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The journalism and films of John Pilger
Twenty-five years ago, I made a film called Palestine Is Still The Issue. It was about a nation of people - the Palestinians - forced off their land and later subjected to a military occupation by Israel. An occupation condemned by the United Nations and almost every country in the world, including Britain.
But Israel is backed by a very powerful friend, the United States. So in 25 years, if we're to speak of the great injustice here, nothing has changed. What has changed is that the Palestinians have fought back.
Stateless and humiliated for so long, they've risen up against Israel's huge military machine, although they themselves have no arm, no tanks, no American planes and gun ships or missiles. Some have committed desperate acts of terror, like suicide bombing. But for Palestinians, the overriding, routine terror, day after day, has been the ruthless control of almost every aspect of their lives, as if they live in an open prison. This film is about the Palestinians and a group of courageous Israelis united in the oldest human struggle - to be free.
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Hunni
Joined: 24 May 2002
Posts: 470
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2002 2:41 pm Post subject:
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Ten Theses on Terrorism and the Occupation
David Biale
1. The collective punishment of the Palestinianshouse demolitions, destruction of orchards, denial of food and medical careis a violation of their human rights. The bombing of Israelisdeliberately blowing up civiliansis a violation of theirs. One can never justify the other. They are not morally equivalentbut both are wrong. To oppose one does not negate opposing the other.
2. To assign blame is like entering a house of mirrors: for every wrong on one side, there is another wrong on the other. We must fight the Occupation as if there is no terror, and fight the terror as if there is no Occupation.
3. Ends never justify means, but for those whose ends do violence to the rights of others, the means become the end.
4. The cycle of terror and retaliation: Palestinian civilians pay the ultimate price for terrorism; Israeli civilians pay the ultimate price for retaliation. Their leaders' folly goes unpunished.
5. News bulletin: A Palestinian woman and her daughter, mistaken for terrorists, are killed in a "prohibited zone." Such deaths are not deliberate policy, but both the Occupation and terrorism make them inevitable.
6. He who says that Israel bears no responsibility for the Occupation denies that Zionism gave the Jews political agency. He who says that Palestinians bear no responsibility for terrorism renounces the goal of Palestinian sovereignty.
7. To equate the Star of David with the swastikabut to ignore what Russia did to Grozny or Syria to Hamais the hallmark of anti-Semites, for whom only Jews can behave like Nazis. But that enemies of Israel have succumbed to anti-Semitism does not mean Jews face another Holocaust. 2002 is not 1933.
8. The battle of Jenin was not a massacrebut the accusation that it was is not a "blood libel." The truthon both sidesis bad enough.
9. For those who think themselves victims, the media is always on the other side.
10. In the judgment of Solomon, the true mother surrendered her baby, lest it be divided and killed. But the opposite is true for the Land of Israel/Palestine: only if it is divided, will both its peoples be able to live.
David Biale is Emanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis
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Hunni
Joined: 24 May 2002
Posts: 470
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2002 3:09 pm Post subject:
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REBUILDING HOPE AND CONFIDENCE IN PEACE
Dr. Gershon Baskin
The following translated speech was made by Dr. Gershon Baskin, last evening at the weekly demonstration of the Israeli Peace Coalition in front of the Prime Minister's house in Jerusalem. Following Gershon's speech, Dr. Zakaria al Qaq, the Palestinian Co-Director of IPCRI also spoke about a vision of peace and cooperation and the need for new hope for both peoples.
August 31, 2002
Jerusalem -
Something peculiar is happening to public opinion in Israel. Even since the beginning of the second Intifada two years ago, the Israeli public is continuing to show willingness to arrive at an agreement with the Palestinians on the key issues of the conflict. Even today, the majority of Israelis support the establishment of a Palestinian State next to Israel. The majority of Israelis even support dividing Jerusalem and sharing it as a capital of two states. A majority of Israelis are in favor of removing most of the settlements. Almost a majority of Israelis support the June 4, 1967 as the basis for the borders dividing Israel and Palestine. All of these opinions are based on the predication that there is someone on the Palestinian side to make peace with.
cont/d...
http://www.tikkun.org/index.cfm/action/current/article/119.html
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:22 pm Post subject: IDF kills 2 year old in Gaza while playing
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2-Year-Old Reported Killed in Gaza
.c The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip shot and killed a 2-year-old Palestinian boy on Monday and wounded two other children, hospital officials and witnesses said.
