Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 18)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 32 (ص 18)
- المحتوى
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While the Palestinian uprising continues to move forward, building
the base for the Palestinian state, the Israeli government remains
committed to its age-old formula for dealing with the Palestinian
question, a policy which is tantamount to mass killing.
i
Lea
The Zionist occupation authorities
began 1989 by imposing a two-day
curfew in the occupied Gaza Strip, and
by expelling 13 more Palestinians on
charges of participating in leading the
intifada. The 13 where among the 27
arrested in August, and served with
deportation orders. Coming after the
expulsion of three on December 14th,
this brought to 49 the number of
Palestinians expelled from _ their
homeland in the first year of the upris-
ing. A further two Palestinians were
administratively expelled on February
13th, because they were found to lack
Israeli-issued ID cards, despite having
lived in the West Bank for 22 years.
On January 17th, Defense Minister :
Rabin announced that he had
authorized broader use of plastic
bullets which were introduced in
August, and are acknowledged to be
lethal even by Israeli sources that count
47 killed by such bullets as of January.
Previously, plastic bullets were to be
issued only to specially trained troops;
16
ie al
.
now any soldier can fire them at
«violent demonstrations» - defined as
three or more Palestinians - even if his
life is not endangered. This means
shooting at stonethrowers even as they
are running away or otherwise after the
act, and shooting at those erecting bar-
ricades and burning tires.
In the «war against stones» declared
by Brigadier General Ramot, head of
the Israeli civil administration in the
Gaza Strip, the army is authorized to
arrest and punish anyone over 12 years
old for throwing stones; they will get
prison terms of two-three years; their
families’ homes will be demolished or
sealed; and their parents fined or
threatened with closure of their shop or
property confiscation.
LEGALIZING THE DEATH
SQUADS
While this appears as a substantial
tightening of Zionist repression, most
of these measures have been in practice,
to varying degrees, since the outbreak
Hl
The Uprising Enters its Second Year
of the intifada. Rabin simply legalized
them. It is difficult to ascertain whether
the occupation authorities really envi-
sion that this old-new policy can stop
the uprising, or whether it is more
designed to boost morale in the military
establishment.
The Database Project on Palestinian
Human Rights listed 43 Palestinian
deaths as «under investigation or
possible official responsibility,» in ad-
dition to the 432 known to have been
shot, beaten, burned, stoned or
teargassed to death by the occupation
forces and their agents from December
9, 1987 to December 8, 1988. These
undetermined cases, added to
documented assassinations, point not
only to the regular troops, but to
special army and Shin Beit units, as well
as settlers.
Curfews and massive raids on
villages, towns and camps, especially
on strike days, provide a cover for a
range of brutal tactics, including the
summary execution of Palestinian ac-
tivists, rather than arresting them.
From June, there were reports of van-
dalism, beatings and other terror acts
by a unit calling itself the Black Scor-
pions, thought to be part of the elite
paratrooper unit, the Golani Brigade.
Soldiers of this unit, aside from impos-
ing collective punishment on. whole
villages and camps, are known to have
injected Palestinians with that they
called a «truth serum» - inducing
chemical poisoning in a number of the
victims. The Black Scorpions target
those who have spoken out against
Israeli abuses, attempting to terrorize
others into silence. For example, in
Arura village where four Palestinians
were buried to above their waists with
stones on May 18th, the Black Scor-
pions later raided the home of one of
them and beat him unconscious.
In October, Andrew Whitley of
Financial Times, and Paul Taylor and
Steve Weizman of Reuters were
deprived of their press credentials by
the Israeli government after writing
that Israel was sending hit squads to the
West Bank to assassinate Palestinian
activists. Named was the Cherry Patrol
which may be the new intelligence and
Democratic Palestine, March 1989 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 32
- تاريخ
- مارس ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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