Jenin. Remember this word, for every time your lose faith in humanity, all you need to do is to recall it. Repeat inside of you, slowly, when you are down and frail. It should give you vigor and lift your spirit. It's a symbol of courage, courage beyond these times of despair and degradation, courage that's legendary, almost mythological. How else can we explain that a small refugee camp, less than a kilometer sq. length and width stands for days in the face of hundreds of tanks, Apache helicopters and thousands of trained killers, they call soldiers?

Established in 1953 as a make-shift tent city to host thousands of Palestinian refugees, this small camp breeds tenacity and defiance. Many of those Palestinians who were uprooted from their villages in Palestine to live in the most humiliating conditions were still able to see the land that once was theirs, by simply gazing west.

For nearly five decades they looked west. Now, when their elders die, their children who are raised in the same impoverished yet proud Palestinian camp, also taught to gaze west. West is Palestine, their home, where they were told stories by aging grandmas of how wonderful life once was. It was a reminder of their dire hardship and life under occupation.

13 thousand refugees lived in the Jenin refugee camp, located near the city of Jenin in the West Bank. Their dream was beyond paved roads, functional sewer systems and good schools. Their dream was returning home. Many held the deeds to their land in Palestine, some even held the large old keys of their ravished homes, and most of them knew too well what UN Resolution 194 meant: it was their right to return.

But for decades those refugees remained without homes, without rights, and for decades they were subjected to never ending cruelty. In 1967, Israel added insult to injury when it invaded the West Bank and Gaza, the refugees are now under military occupation.

In recent years, the young population in the camps have grown to reach 44 percent of the total number of refugees. Yet with little means, many managed to attain a proper education at nearby Universities, Bir Zeit, Bethlehem and Najah. A young, educated yet defiant generation was born and raised in the small camp, a population that never forgot to look west, were Palestine is, a population that never feared to carry on the torch of a dying generation. That dying generation taught them one valuable lesson; never forget the land, our rights, our pride and our dignity. And they never did.

When Palestinian streets exploded with anger in a loud cry for freedom, the uprising was just getting started, and the Jenin refugee camp was there, leading the crowd, chanting the loudest, demanding justice, human rights and return.

Israel knew too well what Jenin meant for its military aspirations, that particular refugee camp was a deal breaker for Israel's attempt to suppress the Palestinian population, to kill their spirit.

Last March Israel carried out "Operation Colorful Journey" against the Jenin and Balata refugee camps. Like its name, the "Operation" was colorful, bloody colorful, as nearly 20 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in the refugee camp. Many homes were destroyed, but the spirit remained strong. Israeli officials said that their mission in Jenin was like "picking up terrorists with tweezers." But even the tweezers of the fourth strongest army in the world, one of the most powerful nuclear powers, was hardly enough to bend the will of Jenin. Jenin fought hard, and as the soldiers were pulling out, Palestinians emerged from their homes, carrying their dead, and chanting about Palestine and freedom.

But General Sharon never forgets his unfinished battles. Revenge is his game, even if launched against refugees, fighting with old rifles and kitchen knifes. As he recently deployed his forces to invade West Bank towns, he spared nearly 300 tanks, thousands of soldiers and many Apaches to invade the Jenin refugee camp.

Until the writing of this article, 8 days after intensive bombings, horrendous killings and indescribable massacres, the camp is yet to fall. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, mass graves have been opened, scores of dead have been buried in haste, men and women smothered under the rubble of their homes, and the camp is yet to fall.

Frustrated with the small size of the poor camp, Israeli tanks began stepping on everything, homes and mosques to find a way for themselves, to open a new battlefront with the defiant refugees, and the camp is yet to fall.

The head of the Israeli military Shaul Mofaz, embarrassed by the blunder, led the "operation" himself to carry out a massacre, as the whole world stood and waited while the refugees battled the tanks, and fought the Apaches.

Over fifty missiles were fired on the camp within an hour; hundreds of people are said to be buried under the rubble; many bodies were scattered in the streets; Israeli troops began a systematic bombardment of the entire camp, the wounded bled to death, with no medical attention, just broken hearted mothers screaming in vain. With little means, the small camp, not only resisted, but inflicted heavy losses on the army that once claimed to be "invincible".

From inside the camp, using a cell phone with a dying battery, a Palestinian fighter reached Al Jazeera satellite television. "I just wanted to let the proud people of world, not to worry, we are resisting and will fight to the last drop of blood." In the background, a proud population stood listing to the speaker, maybe thinking that the world really listened or cared. They all chanted in one voice for freedom and Palestine, before the battery died, maybe not to be charged again.

