It Was Never About Borders

"...The only viable solution remains the one democratic state where Palestine will go back to its Arab womb and where anyone who wants to live in Palestine will be free of hatred and will have the same duties, obligations and rights as anyone else that lives there..."

Yousef Abudayyeh

The Palestinian-Zionist conflict is not about disputed borders, it's about the very existence of the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine. The Zionist invaders came to Palestine because according to the Zionists, Palestine was a land with no people and needed to be filled with "people who have no land."

Unless the whole world and especially the Arab Palestinians understand this, things will get worse. What we saw in Akka (Akko) this week is a continuation of the emptying of Palestine of its original people. This has always been a fruitless undertaking, fueled by the invader's realization of the ultimate failure of the Zionist adventure - make no mistake about it.

And just to let you know, what's going on in Akka has been happening on a different scale in all the cities and village of Palestine 48. A few days ago, a friend of mine with some of his family members were driving in Haifa when his car was stoned by these fascist Zionist invaders with the "police" watching on and not doing a thing, a very familiar scene.

These stepped up attacks on '48 Palestinians should make clear the following:

- Our people of the '48 land have been living for more than 60 years, under the worst of racist conditions. All the attempts that the Arab leaders made in order to co-exist with the Zionists were attempts that needed to be made in order to prove to the world, and more importantly, to the Palestinian people, that the Zionist invaders were really not interested in co-existence. All these invaders are interested in are finding ways to push the Arabs out of their homes so they can salvage their colonization "dream" of (at least half of) Palestine.

- The so-called Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, (in no way smarter or tested than the leadership of the Arabs of '48), should go back to the original writings of the PLO and study them and understand them. The original understanding of the conflict was the right one. These Zionists invaders are not interested in anything less than an empty Palestine. Any misunderstanding of this fact will lead to more blood and misery. The least they can do is talk with our leaders in '48 and learn from them.

- The Arab countries should at once stop all dealings with the Zionists.

- The Zionist idea and doctrine is dead or at least cracked and cannot be fulfilled. The building of racist walls and even getting involved with "peace talks" are signs of the Zionists getting used to the fact that they cannot have all of Palestine, definitely not without its original inhabitants, and for sure not on their terms. Having said that, this will bring the fascist elements of the invaders (and they are many) to commit desperate acts. This will no doubt lead to more killing of Arabs in the near future. The world community should be put on notice that these fascists and their leaders should be tried for war crimes. The whole Zionist state should be held responsible for any more suffering the occupied Palestinian people will face.

- The only viable solution remains the one democratic state where Palestine will go back to its Arab womb and where anyone who wants to live in Palestine will be free of hatred and will have the same duties, obligations and rights as anyone else that lives there.

Yousef Abudayyeh is is a long time activist, founding member of the National Council of Arab Americans, a member of the coordinating committee of the Beirut meeting, member of Al-Awda, the right of Return Coalition and National Coordinator of the Free Palestine Alliance, USA. Married with two children and lives in San Diego, California USA.

http://www.wewillreturn.blogspot.com

A blockade of young minds.

"...We are students, not soldiers. We are not fighters in this conflict. Why doesn't Israel let us go study? Why do Europe and America support a blockade of young minds? Soon, my fellow classmates at the medical college will be starting classes. When they do, I will probably still be here in my father's house, waiting for the blockade to end..."



My dream is to become a bone specialist. But the Israeli government won't let me leave to pursue my studies abroad

This was supposed to be my first year of medical school. Instead, I am stuck here in Gaza in my father's house inside the Jabalia refugee camp, with few options and no way out. After I finished high school last year, I decided to become a doctor. Gaza cries out for bone specialists, but the training I need is available only abroad.

When I won a place at a medical college in Germany, my parents were proud. I was excited to follow my older brother, who is already studying there. In February, the German authorities granted me an entrance visa. I wasted no time in asking the Israeli authorities for permission to travel to Europe. But I was told that only patients in need of emergency medical evacuation would be allowed out – not students.

Hundreds of other young people trapped in the Gaza Strip have won admission to study abroad. For many of us, this is our only opportunity to continue our education. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and one of the poorest – 1.5 million of us live on a patch of land about 41 kilometres long and 6-12 kilometres wide. The local hospitals lack the equipment needed to perform many important procedures, like radiation treatments for cancer patients and heart surgery.

