday
night when its leaders announced a unilateral cease-fire, only to be snubbed by
Hamas. Fatah leaders also made urgent appeals to a number of Arab governments
to interfere to stop the fighting, but their calls have fallen on deaf ears.
The Egyptians, Saudis and Jordanians -- who have, until now, been making huge
efforts to end the anarchy in the Palestinian areas -- are all fed up with the
Palestinians.
Unless the fighting stops in the next day or two, the entire Gaza Strip is
likely to fall into the hands of Hamas. All Fatah can do now is vent its anger
at the remaining handful of Hamas representatives in the
Tuesday night, PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas convened his top
aides in the
One of the options facing Abbas is to break up the coalition partnership with
Hamas and to officially declare war on the Islamic movement.
Whatever decision Abbas and his Fatah lieutenants take, it will be hard to
change the new reality that has been created on the ground, especially in the
Gaza Strip. As of today, the Palestinians can boast that they have two entities
-- one in the Gaza Strip run by Muslim fundamentalists and another one in the
"The two-state solution has finally worked," a Palestinian journalist
in the Gaza Strip commented sarcastically. "Today, all our enemies have
good reason to celebrate."
(©) The
16 killed in Hamas-Fatah clashes
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, June 12, 2007) The number of victims in the Hamas-Fatah
infighting rose to 16 early Tuesday morning when Hamas gunmen attacked the home
of Hassan Abu-Rabiah, a senior Fatah official.
Medical personnel said that three women and Abu-Rabiah's 14 year-old son
were killed in the attack. The gunmen kidnapped Abu-Rabiah.
The Fatah in turn torched a Hamas gunman's home.
Fatah gunmen killed a commander of Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, Monday
night. Palestinian sources reported that Fatah had kidnapped Muhammed
El-Dahdouh, killed him, and thrown his body near the Palestinian TV station in
In an earlier incident, Hamas killed Jamal Abu Il-Jidan, a senior Fatah
official, at his home in Beit Lahi.
Hamas and Fatah also took their fight to two Gaza Strip hospitals earlier
Monday, killing 10 people and wounding more than 25.
Separately, a Palestinian was thrown from a tall building in
Hamas claimed that the latest cycle of violence had been initiated by a number
of top Fatah officials with the aim of bringing down the Hamas-led coalition
governing the Palestinian Authority. Hamas leaders said the Fatah officials,
led by PA National Security Adviser Muhammad Dahlan, were receiving support
from the
According to a senior Hamas official, Dahlan recently established a new militia
called the Fatah Executive Force to fight Hamas. The official said Dahlan's
force consisted of several hundred heavily armed Fatah men.
Eyewitnesses said four Palestinians were killed in fierce fighting inside the
Doctors said they were forced to close the hospital because of the fighting,
which caused a power outage.
A similar gun battle erupted between Hamas and Fatah militiamen at
Hamas said Ajour was killed execution-style after being kidnapped by Fatah
gunmen and PA security officers.
Local reporters told The
The Palestinian Doctors'
Another top Hamas operative, Muhammad Muhjez, was killed outside the home of
senior Fatah official Jamal Abu Jadian in Bet Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Abu Jadian, who is one of the commanders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa
Martyrs Brigades, was later assassinated by Hamas militiamen.
Hamas men shot and killed Yasser Baker, an officer in the PA's General
Intelligence Force.
Earlier, Hamas accused Fatah militiamen of opening fire at the offices of the
PA government in
In a statement, the PA cabinet strongly condemned the shooting attack, saying
it was yet another sign of the growing anarchy in the PA-controlled
territories.
Hamas also accused Fatah of trying to assassinate PA Minister of Sports and
Youth Bassem Naim of Hamas. A group of masked men fired several shots at his
office at the ministry, but no one was hurt. The minister fled the area
together with his aides and bodyguards.
Husam Abu Kainas, 26, was killed early Monday after being thrown from the
12th floor of a building in
kidnapped a day earlier by Fatah militiamen who suspected him and his family of
belonging to Hamas.
