- "On June 10th, 2004, the two clinics in Al-Zawiya
treated 130 patients for gas inhalation. The patients were children, women,
old people and young men. Dr. Abu Madi related that there was a high number
of cases of [tetany], spasm in legs and hands, connected to the nervous
system. Pupils were dilated . . . Other symptoms included shock, semi-consciousness,
hyperventilation, irritation and sweating." [1]
-
- Thus reads a report by medical units serving the West
Bank village of Al-Zawiya, where nonviolent resistance to Israel's impending
wall has been extraordinarily resolute. According to the medical report
(procured by the International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC), "the
gas used against the protestors is not tear gas but possibly a nerve gas."
-
- The following day, Israel's 'Peace Bloc,' Gush Shalom,
began a press release with the following quote from Al-Zawiya: "What
the army used here yesterday was not tear gas. We know what tear gas is,
what it feels like. That was something totally different . . . When we
were still a long way off from where the bulldozers were working, they
started shooting things like this one (holding up a dark green metal tube
with the inscription 'Hand and rifle grenade no.400' in English). Black
smoke came out. Anyone who breathed it lost consciousness immediately,
more than a hundred people. They remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours.
One is still unconscious, at Rapidiya Hospital in Nablus. They had high
fever and their muscles became rigid. Some needed urgent blood transfusion.
Now, is this a way of dispersing a demonstration, or is it chemical warfare?"
[2]
-
- The incident in Al-Zawiya appears to be the tenth attack
by Israeli soldiers using an "unknown gas" against Palestinian
civilians since early 2001. We have photographs of the canisters. We have
film of victims suffering in the hospital. We have interviews with Palestinian
and European doctors who have treated the victims. And we presumably have
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of survivors. But we know nothing of their
fate. Despite the evidence, we have not inquired.
-
- Though it is a state secret, Israel's development of
chemical and biological weapons has been known and analyzed for decades.
From the typhoid poisoning of Palestinian wells and water supplies in 1948
[3,4] to the conversion of F-16s into nerve gas 'crop dusters' in 1998
[5], Israel has always demonstrated a strong interest in developing CBW
agents and methods for their dispersal.
-
- In 1992 an El Al 747 flying nerve gas ingredients from
the US to Israel crashed into an Amsterdam apartment building. [6] According
to Salman Abu-Sitta, president of the Palestine Land Society, the respected
Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad followed up the crash with an in-depth investigation
of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), Israel's CBW complex
in Nes Ziona. The paper reportedly found "strong links" with
several US CBW and medical research centers, "close cooperation between
IIBR and the British-American biological warfare programme," and "extensive
collaboration on BW research with Germany and Holland." [7]
-
- At IIBR, doctors publish world-class research in acetylcholine,
the mother lode of nerve gas design. The Nes Ziona complex is reputed to
have invented an "undetectable" poison-needle gun for "clean"
assassinations. [8] In September 1997, two days after Jordan's King Hussein
told Israeli PM Netanyahu that Hamas was seeking negotiations, Mossad agents
in Jordan attempted to kill Hamas leader Khaled Misha'al with a lethal
dose of fentanyl. [9]
-
- For years, rumors persisted that Israel was using or
testing unknown chemical agents on Palestinian civilians. The rumors began
to reveal their substance February 12, 2001, when Israel began a six-week
campaign of "novel gas" attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
By chance, American filmmaker James Longley arrived in Khan Younis, Gaza
in the middle of the first attack. That afternoon he began filming the
victims. His award-winning film, Gaza Strip, documents the naked reality
of Israel's chemical weaponryóthe canisters, the doctors, the eyewitnesses,
and the hideous suffering of the victims, many of whom remained hospitalized
for days or weeks. [10]
-
- The February 12 gassing of neighborhoods in Khan Younis
presaged the attacks that followed. When the gas canisters landed, they
began to billow clouds of either white or black, sooty smoke. The gas was
non-irritating and initially odorless, changing to a sweet, minty fragrance
after a few minutes. One victim recalled, "The smell was good. You
want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it." The smoke
often shifted to a "rainbow" of changing colors. [11, 12]
-
- >From five to 30 minutes after breathing the gas,
victims began to feel sick and have difficulty breathing. A searing pain
began to wrench their gut, followed by vomiting, sometimes of blood, then
complete hysteria and extremely violent convulsions. Many victims suffered
a relentless syndrome for days or weeks afterward, alternating between
convulsions and periods of consciousness, twitching, vomiting agony. Palestinians
agreed: "This is like nothing we've ever seen before." [13]
-
- Forty people were admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital "in
an odd state of hysteria and nervous breakdown," suffering from "fainting
and spasms." Sixteen gas patients had to be transferred to the intensive
care unit. Doctors "reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared
to cause convulsions." [14]
-
- At the Gharbi refugee camp, 32 people "were treated
for serious injuries" following exposure to the gas. Dr. Salakh Shami
at Al-Amal Hospital reported the hospital receiving "about 130 patients
suffering from gas inhalation from February 12." [15]
-
- Bewildered medical personnel had "never seen anything..like
the gas at Tufa." Victims were "jumping up and down, left and
right, thrashing limbs around," suffering "convulsions . . .
a kind of hysteria. They were all shaking." Others were already unconscious.
