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 Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Great Britain, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Yemen are also in occupation of other islands which lie beyond their territorial waters, 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 only for those victims who are fellow Muslims. Yet, neither is this strictly accurate. For, despite the fact that Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey occupy (Muslim) Kurdistan, 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 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 Asia, affecting hundreds of millions of people), the relatively affluent “Palestinian” Arabs continue to receive more per capita financial aid than anyone else on the planet. No other “oppressed” people have ever been accorded this level of international recognition and financial assistance. Clearly, the World accords special and unique support to the “Palestinian” Arabs.

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 Israel is “oppressing” them (i.e., when Israel is defending itself against terror attacks perpetrated by them). For, this gives the World a fine excuse to artfully conceal its ancient hatred of the Jewish people behind the nouveau facade of a feigned concern for the “plight” of the “Palestinians”.

© Mark Rosenblit

 

[Note:  In 2005, following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri by Syria (acting via its Lebanese surrogates), mass protests by hundreds of thousands of Lebanese eventually forced Syria to withdraw its military troops from Lebanon.  However, the Syrian Occupation was not terminated;  it was merely diminished.  This is because Syria’s intelligence agents remain in place throughout Lebanon to facilitate the assassination of anti-Syria politicians and journalists as well as the implementation of strikes and riots against the Lebanese government, 1,000,000 Syrian settlers continue to occupy Lebanese land in the East, and the Hizbollah terrorist organization continues to act as Syria’s (and Iran’s) surrogate army on Lebanese soil.  Moreover, in the aftermath of al-Hariri’s assassination, the Arab and larger Muslim worlds have neither assumed a hostile posture against Syria nor taken any other action to assist Lebanon in truly freeing itself from the Syrian Occupation.  In fact, the League of Arab States has wholeheartedly supported Syria’s occupation of Lebanon from its inception in 1976.  -- Mark Rosenblit]

 

[Note:  Some 40,000 “Palestinian” Arabs have lived in Iraq for generations. In the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War, liberated Iraqis have begun to evict “Palestinians” from their homes and to otherwise wreak vengeance upon them in retaliation for their slavish support of Iraq's former regime. Yet, predictably, no advocate for the “Palestinian” Cause -- even among the “Palestinian” leadership itself -- has deigned to cease fabricating calumnies against Israel long enough to publicly protest the very real threat to the lives of “Palestinians” residing in Iraq. For, that is the limit of the World's “concern” for the “plight” of the “Palestinians”. -- Mark Rosenblit, April 2003]

 

[Note:  Although the below-claimed numbers of “Palestinian” Arabs in Iraq seem to be grossly inflated, the below article nonetheless shines some rare light on the serious dangers -- many of them self-inflicted -- which confront the “Palestinians” in that country.  It is instructive that from 2003 until now -- some two years later -- there have not been any public protests or condemnations by the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, individual Arab or (non-Arab) Muslim states, or even the leadership of the Palestinian Authority over this crisis.  Nor have there been any public demonstrations or condemnations by any of the numerous non-governmental “human rights” organizations throughout the World, such as Amnesty International, Christian Aid and Human Rights Watch, which constantly accuse Israel of committing war crimes -- and even genocide -- against the “Palestinians”.  At most, some Palestinian Authority officials have recently fretted that the “Palestinians” of Iraq might be deported from their places of residence to the territories governed by the Palestinian Authority, thereby demonstrating the latter’s distinct lack of enthusiasm for hosting such a “Palestinian ingathering”.  Otherwise, there has been virtually no media coverage of this situation.  Alas, if only it were the Jews who were persecuting these “Palestinians”, then international outrage and front page headlines would quickly follow.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit, June 2005]

Palestinians in Iraq allege persecution

By Khaled Abu Toameh

(Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2005) Following reports that Palestinians have been involved in the latest wave of terrorist attacks in Iraq, Palestinian Authority officials on Sunday expressed deep concern that the new Iraqi government would deport thousands of Palestinians.

The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Iraqi security forces had recently arrested dozens of Palestinians in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities on charges of helping terrorists launch suicide attacks against Iraqi policemen and US troops. Some of the Palestinians who were arrested alleged that they had been tortured during interrogations.