The Israeli army said it was unaware of any such incident in the southern town of Rafah, and had no immediate comment.
Officials at Rafah Hospital said 2-year-old Nafez Mashal died 15 minutes after he was admitted with a bullet wound to the back. An 8-year-old and a 14-year-old suffered lesser wounds, they said.
The dead boy's uncle said the child was playing outside their home when shooting came from an Israeli army observation post on the nearby border with Egypt.
``The boy was playing with a small ball - suddenly we came under fire,'' said Mohammed Mashal. ``When we looked toward the boy we found him lying on the ground in a pool of his blood.''
[...]
11/11/02 14:36 EST
11/11: AOL News: 2-Year-Old Reported Killed in Gaza
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:24 pm Post subject: A Bittersweet Ramadan and Palestinians Bury their Dead
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021108152021472
A Bittersweet Ramadan and Palestinians Bury their Dead
Friday, November 08 2002 @ 03:20 PM GMT
WEST BANK/GAZA STRIP (PC) - As Palestinians embarked on the third day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in various parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Meanwhile, more homes were demolished today.
Nearly two hundred thousand Palestinians managed to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem to take part in the first Friday Prayer of the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police officers were scattered all around the city, sending back thousands of Muslims who attempted to make it to the mosque.
Israeli troops arrested a Jewish man who was reportedly disguised as a Muslim, covering his head with a traditional Palestinian scarf, Israeli sources said. The man was acting as if he was heading to the prayers at the mosque. It remains unclear what his motives were.
An estimated two thousand Israeli police were dispatched into the city, an act that made movement very hard. Meanwhile, army helicopters hovered over the mosque, as Muslims attempted to pray.
In Nablus, Ahmed Ramadan, 34 years old, was shot dead when he tried to reach a local mosque for the Friday prayer, eyewitnesses reported.
Eyewitnesses also said that several tanks and dozens of soldiers attacked the residents of Tal, near Nablus, as they headed toward the mosque, opening “random” fire. Five more residents were wounded. Ahmed Ramadan, one of those shot, died shortly after receiving a bullet in the chest. Residents were apparently defying a strict military curfew that extended for four days.
Latest Khan Yunis victim
In Tulkarm, Rami Balawni, 21 years, died instantly when he was shot in the abdomen by Israeli troops, eyewitnesses said. Medical sources in Tulkarm said that Rami arrived dead, apparently due to the loss of blood before arriving to the hospital.
A mother and her daughter were arrested in the village of Kufr Ray’e, near Jenin, the Palestinian news agency, WAFA reported. The two were identified as Ma’eda Sbeieh, 50 years, and her daughter, Arselin, 26 years. No reason was given for the arrest of the two women.
Also near Jenin, Israeli troops raided the village of Tubas in the morning, using tanks and military helicopters. Army units were divided into groups of ten, and raided many houses in the city. They are still stationed there, according to the residents of the village.
In the Gaza Strip, the Nasser Hospital stated that a man, Saber Al-Qadre, 44 years was wounded in the back when Israeli troops raided the Amal neighborhood and opened fire toward residents’ homes.
Also in Khan Yunis, Israeli army bulldozers demolished another building, a house that belongs to Ashour Bres, 70 years. In addition to Ashour’s family, a three story home hosted five families of over thirty members. Neighboring homes have reportedly sustained various forms of damage as a result of the explosion, which was carried out using dynamite.
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:26 pm Post subject: Ramadan in Gaza - Special Report
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Palestine Chronicle - Ramadan in Gaza - Special Report By Kristen Ess
Ramadan in Gaza - Special Report
Sunday, November 10 2002 @ 04:56 PM GMT
GAZA CITY (PC) - On this night, the first of Ramadan, eight ‘brothers and sisters’ sit round a white plastic table in a Gaza City living room breaking their fast. They are orphans of Sabra and Shatila.
