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Newsletter : 1fax0313.txt
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>JN March 13, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 45
Israelis and Palestinians Clash Near Ramallah
By Sonja Pace (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli soldiers fought with Palestinians who tried to break through army barricades around the West Bank city of Ramallah Monday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government is defending its decision to strengthen the blockades, saying the action was taken to foil terrorist attacks. Israeli Radio said one Palestinian was killed and several injured in the clashes.
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at hundreds of Palestinians who were attempting to force their way through the blockade around Ramallah. Some of the protesters were driving tractors and bulldozers.
A statement released by Sharon's office said the closure around Ramallah was tightened following specific information about terrorist attacks being planned from the area. Sharon discussed the new closures at the first full meeting of his new cabinet.
Speaking on Israeli Radio, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh acknowledged the closures could backfire. Sneh, who served as Deputy Defense Minister under the previous government of Ehud Barak, says tightening the blockade cannot prevent terrorist attacks, although it does make them more difficult to carry out. But he says the closures also increase bitterness and resentment among the whole Palestinian population against the Israelis.
Israel began closing off Palestinian-controlled areas soon after the Palestinian uprising began more than five months ago. Access to towns and villages has been severely restricted and Israeli troops have dug deep trenches near the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho.
On Sunday, troops and tanks tightened the blockade by closing off more roads in the West Bank and by shutting off all access to and from Ramallah, a city of some 50,000 people.
Speaking on Israeli Radio, Mohammed Barake, an Israeli Arab member of parliament, described the closures as a dangerous policy that simply provides fertile breeding ground for future attacks.
Barake said the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is at the root of the problem. He says the occupation is a swamp from which all the negative symptoms grow, including terrorism. "You have to dry up the swamp if you want to get rid of terrorism."
Palestinians say the closures have turned their communities into prisons and detention camps. In a statement released Sunday, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo described the tightening of the blockade around Ramallah as an escalation of the war against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian Legislative Council member Abdel Fatah Amayel told Israeli radio the closures will not bring the security Israelis are seeking. He said the Palestinian people will not surrender to this pressure. He said as long as the Palestinians do not have security and peace, neither will the Israeli people.
Sharon defended his decision to maintain a blockade on the West Bank town of Ramallah. His office said the stepped-up security measures are in response to specific threats by Palestinians to set off a car bomb in Jerusalem. The Prime Minister said several of those allegedly plotting the attack have been arrested. and that Israeli defense forces will maintain their blockade of Ramallah until the security situation there improves.
Israeli Arab Knesset member Issam Makhoul (Hadash) Monday compared the taut IDF blockade over the West Bank city of Ramallah to World War 2 Nazi concentration camps, Israel Radio reported.
Makhoul also said that the closure clamped on 200,000 Palestinians in Hebron in order to allow a small number of Jews to celebrate the Purim holiday over the weekend was "an illogical act, which recalled the actions of the Nazis."
Iraq Drafts Thousands into 'Jerusalem Army'
By Arutz-7 News
In response to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's call for volunteers to liberate Jerusalem, thousands of Iraqis enlisted in the so-called "Jerusalem Army." Crowds of volunteers chanted, "With our blood and souls...we sacrifice for Saddam" as they left for military training with their wives and children cheering them on.
The official Iraqi News Agency said that more than 7 million men and women - nearly a third of Iraq's population - have vowed to "liberate all of Palestine."
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