arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

HEBRON, West Bank - Amidst fears that Israel plans to oust Palestinians from Hebron and riddle it with illegal Jewish settlements, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed two Palestinians Monday and injured several others, including children.

Meanwhile, Israel has been pressing ahead with its plan to demolish more than a dozen Palestinian homes and property to make way for more settlements and to ensure what it is calling "[Jewish] territorial continuity" between the illegal settlement of ‘Kiryat Arba' and the Jewish settler enclave piercing the heart of Hebron.

The unprecedented Israeli move to "Judaize" Hebron as President Arafat called it, comes two weeks after an ambush claimed by the Islamic Jihad left 12 Israeli soldiers and paramilitary settler security officials dead.

The group said it was in retaliation to the assassination of one of its top leaders in Jenin. Iyad Sawalha was killed in Jenin refugee camp without trial, a move condemned by human rights organizations.

After the attack, Sharon told army commanders to "take advantage of the opportunity" in Hebron to oust (transfer) Palestinians and establish what he called demographic "territorial continuity" between "Kiryat Arba" and the small Jewish settlement enclave in the West Bank City, where 400 settlers live among some 130,000 Palestinians.

In effect, Sharon has called for a de facto annexation of Palestinian land to link the area colonized by Jewish settlers in the Old City with the nearby illegal settlement, to include Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi, which Jews refer to as the tomb of the Patriarchs.

The Haram is a mosque attended by Muslim worshippers. Jews, who believe the sanctuary is the place where Abraham is buried, pray there as well.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has condemned the plan, calling it a "Judaization process" in Hebron.

The Israeli army on Monday pasted notices ordering property seizures and house demolitions the length of Al-Haram Street in Hebron, the BBC said.

This horrifying plan did not come as a surprise to Palestinians, who view the plan as a form of ethnic cleansing and paves the way for the implementation of the ‘transfer' policy long supported by Israeli leaders.

For years, Sharon has called for occupying Al-Haram Street to be turned into a corridor linking Kiryat Arba 6,000 settlers with a smaller Jewish enclave of 400 settlers in the Old City of Hebron.

Sharon originally presented his transfer plan during the 1996 negotiations led by then-premier Benjamin Netanyahu. He believes that annexation of Palestinian land to expand the already-existing settlement of the city should be undertaken to create a ‘Jewish area' that would be "compact" with a small Arab population, Ha'aretz reported.

Yesterday, the IOF army took the first step to implement the plan with an order in the name of General Moshe Kaplinski, commander of the central region of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to seize 60 buildings and pieces of land for "military necessity".

Juma Jaber's flat opens on to Al-Haram street and is one of the properties set for confiscation.

"They haven't given us individual notice. They came to all the houses, asked our names, how many people live here, our identity numbers. Then they put up this order, which is difficult to understand. From what I can see they are taking over the whole street," he said.

"Even if we don't have to leave immediately, I think they want to give the street to the settlers, bring them in to live here. We'll be suffocated but that's the Israeli plan. They want to drive us out."

Sharon previously argued that the Israeli-controlled sector of the city should include some 2,000 Arabs instead of the 20,000 now living under Israeli control on the basis of the January 1997 Wye River Plantation accord, thus making an outward call for expelling Palestinians.

Among those facing expulsion is 91-year-old Radeb Jaber who has lived on the street his entire life. "I have lived under the Turks. I have lived under the British. I have lived under the Jordanians. These are the worst," he said. "They keep us under curfew. Every time they see us they curse us. Dog, bastard, they call us." BBC quoted him as saying.

Jaber's son Rahin, 65 agrees, "It's impossible to live with the settlers. It's like putting a poisonous snake on your chest. Either they kill us or we kill them. There's no in-between."

Meanwhile, Maher Sakallah, 19, was found bullet-riddled in a local market in Tulkarem, after IOF stormed it with tanks and charged at civilians shopping for the upcoming Eid el-Fitr, which Muslims celebrate at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Seven other people, including three children, were wounded, medical and security sources said.

This comes one day after IOF killed a 16-year-old boy was killed and wounded 16 others in another crowded market in the West Bank city of Jenin Monday, Palestinian witnesses and hospital sources said.

Occupation troops, backed by two tanks and two armored vehicles, shot at Palestinians shopping for food in Jenin before the Eid holiday, witnesses said.

North of the West Bank Governorate of Tulkarem, IOF detained seven Palestinians on a roadblock, where they also kept hundreds of civilians traveling between villages waiting for hours.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation troops adetained 12 Palestinians overnight in the West Bank, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

The army alleged all the men were on Israel's ‘wanted' list.

Five men were arrested in Nablus' Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources said one Palestinian was shot in the leg during the raid, adding that four other Palestinian civilians from surrounding villages were also lightly injured when Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire at checkpoints to prevent them from entering Nablus.

Among those detained overnight were an activist from the nearby village of Tubas and two others from Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.

More news on
.

si on commence a reprendre ce que le "président Arafat" dit on est pas sortie de l'auberge
la phrase to "Judaize" Hebron as President Arafat called it"
ça fait trop penser à de la propagande surtout quand on essaye d'y mettre la religion
Ici c'est une religion qui est mis en cause
ça peut s'apparenter à du racisme

En somme il y a la "bonne" parole de sharon et de ses sbires, et la parole "infernale" d'Arafat
Sauf qu'Arafat a raison : ce qui sert de politique à Sharon c'est l'idée du "grand Israël" et les civils qui vont sur place savent à quel point l'épuration ethnique fait rage, à Hébron, d'autant plus qu'hébron abrite une colonie encore plus gascho que les autres
La propagande israélienne passe sont temps à discréditer Arafat ; alors que Barak Sharon est quelques autres ne valent pas la corde pour les pendre, eux qui ne font que préparer le pire
Mais quoi, la grande lamentation juive ne se norurit que de ça, la lamentation.

Que ça soit Arafat ou Sharon peu importe!!!!!
Les deux sont des extrémistes: l'un a été élu et pas l'autre.
R.B. je te pris de ne pas dire ce que je n'ai pas dire!!