SENZA CENSURA n.15
Italy, november 2004
PALESTINIAN INTIFADA: 4th ANNIVERSARY
Summary of press conference
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi Director HDIP
Monday, September 27, 2004
Dr Mustafa Barghouthi began today's press conference with a summary of recent
trends and statistics. The second Intifada, now entering its 5th year, has seen
the World distracted by events in Iraq enabling Israel to continue violating
Palestinians' Human Rights with complete immunity. The International media
remains more accessible to the Israeli side and thus allows Israel to push
forward their preferred narrative. Furthermore, these past years have witnessed
a significant deterioration in international support and involvement with the
peace process, many becoming disheartened and reluctant having supported the now
dead Oslo Peace Process. However, the Intifada has also witnessed the emergence
of a new democratic opposition movement, born within the Palestinian Territories,
together with a consolidation in support for pioneering, modern Palestinian
leaders.
In the years since 1948, the Palestinians have witnessed a consistent decrease
in their promised State - now just 11% of historic Palestine (as according to
Sharon's plan). What we are looking at now is not a future Palestinian State,
but a series of Bantustans.
DEATH AND INJURY
In the four years since Sharon's famous visit to the Haram Al Sharif we have
seen 4,342 Palestinians and Israelis killed. Of those 1,008 were Israeli and
3,334 Palestinian. 82% of Palestinians killed were civilians.
Two to three Palestinians are killed by Israeli soldiers, police or settlers per
day. Whilst this number may appear to be low, if this death rate were to be
applied to the UK it would be equivalent to 35 being killed per day, and in the
US this would be 157 per day.
Since the start of the Intifada on the 28th of September 2000, 621 Palestinian
children below the age of 17 have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces.
Of this figure 411 were shot with live ammunition and 200 were shot in the head,
face or neck. 331 were from the Gaza Strip. 10,000 Palestinian children have
been injured. Dr Barghouthi insisted that there is absolutely no excuse to
justify the killing of such a huge number of children. What is equally
disturbing is the telling figures of injuries received to the head - Israeli
forces were obviously shooting to kill. In fact the majority of Palestinians
killed have suffered injuries to the head and upper body.
424 Palestinians have died in extra judicial executions (assassinations). 186 of
those were bystanders or "unintended" victims, killed as they were near the
victim. 39 bystanders were children 26 were women. With regards to extra
judicial assassinations, in Gaza whilst 72 Palestinians died in targeted
killings, a shocking 118 bystanders were additionally killed in these attacks.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
Israel continues to make use of an old emergency law that dates back to the
British Mandate. This Law allows Israel to arrest and detain anyone for an
unlimited time without charging them. There are currently 78 Palestinian
children in administrative detention.
There are also currently 100 Palestinian women and 377 children in Israeli
prisons. 80% of the children are routinely tortured or harassed and 31% suffer
from disease.
HEALTH
30% of Palestinian children suffer from chronic malnutrition. The number of
pregnant women unable to receive any medical attention during their pregnancy is
now five times higher than figures before September 2000.
ECONOMY
More than one billion dollars worth of Palestinian infrastructure has been
destroyed by Israeli forces and more than 200 million dollars of this has been
donor financed. Since the start of the Intifada the Palestinian GDP has
decreased by 50% and agricultural losses have amounted to more than one million
dollars.
EDUCATION
Israeli forces have shelled or broken into 298 Palestinian schools. 4 young
children were shot in the head in UNRWA run schools in Gaza, in 2004 alone.
WATER & THE EVOLUTION OF APARTHEID
Since September 2000, the price of water in the Palestinian Territories has
increased from $2.5 per cubic meter to $7.5 per cubic meter. And only a shocking
70 litres per person per day is consumed in the West Bank for domestic, urban
AND industrial use. 200 Palestinian communities have no access to a clean water
supply.
In the Gaza Strip we can no longer forecast a disaster because it has already
begun. There is no water supply in Gaza that is fit for drinking.
Every Israeli citizen consumes five times more water than the Palestinians.
Illegal settlers living in the West Bank consume twenty times more water than
the Palestinians living there.
MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS
There are currently 703 movement restrictions in the West Bank alone. As an
example of the effects on Palestinian everyday life that this has caused, whilst
a journey from Ramallah to Hebron should take around one hour, it has taken up
to twelve hours for many Palestinians.