Universities in Gaza are overcrowded and starved for supplies. Many subjects are not even taught, and there are few postgraduate programmes. Instructors from abroad cannot enter Gaza. Without the ability to go overseas, we cannot learn.

In June, after the United States pressured Israel to allow Fulbright scholarship winners to leave the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military announced that it would grant exit permits for a few more students with "recognised" scholarships – but not "hundreds." So hundreds of us are still waiting, most without prestigious scholarships to draw the world's attention. I am sure to be one of the many who will not be allowed to leave. Life in Gaza has bled away my optimism.

My father is a teacher and owns a children's clothing shop. My mother is a housekeeper. I have six brothers and three sisters. We returned to Palestine in 1996 from Saudi Arabia, where my father had been working as a teacher. That was at the height of the peace process. My parents put their hope in the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, and decided that they could give us a better life here.

But when I was 10, the second intifada began. The peace process was collapsing throughout my teenage years. During my third year of high school, the Israeli authorities closed off the Gaza Strip. Israeli border controls have reduced the flow of people crossing the border to a trickle, and have suffocated Gaza's economy, choking off imports and exports and cutting fuel deliveries and electricity. There is no clothing left in my father's shop, which was supposed to support my brother and me during our studies.

With the backing of the US, Canada, and the European Union, Israel has maintained its blockade in an attempt to defeat Hamas, which won the elections here in 2006. But the blockade only makes people more desperate. Hamas and other armed groups, I know, have launched rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip that have killed civilians in Israeli towns and villages.

But I also have witnessed how Israel has retaliated with air strikes and armed incursions into the Gaza Strip, including Jabalia. Israel's blockade amounts to collective punishment. It is hurting all of us, whether we support Hamas or not. It is also destroying my dream to write "specialist in bone medicine" after my name.

Sometimes, I am sorry that I am from Gaza. But my hope is still to go abroad, learn skills, and return to help others here. Sometimes, when there is electricity, I watch television and see how people live in other places. I ask myself why they have the opportunity to travel, to study, to take vacations, when I cannot go abroad even to learn medicine.

We are students, not soldiers. We are not fighters in this conflict. Why doesn't Israel let us go study? Why do Europe and America support a blockade of young minds? Soon, my fellow classmates at the medical college will be starting classes. When they do, I will probably still be here in my father's house, waiting for the blockade to end.

Abdalaziz Okasha graduated from high school in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

We Do Not Ask Permission from Israel!

FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

The Free Gaza Movement is sending the Dignity on its fifth mission to Gaza with envoys on board from civil society organizations in Qatar. The boat also carries journalists, human rights observers, and Palestinians who want to return home and have been prevented from doing so by the Israeli occupation.

On the eve of this voyage, the Free Gaza Movement would like to correct a few the statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a December 11 interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. In that interview, Abbas suggesting that our efforts are coordinated with the Israelis – that the Israelis check the passports of the passengers aboard our ship and officials from the Israeli Embassy in Larnaca, Cyprus, check our boat before we leave the port.

And as a result of this interference, President Abbas stated that ours is a "silly game" and that we are not really breaking the siege.

We do not coordinate any of our actions with the Israelis. Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power by collectively punishing the people of Gaza and denying them basic human rights. As such, we neither seek Israel's permission, nor submit to their searches, to assert the right of the Palestinian people to have access to the outside world, which includes the right to invite and welcome us to Gaza.

So, why do we get in, while other efforts are stopped by the Israeli authorities? Because we remove the "security" pretext with which Israel tries to justify its brutal actions and inhumane policies towards the Palestinian people. Amongst other things, we publicize our passenger list; we depart from Cyprus, a neutral European country; and we submit to a search by the Cypriot Port Authorities to verify that we are not carrying anything that can be considered a threat to Israel's security. We sail from Cyprus waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza's territorial waters, without entering Israeli waters. Israel realizes that it cannot stop us without using force against us, because we will not be turned around easily.

President Abbas' statement that we coordinate with the Israelis was misinformed. However, Abbas was correct when he said that we are not really breaking the siege on Gaza. Our boats cannot break the siege alone. Our hope is that we have started something that others can build on. We have shown that the concerted efforts of ordinary civilians working together in the name of justice can confront and successfully challenge Israel's brutal policies and hope we have inspired other people to break their silence over Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. From the continued and accelerated Judaization of Jerusalem and the rabid violence of the settler movement, to the vicious racism of Israeli politicians, Israel is committing massive violations against the people Gaza and Palestine as a whole. The world must stand up to this.