The Palestinian community in Iraq consists of some 200,000 people, who are mostly located in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein granted the Palestinians special privileges and paid for their accommodation and education.

"We're very concerned for the safety of the Palestinian community in Iraq," said one official. "We believe the new government in Iraq is targeting Palestinians because of their support for the former regime of Saddam Hussein."

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 Iraq for many years with his wife and three children, was recently transferred to a hospital in Nablus after being tortured by Iraqi security personnel.

Aghbar said he was stopped by members of the Iraqi National Guard as he was on his way to work in Baghdad.

"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 Iraq immediately." Aghbar said many Palestinians have been targeted by Iraqi security forces and citizens over the past
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 Iraq as another nakba (catastrophe) -- a term used by Palestinians when referring to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs during the 1948 War of Independence.

"Palestinians living in Iraq are being subjected to daily attacks and humiliation," Andraus said. "The surrogate government in Baghdad has expelled them from their homes, turning them into refugees living on the streets and in parks and school yards. Now they are afraid that the new Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, who has been exchanging letters with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would issue a decree to transfer the Palestinians from Iraq."

Adli Sadek, a prominent columnist and PA official, warned that the Palestinians living in Iraq were facing a real and dangerous catastrophe. "Some 700 families have been kicked out of their homes in Baghdad," he said. "Many of our young men are facing death threats. At least 300 families have set up a refugee camp called al-Awdah, or Return "-- a reference to the refugees' right of return to their original homes inside Israel.

"The situation is very grave and unbearable," Sadek added. "Our leadership must raise this issue with Washington because the Americans need to know that the National Guard which they established and trained in Iraq is killing and persecuting Palestinians."

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

[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 Iraq

By Khaled Abu Toameh

(Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2007) After 18 members of her family were brutally murdered by Shiite militiamen in Baghdad, Nadia Othman, a 36-year-old Palestinian mother of three, finally managed to escape to Jordan together with hundreds of Palestinian families that had been living in Iraq for decades.

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 Iraq since the downfall of Saddam Hussein, but many still have no place to go to.

Iraq's Arab neighbors, Syria and Jordan, have imposed stringent restrictions on the entry of the refugees, leaving many of them stranded along the border in harsh and inhuman conditions.

Until three years ago, the number of Palestinians living in Iraq was estimated at 30,000. Under Saddam, Palestinians enjoyed many privileges that only a few Iraqis were entitled to: free accommodation, free health services and free education.

Today, Nadia said, "There are less than 10,000 Palestinians living in Iraq and most of them are afraid to walk out of their homes. My sister, who stayed behind, told me this week that she hasn't left her apartment in the Baladiyat suburb of Baghdad for the past three weeks for fear of being killed by Shi'ite militiamen. I'm very concerned for the safety of my mother and five brothers who have still not been able to escape from Iraq."

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 Iraq."

Another Palestinian who fled Iraq and was recently reunited with his family in the northern West Bank described the campaign against the Palestinians in Iraq as "genocide." The Shiites, particularly the pro-Iranian Mahdi Army, are waging a war to eliminate the entire Palestinian population in Iraq, he told The Jerusalem Post. "This is a real genocide. Why isn't the international community doing anything to stop this? How come none of the Arab countries has even issued a statement condemning the atrocities?"

He said Palestinians who were still living in Baghdad are so afraid that they are using forged documents to conceal their true identity. "It's very dangerous to be a Palestinian in Iraq," he said. "The murderers stop you in the street and ask you to say a few sentences. If they see that you have a Palestinian accent, they make you stand against the wall and shoot you. These are ruthless murderers."

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 Iraq.

"A large number of Palestinians who ran away from Iraq are now living in a makeshift refugee camp in the Ruwaished area near the Iraq-Jordan border," he said. "The Jordanian authorities have allowed many to enter the kingdom, especially those families whose parents carry Jordanian citizenship, but that is not enough."

Agha said another 400 Palestinians were now living in tents provided by humanitarian organizations along the border between Syria and Iraq after the Syrian authorities denied them entry. "Others were more fortunate to find shelter in Egypt and Yemen," he said. "Just last week another four Palestinians were abducted and brutally murdered in Baghdad. Our people in Iraq are facing ethnic cleansing and this is a real tragedy."