An hour or two later, they would come to. And the convulsions and the vomiting
and disorientation and pain would return. [16]
-
- The following day, February 13, Israeli forces again
deployed the strange new gas canisters in Khan Younis. Over 40 new gas
victims, "including a number of children..from 1 to 5 years-old,"
arrived at Al-Nasser Hospital and the hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent
Society. [17]
-
- The news began to trickle out. "Palestinian security
services have accused the Israeli army of using nerve gas during a gun
battle yesterday," reported AFX News Limited, noting, "the army
has strongly denied the charges." [18] The Voice of Palestine reported
that "specialists believe that this is an internationally banned nerve
gas." Those who inhaled the gas "suffered a nervous breakdown
and vomited blood." [19]
-
- The next day, Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted Dr. Yasser
Sheikh Ali from Al-Nasser Hospital: "Israel has been using a powerful
type of tear gas against the Palestinians that causes convulsions and spasms."
According to DPA, more than 80 Palestinians . . . reported that Israeli
soldiers had used the white smoky gas, but Israel denied doing so."
[20]
-
- The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported
that on February 15 three more canisters of the poison gas were fired at
houses in the Khan Younis camp, and "another 11 Palestinian civilians,
mostly children, suffered from suffocation and spasms due to gas inhalation."
[21] British journalist Graham Usher wrote that Khan Younis civilians were
"incapacitated" by "a 'new' form of toxic gas." [22]
-
- PA President Yasser Arafat publicly "accused Israel
of using poison gas." The IDF issued a second denial. Israeli Communications
Minister Ben-Eliezer called reports of gas casualties in Khan Younis "incorrect
and false." Senior PA minister Nabil Shaath said that a sample of
the gas would be sent to "an international center for analysis."
[23] The results, if any, were never divulged.
-
- On February 18, Israeli soldiers near the Neve Dekalim
settlement reportedly fired four poison gas canisters at Palestinian houses
in Khan Younis. Later that afternoon, more canisters were fired, forcing
Palestinians to flee their homes. PCHR reported that "41 Palestinian
civilians, mostly children and women, suffered from suffocation and spasms."
[24] By PCHR's count, 238 Palestinians were affected by poison gas attacks
between February 12 and February 20. Twenty-seven of the victims were still
hospitalized on the 22nd. [25]
-
- On March 2, an unknown gas was used against civilians
in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired "canisters
of a highly effective black gas similar to the one used in Khan Yunis three
weeks ago." [26]
-
- Twenty-four days later, Israeli forces east of Gaza City
used a gas that "left symptoms different from those of the..gas used
first.. in Khan Yunis starting from February 12..," although several
similarities also appeared. In this attack the onset of abdominal pain
seemed to be delayed. [27]
-
- On March 30, medical professionals in Nablus reported
Israeli soldiers using the new poison gas against Palestinian demonstrators.
[28]
-
- British journalist Jonathan Cook reported a March gas
attack on the schoolyard of Al-Khader village, near Bethlehem. Thirteen
year-old Sliman Salah was playing when a gas canister landed next to him,
"enveloping him in a cloud of gas described by witnesses as an unfamiliar,
yellow colour." Large doses of anti-convulsants were required to control
the boy's seizures and maintain consciousness. His symptoms "were
finally brought under control five days after his exposure to the gas.
But Salah's father says the boy is still suffering from stomach pains,
vomiting, dizziness and breathing problems." [29]
-
- In its March, 2003 special report, Israel's Secret Weapon,
BBC Television reviewed this series of gas attacks, noting, "The Israeli
army has used new unidentified weapons. In February 2001 a new gas was
used in Gaza. A hundred and eighty patients were admitted to hospitals
with severe convulsions. . . . Israel is outside chemical and biological
weapons treaties and still refuses to say what the new gas was." [30]
-
- In my amateur analysis of the reported comments of victims,
eyewitnesses and medical professionals regarding this series of attacks,
I identified 33 distinct symptoms attributed to the unidentified gas. All
but three of these symptoms appear to be typical of nerve gas poisoning.