The Free Gaza Movement will continue to send boats to Gaza to challenge Israel's imprisonment of 1.5 million Palestinians, and we will continue to work for freedom and justice for all of the Palestinian people. We do not need Israel's permission and we will never ask for it. We do need President Abbas, the Arab world, and the entire international community to join us.

Will you remember my name?

"...Palestinians are considered as a demographically abundant population, it is alright not to know their names; they are ignored on a human level. Their names are never mentioned. When Palestinians are killed you only hear about numbers, their blood is diluted by the media manipulators who do not have the decency to respect human life on both sides..."



Iqbal Tamimi

When one Israeli person is killed or kidnapped, the media makes sure every single person hearing the news would know the name of that person, giving the incident a human dimension. But this has never been the case with Palestinians who have been killed, imprisoned or kidnapped by the Israeli authorities.

Palestinians are considered as a demographically abundant population, it is alright not to know their names; they are ignored on a human level. Their names are never mentioned. When Palestinians are killed you only hear about numbers, their blood is diluted by the media manipulators who do not have the decency to respect human life on both sides.

This is why I thought of mentioning the names of a few young Palestinian men who died inside Israeli prisons. When you read their names, remember that each one of them has a family and friends, and each of them has his own dreams and hopes, and his blood screams at you, “WILL YOU REMEMBER MY NAME?” And most of all, almost all of them were killed inside Israeli prisons during interrogations before being convicted or standing in a court to a fair trial. The majority are very young, this is another tactic of Israeli authorities to empty the country of its people as soon as possible.

Fadi Abdellateef Abu Alrob, 19 years of age, born 1987 in the town of Qabatiya near the city of Jenin, has died inside the Israeli prison after 5 months of imprisonment. Jamal Elsaraheen, another young man from my hometown Hebron, died on the 16th of January 2006. Maher Dandan, from the city of Nablus died inside an Israeli prison on the 9th of June 2007. From the city of Tulkarm the young man Mohammad Elashqar, was shot by Israeli soldiers directly in the head at the Naqab prison on the 21st of October 2007!!!!!!!

Does this seem reasonable, all those young men dying at such a young age, maybe as young as yourself, or as your own son!

It would be total ignorance to think that all those young men died of natural causes. Fadi Abu Alrob, 19 years of age, was victim number 74 to die inside an Israeli prison since only December 1987 (those who I knew of). He died inside Jalbooaa Israeli prison after being denied treatment. This number does not include 193 prisoners killed while being arrested.

Jalbooaa prison was built in 2004 to the north of Palestine, copying US high security prisons in structure and system, and not far from Shatta prison in Beesan area. The prison of Jalbooaa is the sardine tin where 800 Palestinian prisoners are waiting their turn to die of medical neglect or direct assault by the Israelis. Or to be used as a negotiating card when the need arises.

Fadi Abdellateef was the second prisoner to die at Jalbbooaa prison, after Bashshar Arif Bany Oodeh 27 years of age, who died on the 23rd of June 2005 because of medical neglect as well. Bashshar is from the city of Tammoon.

Those young people died before savouring life, not because they were driving fast cars, or because they had injured themselves while being drunk or while playing dangerous sports. They all died because they were not only imprisoned by the racist cruel Israeli government, but because they were denied access to medical aid when they needed it too.

Please think of each of the following names as someone you know. For now, I have listed the names of only 42 young men only who were killed inside the Israeli prisons before even being tried, but the list is much longer than you would expect.

1- Khader Elias Fuad Altarzi, 19 years of age, from the Alsabra area in Gaza. Died in Soroka Hospital after a torture session on the 9th of February 1988.

2- Qandeel Kamel Ilwan, from Albraij Camp in Gaza, died on the 24th of February 1988 at Ashkelon Prison, of medical negligence.

3- Ibraheem Mahmood Mohammad Elraee, 28 years of age, from the city of Qalqeliya, died on the 11th of April 1988 of torture during the investigation.

4- Ayyad Mohammad Aql, 17 years of age, from Albraij camp in Gaza, died on the 2d of August 1988 after being kicked and hit severely during investigations.

5- Ata Yosif Ahmad Ayyad, 20 years of age, from Qalandya camp near Jerusalem, died on the 4th of August 1988 after being beaten and strangled during investigation.

