PALESTINE: World's longest running injustice

BY KATHRYN KELLY 

The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israel which has
been in place since the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war represents a slow death
for the Palestinian people.

I've recently returned from an Australian People for Health, Education
and Development Abroad (APHEDA) fact-finding trip to the Occupied Territories.
What we saw there is perhaps the longest running injustice in the world.
Volumes of UN resolutions attest to this injustice, but still the occupying
Israeli army acts with impunity — killing or arresting people or stealing
more land, on a daily basis.

We saw Palestinians having to line up at the checkpoints every day to
go to work in another town or city; often they are turned back without
reason. Checkpoints are everywhere throughout the West Bank and in the
Gaza Strip.

At Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah, which we had to go through each
day, there was an Israeli tank with its gun facing the people lined up
in single file, and a number of small bunkers with soldiers with their
rifles pointing at those lined up. The soldiers wave you to come forward
one by one and show your pass.

On May 28, Israeli soldiers opened fire on those waiting at the Qalandia
checkpoint, injuring 10-year-old Fadi Ghazi Subuh, who was hit by live
ammunition in his back and Riziq Yousef Tawil, 56, hit in his chest and
left leg. Seven people were injured by rubber bullets. Walid Mousa Habbas,
22, lost his eye. Two female students needed treatment after inhaling tear
gas.

In one incident, men waiting at a checkpoint were made to strip off
and sit naked on the cold ground overnight. Humiliation is part of the
occupation process.

Razor wire and passes

Barbed wire and razor-wire fences encircle the towns and cities and line
the roadsides in the West Bank. Palestinians have to apply for passes to
move through the checkpoints. Many told us they hadn't been able to visit
their families for months at a time.

Currently, most West Bank cities are under curfew with people only being
able to get out of their houses for a few hours every few days. But even
before that, most Palestinians couldn't get to work outside of their towns
and particularly outside of the West Bank or Gaza Strip. It is often impossible
for ambulances to get through checkpoints. Many women and babies have died
during child birth over the last 20 months because they couldn't get through
the checkpoints to medical care.

There have been numerous incidents of refusal of access to medical care
— a contravention of the Geneva Convention.

Palestinians are barred from using the new bypass roads which have been
built throughout the West Bank — they are for Israeli-licensed cars only.
Palestinians are restricted to Palestinian roads, which have often been
ripped up, blocked by mounds of dirt or by concrete blocks.

To get into Nablus, we had to get out of our vehicle and walk, along
with Palestinians, about three kilometres on a dirt road, before getting
into another car at the end of the dirt road.

These restrictions on movement, along with other Israeli attacks or
actions, serve to make daily life almost impossible for Palestinians.

Unemployment and associated poverty has skyrocketed to around 50-60%
of the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, not only because people
can't get to their former workplaces, but because factories or workplaces
in the Occupied Territories have been destroyed — close to 60 of them.

Imports and exports are controlled by the Israeli authorities, as are
the basic requirements of life — water and food supply. In addition to
controlling imports and exports, the Israeli authorities have destroyed
many olive groves, fruit trees, greenhouses and productive land. Palestinian
human rights groups told us that some trees are not allowed, by military
decree, to be planted by Palestinians — presumably to block Palestinians
claiming permanent residence of the land.

Water in the West Bank comes from aquifers, though 80% of it goes to
Israelis. The other main water source, the Jordan River basin, is controlled
by Israel and no water from there gets to the West Bank. Per capita water
use by the Israelis is around five times that of Palestinians.

Around 25% of Palestinian homes are not connected to a water supply
and the residents have to collect rainwater or water (sometimes polluted)
from springs or wells. When these run dry, they have to buy water from
the water tankers or in bottles — an expensive option for many given their
poverty.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, which we visited in Jerusalem,
has documented the inequity surrounding access to water. It has also documented
incidents where Israeli soldiers have ordered Palestinians away from wells
or springs and where the soldiers have opened the taps of water tankers
and ordered the Palestinian drivers to drive away with the water spurting
out. Of course, by the time the drivers can safely stop and turn off the
tap, much of the water is lost (see < http://www.btselem.A HREF="mailto:org"><org>).

In Bethlehem, we saw water tanks and roof-top solar panels with bullet
holes in them after they were shot at by the soldiers. Deliberate attacks
on water tanks have been reported in many places.

Killings and arrests

Palestinians, including children, are being killed on a daily basis. The
infrastructure of Palestinian life is badly damaged or destroyed. Unemployment
and poverty is at such high levels that a humanitarian disaster is looming.

Arrests of thousands of Palestinian middle-aged men and boys means that
in many areas the population is comprised primarily of women, children
and old men. Torture of those arrested is widespread and documented by
both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. Israeli settlements are
continually increasing in number on stolen Palestinian land and settler
numbers have doubled since the Oslo accords were signed in 1993.

This oppression of Palestinians has given rise to resistance in the
form of attacks on the settlers and desperate suicide bombings of civilians
and soldiers in Israel. Western media coverage of Palestinian suicide bombings
of Israeli civilians obscures the fact of the occupation, as Israel's brutal
treatment of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
is always presented in the media as “retaliating against this terrorism”.

Some Palestinians are calling for the development of a non-violent resistance
strategy, and others for an end to the bombings in Israel. The Palestinian-organised
International Solidarity Movement is sending unarmed international supporters
into the refugee camps to attempt to provide some protection for Palestinians
against Israeli attacks.

There is opposition to the occupation and the colonisation of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip by Israelis. More than 200 Israeli soldiers have refused
to serve in the Occupied Territories and Israeli peace groups have called
for an end to the occupation.

The current call by US President George Bush to try to get rid of Palestinian
Authority President Yasser Arafat is demonstrably another diversion from
the real issue of the occupation. This arrogant attempt to intervene in
Palestinian elections is likely to result in even greater support for Arafat
or for the groups backing the bombings in Israel — Hamas and the al Aqsa
Brigades.

There appears to be little hope for action to end the violence coming
from Western governments or the UN. The Bush administration's actions are
exacerbating the situation, as does its continuing massive military aid
to Israel.

The only hope I can see is if an inspiring non-violent strategy can
be developed to bring home clearly to the world the incredible repression,
apartheid and brutal occupation which is occurring in Palestine. Then perhaps
an end to the occupation could be in sight.

[Kathryn Kelly was the Greens representative on the APHEDA delegation
to West Bank and Gaza Strip.]

From Green Left Weekly, July 10, 2002.

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