26 April - 2 May 2001
Issue No.531
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 April - 2 May 2001 Issue No.531 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Beginning and ends
The 25 April is celebrated not just as marking the end of Israel's 15-year-old occupation of Sinai but as initiating Egypt's long-term strategy to secure a comprehensive peace in the region.
In pursuing this goal Cairo has been tireless in its reiteration of the principles that remain indispensable to any genuine peace, chief among which is the ending of Israel's 1967 occupation of Arab territories -- the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.
Land lies at the heart of the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. In the Gaza Strip -- one of the most densely populated tracts of land in the world -- less than 5,000 Israeli's have built four settlements, and the Israeli army occupies hundreds of acres of land around them claiming that this is necessary to provide security for the illegal settlers. Meanwhile, one million Palestinians are crushed into refugee camps or else fight for enough land on which to build a house.
A similar situation exists in the West Bank town of Hebron where the presence of 400 extremist settlers means that 150,000 Palestinians are forced to live under what is effectively a permanent house arrest. And while Israel launches a propaganda war alleging anti-Semitic commentary in the Arab press, no one seems quite to have noticed that it is Israelis who built a shrine honouring the fanatic terrorist settler who massacred 29 Palestinians who were praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
That the world contrives to continue to ignore these ugly realities, realities the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have faced on a daily basis for 34 years now, lies behind the outbreak of the Intifada last September.
For seeking a peaceful settlement with their occupiers, they have received only continued brutality in return.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page