On Sunday, Muhammad Sawariki, a member of the PA's Force 17
"Presidential Guard" and a Fatah supporter, died after he was thrown
from the 18th floor of another tower in
(©) The
Hamas threats keep crossing closed
|
Yaakov Katz, THE |
Jul. 5, 2007 |
Hamas's threat to open fire at throngs of Palestinians stranded in
According to the officials, 6,000 Palestinians have been marooned on the
Egyptian side of Rafah since Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip three
weeks ago and the closure of the Rafah crossing into
During his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would work to relieve the humanitarian crisis on the Egyptian side of Rafah.
In an effort to allow the stranded Palestinians to return home, the IDF
recently offered to
Egypt contacted Hamas and, according to Israeli officials, was told that
if Kerem Shalom was opened they would attack the crossing with mortars and
gunfire, even at the price of killing thousands of Palestinians.
(©) The
Fatah protest against Hamas ends in violence
[Journalists are also beaten and harassed by Hamas]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press, THE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A protest by Fatah supporters against Hamas rule turned violent Friday
when Hamas men began forcefully dispersing the crowd, firing in the air and
beating demonstrators and reporters.
Some 20 people were wounded in the clashes, including two French
journalists and two children, according to doctors and witnesses.
AP staff covering the protest witnessed the beating of one journalist by Hamas supporters. He was not seriously hurt.
The violence began at the end of a Fatah prayer meeting held to protest against Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory in June.
A similar protest last Friday also ended in clashes and harassment of journalists.
After the Fatah supporters finished prayers, Hamas men began firing into the air to disperse the crowd. The Hamas security forces then began arresting protesters and taking them away in jeeps, and also beat several demonstrators. AP Television News footage showed several uniformed Hamas men beating an unarmed protester with long sticks.
Hamas men in civilian clothes also joined the uniformed forces in dispersing the protest.
A small explosion from an unknown source injured two French journalists, one in his leg and the other on her hand. Neither injury was considered serious.
At one point, a Hamas security building was pelted with small explosive devices, according to an AP photographer on the scene. Hamas security agents responded by firing in the air.
After the clashes, heavily armed Hamas security agents entered AP's
offices in
Saber Khalifa, a Hamas security spokesman, said his force was rounding up "subverters." He didn't have a number of those arrested.
A Fatah official in
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1995-2007 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/
[Note: “Palestinian” high school students have been violently prevented from taking their matriculation examinations by the storm troopers of al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. The Brigades is the “military” arm of Fatah. Fatah, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, presently maintains exclusive control over the Palestinian Authority (in the wake of Abbas’ ouster of Hamas from the P.A. in June 2007). However, due to the fact that it is not Jewish “storm troopers” denying these “oppressed” Arab students the opportunity to educationally advance, the World seems unperturbed. Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]
Fatah gunmen ruin matriculation exams
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(July 8, 2007) Despite Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's decision
to ban militiamen from patrolling the streets of the West Bank, scores of Fatah
gunmen on Saturday forced teachers in Nablus to call off high school matriculation
exams (tawjihi).
The gunmen, who claim they are wanted by
Fayad said over the weekend that his government was determined to confiscate
the weapons of all militias and gangs in the
Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, rejected Fayad's statements,
saying its members would not hand over their weapons. "Our weapons are
legitimate because they are being used against the Israeli occupiers,"
said Muhammad Shehadeh, a spokesman for the group. "We reject Fayad's
attempt to depict us as a militia because we are a legitimate force. We call on
President Abbas to stop him and others from attacking us." Tensions
between Abbas and the Fatah gunmen have been mounting ever since the PA
chairman decided two weeks ago to ban all militias from operating in public in
the
Abbas also decided to incorporate the Aksa Martyrs Brigades into the PA
security forces, a move that would turn the gunmen into official security
officers entitled to full salaries.
Fatah officials revealed that hundreds of Fatah gunmen in the West Bank were
refusing to hand over their weapons to the PA unless they received high
salaries and ranks, as well as assurances that
"The problem is that all of them want to be colonels and generals although
many never finished high school," said one official. "I don't see how
we can solve this problem other than through dialogue. We are not interested in
a confrontation with these men."
