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NEWS & LETTERS, October 2002
OUR LIFE AND TIMES
Israel's attack on Palestinian resistance
The Israeli army launched a massive attack on Yasir Arafat's compound, Sept. 19, after two suicide bombings within Israel in which six people were killed and 65 were injured. As we go to press, the IDF has demolished Arafat's compound and has surrounded the one remaining building in which Arafat has taken refuge with 200 aides. Mass Palestinian protests are taking place in the West Bank and Gaza. Six Palestinians participating in these protests have been killed by Israeli soldiers. Sharon, the war criminal, has been clearly emboldened by
the Bush administration's announced policy of pre-emptive strikes. Furthermore
he aims to obliterate the achievements of the most recent Palestinian national
council which took place in the now destroyed compound on Sept. 11. The Palestinian Legislative Council's rejection of Arafat's
cabinet on Sept. 11 represented an important development. In its first full
meeting in two years, the council forced Arafat to set a date for new
presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 20. It also ousted those
members of Arafat's cabinet who were associated with corruption and cronyism.
One of the current cabinet members who continued to receive strong support
however, was Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, the Palestinian interior minister. Yehiyeh had
recently made a public statement condemning suicide bombings by Palestinians and
had called these acts "murders for no reason." He had lamented that
"our children were exploited for these attacks when they could have made a
much more positive contribution to a future Palestinian society." While many council members favor Arafat's advisor, Mahmoud
Abbas or Abu Mazen as the inheritor of Arafat's executive powers, others will be
contending for the Palestinian presidency. It remains to be seen whether any
Palestinian elections will be held given the current siege. The Israeli peace organization, Gush Shalom, has confirmed
that in response to a U.S. invasion of Iraq, Ariel Sharon "intends to
exploit the ensuing chaos in the Middle East in order to realize his real plan:
to drive out the Palestinians from all of the country. To this end, he is ready
to bring disaster on all of us." The unrelenting Israeli incursions and sieges of the West
Bank and Gaza have already led to the migration of some 200,000 Palestinian
refugees to Jordan since the year 2000. The Israeli army's endless curfews, army
closures, house demolitions, expulsions, bombings and targeted assassinations
have become a part of daily life in Palestine. With the current unemployment rate of 63% in the West Bank
and 70% in Gaza a large majority of Palestinians are surviving on less than $2
per day. Hunger and malnutrition among children is comparable to Chad and
Bangladesh. The Israeli government recently began trial proceedings for
Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian leader of Fatah, on charges of funding
and orchestrating terror attacks. He had been influential in peace negotitations
in the 1990s, but adopted a different view after the collapse of the peace talks
in 2000. Even at a moment when Israel's sieges and Palestinian
suicide bombings have seemingly killed the hope of achieving peaceful
co-existence, small but hopeful symbols of resistance continue. Ta'ayush,
meaning partnership or living together, is an organization of Israeli and
Palestinian youth and young adults which was established in 2000. It gives aid
to Palestinian villagers subjected to Israeli army curfews and closures. It is
an organization that has a prominent presence in Israeli protests against the
treatment of Palestinians. --Sheila Sahar, Sept. 23, 2002 |
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