From the Christian Peacemaker Teams:

A late-night call from a Palestinian on Thursday 6 April alerted the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron to the latest seizure by Israeli settlers of an empty Palestinian apartment building just outside the old market area. A crowd of settlers between Shuhada Street and the Avraham Avinu settlement was preventing him from reaching his home nearby. CPTers Art Arbour and David Janzen responded to his appeal and tried to join him, but the Israeli military had closed the gates from the market. They returned to the CPT apartment and telephoned him. He eventually managed to reach home without assistance.

Next morning Janzen, accompanied by David Corcoran, John Lynes and Paul Rehm, visited his family to discover their situation. Settlers had occupied an apartment building facing their home. The apartment building is owned by a Palestinian who now lives in the Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron. It has been empty for over three years. Israeli settlers claim to have purchased the building, but they had to use a sledgehammer and crowbar to get in. The army's Civil Administration is checking their claim. In the past such claims have sometimes been fraudulent, but this can be hard to prove straightaway.

The Palestinian family, living in a small apartment rented from the Waqf (an Islamic foundation), now finds itself sandwiched between the new Israeli occupiers and the existing Avraham Avinu settlement. To enter or leave their home they must run a gauntlet between soldiers and hostile settlers. They are particularly anxious about sending their youngest son out to school. The Christian Peacemakers promised to look out for him at 7:15 each morning on "school patrol".

Israeli soldiers are now stationed on the roof of the family's home. They watch as the settlers bring furniture and rig electric cables from Avraham Avinu. Will this incursion be one more link joining the settlements in the Old City of Hebron to the much larger settlement of Kiryat Arba? Or could it be a desperate move by Israeli settlers who fear that their days in Hebron are already numbered?

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This came from New Profile

Dear friends,
I have no words to explain the situation we are facing starting last night. AlRam, Bir Nabala, Aldahiya and other neighborhoods (where I live) are totally blocked. They actually closed the gates in the Wall. Although we knew it was coming. Still, the scenary is overwhelming, and the idea that they actually done so in the midst of scholastic year is beyond comprehension. There is no exit for us now axcept to go all the way to Ramallah through driving of about 30Km in the mountains, and stand at a cue for long time at Qalandya Terminal (new fancy name for Qalandya checkpoint). This morning, I had to send Rani (my 6 years old son) to school by taxi that waited for him on the other side of the checkpoint. He had to actually cross the checkpoint walking, in the rain by himself. It was a devastating experience for a child waiving good bye to me and feeling so insecured surrounded by soldiers. I watched with tears on my face. The soldiers were looking at him, and I could tell they were embarrased.

This morning, feeling so frustrated being imprisoned for no reason, the sense of humiliation of a collective punishment, the feelign of helplessness, I walked to the checkpoint to just speak to the soldiers. Just to have some dialogue with them. I did not intend to exit, thus I did not try to 'gain' their mercy to let me out. I just needed to talk. Just wanted to understand how they implement a strategy that does not make sense even to them. There are hundereds of children who must go to schools on the other side every single morning. There are workers, families, hospitals etc... communities were more than 80 thousand people live are totally blocked. They all woke up one morning to be told: "I am sorry you can not exit."

While my heart was crying over the situation of Palestinians, I felt so devestated listening to the frustration of the soldiers. They were so glad someone is there to listen to them in their own language. Not having to find broken words of English and Arabic, and some vocabulary to just explain to people what is going on... Hundreds of people were gathering there to negotiate with them to let them out. Listening to one story after another, for a whole day, must be difficult. Having to actually execute orders which they have received from 'above', (as they told me) from someone who has probably never been here, must be frustrating. The orders of course did not take in consideration that it is not only about punishing the Palestinians for no reason, but it is also about young soldiers who will have to cope with actual human suffering, dilemmas, moral conflicts, when facing children and the workers every moment. It is such an absurd situation, the suffering on both sides, for simply POLITICAL power struggles.

One soldier informed me that the whole area will be closed within days. He said, "Do you think I enjoy what I am doing? Do you think I do not have better things to do in life other than excuting the orders of Olmert???" He added, "You don't get it!!! It is Olmert's policy: from now on, the Palestinians will have to speak to the Wall," and he continues, "What are you doing here anyway??? Why don't you move to the right side of the Wall!" The tiny tiny consolation is probably that the soldiers are embarassed at what they are being made to do; but still that is nothing compared to the humiliation and repression of basic human rights.