In another blow to Abbas, a newly-appointed Fatah spokesman in the Gaza Strip
resigned over the weekend after receiving threats from the Aksa Martyrs
Brigades. Hazem Abu Shanab, a top Fatah operative in
Abbas decided last week that all students must report to public exam halls
throughout the
Until now, all Fatah gunmen were granted special treatment by the PA Ministry
of Education when sitting for the tawjihi. In addition to allocating secret
halls for them, the ministry also permitted the gunmen to enter the halls with
their weapons -- a move that was seen as a direct threat to the lives of the
teachers.
In the context of his efforts to end lawlessness and anarchy in the
Enraged by the decision, some 100 Fatah gunmen went on a rampage in a number
of schools in
One of the gunmen read a statement through a megaphone in which he announced
that his group had decided to close the halls until further notice because of
Abbas's decision.
"This decision was taken by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and all armed
factions in
Sahar Akoubeh, a senior official in the PA Ministry of Education, confirmed
that the gunmen had closed down the exam halls. She pointed out that some 250
students from the
One of the students who was forced to leave in the middle of the exam told The
Jerusalem Post that PA policemen at the scene refused to interfere to stop the
gunmen from closing the halls. "The policemen told us that they have
orders not to anger the Fatah gunmen," he said. "What kind of a
government is this? If they can't impose order, they must go."
(©) The
[Note: Fatah tortures Hamas prisoners
in
Abbas calls for early PA elections [excerpts republished]
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, July 20, 2007) Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
announced Wednesday that he was working toward holding early parliamentary and
presidential elections and said there would be no dialogue with Hamas until the
Islamist movement ended its violent "coup" in the Gaza Strip.
. . .
Abbas's announcement came amid growing tensions between Fatah and Hamas in
the
. . .
Two journalists who covered the
The protest was organized by a group of women outside the PA prison in the
city, where dozens of Hamas supporters are being held.
Hamas legislator Ahmed al-Haj delivered a speech in which he launched a
scathing attack on the PA leadership and security forces. In response, Fatah
gunmen tried to attack him, forcing the legislator to hide in a nearby post
office.
Col. Ahmed Sharqawi, commander of the
The demonstrators complained that some of the detainees had been brutally
tortured by Abbas's security forces in
In the Gaza Strip, a top Fatah leader, Zakariya al-Agha, accused Hamas of
torturing dozens of Fatah activists over the past few weeks. "I've seen
many forms of torture that were carried out by
(©) The
[Note: Even
Gazans speak of torture by Egyptians
By Khaled Abu Toameh
(Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2008) Several Gazans who were recently released from
Egyptian prison said they were "brutally tortured" during
interrogations.
According to the Palestinians, who returned to the Gaza Strip last week, the
torture methods included severe beatings, stripping naked, sleep deprivation,
sensory deprivation, electric shocks, whippings and verbal abuse.
The Gazans, who were suspected of membership in Hamas, entered
They were detained without trial and without the possibility of seeing a lawyer
or family members.
Sources in the Gaza Strip said at least 50 Palestinians had been held by
Under pressure from Hamas, the Egyptian authorities last week released nearly
half of the detainees, who were allowed to cross back into
Some of the detainees told reporters in the Strip on Sunday that the Egyptians
never told them the nature of the charges against them.
"When they arrested us, they told us we would be released within
hours," said one former detainee. "They didn't tell us anything about
the charges against us. The next thing we found ourselves moved to torture
centers belonging to the Egyptian mukhabarat [General Intelligence]."
Another former detainee said the Egyptian interrogators were "harsh and
violent" from the beginning. He said he and his friends were interrogated
about the general situation in the Gaza Strip and the whereabouts of top Hamas
figures.
"They wanted information about the movements of Muhammad Deif and Ahmed
Ja'abari [the heads of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam]," he said.
"They also wanted to know where [Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh]
hides when
He added that the Egyptians also sought information about the several armed
groups in
Another man who was released from prison said the Egyptians asked him a lot of
questions about kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit.