By the time this article is published, maybe the Jenin refugee camp will be bulldozed, maybe hundreds more will be killed, maybe the fighting will still continue; but under no circumstances will the remaining refugees of Jenin be coerced to abandon their fight for freedom, their vow to return.

Israel is yet to be convinced that even with the most sophisticated US manufactured weapons, the people of Jenin refugee camp will never abandon their honorable fight, they will never cease to look west, where their land and pride are, where Palestine is calling on its people to come home.

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I'm in fellowship w/ you all. Keep up the spirits.

What about Sharons indictment?

He's giving himself all of the proofs needed for a trial, as does his belligerant generals, and other soldiers.

Dont you think that if the IDF were barbaric animals like yourselves they could pulverize this tiny refugee camp from the air.

No mess, no fuss, easy.

No Ed, because it appears the Zionist forces get more sick pleasure out of trying to torture and humilliate a people into submission. And just by the by, what the fuck do you think those apache (named ironically after another nation that was almost wiped out by the Zionists allies) helicopters are doing. The Israeli forces have occupied a country. The Palestinian people have a right to resist, and using whatever means they can. When the Germans invaded France in World war II, were the French Resistance terrorists. The dramatic use of the word "terrorism" just isn't having the same effect any more. People are beginning to see (albeit too little too late) that Sharon is a "Godfather of terrorism", as the jargon goes. he is a sick and twisted racist that is continuing his long career of genocide against the Palestinian people. Long live the Intifada!!!

I am ashamed of what has been happening in Jenin. As a human being with sense of morality, I feel that Jenin is leaving a deep scar in the world's conscience.

This is a replica of what happened by the same Sharon in Gaza in the 70's, and by the same Sharon in the 80's in Lebanon.

Jenin should set an example to the rest of the Palestinians. Resistance must continue, because colonialism has an end.

Both of them should be indicted on war crimes

A lot of other countries would have just carpet bombed Jenin. I wonder what Saddam would do if Kurds would blow themselves up in downtown Bagdad. Israel deserves at least some credit for limiting civilian casualties as much as possible. Remember: all of this would not have happened if the Palestinians wouldn't resort to terror to accomplish their political goals. Be objective please.

Objectivity is long gone in this situation. Anyone who tries to take some rational high ground is just pissing in the wind.

In the battle of suicide bombers versus invading tanks, one can either throw up one's hands in despair or pick a side. I think if you asked either the invading Israeli soldiers or those who resist them to be "objective" they would spit in your face.

"Being objective" means removing oneself mentally from the emotion of the situation, from the scattered blood and bone, bombs and shrapnel. It's a form of denial and a way to remain passive.

'Being objective' means taking into account the whole sad and sickening history of the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians; the arrogant flouting of UN resolutions; the illegal ocupations; the selfishness of the settlers and right-wing Zionists whose consciences were and continue to be untroubled by the poverty and despair inflicted by them on the Palestinians.

Israelis claim the right to walk and work in 'their' land free from fear. Do they also accord this same right to the Palestinians?

Do they really believe that their God approves of their actions?

Do they really imagine that they will be allowed to get away with what they are now doing? That Sharon and others will not ultimately be joining Milosevic in The Hague? That they will be able to 'get back to normal' soon and enjoy peace and security?

These are all delusions. History will judge them severely. This brutal repression will be set alongside the Nazi pogroms, the Stalinist purges and the massacres in Kosovo.

unfortunately the winners write history so as long as israel stay in the semi-good books of america then nothing will be done against the israeli leaders.

do you think that milosevic would have been tried if he had been on america's side? i don't think so.

So far, the only proof of "massacres" committed in Kosovo and Serbia points to US bombing. The same thing only worse is happening in Palestine. Who will judge this real genocide and "ethic cleansing" as opposed to the one fabricated by pro western media?
Is the difference between "terrorism" and a "legitimate"
war in how you kill people? I hope the Jews remember how their uprising was crushed in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII. They were "terrorist" too by Nazi standards. I have no words for US complicity in this crime. The biggest problem is that there is no understanding in the American public of what it means to be occupied. They have never experienced a war in their own country and cannot relate to the situation elsewhere. Just look at the reaction to 9/11. How much more violent and repressive has it been compared to the Palestinian attacks on Israel. US will punish Iraq for defying a UN resolution. No such action will be taken against Israel. Iraq will not allow UN "monitors". Neither will Israel. What's the difference? Sense of justice is engrained in the human soul. Hypocrysy and double standards will always meet with opposition from the ones who suffer under them. I only wish we could do more than talk about it. Where is the democacy when no one listens to the people across the world.
To all the Palestinians: May god be with you .

Mr.
by Robert • Thursday April 11, 2002 at 11:44 AM
Durand 323.876.4994 1207-1/2 N. Detroit St.