What a heartbreaking world we live in where we can't find room for two peoples to live in peace. My heart aches, especially as my Jewish friends are on the eve of celebrating their own ancient story of freedom from slavery The [Passover] Holiday. I am invited this week to so many dinners on tables of my Israeli Jewish friends. I suppose that my joy will have to be postponed this year, knowing that the freedom of one nation is coming at the expense of my own. On the personal level, we are not sure how to proceed as a family. We do have many practical options, but, human life is not only about being practical. Our warm flat, the spirit in the house, the memories where we united with family and frieds from different races and nationalities is giving me a sense of lose already. Now I can understand what [being a refugee] is like. Being forced to leave is painful, even if we have solutions. Not to mention the financial aspects. It seems that we will have to look for another place on the 'right side' of the Wall. Where??? I have not answers yet, but we are working on it.

I am sorry I appear so overwhelmed and confused. I think I actually am! Please find the time to come visit. You will see actually what the Final Status Solution is all about!

With best wishes
Samar

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From Machsom Watch:

Qalandiya, Tuesday, 4.4.06, PM, Eng
Ronnie Y, Norah O., Roni H. (reporting)

It really has happend - East Jerusalem in the North is separated from the West Bank

The often announced and much feared "upgrading" of Qalandiya c.p. to a border or closure checkpoint (meaning total prohibition on West Bank Palestinians to enter Israel unless they have a special permit) has come into effect today. The gap between the blocks of the wall has been closed with a fence and thus the separation between south (Ar-Ram) and north (the so called "terminal") was completed. The population is totally under shock and confusion is all-around. People with valid work permits were sent back at the checkpoint, because the new procedures actually invalidate all the existing permits and only special permits for Atarot were respected today! The new road from Ramallah to Jerusalem is open for Jerusalemites only and also for one driver only - additional passengers, even if they are Jerusalem residents have to leave the car and pass the checkpoint by foot. Why? These are the orders! Residents of Bir Naballah and the surroundings have to go first to Ramallah and from there take the new road - called Road of Life Texture (כביש מרקם חיים) - which multiplies significantly time and expenses of the journey. The general sense of disaster was matched by stormy weather - sand storm and biting cold .


At Ar-Ram we learn that the strict closure allows only for passage of Jerusalemites and "humanitarian" cases. North of the checkpoint, 300 m down the road, concrete blocks hamper the east - west movement of cars and a group of soldiers guards the junction so that no Palestinian car can go to the western side of the wall. Needless to say that this causes major traffic jams!

Our taxi driver offered us a ride straight to Ramallah and we understood that big changes must have taken place if this was possible. And indeed the road from Qalandiya to the east has been opened and cars can go on to the next junction, turn left and continue to Ramallah.
We got off at Qalandiya and had first to re orientate. We were standing in front of the wall, which cannot be crossed anymore through the gap between its blocks. A gate has been established there today in the morning and 6 soldiers were guarding it. Later in the afternoon the gate will be "adorned" with barbed wire. We tried to overcome our first shock and people turned to us with their questions, which we could not answer, such as "my trolley was taken away by a soldier yesterday at the checkpoint and today I cannot even get there!". We were told that in the morning school children have climbed over the fence to the other side.

We decided to walk eastward and see if we can reach the checkpoint from the other side. The yellow bar has been removed and cars can continue on their way to the West Bank, or turn left to Ramallah. We walked on the road with the cars, turned left and arrived at the former checking point of the vehicles. No soldiers and no checkpoint. Passage was open.

People approached us and shared their worries about the new situation. We also heard about the 15 year old boy, who has been killed in the course of an army incursion into Qalandiya Camp yesterday in the afternoon. Another young victim whom we can add as the fifth child to the "Chronicle of foretold deaths". As long as armed soldiers will enter the Camp, they will be met by stone throwing youngsters and children will be shot at and killed.