"They wanted to know where he's being held and the identity of his
captors," he said. "We found it strange that the Egyptians were
asking questions that you would expect to hear from Israeli
interrogators."
The former detainees called on the Egyptian people and parliament to condemn
their authorities for torturing Palestinians. They expressed shock at the
"inhumane and brutal" torture by the Egyptian security personnel.
"We had to deal with people who specialize in various forms of
torture," said one former prisoner. "They treated us like animals.
"We were allowed to go to the bathroom only twice a day and only when
accompanied by a police officer. The food they gave us is not good even for
animals. We never expected such treatment from our Arab brothers."
(©) The
[Note: In August 2007, the electricity grid in portions of
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**Editorial**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The EU precedent
(
In fact, the process of blaming
The fact that the lights had just then gone out in
The Gaza Generating Company (GGC, which supplies less than a quarter of the
Strip's power) idled three of its four generators, and its head, Rafik Malikha,
summoned a press conference and pointed fingers at
Yet even as many observers bought into the
EU donors, who foot the bill for
The true story was presented, from Ramallah, by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "After Hamas took over the electric company, it began collecting revenues from the population to fund its militia," he explained. "This in turn drove the EU to withhold its aid for providing fuel."
European resolve on this issue has proved fleeting, even though the EU
caught Hamas red-handed. Some 20 million per month is again flowing into
The EU has now discontinued its sanctions, having received unspecified, and doubtless empty, "assurances" that Hamas will change course.
If this brief episode showed anything -- apart from the knee-jerk alacrity
to blame
Hamas debt-collectors have for weeks been canvassing the Strip from
door-to-door, ordering residents to immediately pay their electricity arrears
-- not to the company, but to Hamas. The fact that even the EU could no longer
abide the duplicity and
The outage that kept much of
Albeit briefly, the EU didn't shy from shutting off the power to express its
umbrage at being cheated.
Ironically, the
Yet while the EU resorted to collective punishment to demonstrate its anger
at the abuse of its funds,
But the EU precedent only underlines how justified
The EU's intervention represented a perfect opportunity for
Sooner or later, if the rocket attacks continue and the terror networks
flourish,
(©) The
[Note: Scores, perhaps hundreds, of
“Palestinian” civilians residing in Nahr el-Bared, one of the 11 Apartheid
towns reserved for “Palestinians” in Lebanon (more commonly labeled “refugee
camps” by the international media), are being killed by Lebanese army troops as
the latter battle Islamists, mostly “Palestinian”, who are also based in this
town (as well as in the other 10 Apartheid towns of Lebanon). Yet the World -- including the Arab world
which regards itself as the preeminent defender of “Palestinian” rights --
seems to have no interest in excoriating the Lebanese government for the civilian
carnage as well as for the massive infrastructure damage inflicted upon this
“Palestinian” town. In fact, some Arab
countries have even provided
1,000s Flee Refugee
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
Associated Press
May 23 2007
TRIPOLI, Lebanon -- People flooded out of a besieged Palestinian refugee
camp Tuesday night, waving white flags and telling of bodies lying in the
streets and inside wrecked houses after three days of fighting between Lebanese
troops and Islamic militants.
Earlier in the day, a relief convoy came under fire when a cease-fire
abruptly shattered as U.N. workers tried to deliver food and water to
residents. A U.N. official said some who approached the convoy seeking supplies
were wounded or killed, but he did not have exact figures.
The nighttime lull that allowed the escape did not appear to be part of an
organized truce -- and there was no sign the battle was over. The government of
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said it was determined to uproot Fatah Islam, which
took up residence in the camp late last year.
There was no immediate indication of whether the flight of civilians would give
the government a freer hand in bombarding militants holed up in the camp. The
army has said its troops were trying to target only militant positions.
Twenty-nine soldiers and at least 20 militants had been killed since the battle
began Sunday in the heaviest internal fighting in
When fighting quieted after sunset, thousands of people took the chance to
escape. They streamed out of Nahr el-Bared's western gate on foot and in cars,
pickups and minivans jammed with men, women and children. Many waved white towels
or white plastic bags from the windows as they passed Lebanese soldiers
encircling the camp.
