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NEWS & LETTERS, APRIL 2003
Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry
Israeli troops launch attacks on Gaza
The Israeli army launched a massive air and ground
attack on the Gaza strip, starting Feb. 16. This daily offensive, which has
employed helicopters, tanks and snipers, has targeted Hamas members as well as
many civilians. The Israeli government has chosen a time when world attention is
focused on the imminent war on Iraq to launch another deadly and sustained
offensive on the Palestinians. On March 2, Israeli troops raided the Bureij refugee
camp in Gaza, destroyed homes and killed at least seven people, including a
pregnant woman and her family who were buried under the rubble of their
collapsed home. The next day, in Haifa, Israel, a Palestinian suicide bomber
blew himself up on a bus filled with students from Haifa University. The bus
driver was an Israeli Palestinian and some of the students were peace activists.
Sixteen were killed and 55 were injured. On March 6, Israeli tanks fired a shell directly into a
Palestinian crowd during a raid on the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, just when
firemen and residents were putting out a fire. Eight mostly children were killed
and 140 were hurt. The horrible sight was no different from a suicide bombing in
Israel. Two days later, the Israeli military assassinated
Ibrahim Makadmeh, one of the top ideologues of Hamas, by firing missiles from a
helicopter toward his car. In response Hamas has threatened to kill Israeli
political leaders. The Israeli government of Ariel Sharon has solidified
its extreme right-wing status by forming a cabinet with the National Religious
Party which opposes the removal of even a single Israeli settlement from the
occupied territories. Together with the NRP and the right-wing secular Shinui
party, Sharon's government holds 61 seats in Israel's 120 member parliament. The Palestinian Legislative Council has created a new
post for a prime minister to be held by Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Maazen,
Arafat's longtime deputy. While Abu Maazen's reputation is tarnished by his
involvement in some of the corrupt financial and political practices of the
Palestinian Authority, he has explicitly opposed suicide bombings. Despite Bush's empty talk of a "road map" to
peace, the status of the Palestinians will get much worse now that the U.S.
invasion of Iraq begins. The current Israeli government's goal of transferring
Palestinians out of the occupied territories is in some ways already underway.
House demolitions in the West Bank and Gaza have been carried out at an
unprecedented rate since the Israeli supreme court's August ruling which allowed
demolitions to be carried out at the army's discretion. In addition, Palestinian populations living near the
Israeli separation wall and those living near Israeli settlements are being
displaced through army raids as well as the destruction of homes and
agricultural land. --Sheila Sahar, March 17, 2003 |
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