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 Iraq said his interrogators repeatedly accused him and all Palestinians of supporting Saddam Hussein's suppression of the Shiites over the past three decades. He had been kidnapped together with 40 Palestinians from the Amin neighborhood in Iraq.

"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 Iraq or else we will finish off all of you.'"

Khairiyeh Yehya, director of a think-tank organization in Jenin, said Palestinians in Iraq were paying a heavy price "just because of their nationality."

"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 Iraq to move to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"This requires a political solution," he said. "We need to persuade Israel to give these poor people permission to enter our territories. This is a purely humanitarian issue that must be addressed urgently."

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

[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 United States has publicly and consistently demanded any halt to this internecine bloodshed.  Nor has any of the plethora of non-governmental “human rights” organizations, such as Amnesty International, Christian Aid and Human Rights Watch, publicly raised its voice out of their own famous “concern” for the “plight” of the “Palestinians.”  Again, if only it were Israel killing these “Palestinians”, then the World would, no doubt, re-discover its moral compass, and demand a cessation of these hostilities. The below opinion article also makes the point that the “plight” of the “Palestinians” -- including young “Palestinian” children killed by assault weapons -- do not merit the “concern” of the World, unless Israel can be blamed for the carnage.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]

 Another Tack: The slaying of Yihyeh Abu-Bakra

Sarah Honig, THE JERUSALEM POST

Feb. 1, 2007

Let's indulge briefly in a hypothetical case history. Two-year-old Yihyeh Abu-Bakra is shot dead in Gaza. He's an incidental victim, classic collateral damage. A stray bullet ends his short sojourn on this earth, exceedingly prematurely. The Arab media -- not unexpectedly and with suspect instantaneous certitude -- proclaim that the fatal projectile was fired by Israelis. This assertion, albeit a tad too immediate, is accepted as gospel around the globe.

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 Gaza's ongoing resistance against Israeli occupation (never mind that the last Israeli exited in 2005; the pretext for carnage and Kassam barrages is too enticing to forgo). In no time Yihyeh's fame rivals that of Muhammad al-Dura, who was said to have been cold-bloodedly assassinated by Israeli troops on September 30, 2000.

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 Israel then, nor repetition of the scenario in Yihyeh's sequel. And so, once more Israel is tainted with the blood of innocents. Yihyeh's distraught mother stars, screaming hysterically and tearing her hair, on all TV channels, while the toddler's dad vows vengeance.

Israel is again -- hardly unexpectedly -- pilloried by the court of righteous opinion. The international community is aghast. More underage blood taints the hands of Jewish descendants of deicide-perpetrators and serial slaughterers of Christian tots for the purposes of ritual pastry preparation.

[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 Israel is coerced to risk yet additional existentially hazardous concessions, the World will know no peace.

[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 Paris.

Even the hero of Chechnya, one [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, reprovingly lectures the Jewish state about its ruthless brutality. Needless to note, the UN Security Council convenes for the obligatory Israel-bashing session.

Israel is laden with shame. IDF top brass and otherwise hyperactive government mouthpieces hem and haw, yammer and stammer, own up to an unmeasured degree of culpability, pending a thorough, slow, lugubrious investigation.

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 Gaza.
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 Jerusalem Post

 

[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 An-Najah University in Nablus, surveyed 1,360 people from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem and has a 3% margin of error.

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 Gaza City went off the air after their workers received death threats from Hamas. Yehyah Mussa, a Hamas legislator in Gaza City, had earlier called on Hamas supporters to attack the two stations, saying they were inciting against Hamas.

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 Gaza City, said the latest violence was part of a scheme designed to bring down the Hamas-led government and ignite civil war. "Hamas will not allow Fatah conspirators to drag the Palestinians toward civil war," he said. "They are trying to serve the interests of the Americans and Zionists."

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, Siam is formally in charge of the PA security forces. But since most of his powers have been taken by Abbas, Siam is responsible only for the paramilitary "Executive Force" that he established last year.

