400,000 Palestinians under virtual house arrest

Jerusalem — Israeli troops are keeping at least 400,000 Palestinians under effective house arrest with round-the-clock curfews and largely barring the media from covering its escalating invasion of the West Bank — an operation that has faced minimal Palestinian resistance and limited international criticism.

The army began Operation Determined Path last week, after two suicide bombings in Jerusalem killed 26 Israelis. An earlier wave of Palestinian attacks set off a similar six-week sweep through the West Bank in late March.

But unlike that first extended foray, when Israeli troops encountered heavy fire in several towns and besieged the office of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, the new operation has been comparatively low-key. Troops have steadily moved into the Palestinian areas, but without the fanfare or the firefights.

The one exception was Qalqiliya, where two Israeli soldiers were killed in a gun battle as soldiers entered the town Wednesday evening. The troops pulled out, only to re-enter Sunday morning without resistance.

During the last incursion, Israeli forces went house-to- house searching for suspected militants and carried out mass arrests of Palestinian men.

In the latest drive into the West Bank, the tanks and armoured personnel carriers have parked in the deserted streets, and for the most part, have just remained there. The significant exception was the northern West Bank town of Jenin, where many hundreds were rounded up late last week.

"We have no choice but take these measures to stop suicide bombers from killing our women, children, and sometimes babies," Israeli government spokesman Danny Naveh said Sunday. "The Palestinian population is suffering, I can acknowledge that as well. We need to put an end to this suffering — in both communities."

One reason for the relative absence of resistance this time is that more than 200 Palestinians, many of them militants, were killed and 1,000 arrested in the first round.

Israel says it must track down suicide bombers because the Palestinian security forces are unable or unwilling to do it. However, the first sweep did not stop the bombings for long.

This time around, Israeli troops are using curfews more, in terms of both extent and duration.

Israeli troops have imposed round-the-clock curfews on the five Palestinian cities and towns they control — Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya — as well as a suburb of Ramallah.

About 400,000 Palestinians live in these cities and towns, and they cannot leave their houses to go to work, to school or to shop. The only exceptions are medical emergencies.

Typically, the curfew is lifted for about three hours every third day, during which residents rush to the market to stock up on food.

Palestinians say Israel's goal is clear — to destroy the Palestinian Authority and replace it with Israeli rule, as was the case before the two sides signed the breakthrough 1993 Oslo accords.

The Israelis "are continuing the destruction of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian institutions," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "We will end up with Israel fully resuming the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, fully replacing the Palestinian Authority, with the Israeli civil administration and military government."

For much of 21 months of fighting, journalists have had considerable freedom to cover the fighting up close. But in this operation, Israeli media restrictions are also being more rigidly enforced than before, and journalists have had little or no access to the areas where the army has invaded.

During the earlier sweep through the West Bank, Israel declared some areas closed military zones, thereby barring journalists. The measure was not strictly enforced, and journalists were able to enter many areas, often by using back roads.

But this time, all of the reoccupied areas are closed military zones and journalists have been consistently turned back at checkpoints.

Some Palestinian journalists working for international news organizations and living in the cities under siege have been able to report — but only to the degree they are willing to play a game of cat-and-mouse with Israeli troops.

"If there are operational considerations at that moment that limit journalists' entry, then they won't be allowed in," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "In every place where it is possible, there will be supervised entry, guided by army spokesmen."

Israel has not arranged any such trips so far, and in the past they have included little more than formal briefings from Israeli commanders — and no contact with Palestinians.

"Imposing an indefinite coverage blackout on five urban areas where hundreds of thousands of people live is a flagrant violation of the freedom of the press which Israel is committed to uphold," the Foreign Press Association in Israel said in a statement.

The earlier Israeli incursion drew widespread international criticism, but this time around the response has been muted. In part, this appears related to the increased backing in the United States for Israeli measures to end terrorism.

U.S. President George W. Bush called on the Israelis to pull out of Palestinian areas on April 4, less than a week after Israel went into West Bank cities. However, the Bush administration did not maintain heavy pressure on the Israelis as that operation carried on, and has largely been supportive of the latest Israeli actions.

John,
Lets see.
For a start..
Cutting off food, water, emergency services, (you know hospital's ambulances etc). Curfews imposed where you murder non-armed, noncombatants with M-60 series tank's main gun in a market place. How about shooting the media (clearly marked), trying to report on battles(?) Jenin perhaps??

Jorge,
Go back and see just who did what first... That is who attacked who first... Does the "Pearl harbor" on the Egyptian Airforce ring a bell??

So by your same logic, we just have kept; Japan, Germany, France, Korea etc...

Still no has answered my questions why it is right for Israel to seize land that does not belong to them and commit what would be for any other nation a war crime.

I think you already know the answer to your question, it has been asked and answered many times on this forum, and there is no need to answer it again.

What you view as war crime some view as defending themselves.

(I earned my CIB with 1st/503rd Infantry in Viet Nam between 65-66)

Cutting off food, water, emergency services, (you know hospital's ambulances etc). Curfews imposed where you murder non-armed, noncombatants with M-60 series tank's main gun in a market place. How about shooting the media (clearly marked), trying to report on battles(?) Jenin perhaps??