I've read the entire page of comments & one thing resonates larger than anything else: everybody is assuming that they are mere citizens, bystanders with no actual power, watching while history goes down. History is written by those who take the time to write it down. It just usually happens to be "the victors".
Has any of you ever had your life threatened? Been poor? Needed to take a stand that might mean your job or relationship? Ever done anything that challenged "the powers that be"?
All of your comments, no matter how heartfelt, or logical, or true mean exactly NOTHING if meaningful action doesn't follow. Just words floating in cyberspace, maintained by machines that are paid for by corporate interests. Can't any of you see past the blood and the horror of what is happening in Palestine? See that this represents the FUNDAMENTAL "problem" that has plagued our species since we've been taking notes? This "problem" isn't outside in the world, it resides inside us all. A murder anywhere is a murder everywhere. Sitting in the comfort of your homes extolling this virtue or that horror only reflects on your own view of how this world operates. The guns are in your head and murder in your heart. If you think that statement insane, look at how quickly you can comdemn anothers point of view. Look to yourself. What is "outrageous" to you is where your heart is. When the people of the world realize they have the power- not governments & certainly not governments with guns, change will happen.
This is the underlying message: will the people of the world finally wake up & claim power that has always been theirs? Well, will we?

Has anyone noticed that the body count of the Passover night bombing in the city of Netanya 2 weeks ago has risen to the number of 28?
I am refering to the bombing by a Palestinian suicide "freedom fighter" in the Jewish holy feast of the Seder, who by a click of a button, massacred old men, women and children. For all you "kind hearted", "peace-loving", "humane" hypocrits out there in Europe:
Try imagining what it would feel like to walk in the streets of Paris, or Amsterdam, or Brussels and look around you all the time, knowing that any minute, you could be killed or maybe just lose both your legs, or your eyes, or maybe be stuck to a wheelchair for the rest of your lives, because a suicide bomber is waiting to enter the next cafe, or to blow up in the line to the cinema. Look at that red toyota truck in the corner of Oxford Street... Maybe it's a car bomb??? Would you let your children go to the mall, meet friends?
Try closing your eyes and really imagine what it is like to live this way... For many years...
And let's go 2 years back:
Who backed out of camp David negotiations and didn't want to put an end to violence? Who started this terrible (for everyone) war?
Is it Israel? What it an Israeli leader?
No. It was "Chairman" Arafat. The same Arafat that King Hussein of Jordan kicked out of his land in 1970, the same Arafat that was kicked out of Beirut, and the same Arafat that Mubarek, the Egyptian President, didn't want to meet with just a year ago. The same blood-soaked Arafat that almost backed of from signing the Oslo accords with Yitshak Rabin and was pushed back to the table by the Egyptian and Jordanian Leaders.
So please...
Just like the rest of the world has a right to defend itself against terrorism, so does Israel.

In Paris we have a waves of bombs every decade or so, mainly due to our oiling policy in africa political games in midlle east and weapon trading all over the world

we dont reduce corsica to smitherines for the sake of our national security

What an excellent write up and point you make.

I agree with you 110%!

To hades with Arafat!

Israel will never surrender the occupied territories. I just can't see it. Occupiers always find a way to justify occupation. It is strange to me that Israel can thank God for freeing them from the harsh treatment of the Egyptians in the days of the bible, and at the same time launch murderous attacks on the Palestinians.

I am ashamed of my country, America, for its indifference to the destruction of the Palestinians; and, I am ashamed of the Arab countries for their weakness and passivity in this struggle.

I don't see you leaving the USA. Love it Or leave it

Ashamed? You are ashamed? Ashamed of America? You need a reality check. The conflict in the Middle East is not America's doing, although the Arab world seems to blame it on us becuase we support Israel. The Palestinians have a host of legitimate grievances with the Israeli government. Contrary to popular belief the conflict in the middle east is not thousands of years old, it is about eight decades old and has its roots in a failed British policy in the entire Middle East generally and in the Levant specificly. The Zionist movement wanted a JEWISH state of Israel on land occupied by Palestines and ultimately they got that state. The Palestinians were dispossessed in the process and herded into refugee camps. THe violence and frustration we see today is a result of that policy.
Now the Palestinians want that land back. The obvious question is what will happen to the Israelis? Will they be herded into refugee camps? Will the ycle of violence perpetuation itself. I understand the Palestinian grivences. I don't need to live in an occupied area to empathize with their plight. But, and this is a HUGE but, those frustrations do not justify the INTENTIONAL targeting of innocent civilians. The Palestinian tactics of suicide bomdings against school buses and discos and pizza places, and markets have invited the current Israeli onslaught. Moreover, they reveal that the Palestinians still do not have the political acumen to obtain what they want and what several UN resolutions say they are entitled to. That same lack of political talent cost the Palestinians during the British Mandate and it will cost them now.
As for the poster who claimed to be ashamed of America because of the conflict in the Middle East, Why? America did not create this conflict. America has, in its own interests, developed a friend in a region that is key to US interests. We have developed that friend because the Arabs in the region did not want to be our friends or could not be trusted to remain our friends. If the Palestinians really wanted to win this conflict they would make themselves the US's friend. Become as important to the US as is Israel. Instead the Palestinians danced in the streets on 9/11. Then they have the inmitigatted gall to take offense when the US sides with Israel against them. Don't be ashamed of America. Be ashamed of the Palestinians. They lacked the wherewithal to hold on to their land, they lacked the strength to retake, they lacked the political talent to garner allies, they lacked the judgement to avoid antagonizing the US, and they lacked the wisdom to extricate themselves from the morass into which they have stumbled. That makes them a people of which to be ashamed...