Mughni condemned the Executive Force as illegal and accused it of targeting commanders and members of the PA security forces. "Siam is providing cover for murderers who are responsible for the anarchy," Mughni charged. "He has even given some of the murderers the opportunity to go on vacation abroad."

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 Gaza Strip. Neither was hurt in the separate attacks.

"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 Jerusalem Post

 

Analysis: Hamas's Gaza and Fatah's West Bank
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 Kamal Udwan Hospital.

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 US and Israel, are part of a "plot" to remove Hamas from power.

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 Beit Lahiya that was a known Fatah stronghold. Hamas has also taken control of a hospital and several medical centers in the area.

On Tuesday it became clear that Hamas was now trying to extend its "victories" to the rest of the Gaza Strip, particularly Gaza City and the southern towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah.

"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 Gaza City and killed six of his bodyguards.

Dahlan left the Gaza Strip two months ago and has been living in Cairo. At least seven other top Fatah officials have sought refuge in the West Bank after receiving permission from Israel to leave the Gaza Strip.

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 West Bank. The majority of the Hamas leaders in the West Bank are in Israeli jails and the Islamic movement does not have a strong military presence there.

Tuesday night, PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas convened his top aides in the West Bank to assess the situation in the wake of what he has called the "military coup" staged by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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 West Bank under the control of secular Fatah leaders.

"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 Jerusalem Post

 

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 Gaza.

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 Gaza City in the second incident of its kind in 24 hours.

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 US and Israel.

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 Bet Hanun Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Among the victims were Eid al-Masri, and his sons, Faraj and Ibrahim.

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 Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, the largest medical center in the Strip, where two people were killed. One of the victims was identified as Mazen Ajour, a commander of Izaddin Kassam.

Hamas said Ajour was killed execution-style after being kidnapped by Fatah gunmen and PA security officers.

Local reporters told The Jerusalem Post that dozens of families living close to the hospital fled their homes out of fear for their lives.

The Palestinian Doctors' Union called on all militiamen to immediately withdraw from the hospitals, saying the fighting was threatening the lives of hundreds of patients. The union also appealed to the PA leadership to intervene to stop the fighting between Fatah and Hamas.

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 Gaza City. No one was hurt in the attack. In response, PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas called off the weekly cabinet meeting.

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 Gaza City.  Hamas said he had been
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 Gaza City.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

Hamas threats keep crossing closed

Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jul. 5, 2007

Hamas's threat to open fire at throngs of Palestinians stranded in Egypt has thwarted Israeli plans to open the Kerem Shalom crossing to southern Gaza on Wednesday to let the travelers return to their homes, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post.

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 Egypt. Palestinians shelled the crossing last week, forcing its closure after it had been used as an alternative to the Karni cargo crossing to send food and other supplies into Gaza.

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 to open the Kerem Shalom crossing -- which connects Israel, Gaza and Egypt -- to pedestrian travel.

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.

Israel immediately canceled the plans and is waiting to see if Egypt succeeds in convincing Hamas to allow Kerem Shalom to be used to help the stranded Palestinians.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

Fatah protest against Hamas ends in violence

[Journalists are also beaten and harassed by Hamas]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST         Aug. 31, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Gaza City and instructed staff not to film or photograph a nearby security building from the balcony without prior permission.

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 Gaza said 25 men were rounded up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Israel, were protesting Abbas's refusal to allow them to sit for the exams in secret halls for "security reasons." And in yet another challenge to Abbas's authority, Fatah gunmen in the West Bank strongly condemned PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad for his criticism of the various militias and his call for disarming them.

Fayad said over the weekend that his government was determined to confiscate the weapons of all militias and gangs in the West Bank, adding that the Palestinians won't be able to establish a state under the current state of anarchy.

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 West Bank.

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 Israel would stop targeting them.

"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 Gaza, was appointed less than two weeks ago as the faction's official spokesman there. His decision to quit came after the Aksa Martyrs Brigades accused him of being closely associated with former Fatah security commander Muhammad Dahlan.

Abbas decided last week that all students must report to public exam halls throughout the West Bank, drawing sharp criticism from hundreds of gunmen belonging to the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

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 West Bank, Abbas last week instructed PA Education Minister Lamis Alami to cancel the practice of allocating special halls to the fugitives.

