Israel starves Palestinians of water

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FightingFat

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jerusalemites.org/editorial/95.htm

The Middle East is one of the world’s most water-stressed regions and Palestine isn’t the exception. Since the Israeli The Middle East is one of the world’s most water-stressed regions and occupation in 1967 Israel has almost completely controlled the little water available to the Palestinian population.

Water is one of the major issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since the negotiations started. In the Oslo II Agreement of September 1995, Israel for the first time recognized Palestinian water right but it was just words because the agreement was not implemented and the Israeli government continues until our days to deprive Palestinians of their right to share water…
 
First of all, your source is totally biased. Second, they are complaining that Isreal is not honoring the Oslo accords. Arafat had his chance to make peace with Isreal and shame them into honoring international agreements. He chose to continue his terrorist tactics and because of this Isreal feels no need to honor their side of the agreement. There is little or no international pressure on Isreal because of the terrorist activities of the Palestinians. If the Palestinians give up their terrorist activities and there are no suicide bombers or other such things for 18 months, the pressure on Isreal to negotiate would be great. As long as the Palestinians follow a course of terrorism they will never be given statehood and will always be dependant on the generosity of other nations for their survival. Why should Isreal feel compeled to honor Oslo on water when Palestinians don’t honor it on terrorism?
 
Sorry Lance, I’m not quite sure who’s side your on here, is it the Palestinians or the Israelis?

:rolleyes:
 
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=606537

Shooting of Palestinian girl threatens fragile ceasefire
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 	 **By Eric Silver in Jerusalem**

 **01 February 2005**

    The de facto ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was shattered yesterday when a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot dead in the playground of a primary school in the Rafah refugee camp.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which runs Rafah Elementary School B, said Norhan Deeb was hit by a rifle bullet apparently fired from an Israeli army observation post 800 metres away. “She suddenly screamed and fell bleeding,” a witness said. “The children scattered in all directions.”

Palestinian doctors said Norhan was shot in the head and was dead on arrival at hospital. Another girl, Aysha el-Khatib, aged seven, was wounded in the hand. Bullets also broke school windows. Yousef Ibrahim, a local human rights activist, said the shooting was unprovoked.

Plainly embarrassed Israeli military sources said they knew of no shooting in the area at the time. They said they were conducting a thorough investigation in co-operation with the Palestinian security services, which were deployed in the Strip last week to prevent attacks on Jewish settlements. But Johan Eriksson, a spokesman for UNRWA, said: “The only firing at that time in the Rafah area was from the observation post. It continued for some time. The children were in the yard for afternoon assembly. Teachers tried to get them into the building, but they were too late.”

Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said: “Despite the hopeful signs of improvement in the situation, we have again been reminded of the continuing danger to which innocent children are exposed by the realities of the occupation and the irresponsible use of arms.” The school has 2,500 pupils, aged seven to 11. Because of the overcrowded conditions, they study on a two-shift system. The shooting happened during a change of shifts.

The school has been hit many times over the past four years, but yesterday’s shooting was the first death there. UN officials said it was the fifth incident in two years in which children had been killed at Gaza schools.
 
map-uk.org/progs_wbgz.htm
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				   						  						    							  **Improving Nutrition in Gaza**  [[TOP]](http://www.map-uk.org/progs_wbgz.htm#0)

						  Forty percent of children in Gaza are suffering from malnutrition with 								long-term implications for individual and societal health and well-being. MAP is targeting pregnant 								and nursing mothers, and children with micro nutrient / vitamin supplements and support as well as 								running health awareness campaigns with our partners to teach people (particularly mothers) how to 								produce balanced meals with very limited resources. 

