Israeli troops fire on women in mosque siege

Israeli troops have opened fire on a group of women in the Gaza Strip as they walked past tanks into the town of Beit Hanoun yesterday morning.

One woman was killed and another ten injured.

Elham Hamad, 48, said she left her house in Beit Hanoun at 5am yesterday with two of her daughters-in-law to join the march into the centre of the town. Her son Mazen, 30, like hundreds of other men from the town had been held by Israeli troops for questioning.

"There were about 30 women in our group, all in the main street. We were moving into the town and passing by the Israeli tanks. We carried two white flags. They didn't ask us to stop and then suddenly we saw them shooting at us," she said. "I was hit but there were no ambulances. We were calling for them but there was nothing." Her husband found a donkey cart and put the injured women on the back and led them out of the town to waiting ambulances. Mrs Hamad was hit on the forehead and in the left shoulder and was yesterday being treated at the al-Ouda hospital in Gaza.

Her daughter-in-law, Asma, 23, was in the bed next to her. She was hit just above her left ankle and suffered a broken leg. She heard the call to march on her radio early yesterday. "We wanted to see what had happened to the youngsters who were taken by the Israelis," she said. "There were tanks on the road in front of us but without telling us anything they started shooting at us." Other women on the street helped them into a nearby house, where they were briefly treated, until they could find their way out of the town.

There has been widespread concern about the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip where Israeli operations continue as they have done since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.

The Israelis now say they are acting to prevent rocket fire from the strip, although I can think of no recent deaths to occur from these rocket attacks; certainly these rocket attacks hardly seem to represent a sufficient danger to justify the deaths of the 34 Palestinians that have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza since Wednesday, including 19 fatalities on Friday alone.

The Israelis say they are examining the claims of the women, although the IDF are stating that snipers were hiding amongst the women. Strangely, the bullets managed to injure only the females in the group and mysteriously avoiding any contact with any "snipers".

The women were wanting to know what had happened to their men after the Israelis had ordered over loudspeakers for all men in the town between the age of 16 and 45 to present themselves for questioning. Hundreds were held and interrogated.

This seems an extraordinary practice, to round up all males of a certain age, and it certainly a move that is unlikely to subdue tensions.

The rising levels of violence in Gaza have even alarmed Margaret Beckett, Britain's foreign secretary, and brought condemnation from a British government that refused to call for a ceasefire whilst Israel bombed Lebanon some months ago.

Beckett, said she was concerned by the increased violence and civilian deaths. "Israel has a right to defend itself but any action should be proportionate and in accordance with international humanitarian law," she said.

Kofi Annan has gone even further saying that Israel's operation in Northern Gaza was the reason for the increase in violence on the strip.

Predictably, the US State Department saw things differently.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack reiterated also the Bush administration's view that Israel had a right to defend itself.

The statement issued by Annan's spokesman urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint, do its utmost to protect civilians and to refrain from further escalation in an already grave situation.

"He also calls on Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at Israeli civilian targets," the statement said.

McCormack went further, saying it was important the Palestinian Authority stop the rocket attacks and dismantle terrorist organizations and terrorist groups.

"That's a little more difficult when you have a terrorist organization actually at the head of the government, that holds the rein of government," he said, referring to the militant Hamas group.

"The UN has a point of view," McCormack said.

So, McCormack doesn't merely want the rocket attacks to end, he is calling for the complete dismantlement of all terrorist groups, including Hamas - the democratically elected leaders of Palestine.

Leaving aside the hypocrisy of the US - who claim to be wanting to export democratic values - calling for the dismantlement of a democratically elected government, we also have to accept that - given McCormack's extraordinary demands - the Israeli operation can continue almost indefinitely with America's blessing. After all, these are not demands that look likely to be achieved overnight.

I am reading Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" at the moment and have been quite stunned at how often, and forcefully, - prior to 9-11 - Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia warned Bush that the US's knee-jerk support for Israel was poisoning relations in the region, especially with moderate Arab governments.

At one point Bandar even carried a message to Bush from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia which stated, "What pained the Crown Prince more is the continuance of American ignorance of Israel upholding policies as if a drop of Jewish blood is equal to a thousand Palestinian lives.

He went as far as to say, "Therefore the Crown Prince will not communicate in any form, type or shape with you, and Saudi Arabia will take all it's political, economic and security decisions based on how it sees it's own interest in the region without taking into account American interests anymore because it is obvious that the United States has taken a strategic decision adopting Sharon's policies."

Powell apparently followed Bandar out of the Oval Office, cornering him saying, "What the fuck are you doing? You're putting the fear of God into everybody here. You scared the shit out of everybody!"

To which Bandar replied, "I don't give a damn what you feel. We are scared ourselves."

Bush apparently assured the Crown Prince by letter that he had the best interests of the Palestinians at heart and that the US had not adopted Israeli policies.

When one reads of events like yesterday's shootings, and America's predictably one sided reaction to it, one can't help but think it might be time for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to hit Bush with another missive.

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tag: Israel, Palestine, Gaza Strip, rocket attacks, IDF, Israeli incursions, operation, UN, United Nations, Kofi Annan, Sean McCormack, US State Department, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Bush, Powell, Bandar,