Enraged by the decision, some 100 Fatah gunmen went on a rampage in a number of schools in Nablus, forcing the ministry to call off the exams. Firing warning shots into the air, the gunmen ordered hundreds of students to leave four halls where the exams were being held.

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 Nablus," the masked gunman said. "We will not allow the exams to be held until President Abbas accepts our demand to have our own halls. We can't go to public halls together with hundreds of students because we are wanted by the Israelis."

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 Nablus area were registered as gunmen who are wanted by Israel and that they were demanding special treatment under the pretext that their lives were at stake.

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 Jerusalem Post

 

[Note:  Fatah tortures Hamas prisoners in Nablus, and Hamas tortures Fatah prisoners in Gaza;  but the World remains unmoved because Israel is not the torturer.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]

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 West Bank. On Wednesday, PA policemen used force to disperse demonstrators in Nablus who were protesting against the arrest of Hamas supporters and activists in the city by Abbas's security forces.

. . .

Two journalists who covered the Nablus demonstration complained that PA policemen beat them and broke their cameras. Five demonstrators were arrested.

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 Nablus police, said about 50 women participated in the "unlicensed" demonstration outside the prison and tried to block some roads. He also accused the women of hurling insults at the PA policemen.

The demonstrators complained that some of the detainees had been brutally tortured by Abbas's security forces in Nablus. They also accused the PA policemen of stealing the personal belongings of their sons.

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 Israel, but what Hamas is doing is more brutal and ruthless," he said, noting that some detainees had died in Hamas-controlled prisons.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

[Note:  Even Egypt is able to torture “Palestinian” detainees without incurring any international criticism.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]

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 Egypt during the 12 days after thousands of Palestinians knocked down the border fence on January 23.

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 Egypt since the border was breached.

Under pressure from Hamas, the Egyptian authorities last week released nearly half of the detainees, who were allowed to cross back into Gaza.

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 Israel attacks the Gaza Strip."

He added that the Egyptians also sought information about the several armed groups in Gaza and their relationships with Hamas.

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 Jerusalem Post

 

[Note: In August 2007, the electricity grid in portions of Gaza was briefly shut down.  Although Israel was initially blamed for this “atrocity”, it transpired that the real culprit was the European Union, which had temporarily ceased paying for some of Gaza’s fuel supply.  Consequently, international outrage did not follow.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Editorial**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The EU precedent

(Jerusalem Post, August 26, 2007) For several days last week many thousands of Gaza residents had to make do without electricity. Had Israel switched off the power -- most of which is generated by Israel -- it is safe to assume that the international community would have been incensed.

In fact, the process of blaming Israel had already been kick-started with news that fuel deliveries from Israel to Gaza were being suspended at the Nahal Oz crossing -- because of warnings of an impending terror attack.

The fact that the lights had just then gone out in Gaza was automatically ascribed to Nahal Oz's closure. The Hamas-led Gaza regime rushed to make the link.

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 Israel: "We received no fuel for two days because Israel prevents vehicles from approaching the crossing," he declared.

Yet even as many observers bought into the Israel-to-blame line, Nahal Oz was reopened, but the Gaza blackout persisted. It emerged that the European Union was responsible.

EU donors, who foot the bill for Gaza's fuel purchases, accused Hamas of siphoning off the GGC's income to finance extraneous activities -- the nature of which it is, unfortunately, not difficult to deduce.

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 Gaza to finance fuel purchases for the GGC, without any reliable guarantees that some of this income won't be diverted for nefarious purposes.

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 Israel for all Palestinian ills -- it is that Hamas is as corrupt as it has accurately and resonantly accused Fatah of being. In the past it was Hamas that charged that Fatah was skimming off GGC earnings.

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 Gaza's gangster-style fund-raising speaks volumes.

The outage that kept much of Gaza not only darkened but also without water (since the pumping stations couldn't function) was caused by some of Gaza's best friends.

Albeit briefly, the EU didn't shy from shutting off the power to express its umbrage at being cheated. Israel, dreading adverse reaction from the EU, among others, fears doing the same even in self-defense.

