January 2002

Palestinian president Yaser Arafat declared on 16/12/2001 a unilateral cease-fire from the Palestinian side.  Two days from this declaration, all Palestinian military wings committed themselves to this declaration.  A quiet period started from that date until 10/1/2002 (more than three weeks) during which the Palestinian side didn't commit any military actions against Israelis.  Did the Israelis do the same? The following statistical data will answer!!

The following tables show the Israeli violations and atrocities against Palestinians during the period from 19/12/2001-10/1/2002 in each district:

Table 1:  Martyrs and wounded Palestinians during the period from 19/12/2001-10/1/2002 in each district:

Table 2:   Israeli storm  and shelling operations in area A which is under the full control of Palestinian National Authority during the period from 19/12/2001-10/1/2002 in each district: 

Table 3:  House demolition, land devastation and uprooting of trees during the period from 19/12/2001-10/1/2002 in each district: 

Table 4:   arrests and kidnappings of Palestinians  by Israeli Occupation Forces during the period from 19/12/2001-10/1/2002 in each district: 

Summary on Israeli Violations (19/12/2001-10/1/2002): 

-         Assassinating and killing 16 Palestinian martyrs.

-         Seriously wounding 28 Palestinians.

-         Storming Palestinian cities 11 times.

-         Shelling Palestinian urbanized quarters 22 times.

-         Full demolition of 73 Palestinian houses.

-         Partial demolition of 209 Palestinian houses.

-         Bulldozing of 44 dunums of agricultural land.

-         Uprooting of 410 fruitful tree owned by Palestinian farmers.

-         Arresting and kidnapping of 54 Palestinians.

In addition to the above mentioned, the following violations were committed by the Israelis:

1.     The continuation of the detention of Palestinian president Yaser Arafat in Ramallah.

2.     The prevention of  the Israeli president, Moshe Katsav,  from delivering a speech at the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah.

3.     The continuation of the strict besiege of all Palestinian Districts.

4.     The forced evictions of about 300 Palestinian families from their houses totaling about 2000 members, approximately half of them are children.

5.     Banning Palestinian travel through Ben Gurion international airport.

6.     Stoppage of bank transfers from Israeli banks to Palestinian banks. This decision was put in force on 15.1.2002.

Summary:

The Palestinians stopped any resistance activities against  the Israeli occupation forces as a sign of commitment towards President Arafat's decision of unilateral cease-fire. This commitment came as an expression of  good well and desire for peace.   Despite this, Sharon's government committed the afore-mentioned violations and atrocities without paying any considerations to Palestinian and international peaceful initiatives.  From this fact, we can deduce the following:

1.     The Israeli government policy is pushing Palestinians to violent reactions.

2.     The Israeli government utilizes this compulsory violence in order to implement Sharon's old plan- the second alternative- that intends to dispel Palestinians to Jordan.  This plan can be considered as an ethnic cleansing one because it calls for a pure Jewish state.

3.     All the events emphasized that the Israeli state with all its effective forces does not live or prosper under the umbrella of peace because it is established on war and is not able to continue without war.

4.     The USA political attitude is completely biased to the extremist Israeli one.  Henceforth, USA is not any more real peace sponsor but war sponsor whose policies will lead to catastrophes and instability in the region.

5.     The international attitudes are still weak, and consequently, there is no hope for the emergence of an effective attitude on part of world countries that will deter the Israeli governmnet and force it to be committed to peace.

All these pressures and circumstances create the convenient atmosphere for extremism and dogmatism growth.  This will bear a desire to revenge, which indicates that the big explosion that will harm all has not started yet.

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