NPK-info 03-10-2004


______________________________________________________________________ NPK-info 03-10-2004- Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.palestina-komitee.nl ______________________________________________________________________ TV-tip - Vandaag 3-10 20.20 uur België 2 Panorama: Death in Gaza Referentie http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2839.shtml - 8-10 WDR 23.30 uur: Offene Wunde Palästina En - 5-10 De Balie Amsterdam: Engagement en filosofie: Edward Said www.debalie.nl/artikel.jsp?podiumid=cinema&articleid=21072 Sharon had zich stevig verzekerd van steun van EU-vz Nederland [werd uitgenodigd] en besloot dus niet naar Nederland te komen en "zich op Gaza te richten" op zijn gebruikelijke wijze. - URGENT APPEAL: Stop impending massacre in Gaza At least 30 dead as Sharon re-engages Gaza, October 1, 2004 http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/archive_updates.htm The Palestine Monitor calls upon the international community to take urgent action, to speak out against the Israeli massacre of a civilian population and to demand that Israel is held to international law. We urge all individuals and organizations to act immediately and contact the following US, UN, UK, and European Union representatives. - Israeli tanks start to reoccupy northern Gaza Netanyahu roept op tot oorlogsmisdaden "... army should smash Gaza's power and water infrastructure ..." http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1318164,00.html >> International Solidarity Movement: www.palsolidarity.org NPK/WL, 3-10-2004 ______________________________________________________________________ The Palestine Monitor A PNGO Information Clearinghouse URGENT APPEAL - Stop impending massacre in Gaza At least 30 dead as Sharon re-engages Gaza http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/archive_updates.htm Friday, October 1, 2004 The Palestine Monitor urgently appeals to the international community to intervene in the carnage being wrought on the civilian populations of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. More than 30 Palestinians, including several children, have been killed and more than 130 wounded in army operations in Gaza over the last two days and the Israeli offensive is almost certain to double this death toll if immediate action is not taken to intercede. The refugee camps in Gaza are the most densely populated areas in the world. Jabaliya is the biggest and most densely populated Palestinian camp with 90.000 people living in an area of 3 km2. Such large scale and comprehensive military operations employing heavy, imprecise weaponry such as tank shells and missiles launched from overhead apache helicopters can only have catastrophic outcomes on the huge civilian population. Already on Thursday an Israeli tank shell reportedly killed seven Palestinians near a school in Jabaliya, as Israeli forces thrust deep into the densely populated camp. Palestinian witnesses said the dead from the tank shell blast were all teenagers with no involvement in the fighting. Another 6 people were killed during a wake when the house of those returning from a funeral was shelled. The operations taking place now are reminiscent of the devastating 2002 invasions of the West Bank. The re-occupation campaigns witnessed then are once again clearly visible in Gaza rendering abundantly clear the lie behind Sharon's so called disengagement. As Ariel Sharon has promised to widen operations in this open ended offensive there are fears that an entire northern section of the Gaza Strip could be wiped out. Last night the Israeli security cabinet was said to have approved a plan for the IDF to take control of a nine-kilometer swathe of northern Gaza up to the outskirts of Jabaliya demolishing the houses in their path. All evidence on the ground would suggest Sharon is planning a complete re-occupation. For the several hundred thousand Palestinian unarmed, defenseless civilians trembling in their homes awaiting their fate in such an onslaught these fears were made real this morning as some 200 tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers were reportedly assembled along the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip. The international community must act now to defend this civilian population which stands no chance of defending itself against the might of the Israeli army. The international community must speak up for those that do not have a voice, that do not have an army or international protection, those that have been imprisoned in sections of Gaza and have no where to run from what awaits them. The Palestine Monitor calls upon the international community to take urgent action, to speak out against the Israeli massacre of a civilian population and to demand that Israel is held to international law. We urge all individuals and organizations to act immediately and contact the following US, UN, UK, and European Union representatives. United States Representatives - President George Bush Jr. