The Israeli Raid in Jericho: The Background
By Stephen Zunes March 18, 2006, Foreign Policy in Focus http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3159 The origins of the March 14 Israeli raid of a Palestinian prison in Jericho are rooted in another Israeli raid on a Palestinian city in 2001. On August 27 of that year, Israeli occupation forces assaulted the offices of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with a U.S.-supplied helicopter gunship and missiles. Their target was PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa, who was killed instantly. The PFLP vowed to retaliate. The PFLP, a Marxist movement notorious for engineering a spate of airline hijackings in the early 1970s, had in previous years ended its involvement in international terrorism and had returned from exile to emerge as part of the secular leftist opposition to both the Fatah-dominated Palestine Authority and the Islamist Hamas. As a legal political party, the PFLP regularly put forward candidates in Palestinian elections, though their percentage of the popular vote rarely scored better than the low single digits. The PFLP also maintained an armed militia, though--unlike Hamas and Islamic Jihad--it primarily targeted the Israeli military and police in the occupied territories rather than civilians inside Israel. Seven weeks after the Israeli assassination of their leader, a PFLP militant assassinated Rehavam Zeevi, head of the far- right Moledet Party, who had been serving as Israeli Tourism Minister in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition government. The Moledet Party--which subsequently merged with other far right parties to form the National Union--is even more extremist in ideology than the PFLP, calling for the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians from Israel and the occupied territories. In response to Mustafa's murder, the State Department issued only a mild statement reiterating its opposition to Israel's assassination policy. In subsequent months, the Bush administration--with the encouragement of both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders--dropped even this nominal opposition and began to openly defend assassinations by Israeli death squads of suspected Palestinian militants. By contrast, President Bush personally condemned Zeevi's murder, criticized the Palestinian Authority's failure to jail the suspected assassins and PFLP leaders, and demanded that they be punished. When Israel violently re-occupied Ramallah four months later and launched a six-week siege on Palestinian President Yasir Arafat's offices, President Bush expressed his understanding for the Israeli action--otherwise universally condemned in the international community--on the grounds that the suspected PFLP assassin and three alleged accomplices had sought refuge there. Bush noted how "these people are accused of killing a cabinet official of the Israel government. I can understand why the prime minister wants them brought to justice." He added, "They should be brought to justice if they killed this man in cold blood." By contrast, there were no American demands to bring to justice the Israeli helicopter pilots or Israeli political and military leaders who were responsible for Mustafa's assassination. Similarly, there was no U.S. criticism of the 1988 Israeli assassination of a member of Arafat's cabinet, Defense Minister Khalid al-Wazir in Tunisia, much less a demand that those responsible for his murder be brought to justice. (An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed that the leader of the seaborne command center who oversaw al-Wazir's murder was Israel's then-deputy military chief Ehud Barak, who would later become Israeli prime minister, widely praised by President Bill Clinton and others as a great peacemaker.) Arafat finally agreed to have the four PFLP militants implicated in the assassination jailed in return for the Israelis lifting the siege, along with Ahmed Saadat -- Mustafa's successor as PFLP leader -- even though the Palestinian judiciary cleared him of involvement. Arafat was also forced to agree to imprison a sixth man, Palestinian Authority finance chief Fuad Shubaki, for attempting to smuggle arms from Iran. The U.S. position has been that while it is legitimate for the United States to send arms to the Israeli government to facilitate their occupation of Palestinian territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war, it is illegitimate for the Palestinians to import arms to resist the occupation. Though the Bush administration had rejected calls from the Palestinians to dispatch U.S. peacekeeping forces to the West Bank to separate the two sides and protect civilian populations, President Bush--not trusting the Palestinian Authority to keep the six men incarcerated--insisted that American servicemen, later joined by British servicemen, be sent into the West Bank city of Jericho to help guard the prisoners. While U.S. and British officials had complained in recent weeks of a deteriorating security climate, they did not give Palestinian officials any notice of their sudden departure on March 14. They did, however, apparently inform Israeli officials. Though there was no evidence to suggest that the departure of the foreign prison guards would lead to an imminent release of the six men, Israeli forces moved into Jericho and assaulted the prison, killing two guards and wounding two dozen others, kidnapping the six prisoners and bringing them to Israel. The widespread Palestinian anger in response to the Israeli attack and kidnappings went well beyond those who support the PFLP's ideology or its retaliatory assassination of Zeevi. This latest violation of Palestine's limited sovereignty, with the apparent collusion of the United States--the supposed guarantor of the Oslo peace process and the detention agreement--and Great Britain deepens the sense of humiliation from the nearly 29 years of U.S.-backed Israeli occupation of the West Bank. It has weakened moderate Palestinian leaders like President Mahmoud Abbas, who has argued that the U.S.-brokered peace process offers hope for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, while strengthening Hamas and other extremists who reject the peace process and Israel's very right to exist. [Stephen Zunes is the Middle East editor of Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org) where this article first appeared. He is a professor of Politics and is the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003.)] