Workers Daily Internet Edition Year 2002 No. 75

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Two Songs One Enemy

Israel Fails to Co-operate with UN Rights Mission

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has called off a planned fact-finding mission to the Middle East after Israel failed to co-operate, her office announces today.

The Commissioner’s office said the that she would now prepare a report to the UN Human Rights Commission on the "deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territory" based on reports from "all concerned organisations" there.

The proposed mission to Israel and the occupied territories would also have included former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez and the former secretary general of South Africa's ruling African National Congress party (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa.

"Following a telephone conversation between Felipe Gonzalez and the Israeli Foreign Minister, the members of the mission have learned that the visiting mission will not be facilitated by the Israeli authorities," her office said in a statement. Earlier, Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yaakov Levy, had told AFP that the proposed human rights fact-finding mission was still under "active consideration", but that Tel-Aviv had warned Mary Robinson "that she should not take unilateral action".

Mary Robinson had called attention to serious human rights violations in the region, including "extraordinary military measures" taken by the Israeli Defence Force in West Bank towns "which have left hundreds dead, thousands displaced and which has created enormous physical damage". She added that the unresolved stand-off in Bethlehem and the virtual destruction of Jenin "are of deep concern to us all".

"The tragic killings of Palestinians and Israelis must be brought to an end," said the High Commissioner. She called for a process "to account for the death and destruction that has taken place", saying her mission could play a preliminary role in that effort. "The international community cannot permit the indiscriminate killings of Israeli civilians or the wanton killings of Palestinian civilians and the destruction of the civilian infrastructure to support life," she said. "Force should never triumph over justice; in the long run, justice must prevail."

On April 18, the UN Security Council had met to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine. The meeting, which followed a closed session of the Council to hear a briefing by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on a proposed multinational force, was convened at the request of Tunisia as Chairman of the Arab Group.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the private meeting of the Security Council that he was deeply disturbed by the report of "horrific" devastation he received from two top UN officials in the Middle East who had visited parts of the Jenin refugee camp earlier on Thursday. The Secretary-General said that Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), had described scenes of massive destruction that had had a "devastating" impact on the civilian population. "They witnessed people digging out corpses from the rubble with bare hands," Kofi Annan said, according to the text of his remarks that was made available after the closed session of the Council. "Meanwhile no major rescue operation has been allowed to begin."

"Many questions have been raised about what occurred in the Jenin camp and more will be raised," Kofi Annan stressed, before briefing the Council on his proposal for a multinational force in the Middle East. "For the moment, I am calling on the Government of Israel to comply fully with its obligations under international humanitarian law to provide full and unimpeded access to humanitarian agencies."

Expanding on the concept of a multinational force, Kofi Annan said the latest tragic developments in the region gave additional urgency to the consideration of his idea and outlined the goals, nature and functions of such a force.

"The force must be impartial and capable of taking decisive action," Kofi Annan told the closed-door session of the Council, according to a copy of his remarks made available to the press. "It must have a robust mandate, credible strength and be large enough to carry it out."

The Secretary-General stressed that he contemplated not a United Nations contingent, but rather "a multinational force formed by a coalition of the willing" that was authorised by the Council under the UN Charter's Chapter VII, which provides for the use of force. Such an operation would not be risk-free, he added. "However, the situation is so dangerous, that the international community has an obligation to provide this assistance."

According to Kofi Annan, the force would have four key objectives. Firstly, it would work with the parties to end the violence, in part through monitoring the withdrawal and redeployment of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to positions held before September 28, 2000, in accordance with a plan put forward by CIA Director George Tenet. The second goal would be to gradually create secure conditions in the occupied territories for the resumption of normal economic activity and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian and development assistance. The force, working with the international donor community, would also create conditions to allow the Palestinian Authority to rebuild its institutions, including those dealing with law and order, which have been damaged or destroyed in the current military campaign. Finally, the multinational force would work to create a stable environment to permit the resumption of negotiations aimed at achieving a political settlement.

"It is time for the international community to pursue such an option in a pro-active way, rather than waiting for the parties to arrive at this conclusion on their own," Kofi Annan said. "A multinational force is essential to a gradual restoration of trust between the two sides, which is so vital if further steps toward a broad framework for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace are to be taken."

Speaking at the outset of the Council's debate, Nasser Al-Kidwa, Permanent Observer for Palestine, called on the Council to adopt the Secretary-General’s concept for the force, invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter to enforce implementation of its recent resolutions. "The least we can expect is that the Council maintain seriousness in demanding respect for its resolutions," he said, adding that some protection must be provided to the Palestinian people.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel, Aaron Jacob, said Israel had made it clear that it accepted "the idea of third party American monitors to supervise the implementation of Tenet and Mitchell" and was "willing to favourably consider an international presence in the context of a comprehensive settlement". But it could not put its faith in a "robust international presence, which could not be effective in the face of a continuing strategy of Palestinian terrorism," he said.