6- Ali Ibraheem Alsamoodi, 30 years of age, from Alyamoon area near Jenin, died on the 16th of August 1988, shot down by the prison wards.

7- Asaad Jabr Zaki Elshawwa, 19 years of age, from Gaza, died on the 16th of August 1988 after being shot down by the prison wards.

8- Nabeel Mostafa Jameel Badah, 20 years of age, from Bait Haneena near Jerusalem, died on the 16th of August, 1988 after been beaten up until death.

9- Hani Theeb Saleem Elshami, 47 years of age, from Jabaliya camp near Gaza, died on the 23rd of August 1988 after being beaten to death.

10- Abdelminem Hasan Alqolaq, 56 years of age, from Khan Yonis near Gaza, died on the 7th of October 1988 of medical negligence.

11- Ibraheem Yaser Mohammad Elmtoor, 22 years of age, from Saeer town near Hebron, killed on the 7th of October 1988 after being beaten to death.

12- Abdallah Mohammad Abo Mahrooqa, 28 years of age, from Dair Elbalah near Gaza, shot dead on the 21st of October 1988.

13- Mohammad Mosa Hammad, from the town of Silwad near Jerusalem, died in prison of a heart attack on the 9th of January 1989.

14- Mahmood Yosif Oliyyan Almasry, 35, from Rafah near Gaza. Killed during torture sessions while investigation on the 6th of February 1989.

15- Nidal Zuhdi Omar Theeb, 22 years of age, from Alamaari camp near Ramallah. Shot dead on the 8th of February 1989.

16- Omar Mahmud Alqasim. 48 years of age, from Jerusalem. Died inside the prison due to Medical negligence, on the 4th of June 1989.

17- Mohammad Salah Hasan Alrifi, 50 years, from Altoffah neighbourhood of Gaza. Died inside the prison on the 10th of August 1989, suffering many illnesses and deprived of medical care.

18- Jamal Mohammad Abd-elati Abu Sharkh, 22 years of age, from Alshatea camp in Gaza, beaten to death, and strangled during interrogations.

19- Bader Mohammad Saeed Qaradeh, 12, from the city of Nablus, beaten to death on the 18th of December 1989.

20- Khalid Kamel Elsheekh Ali, 27, from Alrimal neighbourhood in Gaza, died during torture investigation session on the 19th of December 1989.

21- Mohammad Abdelrazzaq Eed, 67, from the city of Tulkarem, suffered a heart attack inside the prison and died immediately on the 4th of January 1990.

22-Raeq Husain Mousa Salman, 26, from the city of Tulkarem, died of lack of medical help on the 12th of February 1990.

23-Sabry Mansour Abed Rabboh, 18, from the city of Ramallah, he was shot down by the Israeli prison guards and died instantly on the 7th of July 1990.

24- Husam Salim Quraan, 24, from the city of Qalqeeliya, suffered a heart attack inside the prison and died on the spot on 28/8/1990.

25- Ateeyeh Abdelati Alzaaneen, 35, from the city of Bait Hanoon in Gaza, tortured to death on the 2nd of November 1990.

26- Abdulla Yusuf Alawneh , from the city of Jenin. Died on 11/11/1990. After 3 days of his release. He suffered health problems inside the prison caused by torture during detention.

27- Mustafa Abdulla Alakkawi, 36, from Jerusalem. Died on 4/2/1991 after being subjected to torture during interrogation.

28- Husain Abduraheem Harb, 21, from the city of Bait Ola near Ramallah. Died inside prison on the 14th of February 1991 of medical negligence.

29- Ali Hasan Abdulhaleem Alshahid, from city of Tulkarem, Died on the 8th of June 1991 after being beaten and tortured at the quarters of the Civil Administration.

30- Sami Noman Zorob, 33, from city of Khan Yonus in the Gaza Strip. Died on the 22nd of August 1991 of medical negligence.

31- Jasir Ahmad Ali Abu Rmaileh, 39, from Tulkarem camp, died of a heart attack at an Israeli prison on the 20th of October 1991.

32- Mustafa Mahmoud Barakat, 25, from Anabta town near Tulkarem, died during a torture session while being investigated by Israeli prison wardens on the 10th of January 1992.

33- Mousa Aberahman, 32,, from Noba village near Hebron. He was shot dead by the Israeli forces inside the prison on the 18th of January 1992.

34- Sameer Mohammad Salamah, 24, from Khan Yonis, Gaza. Died during torture and investigation on the 15th of February 1992.

