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Perceptions on the Ground Regarding the Annapolis Conference: Friends, I thought some of you might be wondering what was going on with this big Annapolis conference with Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas and our own George W. Bush. I must tell you, no Palestinian I have met here has any sort of hope for a positive outcome of the conference. They see everyday, with their own eyes, the absolute disconnect between what Bush and Olmert (and Abbas) say and the reality of Israel's actions on the ground. Don't let their words decieve you. I must admit, I get pretty excited when I hear there might be a possible chance for peace. But as the phrase so often goes, there can be no peace without justice. And unfortunately, those talking at Annapolis don't seem to be interested in justice. Bush said in his Annapolis speech: "[Palestinians] must demonstrate that a Palestinian state will ... dismantle the infrastructure of terror." How odd that he would single out the Palestinians for being a state of terror. Did he know that between September 2006 - September 2007 (the Jewish calendar year), 457 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military? And this 457 included 92 children. 92 children! One of those children was unborn, he had been growing inside his mother's womb for 7 months when she was shot in the stomach, and the bullet shattered her baby's skull. During this same year, ten Israelis were killed by Palestinians. Ten. None of them were children. To blame Palestinians for creating an "infrastructure of terror" is just ludicrous, when the facts clearly paint the opposite picture. (You can read the article where I got this info, in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, here: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/09/29/haaretz-twilight-zone-the-children-of-5767/ ) Every day here I get reports of more Palestinians being arrested without charge, their homes being demolished, their children being beaten. Just today, in the tiny village of At Tuwani, a place we have visited numerous times over the past months, the villagers were issued a "demolition order" for their mosque. This means that sometime over the next few days or weeks, villagers - men, women, and children - will have to watch as the Israeli military bulldozes their central place of worship. Why? Because the Israeli military uses nearby land for its bombing practice. Israel would like to kick out all villagers in the large area called the "South Hebron Hills" so it can use the Palestinian land for military practice. Some years ago, the military bulldozed Tuwani's original mosque. When Tuwani applied for a permit to build a new one, Israel refused. So they built a new one anyways. And now it will be bulldozed by the Israeli military. This is just one of about 100,000 reasons this week why the Palestinians don't believe a word Bush or Olmert says. To read more about why many Palestinian human rights organizations encouraged Abbas and Fatah to boycott the Annapolis meeting, please read "Declaration of Principles and National Rights," a 2-page statement that clearly outlines their position based on human rights and international law. http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/Declaration%20of%20Principles%20EN.pdf |
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