A spokesman for the Israeli government also conveyed his government’s rejection of the call to deploy an armed multinational force to the Palestinian territories. The spokesman, Avi Pazner, said that such a move would be inappropriate, alleging that it would be in danger from "Palestinian extremists".

In a related development, the UN Human Rights Commission on April 15 voted 40 in favour and 5 opposed, with 7 abstentions, to adopt a resolution strongly condemning the war launched by the Israeli army against Palestinian towns and camps, saying that it had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians and calling on Israel to withdraw. The text also strongly condemned extra-judicial executions carried out by the Israeli army against Palestinians and the establishment of Israeli settlements. The five countries voting against the resolution were Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Guatemala and the United Kingdom, while Burundi, Cameroon, Croatia, Italy, Japan, Poland and Uruguay abstained.

International Observers Attacked by Israeli Soldiers in Nablus. Nablus still a Military Zone, Main Hospital being Shelled

Adam Conway, from Morpeth in Northumberland, reports from Nablus, where his team were beaten and threatened while trying to protect Palestinian medics – Tuesday 16 April 2002

Adam Conway suffered cuts and grazes and one of his British colleagues was badly beaten today, when they tried to protect a group of Palestinians in Nablus, on the West Bank. The observers' cameras and mobile phones were smashed and a stun grenade was used, while Israeli soldiers tried to force the Internationals to leave behind a small group of Palestinian medics.

Adam was returning from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, with about 24 other international observers and six Palestinians, both women and men, when they were stopped by soldiers and military police. The whole group had been allowed through the checkpoint earlier in the day, to take food and medical supplies into Balata. On being refused access to the nearby camp of Askar, they were returning to the city centre when they were stopped.

Speaking over a poor telephone line Tuesday afternoon, Adam explained how the soldiers had attempted to separate the Palestinians and Internationals. Shots were fired in the air and a stun grenade was used, but the observers refused to leave the Palestinians behind. While some of them (including Adam) stood or lay with individual Palestinians, others attempted to talk with the soldiers and negotiate a way through.

Eventually the group was allowed to proceed, with the Palestinians accompanied by just three Internationals, and the rest of the observers following at a distance. The whole group was accompanied by soldiers and followed by a tank. A group of French observers was allowed to leave to collect their bags and depart, but the other Internationals were not prepared to leave the Palestinians behind, and a long stand-off ensued, until they were allowed to return to the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees clinic, where they are now staying.

"We're very frightened to think what the soldiers might have done to the Palestinians if international observers had not been with them, or had agreed to leave them behind," said Adam. "They showed no respect for the medical status or insignia of the Palestinians. We were all threatened and one of the observers has been badly beaten and cut."

Adam confirmed that the whole group is now safe, but expects to be forced to remain within the building until they can leave Nablus, as the area is subject to curfew. Tanks were shelling outside the clinic at the weekend, and empty shells were found just outside the gates on Monday. Adam added that the army was shelling the main hospital in Nablus today, and the military presence was still strong, despite Israeli claims that Nablus is no longer a military zone. There were five tanks, plus other armoured vehicles and sniper positions, at the checkpoint where the group was stopped today.

Adam is urging people in this country to write to their MPs. "We cannot stop all the suffering and deaths, but the world must know what's going on. We must all help in whatever way we can," he said.

News of what’s actually happening

Despatch from Adam Conway, 12/04/02

Hi,

I'm writing this from an internet cafe in East Jerusalem. I thought people might be interested in some news of what's actually happening here. We got here Tuesday and went on Wednesday to try to get into Jenin. We went first to a village called Tiabe, near Jenin where we met many men who had just got out from the camp, both in Tiabe and in another village, Romani. Some of their stories are below. We then tried to get into Jenin itself, with some supplies for the hospital but mainly just to be there as there is currently no international presence in Jenin. We understand that two American journalists got in on Wednesday but by the time we got there there was no way in. We tried several routes but you couldn't avoid the soldiers. We did not go right up to the checkpoint ourselves but six western journalists who did on Thursday were arrested (and some more today). In the words of a British journalist who had gone almost up to the checkpoint and then turned back when the jeep in front were all arrested "anyone who goes up there is being flung in the back of a truck and their passport/ID ripped up". A BBC crew 'got in' but only by arrangement with the Israeli military who escorted them to a certain place to film and then escorted them out!