Ironically, the Ashkelon power station that produces most of the Hamas bailiwick's power is regularly targeted by Kassam rockets. Sderot children are expected to go back to school in a few days' time despite the danger that their classrooms will be hit.

Yet while the EU resorted to collective punishment to demonstrate its anger at the abuse of its funds, Israel is wary of doing the same when lives are at stake.

Israel rightly does not want to create a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, or to directly exacerbate deterioration there -- both because of international criticism and, more importantly, its own genuine concern for the well-being of ordinary people.

But the EU precedent only underlines how justified Israel would be in demanding, as a condition for continued supply of electricity to the Strip, a complete halt to the Kassam attacks, among other measures.

The EU's intervention represented a perfect opportunity for Israel to better explain to the international community what is at stake when Hamas abuses the world's ongoing efforts to help the Palestinians.

Sooner or later, if the rocket attacks continue and the terror networks flourish, Israel will be left with no choice but to apply such and other penalties, to prevent Hamas in Gaza from biting the Israeli hand that helps feed it.

Israel would do well to prepare the ground for such moves by drawing world attention to the EU's extraordinary measure, and to the cynical governance by Hamas that prompted it.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

[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 Lebanon with military supplies in order to assist it in its war against the town.  And even the Palestinian Authority has issued a public statement which implies that the massive assault against this “Palestinian” town is justified! Moreover, the Lebanese government has been able to bar journalists -- seeking to accurately report on the siege -- from entering this battered town without encountering protest from any quarter. The result of Lebanon’s onslaught is that this “Palestinian” town has been virtually razed by tank and artillery bombardment, and more than 90% of its civilian population has fled, while the World, including the entire spectrum of international “human rights” organizations (such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Christian Aid), has averted its gaze.  Perhaps Israel should have assisted Lebanon in perpetrating these War Crimes against the civilian population of Nahr el-Bared, so as to awaken the World’s conscience against these atrocities.  Read on!  -- Mark Rosenblit]

1,000s Flee Refugee Camp

Area
Targeted By Lebanese Troops

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 Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war. But the number of civilian casualties remained unknown because relief workers were not able to get inside the camp.

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, Lebanon's government has received widespread support at home and from Arab countries, some of which have even provided weapons to help the siege.

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 Iraq and is believed to have recruited about 100 fighters, including militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab countries.

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 Tripoli.

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 Israel's April 2002 assault on the Jenin refugee camp as part of Operation Defensive Shield is striking. Israel launched its attack after sustaining seven suicide bombings in a two-week period, culminating in the bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya on Seder night, which killed 30 civilians.

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 Israel had violated international law.

CURIOUSLY, similar calls by the world community for investigations into the recent fighting in Lebanon are absent. Missing are the cries of the Arab world for an investigation into the deaths of innocent Palestinians. Gone are the demands by human rights organizations to access the area and scrutinize the actions of the Lebanese Army vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

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 Israel than the Sudan. The hypocrisy is astonishing.

So this begs the question: With regard to the most recent military activity in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in Lebanon, where are the cries of "massacre"?

The writer is a research fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard University, and a Ph.D candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

Twist of history finds Palestinian refugees fleeing back to Shatilla

By JACEY HERMAN

(Jerusalem Post, June 8, 2007) Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon say they fear they're the target of a Beirut government-sponsored plan to get rid of them.

Behind the bricked walls and tiny alleyways of Shatilla refugee camp in central Beirut, they whisper in hushed tones about the violence of the past fortnight. At least 114 people, including 46 Lebanese soldiers, have been killed in clashes between the army and militants of a previously little-known extremist group, Fatah al-Islam.

"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 Lebanon wants a peace process with Israel, they need to get rid of us refugees. The government doesn't want to give us Lebanese identity, and Israel will never accept the 'right of return,' so the solution for the Lebanese is to kill as many Palestinians as possible and scatter us all over the world. They want us to forget our identity."


But this is something neither she nor the more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon will ever do. Without a house -- Shami saw hers blown up on television -- and only a small suitcase containing her clothes, medicine and bed sheets, she's desperately anxious about what the future in an all-too-familiar saga holds.

Shami, originally from Acre, moved with her four sons, their wives and children into the two-bedroom apartment of her niece in the center of Shatilla.