US-Israel-Palestine
by Noam Chomsky

A year ago, Hebrew University sociologist Baruch Kimmerling observed that "What we feared has come true." Jews and Palestinians are "regressing to superstitious tribalism... War appears an unavoidable fate," an "evil colonial" war. After Israel's invasion of the refugee camps this year his colleague Ze'ev Sternhell wrote that "In colonial Israel...human life is cheap." The leadership is "no longer ashamed to speak of war when what they are really engaged in is colonial policing, which recalls the takeover by the white police of the poor neighborhoods of the blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era." Both stress the obvious: there is no symmetry between the "ethno-national groups" regressing to tribalism. The conflict is centered in territories that have been under harsh military occupation for 35 years. The conqueror is a major military power, acting with massive military, economic and diplomatic support from the global superpower. Its subjects are alone and defenseless, many barely surviving in miserable camps, currently suffering even more brutal terror of a kind familiar in "evil colonial wars" and now carrying out terrible atrocities of their own in revenge.

The Oslo "peace process" changed the modalities of the occupation, but not the basic concept. Shortly before joining the Ehud Barak government, historian Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote that "the Oslo agreements were founded on a neo-colonialist basis, on a life of dependence of one on the other forever." He soon became an architect of the US-Israel proposals at Camp David in Summer 2000, which kept to this condition. These were highly praised in US commentary. The Palestinians and their evil leader were blamed for their failure and the subsequent violence. But that is outright "fraud," as Kimmerling reported, along with all other serious commentators.

True, Clinton-Barak advanced a few steps towards a Bantustan-style settlement. Just prior to Camp David, West Bank Palestinians were confined to over 200 scattered areas, and Clinton-Barak did propose an improvement: consolidation to three cantons, under Israeli control, virtually separated from one another and from the fourth enclave, a small area of East Jerusalem, the center of Palestinian life and of communications in the region. In the fifth canton, Gaza, the outcome was left unclear except that the population were also to remain virtually imprisoned. It is understandable that maps are not to be found in the US mainstream, or any of the details of the proposals.

No one can seriously doubt that the US role will continue to be decisive. It is therefore of crucial importance to understand what that role has been, and how it is internally perceived. The version of the doves is presented by the editors of the NY Times (7 April), praising the President's "path-breaking speech" and the "emerging vision" he articulated. Its first element is "ending Palestinian terrorism," immediately. Some time later comes "freezing, then rolling back, Jewish settlements and negotiating new borders" to end the occupation and allow the establishment of a Palestinian state. If Palestinian terror ends, Israelis will be encouraged to "take the Arab League's historic offer of full peace and recognition in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal more seriously." But first Palestinian leaders must demonstrate that they are "legitimate diplomatic partners."

The real world has little resemblance to this self-serving portrayal -- virtually copied from the 1980s, when the US and Israel were desperately seeking to evade PLO offers of negotiation and political settlement while keeping to the demand that there will be no negotiations with the PLO, no "additional Palestinian state..." (Jordan already being a Palestinian state), and "no change in the status of Judea, Samaria and Gaza other than in accordance with the basic guidelines of the [Israeli] Government" (the May 1989 Peres-Shamir coalition plan, endorsed by Bush I in the Baker plan of Dec. 1989). All of this remained unpublished in the US mainstream, as regularly before, while commentary denounced the Palestinians for their single-minded commitment to terror, undermining the humanistic endeavors of the US and its allies.