In 1982 when now Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon orchestrated a massacre on the southern Lebanon refugee camps, hundreds of infants and children watched their parents die. Most were ‘adopted’ by now Palestinian president Arafat, then running the PLO from exile in Tunisia. Most were spread throughout the mid-east. Sixty were sent to Gaza. They grew up in a cinder block building, now destroyed by Israeli missile fire, just a few dusty meters from the Mediterranean.
The PA continues to provide them with food and shelter. Now in their twenties, they are still referred to as Arafat’s Kids. One young woman of 24 shows me her leg, the skin twisted and burned. After being injured at four years old she did not grow properly. She does not remember the fires, the gunshots, the death of her parents, the massacre. Arafat’s Kids share the breakfast feast with five of those exiled to Gaza from Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity. All have become friends, in part, because they feel like strangers here in Gaza.
Ramadan Mid-Gaza Strip
Sunday, November 2002
In Rafah today the sewage is ankle deep in parts of the houses on the Egypt/Gaza border. Israeli soldiers sit in armored tanks behind the houses. The separation wall is growing longer everyday, as Israeli heavy machinery digs and traps families in their homes. An elderly woman I know shows me the room that we plan I will sleep in tomorrow. It is small and made of cinder block, with two mats lining a wall. She falls twice as we walk through. She makes her way through the sewage and peers out the back door. There are two tanks, the high wall, and her son’s recently demolished home. She wears a flowing white hajib and her eyes are bright. She tells me not to photograph the tanks or to let them see me. She says they will shoot.
(PC Photo: Mahfouz Abu Turk)
A tall woman takes me next door to see her home. Sewage is coming through the walls. Her daughter sits on the cement floor, reading, looking up only to smile at me and shake my hand. One wall is half gone, the size of a bulldozer. She takes me through the hole in wall, showing me how I can dig out the rubble to let the sewage drain. She tried yesterday, but the Israeli soldiers shot at her. Flies swarm her small children, and she looks at me pleading.
The elderly woman holds my hand as I pass by her house. She sits with her friends in between two cement walls, away from the smell of sewage and away from the brutal glare of Israeli tanks. I leave in order to make it through Abu Holi checkpoint, which divides the south of the Gaza Strip from the north, before sunset, promising to return in the morning. The streets are sewage and rubble. It is ethnic cleansing, a slow massacre.
The elderly woman’s son calls me one hour later. The Israeli soldiers are demolishing her home. The bulldozers are tearing through the walls. She is crying on the phone, having just fallen trying to run away. Her son is so worried for his mother that he cannot drive, so I do, and we speed back toward Rafah along the Mediterranean coastal road. But between Gaza City and Deir El-Balah, a single Israeli tank comes from the illegal Israeli Netzarim settlement and blocks the road. Nearby the Israeli military is flattening an area to dirt and installing outhouses. This is what they do before rounding up Palestinian men between the ages of 15 and 50. Many people here expect to be taken this night.
(Law Society Photo)
Only one road is passable from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south and this is it. We stop the car, along with hundreds of others, and wait. We all begin getting out of our cars, walking along the beach trying to pass through. Many are trying to reach their homes in Rafah, Khan Yunis, Deir El-Balah, and the surrounding villages. The man trying to reach his injured mother whose home has just been demolished is falling apart. The Israeli soldiers begin shooting at the Palestinians who are struggling through the sand. Three girls with schoolbooks come with us and get into the car. They will stay at their university tonight instead of trying to reach home. The Israeli soldiers shoot and kill a girl walking on the beach, one of their friends from school.
We drive half an inch at a time, trying just to return to Gaza City. Many get out of their cars again, this time to pray. It is almost sunset, the 5th night of Ramadan, and time to eat and drink water. People begin buying vegetables from the roadside stand and the driver of a van sized taxi sells biscuits from his window. As the call to prayer rings out, the son hands me part of a tomato. He smiles and welcomes me. Israeli gunshots are banging through the air as the Palestinians, trapped in the prison of Gaza, share their food, having lived to see the break of another days fast.
As I write this, now at home, I am watching the news on television. An Israeli tank is shooting at little boys who throw stones at it in Nablus. George Bush struts across a green grass lawn in a clean suit, talking about UN Resolutions. He does not mention that Israel is second only to the US in violating them.