The camp is home to some 31,000 Palestinians who live crowded along narrow
streets. Video taken in the camp showed streets littered with damaged vehicles,
shards of glass and rubble from wrecked buildings, some in flames from
shelling.
Despite broadcast images of Arab troops battering a Palestinian community,
The backing underlined Arab leaders' desire to break what they see as a nascent
terror group. Fatah Islam's leader, Palestinian Shaker al-Absi, has been linked
to the former head of al-Qaida in
Some 215,000 people live in 11 camps, which are rife with armed groups and
Islamic extremists.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press
Lebanese 'defensive shield' -- no problem
By Joshua L. Gleis
(Jerusalem Post, May 31, 2007) More than 50 people have been killed -- the
civilian death toll is unknown -- as Lebanese Army forces battle Islamists in
the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared, located just outside of
The event that set off the shooting began last Sunday, after security forces
raided a building to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. The suspects were
associated with the same Fatah al-Islam elements apparently involved in the
bombing of two passenger buses last month filled with Lebanese Christians.
The resemblance of the Lebanese chain of events to
Following Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin, Palestinians, Arab League,
United Nations and human rights organizations all called for investigations
into the Israeli operation, initially dubbed a "massacre" by Arab
leaders and the news media. The IDF operation resulted in the deaths of 52
Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers.
Depending on which report you believe (Human Rights Watch's or the IDF's),
anywhere between 30 to 38 of the Palestinians killed were gunmen.
Still, protests were sent to the UN Security Council, and inquiries were
conducted by the UN, journalists and human rights organizations. All admitted
that no massacre had taken place; however Human Rights Watch and others did
claim that
CURIOUSLY, similar calls by the world community for investigations into the
recent fighting in
The UN has not been called upon to examine the operation, and some Western
newspapers even took the bold step of calling the Fatah al-Islam
"terrorist" -- a word absent in describing attacks against Israelis.
Plainly, while it is acceptable for Lebanese to deal with the Palestinians as
they see fit, it is not okay for the Israelis to defend themselves from
Palestinian violence.
Granted, the Palestinians are the most oppressed people in the Arab world: They
are denied citizenship by most of their Arab host countries, restricted from
jobs and educational opportunities, and deported from countries at the whim of
security officials. At the same time, contributions from the Arab world to
Palestinian "resistance" organizations continue, as Israeli-Palestinian
violence is played out on Arab television on a daily basis.
The only time the world seems to care about the Palestinian Arabs is when they
are suffering at the hands of Israelis. Amnesty International has issued more
reports on
So this begs the question: With regard to the most recent military activity in
the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in
The writer is a research fellow at the
(©) The
Twist of history finds Palestinian refugees fleeing back to Shatilla
By JACEY HERMAN
(Jerusalem Post, June 8, 2007) Palestinian refugees living in
Behind the bricked walls and tiny alleyways of Shatilla refugee camp in central
"The army's trying to kill as many Palestinians as possible," says
82-year-old Wafa al-Shami, who had left Shatilla in 1982 after the massacre by
Christian Phalangists that killed her brother and his family. She settled in
the northern coastal camp of Nahr el-Bared, only to return now.
"We're in the way," Shami says. "If
But this is something neither she nor the more than 400,000 Palestinian
refugees living in
Shami, originally from
Outside, precariously balanced cables run between several multistory
apartments. Some of the illegal electricity transformers block out the harsh
Lebanese sunlight.
The camp's cobbled streets are awash with knocked over garbage cans and dirty
water. Open gutters line the main road on which horse-pulled carts maneuver
through late-afternoon traffic.
"This is not a Lebanese-Palestinian problem," Shami's grandson, Mahmoud,
says. The family is sitting on mattresses and sipping black Arabic coffee. A
huge poster of the late Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin hangs on one
of the walls.
"Fatah al-Islam is not a Palestinian group," Mahmoud says. "They
are being sponsored by outside groups -- the Syrians, the Saudi prince, the
Lebanese government -- to build racism against the Palestinian people.... Now
all Palestinians here are being treated as terrorists. For the first time in my
life I am being stopped in the street and searched. This has never happened to
me before."
