BY AHMAD NIMER
RAMALLAH — Despite widespread reports in the mainstream media that Israeli troops have withdrawn from Palestinian cities (excluding the area around Yasser Arafat's compound and Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity), the Israeli military presence continues to be felt in all areas.
The facts on the ground indicate that far from ending its latest war on the Palestinian people, Israel has merely moved to "the second stage of Operation Defensive Shield" as it was put by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a phase which promises to be just as deadly as the preceding one.
In the city of Ramallah, home to 40,000 Palestinians, around one third of the town remains under Israeli curfew. Israeli tanks and military jeeps patrol the streets, and in these areas residents continue to face regular house searches by Israeli troops, cutting of electricity supply and phone lines, and confinement to their homes.
The remaining areas of the city return to a semblance of normality during day light hours, but at night no one dares to leave their houses. Every night since the supposed withdrawal of the Israeli Defence Forces, IDF troops, tanks and soldiers have entered the city destroying cars, ransacking shops and shooting randomly.
Virtually the whole of Bethlehem remains under permanent curfew. Residents continue to be confined to their homes, unable to venture outside to buy food and other supplies. In the area around the Church of the Nativity, shelling and shooting by Israeli soldiers continue into the early hours of the morning.
The northern cities of the West Bank such as Nablus and Jenin remain tightly encircled by the IDF. It is almost impossible to enter or leave these areas without being shot at. Food, medical supplies and other essential items are in extreme shortage. UN and other aid agencies attempting to deliver humanitarian supplies are regularly mobbed by residents who are in desperate need of food.
When Palestinian residents were able to emerge from their houses following the lifting of the three-week curfew they discovered a horrifying scene of widespread destruction throughout their towns. This rampage was clearly aimed at destroying Palestinian institutions at their roots.
School system destroyed
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education's initial assessment of damage to schools, 11 schools were completely destroyed and nine badly vandalised. Fifteen schools were used as military installations and another 15 as detention/holding facilities for Palestinian detainees.
The ministry estimates that 54,730 teaching sessions per day were lost in the last three weeks as a result of the Israeli siege and the ensuing complete cessation of classes in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Salfit and in Qabatia district schools.
Moreover, the widespread destruction or confiscation of vital ministry files, such as the documents necessary for certifying students' transcripts, will make rebuilding the Palestinian school system an extremely difficult task.
According to a report issued by the Palestine Emergency Committee on April 13, around 150 Israeli soldiers destroyed the main gates of the education ministry in Ramallah on April 3. Ministry employees were forced to wait outside in the cold for over six hours while Israeli soldiers wreaked havoc inside — breaking down doors, destroying files, confiscating property and materials and destroying equipment.
An initial assessment made by education ministry employees indicates that the ministry's computers were stolen, files shredded, and records and references destroyed. An estimated loss of some US$1 million resulted from this deliberate destruction of ministry facilities and equipment.
Israeli soldiers confiscated the detailed CVs of all employees including teachers. This means that information regarding the employees' marital status, names of children and educational background are all available to the IDF, placing Palestinian education ministry staff and teachers at risk for further harassment.
At the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Ramallah, all equipment was destroyed by the IDF including computers and servers.
Palestinian human rights organisations and other NGOs were deliberately targeted during the Israeli siege. In Ramallah, most of these organisations had their offices broken into by Israeli soldiers with their computers destroyed or stolen, valuable files and documentation removed and furniture smashed. In some cases, Israeli soldiers sprayed offensive slogans on the walls, defecated in offices and deliberately set fire to premises.
Many residents reported having their houses looted as Israeli soldiers conducted searches. Virtually every apartment building is pockmarked with bullet holes. Roads and other public utilities have been dug up and demolished by bulldozers and tanks.
The human cost of the Israeli siege has been devastating. Although exact figures for those killed are hard to determine at the moment because hundreds of people remain missing or buried under rubble in the Jenin refugee camp and the Old City of Nablus, it is clear that hundreds of civilians were killed during the Israeli offensive.
Many areas face the danger of deadly epidemics, with no running water and the sewage systems destroyed in places such as the Jenin refugee camp. Approximately 500,000 children have been unable to receive vaccinations since March 29 because they have been unable to access hospitals or clinics. In the Jenin area alone, there are 86 Palestinian children who have been diagnosed with thalasemia (a hereditary anaemic disorder), but are unable to receive the necessary treatment. Patients in need of other forms of regular medical treatment, such as kidney dialysis, are also at risk as they are unable to receive treatment.
Mass detentions
About 2000 Palestinians remain detained following a wave of arbitrary mass detentions. These detainees have been rounded up by the IDF, handcuffed, blindfolded and transported to detention facilities where they are exposed to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The detainees are denied access to lawyers and information regarding their whereabouts is often unknown by their families and human rights organisations.
Those who have been released from detention report violent beatings, being handcuffed and blindfolded for days at a time, severe lack of food, no access to medical treatment, forced to sleep outside with shortages of bedding and repeated psychological and physical abuse.
According to a new Israeli military law, detainees can be held for 18 days without charge or trial and no access to a lawyer. After this period, they are brought without legal representation before a military judge who will decide on the basis of secret evidence whether the prisoner will be placed in administrative detention — imprisonment with no charge or right to appeal — for up to six months. Currently, some 400 Palestinians are being held under administrative detention orders.
The reality of the current situation gives the lie to any illusions about an Israeli withdrawal. What has actually happened is that the IDF is returning once more to a fully fledged occupation of the West Bank. Those areas that were called Area A following the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation — supposedly under the full control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) — are in reality now under the control of the IDF.
There are widespread reports that Israel has begun to return staff from the pre-Oslo days to the so-called Civil Administration. The Civil Administration was the administrative arm of the Israeli military occupation until 1993, at which point the PA took over many of its duties. Its offices were located in Israeli colonial settlements, where Palestinian residents applied for permits to travel, do business, and where extensive records on all residents were kept.
The conscious destruction of Palestinian society that is so clearly evident in the rubble of Palestinian cities is an indication of Sharon's aim is to return to the days when the Israeli army patrolled the Palestinian streets of the West Bank. This aim will undoubtedly prove to be a futile attempt to gain control over a population that continues to demand its freedom. It is a population that remains determined to win that freedom and end the Israeli occupation once and for all.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 1, 2002.
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