						  MAP also funds food-parcels for some of the poorest families in the areas 								worst affected by military action. For example, over 400 families in Rafah camp benefited from food 								parcels during Ramadan.
Violence, like poverty, is a fact of everyday life under occupation. Many Palestinian children have witnessed or been caught up in terrifying situations leaving them confused and upset. Without an outlet for these feelings and the chance to talk about their experiences, too often these children develop further behavioural and psychological problems. Preventing permanent psychological damage is essential if there is to be hope for a healthy Palestinian society in the future. Teaching children techniques that enable them to address their trauma and its effects can do this. Feelings of aggression are reduced and through developing coping skills, children can escape the cycle of hatred and lead more positive lives.
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						  MAP is working with several Palestinian organisations across the West Bank 								and Gaza Strip to try and tackle this issue. For example, with our partner the 'Early Childhood 								Resource Centre', we are providing training for kindergarten teachers in Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, 								Hebron and Bethlehem in techniques they can use to help children talk about the things they have 								seen and how it makes them feel. One such technique involves the use of puppets to enable children 								to describe situations and take on the characters involved to express their feelings.

					  					 
				 
				   						  						    							  Over 100 teachers are participating in the course and they all have 								stories to tell about the impact the situation is having on children, ranging from violent 								behaviour to becoming withdrawn, from bedwetting to an obsession with death. Even their games have 								changed - many report children setting up 'checkpoints' in the playground or street and refusing to 								let others pass, for example.

						  Other projects involve providing one-to-one counselling for the most 								severely traumatised, training parents to help their children cope with their experiences and 								running activities to give children a chance to just be children - to play in safety and forget for 								a while the stress and violence of everyday life.
Support for disabled people, whether disabled by birth or injury [TOP]
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				  Levels of disability, both congenital and through trauma are high in the 						Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), particularly in Gaza. Combined with low levels of care 						facilities and trained personnel, this can result in social exclusion. Children with disabilities 						are particularly badly affected by the political and economic situation in the OPT. Record levels 						of poverty and unemployment mean that families cannot afford the medical care and technical aids 						their children need in order to participate fully in school and social life, while organisations 						which might otherwise provide specialist recreational and rehabilitation programmes have had their 						own resources stretched to the limit.

				  MAP aims to achieve increased social inclusion of people suffering from 						disability and an increase in the number of medical and health professionals trained to provide 						appropriate care for people with disabilities. For example we are currently working with the 						Palestine Save the Children Foundation to provide wheelchairs for 30 children and glasses for 300 						and to run mixed summer day-camps for able-bodied and disabled children to encourage 						integration.
 
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FightingFat:
Sorry Lance, I’m not quite sure who’s side your on here, is it the Palestinians or the Israelis?

:rolleyes:
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I am not on either side. I am for justice and what I was trying to say is that until the Palestinians begin to practice justice they should expect very little of it. The middle east has been in turmoil for 3000 years and I don’t expect to see it end in my life, but the Palestinians have an opportunity to make great headway by forgoing terrorism. If Islam forgoes terrorism and embraces democracy they will see their lot in this world improve. They do not have to love the Isrealis, they just have to learn to live next to them and forget about killing them.
 
When I was in Israel at the bus station someone left a bag unattended. Everything stopped. Everyone became nervous until the bag was claimed. They were ready to evacuate. After you live like that for awhile you tend to not worry to much about how the Palestinians feel. Arafat is the real monster in this situation. Even the Arabs are not mourning him. They know the intifada was a huge mistake.
 
map-uk.org/context_settl.htm
http://www.map-uk.org/images/settlers.jpg
A settlement on a hill outside Jericho. © MAP - Catherine Perez Phillips
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				  Settlements are housing complexes, some of them as large as small towns, built 						by Israel in the Occupied Territories. They are illegal under international law, contravening the 						Fourth Geneva Convention and the protection of civilian persons in time of war. Settlement 						construction began in earnest after the 1967 Israel/Arab war when Israel captured and occupied the 						West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. According to the Middle East Centre for 						Peace, settlements and accompanying roads now occupy 59% of the West Bank. In total there are over 						400,000 housing units in settlements across the Occupied Territories. 

