Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: HELP the PALESTINIAN PEOPLE






Dear  Friends,



 


My name is Zuhair Sabbagh. I teach sociology at Bir
Zeit  University in the occupied West Bank. I am sending you the following
email from  occupied Ramallah. It
  

covers a  great part of the brutal events that took place in Ramallah in
the last 9 days.  I would like to ask you to send it to as many people as
possible. I do  appreciate your help and stand with our national struggle.



 



Yours,



Zuhair  Sabbagh



 



 



 



 



The Reoccupation of Ramallah


 


By Zuhair  Sabbagh*


Occupied  Ramallah


April 8,  2002


 


 


Reoccupation
and  Devastation


 


On the morning of
Friday 29  of March, and after midnight, people in Ramallah were awakened
by the sharp  squeak of Israeli tanks and troop carriers. The roar of moving
tanks was  deafening and frightening. Moments later the bombardment of the
Palestinian  Authority Compound was begun. People in Ramallah began to realize
that their  already besieged city was reoccupied by Israeli colonial  troops.



 



Grave  developments began to accelerate. Over sixty American-made tanks began
to  bombard the gates and walls of the PA Compound. Uneven clashes took place
 between PA Presidential guards and Israeli tanks.

  
Then the Israeli colonial army began to  demolish seven building
that included PA civilian and security offices. Later  on, President Arafat
was encircled and besieged along with a group of PA  employees and a handful
of guards. After few hours of Israeli reoccupation, the  Compound was turned
into piles of rubble.
   
After disconnecting
telephone and electricity lines, an Israeli military  bulldozer dug and destroyed
the water network. Later on, Arafat was confined  into two rooms and the
Israeli colonial government intends to keep him isolated  and humiliated
until he capitulates to Israel’s colonial  dictates.



 


At night, we watched
Israel’s  prime minister Sharon declare: “Israel’s hand is stretched to peace.
The Israeli  government met and principally decided upon wide-range military
activity in area  A. He added that “the government will act to subdue the
terror network.
  
Arafat is an enemy
and heads a coalition  of terrorists. At this stage he will be isolated.”
Sharon informed the Israeli  public that the government decided a partial
call up of the military reserves.  He concluded by calling for unity and
responsibility.
  
Defense Minister
Ben-Eliezer declared  that “Israel will not harm Arafat but will keep him
in  isolation.”



 



 


Colonialism and the  Colonized



 



Afterwards, the  implementation of ‘stage two’ began to take place. The “victorious”
Israeli  colonial army turned its military machine against the civilian population
and  strict curfew was imposed.
   

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 Ramallah residents were glued to their TV and
 radio sets. And scanty news began to flow from local television and radio
 stations. But due to the immobility of their correspondents, both the local
 television and radio stations began to function as radio stations. Then,
the  Israeli colonial troops occupied four local television stations and
detained a  number of their staff.
  

Later on, we  were greatly shocked while watching alternatively our local
TV stations. On two  of the local TV stations, the colonial occupiers began
to televise pornographic  movies. We wandered, was this a sick joke or a
policy! However, this  incomprehensible and uninvited Israeli “service” was
stopped on the fourth day.  On the second day, water, electricity and telephone
communication was disrupted.  About 80 percent of the residents were denied
these  services.



 



On the second day, we heard that troops have ransacked  the Cairo-Aman Bank.
Customers’ safes were broken and Jewelry were stolen.  Another Jordanian-owned
company was ransacked. While the residents were  suffering under strict curfew,
Israeli soldiers were seen breaking into  Palestinian super-markets and plundering
food and soft drinks. Apparently, the  army supply of food rations was not
appropriately functioning. At least seven  multi-storey buildings were occupied
by snipers. Other buildings were set on  fire. The Israeli troops occupied
also the Fire Brigade Station in order to  prevent the putting down of fires.
Moreover, a number of houses were occupied by  the troops and the civilians
were all cramped in one room. Later on troops will  search the houses; steal
money, gold, jewelry and small electric appliances;  smash furniture and
electric appliances;
   
then use the
house to sleep and live in it.


 


While  scattered
clashes continued in the center of Ramallah,

  
Israeli tanks kept rambling inside the  narrow streets of this small
city. They are apparently, carrying out tank  military patrols. On Saturday
30, an Israel military bulldozer drove down the  hill of our neighborhood
and three tanks gave it a cover from the top of the  hill. Later on we learned
that the bulldozer dug a deep tunnel across the road  that connects Betunia
and Ramallah. This method of isolating the city was  repeated elsewhere in
Ramallah.