In the real world, the primary barrier to the "emerging vision" has been, and remains, unilateral US rejectionism. There is little new in the "Arab League's historic offer." It repeats the basic terms of a Security Council Resolution of January 1976 backed by virtually the entire world, including the leading Arab states, the PLO, Europe, the Soviet bloc -- in fact, everyone who mattered. It was opposed by Israel and vetoed by the US, thereby vetoing it from history. The Resolution called for a political settlement on the internationally-recognized borders "with appropriate arrangements...to guarantee...the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of all states in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders" -- in effect, a modification of UN 242 (as officially interpreted by the US as well), amplified to include a Palestinian state. Similar initiatives from the Arab states, the PLO, and Europe have since been blocked by the US and mostly suppressed or denied in public commentary.

US rejectionism goes back 5 years earlier, to February 1971, when President Sadat of Egypt offered Israel a full peace treaty in return for Israeli withdrawal from Egyptian territory, with no mention of Palestinian national rights or the fate of the other occupied territories. Israel's Labor government recognized this to be a genuine peace offer, but rejected it, intending to extend its settlements to northeastern Sinai; that it soon did, with extreme brutality, the immediate cause for the 1973 war. Israel and the US understood that peace was possible in accord with official US policy. But as Labor Party leader Ezer Weizmann (later President) explained, that outcome would not allow Israel to "exist according to the scale, spirit, and quality she now embodies." Israeli commentator Amos Elon wrote that Sadat caused "panic" among the Israeli political leadership when he announced his willingness "to enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and to respect its independence and sovereignty in `secure and recognized borders'."

Kissinger succeeded in blocking peace, instituting his preference for what he called "stalemate": no negotiations, only force. Jordanian peace offers were also dismissed. Since that time, official US policy has kept to the international consensus on withdrawal -- until Clinton, who effectively rescinded UN resolutions and considerations of international law. But in practice, policy has followed the Kissinger guidelines, accepting negotiations only when compelled to do so, as Kissinger was after the near-debacle of the 1973 war for which he shares major responsibility, and under the conditions that Ben-Ami articulated.

Plans for Palestinians followed the guidelines formulated by Moshe Dayan, one of the Labor leaders more sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. He advised the Cabinet that Israel should make it clear to refugees that "we have no solution, you shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave, and we will see where this process leads." When challenged, he responded by citing Ben-Gurion, who "said that whoever approaches the Zionist problem from a moral aspect is not a Zionist." He could have also cited Chaim Weizmann, who held that the fate of the "several hundred thousand negroes" in the Jewish homeland "is a matter of no consequence."

Not surprisingly, the guiding principle of the occupation has been incessant and degrading humiliation, along with torture, terror, destruction of property, displacement and settlement, and takeover of basic resources, crucially water. That has, of course, required decisive US support, extending through the Clinton-Barak years. "The Barak government is leaving Sharon's government a surprising legacy," the Israeli press reported as the transition took place: "the highest number of housing starts in the territories since the time when Ariel Sharon was Minister of Construction and Settlement in 1992 before the Oslo agreements" -- funding provided by the American taxpayer, deceived by fanciful tales of the "visions" and "magnanimity" of US leaders, foiled by terrorists like Arafat who have forfeited "our trust," perhaps also by some Israeli extremists who are overreacting to their crimes.

How Arafat must act to regain our trust is explained succinctly by Edward Walker, the State Department official responsible for the region under Clinton. The devious Arafat must announce without ambiguity that "We put our future and fate in the hands of the US," which has led the campaign to undermine Palestinian rights for 30 years.

More serious commentary recognized that the "historic offer" largely reiterated the Saudi Fahd Plan of 1981 -- undermined, it was regularly claimed, by Arab refusal to accept the existence of Israel. The facts are again quite different. The 1981 plan was undermined by an Israeli reaction that even its mainstream press condemned as "hysterical." Shimon Peres warned that the Fahd plan "threatened Israel's very existence." President Haim Herzog charged that the "real author" of the Fahd plan was the PLO, and that it was even more extreme than the January 1976 Security Council resolution that was "prepared by" the PLO when he was Israel's UN Ambassador. These claims can hardly be true (though the PLO publicly backed both plans), but they are an indication of the desperate fear of a political settlement on the part of Israeli doves, with the unremitting and decisive support of the US.

The basic problem then, as now, traces back to Washington, which has persistently backed Israel's rejection of a political settlement in terms of the broad international consensus, reiterated in essentials in "the Arab League's historic offer."

Current modifications of US rejectionism are tactical and so far minor. With plans for an attack on Iraq endangered, the US permitted a UN resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal from the newly-invaded territories "without delay" -- meaning "as soon as possible," Secretary of State Colin Powell explained at once. Palestinian terror is to end "immediately," but far more extreme Israeli terror, going back 35 years, can take its time. Israel at once escalated its attack, leading Powell to say "I'm pleased to hear that the prime minister says he is expediting his operations." There is much suspicion that Powell's arrival in Israel is being delayed so that they can be "expedited" further. That US stance may well change, again for tactical reasons.

