Greens Warn That Israel’s Gaza ‘Disengagement Plan’ Will Not Bring Peace

HIC

Israeli settlers evacuation from occupied Gaza and the Poor Media Coverage of the Gaza “Disengagement”
New York 8/20/05

The Palestinian American Congress is appalled at the media coverage of the Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The media is projecting the evacuation of Jewish settlers as an Israeli sacrifice filled with emotional scenes of desolation. We urge the media to include a better and wider perspective beyond the hype of removing the Gaza settlers who represent less than 2% of colonial settlers in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem). According to International Law, all 450,000 settlers (half in East Jerusalem) are illegal and have been illegal for the past 38 years. The media fails to mention the plight and the suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank at an alarming rate, the continuous confiscation of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the separation wall on Palestinian land.

“While the evacuation of Israeli presence from any portion of the occupied territories is welcomed, it must be part of a negotiated plan with the Palestinians as dictated by the U.S. envisioned road map to encompass a future contiguous Palestinian state” said Sameer Tuffaha, Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian American Congress.

We call on the US and the International Community to insist that Israel comply with International Law and International Human Rights standards.

PAC has available a list of speakers in all major US cities and in several states who can provide a Palestinian perspective on issues like the disengagement smokescreen, the wall being built on Palestinian land, settlements in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and refugees.

The Palestinian American Congress (PAC)
P.O.Box 2302
Astoria, New York 11102
http://www.pac-national.org/


More information:

Adherence to international law, including Palestinian refugees’ right of return, remains key, say Greens. http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_08_16.shtml

Here is a dose of reality in Haaretz that transcend the hype of the Gaza disengagement (a missed opportunity for those who really yearn for peace to set the record straight). Daniel Gavron does not mince words about the real fault line in Israel (must read)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/614820.html

Article in the New Haven Register on Local Reactions to Disengagement:
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15040279&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dep
Note: The discrepancy between the associated press figure of 230,000 settlers and the real figure of 450,000 is that the AP does not include Eas Jerusalem, an integrap part of the West Bank and also occupied since 1967.

International Solidarity Movement fact sheet on the Gaza disengagement
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/08/19/the-smokescreen-of-the-gaza-disengagement/

Israel’s withdrawal is both historic and deceptive by Rami Khouri, Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=10&article_ID=17685&categ_id=5

Disengagement and the politics of post-national realism
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=8530

The settlers’ retreat was the theatre of the cynical; There was no ‘sensitivity training’ when bulldozers went into Rafah By Jonathan Steele The Guardian 19 August 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1552360,00.html

US Campaign to End the Occupation Convention Report
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1142