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Statement on Israeli Massacres and Siege in Rafah In these critical times, in which I appreciate all the working people and humanists, who worked to achieve my freedom and gave me strength to defeat this iron machine of injustice, this, I believe, is a good opportunity for us to understand that if we gain strength all together in fighting for justice and rights, we will win, and never be defeated. I was reading the last article in a Palestinian newspaper, about the Resolution 194 group, who have dedicated themselves to the cause of the Palestinians' right of return, and who condemn the racist policies of George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon, including the Bush Administration's blind and tacit support of the fascist Israeli policies of injustice against the Palestinian people. But these criminal administrations have to know that the Palestinian people will not surrender, and will not give up their inalienable right to return to their homes and properties that were stolen from them by all successful Israeli governments, from the time of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, during the time of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967, and continuing till this day through the brutal and illegal policies of the Israeli government. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the ties of unity which exist between all the militias of the national liberation struggle, the brutal actions of the Israeli government, headed by Sharon, and with the tacit approval and green light from Washington, as can be seen by the massacres in Rafah and Jenin, and in other Palestinian villages and towns, have only made these ties and the unity between all the organs of the Palestinian National Resistance and the Intifada stronger, and caused them to unite more strongly than ever against these inhuman and arbitrary crimes being committed against them. It was not long ago (May 17, 2004), that the Israeli army launched its largest military invasion into the Gaza Strip since the 1967 war. More than 1000 Israeli soldiers and more than 100 tanks invaded Rafah, which had been sliced in two as a result of the 1979 Israeli/Egyptian Peace Agreement, brokered under the auspices of the United States under its Camp David Peace Formula, which the policies of the US toward the region have been affected by ever since, given over by 2 Palestinian Authority governments in 1994, and home now to about 160,000 Palestinians, 90,000 of them refugees. The official pretext of the current Israeli operation was to uncover the alleged warren of tunnels that they say were used to smuggle arms and ammunition to the Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side. This operation was not successful to the Israeli occupation forces, and it blew up in the face of the invaders because, on the contrary, for the first time, all the Palestinian groups were coordinating their actions militarily. In revenge, the fascist Israeli occupation forces hit back by killing women and children, destroying homes, and engaging in the same kind of brutality and genocide that has been typical Israeli policy against the Palestinians, similar to what they did in Lebanon in 1982, and, more recently similar to what they did in Jenin in 2002, massacring hundreds and destroying thousands of homes, in essence, the entire camp of Jenin. In essence, on the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), the Israelis created another Nakba. On the same day the Nakba from 1967 is commemorated as a national tragedy for the Palestinians worldwide, on the 56th anniversary of this national crime against the Palestinians, the Israeli army amassed its forces around Rafah, and created another Nakba to commemorate the first one. In these actions, you can find the essence of Ariel Sharon. The Ghost of the Lebanon massacres of 1982, perpetrated by Sharon, are lurking like ghosts across the rainbow in all these actions. But the result has been to bring troubles to the fascist Israeli "Defense Forces" from the international community, who has strongly condemned these actions, all except the United States of America, who is supposed to be the beacon of democracy. This army and its corrupt Israeli administration have come to be seen by the international community, and by all with a conscience, as nothing more than vultures and criminals. Nobody can deny the actions or presence of the tanks and helicopters bombarding the district of Tel al Sultan in Rafah, and the destruction that was wrought upon it was beamed all over the world. These actions cannot be denied or hidden, and they are now public knowledge. Nor can the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army in Jenin, or in Lebanon, or in countless other villages and towns in Palestine, and to the national infrastructure of the Palestinian people, who have now become the exiles of the Middle East, be denied. You can see evidence of their displacement throughout the refugee camps of the Middle East, and through the existence of displaced Palestinian refugees all over the world. This massacre of Rafah, perpetrated by Sharon and his dogmatic right-wing administration, is not going to remove us from our homes and our land, in Rafah, or in any lands occupied in 1967; this is not going to change the necessity of implementing the right of return for the Palestinians to their lands and properties taken in 1948 and occupied in 1967. I appeal