Occupied Territories...

[info at furtherfield.org]

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US Secretary of State Colin Powell ended his 10-day Middle East peace
mission this morning without clinching a ceasefire or securing an Israeli
withdrawal from Palestinian areas.

Speaking after talks in Ramallah with the besieged Palestinian leader,
Yasser Arafat, Powell said a "ceasefire" was "not a relevant term at the
moment - it will become relevant when the incursion ends and the
withdrawals are completed".

Powell also charged that the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank was
proceeding more slowly than he wanted, but that Israel had given him a
"timeline" and he had been "assured of results in the next few days".

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that around 30 tanks were seen leaving the
West Bank city of Jenin this afternoon, and the devastated nearby refugee
camp, scene of the fiercest recent fighting, although it was not clear
whether they were pulling out or being redeployed.

Red Cross teams are continuing the search for the bodies of Palestinians
killed in heavy fighting there. But the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) accused the Israeli army of blocking rescue workers from
the area, where it thought survivors could still be trapped under rubble.

For the latest on developments in Jenin and Bethlehem, check out B'Tselem,
IndyMedia-Palestine and The Electronic Intifada. All three sites are
available in English, Arabic and Hebrew, and aim to provide regular daily
updates on the current carnage in Palestine:

B'Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/
IndyMedia Palestine: http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/
Electronic Intifada: http://electronicIntifada.net/new.html
                                              
Just before this latest sharp escalation of violence, a delegation from
the International Parliament of Writers visited Israel and Palestine in
March to observe the situation and to meet with Palestinians and Israelis,
including members of the so-called refusniks, the currently 417 members of
the Israeli Defense Force who have publicly declared their refusal to
serve in the Occupied Territories.

The Nation recently published essays from three of the members of this
delegation. All are currently available:

RUSSELL BANKS: Witness in the Territories   (April 29, 2002)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020429&s=banks

WOLE SOYINKA: The Isle of Polyphemus   (April 29, 2002)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020429&s=soyinka

BREYTEN BREYTENBACH: An Open Letter to General Ariel Sharon   (WEB ONLY)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=breytenbach20020410

You can also find out more about the refusniks from Neve Gordon's
editorial in the February 25, 2002 issue of The Nation. A professor of
politics at Ben-Gurion University in Tel Aviv, Gordon supplies the
historical and political background of this steadily emerging new
movement. Read the article now at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020225&s=gordon

And check out the Yesh Guval ("Enough is Enough") site for more info on
the refusnik movement, including how you can help support it. Available
at:

http://www.seruv.org.il/defaulteng.asp

The Nation has also created a special page of resources on the Middle
East.  Currently, you can find links to groups offering news and
background info, a recommended-reading list for those who want to know
more about the conflict, and a complete collection of recent relevant
Nation commentary, including essays, reports and editorials from Edward
Said, Richard Falk, Jerome Segal, Robert Fisk, Robert Friedman, Meredith
Tax and Charmaine Seitz. In the days and weeks ahead, we'll be adding
Nation archival material from the past one hundred years along with a host
of activist options.

All available at:

http://www.thenation.com/special/2002middleeast.mhtml

And for a particularly bracing lesson on the roots of the already
18-month-long second Intifada, see "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's
Apartheid," a recent collection edited by Nation copy chief Roane Carey.
Published in late 2001, the volume features more than twenty essays which
explore the underlying conflicts and frustrations that led to the latest
uprising. For information, including how to buy the title, go to:

http://www.versobooks.com/books/cdef/carey_r_new_intifada.shtml


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