All the people I talked to who had got out of Jenin were men. There are apparently a few women in one village from the camp but it's mainly men. The reason for this is that no-one has got out by themselves. Everyone from the camp had been picked up by the Israeli military, held for anything from a few hours to several days at a complex at a checkpoint called Salem and then taken to a crossroads near Salem, told which village they are to go to and told not to leave that village. Most of them (except a few of the older men) had also been beaten or tortured. Romani has a population of 2500 but by Wednesday evening it had received 548 men from Jenin. These people are refugees from a refugee camp! Many other villages around had also received a similar proportion of people from Jenin. I met a man who said he had been in house with his parents and children when the tanks entered the camp. Soldiers had come to his house and threatened him. They had destroyed the furniture, fridge, etc. inside the house and hit him. They then blindfolded him, tied his hands behind his back and made him walk in front of the tank as it entered the camp (he lives on the very edge of the camp). They then told him to knock on the door of a house and go in ahead of them. He refused as he knew there were children in the house and the soldiers hit him again, with their hands, with their guns and with their helmets. They then put him on the floor of a jeep, under the bench in the jeep and sat on the bench and stamped on him. He was then made to strip to his underwear in the street and taken just outside the camp where he was beaten again and had a cigarette burn on the back of his neck. At this point the helicopters started bombing the camp, which the soldiers celebrated. He was then taken to Salem where he was beaten with sticks. He was held for 4 days at the checkpoint before being released. When released he couldn't walk but he was told to remain in this village and particularly told not to go to the hospital. While I only have his word for the story I saw the bruises on his body, I saw the cigarette burn on his neck and he obviously had cracked ribs as he couldn't stand or sit by himself and had to sit bolt upright all the time.

Another man I met said he had been hit on the back of the head with an M16. The whole right side of his face was paralysed. He is in his 40s and has worked for the UN for nearly 20 years). I saw his UN ID card. When they let him go (after holding him for 3 days, making him walk on broken glass, shooting him in the leg, etc.) they said "send our wishes to Kofi Anan" I also met a red crescent worker who had been arrested and beaten. I could go on but I think you get the idea. The people in the area think that the military want to completely destroy the camp and there are reports emerging of mass graves. The military are also extremely keen to keep journalists and other westerners out of the camps.

I'm out here for about another week but am only in Jerusalem for one night so don't know when I'll next get internet access but if I can I'll send more when I have it. For more info see http://jerusalem.indymedia.org If anyone has time to contact their MP or whatever please do. While Sharon seems to be ignoring international pressure, it still has the best chance of stopping this. Bear in mind that while the US is Israel's closest ally, the EU is her largest trading partner...

in peace,

Adam

Human Rights Lawyers Call For International Investigation

Report by LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, April 18, 2002. LAW is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. It is affiliated to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT).

At a press conference held in Jerusalem today, human rights lawyers who have been in Jenin and Jenin refugee camp during the past week called for an immediate independent international investigation into the human rights situation in the area.

Human rights lawyers from Adalah - The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Jerusalem Centre for Human Rights, LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, who have started to collect evidence and record the events that have taken and are taking place in Jenin and Jenin refugee camp, presented their initial findings.

They urged the international community for an immediate independent international investigation of possible war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law, including wilful killings, summary executions, extensive destruction of civilian facilities and homes, carried out wantonly and unlawfully, without military necessity, torture and other ill-treatment.

The human rights lawyers, who visited several areas in and around Jenin refugee camp, have witnessed ongoing denial of access to humanitarian aid and relief agencies, ongoing denial of services or access to injured and dead, including those who may be still alive under the rubble, and ongoing denial of access to independent experts and journalists.

Eyewitness accounts collected so far confirm reports that Israeli forces have dug holes in and outside Jenin refugee camp and have removed bodies to unknown places. Eyewitnesses have seen an Israeli truck with bodies inside plastic bags. The bodies were taken out of the truck and put in holes dug by bulldozers. Later, eyewitnesses saw bulldozers coming back to the location, taking out the bodies from the holes and loading them back on the truck. Reports indicate that the bodies were then taken in the direction of the "Green Line", the demarcation line between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Consistent eyewitness accounts report of homes being demolished, while civilians, including women and children, were still inside. Others reported having seen bodies, including bodies of women and children, in the rubble of demolished homes. Others have seen bulldozers driving back and forward over bodies in Jenin refugee camp. Several eyewitnesses saw a family trying to flee from their home that was about to be demolished by Israeli bulldozers. When the family, including a woman carrying her child, stepped outside their home in Jenin refugee camp, they were fired upon from an Apache helicopter with heavy machinegunfire, killing a 14- years old boy.

There have been consistent testimonies from residents of Jenin refugee camp who have been used by Israeli forces as human shields. There have been consistent testimonies of summary executions. Accounts have been taken from witnesses who have seen summary executions of several persons at the same time.

In the area, Harat-Hawasheen, which is located in the centre of Jenin refugee camp, the human rights lawyers saw a number of bodies in homes and parts of bodies, including a head and leg, between the rubble. At another place they saw a severely damaged piece of a body. Eyewitnesses said that after Israeli soldiers shot and killed a resident, an Israeli tank rolled over the body. In one home they saw two burned bodies, one lying on his side and one on his bag. The bodies were covered with shrapnel wounds.

All who visited the areas speak of mass destruction and persons who lost relatives, without knowing whether they are killed, injured, arrested or missing. At this stage, evidence, including photo and video material, has been collected and documented.