86 Palestinians have already died because of movement restrictions, and this
figure includes 30 children. Had these people been allowed to travel, they would
have probably survived. In addition at least 55 women have been forced to give
birth at checkpoints with 20 losing their children.
THE WALL
The Wall is three times as long and twice as high as the Berlin Wall. In
Qalqilia 40,000 residents are imprisoned within the Wall in what can only be
described as a ghetto. As well as those imprisoned inside the wall the residents
of surrounding villages now placed on the western (Israeli) side of the wall
have been cut of entirely from schools, jobs, healthcare and family. Many in
fact have lost all access to the outside world is controlled by 11 Israeli
manned gates which are collectively only opened for a total of 55 minutes per
day. Anyone who wishes to enter or leave Qalqilia must have special permission -
even patients and medical services. Qalqilia residents claim that they can no
longer see the sunset.
Whilst there is talk about adjustments to the Wall's route, there are in fact no
changes other than mere cosmetic alterations. What we are witnessing is not just
the building of the Wall it is the destruction of a two state solution.
Disengagement in Gaza and the Road Map to Peace Sharon only accepted the Road
Map as it was approved by the Israeli Cabinet and this was with 15 reservations,
the first being a refusal to freeze any settlement building. At the same time
whilst Sharon talks about removing settlements in the West Bank, he is referring
to 4 that exist in the north of the West Bank, that exist on land that can not
be enclaved by the Wall. The other existing settlements will of course remain
because they exist on land that Israel plans to appropriate through the Wall and
enclaves.
Unfortunately, with regards to Sharon's Gaza Plan most of the World's media
mistakenly continues to refer to it as a "withdrawal". In fact Sharon never
referred to a "withdrawal", what he actually said was that they would redeploy
from Gaza but the military would still enter at any time they deemed
appropriate. In Rafah the Israeli forces are destroying on average 6 houses per
day in order to clear a passage separating Gaza from Egypt, which will grant
them full border control. So far 2200 homes have been demolished in this area
alone.
PERIODS OF "RELATIVE CALM?
During this last year of the Intifada, there has been a serious rise in mass
popular support for non-violent resistance. This is why suicide attacks against
Israel have significantly depleted, not because of the Wall. However, this has
certainly not encouraged Israeli forces to stop attacking Palestinians.
Between March 15 and August 31, 2004, the International media talked of a period
of "relative calm" purely because there were no suicide attacks against Israel.
However, the following days of March saw 45 Palestinians dead with no Israeli
casualties; April saw 56 Palestinians dead compared to 3 Israelis; and May saw
116 Palestinians dead (the majority during Israel's "Operation Rainbow" in Rafah)
compared to 19 Israelis. It must be noted that of the total Israelis killed, 18
were Soldiers, 10 were illegal settlers and only 3 were civilians. This means
that during a period of practical cease fire on the part of the Palestinians
Israel continued to kill civilians at a rate of 12:1. If Sharon was at all
serious about wanting a peaceful solution, genuine advantage could have been
taken during this period of quiet, instead he proceeded to kill more
Palestinians than at any other time since the beginning of the Intifada other
than the 2002 invasions.
PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS AND FUTURE DEMOCRACY?
Israeli forces have closed six election registration offices in Jerusalem as
well as others across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dr Barghouthi stressed that
this is totally unacceptable and if the Palestinians are to achieve reform
through democratic process, then the International community must do more than
condemn these recent actions, they must demand that Israel reopens the offices.
Democracy he insisted is a precondition not only for reform but also for lasting
peace, a peace based on justice.
Dr Barghouthi concluded the press conference by declaring that unfortunately, he
was almost 100% sure he would be greeting the same audience at a press
conference to mark the fifth anniversary of the Intifada. As of yet, there has
been no reason for the Palestinians to stop resisting - "either we live as
slaves under an occupation or we continue to struggle for freedom", and the
latter he insisted is the path that will be taken.
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A breakdown of the statistics for the four years of Intifada quoted in Dr
Barghouthi's presentation is available on the Palestine Monitor website.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/4_years_intifada_anniversary.htm
NOTE: all statistics are based on information available at the time of
calculation.
For updates, check www.palestinemonitor.org
Should you require further detailed breakdown please contact
charlie@hdip.org
The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0) 59254218