[31] Tareg Bey, a chemical warfare expert at the University of California-Irvine,
told the Chicago Reader that the symptoms described to him "all fit
really well to nerve gas," though he was puzzled by the reported fragrance
and skin rashes. [32]
-
- In an October 9, 2003 article, Jennifer Loewenstein and
Angela Gaff asked, "What gas is Israel using?" They reported
the story of Mukhles Burgal, a Palestinian prisoner caught in a brutal
attack inside Israel's Ashkelon prison. The "guards forced their way
into the crowded cell, spraying two canisters of some type of gas. Some
of the 14 prisoners passed out . . . The effects of the gas were severe
muscle spasms and an overwhelming sensation of not being able to breathe."
[33]
-
- Two days later, Palestine Monitor reported that Israeli
forces in Rafah were allegedly "firing gas grenades containing a black
gas believed to be adamatite [adamsite?]óthe use of which is forbidden
according to international law. Medical authorities urged people to avoid
the gas at all costs, as it not only causes difficulty in breathing but
seriously affects the nervous system." [34] For some reason, PCHR's
press release from the same day, an apparent source of these reports, is
no longer available. [35] On the 14th, eyewitness Laura Gordon wrote, "The
army used some kind of nerve gas for the first time in Rafah, leaving people
in convulsions for days." [36]
-
- Following the recent gas attack in Al-Zawiya, town officials
reportedly told Al Ayyam newspaper, "the Israeli occupation troops
were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several
cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals." [37]
-
- The PA's International Press Center reported that "official
and public sources in Al-Zawya.asserted that those who have inhaled the
tear gas IOF troops fired at them four days ago are still suffering from
the effects of the gas . . . a number of those citizens have already had
amnesias or partial memory loss, in addition to cramps . . . in addition
to strange cramps every three hours . . . those who inhaled the gas are
still suffering severe pains in the joints and nausea for four days now.
Eyewitnesses recalled that the Israeli soldiers were keen on picking the
empty tear gas canisters.." Journalists told IPC "that the gas
was in different colors they have never seen coming out of a tear gas canister
before, and that some gases had an unrecalled smell." [38]
-
- According to IMEMC, .."tens of demonstrators who
inhaled this gas had partial memory loss. Dr. Bassam Abu Madi told IMEMC
that the some of those who inhaled the gas had severe choking and some
contraction in their feet and arm muscles. Eyewitnesses said the gas has
a strange smell and a reddish-brownish color." [corrected copy] In
a follow up story, IMEMC concluded that "protesters were attacked
with gas that is not like the tear gas. Those who inhaled the gas suffered
some memory loss while others had other symptoms of a nerve gas. Yet this
was not medically confirmed for lack of laboratories to inspect the gas
canisters collected from the scene." [39]
-
- Al Jazeera reported the opinion of Awni Khatib, a professor
of chemistry at Hebron University; "the new symptomsñparticularly
the violent convulsions experienced by some Palestinian protesters outside
the village of Sawiya [Zawiya], southwest of Nablusñsuggest..that
the Israeli army may be using a new class of chemicals that lie somewhere
between normal tear gas and chemical weapons." [40]
-
- Israel's repeated use of highly toxic unknown chemicals
against Palestinian civilians is now an open secret. We can expect these
attacks to continue until a concerted effort is made to determine the facts
and hold Israel accountable. So far, the international human rights community
has steadfastly ignored the mounting evidence.
-
- When will professional investigators begin to retrieve
and test the gas canisters? Why has no one but James Longley bothered to
document interviews with victims, doctors, and other eyewitnesses? In a
world in which one country's mere possession of chemical weapons can be
an excuse for international retribution, how another country's use of chemical
weapons against civilians be dismissed as a "regrettably excessive"
tactic of crowd control?
-
- Our silence is poisoning Palestine.
-
- Sources:
-
- 1. One Israeli, one Palestinian arrested and 40 wounded
in anti-wall protest, International Middle East Media Center, 6/14/2004.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/june/week2/061404/al-zawiya-protest.htm
-
- 2. Sharon Praised While Wall Construction Continues,
Gush Shalom, 6/11/2004. http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0406/S00152.htm
-
- 3. The Jews of Iraq, by Naeim Giladi, The Link, April-May,
1998, American Middle East Update. http://www.ameu.org/uploads/vol31_issue2_1998.pdf
-
- 4. Traces of poison, by Salman Abu-Sitta, Al-Ahram Weekly
Online, 27 Feb. - 5 March 2003. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/627/focus.htm
-
- 5. Israeli WMD - Israel's Weapons of Mass Destruction,
by Neil Sammonds, ZNet, 10/11/2002. http://communication.ucsd.edu/911/massdestruction.html
-
- 6. ibid.