to all of you in this critical situation, contact the e-mails listed below for all inquiries and updates about this dire situation, about the massacres in Rafah and about how you can help to alleviate this dire situation. Imagine the brutal way the Israeli government terrorizes the Palestinian people; at the same time the bulldozers are pushing up the mounds of dirt and rubble with a steady roar, more homes are being burned and destroyed. There will be no more water in western Rafah until the Israeli administration gives the Palestinian municipality clearance to send out repair crews. And the repair crew is afraid to come out, for fear of being killed by the Israeli militias when they come in to do repairs, as the ambulance drivers often have been. Between Rafah and Gush Kativ, which is a settlement block near the beaches of Gaza, it is just a short walk to the city limits of Gaza. From the beginning of the second Intifada, there has been nothing but misery in the Tel al Sultan District, which is right in the shadow of the settlements. The Israeli snipers in the fortresses set up outside this district near the settlements are ready to shoot at Palestinians anytime, without asking questions, without differentiating between man woman or child, policeman or civilian. These actions only continue to exacerbate the fear and the misery of the Palestinian people living in the area. In this district, there is also a flower factory, which is used to export flowers to Holland, and allows the people of Rafah to generate some income to survive. Now, the flowers cannot be exported, as all commerce is stopped. This situation is destroying the livelihood of the people of Rafah, adding to the misery of the people, who don't have water, electricity, many are homeless, and now the people do not even have an income. They cannot go out to get food for fear of being killed by the snipers from the watchtowers. In the same area, in Rafah, Rachel Corrie, an American who was working to defend the human rights of the Palestinians, and to protect their homes from being destroyed, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer, in cold blood. These cold-blooded actions were defended by the Israeli government, as well as by the American administration, who made the suggestion that this good woman, this flower of humanity, like the flowers of Rafah, was a terrorist sympathizer. We see the propaganda machine in the United States, perpetuated by the green light of the US Administration, who tries to convince us that we are under a constant terrorist threat by al-Qaeda, but, through these actions in Rafah, you can see that the Palestinians are under constant terrorist threats at the hands and crimes of the Israelis, supported by the American Administration. We, the Palestinians, are victims of terrorism, perpetrated against us by the Israeli war machine, as was witnessed by the senseless death of Rachel Corrie, and by the killing, in cold blood, of Mohammed Durrah, when he was crossing a checkpoint in Gaza to go home to his family, in addition to the deaths of many children, and women, who have also died at the hands of the Israelis. This is the terrorism that is not seen by the American people or shown by the American media. We need your support desperately, to help alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinian men, women and children, who are not terrorists, but simply people, trying to survive under the iron fist of a harsh and brutal Israeli occupation that has now lasted more than fifty-six years, and was supposed to end with the implementation of Oslo, but failed because of the fascist Sharon administration, who has no respect for international agreements and international law. We need the American people to understand our predicament, and to understand the truth, which is not told in the United States. We are opposed to terrorism. We are victims of terrorism, because of the crimes perpetrated by the Israelis, and the river of blood that flows by the current of American weapons, fueled by American tax dollars, and perpetrated by the Israeli army, who is given the green light by the Israeli and American Administrations, who say they are fighting terrorism, but are really perpetuating it by sending arms, Apache helicopters, missiles and massive amounts of military aid to the Israelis to use against an unarmed population of refugees, after having displaced them into refugee camps. Even the water in Rafah is diverted by the Israelis to water the lawns of 40,000 settlers, away from a population of 1.1 million Palestinian refugees, who, because of this latest invasion, don't even have water to drink or water tanks to hold their water in. In the name of peace with justice, and with anticipated hopes of your much needed assistance, I appeal to you through this statement, and through the voice of the Palestinian people, of which I am a part, and the international community, made up of all those who believe in justice and rights, are a part. We appreciate all help greatly and deeply. Please send all inquiries about this critical situation and about where to send financial help to the e-mails listed below. Thank you in advance for your support. Sincerely, Farouk Abdel Muhti Palestinian Activist and recently released Political prisoner, incarcerated in the immigration jails of the United States for nearly two years. e-mails: gpason@sp-usa.org Freefarouk@yahoo.com Abufkheida@maktoob.com |
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