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Sat May 15 2004

Israelis Start To Question The Costs Of The Occupation

peace protest

On May 15th around 150,000 Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv against the occupation of Gaza.
Israel Indymedia | Israel: The majority' is waking up | The left won't be held hostage by the Likud | Photos

Sun May 2 2004

Likud Rejects Removal Of Gaza Settlements

gaza referendum

On May 2nd 2004, voters in Israel's Likud party rejected the Bush/Sharon plan to remove settlements from Gaza. The Gaza strip is only 360 sq km but contains around 1.5 million Palestinians making it one of the most densely inhabited pieces of land on earth. Jewish settlements in Gaza started after the 1967 war but most settlements were build in the 1980s. There are currently around 8000 Israeli settlers in Gaza. The Jewish settlers live separately from the Palestinians and are surrounded by a security parameter and thousands of IDF troops whose sole purpose is to protect the settlements. While ending settlements in Gaza, the Bush/Sharon plan legitimized long-term settlements in the West Bank and was seen by many as making a Palestinian state impossible due to the need for access roads and IDF troops guarding the settlements. In recent weeks, evidence has emerged that even illegal settlements in the West Bank have been receiving millions from the Israeli government.

Wed Apr 21 2004

Mordechai Vanunu Released: Man Who Exposed Israel's WMD Program

Mordechai Vanunu

On Wednesday April 21 2004, Mordechai Vanunu was released from prison after spending 18 years behind bars (12 of which were in solitary confinement) for exposing Israel's nuclear weapons program.
On October 5,1986, Vanunu published a report in the London Sunday Times detailing how Israel's Dimona nuclear power plant was producing nuclear weapons. From his report, it was "possible to deduce that Israel had become the world's sixth nuclear power, with a production rate on the order of 10 nuclear weapons per year, and that Israel also produced lithium deuteride, a necessary ingredient for the production of thermonuclear weapons" (BAS). After exposing Israel's WMD program to the media, Vanunu was lured to Rome by Cheryl Hanin, drugged, kidnapped and taken to Israel for trial.
While Vanunu is now free, he is not allowed to speak to foreign nationals or leave the country. The United States will be monitoring Vanunu following his release since talk of Israel's WMD programs is seen as making it more difficult for the US to pressure Iran on its program.
The US Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu | Free Vanunu | Peace Heros | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | Peace Heros | Right Livelihood Award

Sat Jan 1 2000 (Updated 12/27/21)

Palestine History

Palestine: pre-1900 through 2008

A Very Brief History of Palestine
2008	December 27th: Israeli air strikes target police stations in Gaza killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds more. Air strikes continued on December 28th, with the death toll reaching close to 300 by mid-day. March 1st-March 5th: Israel mounts a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip. The attacks claim the lives of over 112 Palestinians, including many civilians. According to Gaza health ministry statistics, 22 children were killed and more than 350 people were wounded. January 23rd: Masked militants destroyed around two-thirds of the metal wall separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Tens of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the border to buy food and supplies. A tightening of a blockade against the Gaza Strip had been deepening an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, plunging its 1.5 million people into cold and darkness and threatening to unleash both mass hunger and a serious health crisis. The Israeli cabinet voted in early January to seal all border crossings into Gaza, cutting off food, medicine and fuel for the population and turning the entire territory into a vast prison.
2007	June 15th: Hamas militants seize the Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza City and took full control of the Gaza Strip. The Occupied Territories have now been effectively split into two separate entities with Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah controlling the West Bank. June 14th: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announces the dismissal of the Hamas-led government and declares a state of emergency. Abbas says he would now rule by presidential decree until the conditions were right for early elections. May 13th: Following the killing of a senior Fatah leader, violence erupted throughout the Gaza Strip. Two attempted ceasefires collapse within hours and fighting between Fatah and Hamas results in dozens of deaths, threatening to shatter the two factions' unity government.
2006	December 18th After a month of fighting a cease fire is agreed between Hamas and Fatah, but gun battles continue in one of the worst days of fratricidal violence in the Gaza Strip. Walid Awad, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, said Fatah and Hamas had agreed to withdraw all armed men from the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. They also agreed to release all the people they had kidnapped from each other. Under the deal, negotiations for a national unity coalition would resume and all demonstrations have been prohibited for the foreseeable future. more October 1st: Most Israeli troops withdraw from Lebanon. While Israel tried to present the end result a victory, Hezbollah survived and did no agree to disarm. Over a thousand Lebanese civilians were killed, several hundred members of Hezbollah were killed, 119 Israeli soldiers were killed and 43 Israeli civilians were killed in the conflict. August 11th: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves UN Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, called for disarmament of Hezbollah, for withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, and for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) force in southern Lebanon. July 12th: Hezbollah's military wing attack two armoured IDF Humvees with anti-tank rockets, killing three soldiers and taking the remaining two in captivity to Lebanon's territory. Israel responds by bombing Lebanon. The world community responds by evacuating foreigh nationals and refusing to call for a ceasefire as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are forced to evacuate their homes and hundreds die. June 25th, an Israeli soldier is captured by Palestinian militants who attacked an army post in Israel after crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Israel responds by invading Gaza and bombing infrastructure. January 20th: Hamas wins a sweeping victory in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in a decade. Israel and the United States say they will not deal with a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas. January 4th: Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke and Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel.
2005	August: Israel enagages in a "unlateral pullout" from Gaza (which mainly meant evacuating settlers) January 9th, Mahmoud Abbas wins the Palestinian elections and is sworn in as President of the Palestinian National Authority
2004	November 10th: Arafat dies after being in a coma and on life-support equipment for the several days. May: Israel Defense Forces commit massacre in Rafah On April 17th, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi is assassinated by Israel. On April 14th, Bush meets with Sharon and they agree on a wall in the West Bank that will make many Israeli settlements permanent. On March 22nd Israel assassinates Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin.
2000	September 28: Second Intifada Begins. Palestinians riot after Ariel Sharon visits the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque and proclaims the area eternal Israeli territory. The violence escalates rapidly and continues today...
1993	September 13: Oslo Accords. The PLO and Israel agree to mutual recognition. The PLO renounces terrorism, yet the number of new settlements increases and Palestinian groups do not remove their charter goals of destroying Israel.
1987	The First Intifada. An explosion of popular resistance to the Israeli occupation called the Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The PLO signals that it would accept a two state solution in 1988.
1982	June 6: Israel invades Lebanon to fight the PLO. A multinational force lands in Beirut on August 20, 1982 to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. After a demoralizing occupation, Israel slowly withdraws.
1979	March 26: Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty. Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 border with Egypt.
1973	October 6: Yom Kippur War. In a surprise attack, Egypt retakes the Suez canal. Syria reconquers the Golan Heights. Israel succeeds in pushing back the Syrians.
1967	June 5: The Six-Day War. Israel attacks the Egyptians (reconquering the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza), Jordan (conquering the West Bank and Jerusalem), and Syria (conquering the Golan heights).
1964	May: Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) founded, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria.
1956	October 29: Suez War. Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months. Israel withdraws after a UN peace keeping force is placed in Sinai.
1949	April 3: Armistice between Israel and Arab states. The war has created over 780,000 Palestinian refugees. Israel has gained about 50% more territory.
1948	May 15: 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Declaration of Israel as the Jewish State. British leave Palestine. Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia declare war on Israel.
1936	Arab Revolt. Over 5,000 Arabs are killed, mostly by the British, and several hundred Jews are killed by Arabs
1917	October 2: Promising a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, the British issue the Balfour Declaration.
click here for An Expanded Brief History of Palestine