 


In the  first
9 days of the Israeli occupation, tanks were still trailing ambulances, TV
 vehicles and civilians.
  
A large
 tank ran over the low edge of our neighbors’ shacks and an old woman was
rescued  from being overrun by the tank. Later, a gas balloon was salvaged
out of the  rubble.



 


Deteriorating Health  Situation



 



Since the  beginning of the Israeli onslaught, the Israeli colonial army
adopted a racist  and systematic policy of obstructing the normal activities
of the Palestinian  health system. Tanks surrounded the major hospital and
invaded another; water,  electricity and telephone were cut from the city
including
  
hospitals; ambulances were
shot at, held  by tanks for over one hour; and their free access to the wounded
and to  hospitals – was obstructed in a brutal manner.

  
These inhuman acts constitute gross  violations of the laws of war
and specifically the 1949 Geneva Accords. They  constitute war crimes. The
following is a chronology of major violations in the  field of health.



 


Sat. 30


 



1.

       

Israeli  tanks surrounded the Ramallah Hospital and prevented the free access
of  ambulances and civilians;





Water supply    and electricity were cut from the Hospital;





3.

       

Israeli  troops occupied the al-Ri’aya Hospital in al-Bireh. They gathered
the physicians  and staff in one room and searched the hospital;



 



April  1
st



 





Palestinian    health officials say that Israeli troops expropriated 6 ambulances
and    arrested 9 staffs of ambulances inside Ramallah;



25 dead bodies    of Palestinians were gathered in the Ramallah hospital
and hospital officials    say they cannot bury them due to the military imposed
   curfew;



3 out of the 8    ambulances were put out of order by the Israeli army in
occupied    Bethlehem;



Ramallah    Hospital ran out of blood infusion of O+ and O- . The Hospital
Administration    called upon the residents of Ramallah to come to Hospital
and donate blood. No    one dared to go to the Hospital for fear of being
shot and killed by the    trigger-happy soldiers;



The    Administration of the Ramallah
   
 
Hospital confirmed that it is about to run out of medicine. It called
   upon the world to help supply the Hospital with the necessary    medicine.





 



April  2
nd





Israeli troops    opened fire on a convoy of UNRWA

     
vehicles carrying food and medicine for Ramallah hospital. The
convoy    came to Ramallah during the lifting of curfew for two    hours;



The Israeli    police in West Jerusalem stopped and searched an ambulance
arriving to    Jerusalem from Nazareth. It was loaded with medicine that
was donated by    residents of Nazareth to al-Maqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
The police    threw the medical supplies on the street and made the ambulance
drive back to    Nazareth;



Today in the    afternoon when curfew was lifted, few of the relatives of
the 27 who were    killed in Ramallah and kept in Ramallah Hospital, attended
the burial of their    dear ones. They utilized the two hours of lifting
the curfew to bury the dead    inside the Hospital parking because Israeli
tanks and troops prevented their    proper burial in the cemetery. We did
not know the names or the ages of the    dead;



Today, we were    extremely worried about the expected delivery of a pregnant
Palestinian woman.    We tried our best to secure a free and safe access
to hospital, so she can    deliver her first baby. I am sure there are many
other pregnant women and sick    and wounded civilians who cannot reach the
hospital;



Signs of    dwindling food provision is taking place in Ramallah. People
are suffering    from lack of food, water, electricity, telephone, medicine,
and    hospitalization.





 



April  3
rd



 



1.

       
The Israeli invading
army  expropriated the only ambulance run by the Jenin Hospital and the hospital
was  bombarded for several hours making it non-operative;



2.

       
A Palestinian health
official said  today that water supply was cut from Ramallah hospital and
the hospital staff  began to collect rain water in order to meet their needs.


 


Through its consistent
 obstruction of normal Palestinian health activities, the Israeli colonial
army,  intentionally, drives at the maximization of Palestinian suffering
and human  losses. The wounded are kept lying in the streets and inside buildings
without  any access to medical care Obviously, the army’s intention is: “let
them bleed  to death.”



