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Slicing off Gaza is just a diplomatic nose job

Sharif Hamadeh 15 August 2005


A teenage soldier in Tapuah, a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, shot to death four Palestinian citizens of Israel and injured several others last Thursday on a bus in Shafa’amr, a quiet Arab town in the north of Israel where I work. Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, denounced the shootings as an act of “terrorism” designed to “harm the fabric of relations among all Israeli citizens”, and threaten Israel’s “stability as a democracy”. For Palestinians living in Israel, however, his words were of little comfort. 

Israeli media: "Quiet, We’re Disengaging!"

14 August 2005


On February 8, 2005, at the Sharm e-Sheikh summit, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) declared a ceasefire after more than four years of Intifada. Since the summit, the two sides have exchanged mutual recriminations on intentional and unintentional violations of the understandings that were reached. Keshev examined how the major Israeli media outlets covered the ceasefire, how they interpreted the actions (both positive and negative) of both sides, and how they dealt with each side’s pronouncements concerning violations of the ceasefire by the other side. Keshev concludes that the Israeli media played down Israeli violations and covered criticism of Palestinians profusely. 

Seizing the initiative

Munther Younes 15 August 2005


The Israeli government is planning to leave the Gaza Strip. Its refusal to coordinate the pullout with the Palestinians has left the Palestinian leadership confused and helpless. Instead of watching helplessly and waiting for Israel to grant it permission to do this or that, why doesn’t the leadership seize the initiative and declare that if the settlers want to remain in Gaza and live in the territory as Palestinian citizens or even with dual Israeli-Palestinian citizenship, they are welcome to do so. By accepting the Jewish settlers of Gaza as equal citizens, the Palestinians can prove to themselves, to the Israelis, and to the world that they can treat their people as equal citizens before the law regardless of religion and ethnicity, something Israel has failed to do since its establishment. 

Talking Points: The Gaza "Disengagement"

15 August 2005


On 15 August, Israel began a unilateral “disengagement” from the Palestinian Gaza Strip by evacuating its illegal settlements and military bases there. Israeli officials announced in July that they will ask the United States to pay $2.2 billion for this disengagement. The following document, prepared by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, offers key talking points about the realities of the Gaza “disengagement” and what kind of life Palestinians in the Gaza Strip can expect following the move. 

Democracy Now: Israeli Settlers Resist Gaza Pullout, Palestinians Call for Withdrawal from West Bank

15 August 2005


Thousands of settlers are refusing to leave their homes in Gaza settlements today as Israeli soldiers and police order them to move out. The pullout is seen by some as a strategy by the Israeli state to consolidate its hold over the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Others see it as a necessary step in the roadmap to peace in Israel-Palestine. We speak with a resident of Gush Katif who is resisting the pullout, the director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a journalist who spent time with soldiers and settlers and the founder of Electronic Intifada. The Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip began officially today. Gaza is currently home to 8,500 Israeli settlers and 1.4 million Palestinians. 

Palestinians hopeful but anxious

Laila El-Haddad 15 August 2005


Palestinians are greeting Israel’s pullout from the Gaza strip with high hopes but some anxiety, as the first televised images of settlers leaving are broadcast. “Pictures are now being broadcast to the world of what we thought would never happen. The withdrawal is now beginning,” said Palestinian Minister of Information Nabil Shaath earlier on Sunday. “There is a sense of happiness, relief, pleasure, mixed in with anxiety. The withdrawal is becoming a reality, no longer a conjecture. We are moving form total disbelief to anxious belief,” said Shaath. But he added that there were still many unanswered questions and that coordination between the Israelis and Palestinians was minimal if not non-existent. 

Palestinians urged to temper festivities

Khalid Amayreh 15 August 2005


As Israel has begun its unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, a number of Palestinian intellectuals have urged the Palestinian Authority and resistance groups to tone down celebrations and pay attention to Israel’s expansion in the West Bank. The calls came as the latest coordination meeting between Palestinian security minister Nasr Yousuf and Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, which took place on Sunday night, failed to resolve the outstanding issues pertaining to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Yousuf accused Israel of refusing to provide satisfactory answers for some of the most fundamental questions pertaining to the post-withdrawal arrangements at border crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel. 

Gunmen kidnap France 3 soundman in Gaza

14 August 2005


Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 14 August 2005 kidnapping of France 3 television crew soundman Mohamed Ouathi by three gunmen in Gaza and urged the Palestinian authorities to do everything possible to ensure that he is quickly released. Ouathi and the three other members of the French television station’s crew - Gwenaëlle Lenoir, Michel Anglade and Franck Pairaud - were returning to their hotel when they were intercepted by three gunmen. The other crew members were able to escape but Ouathi was taken away at gunpoint. France 3 condemned Ouathi’s abduction as a “violation of press freedom” and called for his “immediate release.” 

Israel seals off Gaza, marks begin of disengagement

15 August 2005


As the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) begin to remove illegal Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and redeploy their military forces along the border areas - Palestinian civilians are being affected by closures, arrests and attacks across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Fieldworkers of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from Al Sayafa, a sealed Palestinian enclave between the Dogit and Elli Sinai settlements and from southern Gaza, Al Mawasi, a sealed Palestinian enclave inside the Gush Katif settlement bloc. Over the next three weeks, Israel plans to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. 

Amnesty is concerned at growing lawlessness in Gaza

12 August 2005


Amnesty International is gravely concerned at the mounting loss of civilian lives, frequent abductions and other abuses, as violent clashes between Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and armed groups have escalated in recent weeks. With lawlessness becoming more entrenched, civilians are left vulnerable to abuses. Endemic power struggles and in-fighting between rivalling PA factions and a multitude of armed groups have significantly increased in the lead-up to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, due later this month. PA security forces have so far proved unable or unwilling to control the activities of armed groups and to hold them accountable for their crimes.