				  The building of settlements in the occupied territories is one of the biggest 						stumbling blocks to peace in the Israel/ Palestine conflict. The Road Map, the US sponsored plan to 						bring peace to the region, has called on the Israeli government to freeze all settlement activity, 						and to dismantle settlement outposts (outposts are usually porter cabins that have been set up on 						land that the Israeli government has marked out for settlement building). 

				  **Impact on the Palestinian Population: **

				  Settlements have a devastating impact on the Palestinian population, often 						restricting access to water and land, while the roads built to access them can block existing 						routes and limit the ability of Palestinians to move around. In addition a disproportionate 						military presence is often necessary to protect the settlers, as for example, in Hebron where 						approximately 4,000 troops control the H2 part of the town, home to 400 settlers as well as its 						Palestinian population. Palestinians living in H2 are often subject to curfews and have to 						negotiate with soldiers to get to and from work, and to gain access to schools, colleges and 						hospitals. Water and electricity is rationed to the Palestinian population in the town, creating 						difficulties particularly in the long summer months. 

				  **Facts and figures: **

				  Israeli Human Rights Group, B'tselem, produced a detailed report into settlement 						building: 'Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank', which stated that:
  • Between Sept 1993 - Sept 2001 the number of housing units in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) & the Gaza Strip increased by 54% from 20,400 to 31, 480.
  • The sharpest increase was recorded under the Barak government in 2000 when work on 4,800 housing units began.
  • The population of West Bank settlements (excluding East Jerusalem) rose 90% from 1993 to 2000 - 100,500 to 191,600.
  • The population of settlements in East Jerusalem grew more slowly, an increase of 18% from 146,800 in 1993 to 173,300 in 2000.
 
Some of them are illegal under Israeli law too.

Looks like Israel is pulling back from the settlements (they offered this before and Arafat refused peace).
 
I tthink my point is that the Palestinians are as much human as the Israelis. From what I can make out, they are put upon quite badly. They feel desperate and act desperately. They feel betrayed and ignored by the international community. If we are to sue for peace, we need to take the blinkers off and see the whole picture in all its shades of grey.
 
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Lance:
They do not have to love the Isrealis, they just have to learn to live next to them and forget about killing them.
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I assume you mean on the other side of the wall that splits many of them away from their land that is used to feed their children who are not supposed to feel agrieved at the fact they cannot survive and prosper? Hmmmm…

Who is trying to kill who I wonder?
 
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Matt25:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which runs Rafah Elementary School B, said Norhan Deeb was hit by a rifle bullet apparently fired from an Israeli army observation post 800 metres away. “She suddenly screamed and fell bleeding,” a witness said. “The children scattered in all directions.”
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An intentional head shot on a playing child (read: moving target) from 800 meters (roughly a half mile) away?

Either someone is pulling serious wool over the West’s eyes, or our guys need to find out what the Israeli military is drinking.

DaveBj

Edit: That came out a little more cruel and crass than I intended. The death of a child under circumstances like these is tragic. However, people need to examine the circumstances of the death before they break out the polemics.
 
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gilliam:
It turns out it is very likely that the Palestinians shot the girl themselves.

Palestinian bullet may have killed girl

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Palestinian revelers had been shooting into the air in the area, celebrating their return from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/02/world/main671061.shtml
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That’s what happens when 20-something children who never grew up get their hands on guns.

:mad: (we need a :hoppingmad: smiley)

DaveBj
 
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FightingFat:
I tthink my point is that the Palestinians are as much human as the Israelis. From what I can make out, they are put upon quite badly. They feel desperate and act desperately. They feel betrayed and ignored by the international community. If we are to sue for peace, we need to take the blinkers off and see the whole picture in all its shades of grey.
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I completely agree with you…

Emmy
 
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FightingFat:
I tthink my point is that the Palestinians are as much human as the Israelis. From what I can make out, they are put upon quite badly. They feel desperate and act desperately. They feel betrayed and ignored by the international community. If we are to sue for peace, we need to take the blinkers off and see the whole picture in all its shades of grey.
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The Palestinians have had a terrible time. They also put their lot in with the terrorists and they are reaping what they have sewed. If they abandon terrorism, I would be much more sympathetic. They have the opportunity now, do you think they will take it? (this is not a leading question, I really want to know if that is what they want, or if they really want, what their government says, that is to push Israel into the sea?)
 