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:30 pm Post subject: Brother of Latest Jenin Victim Arrested, Taken to Unknown De
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021110155833151
Brother of Latest Jenin Victim Arrested, Taken to Unknown Destination
Sunday, November 10 2002 @ 03:58 PM GMT
JENIN, West Bank (PC) - The brother of a Palestinian man killed yesterday in Jenin was arrested and taken to an unknown destination, Palestinian sources in Jenin said Sunday.
Baha’ Sawalha, the brother of Iyad Sawalha, who was killed yesterday at the hands of the Israeli army, was arrested by the Israeli army near the village of Kufr Ra’i.
Baha’, a university student was on his way from the University of Najah in Nablus to take part in his brother’s funeral, when Israeli army unit blocked his way and then apprehended him. The young man was reportedly taken to an unknown destination.
Baha’s sister-in-law, Iyad’s wife was also detained yesterday as her husband was being shot inside his house.
Iyad Sawalha, was the head of the Islamic Jihad military wing, Jerusalem Brigades, and was suspected by Israel of masterminding several bombings against its civilians and soldiers.
Sawalha was present with his wife inside their Jenin home when a large Israeli army force surrounded their home and the neighborhood.
Israeli troops reportedly raided neighboring homes as well. One of the homes raided is that of the Ekmel family. Soha Ekmel said that her husband Khaled was detained by the army, apparently to be used as a human shield, a legal practice under Israeli law.
Sawalha’s wife came out of the house, now under a hail of Israeli bullets. “I heard her (Sawalha’s wife) say, ‘Iyad, please come out, they’re threatening to kill me if you don’t.’ There was no answer,” Soha said.
Khaled, who was placed between Sawalha’s house and the Israeli army had reportedly called on Iyad to come out as well, as ordered by Israeli troops.
Palestinian rights groups often cite incidents where Palestinians, wanted by Israel are often killed after they have given themselves up, a charge Israel often denies.
The Israeli narration of the killing of Sawalha suggests that a gun battle was initiated, in which two Israeli soldiers were allegedly lightly wounded, and ended with the death of Sawalha.
However, the latest killing in Jenin is expected to fuel more attacks inside Israel.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was angered by the Jenin killing. “It’s a very big crime that was committed through military aggression against our people and against our (religious) holidays,” President Arafat told reporters in his Ramallah headquarters.
The Islamic Jihad Movement vowed to retaliate to the killing of Sawalha and warned the Israelis that they would pay dearly for his blood. Sawalha’s wife and Khaled Ekmel are still detained by the Israeli army.
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:32 pm Post subject: Coexistence: The Seeds of Peace Experience
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http://www.mideastweb.org/sop.htm
Coexistence: The Seeds of Peace Experience
By: Rachel Culley
Rachel is a 17 year old high-school senior in Mercer Maine. She attended two recent sessions of Seeds of Peace International Camp for Coexistence as a member of the American delegation.
“You are all dirty terrorists!” “Your soldiers are monsters! They wear uniforms that say – ‘Kill Palestinians.’” “We have no water. We cannot wash – we cannot wash anything.” “I am so terrified to go on a bus.” “Jerusalem is our holy land, and you take your soldiers there!” “We have suffered more. More of our people have died.” “You kill our children!” “You kill our children!”
A thin Palestinian girl started to cry, and an Israeli boy leaned back in his chair and sighed with frustration. Mashour, a dark eyed refugee from Ramallah, rolled up his sleeve to show a scar on his forearm – “From your soldiers.” Her curly head bobbing indignantly, Noya related the daily fear of Israelis, and the death of her aunt, killed by a bus bomb. The room exploded into argument: yelling, crying, words in English, Hebrew and Arabic. At Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield Maine, Middle East teenagers were learning about the reality of “coexistence.”
The newspapers, T.V. and magazines all discuss the Arab/Israeli conflict, explain the significance of Jerusalem, and highlight key incidents of violence and terror. What they rarely delve into is the concept of “coexistence,” an unavoidable reality of the conflict. Despite the violence of the conflict, both Israelis and Palestinians exist on the same land, and will continue to do so forever. At Seeds of Peace, I watched kids my own age struggle to understand and achieve a “peaceful coexistence.”
