From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: WW: Red Cross: Israeli Settlements a War Crime > RED CROSS CALL SETTLEMENTS WAR CRIME: U.S.-ISRAELI WAR AGAINST > PALESTINIANS ESCALTES > > By Richard Becker > > Advanced U.S. F-16 fighter-bombers flown by Israeli pilots bombed five > Palestinian cities on May 18. At least 16 Palestinians were killed and > more than 140 wounded in the air raids on Nablus, Ramallah, Gaza, > Jenin and Tulkarem. > > The attacks were the first by fixed-wing warplanes since Israel > occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the June 1967 war. > > "This is war, my friends, this is war," the Israeli minister of > communications told the media following the bombings. > > The May 18 raids marked the most dramatic escalation of the U.S.- > Israeli war against the Palestinians in a week of very dramatic > escalations. Aside from its nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal, > Israel is now employing much of its heaviest and most advanced > weaponry--almost all of which is supplied by its Godfather, the > Pentagon--against the Palestinians. > > The Palestinians, on the other hand, have no tanks, planes, warships, > anti-aircraft systems or even a regular army. In the eight-month-long > Intifada, or Uprising, more than 450 Palestinians have been killed and > over 14,000 seriously injured. In the same period, 87 Israelis have > been killed and several hundred wounded. > > Nearly all the death and destruction has taken place inside the 22 > percent of historic Palestine that comprises the West Bank and Gaza, > conquered by Israel 34 years ago. Yet the corporate media here > constantly projects an image that is the polar opposite of reality, > depicting the Palestinians as the aggressors and the Israelis as the > victims. > > Why? Because the glorious "free press" of the United States is the > propaganda mouthpiece of Corporate America, especially when it's > wartime. And the latest incidents prove that it is a U.S.-Israeli war. > > The terms of the U.S. supplying F-16s, among the most advanced > fighting aircraft in existence, include the provision that Israel can > use them only for "defensive" purposes. This has always been a > fiction, of course, but it is one that is all-too-clearly exposed by > the use of weapons of mass destruction on defenseless civilian cities. > > Therefore, even from the very narrow viewpoint of bourgeois legality, > the U.S. should now withdraw all the advanced aircraft it has supplied > to Israel. Instead, Vice President Richard Cheney has only called for > Israel not to do it again. > > Although the U.S. mass media has largely hidden it from the population > here, the world is outraged by the heavy bombing. A comparable > situation would be if the Pentagon used F-16s against urban rebellions > in Los Angeles or Cincinnati. > > Even much of the Israeli press has condemned the bombings, but on the > basis that it is damaging Israel's "democratic image"--an image > nourished by the vast U.S. propaganda machine but repudiated by most > of the world. > > That "democratic image" took another stunning blow when on May 17, > Rene Kosirnik, head of the International Red Cross in Israel and > Palestine, called Israeli settlements "a war crime." > > "The installation of a population of the occupying power in occupied > territory is considered an illegal move," said Kosirnik. "It is a > grave breach of law. In principle it is a war crime." > > This startling development went virtually unreported in the U.S. > > WEEK OF SHARP ESCALATION > > On May 14, the Israeli army assassinated five members of the Palestine > Authority's National Security Force at a small checkpoint in the town > of Beitunia, in a 2 a.m. surprise attack on the post. The NSF, all > sides agree, has not been involved in any combat operations. The > officers were methodically executed one-by-one by Israeli snipers as > they were preparing a late-night meal. > > On the same day, the Israeli Navy and Air Force launched assaults for > the first time since the eight-month-old Intifada began. > > Then on May 15, the 53rd anniversary of the formation of the Israeli > state, huge demonstrations swept the West Bank, Gaza, the Palestinian > areas inside the 1948 borders of Israel, and Palestinian refugee camps > in Lebanon and Syria. > > At least five Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in > clashes with Israeli forces on this day known to Palestinians and all > Arab people as al-Nakba--catastrophe day. Three-quarters of the > Palestinian population, which then stood at about 1.1 million people, > were forcibly driven from their homeland in 1948 to make way for the > Israeli state. > > On May 16, Israeli officials admitted that the killing of the five NSF > officers was "a mistake," but issued no apology nor indicated that any > action would be taken against those responsible. > > On the contrary, Yarden Vatikay, a spokesperson for the Israeli > "Defense" Ministry, justified the assassinations, stating: "There are > no bad guys or good guys among the Palestinian organizations. All are > fighting us now and no one is clean." > > Zeev