There are people on both sides whose aim is the total destruction of the other, but Jews and Arabs have lived together before…I see no reason for it not to be a possibility in the future.

I think the problem is that there are angry young men on both sides who feel there is injustice and want to retaliate.

I don’t know what will happen, my my thoughts and prayers are that they will seize this opportunity for peace.
 
freep.com/news/nw/mid1e_20050201.htm
The girl was shot and killed in the courtyard of a United Nations school in the Rafah refugee camp near the Egyptian border, a frequent flashpoint of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinian witnesses said gunfire came from a nearby Israeli military position along the border.

But the Israeli military said the girl wasn’t hit by Israeli fire. Soldiers opened fire in two cases, an army spokesman said, but not in the area where the girl was shot.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Palestinian revelers had been shooting into the air, celebrating their return from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Residents, however, said no such celebrations took place.

Dr. Ali Moussa, who treated the girl, said she was hit by a bullet in the face, and initial reports by paramedics that she had been killed by tank fire were wrong.

Witnesses said the girl was shot in the head as she and other pupils lined up in the schoolyard for afternoon assembly.

“I didn’t hear any shooting. Suddenly, I heard Norhan screaming. Then she fell down,” said Aysha Khateeb, a classmate who was wounded in the hand.

Mariam Abu Shamala, the school’s deputy principal, said the students were rushed inside.

“Her friends put flowers on the dead girl’s desk. They kept her bag, and put her uniform on it,” Abu Shamala said.

Johan Eriksson, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, said UN officials couldn’t definitively identify the source of the gunfire, but added that all signs pointed to the Israeli troops. “The only firing that took place at that time in the entire Rafah area” came from the direction of an Israeli observation post, he said.
 
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Israeli soldiers shot at us, say MPs | Politics | The Guardian
Israeli soldiers shot at us, say MPsMatthew Taylor
Saturday June 19, 2004
Guardian

Two MPs and a Liberal Democrat peer have called for an inquiry after claiming they were shot at by Israeli soldiers during a visit to the Gaza Strip. Huw Irranca-Davies, the Labour MP for Ogmore, Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP for Reigate, and Lady Northover, the Liberal Democrat international development spokeswoman, say they came under fire near the Rafah refugee camp yesterday.

The incident happened yards from the spot where the British peace activist Tom Hurndall was shot in the head last year as he tried to guide Palestinian children to safety.

Last night Mr Blunt, the chairman of the Conservative Middle East council, said: “It is absolutely appalling. If the Israeli soldiers are prepared to do this to people who are clearly with the UN it is no surprise that so many Palestinians have been killed.”

Mr Blunt said soldiers in an observation post had opened fire with an automatic weapon as the politicians inspected an area that had been bulldozed by the Israeli army. “There were children playing around as we walked across the road. Once we realised they were firing at us we returned to the vehicles which were clearly marked with the UN emblem and another shot was fired, which hit a building dislodging a piece of plaster near [Lady] Northover.”

The three politicians said they were planning to raise the issue with the Israeli ambassador on their return.

“This demonstrates that the Israelis do not want witnesses to what is happening here and in the West Bank,” Mr Blunt said. "We will be asking for an explanation as to why this happened and an investigation into the actions of these soldiers.

“But in a way we are lucky, we were able to leave and able to demand an explanation; these are not options open to the Palestinian people.”

Last night the three politicians released a joint statement: “If the Israeli Defence Force treat the UN in this fashion it is scarcely surprising that over 100 Palestinians died and over 400 were wounded in Gaza in the month of May alone.”
 
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