LAW reaffirms that these military assaults targeting civilians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jenin and Nablus, amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. LAW condemns as well these ongoing attempts to prevent access for human rights monitors, journalists and humanitarian agencies to these sites of mass killings to investigate and document evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In light of past events and revealing testimonies from Jenin refugee camp and accounts documented in other cities and towns in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, LAW is seriously concerned about the absence of concrete action taken by the European Union and calls again upon member states to comply with their own legal obligations and to take appropriate measures to enforce Israel to end gross violations of human rights and comply with international humanitarian law.

LAW calls again on all High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to comply with their obligations under article 146 by searching for, investigating and bringing to trial perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, under universal jurisdiction and through a War Crimes Tribunal and calls for an end to all acts by member states aiding and abetting the perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including by ending supply of all arms used to perpetrate such crimes.

There is an Ancient Proverb that States: "the Greatest Evil is the One that is Disguised as Virtue"

An extract from an article by Ramzy Baroud, Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle, April 16,

When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered his military campaign against an entire nation, massacring, destroying and pillaging, he was keeping an eye on the United States, not his own country. The green light he received to execute such a mission was not only manifested in the verbal agreement from the United States government, but the flashing green light he found all over the mainstream media. Voice of America often reports on the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, the same way it reports on the US war on Afghanistan. If one replaces the term "Palestinians" with "Al-Qaida fighters", and "US forces" with Israeli, the agency’s reports were almost identical.

There is an ancient proverb that states: "the greatest evil is the one that is disguised as virtue." Such evil was mastered by Israel throughout its war against Palestinians. The strongly influenced American media contributed to Israel’s false claims where the truth was flipped upside down, where an oppressed, exiled nation living in refugee camps became the oppressor, and the last colonial power of our time, cruel and racist Israel, became the helpless victim, where the denial of expelled Palestinians to return to their homes after a 53 year wait, in accordance with international law was just an honest attempt to have Israel maintains its Jewish identity, and "demographic" needs.

Under all of these circumstances, the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp was understood as another routine day of Israel’s desperate attempt to defend herself, and the American congress and media’s constant commitment to back the threatened and besieged Israel, the "Middle East’s only democracy".

And when the news came out that a gruesome massacre was being committed in Jenin, few cared, and others rushed to find explanations, the same way the American media tried to justify the massacre of up to 4,000 unarmed civilians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut in 1982.

One can expect little in this disturbing reality. Little to be expected when Israeli bulldozers filled truckloads of dead Palestinians to smuggle them out of Jenin. Little to be expected from the United States as scores of people were trapped under the rubble of their homes in Jenin and Nablus, some dead and others dying. Little to be expected from the United Nations when a family of seven was found under the wreckage of their home as they gathered in a small room to escape Israeli army shells. Little to be expected from the Arab governments when the dead bodies of Palestinians remain scattered in the streets of Jenin, bloated and decomposed.

And nothing, nothing at all is to be expected from the world when Abu Jandal, the Palestinian leader who headed the most virtuous resistance, leading thousands of refugees in Jenin to fend for their camp before the fourth largest yet the most brutal army in the world, was killed.

Eyewitnesses described how Abu Jandal was surrounded by Israeli forces after 14 days of resistance. He was detained, handcuffed, blindfolded and brought to the centre of the camp to be executed with a few shots to the head.

Abu Jandal’s heroism cannot be depicted with mere words. One can only imagine what kind of courage a person needs to battle 300 tanks, dozens of Apaches and thousands of soldiers, using old rifles and ammunition of bravery that never runs out. One can only begin to comprehend the rooted selflessness of this young fighter that could not be intimated by hundreds of missiles and thousands of explosions. One has to question the claims that Abu Jandal was a militant, a gunman and a terrorist. One has to wonder whether Abu Jandal preferred death to living in these shameless times.

One thing I know for sure, this is what I shall teach my children: Abu Jandal was a hero.

Emergency Briefing on Palestinian Education: From Survival to Development to … Survival?

By Penny Johnson, Birzeit University

At the beginning of the interim period in 1995 when the Palestinian Authority assumed authority over Palestinian education through the new Palestinian Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Palestinian educators in schools, community colleges and universities were able to change their course from struggling for survival to planning for educational development. Israeli's invasion of Palestinian cities, camps and villages has damaged educational infrastructure, records and equipment, threatened the institutions and the very system's financial solvency and harmed teachers and pupils. Years of development have been threatened – and survival is once more on the agenda.

The seven Palestinian universities, several of had remained closed or partially closed by Israeli military order since 1989 had gradually re-opened in 1992 and 1993. Along with other post-secondary institutions, their new goal was not to resume and improve their traditional teaching and research, but began to establish new initiatives in graduate education, training, policy research and community outreach. The school system, once controlled and supervised by army officers, began to train teachers in new pedagogical methods, expand classroom and institutional infrastructure, and develop new curriculum. In the school year 2000-2001, a phased introduction of new curriculum began grades 1 through 6 in all government, UNRWA and private schools. With almost half of the Palestinian population under age 15, education is a cornerstone of Palestinian society. Almost a million children – one-third of the population – are enrolled in the school system.

