Israel tightens its grip while world looks to Iraq

[nicky g]

Sorry for all this but the recent behaviour of the Sharon government is astounding, and getting very lttle attention

Israeli wall to encircle Palestine
Sharon accused of turning territories into huge prison
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,916222,00.html

No independent Palestine, Sharon insists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,915690,00.html

Palestinians caged in beach paradise
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,915238,00.html

Anyone still think the Israelis are serious about a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians? It seems obviuos to me that they are counting on forcing as many more out of the occupied territories as they possibly can before borders for the Palestinian state - I mean, territory with "some aspects of sovereignty" - are finally settled.

Excerpt from the last article:


Claims of the persecution of the residents are supported by the Israeli human rights group, Betselem. Its latest report, 'Impossible Life in an Isolated Enclave', says the people of Al Mawasi, 'live in intolerable conditions and are engaged in constant and prolonged struggle to survive... An entire community is imprisoned.'

The nearest that most outsiders can get to Al Mawasi is the Tufah checkpoint, where residents try to re-enter the community. On the left of the approach road is a group of middle-aged men and on the right are middle-aged women with children aged under 12. The women take the children of young women for medical attention which cannot be provided in Al Mawasi (young women are not allowed through).

A loudspeaker summons a group of five men or women to approach the checkpoint, where they are searched by bored Israeli soldiers. They are forbidden to carry anything, so many try to smuggle items in their bulky robes.

When Fatima Najah, 43, attempted to smuggle a bottle of varnish six weeks ago, female soldiers found it and asked the mother of 10 what it was. When she explained, they told her to drink some of it. She refused and two of the soldiers held her and opened her mouth while a third poured in some of the liquid.

Speaking in a weak voice from her home in the Swedish Village in Al Mawasi - so called because it was built by Swedish soldiers in Gaza in 1965 - she told The Observer she collapsed in agony and lay on the floor for 15 minutes until an ambulance arrived.

She spent the next month in hospital being treated for damage to her vocal chords and stomach.

'I thought I was going to die, even when I was in hospital,' she said. 'Now I am not sure if I will ever be all right. Sometimes I am OK, but then the pain returns and I can do nothing.' She fears her husband will leave her or take another wife because of her injuries.

An Israeli army spokesperson said the allegation was being investigated.

Ali Abu Ouda, 65, the mukhtar or chief of the Swedish Village, said about 300 of its 1,000 residents were stranded outside Al Mawasi. 'They get taken to hospital and then they are not allowed back in because they were at school or university when the rules changed last year. Sometimes the soldiers say someone is a security risk and that is that,' he said.

International agencies believe the harsh policy, which the army says is under review, is designed to force the residents of Al Mawasi to leave. However, the alternatives are not much better, since the whole of Gaza is poor and beset by violence.