Israel’s raid on the Jericho
Compound “AL-Muqatta’h” aimed to trigger state of
unprecedented chaos in the Palestinian Territories and to
give a cover to Israel’s unilateral plans to permanently
annex the majority of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
In the wake of the
Palestinian legislative elections convened in January 2006,
Israel took many actions in revenge against the Palestinian
people who proved eligibility to exercise democracy in a
very peaceful and discreet manner. Some days ago, Ehud
Olmert, the acting Prime Minister, announced plans to
unilaterally withdraw from some Israeli settlements in the
West Bank maintaining control over Jerusalem and central
settlement blocks taking a large bite of the Palestinian
land. He also declared the annexation of the Jordan Valley,
which comprises one third of the West Bank and is well-
known for providing an outlet for agricultural and
non-agricultural products as well providing food needs and a
strategic land supply for the Palestinian population growth.
Israel’s massive raid on
the Jericho Compound where Palestinian activists
including the PFLP leaders Ahmed Saadat had taken
refugee put across a number of messages. Palestinian
lives and territories are under a constant grave
threat. No person, house, farm, asset, etc. is immune
against Israel’s lawlessness. Israel acts as if it is a
state above the law; it constantly commits crimes
against the Palestinian people, yet the international
community is not taking any measures to deter Israel.
Israel keeps creating new de-facto situations on the
ground in order to engage the Palestinians in side
battles, and to distract the world’s attention away from
the core issue; the military occupation.
The Israeli
government is pushing the Palestinian territories to
edge and to an extremely grave era in which a
critical state of anarchy and internal disarray
prevail. Israel wanted to reintroduce the region to
a vicious circle of violence and counter violence
after some calm witnessed during the past months in
order to pave the road for election gains based on a
clear strategy to maintain control over the
Palestinian land and prevent the implementation of
the two state solution.
We hold the
United Nations accountable to the safety of the
Palestinian people under the Israeli military
occupation. The US and UK governments in
particular must assume the moral responsibility
for the safety of the Palestinian activists
kidnapped by Israel from the Jericho prison
yesterday. Israel must be held responsible for
the lives of the foreigners who were kidnapped
by Palestinian gunmen in retaliation against the
Jericho operation.
We demand
an immediate forceful intervention from
political levels across the world to stop Israel
from gambling with the lives of the people in
the region.
We call
upon human rights organizations, solidarity
movements and civil society organizations to
strongly stand in solidarity with our people by
all possible means.
