- The following article comes from Arafat's compound and
was written by Israeli human shield activist Neta Golan, together with
the journalist Ian Urbina. It is a most powerfull appeal for international
intervention. We found it on www.palestinechronicle.com it was published
yesterday by Merip (Middle East Research and Information Project).
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- By Neta Gola
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- The lives of 120,000 people. The shelling of innocuous
Palestinian civilian structures such as power plants, schools, and sewage
facilities, is occuring at an alarming rate. Unarmed civilians are being
killed practically on a daily basis.
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- There are also growing reports of Israeli troops raiding
hospitals and firing on ambulances and journalists. These are grave breaches
of international convention. The recent experience of American newspaper
correspondent, Anthony Shadid, is hardly uncommon. First, he was shot while
in a zone under full Israeli control. The area was quiet and there was
no crossfire in which to be caught. Shadid was wearing the required signs
on his back and front indicating that he was with the official press as
he walked away from an interview in our building. Soon after Shadid arrived
to the hospital, Israeli troops raided it with machine guns drawn. He was
subsequently transferred for further medical treatment, and his ambulance
came under fing calm and opening the way for peace negotiations. Only then
can there be discussion of the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian
refugees. Simply pulling the troops out of the recently invaded regions
will not suffice.
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- It is not just the Palestinians and foreigners within
the compound who have been calling for a full withdrawal. Even sectors
within the Israeli military have put forward this option as the only chance
for peace and security for the Israeli people. In a formal "Letter
of Refusal" to Sharon, several hundred Israeli soldiers, most with
combat experience, advocated a full withdrawal and have stated their unwillingness
to serve in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
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- But Sharon does not want to listen. And in the meantime
we in the compound are left, not without fear, wondering whether the international
community will allow the permanent expansion of the already illegal occupation
and the exile if not assasination of the Palestinian leader.
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