|
The past week has witnessed grave
assaults on Palestinian farmers by the hands of the Israeli
Army in the Palestinian territories of both Hebron and
Gaza. Over two years of constant fighting in civilian areas
has wreaked havoc on the lives of normal Palestinian
civilians, and now, even rudimentary tasks such as farming
one’s land has fallen victim to becoming a life-threatening
activity. PHRMG beckons the international community not to
continue looking the other way and focusing elsewhere as
daily life for innocent people is ripped from their hands.
On Monday, February 3, two Palestinian
farmers in the Gaza Strip, Salah Kadih and Sami Abu-Shahab,
ages 62 and 35 respectfully, were murdered in their fields
by Israeli Army tank-fire, on the basis of fears that the
men were planting a bomb. Because these men were seen with
shovels, accepted by most as basic farming equipment, 60
meters from the border fence dividing Israel and Gaza,
Israeli commanders gave orders to shoot to kill.
Mr. Kadih, who went to this same field
daily and should have been recognized by Israeli patrollers
in the area, was found dead by his grandson, apparently
after bleeding to death. Mr. Abu-Shahab, whose field is
several hundred meters away from Mr. Kadih, was working with
his 3 brothers when Israeli tanks attacked them, killing
him, and injuring two of his brothers. PHRMG explicitly
states that such actions by the Israeli Army are horrific
and shameful at best. It is absolutely unacceptable that
men are shot to death by tanks as they work in their
fields. Because an Israeli border was illegally created
near their land, these innocent people are in danger for
their lives in even basic life tasks. Although murder is a
daily happening in Israel/Palestine, the world cannot accept
it without losing its moral conscious.
On Saturday, February 1, the Israeli
Army, in coordination with violent settler radicals, lied
to, captured, and brutalized nine Palestinian farmers from
Hebron who had gone to the Army base to work out a plan to
farm their land without being terrorized by settlers. These
farmers had pre-arranged “permission” by the Israeli Army to
work their land. Though it may seem ironic to need
permission to work one’s own field, these Palestinian
farmers have been subject to terrorism by Israeli settlers
for months, preventing them from tending their land by
assaulting and otherwise threatening them and making it
difficult in their earlier grape and olive harvests. On a
day when the farmers had such permission to be on their
land, settlers arrived, violently forcing Palestinians to
leave their own fields, and calling the Israeli Army t o
assist them in kicking the Palestinians off their fields.
The Army, following the settlers’ orders, told the
Palestinians to come to the army base. At the base, these
nine farmers were hand-cuffed behind their backs,
blindfolded, thrown into a dried river bed, kicked, cursed,
had stones thrown at them and held with their heads to the
ground if they requested to use the bathroom. The farmers
were held this way for seven hours. Their tractors were
confiscated. Upon being told by the Army to come the
following day for their tractors, four Palestinians were
sent to pick up the tractors, and these men, too, were
blindfolded, hand-cuffed, and captured from morning until
night. Again, this behavior is despicable and not
characteristic of a country that desires to be considered a
democracy.
International
law must come into play. Actions have repercussions and
those who take lives and abuse innocents must be held
accountable. Anything else is sheer hypocrisy and blatant
lawlessness. The United States must seek justice for human
rights over its political interests with Israel and turn
from its policies of protecting the guilty. When nothing is
done, as has been the policy to date, it tells the Israeli
Army and settlers that they can kill all they want and it
will go unpunished. And that is what is happening. This is
of grave concern to PHRMG especially in light of upcoming
conflict in Iraq. It would be foolish to think that the
Israeli Army, guided by a notorious war criminal of a prime
minister, would not plan to exploit the world’s diversion to
an upcoming war in Iraq by grossly increasing their
violations on the Palestinian people, thinking “the world is
not looking”—and indeed, they’re not. |