35- Ahmad Ibrahim Barakat, 26, from Alain Camp in Nablus, killed by the Israeli prison guards on the 5th of May 1992.

36- Sameer Omar Khamees Omar, 17, from Alshatie Camp in Gaza. Killed by Israeli interrogators on the 14th of May 1992.

37- Mohammad Sulyman Husain Brais, 30, from Khan Yonis in Gaza. Tortured while interrogated. He died on the 29th of June 1992.

38- Hazim Mohammad Eid, 23, from Om Alsharayyet near Ramallah. He was killed by torture during an investigation session.

39- Husain Nimer Asad Obaidat, 22, from Almokabber mountain in Jerusalem. Died inside the prison of a “heart attack”.

40- Ayman Ibrahim Mohammad Barhoom, 20, from Rafah in Gaza. Died inside an Israeli prison on the 27th of January of medical negligence.

41- Ayman Saeed Hasan Nassar, 23, of Dair Albalah in Gaza. Died during investigation. He was beaten up without any mercy, by Israeli authorities on the 23rd of March 1993.

42- Mohammad Salamah Aljundi from Alarroob camp near Hebron, he was killed while tortured in Hebron’s central prison on the 10th of May 1993.

The other face of western democracy.

Khaled Amayreh

It is really difficult to blame millions of young men and women throughout the Third World, especially in the Muslim world, for their mounting disenchantment with western democracy.

A few years ago, many people in the Arab world were made to believe that the "American way" would empower the masses and help build a society based on liberty and justice which would also eventually produce economic prosperity.

However, these people soon discovered that they had been duped and deceived as they found out how democracy looked like "in action" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and, of course, in Palestine.

The often pornographic dichotomy between the ritualistic pronouncements by western leaders on democracy and human rights, on the one hand, and their scandalous actions, behaviors, and policies, on the other, served only to deepen people's disillusionment with a "democracy" that preaches one thing and does the opposite.

In his second inaugural address, George W. Bush, emphasized the centrality of "democracy" in his administration's foreign policy.

"It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.!

In reality, however, we all saw that instead of supporting democracy and discouraging tyranny, Bush did quite the opposite by fighting democracy and encouraging tyranny in many parts of the world, especially the Arab world.

Indeed, in most Arab countries considered allies (or rather puppets) of the United States, criminal violations of human rights and civil liberties are now more pervasive than when Bush became President nearly eight years ago.

Torture is widespread and state-of-the-art torture tactics, e.g. such as "water-boarding," are being introduced to a number of Arabs state under direct American supervision. This is in addition to the scandalous "renditions" operations in which several Arab regimes are involved.

Today, virtually all American-allied Arab regimes in the Middle East are full-fledged repressive police states where citizens venturing to exercise even a modicum of their civil rights and liberties are persecuted, imprisoned and tortured or dismissed from their jobs.

In some countries, thousands of people are rounded up like cattle and placed in mass prisons in order to prevent them from taking part in local or parliamentary elections. And this is done while western democracies keep blathering about democracy and human rights.

In occupied Palestine, George Bush's hypocrisy cries out to the seventh heaven. In 2006, Palestinians held parliamentary elections at the urging of the man in the White House. However, when the Palestinian people elected a political party which Bush and Ariel Sharon, the certified war criminal, didn't like, all hell broke loose, and the Palestinian people were subjected to a harsh blockade unseen since the soldiers of Adolph Hitler besieged Ghetto Warsaw in 1943.

And when Gaza children were being starved and killed in droves, as they continue to be even as I write this commentary, the Bush administration's reaction was voiced by its secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, that unethical and lying lady, who congratulated Tzipi Livni, the equally criminal-minded Israeli foreign minister, on the "remarkable success" of the blockade, saying "It is working, and we are glad that it is."

But Rice is by no means inventing anything. Madeline Albright, Secretary of State during the Clinton administration, had uttered even more virulent sound-bites when asked what she thought about the estimated one million Iraqis annihilated by the US-led sanctions during the 1990s. She reportedly said rather nonchalantly that "if it is good for America, it is worth it."

Well, I imagine that Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin as well as all other mass murderers, past and present, would have made the same argument to justify their crimes against humanity.

Yes, many people in our part of the world thought, probably out of naivety, that western democracy was ethical, moral, just and humane, but reality showed that it is often unethical, immoral, unjust, inhumane and outright criminal.