More than 300 families from Nahr el-Bared, the scene of the recent violence,
have moved into already overcrowded Shatilla. Living with friends and family,
most of them have nothing to go back to. There are fears the fighting could
spread.
Nearly half a million Palestinians live in a dozen refugee camps across
The Lebanese government justifies its position by arguing that if it normalized
conditions for the refugees, they would be less intent on returning to what is
today
Muhammad al-Mahmoud is a university student who has temporarily given up his
studies to help distribute food, clothing and cleaning materials to the latest
influx of refugees in Shatilla. A recreation center in the camp has been turned
into a warehouse where rolls of toilet paper, medicines and baby diapers are
piled up.
"It is a massacre that is going on," he says. "The media is
not showing it, but we know that more than 200 civilians -- all of them
Palestinian -- have been killed. People here don't care for the causes, we care
only for the results."
The results are an urgent appeal from the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) for $12.7 million in assistance.
The organization estimates that some 27,000 of Nahr el-Bared's 40,000
residents have fled. Most are now in the neighboring camp of Beddawi. But as
conditions there worsen, more are expected to move southwards to camps like
Shatilla and Sabra.
The Palestinian leadership in the
In a speech this week, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said the
militants had "nothing to do with the Palestinian struggle" and
endangered the lives of innocent Palestinians.
The PLO representative in
(©) The
'Only the reckless still drive here'
By JACEY HERMAN, Special to The Jerusalem Post
(Jerusalem Post, June 11, 2007) Plumes of smoke spiral into the sky from the
side of the highway that links
The driver steps hard on the accelerator as the sound of cannon fire explodes
overhead. We pull up alongside a closed restaurant and jump out of the car,
taking shelter with a family of Palestinian refugees standing with their backs
against a dark brick wall.
Behind us, the last remaining snipers from Fatah al-Islam take aim across
the empty highway, while to the front, staring down from the hilltops, are
Lebanese tanks responding with cannons.
Usually at this time of day the four lane road is filled with traffic in both
directions, but for more than a fortnight only the reckless or desperate have
driven here. The army says there is only a handful of gunmen still left in the
camp, but the standoff could well continue for a while, as Fatah al-Islam vows
to fight to the death.
An estimated 16 gunmen were killed over the weekend, while the army is
reporting no new casualties in its ranks. A brief lull in fighting during
Friday prayers allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross to ferry
out 85 camp residents, mostly women, children, the elderly and the infirm.
Water, cans of tuna and ready-to-eat meals were sent in.
An estimated 3,000 people are still inside, too scared to leave, or perhaps
afraid that if they abandon their homes the Lebanese army will bulldoze the
camp.
It's dangerous and scary here. It's easy to get hit in the crossfire.
Journalists are barred from entering Nahr al-Bared.
Five kilometers down the road, more than 30,000 refugees have found
temporary relief in another Palestinian refugee camp, Beddawi.
Already overcrowded and without adequate access to clean running water and
sanitation, things have deteriorated with the influx of newcomers.
Mahmoud al-Makdah is one of many without relatives or friends in Beddawi with
whom he can move in, and who has therefore been forced to take refuge in an
UNRWA elementary school. He, his wife, eight children and mother-in-law share a
classroom with two other families. A sheet separates the sleeping quarters of
each. Mattresses line the floor, and aside from a few blankets and a dirty
blackboard, the classroom is bare.
"I came here with my family because it's too dangerous to stay in Nahr
al-Bared," he tells me in clear, defiant English.
"We don't fight. Our people are not enemy for army
Some 5,000 people are living in the school.
"[Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad] Saniora says after [the] war is finished,
everyone will go back to his house. Saniora promised us he would rebuild our
camp. But I don't know what will happen after the war. If we go or if we don't
go, we don't know."
