Israeli army storms Palestinian prison in Jericho
"Britain's reputation in the Arab world at all
time low"
Commenting on the crisis in Jericho, the director of the Council
for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), Chris
Doyle, has stated that "the reputation of Britain in the
Arab world is at an all time low " and that this "severely
undermines the British national interest. Whatever the truth
of the situation is, to most Arabs it looks like Britain has
been complicit in a Suez-like pact to facilitate an Israeli attack
on Jericho."
CAABU has expressed grave concerns about the situation in
Jericho where the Israeli army has stormed a Palestinian prison
in an attempt to seize those suspected of assassinating the right-wing
Israeli minister, Rehav'am Ze'evi, in 2001. Two Palestinians
have been killed so far.
The IDF [Israeli army] surrounded the prison only hours after
the UK and US withdrew their monitors from the prison on the
morning of 14 March 2006. Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary,
cited security concerns for the British and American personnel
as the reason for the monitors' withdrawal and stated that the
Palestinian National Authority had "consistently failed
to meet its obligations under the Ramallah Agreement".
The role of the UK
The decision of the UK and US to withdraw monitors from the
prison acted as the trigger for this crisis and has exacerbated
an already very tense situation. It was crystal clear that any
such withdrawal would lead to tensions and violence. CAABU calls
upon Jack Straw to explain exactly what the security risks were
to the British and American monitors?
Secondly, he has to answer why it appears that there were
no public statements of concern before his statement to the House
of Commons on 14 March. A British Parliamentary delegation that
visited Israel and the occupied territories from 26 February
to 3 March had a number of meetings with very senior British
Foreign Office officials but not once was it suggested that the
security of British monitors at Jericho was at risk.
Straw's statement to Parliament has given no details at all
as to why the monitors were in danger. Jericho is comparatively
a very quiet and peaceful city in the West Bank and there had
been no reports of recent violence in the city.
The actions of the Israeli army
CAABU condemns the actions of the Israeli army which must
abide by its international legal obligations. All Israeli forces
should leave Jericho immediately and the deaths of any Palestinians
must be investigated and those responsible brought to trial.
CAABU backs calls for the fair trial of two of the suspects
wanted by the Israelis for Ze'evi's assassination and smuggling
weapons. Ahmed Sa'adat, who was recently elected to the Palestinian
Legislative Council, and Fuad Shubaki have never received a formal
charge or had a fair trial.
Repercussions
CAABU calls for all sides to exercise calm and to restore
order. There is no excuse for attacks on the British Council
or on UK nationals who largely are based in the occupied territories
to assist Palestinians.
The Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group has sought
an urgent meeting with the foreign secretary to discuss this
issue.
For further information
contact Chris Doyle by email
or on telephone number +44 (0)207 832 1310.
Election provocation in Jericho to exacerbate the
conflict.
At this moment in Jericho, the main election gimmick of the
Kadima Party and its leader, Ehud Olmert, is taking place, with
hundreds of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian prisoners drafted
to serve as extras. This gimmick, designed to draw extreme right
votes in the 28 March elections, shows Kadima as an adventurist
and irresponsible party in whose hands it is dangerous to entrust
the helm of state, says Gush Shalom, the the Israeli Peace Bloc.
In cooperation with the governments of the US and Britain,
whose removal of their observers from the Jericho prison proves
them utterly incapable of any mediation role between Israelis
and Palestinians, Prime Minister Olmert and Defence Minister
Mofaz are carrying out a provocation which will only exacerbate
the conflict and hatred. Theirs will be the full responsibility
for bloodshed of Israelis and Palestinians, in the course of
the Jericho provocation itself and in the cycle of retaliation
upon retaliation which may follow.
It should be noted that the [Palestinian] people which the
army was sent to Jericho to capture or kill are marked out because,
when taking revenge for the targeted killing of their own leader
[Abu Ali Mustafa, general secretary
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, murdered
by Israel on 27 August 2001 ], they did not kill innocent civilians.
They selected Rehav'am Ze'evi, a general turned politician who
was the foremost of Israeli racists and who built a political
career upon crude hate propaganda. It was a targeted killing.
For further details, contact
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesperson, on telephone numbers +972-(0)3
556 5804 or +972 (0)506-709603
Call for Palestinian mobilization
Commenting on the Israeli occupation army's storming of
Jericho prison to seize Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
leader Ahmad Sa'adat, Henry Lowi, a Jewish peace activist from
Toronto, Canada, notes the following:
1. When Nelson Mandela was in prison on Robben Island, it
was for his role in organizing armed struggle. The South African
racists did not murder him. They left him in prison. When the
South African racists found they could not maintain Apartheid,
they released him. Unlike Apartheid in South Africa, and more
like Nazism, the culture of Zionism is one of outright murder.
2. Like in Beirut in 1982, the Palestinian leadership has
once again placed its faith in "international monitors",
who have once again paved the way for Zionist atrocities.
3. The IDF [Israeli army] attack on the Jericho prison, coordinated
with the British and American forces, was facilitated by the
failure of Palestinian political currents, especially the left,
especially the PFLP, to adopt a straightforward defensive posture:
defend the people of Palestine! Help the people of Palestine
defend themselves!
4. The IDF attack on the Jericho prison was facilitated by
the Israeli left's failure, after the Palestinian Legislative
Council elections, to mobilize for the defence of the people
of Palestine, and to call for the release of Ahmad Sa'adat, Marwan
Barghouti, Tali Fahima, Muhammad Kanaaneh and all political prisoners.
5. It's still not too late to mobilize in defence of the Palestinian
political activists in Jericho Prison.
6. It's still not too late to devise a Palestine liberationist
strategy: one that is not based on ineffective and counter-productive
armed struggle from within the Israeli-controlled prison of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip; one that is not based on impotent diplomatic
manoeuvring with imperialism.
7. Mobilization of the people for their own liberation and
their own democracy is the way for any leaders to prepare a future
worth living for and worth fighting for.
8. The international mobilization on 18 March should highlight
the fight to dismantle the Zionist murder machine, and to defend
the people of Palestine.
What you can do
Protest against Israel's opportunistic and violent crime by
calling the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv and the representatives
of the American and British governments. Demand the end of the
invasion and respect for signed treaties.
Israeli Ministry of Defence
Telephone:
+972 (0)3 697 5540
+972 (0)3 697 5423
+972 (0)3 697 5349
Fax:
+972 (0)3 697 6711
E-mail: pniot@mod.gov.il
US representatives in Israel
US Consulate, Jerusalem
Fax:
+972 (0)2 627 7230
E-mail: jerusalemacs@state.gov
US Embassy, Tel Aviv
Telephone:
+972 (0)3 519 7575
US government bodies
US State Department, Bureau of Near East Affairs, Office of Public
Affairs
Telephone:
+1 202 647 5150
State Department Bureau of Public Affairs
Telephone comment line:
+1 202 - 647 6575
White House
Telephone comment line:
+1 202 456 1111
UK representatives in Israel
British Embassy, Tel Aviv
Telephone:
+972 (0)3 725 1222
Fax:
+972 (0)3 527 8574
UK government bodies
Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Department
Telephone:
+44 (0)207 008 3000
Useful resources on
Palestinian prisoners
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