Ask the Afghan civilians whose families have been exterminated and homes destroyed by wanton western bombardment of their villages. Ask them what they think about American democracy? Ask the Iraqis whose country has been bombed out back into the Middle Ages. Ask them if they are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein.

Ask the Palestinians whose children have to die of illness and disease because the "only democracy in the Middle East" wouldn't allow them access to adequate medical care.

Ask them, and they will tell you the truth.

Of course, George Bush is not the only villain in the arena. Most of the "democracies" of Western Europe have played a shameful role in effecting the genocidal wars in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and they all, with a few appreciable exceptions, have done so in the name of democracy and human rights.

We saw recently how the leaders of Germany, Italy, France and Britain embraced the Nazi-like Israeli state on its 60th anniversary, the state whose very existence is a crime against humanity.

Similarly, we saw how British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently described the extirpation of the Palestinian people from its ancestral homeland and the creation thereon of the terrorist state as the "greatest event in the 20th century."

This is the leader of the very country that had enabled Zionism to rape Palestine and expel its native inhabitants to the four corners of the world.

And at the top of all this monumental oppression, British leaders still have the moral and intellectual depravity to denounce us as "terrorists" for resisting our tormentors and wanting to be free.

Today, western democracies are busy fostering "democracy and human rights" in occupied Palestine by funding a police state apparatus where political activists are abducted and tortured and even killed, and journalists and university professors are incarcerated and maltreated by young, ignorant security cadres who would do anything for a few hundred dollars at the end of the month.

This is indeed the "democracy" that is being exported to us and which the West in coordination with Israel is trying to force down our throats.

Well, sorry guys, your democracy is killing us, we don't want to have any part of it.

Video: Israeli Terrorist Settler Shooting Palestinians in Hebron.

Spread and distribute WIDELY!

Footage filmed by Jamal Abu-Sa’ifan, a Palestinian resident of Hebron, documenting a terrorist Israeli settler shooting two members of his family.

The event occurs following the eviction settlers from a Palestinian house they occupied in Hebron. Settlers attacked the nearby house of the Abu-Se’ifan family, and during ensuing clashes, a settler fired his handgun at Hosni Abu-Se’ifan (40), who was hit in the chest and is in stable condition, and his father, ‘Abd al-Hai Abu-Sa’ifan (65) who was moderately wounded in his arm. The two were taken to a Hebron hospital. The video shows other members of the family manage to overcome the shooter, later more terrorist settlers from the nearby settlement Kiryat Arba arrives and the scene, and fires their weapon toward the Palestinian family.



BlipTV: http://blip.tv/file/1542543

DailyMotion: http://tinyurl.com/6kxfom

In the hours after the eviction, the terrorist Jewish settlers rioted in Hebron, throwing stones at police and Palestinians and setting fire to Palestinian trees and attacking Palestinian homes.

B’Tselem handed the video to Israeli police in Hebron last night and was “demanding that the assailant is immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated”.

“Additionally, the security forces must investigate the failures that allowed settlers to riot throughout the afternoon and evening in Hebron’s Palestinian neighbourhoods,” the rights group said.

There are more than 470,000 terrorist Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and Jerusalem and their numbers are increasing every year, even though all settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law.

The settlers at the Hebron house claimed they had bought the building legally nearly two years ago from a Palestinian and said they had documents and videotape as proof. However, the Palestinian has since denied selling the building to the settlers and last month the Israeli supreme court said the house should be evacuated until the ownership dispute was settled.

Palestinian village turning into ‘ghetto’.

"...The Palestinian equivalent of poor children rifling through bins looking for used drinks cans. The pair dodge through the trees each evening under cover of dusk collecting empty canisters left behind by the army..."

Jonathan Cook
The National

NILIN, WEST BANK: The sun is sinking fast behind the trees of an olive grove on the outskirts of the West Bank village of Nilin. After a day of confrontations between the Israeli army and the Palestinian villagers over Israel’s building of its separation wall on Nilin’s land, the soldiers appear finally to have gone.

Overlooked by the homes of the neighbouring Jewish settlement of Hashmonaim, a handful of Nilin’s braver teenagers finally come out to work.

Jamal and Abed are sweating from their efforts to beat both nightfall and the return of the army. They stand proudly, the fronts of their T-shirts turned out to hold a bulging stash of used tear gas canisters and stun grenades. Each is worth one shekel (Dh1) in scrap value, and between them they have at least 50 canisters.

