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ARAFAT HEADS TO WASHINGTON WHILE PEOPLE SUFFER
NEW REFUGEE CAMP SET UP AT BEIT SAHOUR
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 11/07:
Yasser Arafat spends the next few days in the air and going to more meetings
in Washington, once again; while back home half of his people who are in the
occupied territories suffer worse than ever before since 1948 or 1967, and the
other half remain in refuge camps in all the Arab countries that neighbor Israel.
Ironically, in many of these camps neither Arafat nor those who run the "Palestinian
Authority" would be welcome as they are in Washington.
Yasser Arafat has survived many crises before -- but his people have paid
dearly every time. Arafat has done so through a combination of seeking protection
from different parties, taking pay-offs from different parties, and fleeing when
it became clear he had lead his people into irresolvable war and chaos. Moreover,
over the years key persons around Arafat have been sacrificed through assassination
in often questionable circumstances - Abu Iyad, Said Hammami, Abu Jihad, and
Issam Sartawi to name a few - while Arafat himself has always survived along
with those who agreed to the Oslo formulations and now head up the "Palestinian
Authority".
At the time of the Jordanian civil war Arafat fled from Jordan with the help
of the Kuwaities. His people were slaughtered, tortured, and subjugated by the
Hashemite monarchy with the ongoing help of the Israelis and the Americans of
course. At the time of Israel's siege of Beirut Arafat fled with the help of
the Americans. His people were slaughtered behind him at Sabra and Shatilla,
one of the worst massacres in Palestinian history.
Arafat has secret bank accounts, including one in Tel Aviv with hundreds of
millions of dollars and others in Europe as well as Arab countries, which have
been designated for himself, family, and friends, should he find himself having
to flee once again -- either from the Israelis or from his own people. At this
particular point in history, especially with such close relations between Arafat,
his top lieutenants, and the CIA, just what it is Arafat really does when he
comes to visit Washington these days?
Arafat has personally now been the foreign guest of Bill Clinton at the White
House more than any other; and Bill Clinton is the most Israeli-oriented President
with the most Israeli-loyal Administration in U.S. history. Especially at such
a critical time when he should be staying right there with the Palestinian people
he has lead into today's predicament, just what is so crucial that Arafat personally
has to come to Washington for one-on-one meetings with the American President
and CIA Director? Just what is going on so secretly that Arafat has to attend
to it personally, rather than letting his many representatives conduct those
negotiations at a time when he should be staying close to home and trying to
lead and comfort the people he claims to represent? A visit to the Palestinian
camps in Lebanon and Syria and Jordan seems long, long overdue; whereas one more
short visit to see a lame-duck President whom he has already spent weeks with
should make everyone wonder even more.
A FAMILY WITH MORE MARTYRS IN WAITING
As the el-Louh family mourns their
third relation to die recently in
Israel, the wall of their home bears
a bleak message
By Robert Fisk in Gaza
[The Independent - 5 November]: Aisha el-Louh believes that Oslo died with Rabin.
For Samir el-Louh, Oslo expired at Camp David. Dib el-Louh insists that Oslo
was doomed from the moment Ariel Sharon turned up at the Haram al-Sharif, the
Temple Mount. But all were agreed that Oslo killed Nahed el-Louh stone dead a
few hours earlier. Just as it had cut down Ayman el-Louh a month ago and, two
weeks later, young Mirvat el-Louh, a schoolgirl, just 18 when she choked to
death on tear-gas.
The family home in Gaza was not, you might think, an appropriate place to
discuss the corpse of the Oslo agreement yesterday, certainly not when the
Israelis were delaying the return of Nahed's body for burial from the West
Bank town of Tulkarem. But politics runs like blood through the slums of Gaza;
mourners mix grief with argument, anger with history.
As Nahed el-Louh's cousin Jawad said, the Oslo agreement was part of the "New
World Order" in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and the collapse of the
Soviet Union. "Oslo was not of our choosing. But the PLO was pressured to go
to the Madrid conference in 1991 and then, when Oslo followed, we hoped the
most sensitive issues – Jerusalem, refugees, Jewish settlements – would be
resolved. But they were left to the end and that was when something went wrong
with Oslo. The Israelis did not intend to stop the settlements on our land and
they would not give us east Jerusalem as a capital."
In the concrete hut behind him, other members of the el-Louh family were on
the telephone to Tulkarem. Nahed el-Louh's mother, Salwa, had phoned her
husband, Fathi, on Friday. "The boy's gone to throw stones," he told her.
Which is how Nahed – who was just 20 – received an Israeli bullet in the
brain.
The eldest of eight children, he had left school at 14 to help his father as
a
construction labourer, travelling up to Tulkarem for work three months ago.
Yesterday, the family arranged an ambulance to bring his body to the Erez
crossing into Gaza, for transfer to a second ambulance which would take him to
the family home. The Israelis, the family said, had refused this arrangement.
An ambulance would now have to drive from Gaza, across Israel, and bring the
body all the way back. The father would not be allowed to return for the
burial.