The ten days of Israeli invasion of Palestinian cities has not only turned back the clock on educational development but also raised questions of basic survival for a number of institutions and for critical elements of the educational system itself. Sadly, ten days of military operations in civilian areas can undermine decades of patient institution building to serve that same civilian population. In the enterprise of education, it is also not only the institutions and systems that are at risk in armed conflict and violence, but the children and youth who learn in these institutions and who constitute the main resource of Palestinian society for the future.

· Lasting effect on invasion on children: "Up to 600,000 children vulnerable in the ongoing violence... No lasting peace can be built on such foundations." (UNICEF, 5 April 2002). Children in cities, camps and villages under curfew and attack have not only been to go to school; they have experienced days or weeks of terror and physical and psychological distress, with long-term consequences.

· Systems, records and equipment destroyed at Ministry of Education: On April 3, 2002, about thirty Israelis tanks entered the walled compound which houses the Ministry of Education in Ramallah. Despite the willingness of employees there to open the building, soldiers exploded outer and inner doors, as well as the main safe and filing and storage cabinets, and detained staff for six hours. Soldiers took computer net servers, computers, hard disks, files, and documents from the Ministry. The Ministry's examination Room suffered considerable damage from explosions and the ransacking of the room by soldiers: years of student records were damaged or reduced to rubble. The Ministry hopes to be able to rebuild its files from duplicate records in district offices but fears some of these may also be destroyed. Audio-visual equipment and other learning tools were taken and destroyed. The ministry reports estimated losses in equipment and infrastructure and damaged schools in the millions of dollars, much of which was provided through donor funds from the international community. (Ministry of Education 4 April 2002) On April 10, 2002, the Assistant Deputy Minister noted that employees have not yet been able to enter Ramallah to assess the scale of looting from the main safe but confirmed that at least 2.5 to 3 million dollars would be needed to restore infrastructure, repair buildings and hold remedial courses for students in the summer.

· Schools destroyed or damaged: As of April 5, 2002, "some 166 schools were destroyed or damaged, and three schools were taken over by the Israeli military and converted into army posts, displacing 3000 students" since the intifada began in October 2000. "In addition, some 275 schools are situated close to flash points in the current conflict." (UNICEF, 5 April 2002) There are 1,968 schools in the West Bank and 642 in Gaza. The damage to schools in Israel's invasion that began 29 March 2002 is only partly known: when the Israeli army redeployed from Tulkarem, for example, employees were able to report to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education that the girl's four-story secondary school – ironically named As Salaam (Peace) School – had received about twenty hits from tank fire and was unusable, with extensive damage also to the boy¹s secondary school. The Ministry's vocational facility in Tulkarem also suffered extensive damage. On April 4, the Director of the World Bank in the West Bank and Gaza and the UN Special Co-ordinator called on the Israeli army to "desist from the destruction of water pumps, electricity generators and sub-stations, roads, schools, hospitals and business premises." (World Bank and UNSCO 4 April 2002)

· At least two universities taken over by Israeli army: Bethlehem University and An Najah National University in Nablus have also been taken over by the Israeli army which has stationed tanks in both locations. In Bethlehem, about seven tanks were stationed on campus and British, American and other faculty from the Catholic teaching order of the La Salle Brothers that lives in a facility on campus were placed in direct danger. Damages from these take-overs have not yet been assessed. In addition, the American University in Jenin has not been able to report its fate in the midst of the fierce assault on that town. The Al Quds Educational television station in Ramallah, part of Al Quds University, was also invaded and its technical director prevented from surveying the damage on April 5, 2002. The destruction of other TV and radio stations in Ramallah suggests that the state-of-the-art TV station in this facility may also be destroyed.

· Schools and universities threatened with financial collapse: The education budget constitutes about 19% of the regular budget of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, the international donor community had contributed $369,644,000 to Palestinian education by the end of 2000 (MOPIC, 2000), a large portion of which went to building new schools and classrooms, some of which are now damaged or threatened with destruction. Even before the invasion, the Authority was "effectively bankrupt" (World Bank, 25 March 2002) with tax revenues fallen to one-fifth of previous level and Israel withholding revenue clearances owed to the PA since December 2000 to the amount of $0.5 billion, but was managing to continue paying teacher and maintaining schools under an austerity budget. This ability is gravely threatened, with the Ministry's ability to pay current salaries of teachers and staff already at risk, and it is vital "to recognise the essential functions and achievements of the Palestinian Authority in providing basic essential services under very adverse conditions during the past five months" (World Bank and UNSCO 4 April 2002) and the dire consequences to education if the Authority is incapacitated.

The Israeli government has justified its actions in the Palestinian territory as an attack on the infrastructure of terror. The Israeli army's attack on education and educational institutions, as well as other Palestinian institutions of self-government and non-governmental organisations, strongly indicates that the target is in fact Palestinian infrastructure, organisational capacity and self-government, with lasting consequences on the ability of Palestinian society to survive and develop.