We went to the car checking station. 2 soldiers talked to the drivers through loud speakers, asked to see their IDs and told them that only the driver was allowed to pass with the car (and only Jerusalem residents, of course). All the other passengers, except for children and old or sick people, have to pass through the checkpoint by foot. We could not understand this procedure and the soldiers could not give any reasonable explanation. One of the them told us that the existing work permits were not valid today and that only "humanitarian" cases can pass.

We went to the pedestrians' passage, which was rather empty. We observed the checkpoint for a while, sitting on the benches and talking to people, who were being sent back. Their work permits were not respected today. They were desperate and did not know where to go. 4 Women came back and ask us what to do. We felt frustrated and helpless in the face of so much misery. One man from Bidu described the long way he will have to take now. To Ramallah and from there through the new road, "Texture of Life Road" (כביש מרקם חיים) to the area of Modiin. He pointed out that a laborer who has earned IS 50 - 60 a day, cannot spend IS 50 every day for travel expenses and that he will have eventually to stay at home. Dr. Said Zeedani wrote in his article "A Palestinian Perspective on the Checkpoints" about the latent implications of the checkpoints on the Palestinians - they give up trying to pass the checkpoints. It is a coping mechanism to spare ourselves the hazard and costs of a humiliating journey.

We stood waiting in one of the lanes. One laborer after the other is sent back. We heard the soldiers shouting "only special permit for Atarot can pass". There was a lot of screaming and bullying by soldiers. It was an old man's turn to be checked. He was ordered in a nasty way to open his jacket and his trousers. He refused. The soldier barked at him to enter the checking room at the side. He refused and stood there motionless. The soldier showered him again with vulgar expressions. We called Ophir and Ella and complained about the behavior of the soldier. After a couple of minutes the soldier was being exchanged and a more civil one was taking over. When approached like a human being in a civil language, the old man performed all the steps of the checking process without hesitation and could pass soon after.

Coming out from the checkpoint we found ourselves on the western side of the wall.We tried to catch a taxi which would bring us to Ar-Ram, where we have left our car. But from the western side there is no possibility to get to Ar-Ram checkpoint. Luckily we detected a small hole in the fence dividing east and west and saw some people crawling under it to the other side. We had no choice but to do the same. We lied on the ground and pushed ourselves with our buttocks to the other side. 3 old ladies squeezing themselves through this hole must have been quite a sight and people seemed to be amused. But the very moment we were on the other side, 3 soldiers turned up and wanted to know if we have seen the person, who has lifted the metal sheet to create an opening. Innocently we denied to have any knowledge and the soldiers hurried to put another row of barbed wire before the opening.

Back at Ar-Ram checkpoint there was the now almost obligatory traffic jam. In order to warm up a little, we sat in a coffee shop and drank hot tea. The owner told us that because of the newly built fence he has no access any more to his garbage bin, which is on the other side of the road!.

On this nerve-racking afternoon we got one more tiny little existential insight into the monstrosity of the occupation.

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Those who support the Israeli occupation eschew comparisons with the South African apartheid regime's project of "bantustanization" as being based completely on racism, while the Israeli occupation is based soley on security needs.

Ehud Olmert, who just won the Israeli general election has already said that he intends to annex the Jordan Valley and set "final" borders unilaterally. People inside and outside of Israel are now beginning to talk about the path of the "seperation barrier" within the context of those "final" borders, basically exposing the lie that the "barrier" would only be temporary and would not represent a border line. The BBC has generated a projected map of what the Palestinian "state" would look like based on these lines and the annexed Jordan Valley.



I find this map fairly accurate. It actually follows fairly well the projections that the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions have been publishing and warning against for several years. First off we see that the West Bank is divided into two large areas separated by Israeli controlled territory that will be folded into the "greater Jerusalem" conceptualization. The large illegal settlement Maale Adumim [sic] will then operate as the "suburb" that Israel claims it is now. The town of Jericho becomes a tiny island of Palestinians surrounded by Israeli territory and quickly expanding settlements.

The Palestinian town of Tubas, in the north, sits at the end of a bizarre peninsula of "Palestine;" Bethlehem in the south remains a ghetto; the village of Budrus north of Jerusalem loses it's nonviolent battle to remain in Palestine as does Ar-Ram near Jerusalem.

