Palestine-Israel Conflict

Hell of Zionist Occupation: Security as pretext for inhumanity

by Dr. Daud Abdullah
Impact International
August 2003

One question that recurs in every discussion on what is the core conflict of our times is, how have the Palestinian people managed to survive and preserve their national existence? Many believed a less resilient people would have been exterminated a long time ago. Whatever the strengths and capabilities of the Palestinians, no such people should be subject to such unmitigated collective punishment in this day and age.

When the recent ceasefire between Israel, the occupying power, and the Palestinian resistance was brokered, the expectation was that Palestinians would be thus taking steps towards the path of improving their living conditions. The optimism appears to have been grossly misplaced for neither the limited withdrawal from Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip nor the release of 300 prisoners has eased the agonies of occupation. It seems only a matter of time before hostilities are resumed.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian (National) Authority is coming under increasing pressure both from within its inner circles and the wider Palestinian society. Despite its unreserved cooperation with Israel on the security front, it has failed to obtain the release of thousands of fathers, brothers and sons languishing in Israeli jails and detention center; 11 of them have already served more than 20 years behind bars.

Palestinian human rights groups confirm that 8,000 Palestinians are now in captivity, distributed in 22 jails and detention centre. Of this number, 1,200 are held in administrative detention, that is, they have committed no crimes but are detained purely on the basis of suspicion and fear of committing hostile acts. The Israelis inherited this law from the British Mandatory, which under the 1945 Defense Act (No. 111) arrogated to itself the powers to detain Palestinians indefinitely.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Forum there are 73 women in prison, 350 adolescent (under the age of 18) and 700 critically ill detainees. Life in the detention centre is no picnic. Invariably it entails extensive interrogation and torture. While conditions throughout the system are generally considered bad, some detention centres are notoriously worse.

The 'Qadumeem' administrative detention center is one. Located between Nablus and Qalqiliya, it was built to accommodate 15 - 20 people before they are transferred to a more permanent place. Husam Nazal, a recently released detainee said: "I spent 14 years in the Zionist jails in the past but the suffering that I witnessed in the "Qadumeem" centre exceeds the suffering of my past term in prison".

Israel's release of only 300 prisoners has been a huge setback for the PNA after its well publicised cooperation with Tel Aviv, particularly since 120 of them are known ex-criminals. So, the issue of political prisoners remains the most potent one, which is capable of subverting the fragile peace.

Historically, Palestinian political prisoners are never forgotten. All the resistance groups place a high premium on the safety and well being of the captives. Mahmud Bakr Hijazi, the first commando captured by Israel, was a cause celebre long after his capture in 1965. Immediately after the 1967 war, Fateh issued a memorandum on 17 June to UN Secretary General U Thant, urging the world body recognise its detainee, Mamud Hijazi, as a prisoner of war.

Today all the major groups have key figures in jails. Marwan Bargouthi from Fateh, Ahmad Sadat from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Shaikh Hasan Yusuf from Hamas are undoubtedly among the most famous.

If past cases are anything to go by, Israel may well keep them in prison for some time yet in order to use them as bargaining chips in future negotiations. Their continued detention along with thousands of others can, however, only sour relations and destabilise the Abu Mazin government.

Though a major concern, the question of prisoners represents only the tip of the iceberg. There are other humanitarian issues which are equally depressing. Under the pretext of security, Israel maintains its iron grip on the movement of people and goods in the territories. One measure leads to multiple ripple effects. In normal circumstances it would take one hour to move a lorry of tomatoes from the Jordan Valley to markets in Hebron. As there are no fewer than 152 checkpoints across the West Bank, it takes at least six hours to move these perishable goods to Hebron.

The risks and travails of moving goods have sent the transport costs soaring. Private sector activities have grounded to a halt. The volume of trade continues to shrink with fewer and fewer goods circulating. With more than 14,339 dunums (1 dunum = 1,000 sq m) of land bulldozed or burned, the Palestinians agricultural sector has been crippled.

A report by John Duggard, the UN Special Rapporteur of the commission of Human Rights, confirmed that 61.8% of the people in the territories now live in abject poverty. This does not include the refugee population who survive on international aid. Another UN official, Richard Cook, who is director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) operation in the West Bank, told a recent Un seminar in Geneva that there is now 50 - 75% poverty among refugees. As a result, 56% of the population live on one meal a day.

Because of the gravity of the humanitarian disaster in the Israeli occupied territories, all international aid has been diverted from medium term developmental goals into emergency and relief operations. This year UNRWA appealed for $100 million for its operations. Thus far it ha received pledges for only $3 million. The Agency could hardly pay or mobilise its 1400 workers in the West Bank.

The hideous practice of back-to-back offloading of goods is peculiar to Palestine. Despite claims of self-autonomy, the occupying power denies the Palestinians the right to trade freely. Instead of allowing the free flow of goods between cities Israel enforces what is called a back-to-back system of transport. It requires that goods be offloaded at checkpoints and reloaded on to the other vehicles to their onward destination. This tedious process not only put into jeopardy goods but also raises the cost of transport.

One of the greatest obstacles to economic recovery in the occupied territories is the apartheid wall being built across the West Bank. More than 115 km of the giant structure has been completed to date; when finally complete it is expected to run for 1000 km.

How will it be possible when the boundary between Israel and the West Bank is only 350 km? Simple! It will twist and turn deep into the Palestinian territories and devour another 10% of the territory. Not surprising, these lands (the Jenin and Tul Karem, Qalqilya area) are the most fertile in the West Bank.

The wall has encircled the market town of Qalqilya, leaving it with one point of access and exit. As a result, 42,000 of its inhabitants can be held hostage at will. No one, not even Israel, knows for certain where the wall will end. One thing is sure though: it will be at the expense of the Palestinians. In Qalqilya, it has led to the destruction of centuries old olive grove owned by the town's mayor. What used to be a productive grove of 960 olive trees has been reduced to a forlorn sight of 50 trees.

Destruction of 34,606 olive oil trees by Israelis in the occupied territories, many 500 years old, is in effect worse than the destruction of the Bamian statues by Taliban in Afghanistan. While these trees feed and sustain one generation to another, the statues played no function in the lives of the Afghan people.

International reaction to the destruction of the status contrasts to its silence over the wanton destruction of olive trees and other agricultural land in Palestine, even though the latter constitutes a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It is clear the Quartet is reluctant to bring Israel to book because they want their support for the Road map, the US's peace proposal.

Apart from the economic woes there are untold social, psychological and health problems that beset the Palestinians. Even if there is an economic recovery in the near future, there will be long term residual effects from the occupation. The loss of education and the long term psychological effects of violence on children, fired upon on their way to school, in their classrooms and at home may never be reversed.

Every aspect of the present situation in the West Bank and Gaza is the result of the scourge of occupation. Israel is determined to maintain the status quo and reinforce its colonial relationship with the Palestinians, thereby rendering them ever more dependent.

Israel seeks ultimately to break their will an impose a political settlement upon the Palestinians who are well aware of it; hence their stubborn resistance. They know their very existence is at stake. The Palestinians' response is natural and understandable. For wherever rights are usurped or denied, there always emerges a struggle to regain them.