From: ww@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Date: 30 Dec 92 14:21 PST
Subject: News:Resistance Grows to Pales.Expu
Nf-ID: #N:956LwB4w165w@nyxfer.uucp:-1394248379:000:3935
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!ww    Dec 30 14:21:00 1992


Subject: News:Resistance Grows to Pales.Expulsions
From: nyxfer!ww (Workers World Service)


Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


Resistance grows over expelled Palestinians

By Sharon Ayling

Palestinians in the occupied territories are carrying out mass 
resistance 12 days after Israel expelled 415 people from their 
homeland. The joint leadership of the Intifada (uprising) called 
the protests.

The resistance included a one-day general strike that was the 
strongest such action in the five-year revolt.

Israeli troops have killed 12 Palestinians since the expulsions. 
The latest as of Dec. 28 was a 15-year-old boy shot dead in the 
Gaza Strip.

One million Palestinians remain under curfew in Hebron and Gaza. 
Most of Gaza has been under a 24-hour continuous curfew since 
Dec. 8.

As a result, the economy has been completely shut down. Thirty 
thousand Palestinians who would normally travel to Israel for 
work have lost nearly $2.7 million in income.

No produce is entering or leaving the Gaza Strip. Farmers have 
been prevented from harvesting their vegetable crops, which are 
in danger of rotting. Heavy rains have caused extensive flooding,
presenting massive health risks to over 100,000 people in refugee
camps.

Israel's Dec. 17 expulsion of the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians
was the largest ouster of Palestinians in 25 years. The 
Palestinian men were handcuffed, blindfolded and dumped in 
Israel's "security zone" in southern Lebanon.

There they remain, living in tents in the snow and freezing cold.

The encampment is dangerously short of food, water, medicine, 
supplies and warm clothing. Israel has refused to allow 
humanitarian organizations to give supplies to the exiles. 
Israeli security forces barred a convoy of food and equipment 
prepared by Palestinians in Israel from reaching the encampment.

FOOD SMUGGLED TO REFUGEES

However, on Dec. 27, supporters smuggled food into the 
snow-blanketed tent city. After a freezing night, the 
Palestinians were emerging from their tents at daybreak and 
gathering around small fires to melt snow for water, when a 
donkey entered the camp. The donkey carried a skinned calf, peas,
beans and bread, prompting cheers from the men.

They needed the food. The Palestinians said they had already 
distributed their last food rations before the smuggled food 
arrived. Other donkeys carrying supplies also crossed mountain 
trails.

The United Nations Security Council condemned the mass 
deportations as a violation of international law and demanded 
that the Palestinians be permitted to return to their homes. But 
the UN has not moved beyond formal condemnation to take effective
measures.

Israeli officials characterized Dec. 27 meetings with UN envoy 
James Jonah in Jerusalem as friendly, even though they told the 
envoy the expulsion order was final. Israel then proceeded to bar
Jonah from traveling through territory it controls to meet with 
the exiles.

Israeli officials said the only recourse they would allow the 415
Palestinians would be for their families to individually appeal 
the expulsion orders in military tribunals. Such tribunals have 
rarely overturned deportation orders.

Israel could not have carried out these expulsions and 
disregarded world condemnation without the consent of its sponsor
in Washington. The Bush administration's mild statement of regret
was really a message to Israel that it would continue to be the 
leading recipient of U.S. aid--to the tune of $4 billion a year.

                               -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; email: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org; "workers"
on PeaceNet; on Internet: "workers@mcimail.com".)


 NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit
 Modem: 718-448-2358  *  Internet: nytransfer@igc.apc.org