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THE
PEACE PROCESS
Some people
hoped that the Oslo Peace Accords, negotiated in September 1993, would
bring justice to Palestine and Israel. Unfortunately, the interim peace
plan only created "autonomous zones" which are almost identical
to Native American reservations or to the bantustans created to divide
and disrupt the Black majority in old South Africa. These scattered areas
of Palestinian authority are isolated from each other, and have limited
authority over things like sewage and traffic tickets. Real authority
remains with the state of Israel.
-Israel
retains the right to veto any laws passed by the Palestinian National
Authority
-Israeli
police are still allowed to search, arrest, and deport Palestinians
at any time.
-Palestinians,
though still subject to Israeli authority, are still not able to vote
in Israeli national elections.
-Land
confiscation and settlement building have accelerated since the Oslo
plan was signed. Since September 1993, over tens of thousands of acres
of Palestinian land have been confiscated, hundreds of miles of settlement
highway have been built, and over tens of thousands of Israeli citizens
have moved into settlements.
The interim
Oslo Accords called for a "final settlement" within five years.
However, no such agreement has been reached. Checkpoints and roadblocks
continue to prevent travel towns and villages. Palestinians cannot reach
jobs, hospitals, schools or family.
The Israeli
occupation army continues to enter Palestinian towns, and continues to
engage in undercover assasinations, torture, and imprisonment without
charge or trial. The Israeli government continues to veto Palestinians
laws at will and to dictate terms to the Palestine National Authority.
Although
Palestinians are only asking for 22% of historic Palestine back, Israel
continues to offer them less than that. The Camp David talks of summer
2000 were represented as containing generous new offers by Ehud Barak,
then Prime Minister of Israel. In fact Barak's offers were not only vague
and inexact, but minimal. Barak still offered non-contiguous islands of
land as semi-autonomous Palestinian reservations, still surrounded and
divided by Israeli settlements and settler highways. No part of East Jerusalem
was offered for Palestinian control. A token offer of return was made
for a few thousand of the millions of Palestinian refugees. The issue
of precious water resources was not addressed.
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THE
SECOND INTIFADA
By September
2000, frustration at the lack of Israeli good-faith negotiations towards
a just peace led Palestinians to protest in the street.
On September
28, Ariel Sharon made a deliberately inflammatory visit to the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem, taking with him more than a thousand Israeli soldiers.
There were protests, but no violence. Sharon left, but the thousand soldiers
stayed behind.
The next
day, September 29, was a Friday, the Muslim holy day, and the Israeli
soldiers were still occupying the courtyard in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinians protested and threw rocks at the soldiers; the soldiers responded
by firing live ammunition into the unarmed crowd, killing 7 Palestinians
and wounding others.
The protest
and rage at this act began what has become known as the Second Intifada,
which has continued over a year, and has resulted in over 800 deaths at
this writing (10/01), plus tens of thousands wounded. The great majority
of casualties and fatalities have been Palestinians, who have been killed
at the average rate of two per day for over a year now.
Since the
disasters of September 11 2001, Israeli violence against Palestinians
has escalated.
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NON-VIOLENT
RESISTANCE
Palestinians
have used many nonviolent tactics to try to end the Occupation. During
the first Intifada, beginning in 1987, Palestinians employed tax restistance,
victory gardens, and economic boycotts of Israeli goods.
During the
second Intifada, the level of violence against Palestinians has increased,
and the level of violent Palestinian resistance has also increased. However,
the violent resistance is primarily from tiny armed groups, such as the
Tanzim, as some Islamic militant groups. The great majority of Palestinians
in the Occupied Territories do not participate in armed struggle.
The International
Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation is a Palestinian campaign to
gather international support for nonviolent resistance. Individuals from
Great Britain, Italy, France, Colombia, Denmark, the United States and
other countries have responded to the call, travelling the the West Bank
and Gaza to stand beside Palestinians doing civil disobedience. The presence
of internationals has been shown to reduce the level of violence against
Palestinians, and enables direct actions of nonviolent resistance such
as marching through checkpoints and removing roadblocks.
(The International
Solidarity Movement puts out calls for internationals to come for specific
timed campaigns - see ISM page. For more information,
contact the Center for Rapprochement in Bethlehem -- pcr
@p-ol.com or visit their webiste at www.rapprochement.org).
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U.S.
INVOLVEMENT
The United
States has consistently supported Israel and Israeli policy. The U.S.
gives several billion dollars of aid to Israel each year, plus loan guarantees,
military subsidies, and weapons contracts. The U.S. has also repeatedly
vetoed UN resolutions critical of Israel, as well as putting heavy pressure
on other countries to refrain from reprimanding Israel for its policies
or actions.
The U.S.
has tried to play "honest broker" in peace talks between Palestinians
and Israel, but the unequal and unfair handling by American facilitators
has come under heavy criticism.
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