The US also allowed a UN Resolution calling for a "vision" of a Palestinian state. This forthcoming gesture, which received much acclaim, does not rise to the level of South Africa 40 years ago when the Apartheid regime actually implemented its "vision" of Black-run states that were at least as viable and legitimate as the neo-colonial dependency that the US and Israel have been planning for the occupied territories.

Meanwhile the US continues to "enhance terror," to borrow the President's words, by providing Israel with the means for terror and destruction, including a new shipment of the most advanced helicopters in the US arsenal (Robert Fisk, Independent, 7 April). These are standard reactions to atrocities by a client regime. To cite one instructive example, in the first days of the current Intifada, Israel used US helicopters to attack civilian targets, killing 10 Palestinians and wounding 35, hardly in "self-defense." Clinton responded with an agreement for "the largest purchase of military helicopters by the Israeli Air Force in a decade" (Ha'aretz, 3 October, '01), along with spare parts for Apache attack helicopters. The press helped out by refusing to report the facts. A few weeks later, Israel began to use US helicopters for assassinations as well. One of the first acts of the Bush administration was to send Apache Longbow helicopters, the most murderous available. That received some marginal notice under business news.

Washington's commitment to "enhancing terror" was illustrated again in December, when it vetoed a Security Council Resolution calling for implementation of the Mitchell Plan and dispatch of international monitors to oversee reduction of violence, the most effective means as generally recognized, opposed by Israel and regularly blocked by Washington. The veto took place during a 21-day period of calm -- meaning that only one Israeli soldier was killed, along with 21 Palestinians including 11 children, and 16 Israeli incursions into areas under Palestinian control (Graham Usher, Middle East International, 25 January '02). Ten days before the veto, the US boycotted -- thus undermined -- an international conference in Geneva that once again concluded that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the occupied terrorities, so that virtually everything the US and Israel do there is a "grave breach"; a "war crime" in simple terms. The conference specifically declared the US-funded Israeli settlements to be illegal, and condemned the practice of "wilful killing, torture, unlawful deportation, wilful depriving of the rights of fair and regular trial, extensive destruction and appropriation of property...carried out unlawfully and wantonly." As a High Contracting Party, the US is obligated by solemn treaty to prosecute those responsible for such crimes, including its own leadership. Accordingly, all of this passes in silence.

The US has not officially withdrawn its recognition of the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied territories, or its censure of Israeli violations as the "occupying power" (affirmed, for example, by George Bush I when he was UN Ambassador). In October 2000 the Security Council reaffirmed the consensus on this matter, "call[ing] on Israel, the occupying power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention." The vote was 14-0. Clinton abstained, presumably not wanting to veto one of the core principles of international humanitarian law, particularly in light of the circumstances in which it was enacted: to criminalize formally the atrocities of the Nazis. All of this too was consigned quickly to the memory hole, another contribution to "enhancing terror."

Until such matters are permitted to enter discussion, and their implications understood, it is meaningless to call for "US engagement in the peace process," and prospects for constructive action will remain grim.

http://italy.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=48018&group=webcast

Thaousands of years ago as the fable says, Jews were choosen by God and were shepered to Palestine (so called promised land) by Moses. It didn't take them long to make statues and replace God with them. The Jews have had no problem with Islam and Islamic countries. They could buy land, trade and be in par with moslems as equal citizens. Now the Moslems especially Palestinais are getting their thanks form Jews. Don't these Zionism understand that they have replace God by by another form of Idle?!
To day , in this century and at present time Palestinians are the choosen people by God. Their mission is to get rid of the immigrant jews which have occupied Palestinian land, as part of a greater Shceme which mainly has to do with oil. It started by British Colonilism and is being handled now by U.S government with out broad knowledge of it's citizens.
Palestinians know that, now they are the choosen people by God, their mission is to get rid of the bankrupt corporate which is Israel. This bankrupt corporate can not continue it's murderous mission with out billions of dollars which is being paid out of American taxpayer's pocket. It is very strange that not many can relate the current events in palestine to the future terroist acts in U.S soil which may be more devastating than sep 11 incident. I don't think the innocent Palestinains and Americans deserve to have their blood shed for the greed of big corporations (oil) and one of their tools which is creation of state of Israel.

What suicide bombers do is criminal What the jews are doing is criminal, so who is the dumbest? the USA is for funding killing machines

The only soloution to Palestine problem is that eventually jews moslem and christian live together as one nation. The Paletinians be alowed all to return to their home land. The Israeilis whom think they are too good for palestinians can come to America, or where ever they wish. Aperthid did not last in south Africa. And Israel would not last in Palestine land. And this way I am sure the palestinians will forgive all the wrongdoing toward them. But if events continue the way it is and many more blood sheds. Eventually the moslems specially Arabs would kick out their corrupt leaders and take the events to their own hands.