You forgot the bulldozers dumping thousands of Palestinian civilians in mass graves, after the "Jenin massacre."
Remember that?
Unfortunately they only found a dozen or two bodies, and most of them had military garb and weapons on them.

It just cracks me up to hear these anemic attempts to paint the Israelis as the bad guys for defending themselves against terrorists.

Hey, it da Skunk!!


Skunk Works	Mensa Man	Browning 50cal	Lion of the Desert

State Attorney	The Australian	Harvard Man	Plump & Proud

Shankshaw Man	Billy Bob Thorton	The Inquisitor	The Cadet

Biloxi Debevri the Debutante	The Mountie	Singh Kiam	Pastor Klugger

Ranger Samson	TBD	TBD	TBD

Jorge:
No, it was 56 dead last count...
Mostly under 12 and over 45, no uniforms or weapons were reported?? Whats up? Are you making this stuff up as you go??
That was after the Israeli Courts ordered the IDF to stop moving bodies..
However, I was talking about the IDF shooting the media attempting to report on the "battle"..

DO you really read reports or just wing it??
You might try the BBC.

Why is it if you dare to ask about Israeli history or question what the Nation of Israel does; you are brandied a anti-Semite....
" They invade a land over 35 years ago, kill non-combatants"

In your case, its because you are a liar, Lester. And a not too bright one at that.

Oh, Puulleeeaassee!!!

First of all, since the Roman Dispora, there has ALWAYS been a remnant of Jews living in Jerusalem and Israel. They've just had to endure occupation of THEIR OWN LAND for almost 2,000 years. Secondly, if you haven't noticed SIR, the Islamic Fundies attacking Israel are the same ones who just killed almost 3,000 of your and my fellow countrymen. The Pali masses where literally dancing in the streets after that one. If you can't see the same MO for Osama's thugs and the Pali suicide/homocide bombers, WHO DELIBRATELY KILL men, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, then I'm very afraid for our Army with "leaders" like you. Since you say you're are a Baptist, I strongly suggest you read your Bible, specifically, Zechariah Chapter 13, and think about what the Lord God is trying to tell us here.

Pathetic! Hope you study recent events (9/11, Terrorist attacks, Islam) at GCSC. You'll need it.

Anyone who has not read MEMRI's translations of Arab newspapers and other documents is in for a rude, crude shock.

I am somewhat familiar with this vitriolic hatred of America & Israel, as talk radio hosts have been reading translations, and I have heard some of them. The "press," however, has been oddly silent ( Protective? Who knows? ) and without reading the Arabs own words, Americans are woefully ignorant of the true situation over there.

BTW, and FWIW, I received an email from Ranger Samson indicating he would read those links I supplied, so mayhap he's not a disruptor.

I graduated from Ranger class 81-01, what about you????

Anthony!! Long time no see. Btw, I think reps for a certain foundation are looking for you - some copyright question, it seemed.

I'll just direct them over to that other forum, wink wink, nudge nudge ;).

I almost fainted when I saw Arafat shake hands with Rabin (?) at The White House.

A stable peace will never be built until all concerned realize that there are wackos on both sides who have zero interest in anything resembling peace.

-Eric

If you ask me, Sam, the Israelis have shown and continue to show remarkable, unbelievable restraint...

considering they live right next door to about two million *#$&*#)@ lunatics who go out just about every damn day and deliberately and cold-bloodedly murder just as many damn unarmed innocent Israeli women and children as they can, all the while calling for the utter destruction of the country of Israel itself.

Or maybe you're not aware of how many September 11s the Jewish people have been subjected to in the past two years?

You know, I started this whole thing without any strong commitment to either side. And I have no doubt that there have been great offenses and wrongs committed on both sides. But the more attention I've paid, and the more I know about it, the more I can only come to the conclusion that about 80 or 90% of the Palestinians are just plain... evil.

No, it was 56 dead last count...

Oh, so the final tally of 56 dead was slightly more than the dozens in the report I was refering to....
That is still a far cry from the PA's top officials claim that as many as 3,000 civilians had been killed in the fighting there....and all the other absurd stories of a massacre the lying PA fed to the gullible European press.
Which was precisely my point.

Mostly under 12 and over 45, no uniforms or weapons were reported?? Whats up? Are you making this stuff up as you go??

Obviously you are;

As of April 17, 2002 the New York Post reported; "About 40 bodies were discovered, all but three of them men - ammunition belts strapped to their bodies - who quite clearly were engaged in armed combat with the Israelis."

Your claims above cannot be documented because they are BS.

Yep, Rabin. The Israeli PM who was shot by a fanatic for even moving in the direction of peace. The one whose grave other fanatics threatened to desecrate when the IDF cleared a shrine they built to the "suicide gunner", Baruch Goldstein. A stable peace will never be built until all concerned realize that there are wackos on both sides who have zero interest in anything resembling peace.

In any population of over a million people you will have wackos, however on the Israeli side they are in the minority. And Israel locks up its wackos.

In fact, Israel even had to send back some imported wackos from the US who thought that killing Arabs would speed up the second coming.

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