Compare this map to the map of the South African bantustans:



These "independent nation state" were carved out of the country and surrounded by white controlled territory. they were not to be allowed to maintain armies to defend themselves from the hostile white "nation" that surrounded them. They did not control their airspace or water territory. Those who refuse to acknowledge that the Israeli government is constructing, not a final peace, but another apartheid regime, fail to recognize easily discerned reality.

When South Africa began this process the world - and largely America - rose up in opposition and condemnation. Where is the condemnation in this country for Israel's apartheid regime? The U.S. government said that it supports Israel's moves to define unilateral borders. The nation that fought a bloody civil war and then gave the world the Emancipation Proclamation (which, along with the Gettysburg Address helped spark several revolutions around the world in favor of equal right) is now "supporting" the creation of an overtly racist and discriminatory system of apartheid. Far from being a "light unto nations," the Israeli government is ignoring the history of the colonial era and reinstituting the failed policies of fallen empires.

"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it," goes the old Jewish saying that school children around the world are taught when they read about the European purging of Jews during the Holocause, the Shoah. Those who choose to ignore the past inevitably repeat it.

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by Scott Shane
from the International Herald Tribune

U.S. intelligence agencies and presidential commissions long ago concluded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and no substantive ties to Al Qaeda before the 2003 invasion.

But now, an unprecedented experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government.

Under pressure from congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by U.S. troops. Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view.

On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former army officer from Alabama, quoted a document saying the Iraqi government would disperse anthrax in leaflets that resemble ones dropped by Americans. Robison said the document proved that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

He also quoted the document as saying that Iraq would import U.S.- style uniforms which would be worn in killing other Iraqis.

Not so, American intelligence officials say.

"Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today," said a senior intelligence official, who would discuss the program only on condition of anonymity because the director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, directed his staff to avoid public debates over the documents.

"There is no smoking gun on WMD, Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues," he said.

All the documents - available on fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm - have received at least a quick review by Arabic linguists and do not alter the government's official stance, officials say. On some tapes already released, in fact, Saddam expressed frustration that he did not have unconventional weapons.

Intelligence officials had serious concerns about turning loose an army of amateurs on a warehouse full of raw documents that include hearsay, disinformation and forgery.

Negroponte's office attached a disclaimer to the documents, only a few of which have been translated into English, saying the government does not vouch for their authenticity or accuracy.

Another administration official underscored the political logic of the situation: "If anyone in the intelligence community thought there was valid information in those documents that supported either of those questions - WMD or Al Qaeda - they would have shouted them from the rooftops."

But Representative Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House intelligence committee, who led a months-long campaign to get the Iraqi documents released, does not believe they have gotten adequate scrutiny.

He said he wanted to "unleash the power of the Net" to do translation and analysis that might take the government decades.

"I don't know what's going to come out of these documents," Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, said. "But people today ought to be able to have a closer look inside Saddam's regime."

He said intelligence officials resisted posting the documents, which he overcame by appealing to President George W. Bush and by proposing legislation to force the release. He called the rapid, massive Web publication a "seismic shift" in government practice.

But the timing also gives the documents a potent political charge.

Public doubts about the war have driven Bush's approval rating to new lows. A renewed debate over Saddam's weapons and terrorist ties could bolster the president's standing, both critics and supporters of the administration believe.

A growing crowd of bloggers and amateur translators, almost exclusively on the right, are poring over the records. So far they have highlighted documents that refer to a meeting between Osama bin Laden and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Sudan in 1995; a plan to train Arab militants as suicide bombers; and a 1997 document discussing the use of "special ammunition" - chemical weapons - against the Kurds.

Former intelligence analysts caution that each document must be evaluated in context.

For instance, the anthrax document that intrigued Robison, the Alabama blogger, appears to be a memorandum from Iraq's Al Quds Army, a regional militia created by Saddam, to Iraqi military intelligence. It passes on reports picked up by U.S. troops, possibly from the radio.

No anthrax was found in Iraq by American search teams, in leaflets or anywhere else.

Robison, who has been posting translations by an Arab-American acquaintance at rayrobison.com, said he knows it is dangerous to leap to conclusions. But he believes volunteers like him may strike paydirt.

"It's not about politics," Robison said. "It's about the truth."

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