WHAT THE CRIMINAL ISREALIS DID IN JENIN WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN BY THE WORLD. I THINK ISREALS DAYS ARE NUMBERED. THANKS TO THAT WAR CRIMINAL SHARON THERE IS A MAJOR SHIFT IN THE WAR ABOUT THE PALESTINIANS AND ZIONISTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE SHIFT IN THE WORLD OPNION COULDN'T BE MORE REAL THAN IN THE U.S. AMERICANS ARE STARTING TO LOOK AT THAT CONFLICT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO VIEW THAT CONFLICT AS A WAR AGAINST THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. MANY AMERICANS FEEL A SHAMED FOR THE WAY THEIR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS ARE BEING USED TO MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE IN PALESTINE.
EVENTUALLY, ISREAL WILL GO OF THE WAY OF CONSTANTANOPLE AND THE CRUSADER STATES IN ISLAMIC HISTORY. IT'S NOT PRACTICALLY POSSIBLE FOR THE FEW ZIONISTS IN THE U.S TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT A PLANTED ENTITY IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE FOR LONG. ISREAL IS THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY FROM THE U.S. IN TIME HISTORY CHANGES AND WITH THAT TIME BRINGS NEW REALITIES. IT TOOK THE MUSLIMS 80 YEARS TO DESTROY THE CRUSADER STATES AND ISREAL HAS ONLY BEEN THERE FOR 52 YEARS. ANY THING COULD HAPPEN ANY DAY. JUST LIKE THAT OLD SAYING WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.

The so called Palestinian "Terrorists" are up against a state that receives from 3-5 Billion dollars a year (depending on who you choose to believe) from the US alone, armed to the hilt with modern weapons, and BlackHawk Helicopters doing maximum damage against a population that is armed with small arms, machine guns and home made bombs (that convienently fit around ones waist). The occupied territories are named such for the fact that 35 years of repression has occured there, and the Palesinians are a oprressed people suffering Israels abuse and racism. Now, for those that want to say that I am a anti-semite, let me say that one must be allowed to criticize Israel's military policy without being pushed into an anti-Semitic corner. I love Jews. I love Arabs. I love humans. I hate igonrace and lies. The truth is injustice has occured on all sides. The US is equally culpable as Israel that something like 10-1 death ratio to date in the conflict, 10 Palestinians for every Israeli killed. The so called Palestinian Terrorists are terrorists, and so is the IDF. Just read what happened in Jennin the last few weeks. Thats terror at the state level. And that for of terror will always do greater amounts of harm.

This is only my humble opinion.

I am personally disgusted with the decision Israel has taken to rid themselves of this so-called "Palestinian Terror". Killing women, children, and men doesn't justify the life of another. I understand suicide bombings are horrible, wrong, outrageous, and disturbing; but so are Israeli-army death missions.

I am disgusted by the leaders of Israel, especially a certain general who has been charged of killing thousands of Palestinians in refugee camps where they happen to be placed in, courtesy of Israel. Ariel Sharon needs to be kicked out of power and charged with the crime of genocide.

Many people complain about the Holocaust and beg the world not to let it happen again. Well, sad to say, it's happening again...courtesy of the people who experienced it. The Israeli-Army is killing left and right without stop and turned Jenin into an ultimate war zone. I ask Israel...where are the terrorists now?!! I believe you are reffering to the innocent men, women, and children who perished under your hand....God help us all.

~Free Palestine...End the Violence~

Europe currently gives preferredtariff arrangements to Israel.
One of the conditions is the country granted this preferential treatment must demonstrate a'respect for human rights'
South Africa was considerably less atrocious in its treatment of the blacks, but nevertheless had many sanctions imposed on it.
What is wrong Europe-have you lost your power of rational thought along with your moral compass?
Do not blindly follow the USA where the politicians are petrified by the pro Israeli lobby-you do not have that feeble excuse.
Impose sanctions NOW-what does it take?
Art

As a question -is the derivative of this unconditional US support,which violates every norm the USA publicly espouses, the politiciand fear of the pro-Israeli lobby or is there more to it?
Secondly the Israeli Arab population seem curiously quiet-why?