Israeli Actions During this Occupation and, in Particular, During this Siege, Have Left an Indelible Scar on Palestinian Society

This report was provided by the DCI/PS (Defence for Children International/Palestine Section)

April 17, 2002

As the voices from the besieged Palestinian communities continue to emerge, the picture of an Israeli government sanctioned attack on the very roots of Palestinian society becomes patently clear. In contrast to Israeli army statements indicating that the recent events are being carried out in the course of a legitimate military operation, local and international witnesses, attest to Israeli military practice characterised by gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes.

Equally disturbing to the events on the ground is the complete failure of the international community to intervene to end the onslaught, namely the massacre in Jenin refugee camp and the brutal attack on the Old City of Nablus. Compounding these atrocities is the re-writing of history as it happens, the "burying" or complete absence of stories by numerous major media outlets, and the repeated silencing of voices of those who survived.

The massacre in Jenin is a brutal confirmation of Israel’s attempt to destroy the very fabric of Palestinian society, an attempt that has characterised the 34 year long Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. What has become patently clear is that this operation is not about security. Rather it is about control and mass destruction. Control of a people. Control of their livelihoods. Control of their futures.

As the following information makes clear, Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Palestinian cultural, municipal, and educational institutions, providing services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children. Palestinian homes and businesses have been repeatedly attacked, invaded, vandalised, looted, and ransacked. There can be justification for these acts.

There are two important points to be made about the current siege:

First, the financial loss incurred by Israeli actions in the past 18 days will undoubtedly run into the tens of millions. Many of the buildings, institutions, and organisations attacked, along with much of the infrastructure destroyed, were funded by the international community. These attacks have attempted to destroy that which Palestinian society with the financial and technical support of the international community, have succeeded in building over the last nine years. Thus, this attack is not only on Palestinian society, but on the international community as well.

Second, the Israeli actions during this occupation and, in particular, during this siege, have left an indelible scar on Palestinian society. The consequences of the Israeli attacks are not only material. The physical and psychological damage effects not only the livelihood of the current generation of Palestinian children, but will be felt by generations to come. The very future of Palestinian society is at stake.

Jenin Massacre

With a limited number of journalists finally allowed entry into Jenin refugee camp, the picture of the massacre that occurred there has become increasingly clear. Testimony from survivors of this massacre present a harrowing picture of a bloody military offensive designed to destroy a civilian population and raze Jenin refugee camp to the ground. Survivors estimate that 1/3 of the camp has been completely destroyed. Moreover, eyewitnesses from the camp describe how Israeli soldiers dug mass graves for those killed in an attempt to hide evidence of the massacre. Thousands of residents have been made homeless and are now seeking refuge in neighbouring villages while desperately trying to seek missing family members.

It is estimated that several hundred residents of the camp were killed during the Israeli attack, including a large proportion of children. Video documentation and photographs from the camp are images of horror that no words can ever describe. They overwhelmingly illustrate the mass destruction wreaked on the camp and its residents. Journalists in the camp are describing that the air is filled with a noxious stench of rotting bodies that remain lying in the street or buried under rubble. There are also reports of instant executions carried out by Israeli soldiers in the centre of the camp.

The Jenin massacre is the latest in a Palestinian history marked by loss, dispossession, and denial of the most basic human rights. DCI/PS (Defence for Children International/Palestine Section) is currently in the process of collecting testimonies of child survivors of the massacre so that their voices will not be silenced.

Child Deaths

Local media has provided information on eight additional Palestinian children killed as a direct result of Israel’s ongoing siege on Palestinian communities. (It should be noted that this information does not include children killed in the Jenin massacre for which names and details are not yet available):

- On 14 April, 14 year old Mohammed Habeeb Awad was killed by an Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in the shape of a soft drink can. The explosive device was left by the Israeli military during the invasion of Nablus.

- Also on 14 April, the body of a child was found in Nablus. His identity is yet unknown.

- On 11 April, five-year-old Ahid Rasmi Hmamda from Yatta, near Hebron, was killed after suffering asphyxiation from a noxious gas fired by Israeli soldiers.

- The bodies of two fifteen-year-old boys, Amid Azmi Alyamouni and Nidal Qassem, from Yamoun village near Jenin, were found. The cause or date of death is unknown at present.

- In the Old City of Nablus, the bodies of three siblings were found underneath the rubble of their family home, along with the bodies of other family members. The deceased children are: Abdullah Samir Al Sha’abi, 8 years; Azzam Samir Al Sha’abi, 7 years; Anas Samir Al Sha’abi, 4 years old.

Attacks on the Right to Education

According to UNICEF Jerusalem, approximately 600,000 Palestinian children are currently unable to attend school due to policies of curfew and restrictions on freedom of movement.