Schiff, military affairs writer for the Israeli Ha'aretz > newspaper, wrote: "This Beitunia mistake will not hold back the army > as it conducts its new offensive . . . To the army, the Beitunia > mistake is merely the type of mistake that happens during a war." > > On May 18, Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash, a 21-year-old member of the Izz el- > Din Al-Qassam Brigades--the military wing of the Hamas organization-- > walked into a shopping mall in Netanya, Israel, and exploded a bomb > strapped to his body, killing himself and five Israelis and wounding > more than 100 people. > > A statement by Hamas said that Marmash carried out the attack to > avenge the deaths of the five NSF officers and a four-month-old baby, > Iman Hijjo, killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza earlier this month. > > A few hours later, the F-16s carried out their deadly and destructive > raids across the West Bank, reducing several large buildings to > rubble. > > 'RETALIATION'--WHAT'S IN A WORD? > > Virtually the entire U.S. capitalist media--including CNN, New York > Times, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, etc.-- labeled the F-16 > attacks as "retaliation," as usual. > > The intent is to perpetuate the image of Israel as the victim, acting > in "self-defense" as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon claimed. The > idea that the Israelis were "retaliating" also implies that their > actions were justified. > > The same media has conveniently developed collective amnesia regarding > Sharon's war crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian people. But > those who were the targets have not. > > Sgt. Major Castro Salameh, a top Palestinian security commander, was > wounded in the May 18 air raid on Nablus. Of the 70 people under his > command, 10 were killed, including a cook and a computer specialist. > > "I remember these kinds of big rockets in Lebanon," Salameh told the > Associated Press. In 1982, Sharon directed three months of intensive > bombing against Beirut which killed 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinian > civilians. The object was to drive the Palestine Liberation > Organization (PLO) out of Lebanon. > > After the PLO, including Salameh, was driven out, Sharon presided over > the massacre of more than 2,000 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and > Shatila refugee camps. > > 'DIPLOMACY IS PERJURY' > > While the U.S ruling class and its political agents support Israel as > an irreplaceable instrument in the U.S. quest to dominate the oil-rich > Middle East, they are also worried by the current developments. > > Bush, Cheney, Powell and the rest are concerned that the region could > be "destabilized" by the escalating conflict-- meaning there could be > mass social explosions against U.S. client regimes in the region like > Jordan and Egypt. > > So, on May 21, the administration launched a new diplomatic offensive. > > Within an hour-and-a-half of each other, the long-awaited Mitchell > Commission report and a new proposal by Secretary of State Powell were > announced at media conferences in Washington. > > An initial reading of summaries of the two proposals, which not > surprisingly share many of the same elements, brings to mind the old > saying that "diplomacy is perjury." > > The Mitchell Commission, headed by former U.S. Senator George > Mitchell, calls for the Palestinian Authority to make "a 100 percent > effort to prevent terrorism" and to arrest all "terrrorists" in its > territory. The Israeli "Defense" Forces should develop "non-lethal" > responses to unarmed demonstrators--no "100 percent" provision on the > latter. > > Israel should also freeze all settlement building, says the Mitchell > Commission. After a "cooling-off period," negotiations could start > again. > > Powell picked up on the Mitchell Commission's findings to announce > that he was sending three U.S. diplomats to the Middle East to > "facilitate implementation of the report's recommendations." > > But the Sharon regime has announced that it has no intention of > stopping settlement building--the on-going seizure of more and more > Palestinian lands with the objective of preventing the emergence of a > real Palestinian state. > > Yet at his May 21 press conference, Powell flat-out lied when > addressing a question on the issue. He declared, "New settlements, we > have clearly said, and the Israelis have said, they are not creating > any new settlements." > > Two days earlier, however, the liberal Israeli group Peace Now had > issued a report saying that since Sharon took office in March, 15 new > settlements have been initiated in the West Bank and Gaza. > > - END - > > (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and > distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not > allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, > NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send > message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) " JC > > _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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