In daily “coexistence sessions,” the Israelis and Arabs at first recounted their sufferings, and the ways that the “other side” had wronged their people. Both sides wanted to show that they were the blameless victims, that they had suffered more. A Jordanian girl said – “If you Israelis would just admit what you did and get out, we could solve this conflict.” The Israelis recounted the story of the Holocaust, the horror of suicide bombings, and constant fear. The Palestinians told stories of squalid refugee camps, poverty, and constant military occupation. Abigail, tears streaming from her eyes, said - “We suffer every day because of you. We suffered in the Holocaust. How can you compare?”
In the camp, they also had to live together. Ola didn’t sleep at all the first night. I woke up and saw her sitting in her bed, completely alert. “What are you doing?” I mumbled sleepily. She replied – “I can’t share a bunk with an Israeli.” Later that day, she had to play soccer with an Israeli partner. At the end of the practice, she walked over to me. “It was…it was OK,” she said “She’s not very good at soccer either.”
One day, Mashour said something new, “I think that maybe the Israelis also suffer. I think also that it is wrong for us to compare suffering. We both live there. We both suffer.” Across the room, Mohammud leaned forward to ask – “Well, but how can we both live there?” Silence. Then Abigail, who had barely said a word until now, spoke up: “We have to.” Ofer asked: “What do you mean?” Abigail said quietly: “Mashour sits at my table for breakfast, and we played tennis together. We talked about our families. What he said – his words really made me feel. He’s human, you know?” By seeing the enemy as a human being: as another person with a face, a family and real feelings, Abigail began to see that not all people from the “other side,” were suffering too, and that they had a right to live on the land as well.
It soon became apparent, that for every event in history, there were at least two versions of the story. Israelis told the forming of Israel as a great and sorely needed action. Palestinians recounted it as “al-Nakba,” or “the catastrophe.” Facts became subjective – there seemed to be two truths for every event, two records of each action. Slowly, the two sides realized that they had been taught completely different accounts of history. As they shared their “facts,” a new and more objective version of events emerged: one which recognized the biases of each side. The friendships that they had made allowed them to talk as people, one-on-one, not as representatives of their government, but as children who were tired of the situation.
An hour later, my group was out on the soccer field, running and playing. Joo-Joo, her blue head-scarf fluttering, passed a ball to Hadeel, who raced towards the goalpost. She paused. An Israeli girl was standing next to the net, in the perfect position to kick the ball in – her team-mate. Then she passed. Her team scored. I saw a new look cross Hadeel’s face. When the team gathered to celebrate, she walked up to the Israeli girl and gave her a high-five. Later that day, they would argue about politics, settlements and of course, Jerusalem, but for a moment, I just saw two girls playing soccer.
When people talk about the seemingly impossible situation in the Middle East, they often say, despairingly – “Will they ever learn to live together?” I don’t know the answer to this question, but I can tell them that I have seen it happen: I’ve seen Israelis and Palestinians come to the realization that they are both human beings, and both sides are suffering. I’ve seen them overturn their personal biases, and explore both versions of a historical event. Coexistence does not mean fluffy, idealistic visions of peace, nor does it mean a strict division enforced by a military. Coexistence is simply the idea that two human beings can come to the realization that both of them are suffering, both have been taught hatred and prejudice, and both have a right to exist on the land. Respect is necessary, and so is direct communication between both sides. I saw children my own age: victims of violence and hatred, come to a peaceful coexistence, and one they would take home with them. Coexistence is an intelligent, objective goal, based on the realization that neither side is going away, both have the right to exist, and both have suffered greatly in the conflict. It means refusing to be Pro-Palestinian or Pro-Israeli. It means refusing to be a tool of continuing unrest, and bringing a human face to the conflict: the face of a friend on the other side. To be a Seed of Peace.
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:37 pm Post subject: Ashrawi says Palestinians must focus on reforms
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By Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said Thursday the Palestinians must focus on reform and find the most "moral and acceptable" means to resist Israeli occupation as they pursue a state of their own.
But Ashrawi told Reuters in an interview that a shift to the right in Israel and the United States along with a rise in Muslim fundamentalism would make it harder to resume a peace dialogue shattered by two years of violence.
