October 1, 2003:
Mohammed's younger brother
Issam was seriously injured
and was taken to the hospital
about a week ago. His leg
was amputated and he is
undergoing medical treatment.

October 18, 2003:
Mohammad's younger brother,
Hussam [17 yrs old], was killed
by the Israeli army today.

Hussam was sitting at home
when he was shot in the face,
chest, back, legs. He had
nothing to do with any violent
or even political movement.

Hussam's crime is that he was
a Palestinian.

— The Webmaster

At June 21 Summit Sharon “Humiliates” Palestinians, Thumbs Nose at U.S.

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/August_2005/0508010.html

Washington Report, August 2005, pages 10, 14

THE JUNE 21 meeting in Jerusalem between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was the first since their ground-breaking Feb. 8 summit in Egypt. That ended with a pledge to quickly hold a second round of talks, ostensibly aimed at a return to the negotiating table. No meeting was scheduled, however, until the conclusion of Abbas’ May White House visit—his first since being elected in January.

Stopping in several Arab countries on his way home, Abbas delayed his return to Ramallah by a day when doctors in Jordan insisted he expand a routine checkup with further tests. Although the president later declared himself “fine,” a statement from Sharon’s office explained, “Prime Minister Sharon called Abbas to wish him a speedy recovery and said he looked forward to meeting him in Jerusalem in order to advance the items on the agenda.”

The final status of Jerusalem, of course, is one of the most delicate unresolved issues in the peace negotiations. Israel claims the entire city as its capital, while Palestine wants East Jerusalem—Arab for centuries and site of the al-Aqsa mosque compound—as the capital of its future state. On June 6, two weeks before the scheduled meeting, 3,000 Israeli police invaded the mosque, accompanying Jewish visitors to what they call the Temple Mount. The extremist Israelis were celebrating “Jerusalem Day,” the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 capture of Arab East Jerusalem. Muslim worshippers, to whom an Israeli military presence in the compound is deeply offensive, threw stones, and police responded with stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. Abbas called the incident “a provocation,” and Israeli security basically agrees, fearing extremist Israelis will succeed in sparking a new conflict and derail this summer’s planned evacuation of illegal Jewish settlements in Gaza.

The Israelis had been making at least token gestures to support Abbas, such as the June 2 release of some 400 Palestinian prisoners. But as Smai, a 33-year-old released prisoner who spent seven years in Israeli prisons, pointed out, “Most of us would have been released in a few months anyway. Our sentences were almost over. There are many, many prisoners with serious health problems who need special treatment or surgery. There are women, children and the elderly in jail still, suffering terribly.”

Despite opposition from some of the old guard, Abbas favors reform and inclusion of the militant factions in the peace process. Hamas—which made a strong showing in local Palestinian elections and bitterly opposed a delay in parliamentary elections, in which it also is expected to do well—has even agreed to accept an election delay, provided the new date falls before the end of the year.

And, despite many Israeli provocations, the militants also have agreed to continue their cease-fire. On June 7, however, Islamic Jihad took responsibility for firing mortars at Gaza’s Ganei Tal settlement, hitting a greenhouse, killing two, and injuring six—all non-Israeli foreign workers. Islamic Jihad said the attack was in retaliation for the death of one of their leaders in Jenin in a gunbattle with Israeli army troops which arrived in force to arrest him. Although Hamas also fired mortars at the Gaza settlements the same day, it insisted it was maintaining the truce, but simply “responding” to the al-Aqsa incident. Observing the cease-fire, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza pointed out, did not negate its right to respond to war crimes.

When, however, Islamic Jihad fighters killed an occupation soldier in Gaza and a West Bank settler the weekend before the Abbas-Sharon meeting, the Israeli prime minister used the attacks as an excuse to renege on many of his Sharm el-Sheikh commitments.

Hours before the two leaders met at Sharon’s official West Jerusalem residence, Israeli troops raided the West Bank and arrested 52 alleged Islamic Jihad members—the largest such roundup since Feb. 8, when Israel pledged to target only militants it considered “ticking bombs” on the verge of launching an attack. Ten minutes after the two leaders sat down, an unsuccessful Israeli missile strike on an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza signaled the resumption of its policy of assassination—also on hold since the earlier summit.

According to senior Sharon aide Brig. Gen. Eival Giladi the next day, Israel may continue such strikes during the withdrawal. And, he added, “If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people.”

Hours later, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalon, speaking to foreign ambassadors, expanded Israeli options following the pullout as well: “If there is a need, Israel will return to the Gaza Strip after the disengagement for several days in order to put an end to terror.”

The summit itself was described as “humiliating” for Abbas. Reported the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, the Israeli prime minister “pounded on the table, reprimanded, explained matters to Abu Mazen [Abbas] like a division commander at the conclusion of a failed battalion exercise.”

“He rejected most of our demands that we drew up in respect to the settlements, the wall and the return of Israeli forces to their positions before the intifada,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei after the meeting.

Nor were the “demands” only from the Palestinians. Days before the summit, according to the Los Angeles Times, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “told Israeli officials that the Palestinian leader was badly in need of Israeli steps, such as the lifting of West Bank roadblocks and the release of more Palestinian prisoners, that would bolster his standing among his people.”

If nothing else, Sharon provided a definitive answer to the lingering question of whether Washington’s support for Abbas would mean the Sharon government was now serious about restarting peace negotiations, or if instead it simply would reiterate its demands that Abbas resort to armed conflict with the Palestinian militants. Many Palestinians, chronically distrustful of Israel’s intentions, fear the Tel Aviv government would like nothing better than a Palestinian civil war.

So far Abbas’ insistence on internal diplomacy, not to mention the hard-won common sense of the citizens, has prevented that. It remains to be seen whether American officials in the White House, State Department and Congress will show similar wisdom in responding to Israeli provocations, or whether they will continue giving Sharon exactly what he wants.

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