Spotlight

Kristallnacht in Palestine*

By Dr Mazin B. Qumsiyeh

The messages below are from a) the municipality of Beit Sahour (the Shepherd's field, a mostly Christian town), b) a Ramallah-based network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and c) the director of the Sakakini centre. They speak for themselves about the seriousness of what is happening. I will add that Israel has closed the West Bank and demanded that international observers and journalists leave (they shot five peaceful international pacifists just yesterday). The execution of captured Palestinians is a portend of worse things to come.

As Israel commits war crimes and the occupation continues to claim both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, it is worth reflecting on Germany between 1933 and 1939 when the world stood silent as the Nazis slowly escalated their war on their Jewish citizens. After you read the messages below you will see that comparison with those early stages of Nazi evolution is not exaggerated. We can stop this before deportation and more genocide commences.

Over the weekend, hundreds of demonstrations were held throughout the world to demand an end to the occupation. It is inexcusable that the media is complying with Israeli wishes and threats (40 journalists have been shot by Israeli forces during the past one and a half years) and are covering atrocities only when directed at Israelis. But it is even more inexcusable to spend more time telling us what Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush are saying and not even covering the growing movement against Israeli apartheid (e.g. in Italy alone, tens of thousands demonstrated, the Belgian Parliament voted to impose sanctions Israel). You can find pictures from the demonstration in Washington DC as one example of "unreported" news here.

Emails are no longer sufficient. Please telephone the US White House now on + 202-456-1414. Tell them firmly but politely that the atrocities being committed must be stopped immediately.

Please act now to stop this.

Message from Suzan Sahori* Beit Sahour Municipality 1 April 2002 Easter Sunday [31 March 2002] has gone; it passed by like any other normal day in our lives since the beginning of the intifadah, which sees us living under the choking siege imposed on all Palestinian cites and refugee camps. Nothing was special about Easter Sunday. However, it wasn't really a "normal" day under occupation, it was a day of fear, of even greater hardship, of increased brutality and, ominously, of executions. Beit Sahour is a town of 13,000 inhabitants, 80 per cent of whom are Christian. Greek Orthodox is the predominant faith, followed by Catholicism. Easter Sunday this year was a day of solidarity. Peaceful demonstrations took place on the streets of Beit Sahour, as well as large scale protests in support of Palestinians worldwide. After morning mass, a massive, peaceful march commenced from the Greek Orthodox Church. Marching at the front were our children, holding signs demanding peace and justice for Palestinians. The march was joined by many of the internationals who are living temporarily in the three refugee camps in the Bethlehem district, in an attempt to safeguard the innocent civilians there. We know we are not alone in our desperate plight. Our Easter Day was a day that we, along with millions of decent people all over the world, have shown support for our cause and are demanding peace and justice to the Palestinians. In each demonstration the demands where made clear: An immediate halt to the brutal and inhuman policy of abuse against Palestinians, especially in light of evidence of summary executions; All Israeli troops must withdraw immediately from all Palestinians cities and refugee camps; A total Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. Sincere efforts from both the United States and Israel in implementing a cease-fire; Negotiations for peaceful solutions to be based on equal, just and fair terms; and The establishment of an independent Palestinians state with East Jerusalem as its capital. We would like to express our great appreciation to all those who went out on the streets of their countries, joining with our voice of condemnation of the massacres that the Israeli soldiers are committing against our people. This is not a war between equals. The Israeli forces, with their huge military capability, are arresting thousands of men and taking them to undisclosed locations. We fear what their fate may be cold blooded massacre with no mercy. Up until today Israel has shot, at close range, about 40 Palestinians in Ramallah. It is horrifying to think that Beit Sahour's turn is coming soon. We are terrified of Sharon's next brutal move. We feel no one can stop him, he is a murderer and massacre is in his nature. We need tougher actions from the United Nations, the European Union and the United States against Israel. We desperately plea to all human beings to demand their governments be more involved and to mobilize pressure now to prevent any further attacks against the Palestinians. Do you need us to justify defending ourselves? Israel has announced Ramallah a closed military zone. They are demanding that all internationals and all the press must leave the area and they said that they will use force if necessary. Do you know what that means? It means they will do whatever they like under the auspices of "protecting" themselves by killing all men they believe may fight against them. The Israelis have been driving around neighbourhoods in Ramallah, demanding that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 come out. When they do, they are arrested, handcuffed and disappear. Where are those who witnessed the signing of Oslo I and II? Where are those who put money to help build the infrastructure of Palestine? Can't you see with your own eyes that Israel has no respect for us? Sharon is evil and he is intent on destroying us and eliminating the Palestinians from the face of the earth. We plead for immediate international intervention to stop this brutal and catastrophic escalation which Israel is making against us. We do not want history to repeat itself. * Suzan Sahori is International Public Relation Officer, Beit Sahour Municipality, telephone + 972-2-3666/7 or + 972-2-2774111. Direct line + 972-2-277-3830. Fax + 972-2-2773520

