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Barghouthi: rate of Israeli attacks against, and killing of Palestinians doubles since Annapolis
Date: 10 / 01 / 2008 Time: 15:21
Ramallah – Ma'an – The rate of Israeli attacks on and killings of Palestinians has doubled since the US-sponsored Annapolis peace summit, former Palestinian information minister and head of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouthi, announced on Wednesday.
As US President George W. Bush's visited the Palestinian Territories Dr Barghouthi exposed the extent of Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people in 2007, a year characterised by the highest ever ratio of Palestinian to Israeli killings, and unabated settlement expansion.
Dr Barghouthi presented data showing that Israeli military
killings of, and attacks against Palestinians have soared by 100%
since Annapolis, confirming an intensification of Israeli military
violence against the Palestinian people even after the meeting on 27
November 2007.
He highlighted that the ratio of Palestinians to Israelis killed in
2007 had risen to 40:1, up from 30:1 in 2006 and 4:1 from 2000-2005.
"We do not want anyone to die, Israeli or Palestinian, but this ratio
is alarming. It is unacceptable to justify such large-scale killings
under the pretext of security," Barghouthi said, adding that five of
the Israelis killed in 2007 were soldiers who died whilst carrying out
attacks inside the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"Israel uses security as a pretext to step up its aggression against
Palestinians and to evade any commitments to peace," he went on.
"The question here is about security for everyone not only Israelis, and
about equality and the equal rights of all peoples to life. The facts
on the ground show very clearly that the Israeli government and its
military do not believe in this most basic and universal right when it
comes to Palestinians," he added.
Barghouthi also focused on Israeli settlement expansion and their
refusal to dismantle any existing settlements, saying that this was a further
indication of Israel's sense of absolute impunity with regard to
international law and United Nations resolutions. He described the lack of international censure at such Israeli practices as "alarming."
He warned that while there is much talk about Israel's 105 illegal
outposts, with a combined population of 3,000 settlers, it also
maintains 133 settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)
which have population of 447,500, and which are equally illegal under
international law. Moreover, Israel continues to build in 88 of these
settlements.
Barghouthi stressed that settlement expansion is being facilitated
by Israel's 'Roads and Tunnels' Plan. Israel is also constructing a separate highway
network to link settlements on both sides of the Apartheid Wall with
Israel and to each other.
"Tell me of any other case in the world where roads are segregated on
the basis of ethnicity? This is a practical manifestation of
Apartheid to an extent never before witnessed, not even at the height
of the Apartheid regime in South Africa" he said.
He concluded that only a peace process based on adherence to
international law, and which respected Palestinian national rights,
the rights of refugees and the right to freedom from Apartheid could
yield a just and lasting peace.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=27137
Date: 10 / 01 / 2008 Time: 15:21
Ramallah – Ma'an – The rate of Israeli attacks on and killings of Palestinians has doubled since the US-sponsored Annapolis peace summit, former Palestinian information minister and head of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouthi, announced on Wednesday.
As US President George W. Bush's visited the Palestinian Territories Dr Barghouthi exposed the extent of Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people in 2007, a year characterised by the highest ever ratio of Palestinian to Israeli killings, and unabated settlement expansion.
Dr Barghouthi presented data showing that Israeli military
killings of, and attacks against Palestinians have soared by 100%
since Annapolis, confirming an intensification of Israeli military
violence against the Palestinian people even after the meeting on 27
November 2007.
He highlighted that the ratio of Palestinians to Israelis killed in
2007 had risen to 40:1, up from 30:1 in 2006 and 4:1 from 2000-2005.
"We do not want anyone to die, Israeli or Palestinian, but this ratio
is alarming. It is unacceptable to justify such large-scale killings
under the pretext of security," Barghouthi said, adding that five of
the Israelis killed in 2007 were soldiers who died whilst carrying out
attacks inside the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"Israel uses security as a pretext to step up its aggression against
Palestinians and to evade any commitments to peace," he went on.
"The question here is about security for everyone not only Israelis, and
about equality and the equal rights of all peoples to life. The facts
on the ground show very clearly that the Israeli government and its
military do not believe in this most basic and universal right when it
comes to Palestinians," he added.
Barghouthi also focused on Israeli settlement expansion and their
refusal to dismantle any existing settlements, saying that this was a further
indication of Israel's sense of absolute impunity with regard to
international law and United Nations resolutions. He described the lack of international censure at such Israeli practices as "alarming."
He warned that while there is much talk about Israel's 105 illegal
outposts, with a combined population of 3,000 settlers, it also
maintains 133 settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)
which have population of 447,500, and which are equally illegal under
international law. Moreover, Israel continues to build in 88 of these
settlements.
Barghouthi stressed that settlement expansion is being facilitated
by Israel's 'Roads and Tunnels' Plan. Israel is also constructing a separate highway
network to link settlements on both sides of the Apartheid Wall with
Israel and to each other.
"Tell me of any other case in the world where roads are segregated on
the basis of ethnicity? This is a practical manifestation of
Apartheid to an extent never before witnessed, not even at the height
of the Apartheid regime in South Africa" he said.
He concluded that only a peace process based on adherence to
international law, and which respected Palestinian national rights,
the rights of refugees and the right to freedom from Apartheid could
yield a just and lasting peace.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=27137