The question of where to resettle these people is on the backburner. For now,
nongovernmental organizations are working around the clock feeding and housing
the thousands. Supplies have reached the camp from all over
Meanwhile, a captured Fatah al-Islam gunmen confessed to Lebanese authorities
that the group was planning to attack United Nations officials and foreign
diplomatic services. The confession has again raised questions about who is
sponsoring the group and what their goals are. Both Hamas and Fatah leaders in
Beddawi camp said they had nothing to do with Fatah al-Islam. A Fatah
representative went as far as to complain that the group stole the
"Fatah" name to create problems between Palestinians and Lebanese.
A political analyst who spoke to The Jerusalem Post said there was still a huge
supply of weapons and ammunition inside Nahr al-Bared. The fighting could go on
for weeks, he said.
"It can still spill over into other camps. It depends whether or not the
Lebanese army is able to contain the situation. There are a lot of terrorists
inside the Palestinian camps. It is easy to enter
(©) The
[Note: Ominously, although the
Lebanese army has officially redefined the battered remnants of Nahr
el-Bared’s civilian population as enemy combatants in order to
justify massacring them without further ado, no component of the
international “human rights” community -- let alone the United Nations -- has
condemned this particularly heinous War Crime.
Even the Palestine Liberation Organization has publicly announced
its support for the depredations of the Lebanese army against the former
and present “Palestinian” residents of this Apartheid town! Moreover,
All available means
By MALCOLM GUNN
(Jerusalem Post, July 2, 2007) On May 22, a young carpenter called Mohammed
al-Saaid fled from Nahr el-Bared, the Palestinian refugee camp in northern
He left with nothing but the clothes he was wearing. "I had to leave at
night," he says. "It was dangerous in the day because there were
still some shots being fired."
He does not support Fatah al-Islam, but he is angry at the Lebanese army for
the way in which they are conducting the war. "They are firing artillery
randomly, even hitting mosques," he says. "The day before I left,
they destroyed my neighbor's house, and now since I have gone, I was told by
phone that they have also destroyed mine." Current estimates put the total
destruction at around 60 percent of the town.
Furthermore, the army has now announced that any civilian left inside will
be considered a combatant because they did not take the opportunity to flee
during the cease-fire.
It is true that, given the difficult circumstances of fighting a street war in
unknown territory, the army has a case for using artillery to protect the lives
of its soldiers; yet their uncompromising tactics have raised concerns and
suspicions from various quarters.
Christians and Shi'ites are worried that the Sunni-dominated government wants
to naturalize the camp's inhabitants into Lebanese society and President Emile
Lahoud suggested recently that the government was purposely razing the town
"as part of a plot that aims to settle Palestinian refugees in
Dr. Hilal Khasham, the director of Political Sciences at the
Most of the 30,000 refugees who have fled are now living in the Beddawi camp,
which lies on the outskirts of
Like many of his neighbors, al-Saaid believes that the government is trying to
demolish a trouble-spot camp to reduce the number of refugees in the country.
This would be in keeping with previous government policies. Al-Saaid recalls
how after the Nabatiyeh refugee camp was destroyed during the civil war, its
inhabitants were dispersed among the other already-overcrowded camps, mainly
Ein el-Hilweh on the outskirts of
The government has long followed discriminatory policies toward the
Palestinians, which Khasham says are meant to keep them poor and confined to
their camps. A report recently published by the UNRWA [United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] entitled
"Employability of Palestinians in Lebanon" demonstrated how this
policy works: "Palestinians do not have social and civil rights, and have
very limited access to the government's public health or educational facilities
and no access to public social services. Considered as foreigners,
Worryingly, the UNRWA report warns that "the newly-emergent and fragile
sovereignty of post-war
Meanwhile, a comparative study conducted by Marwan Khawaja of AUB [
THE BURJ Barajneh and Shatilla camps, which lie on the southern outskirts of
Many of the buildings which rise up above the narrow streets are crumbling and
falling into disrepair. Even more are scattered with bullet holes from the
various battles the PLO fought with Lebanese armed groups during the civil war.
Baha'a Hassoun, the UNRWA camp service officer, says the government
regularly cuts off electricity, has not provided clean drinking water since
1985 and often stops supplies from entering the camps. In 1992, the Lebanese
government passed a law banning Palestinians from buying property outside the
camps.
