1-Palestinian Village Faces Annihilation
2-Right To education
1-Palestinian Village Faces Annihilation
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Urgent Press Release
For Immediate Release Contact: Robert Younes, M.D. January 14, 2003 Email: pr@wrmea.com Phone (202) 939-6050 ISRAELI BULLDOZERS WILL DESTROY the entire village of Al-Daba' in the Qalqilya district. The village consists of 250 Palestinians living in 42 houses. Sixty ton American made armored Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers will make short work of 42 houses, 600-700 dunums of agricultural land, a mosque, and an elementary school for 132 children. The military order was issued 30 days ago and required the clearing of 50 meters of land next to the billion dollar wall (financed by the United States) being built to separate Palestinian land from Israel in the northern part of the West Bank. The clearing operation has exceeded its orders and now the destruction will extend 500 meters into the West Bank and engulf the village of Al-Daba'. Construction of the 8-meter high, 360-kilometer long wall has been proceeding inside the 1967 armistice line. When completed, an additional seven percent of Palestinian land will be confiscated and if the wall is extended to Hebron, ten percent of land will move to the Israeli side of the border. When completed, the wall will be fitted with motion sensors, observation towers every 300 meters, barbed wire, and a two-meter deep ditch to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel. Many observers believe that the wall is being built because Israel has failed to halt Palestinians by other means from crossing to Israel to find work to support their families. The Israeli wall has been compared to the Cold War's Berlin Wall, separating the East and West Berlin, constructed by the East Germans to prevent escape to freedom. To the contrary, the Israeli wall creates a concentration camp of the West Bank. The Al-Daba' land confiscation is just the latest outrage of land stealing. Thus far, since 1967, Israel has confiscated 750,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza. Ariel Sharon initiated land confiscation and settlement construction in 1967 as Israel's Minister of Housing. It is clear that Israel's confiscation and control of large portions of the West Bank and Gaza for sites to construct settlements and its refusal consider negotiations about the land is a strategy designed to permanently annex the land and thus prevent a meaningful and fair peace settlement. Israel's proposed action with respect to the village of Al-Daba' will constitute a violation of the Geneva Convention of 1949. Article 4 and 94 relates to denial of children's education, Article 17 and 49 relates to forced transfer of populations, Article 39 relates to ability to work, Article 46 relates to property confiscation, and Article 53 relates to destruction of property. All of these violations represent indictable war crimes punishable by imprisonment. Support the people of Al-Daba' and send messages to demand intervention to prevent its destruction. American Consulate, Jerusalem Email: keenme@state.gov, Fax: +972-(0)2-627-7230 European Union, Jerusalem, Email mailto@delwbg.cec.eu.int, Fax: + 972-(0)2-532 6249 UN Special Coordinator, Gaza, Email unsco@palnet.com, Fax: +972-(0)8-282-0966 -30- ==============================================2-Right To education
Today I, a volunteer in occupied Palestine, met with some student representatives from An-Najah National University in Nablus. This is one of the three Palestinian universities that Benjamin Netanyahu promised to close. We discussed what international activists in Palestine could do to aid the students' resistance to this event. However, students and activists in other countries must help us to pressure Israel not to close the university. The students at An-Najah asked us to ask our fellow students in our countries to show that they will not stand by while others are deprived of the right to an education. An-Najah has already been closed, for four years from 1987 to 1991. Please occupy and demonstrate in solidarity with the students in An-Najah and the other universities in Palestine under threat. Targeting the students is a systematic attack on the right of the Palestinian people to live their lives and educate themselves. With enough international pressure combined with the students in Palestine showing that they will resist the closure of their university we can persuade the Israeli government that the cost of their actions will be too great. – ISM volunteer
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