 



Today, the  Israeli colonial army lifted the curfew for few hours. This move
coincided with  General Zenni’s visit and meeting with Arafat. We went out
and saw the  devastation and wanton destruction brought about by Israeli
tanks. Several  electricity and telephone poles were knocked down, several
buildings were burned  down or ruined and several shops were ransacked. We
realized that food  provisions are beginning to dwindle.

   
There is no milk nor dairy products nor vedgetables. We could not
buy  much food. Drinking water is running down, but we learned to share our
water  with our neighbors. In short, the human situation has deteriorated
 further.



 



Palestinian  casualties have exceeded 110 dead and countless of injuries
inside the West  Bank. Mass arrests are still taking place and torture of
the detainees by  soldiers is widespread.

  
Heavy  fighting is taking place in cities and refugee camps. The
Sharon-Peres onslaught  is continuing.
   



 


A Colonial Onslaught



 



The Sharon-Peres  right-wing coalition government has dealt a deadly blow
to the Palestinian  Authority and Oslo is in a coma. Arafat is a captive
leader and General Sharon  intends on deporting him. Under the cloak of “Palestinian
terrorism” Israel’s  political objectives in the Palestinian occupied territories
are being dictated  by tanks, helicopter gunships, devastation and fire.
In addition to Arafat, the  entire Palestinian civil society has become captive.
The severe suffering, the  carnage, the indiscriminate killing, the extra-judicial
assassinations, the  denial of necessary services, and the national humiliation
are all intended
  
to create heavy
pressures on 3.5 million  Palestinians in an attempt to bring about the capitulation
of the PA and  Arafat.



 



As a result of  Israel’s colonial onslaught, over 110 Palestinians were killed.
The number will  increase. Israeli casualties have so far reached at least
11 dead soldiers.  Israel’s colonial onslaught continues and General Sharon
runs his war of  aggression by the assistance and political support of the
US right-wing  administration and Israel’s phony Zionist left. 



 



On the other  hand, the Israeli colonialists are trying to impose a colonial
solution for a  colonial problem. They use the archaic colonial policy of
scorched earth to  fight our people. They have committed gross war crimes.
In their drive to push  us back to the stone age, the Israeli colonial army
have ruined our  infrastructure and brought severe suffering to the civilian
population. They  have caused suffering, insecurity and economic devastation
to both peoples. They  have caused the fascisation of Israel’s public opinion.
They use the issue of  “terrorism” as a feeble cloak to cover up their unreadiness
to pay the price of  decolonisation. In order to divert attention away from
the real issue, Arafat is  being demonized and the colonial conflict with
the Palestinians is being  personalized through Arafat. Through the use of
old Roman methods, the Israeli  military trio of Sharon, Ben-Eliezer and
Mofaz, are exerting futile attempts to  replace the Palestinian leadership,
with Palestinian lackeys and vassals. The  colonial fanatics of Israel are
trying to manufacture a situation that serves  best their colonial interests
inside the Palestinian occupied territories. At  the same time, they are
trying to obstruct the development of Palestinian  national self-determination.
They do not realize that colonial questions cannot  be solved by tanks and
the colonized cannot be subdued for ever.  



 



However, in  spite of the devastation and loss of life, the Palestinains
have a strong desire  to continue the national struggle for independence.
We have reached the point of  no return and we will not capitulate to Israel’s
colonial ‘dictat’. We are  determined to continue the struggle until complete
liberation. Despite our  captivity, we feel that the popular masses in the
Arab World, the Third World  and European and American leftists and peace-loving
people - do support our  national cause. Therefore, we are steadfast, optimistic,
patient and have a  strong resolve to end Israeli colonial rule through continued
national war of  liberation.



 



*Zuhair Sabbagh  teaches sociology at the Bir-Zeit University

  
in the occupied West  Bank





 struggle.
Interesting .... Mr. Sabbagh ....
You are posting from Rheinland, Germany, (213.23.40.145) while
you are in occupied Ramallah .....
inetnum:      213.23.0.0 - 213.23.79.255
netname:      ARCOR-IP-NET2
descr:        Mannesmann Arcor AG & Co
descr:        Koelner Str. 5
descr:        D-65760 Eschborn
descr:        Germany
country:      DE




NO. My brother is living in Ramallah and I in Germany. You can try to read
the article and more information are the abuses of human rights are accumilating
at Amnesty International, the Red Cross, The UN, .....



Bishara 