"To face Israel we have to deal with our own domestic realities, to consolidate our own ability to withstand external pressures and to put together a system of governance that can work democratically despite the adverse circumstances," she said.
Ashrawi, a leading human rights advocate, said Palestinians would have to launch a serious process of reassessment to end a state of chaos in their territories, largely reoccupied by Israel after suicide attacks.
"We've made many, many mistakes. The most essential debate really has to be in the definition of what is the most effective and moral and acceptable means of resistance," said Ashrawi, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian peace negotiating team.
"The debate is not our right to resist: we are under occupation," she said.
"From day one I didn't think that adopting the tactics and methods of the occupier that (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, and (former Prime Minister) Ehud Barak before him, used in targeting civilians, would be the best means of resistance."
Two years after a Palestinian uprising against occupation began, many Palestinians have begun publicly criticizing the use of arms and suicide attacks against Israelis during the revolt.
Palestinian critics of the policies of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority also partly blame it for Israel's crushing response to attacks by militants and seizure of West Bank cities.
Ashrawi has turned down Arafat's offer to become a minister in his new cabinet, which won the Palestinian parliament's vote of confidence last month.
She said the new cabinet had the same old faces.
"I think the vote of confidence in a series of reshuffles in the same government was a real setback for the reform movement in Palestine," she said. "We should have signaled a real change in approach."
GLOBAL SHIFT TO RIGHT
Ashrawi said U.S. policies in the Middle East were leading to more violence.
She noted that Republicans now controlled both houses of Congress in the United States and Israel was being ruled by a right-wing government until a general election due by late January following the collapse of Sharon's coalition last week.
"It's very clear there's a global shift to the right and toward more hardline politics, unilateralism, military solutions," she said.
"To me, the greatest threat is in the rise of fundamentalism whether in the Christian right in the U.S. or the Jewish right in Israel -- and that is also giving rise to Muslim fundamentalism as a response and is closing doors to any genuine dialogue."
11/07/02 10:57 ET 11/07: AOL News: INTERVIEW-Ashrawi says Palestinians must focus on reforms
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2002 9:55 pm Post subject: The Environmental Impact of the Israeli Occupation
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021112173052970
The Environmental Impact of the Israeli Occupation
Tuesday, November 12 2002 @ 05:30 PM GMT
By Eve Gardens
NEW YORK (PC) - A disaster is facing the Palestinian olive farmers and as a result the downfall in another sector of the Palestine society, the agricultural, the backbone of the Palestine national economy. But a few seem to care about the environmental impact of the Israeli occupation.
One distinct ecological balance on ancient agriculture land is disrupted and partly destroyed by Israel with probably fatal future consequences. There are plenty of examples that strengthen such an argument: the eroding of large farmland areas, the draining of water resources, the destruction of roads, new construction of bypass roads, uprooting of ancient olive trees, Uprooting of old landscapes, the artificial divide of land and property, the building of concert walls and wired fences, ambush snares and deadly traps.
Now the UNEP, the UN Environmental Programme, is preparing for a desk study on the Palestinian Territories. A study of the casualties and the damage already done is indeed necessary, and hopefully it will not be too late to prevent a coming disaster for the agricultural environment on Palestinian territories.
"While environmental damage is a common consequence of war, it should never be a deliberate aim," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message marking the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
For his part, the President of the General Assembly, Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, called for the protection of resources such as timber, minerals, water, fish and ivory, which are vulnerable to illegal exploitation in conflict situations.
Describing the environment as the "unpublicized victim of war," the Executive Director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, said that although mankind had always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, the environment was a bigger casualty, due to damage done to air, water and land, unregulated plunder of natural resources.
Since 1999, he noted, UNEP had participated in a number of monitoring and assessment missions. The UNEP has also dispatched a mission to Afghanistan to pinpoint areas where degradation occurred and is preparing a desk study on the Palestinian Territories, which will identify the priorities for short- and long-term environmental rehabilitation.
Considering all of these efforts, one is still forced to ask the question: will this very special ecological environmental habitat in Palestine ever recover?; The insects, the birds, the fish, the flowers, the plants and the mammals. The Israeli occupation is not only killing the Palestine human population, but also the ancient Palestinian ecological habitat, life it self.
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).