The Israeli army has attacked the Palestinian Ministry of Education in Ramallah two times since the beginning of the siege. According to a report issued by the Palestine Emergency Committee on April 13, the first attack occurred on April 3, when around 150 Israeli soldiers destroyed the main gates of the Ministry.(*) According to the report, Ministry employees were forced to wait outside in the cold for over six hours while Israeli soldiers wreaked havoc inside, breaking down doors, destroying files, confiscating property and materials and destroying equipment. An initial assessment made by Ministry employees and cited in the report indicates the following damage to the Ministry:

- General: the Ministry's computer net servers were removed.

- Financial office: the main safe was blown open damaging its contents, including dossiers, promissory notes, cash, check books and vouchers.

- Central office: the Israeli forces blew up metal filing cabinets destroying vital documents.

- All offices: files have been torn up and left in huge piles on the floor.

- Storage room: the IDF confiscated computers, overhead projectors, video sets, and other valuable educational equipment.

- Central office: The Israeli forces blew up and destroyed all main doors. They took away or destroyed records and references that are highly important for official transcripts.

- Remaining offices in the Ministry: The forces seem to have confiscated many floppy disks, CDs, files, dossiers and documents but more time will be needed to more accurately assess.

According to a release issued by the Ministry, its Ramallah premises were again attacked on April 14, 2002, with over 60 soldiers entering the building. Ministry employees present were forced to stay in one room while Israeli soldiers proceeded to destroy furniture, doors, and equipment, stealing computers, servers and files. Soldiers occupied the building for around three hours.

In addition to an estimated loss of over one million dollars resulting from the deliberate destruction of Ministry facilities and equipment (much of which was donor funded by the international community), the Ministry is seriously concerned about the destruction and confiscation of important Ministry files, such as those necessary for issuing and certifying students’ transcripts. The Ministry’s files have been accumulated over many years.

Of primary concern to Ministry officials is the impact the devastation of the Ministry will have on the education of the approximately one million Palestinian children it serves.(**) A variety of other institutions providing services to Palestinian children have also been the target of Israeli military abuse. On March 30, soldiers invaded the building housing the Al-Bireh Municipal Library, breaking doors and windows, destroying computers, upsetting the contents of the library, and confiscating material. In Anabta village near Tulkarem, the Women’s Charitable Organisation sustained damage, with its outside wall blown up and windows broken. Among its many services, the organisation operated a pre-school, serving 230 children, and a day-care. Also, in Anabta, a pre-school serving 70 children was attacked and vandalised, with the main door destroyed and the contents of the pre-school damaged and upset. [Source: PEC report]

These attacks represent only a small portion of the extensive damage wrought by the Israeli military on Palestinian infrastructure providing services to children.

Palestinian society has long recognised something about the Israeli pattern of abuse that should be of utmost concern to the international community. Palestinian children, like children anywhere, constitute the future of their society, and as such, are an important element of its continuity. Palestinian children are, symbolically and materially, the reservoir of hope for Palestinian society, a locus for its aspirations for freedom and independence.

Children are the future workers, teachers, politicians, parents, and seekers of justice. For many in the Israeli government, they are the roots of future resistance. In the course of conducting research for a report published in the year 2001, DCI/PS spoke to the principal of the Yakoubiya Girls' School in Hebron. According to this principal, one soldier threatened her saying he would shoot her students. When she asked him why he replied, "To prevent them from growing up and producing sons who will throw rocks." It has become apparent through the recent invasions that this view of Palestinian children as legitimate military targets is one that is widespread throughout the Israeli military.

The physical reproduction, social expansion, and overall development of Palestinian society – economically, infrastructurally, culturally – is exactly what the current Israeli efforts aim to destroy. Israeli government policies, and the individuals interpreting and implementing these policies, are trying to cut the society down from its roots. These efforts are not confined to the killing of children, or even the population in general. Rather, as information regarding the siege demonstrates, the policies, laws, and actions of the Israeli government, its military forces and settlers, conspire together to harm the physical and mental health, education, economy, and geographical integrity of Palestinian society as a whole.

(*) Destruction of Palestinian Public Institutions: First Preliminary Report, April 13, 2002, Palestine Emergency Committee. Hereinafter, PEC report.

(**) For complete details regarding initial assessments of damage to the Ministry of Education, please contact Acting Minister of Education, Dr. Naim Abu Hommos, Fax + 970 298 3222, moepalestine@hotmail.com.

Join Cultural Leaders to Stop US "Coup D'etat"

The following is being circulated by the 9-11peace campaign.

Please join Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Brian Eno, and many other cultural figures in speaking up on an important, last-minute issue.

This Sunday, April 21, the United States will seek to remove Jose Bustani, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), from his post. Bustani's crime is essentially that he was too good at his job. Under his lead, according to a Guardian article by George Monbiot of Tuesday, April 16, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4394862,00.html], "His inspectors have overseen the destruction of 2 million chemical weapons and two-thirds of the world's chemical weapon facilities. He has so successfully cajoled reluctant nations that the number of signatories to the convention has risen from 87 to 145 in the past five years: the fastest growth rate of any multilateral body in recent times."

