Ramallah, 01-07-07: Continued killings in the Gaza Strip, failure to abide by promises made at Sharm El Sheikh, and an anti-democratic blackmail attempt further reveal Israel‘s strategy to consolidate the complete separation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the guise of ‘gestures towards peace‘ said Palestinian National Initiative head Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi today.
The Israeli army killed 7 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in 2 separate air strikes. The first one on a car in Khan Younis killed Raed Ghannam, aged 24, Ziad Ghannam, 42, and Muhammad Ar Ra‘i, 38; while the second one on a blacksmith‘s workshop in Al Mughazi refugee camp killed Salah Quffa, aged 50, his son Iyad, 24, Samir Abu Musallam, 46, and Ali Al ‘Aydi, 22. Such killings are a form of extra-judicial execution and are illegal under Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, assassinations are wilful killings and thus constitute a war crime under Article 147 in the Convention. These attacks aggravate the situation in the Gaza Strip, which Israel continues to keep completely closed off.
Moreover, Israel furthered its assault on Palestinian democracy through an outrageous blackmail bid: an Israeli military court demanded Saturday that elected officials imprisoned resign from their position in order to be set free. These legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people were elected in free and fair elections, and were later arrested by the Israeli army as part of its campaign of destabilisation of the Palestinian National Authority. The Israeli scheme failed as the jailed officials rejected the bargain, stating that it would mean surrendering the confidence placed in them by the Palestinian people.
This comes on the same day as Israel announced it would enact the promises made by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Sharm El Sheikh summit last Monday to bolster President Abbas‘ Palestinian Emergency Government. The first one, which was to free 250 Palestinian prisoners from Fatah, has already been revealed for the mockery it is: last Thursday alone the Israeli army arrested more than 90 persons throughout the West Bank, and today the Israeli cabinet refused to vote on the release of prisoners. The second so-called gesture was the return of part of the 750 millions US$ in tax monies withheld by Israel by Monday 2 July. But officials from both side were unable to say how much of the illegally retained money would be returned in this first instalment.
Dr. Barghouthi said that all of these developments were further manifestations of a cynical plot aimed at pitting Palestinians from the West Bank against those in Gaza and deepening internal political divisions at the expense of the Palestinian people‘s wellbeing. He added that Israel is going to disburse the tax monies, which belong to all Palestinian people, in a manner which ensures that they will reach only the West Bank and not the Gaza Strip. Dr. Barghouthi then commented on the prisoners deal noting that Israel will soon have arrested more people than it plans to release, clearly exposing the emptiness of this gesture. He concluded that the Israeli attacks on Palestinian democracy and its attempts to separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip clearly demonstrate that Israel is no partner for peace.