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change settings: http://lists.portside.org/mailman/listinfo/portside *** Press Release Luisa Morgantini, MEP GUE/NGL, President of the European Parliament Development Commission THE ASSAULT ON JERICHO PRISON IS A SCANDAL: ISRAEL MUST IMMEDIATELY HALT THE MAELSTROM OF VIOLENCE. Brussels 14/03/06 "The escalation of violence that we are witnessing today with the Israeli army assault on Jericho prison is scandalous. Israel cynically and brutally continues to use force to enter the Palestinian territories, to kill, to brutalise, and to violate any type of legality. This time the Israeli army does not even have the excuse of responding to an attack. What is emerging from Israel's attitude is solely a pitiless and cruel logic of vendetta and of the most brutal colonial domination." With these words Luisa Morgantini, member of the European Parliament of the Gue-NGL group and President of the Development Committee, spoke of the Israeli army assault on Jericho prison which aims at capturing some Palestinian detainees currently held in the prison in the custody of US and British guards. "The Americans and British must take responsiblity for their actions. The decison to abandon Jericho prison is a serious violation of the undertakings that were made and calls to mind the role of Sharon in the Sabra and Chatila massacre". The 2002 accords assigned the custody of Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other militia members found to be responsible for the killing of the Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi nel 2001 to international guards. "This act demonstrates a serious irresponsibility on the part of the US and Great Britain. An irresponsibility that threatens to make Palestine become like Iraq, that foments and deepens the spiral of violence in the region. The scenes of Palestinians forced to come out half-naked and with their hands raised recalls other terribile scenes. The Israeli government cannot remain unpunished. The breaking-off of diplomatic ties and the suspension of Israel from all International institutions would be deserved. It is intolerable that the Palestinian people is forced to bear this type of arrogance from Israel and to be almost totally forgotten by the International Community. Just as the violent reactions and the abductions of foreign citizens and attacks on istitutions by Palestinians is to be condamned, so too and once and for all, Europe and all the members of the Quartet must require Israel to put an immediate end to aggressive policies, to withdraw from the occupied territories and to abide to international law. Peace is necessary to both palestinians and israelis. The best way is to stop Israeli unilateral action, and restart negotiations. Information: Luisa Morgantini's office tel 0032 2 2845151 or 0039 348 3921465 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** U.S. may veto bid for UN condemnation of jail siege By Haaretz Service and agencies Haaretz Wed., March 15, 2006 The threat of a U.S. veto hovers over planned closed-door deliberations Wednesday over Qatar's bid for a UN Security Council to condemn Israel's Jericho jail siege and its capture of the killers of former cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi. A draft statement by Qatari Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, representing Arab nations, would have condemned "Israel's violent incursion" in besieging the Jericho jail, and would have demanded that Israel return the prisoners it seized "and to return the situation to that which existed prior to the Israeli military attack." Security forces went on high alert Tuesday fearing Palestinian reprisal attacks after Israel Defense Forces troops laid siege to the Jericho prison and arrested six wanted inmates. A tense, gunfire-punctuated nine-hour IDF siege of a Jericho prison complex ended after dark on Tuesday with the abrupt surrender of Ahmed Sa'adat and five other Palestinian militants. Sa'adat, leader of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine, is believed to have ordered the assassination of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001. One of the other militants was Fuad Shobaki, the alleged mastermind of an illegal mass weapons shipment to the Palestinian Authority in 2002. The six arrested wanted militants are to be held in prison in Israel, officials said. The PFLP threatened that "Israel will pay a heavy price for the operation." Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and asked them to keep military forces on high alert. In New York, council diplomats said the 15-nation council would discuss the draft behind closed doors on Wednesday after Al-Nasser revised it overnight in response to council members' initial comments, diplomats said. Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour called on the council to "uphold international law" by supporting the Qatari measure. He said the Israeli raid grew out of "a desire to negate the Palestinian elections" won by Hamas. But the text would almost certainly face a veto from the United States, Israel's closest ally, if brought to a vote in its current form, the diplomats said. The drama began early in the day, when American and British monitors supervising the detention of the six left the prison. The monitors had been stationed there as part of a compromise reached between Israel and the PA, which had guaranteed Israel that it would keep Ze'evi's killers behind bars. The monitors were withdrawn in response to a statement last week by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said that he was prepared to free Sa'adat, drawing an angry response from Israel. Abbas said Tuesday that the British and American monitors bore "full responsibility" for the raid. One of the five PFLP members had vowed earlier on Tuesday that the group would not surrender. "Our prison is surrounded on all sides by Israelis. They are asking us over loudspeaker to come out," Ahed Abu Ghoulmi, one of the targeted prisoners. "We will not come out under any circumstances." "We are not going to surrender. We are going to face our destiny with courage," Sa'adat later told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera. Security Council issues milder statement As a result of the dispute over the wording of the UN resolution, the council issued a milder statement Tuesday afternoon. It expressed concern about an upsurge in violence, urged all sides to exercise restraint, and called for the release of foreigners who were kidnapped in retaliation. Representing Arab nations on the council and backed by the Palestinian government, Qatar distributed a draft presidential statement that would call on Israel to end its "continued onslaught" against the Palestinian-run prison. A second, milder resolution is expected to be introduced on Wednesday. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/694459.html *** --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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