Imminent humanitarian crisis as Israel reoccupies West Bank The Palestine Monitor 31 March 2002 As the Israeli army starts it process of reoccupation, they are creating a humanitarian crisis. The main problem is a lack of water as water tanks have been destroyed and the main water supply cut, electricity and telephones have also been cut, the injured and ill are unable to receive medical care, and food is in short supply. The assault on medical services continues, with instances of medics being arrested and beaten in the street. Meanwhile, the Israeli soldiers continue their massive scale house-to-house searches, detaining men, destroying personal property and terrorizing the civilian inhabitants - nine Palestinians have thus far been executed. As the plan to reoccupy is carried out, the assault on Palestinian infrastructure continues, both at the Palestine National Authority (PNA) and civil society levels. The Ramallah Municipality has been attacked and burned, as have the Chamber of Commerce building, Al-Amal Rehabilitation Centre, and others. This morning the Human Rights Organization Al-Haq was invaded; currently the army is invading Ramallah hospital. Furthermore, in an attempt to prevent information about events on the ground from being reported, members of the press are being deliberately impeded from working. The situation is dire - the Israeli army is carrying out a war against the Palestinian people. Sharon is implementing complete occupation of the West Bank, and it is probable that these criminal actions will continue for weeks. Word has just reached us that 40 members of the Grassroots International Protection for Palestinians (GIPP), including nationals of France, Italy and Ireland, have managed to enter the PNA headquarters and refuse to leave. This means that whatever happens to Mr Arafat will also happen to them. Fifteen other internationals have joined medical teams and are moving around the town protecting the medical teams as they provide medical assistance. Palestinians are calling for more people to come to Palestine as volunteers as we anticipate that the events occurring in Ramallah will also happen in other Palestinian areas. For more information contact Juliana at The Palestine Monitor, telephone + 972-2-5833510

Message from Adila Laidi, Director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah 31 March 2002 I am the director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah. As I am under siege at home, I am sending out this email to journalist friends and others to ask them: please get our message out and disseminated further. I hope this message will not become morbid fodder for chain emails to draw pity, or prayers, or donations, but rather a stimulus for actions. We are doing our bit by resisting and/or standing steadfast, and we ask the world: please do your bit in the name of our common humanity, each according to his/her own ability. We do not want to become the Red Indians of the Arab world, but simply want to live free, in peace and dignity on this land. I will start with an overview of the situation "live" as I see it, and follow it up with nine proposals of what we would like to see happen in the media and elsewhere in the outside world. First, tonight, Sunday [31 March 2002], we have heard numerous reports of 30 Palestinian policemen executed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers in a building where they sought refuge on Irssal Street in Ramallah. This was after five Palestinian officers were executed by being shot in the head and then had their corpses thrown on to the pavement for hours on Friday. Ambulances are prevented from reaching their destinations and two hospitals have either been broken into (Arabcare) or shot at (Nazer Maternity Hospital). If this continues, it will be another Chechnya or Sarajevo in the making. Personally, I have been shut at home since Friday morning, like all the tens of thousands of inhabitants of Ramallah and El-Bireh, and there seems no prospect of an end soon. We did not have electricity for one day, but thank God it got re-established today, Sunday. An employee of the Sakakini Centre had the Israeli army burst into his village (Kobar) yesterday, destroy belongings and arrest his younger brother, alongside 30 other young men from the village. The cleaning lady at the centre lives in a house with an outside toilet. For three days the Israelis have been posted by the door to her house and prevented all exit. When the eldest son today sneaked out to the outside toilet, the Israelis caught him and beat him. His school-teacher father tried to intervene, the Israelis beat him and arrested him. A board member of our centre was arrested together with all the employees of the office building where he was working late on Thursday night [28 March]. They were all blindfolded and had their hands tied and they were placed in one room for 16 hours. The Israelis destroyed some office furniture and stole the hard disks of computers. They all untied themselves once they realized the Israelis had gone on to bigger prey. My brother in law and his wife and their three kids, all under 10 years old, have been without telephone and electricity since Friday and cannot go to live with someone else as they would be shot at. My next door neighbour's 70-plus-year-old father lives near Yasser Arafat's office. The Israelis broke into his home on Friday, broke everything with the butt of their rifles (TV, sinks, furniture, etc.) and then stole some money. There are reports also of Israeli soldiers breaking into banks and bureaux de change and jewellery stores and stealing money and jewellery. In El Bireh, they arrested Saturday 150 young men aged between 16 and 45 years after calling out for men of this age bracket to get out. They are grouping them in Ramallah's Old City. The only local private TV station in town that used to air hourly news and advice (Watan TV) was seized by the Israelis on Friday, and they are now airing pornographic films. Journalists were ordered out of Ramallah today, Easter Sunday. All neighbourhoods are buzzing with talk of who is next in Israeli home incursions. As for me and many others, there is the human instinct of crying out for help when in danger. What have we done? We have made telephone calls to a number of senior officials in several neighbouring countries, as well as sent appeals to the media like this one, to appeal for help and pressure by the international community. Below are nine modest proposals and requests: 1) This is a long siege, so please keep the pressure to have our story told and continue to appeal for action. 2) The centre's administration and finance director, Ms Manal Issa, has collected about 10 testimonies by children around her describing conditions under siege and has scanned drawings made by them. These testimonies, in Arabic, can be obtained directly from her by email. I will translate them to English and have them available. I am also asking that anybody who gets this email directly or forwarded, ask us for copies of these testimonies to have them published as widely as possible. 3) Please ask for pressure by the international community and decision makers to lift the siege on us. We need hundreds of letters daily to US President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. 4) Please write to mainstream news organizations in the US about the siege. 5) We need daily demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies. 6) We need appeals from Arab artists to Western European artists for concerts/demonstrations/appeals to decision makers to lift the siege. 7) We need action by Western European artists for events to ask for the siege on us to be lifted. 8) If you work for a publication, please dedicate a section for daily news or weekly news from the siege, interviews with witnesses to repression/the siege, children's testimonies and information from hospitals. 9) Latest news on the disastrous health situation can be obtained by telephoning the Ramallah Hospital and talking to its director, Dr Atari, or to the deputy minister of health, Dr Munther Sharif, who is stationed there on + 972-2-2-298 2220.