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington DC 20500 e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Tel. 202-456-1414 - Your member of Congress -- Call the Capitol switchboard toll-free on 1-800-839-5276 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress. United Nations - General Telephone: (212) 963-1234; Fax for Kofi Annan's office: (212) 963-7055; E-mail: inquiries@un.org - Permanent Missions to the United Nations European Union Representatives - EU Presidency, E-mail: eu@taoiseach.gov.ie - High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) for the European Union Javier Solana -- Tel: +32 (0)2-285-6467 or +32 (0)476-93-6426; E-mail: presse.cabinet@consilium.eu.int UK Representatives - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair -- E-mail or Fax via Downing Street website http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page848.asp Letters of protest should be sent to: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Office of the Prime Minister 3 Kaplan Street, P O Box 187 Jerusalem 91919, Israel Telegram: Prime Minister, Jerusalem, Israel Fax: +972 2 6705475 Telex: 25279 MPRES IL E-mail: rohm@pmo.gov.il For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0) 59254218 http://www.palestinemonitor.org ______________________________________________________________________ http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1318164,00.html Israeli tanks start to reoccupy northern Gaza Chris McGreal in Gaza City Saturday October 2, 2004 The Guardian Israeli tanks and troops yesterday began the largest reoccupation of northern Gaza since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago. Ariel Sharon ordered the tanks in to prevent Hamas from scuppering his plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from the territory and impose an emasculated state on the Palestinians. The Israeli offensive follows a Hamas rocket attack that killed two small children in the Israeli town of Sderot. Israel radio quoted Mr Sharon as telling his cabinet: "What can we do? The Jews, too, have a right to live. If this entails difficulties for the Palestinians, that is part of the price." Hundreds of soldiers backed by about 200 tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopters reoccupied the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun and took control of a 9km-wide area along the border. The army also strengthened its force in Jabaliya refugee camp, where soldiers faced stiff resistance when they entered the Hamas and Islamic Jihad stronghold on Thursday that left nearly 30 people dead in some of the bloodiest fighting of the intifada. At least five Palestinians were killed in Israeli rocket strikes on Jabaliya yesterday. An Israeli missile killed two Hamas fighters on a motorbike. A second rocket left three people dead, apparently all civilians, near a school. The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, called the Israeli offensive "state terror" and called for international intervention. The Israeli military says its troops will focus on hunting down Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, searching for rocket-manufacturing workshops and demolishing houses which provide cover for the missiles to be fired. But a dozen previous such operations have failed to stop the rockets, including the army's five-week occupation of Beit Hanoun in the summer. Hamas demonstrated the continued difficulty in ending the attacks by firing another rocket into Sderot yesterday without causing injury. Several cabinet ministers proposed putting additional pressure on the civilian population. Israel's hardline defence minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told the security cabinet meeting that the army should smash Gaza's power and water infrastructure to pressure ordinary Palestinians to oppose the Hamas rocket attacks. Mr Sharon is under pressure from critics within his own party who say his pledge to pull Jewish settlers out of the Gaza Strip has emboldened Hamas and other resistance groups. Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israeli parliament's defence committee, said he intended to press Mr Sharon to launch an assault to seize the entire Gaza Strip modelled on the army's reoccupation of the West Bank two years ago in Operation Defensive Shield. "Israel should wage Operation Defensive Shield number two in Gaza, take control of the entire strip in a widespread operation over a period of a few weeks to gather information, destroy the terrorist organisations' infrastructure and wipe out any slicks of arms as well as the foundations for manufacturing Qassam rockets," he said. Mr Netanyahu said that the prime minister might have to cancel the withdrawal plan if the attacks continued. But the escalation of the conflict in Gaza also fed pressure to speed up the withdrawal of Jewish settlers and military bases. An opposition Labour MP, Ophir Pines-Paz, said that Mr Sharon risked embroiling Israel in a drawn-out war of attrition in Gaza. "The pullout from Gaza must be determined and quick, not according to the hesitant planning that invites an unending war of attrition." Hamas has said it will cease attacks on Israeli communities once the settlers go. ______________________________________________________________________