-
- 7. Traces of poison by Salman Abu-Sitta, Al-Ahram Weekly
Online, 27 Feb. - 5 March 2003. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/627/focus.htm
-
- 8. Israel's Anti-Civilian Weapons by John F. Mahoney,
January - March 2001. http://www.ameu.org/uploads/vol34_issue1_2001.pdf
-
- 9. Diplomatic Struggle Follows Bungled Assassination
Attempt in Jordan, New York Times, October 15, 1997. http://www.payk.net/mailingLists/iran-news/html/1997/msg01333.html
-
- 10. Gaza Strip, James Longley, producer 2001. http://www.littleredbutton.com/gaza/
-
- 11. The Israeli Poison Gas Attacks: A Preliminary Investigation,
James Brooks, Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel, January
8, 2003. http://www.vtjp.org/report/The_Israeli_Poison_Gas_Attacks_Project.htm
-
- 12. Selected Interviews, Gaza Strip by James Longley.
http://www.littleredbutton.com/gas_interviews/interviews.pdf
-
- 13. ibid.
-
- 14. Israelis Kill 14-year-old, Assassinate Arafat Bodyguard,
IANA Radionet, Islamic Assembly of North America, February 13, 2001. http://www.ianaradionet.com/E_newstext/2001/Feb/2-13ME.htm
-
- 15. Israeli Army Fires Highly Toxic Quantities of Tear
Gas at Civilians in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Palestine Monitor, February 15, 2001.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/eyewitness/Gaza/Israeli_army_fires_tear.htm
-
- 16. Selected Interviews, Gaza Strip by James Longley.
http://www.littleredbutton.com/gas_interviews/interviews.pdf
-
- 17. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly
Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
Feb. 8 - 14, 2001. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/15-02-2001.htm
-
- 18. AFX News Limited, AFX European Focus, February 13,
2001.
-
- 19. Selected Interviews, Gaza Strip by James Longley.
http://www.littleredbutton.com/gas_interviews/interviews.pdf
-
- 20. ibid.
-
- 21. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly
Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
February 15 - 21, 2001, http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/22-02-2001.htm
-
- 22. Unprepared for the worst, by Graham Usher, Al-Ahram
Weekly Online, Feb. 15 - 21, 2001. http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/521/re1.htm
-
- 23. Arafat accuses Israel of using poison gas, CNN Asia,
February 16, 2001. http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/02/15/arafat.gas/
-
- 24. PCHR Weekly Report, Feb. 15 - 21, 2001. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/22-02-2001.htm
-
- 25. ibid.
-
- 26. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly
Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
March 1 - 7, 2001 (contains typographical error incorrectly listing incident
as occurring "Friday, February 22"). http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/07-03-2001.htm
-
- 27. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly
Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
March 22 - 29, 2001. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/29-03-2001.htm
-
- 28. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) Weekly
Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
March 29 - April 4, 2001. http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/05-04-2001.htm
-
- 29. Vale of tears: Tear or poison gas? by Jonathan Cook,
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line, 5 - 11 April 2001. http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/528/re3.htm
-
- 30. Israel's Secret Weapon, transcript, BBC, March 17,
2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/
correspondent/transcripts/17_03_2003.txt
-
- 31. Symptoms - The Israeli Poison Gas Attacks: A Preliminary
Investigation by James Brooks, VTJP. http://www.vtjp.org/report/Symptoms.htm
-
- 32. Gas Attack/What Was It?/News Bites, by Michael Miner,
Chicago Reader, August 23, 2002 Reader ArchiveóArticle: 2002/020823/HOTTYPE
-
- 33. What gas is Israel using? by Jennifer Loewenstein
and Angela Gaff, Electronic Intifada, 10/9/2003. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1796.shtml
-
- 34. UPDATE: Israeli invasion of Gaza refugee camps leave
7 dead and 65 injured meanwhile strict lock down of Palestinian territories
continues, Palestine Monitor, 10/11/2003. http://www.palestinemonitor.org/updates/invasion_of_rafah.htm
-
- 35. PCHR press release index 2003. http://www.imemc.org/opinion/october/laura-gordon.htm
-
- 36. Eyewitness account of the invasion of Rafah by Laura
Gordon, International Middle East Media Center, 10/14/2003.
- http://www.imemc.org/opinion/october/laura-gordon.htm
-
- 37. "This damned, racist wall" by Omar Karmi,
Palestine Report, 6/16/2004. http://www.palestinereport.org/article.php?article=398
-
- 38. Israeli Sources: IOF Uses Chemical Weapons Against
Palestinian Demonstrators, International Press Center, 6/13/2004 [erroneously
refers to Gush Shalom as "Peace Now"]. http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_06/077.html
-
- 39. Nonviolence Protestors managed to halt the construction,
International Middle East Media Center, 6/16/2004. http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/June/week3/061604/iskaka-wall.htm
-
- 40. Palestinian resistance leaders killed, Al Jazeera,
June 26, 2004. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D85E4012-
B7B8-4365-8123-8B4341C38A9E.htm
-
- - James Brooks is a writer, activist, and volunteer webmaster
for Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel.
-
- Copyright © 1998-2004 Online Journalô. All
rights reserved. http://onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/070904Brooks/070904brooks.html
-
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