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 Lebanon. Denied civil rights, the refugees suffer the harshest conditions of Palestinian refugees anywhere, including being prevented from working in about 75 professions.

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 Israel.

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 West Bank and Gaza Strip has tried to distance itself from Fatah al-Islam, which sided with the Lebanese authorities after it was kicked out of Sabra and Shatilla by the PLO in the 1970s.

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 Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, has called for Palestinians in Lebanon to be allowed to set up their own security force in the camps to prevent the formation of armed gangs. After briefing Abbas on the situation, Zaki said he believed the fighting in Nahr el-Bared was in its final stages. He said the militants were asking to be allowed to stay in the camp or given asylum in another country -- neither of which he believed should be granted.

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

'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 Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, to the rest of the country. Where the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared once stood, just north of the city, only the burned-out shells of buildings remain.

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 Lebanon. But how can we continue to live here in this school? There is not enough space, there are 60 people living in each classroom. Can you imagine how we sleep, how we breathe?"

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 Beirut and the situation has stabilized.

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 Lebanon because we are a state without borders. I believe Fatah al-Islam is supported by al-Qaida with the backing of Syria. But I don't think this latest round of violence will lead to civil war because Hizbullah is not involved -- it's not in their interest to become involved -- and without Hizbullah, the violence is only affecting a minority of people."

(©) The Jerusalem Post

 

[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, Lebanon’s numerous Apartheid restrictions against its “Palestinians” continue apace.  And, despite all of the foregoing, the “Palestinian” victims of Apartheid Lebanon continue to blame Israel for their travails, and they continue to pray for the Jewish State’s annihilation.  Read on! -- Mark Rosenblit]

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 Lebanon where the Lebanese military are currently fighting the Islamist terrorist group Fatah al-Islam.

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 Lebanon." As a Christian Maronite, he fears the greater voting power that a naturalized Palestinian minority of 400,000 people would give to the Sunni bloc.

Dr. Hilal Khasham, the director of Political Sciences at the American University of Beirut, characterizes Lahoud's view as slightly paranoid. He argues that "due to the multi-confessional make-up of the country's electoral system, in which each religious sect has its specific allotment of power, nobody wants a naturalized Palestinian minority. Even the Sunnis fear that they would steal their slice of the electoral cake."

Most of the 30,000 refugees who have fled are now living in the Beddawi camp, which lies on the outskirts of Tripoli. They are being housed temporarily in any spare space that can be found. "Every single household is putting up at least one guest," says Ali Abdul, an UNRWA employee there. The camp is so crowded, it is hard to drive up the main street to the UNRWA school, where al-Saaid has been sleeping on a classroom floor.

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 Sidon, or given visas to go abroad.

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, Palestine refugees are prohibited by law from working in more than 70 trades and professions. This has led to a very high rate of unemployment amongst the refugee population."

Worryingly, the UNRWA report warns that "the newly-emergent and fragile sovereignty of post-war Lebanon has seen a hardening of attitudes towards the refugees and foreign workers."

Meanwhile, a comparative study conducted by Marwan Khawaja of AUB [American University of Beirut] showed that Palestinian workers in three impoverished areas are paid an average of 80% of the wages their Lebanese peers with the same qualifications receive when performing similar jobs.

THE BURJ Barajneh and Shatilla camps, which lie on the southern outskirts of Beirut, are poor and overcrowded slums. In Burj Barajneh, 17,000 people inhabit an area of 1.5 sq. km. -- most of which is illegally-occupied Lebanese land.

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 Israel invasion of 1982 -- as a result of Israeli aggression, but also PLO mistakes in the South. The main motive behind post-1982 government discriminatory measures has been to reduce the number of refugees. Their resettlement in Lebanon was excluded by the Ta'ef pact that ended the civil war."

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 Beirut Abbas Zaki told the Daily Star, "We stressed ... that [Fatah al-Islam] has nothing to do with the Palestinian people, and anyone who sees it as being under Palestinian cover is mistaken, because we were alongside the army in this battle from the start. We were both the victims."

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 Gaza, and they are simply too poor to afford a war." In fact, the PLO is so weak that many people suspect it is supporting the army in hopes of elimina