Doctors at the UNRWA health clinic say that levels of depression are unusually
high and that many people suffer from respiratory tract infections, which they
suspect are due to impurities in the water.
Yosef Bader, the head of the Popular Committee in the camp, sums up the
situation with the gloomy assessment that "nobody treats the Palestinians
like human beings, not even the Lebanese."
According to Rosemary Sayigh, author of Too Many Enemies: Palestinian
Refugees in Lebanon, the principal root of the discrimination was Lebanon's
sectarian regime, set up to maintain Maronite political domination and
threatened by high rates of Maronite emigration, higher Muslim birthrates and
the country's pro-Western foreign policy orientation.
"Official discrimination against the refugees has been supported by large
sectors of Lebanese society since somewhat before the
However, aside from the political discrimination, Khasham says that the army's
actions reflect a racism that pervades Lebanese society. "There is only
one thing that unites the Lebanese; that is their hatred for the Palestinians.
Because of the parochial nature of our society, people look down upon newcomers
-- and especially the Palestinians -- because of their inferior status as
refugees."
THIS SEPTEMBER marks the 25th anniversary of a civil war atrocity which still
scars the Palestinian consciousness. In the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, as
many as 3,000 Palestinians were slaughtered by Bashir Gemayel's Christian
Phalangist group.
Mohammed was a young man when the Phalangists entered with the apparent
intention of routing out PLO terrorists and ammunition. "I did not realize
that the massacre had happened until it was over," he said. "It was
only when I came outside afterwards that I saw how they had killed my
neighbor's wife and children."
Munir Marouf, the UNRWA camp service officer at Shatilla, explains that the
[Lebanese Christian] Phalangists mainly killed their victims using knives so
that the majority of residents were unaware of what was going on until it was
too late. "It was a revenge attack because they [the Phalangists] believed
that Palestinian terrorists were behind the assassination of Gemayel."
It is clear that the war at Nahr el-Bared does not fall into the category of
atrocity that the Shatilla massacre does. However, Human Rights Watch has
issued a report cataloguing a series of complaints from Palestinians fleeing
the camp of beatings by the army.
In one case, the Lebanese military reportedly detained a 21-year-old
Palestinian man for interrogation at different locations for four days. During
the interrogations, he was at various times punched and slapped by army
interrogators. "They put me back in a cell, and I slept blindfolded with
my hands tied. I heard screams from other rooms: 'My arm! My hand!'" In
another case, the army interrogated three young Palestinian men in a private
house near Nahr el-Bared. According to two of the young men, members of
Lebanese military intelligence subjected them to kicks, punches and beatings
with rifle
butts.
"They beat me with their hands, feet and even their weapons, on the arms,
hands, back and even my face and legs. It lasted, on and off, for about three
hours. They threatened me with a knife that they would cut off my toes if I
didn't speak," he said.
GIVEN THE circumstances, one would have expected the siege of Nahr el-Bared
to have ignited an angry response from the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO). However, Fatah has publicly distanced itself from Fatah al-Islam and
sided with the Lebanese army. After Prime Minister Fuad Saniora met with the
Palestinian Follow-Up Committee, PLO representative in
There was not even any complaint from them when the[Lebanese] army broke the
1969 agreement that forbids them to enter any [“Palestinian”] refugee camp.
According to Sayigh, "Their support for the army tries to protect camp
inhabitants from those Lebanese who identify them with the extremist Islamic
groups. The current battles have brought Lebanese anti-Palestinianism to the
surface again."
However, it is also clear that the PLO has been silent because it is too weak
to stand up against the government. The organization has never really recovered
from the joint Israeli-Christian Lebanese offensive of 1982, when 8,800 PLO
guerrillas -- including former PLO leader Yasser Arafat and the whole Fatah
hierarchy -- were removed from the country. Since then, the Lebanese government
has tried to stifle their power, since as the representative force of the
Palestinians, they have the greatest ability to push for more rights.
"Now they are a defeated organization who have no hope of coordinating a
successful resistance," says Khasham. "They are surrounded by the
Lebanese military, their land is not contiguous like in