Nilin, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is home to nearly 5,000 Palestinians. Known as the “village of entrepreneurs”, it has more than its share of millionaires. But that looks set to change.

Traditionally, Nilin has enjoyed the benefits not only of a thriving agricultural industry on its plentiful outlying lands, but also of four factories that supply goods ranging from cola to fuel to Palestinians across the Ramallah region.

But Jamal and Abed, who nervously laugh and refuse to answer when asked for their full names, appear to be the face of Nilin’s future business prospects.

Encircled by half a dozen Jewish settlements like Hashmonaim – all illegal under international law – the village is slowly being sealed off in a fashion that may soon make its isolation almost as complete as Gaza’s.

Since May, Israel has begun building its separation barrier along one length of the village, cutting it off from 250 hectares, or 40 per cent, of its farmland. The land will be effectively annexed to the neighbouring settlements.

Copying the strategy of nearby Palestinian villages, the people of Nilin have begun a campaign of mainly non-violent protests to delay the work in the hope that world opinion, or the Israeli courts, will win them a reprieve.

In the meantime, a series of violent incidents by the army have claimed several lives in the village. The army has also experimented with new techniques to break up the demonstrations, including a foul-smelling liquid called Skunk which is sprayed on protesters.

After such clashes Jamal and Abed cash in – the Palestinian equivalent of poor children rifling through bins looking for used drinks cans. The pair dodge through the trees each evening under cover of dusk collecting empty canisters left behind by the army.

If Nilin’s farmers face the imminent demise of their livelihoods with the confiscation of their land, Nilin’s businessmen may not be far behind.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, has seen plans drafted by the Israeli army to seal off the crossroads at the entrance to the village, the only access in and out of Nilin. Currently it is controlled by an army checkpoint, the location where a bound Palestinian was shot in the foot in July by an Israeli soldier – a moment captured by Salam Amira, a Palestinian schoolgirl, on her video camera.

“Israel says it wants to prevent the inhabitants of Nilin using the road so that it can ‘secured’,” said Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem. “In practice that means the road will be reserved for settlers to reach settlements even deeper in the West Bank, on the far side of Nilin. The road will be for Jews only.”

In place of the checkpoint, Israel is proposing that Nilin be turned into an enclave connected via a tunnel to another road leading to Palestinian villages in the area. The villagers fear they will then be entirely dependent on the Israeli army’s good will to come and go.

Other communities in the West Bank have suffered similar fates in the past. Qalqilya, home to 50,000 Palestinians, was tightly encircled by the wall a few years ago.

Its many farmers, who rely on the army to let them pass through gates to their land, complain bitterly of restrictions that have made it all but impossible to make a living. They say that the soldiers often do not show up or they open the gate for only a few minutes a day.

Reports suggest that Qalqilya has seen an exodus of about one-tenth of its population since the wall’s completion.

Like Qalqilya, Nilin is close to the Green Line, the West Bank’s pre-1967 border with Israel. It is in such areas that Israel’s wall has made the biggest inroads into Palestinian land.

Ms Michaeli pointed out the plans for Nilin and similar developments elsewhere in the West Bank mean that any hope of a contiguous Palestinian state – the goal of the US-sponsored road map – is being destroyed by Israel.

“The army can open and close the tunnel at will,” she said. “And we have seen how unaccountably the army uses that kind of power in other places in the West Bank. If they want to punish the village or bring pressure to bear, they simply seal the tunnel.” The tunnel is likely to be the final straw for Nilin’s struggling economy.

According to a report from the World Bank published last month, increasingly severe movement restrictions across the West Bank are choking business prospects.

Palestinian gross domestic product has fallen by 40 per cent during the intifada and investment has dropped to “precariously low levels”.

The report further notes that the land left to Palestinian communities has been “fragmented into a multitude of enclaves, with a regime of movement restrictions between them”.

Salah Hawaja, who leads the non-violence campaign against the barrier, said the villagers wished to avoid such a fate for Nilin.

“The wall is the first stage of turning us into a ghetto,” he said. “The tunnel and the army’s control of it will make the factories on which so many people in Nilin depend for their living unviable. No one can run a business not knowing from day to day whether he will be able to send out trucks or bring in supplies.

“We have no choice but to resist because the other option is that we watch our economy being slowly strangled to death. Israel wants us to leave this land for the settlers, but we are not going anywhere. We will continue struggling for our right to stay here.”