Car of Hamas leader, al-Rantissi, blown up by Israeli assassins.

Sat Apr 17 2004

Another Extrajudicial Killing Of A Palestinian Political Leader

Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi

April 17th 2004, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi was assassinated by Israel while driving in his car through Gaza City. Earlier in the day the Israeli High Court of Justice had rejected two petitions seeking to stop the government's policy of "executions without trial" of Palestinian leaders. PALESTINIANS REMOVE BODY OF HAMAS LEADER'S BODYGUARD AFTER ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN GAZA (Ahmed Jadallah/REUTERS)

PALESTINIANS REMOVE BODY OF HAMAS LEADER'S BODYGUARD AFTER ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN GAZA (Ahmed Jadallah/REUTERS)

On March 22, 2004 Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin. The killing of a paralyzed and wheelchair-bound leader (who could easily have been arrested), set off shock waves throughout the region. Turkey, which in recent years has become an ally of Israel, accused Sharon of 'terrorism'. India, which had hosted Sharon just weeks before, stated it was appalled. Kofi Anan reiterated that "extrajudicial killings are against international law", but an attempt to condemn Israel via the UN was thwarted by the United States. Israel has used "targeted killings" for years to get rid of Palestinian leaders whom it dislikes. After every assassination, world leaders condemn Israel's actions as being against human rights norms and international law, but the US has thus far prevented the condemnations from ever amounting to a change in Israel's policies.

Wed Apr 14 2004

Bush and Sharon Trade Away The Right of Return and Palestinian Land

bush-sharon pact

On Wednesday April 14th 2004 Bush and Sharon appeared in a press conference at the White House. Much of what Bush stated was not new. He called for a change in Palestinian leadership and spoke of his commitment to "strengthening Israel's self-defense capability". But he went further, stating that "it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949". By the end of the speech it was apparent that Bush had in effect traded away both the West Bank as a contiguous Palestinian territory and the Palestinian right of return. Yasser Arafat denounced Bush for negotiating away the rights of the Palestinians without any consultation with any Palestinians. Qureia accused the United States of total bias against the Palestinians. Arab League spokesman Hesham Youssef said "We expect the United States to play honest broker. We accused it before of being unbalanced. Now we can't even say that. The United States has adopted Israel's position." an official statement fro the Arab League went on to state that "the council...affirmed unanimously that it rejects the new American position, which is likely to wreck the peace process in the Middle East...This position encourages Israel to persist in its aggression against the Palestinian people and its threats to security and stability in the region." Almost the entire EU came out against what many saw as the end of the roadmap and the end of the US's ability to mediate the conflict. French President Jacques Chirac "voiced what many across Europe were thinking" branding Bush's support for the Israeli plan "unfortunate and dangerous precedent." Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen stated "It remains the case that Israel has to make peace with its enemies, not its friends. Israel and the United States are not in conflict," Only British Prime minister Tony Blair came out in support of the Bush-Sharon plan.
Blair and Bush's unqualified support for Sharon, has created unprecedented hatred towards them among Palestinians. In an editorial, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds states "Bush has given Sharon everything that he wanted, but he has certainly not demonstrated the even-handedness and impartiality that the peace process requires...This biased position will exacerbate an already explosive situation, not only between the Palestinians and Israelis but in the whole Middle East region."
Why all the fuss? | Bush Tears Roadmap to Smithereens | Sharon’s West Bank land grab

Thu Apr 1 2004 (Updated 05/31/10)

Body Count

Casualties in Israel/Palestine Since Sept. 29, 2000 (updated May 31st, 2010)

Palestinians: 7358 Israelis: 1078

Sources: MIFTAH, Middle East Policy Council,

Deaths In Latest Gaza Conflict (Dec 2008- Jan 2009)

1,417 Palestinians dead, including 926 civilians, 255 police officers, and 236 fighters.. 13 Israelis were killed (IDF claims many were from "friendly fire")
PCHR

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