Mr. Wheeler,
It is the power of the Jewish lobby. It is also due to abject ignorance of important US politicians as to the true facts of the situation on the West Bank and Gaza. Few even understand how flawed the much touted peace offer was and how Arafat could not have accepted it. They just parrot what the Israeli propagander operatives spouts ad nauseum on cable news shows night after night.
Finally, Israeli Arabs were not quiet. Some were beaten and killed by police in a peacful demonstration in Tel Aviv in last couple of weeks. Also not all American Jews agree with Israel. There is:
Jewish voices against occupation www. jvao.org/

if they could kill all the palestines they would do it in heart beat the whole jewish population is responble for these terrible acts when you had your march on washington on monday all of you boo bush rep when he mention that the palestines were also suffering. you all sounded like abunch nazis i guess thats how berlin was like 1936 i feel sorry for all of you because you lost your way so next time you see adolf sharron tell him i said what goes around comes around and when it happens to you dont complain about because you also did it

The insurrectionist Palestinians would do well to take a lesson from the pages of American history. When the harbingers of the superior Old World Western European culture came to possess the land which was their God-given legacy, the natives foolishly attacked them when they began to suspect that these pale invaders were not content to share but to own, claiming territory after territory in the name of their rulers and their God. Since these settlers had the right to defend themselves from the uncooperative savages, the aborigines were decimated in a few years. Where once stretched vast expanses of flora and fauna there now stand skyscrapers, factories, suburbs, exurbs, golf courses, shopping malls. The indigenous peoples now have their own reservations and are allowed to run casinos. Although political correctness has slightly modified the image of the bloodthirsty, whooping, treacherous "Injun," there still remains the contempt for and, at best, benign neglect of the original
inhabitants. All that bloodshed could have been avoided if the natives had simply declined to fight against the
superior weaponry of the Europeans and accepted the fact that they were being blessed by having these great white gods take over their land. So, Palestinian natives, do not make the same mistake. After all, God gave
these lands to his chosen people, like Sammy Davis Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor. There is an undisputably historical and legal document to prove this. Have you never read the Bible? Remember what happened to Jericho? Remember how Samson eliminated thousands of Philistines, your stubborn ancestors, in a daring suicide move
which brought down the house ? Let the Israelis, superior representatives of the Western culture, develop the lands which you yourselves have never managed properly. You too can have skyscrapers and malls where the useless olive trees and palms now stand. The chosen people from Brooklyn want to build housing on land which you are not using anyway. Resist no more. The Americans understand Netanyahu perfectly when he speaks. You talk with a funny accent and wear silly clothes, like those rags on your heads. Remember what happens to people who talk and dress funny, like those crazy aborigines who thought that they could fight back the Europeans. Be good, and maybe you too can live on lovely reservations and run casinos. Amen.

OFFICIAL JENIN WEBSITE WWW.JENIN.ORG

To Eliyahu - can you imagine how you'd feel if people kept taking over your land, bulldozing your houses and farms to the ground, and randomly shooting at your children?

Sharon is an evil war criminal and it is time something is done about him.

In response to Joe - you are an ignorant anti-Semite. Don't accuse all Jews of being Zionists responsible for the crimes of Sharon. Many Jews are opposed to him. I am Jewish, but have never been to Israel/Palestine and am completely against the state of Israel. So take your bigoted stupid crap elsewhere.

Ariel Sharon is one of the greatest people in the Middle East, and Israel is the greatest (and the only important one, really) nation in the world!
So what if his hands are stained red with the blood of innocents? Visit Israel, and he will gladly take you to the Yad Vashem centre where you will learn how much the poor Jews suffered during the Holocaust that took place sixty four years ago and you will stop feeling sorry for the Palestinians which we ghettoize and murder everyday (just be careful not to speak to too much real Holocaust survivors, because many of them oppose the occupation, too). He will also give you some matzvah and tell you a story from his army days in the SS (pardon me, I meant to say the Israeli Defence Force), and probably throw in a joke or two for good measure. Afterwards he will lead you to the wailing wall, where he will try to convince you that he is a Jew by putting on a yarmulke and lightly hitting his head against the sacred wall and mumbling Judaic phrases which he doesn't understand and his Zionist conscience wouldn't allow him to take to heart, anyways.
Then you will surely be won over to the noble Israeli cause. If you aren't then don't worry- the Mossad will deal with you.
Visit dear uncle Sharon, and let him impress you with his (half) wit and charm. You will come to love Zionism. Or you will die.

Heil Sharon!
- A concerned Zionist

NOBODY SHOULD EVER TOLERATE ANTISEMITISM AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL;.

Stop antisemitism! Anyone who Criticisizes Israel is antisemitic and evil, even Jews who do it!
Israel is perfect!
Now go serve the Zionist and kill an unarmed Palestinian!

Heil Sharon!
-A concerned Zionist

Pizza, Pizza every where tourists eat Pizza dare I dare I snare OHHHH I Snare Ohh I might kill a bear Ohhh by the way I'm a Iraqy I read what you think about me and well thats too bad.