It would be difficult to find a more effective way of enraging a
grief-stricken family. Samir el-Louh's anger broke through his political
explanations. "Israel had a plan to push what it wanted at Camp David, to give
a little bit on the holy places in return for keeping Jerusalem Jewish, to
make us give big things for little things," he said. "But the Palestinian
leadership had their own red lines. And when the Israelis couldn't push
through what they wanted by peaceful means at Camp David, they decided to do
so by force. So Sharon went to the Haram al-Sharif."
Nahed's death was scarcely a surprise. Aisha, his 49-year-old cousin, is a
female Palestinian police officer who was a member of the Tanzim militia 30
years ago, jailed by the Israelis on 15 March 1970, after being caught
carrying weapons in Gaza. She spent six months in the Gaza Central Prison. A
tough Arafat employee, she follows the line. "We felt very happy when the
Palestinians came here, when Arafat returned to us. We stopped being afraid.
We used to believe in peace in the days of Rabin – because he was a man of
peace. But with his death, it was all over. You know, we want peace, we want
security for our children. But what can we do against Israel? Our stones can
do nothing against them."
Amid the sea of mourners – the men are always separated from the women, their
voices louder in grief as they are in politics – there were no more believers
in Oslo. There were only believers in UN Security Council resolutions 242 and
338; in an Israeli withdrawal from the land conquered in 1967, from all of
Gaza, all of the West Bank, all of east Jerusalem. No more settlements, they
kept saying.
Dib el-Louh – the father of Nahed's cousin Ayman who was killed last month –
was unshaven, tearful, re-living at Nahed's funeral the death of his own son.
"We want peace, of course," he said. "All the Palestinians want peace. You
must not think that we like fighting. But Oslo was a peace of lies. The
Israelis did not want a real peace. Sharon's visit to the mosques showed this.
I knew Oslo was finished even before Ayman's death."
On the wall of the el-Louh family home amid the Gaza hovels of Daraj, there is
now a grim and powerful message. "Nahed Fathi el-Louh was martyred for the
Al-Aqsa Intifada," it says in blue paint. "Ayman el-Louh was martyred for the
Intifada. Mirvat el-Louh was martyred for the Intifada. A lot of the el-Louh
family are still waiting to be martyred."
* President Clinton has invited Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian President, to
talks at the White House on Thursday for a new peace effort, an adviser to Mr
Arafat said yesterday. Mr Arafat would reply "within 24 hours", the adviser,
Nabil Abu Rdaineh, told Reuters. Palestinian officials said Mr Arafat was
likely to accept, a step that Israeli officials have said would clear the way
for Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, also to meet Mr Clinton.
----------------
SHEPHERDS' EMERGENCY REFUGEE CAMP - 2000
From Emergency Committee of Beit Sahour
[6 November 2000]: An emergency camp has been set up in Beit Sahour in
order to provide shelter for families whose homes have been destroyed
or damaged by the Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of Al-Aqsa
Intifada.
The present situation for these families in Beit Sahour is yet one more
traumatic event in the history of the Palestinian people since the
catastrophe of 1948. In 1948, over one million Palestinians were
made refugees who were dispersed into various camps in West Bank, Gaza,
and abroad. Again, and as a result of the 1967 war, an additional half
million Palestinians were made refugees. Today, after more than half
a century since the catastrophe, Israel continues its occupation and
terror over Palestinian cities, villages, and camps throughout the West
Bank and Gaza.
In order to confront this aggression, the Palestinian resistance movement
has been active in all areas and countries where Palestinians are living.
The Intifada of Al-Aqsa, which began over one month ago, has brought
together Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Galilee, and the
Triangle, and reveals the cruel reality of the Israeli occupation and its
crimes. Al-Aqsa Intifada is an affirmation of Palestinian national rights:
the right of refugees to return, the right to self-determination, the right
to establish a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Admittedly, freedom and independence for the Palestinian people come
at a high price. Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada, the occupation
forces have continuously stepped up their assaults on the people of Beit
Sahour, using combat helicopters, rockets, heavy machine guns, and banned
ammunition. To date, eight homes have been completely destroyed,
over 100 homes have been damaged in various ways, and over 130 families have
been displaced. Those who have not been able to stay with relatives or
friends now live in this emergency camp.
The policy of Israel in destroying homes, confiscating land, and
uprooting trees is well-known and has been experienced by thousands of
families since the emergence of Israel. The process of displacement causes
not only financial hardship, but more importantly, serves to destroy the
social, familial, and psychological well-being of Palestinians, especially
children.
These facts serve to remind the international community in general, and the
United Nations' Security Council and General Assembly in particular,
that they have a direct responsibility to act immediately to put an end to
Israeli terror against our people and to provide Palestinians with
international protection as a step toward ending the occupation.
In addition to providing shelter for homeless families, the goals of
this emergency refugee camp are the following:
a. To facilitate lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the traumatized
people of Beit Sahour
b. To strengthen the ties of solidarity among the people of Beit Sahour
c. To enhance the solidarity movement with our displaced brothers and
sisters throughout our cities, villages, and camps
d. to reaffirm the core of our cause, namely that there are four
million Palestinian refugees who, after 52 years, are still fighting for
and waiting for their right to return to their homes and homeland
The resistance will continue until our aims are reached. Let us work
together so that depression does not conquer our minds and the minds
of our children and families. There is no alternative to freedom and
independence, no matter how vicious the reaction of the occupation.
MiD-EasT RealitieS - www.MiddleEast.Org
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