But in the eyes of the US State Department, Bustani has been a nuisance. First, he's attempted to treat the US like any other signatory to the body, and the US, not unlike its enemy Iraq, is unsatisfied with the inspectors he's chosen. Second, he's actively working with Iraq to encourage it to accept inspectors, which would undercut support for a second US-led Gulf War. For these reasons, the State Department wants him deposed.

In a meeting this Sunday, the US will propose a vote of no confidence in Bustani, even though it hasn't specified the exact nature of his failings. If the UK votes with the US, yet another international, multilateral organisation will essentially become a proxy of the US government.

Please contact your MP immediately and urge him or her to "support Director-General Bustani and an independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."

You can do this easily at:http://www.faxyourmp.com

Then pass this message on to your friends and colleagues and urge them to write. Since the timing is so close, we need to get as many people involved as possible. And please send us a message at opcw@9-11peace.org so that we can keep track of how many contacts have been made.

A sample letter, drafted by Brian Eno and co-signed by many other cultural figures is copied below. See the following website for a more full explanation of the situation: www.monbiot.com

Please act today to support an important international institution.

Sincerely,

Eli Pariser, 9-11peace.org

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Member of Parliament,

We are writing to draw your attention to the very serious and urgent matter of the impending removal of the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Jose Bustani, from his post. This follows a campaign led by the United States which is ultimately aimed at further clearing the way for an attack on Iraq. If the United States succeeds in its campaign for Bustani's removal, it will not only be a victory for unilateralism and a blow to the principles of multilateral co-operation, but it will also mean that the world will be brought one step closer to a second Gulf War.

Admittedly, this is only the latest in a series of attempts by the United States to disengage from, undermine and override international legal instruments and multilateral institutions. We have all witnessed the US's exceptionalism in recent years. It has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and torpedoed the statute creating the International Criminal Court. It has opposed the completion of negotiations to create a regime strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention, and indicated its intention to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. More recently it has "lost confidence" in the head of the International Panel on Climate Change, coincidentally following a consultation with US energy industry representatives. And after the failure of UNSCOM (largely the result of its use by the United States as an intelligence-gathering instrument), there are now reports that the CIA has been investigating the performance of Hans Blix, head of UNMOVIC, UNSCOM's successor.

The difference this time is that the stakes are higher, and more evident. The OPCW is the first ever global regime designed to verify the complete abolition of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration is determined to remove the man who, over the last five years, successfully brought such alleged rogues as Iran, Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia into this multilateral disarmament regime. Bustani's mandate requires him to bring as many member states as he can into this regime, and for this reason he has consistently kept negotiations open with Iraq. In light of the Bush administration's preparations (both psychological and military) for an attack on Iraq, these negotiations are seen as highly inconvenient. The removal of Bustani would effectively mean the closing of one of the last peaceful routes to dealing with Iraq.

Also at stake is the independence of the OPCW, and with it the independence of all other international organisations. Their staff and directors will become vulnerable to removal by a dissatisfied member state, as long as that member state is sufficiently powerful, financially or otherwise. Bustani has repeatedly refused to act on the instructions of the United States in discrimination against other member states, stating over and over that his employers are the integrity of the Conference of States Parties. This has made him a thorn in the side of the US State Department, which Bush and his team are now determined to remove. The US has made unsubstantiated allegations to justify its motion of no-confidence, and has declined on every occasion to provide the evidence, or even to conduct a formal inquiry. Nor has it submitted any document to the Conference of States Parties to support its request for a no-confidence motion. Given the lack of substantive motives for Bustani's removal, the United States has resorted to character assassination in the press. And in order to ensure the success of its campaign, the United States has threatened to withdraw its funding of the organisation, which would leave the OPCW 22% worse off, and effectively crippled.

The United Kingdom has, from the early days of the Convention, been an exemplary member of the OPCW. As a proven leader in Europe, it now has the power to rally the rest of Europe and block the United States' vote of no-confidence. By making its voice heard in Washington, the United Kingdom and Europe would be keeping open a peaceful and multilateral route to a resolution in Iraq. More importantly, a defeat of the United States' motion would put a stop to the further deterioration of the international system of multilateral co-operation that has been built with such care and commitment since the end of the Second World War.

We urge you to take the lead at the Special Session of the OPCW which opens on Sunday 21 April, and to ensure that morality, good sense and international justice prevail.

Sincerely,

[Your Name] [Your Address] [Your Phone Number]

Two Songs One Enemy

Two Songs One Enemy

Israel Fails to Co-operate with UN Rights Mission

International Observers Attacked by Israeli Soldiers in Nablus. Nablus still a Military Zone, Main Hospital being Shelled

Human Rights Lawyers Call For International Investigation

There is an Ancient Proverb that States: "the Greatest Evil is the One that is Disguised as Virtue"

Emergency Briefing on Palestinian Education: From Survival to Development to … Survival?

Israeli Actions During this Occupation and, in Particular, During this Siege, Have Left an Indelible Scar on Palestinian Society

Join Cultural Leaders to Stop US "Coup D'etat"

MG Rover Signs on £73m Credit Line