Roadmap transgressions
A recent report by the Palestinian Non-Governmental Network exposes Israel's failure to implement the roadmap
Hand shakes between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and US President George Bush in the Jordanian Red Sea city of Aqaba last month signified their mutual acceptance of the American sponsored roadmap. Since then however, the Israeli response to the peace initiative has been characterised by violation after violation of the mutually determined conditions governing the implementation of the roadmap.
In return for the various Palestinian conditions, the roadmap requires that the government of Israel:
- implements recommendations of the Bertini report to improve humanitarian conditions, including lifting curfews and easing the freedom of movement between Palestinian areas.
- ends actions undermining trust, including attacks on civilian areas, the confiscation and demolition of Palestinian homes and property, and deportations as a punitive measure.
- dismantles settlement outposts erected since the establishment of the present Israeli government and in contravention of current Israeli government guidelines.
In addition to removing settlement outposts, the Israeli government is also obligated under Phase I of the roadmap to freeze all settlement activity as set out in the Mitchell proposal.
However, since 1 July the government of Israel has undermined the agreement through military actions that have involved invading Palestinian areas, implementing a campaign of arrests, opening fire on civilian areas, imposing curfews and closures that continue to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement, confiscating land and destroying property.
At the same time, the Israeli government has made no movement towards dismantling settlement outposts, or halting construction on settlements throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. To the contrary, various villages around Ramallah, Jerusalem and Hebron have had lands confiscated to ensure continued settlement expansion.
Throughout this period, Israel has not frozen settlement activity at all. In fact settlement expansion and land confiscation occur almost on a daily basis. Furthermore, the dismantling of settlement outposts has been a farce. Eight empty outposts were dismantled in a haze of publicity followed by the establishment of 12 others.
What follows is a list of Israeli actions carried out in direct contravention of the understanding of the implementation of phase one of the roadmap:
- 1 July: Israeli troops entered Tulkarm and killed Nimr Al-Jayoushi.
- 3 July: Israeli troops closed Salah Ad-Din Street in Gaza and assassinated Mahmoud Shawwar in Qalandiya.
- 4 July: The eastern part of Jenin city was invaded and an arrest campaign followed.
- 5 July: Palestinian homes in Deir Al-Baleh in southern Gaza were destroyed, while Israeli troops opened fire on the town from the settlement of Kafr Dorom arrested one person. Approximately 100 dunums of agricultural land was confiscated from the northern West Bank village of Bakka Al-Sharkiya, and a curfew was imposed on Hebron. North of Jenin, in Marj Bin Amer, Israeli troops destroyed a water network in addition to razing arable land in Marj Bin Amer, north of Jenin.
- 6 July: Israeli troops entered the village of Silwad near Jerusalem and arrested one person, while another person was arrested at the Qalqiliya checkpoint. Israeli troops closed the Tayseer checkpoint in the Jordan valley, and also closed Hossan Street near Bethlehem, effectively preventing residents of surrounding villages from reaching Bethlehem.
- 7 July: Israeli troops shot a man while driving his car near Tulkarm. Palestinian- controlled territory in Rafah was invaded and a new military observation tower was erected near Khan Yunis. The northern West Bank town of Qabatiya was invaded and seven Palestinians were arrested. The northern West Bank town of Tubas was invaded and troops fired at a house in the village. Troops also invaded Ramallah and arrested two people, and Harbatha Al-Misbah near Ramallah was also invaded and two men were arrested.
- 8 July: Israeli troops entered Jenin and opened fire, and entered the town of Tulkaram and its refugee camp. Settlers, protected by soldiers, took over a house in Hebron and confiscated five dunums of Palestinian land for settlement expansion.
- 9 July: The village of Burkin near Jenin was invaded and in the ensuing shooting, a Palestinian was killed and several others were arrested. Troops entered Nablus and invaded an office block. Four international peace activists were arrested in Jenin during a demonstration against the confiscation of more Palestinian land in the area.
- 10 July: 12 people were arrested in Nablus and in the village of Dura south of Hebron. Palestinian farmers were unable to rwach their fields after troops closed a road at the village of Deir Lughzoun in Tulkarm near the site of the apartheid wall.
- 11 July: A house was demolished by in Rafah and settlement construction took place near the settlement of Morag. Troops fired at Khan Yunis and its refugee camp, and a Palestinian security post was attacked in another unprovoked shooting attack at Sufa in Rafah. A curfew was imposed in Hebron and three Palestinians were arrested. Palestinian farmers were prevented from transporting their produce after troops closed the road in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
- 12 July: Troops opened random fire in Rafah and Khan Yunis. A new settlement road was constructed near Beit Lahiya, and a new settlement outpost was constructed near the village of Salem near Nablus. The Ab'aa checkpoint near Jenin was closed, and two Palestinians were arrested during an invasion of the northern West Bank town of Beit Furiq. Troops closed the Polytechnic Institute in Hebron.
- 13 July: The village of Beit Annan near Ramallah was invaded and one Palestinian was arrested.
- 14 July: Israeli soldiers enforced a curfew in Ramallah and the nearby village of Beit Rima. Four Palestinian youths were arrested in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, and soldiers in a military tower near Rafah opened fire on a residential neigbourhood.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 July 2003 (Issue No. 648)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/648/re11.htm