Israel is not fighting a war on terror, but it in fact is conducting a terrorist war
Yahya Abdul Rahman
Montreal April 4, 2004 (MMN): Israel is not fighting a war on terror, but it in fact is conducting a terrorist war. Armed resistance against a brutal and illegal military occupation is not terrorism, but is the human right of those living under occupation. In fact, as reported in Ha'aretz Ha'aretz on April 1: "The European Parliament on Thursday compared injuries to Palestinians by Israeli military action to "acts of terror," and further called for a suspension of the Israel-EU Association Agreement, should Israel persist with its policy of assassinations."
When Ariel Sharon says he will continue his "war on terror" he is hitching his wagon with that of US President George W. Bush who is using his stated "war on terror" as a pre-text to continue America's ongoing attempts at imposing global hegemony to make the world into America's image. In fact, as the record clearly shows, Sharon has his own long and bloody record of spreading terror against the Palestinian people. We will not forget Qibya , we will not forget Sabra & Shatila, and we will not forget Jenin.
More than 15,000 Palestinians took to the streets of the
West Bank town of Jenin Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the artrocities in
Jenin and to recall that on April 2, 2002 Israeli forces moved into the refugee camp and
killed 52 Palestinians, including four children, four women and two elders, and
razed 487 Palestinian homes to the ground inside the refugee camp itself and an additional
22 other homes were flattened in Jenin city.
"It is totally destroyed, it looks like an earthquake has hit it, and it is totally unacceptable that the government of Israel for 11 days did not allow search and rescue teams to come. This is morally repugnant," he further stated.
Now consider the following. The United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has stated that since September 2000, the Israelis have demolished over 1400 homes through Gaza, and more than 900 in Rafah - along the Egyptian border - alone. As a result, nearly 15,000 Palestinians - men, women children and the elderly - have been made homeless.
Israeli occupation forces - with their US supplied tanks and bulldozers - often enter Rafah in the darkness of night and residents are forced to flee for their lives to safety, if there is such a place in this region of the world.
If this is not terror then what is terror? Never knowing when the tanks and bulldozers are going to show up at your doorstep. Never knowing if you are the next target. Never knowing when you go to bed at night if you will even have a bed or a home in the morning. It is a daily existence filled with insecurities and fears, trapped in a prison with no way of escape.
In fact, the ongoing house demolitions, mass arrests, restrictions on the freedom of movement of the Palestinian population, property destruction, land razing, and, more recently, the construction of this outrageous land grabbing apartheid wall are all forms of collective punishment which constitute war crimes which are illegal under existing international law - something which Israel consistently snubs its nose at. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 clearly states that: "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited [...]"
According to the Palestinian Center For Human Rights, in
March 2004 alone:
* 73 Palestinians (58 in the Gaza Strip and 15 in the West Bank) were killed by Israeli
forces, which puts the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning
of the Intifada at 2527, including 2176 civilians.
* 134 Palestinians were injured in the Gaza Strip, increasing the number of Palestinians
injured in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the current Intifada to 6975.
* 118 Palestinian homes were demolished in March, thus, the number of homes demolished
since the beginning of the Intifada has increased to 3367.
* 120 donums (4 Donams = 1 Acre) were razed in the Gaza Strip, putting the total area of
agricultural land razed at 22,616 donums (or 5654 acres).
And this takes place every single month - month after month. Just read the reports from the Palestine center for Human Rights (http://www.pchrgaza.org/) to get a small dose of what the Palestinian people are facing.
In addition, according to meticulously compiled fact sheets by the Palestine Monitor, 75 % of the Palestinian population living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories lives under the poverty line ($2 per person), and unemployment has risen to about 65%. As a result of all this, 30% of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, 21% from acute malnutrition; 45% of children under five and 48% of women of childbearing age suffer from moderate to mild anemia. In addition, more than 30% of Palestinians depend upon food handouts from NGOs and 50% of all Palestinians require external food assistance to help meet their minimum daily caloric intake. (see more detailed info here: http://www.palestinemonitor.org/factsheet/factsheet.html)
To make matters worse, the United Nations has stated this past week that it will have to halt food deliveries to the Gaza Strip because of restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of staff and supplies which will have a devastating effect on the population. As a result, at least 600,000 Palestinian refugees will be deprived of their regular United Nations relief food aid supplies.
Israel cannot possibly suppress, brutalize, maim and murder an entire population of people and not expect that they will respond.
Pro-zionist sympathizers are always barking at Muslim and Palestinian groups to condemn "suicide bombings" which is nothing more than a cynical attempt to divert attention of why some Palestinians resort to such actions in the first place. The zionist regime, and its supporters, would like us to believe that these incidents happen due to an irrational and fanatical Palestinian hatred of Jews, but in fact it is a response to the daily brutalities and humiliations heaped upon the long-suffering Palestinian people. As one Palestinian man was quoted as saying: "If you squeeze a cat you are going to get scratched."
We need to respond to zionist sympathizers by demanding that they outright condemn the conditions which give rise to these "suicide bombings," conditions which leave the Palestinian people in a perpetual state of misery where they see no other way out. Unless these zionists are willing to condemn those who supposedly act in the name of the Jewish people which are committing daily atrocities against the Palestinian people, then they are in fact complicit in these crimes. Thankfully, many Jews of conscience are speaking out against Israeli crimes, but sadly they are in the minority and are persecuted and harassed by fellow Jews.
Palestinian do not hate Jews - what they do hate is the actions committed by the occupation regime which is nothing less than a slow motion genocide against the Palestinian people. How else are Palestinian people supposed to react to the news- according to the Palestinian section of the Defence for Children International - that 523 Palestinian Children have been murdered since September 2000, and thousands more have been injured? Shall they pass out flowers and break into a chorus of Kumbaya?
Yes Lord, someone is praying, yes Lord, someone is crying. No Lord, no one is singing, and No Lord, no one is laughing. As a recent report from the Badil Resource Center For Palestinian and Refugee Rights recently stated: "Meanwhile, the international community looks on, promoting ineffectual peace plans that ignore human rights, refugee rights and international law."
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya.
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*Yahya Abdul Rahman is the Editor of Montreal Muslim News. He can be reached at montreal@montrealmuslimnews.net