From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Israel: Mass deportations perpetuate crisis
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 09:12:34 GMT

/** mideast.action: 32.0 **/
** Topic: NGO Protest **
** Written  8:49 am  Dec 18, 1992 by mtaylor in cdp:mideast.action **
UPDATE FROM THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF INTERNATIONAL NGOS, JERUSALEM

Tel/Fax: 02.828901                                            18 December 1992

                               FUEL ON THE FIRE:

                MASS DEPORTATIONS PERPETUATE CRISIS SITUATION  

CCINGO, representing international development and aid organisations working
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, views with grave concern Israel's mass
expulsion of 415 Palestinians from the occupied territories. Following a week
in which seven Palestinians were killed by army gunfire and five Israeli
soldiers were killed by armed Palestinian elements, the deportations have
pushed tensions in the occupied territories to a flash-point. With curfews
over much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip entering their second week, the
deportations will only speed the downward spiral of unrest and violence. 
 
The mass expulsion marks a dramatic quantitative change for the worse in
Israeli government policy towards Palestinians. The secrecy and speed of the
expulsions denied detainees due process prior to execution of the deportation
order. Families of an estimated 1600 Palestinians arrested in massive raids
this week are trying to determine today if their relatives were among the 415
Palestinians trucked across the border into Lebanon late yesterday. The social
and economic impact of the expulsions will affect upwards of 2000 people: the
dependents and immediate families of the deportees now face either exile or up
to two years without their fathers, brothers and sons, who are in many cases
the principal breadwinners. 
 
As 415 Palestinians lie caught between Israeli and Lebanese armies in southern
Lebanon, one million Palestinians remain under 24-hour curfew in Hebron and
the Gaza Strip. International NGOs, and the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency all report arbitrary restrictions on their work as a result of the
curfews in Hebron and Gaza, as well as checkpoints blocking West Bank roads to
Jerusalem. Hospitals in Hebron and Gaza report critical shortages of medicine,
food and fuel. In Hebron, now in its eighth day of curfew, ambulances and
doctors have been prevented from working and a fuel shortage is becoming
critical as temperatures drop to freezing. 
 
The Gaza Strip is in its tenth day of largely unbroken 24-hour curfew. The
resulting shut-down of the Gazan economy is causing losses of income reaching
well into the millions of dollars. For example, the 30,000 Palestinian workers
who would normally travel to Israel for work have already lost a total of
U$2.7 million. No produce is entering or leaving the Strip and farmers have
been prevented from harvesting the cauliflower, cabbage and clementine crops
which are in danger of rotting under the winter rains. The curfews have
hindered humanitarian response to extensive flooding in the Jabalyia and Beach
refugee camps presenting serious health risks to more than 100,000 people. 
 
Curfew, as a form of collective punishment, is illegal under international
law. Similarly, Israel's policy of deportation was most recently condemned by
the United Nations Security Council resolution 726 in January 1992, which
affirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the occupied
territories. The Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49) explicitly forbids
individual or mass deportations, regardless of motive, as a "grave breach" of
the Convention, or war crime. 
 
CCINGO deplores all violence and urges immediate intervention by the
international community to ensure Israeli respect for international law and
universal human rights. Article 1 of the Convention requires state signatories
to ensure respect for the provisions of the Convention. The immediate threat
of further bloodshed and human rights abuse adds urgency to the moral and
legal responsibility of the international community. CCINGO demands that
governments and NGOs enforce international condemnation with concrete
international action.
** End of text from cdp:mideast.action **
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