The Israeli / Palestinian conflict is wearing down the humanity of both sides by Daoud Kuttab The Jerusalem Post / UN News 6:54pm 6th Oct, 2004   Oct. 11, 2004    About five years ago an elderly Israeli civilian was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in Jerusalem's Old City. The following day a group of Palestinians - myself included - publicly denounced the killing. Israelis have also publicly denounced violent acts against Palestinian civilians. I thought of the Old City incident while following the terrible events that took place in Sinai last Thursday night.    Talking to family and friends, I was struck by how the event was barely registering on our sensitivity level. People agreed that four years of intifada and the many civilian casualties on the Palestinian side contributed to this new insensitivity. Some in my circle were more focused on the most recent Israeli incursion in Gaza and the nearly 100 Palestinians who were killed. They said both sides have lost a lot of their humanity.    A friend referred repeatedly to the case of seven members of a single family who had been killed by an Israeli tank shell which landed in their Gaza apartment. "They simply can't go on vacation in Sinai as if nothing is happening not very far from where they were enjoying the Red Sea sun."    For the past four years an ugly fight has been going on in this part of the world. Two asymmetrical groups - Palestinians and Israelis - are locked in a fruitless cycle of violence that has produced no winners and plenty of dead, injured and homeless.    Since the outbreak of the intifada, 3,549 Palestinians and 1,017 Israelis have been killed. Statistics released by the Palestinian health ministry show that since the start of the uprising on September 28, 2000, of the 3,549 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army 772 were minors. Thousands of Palestinian homes have been demolished, fruit-bearing trees have been destroyed, and thousands of dunams of Palestinian land have been confiscated. Palestinians financial losses are reportedly in the $4-billion range. Tourism to the Holy Land has all but disappeared, hurting both the Palestinian and Israeli economies.    Despite all of this suffering, Israel's powerful military has been unable to crush the armed Palestinian uprising. Palestinians began this intifada with popular acts of protest. But opposition to the occupation was not kept nonviolent. Indeed, leading Palestinian figures such as prime minister Mahmoud Abbas have publicly criticized the militarization by fellow Palestinians. Militant Islamists have fallen into an Israeli trap by using military acts against a very powerful military. This allows the Israelis to justify their exaggerated, violent response against the Palestinian people.    The senseless cycle of violence has left both sides exhausted; yet neither is willing to throw in the towel. If ever there was a case for international intervention, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is it.    This is a conflict the international community has been involved in from the day the UN declared the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state in 1947, continuing with the most recent decision of the International Court of Justice ruling that the Israeli wall, deep in Palestinian territory, is illegal.    The US and many of its Western allies have supported and bankrolled Israel's illegal occupation. Little more than lip service has been offered to stop the carnage. No one can shirk responsibility for this colossal political and humanitarian failure. The US, the UN, Europe and Russia - the Quartet - took upon themselves the responsibility of pushing for peace in this region through the road map.    The plan specified what is expected of both Israelis and Palestinians: Israel was asked to immediately stop the building of illegal Jewish settlements and refrain from provocative acts like assassinations, house demolitions, closures and armed incursions - all of which infuriate the Palestinian public.    Palestinians were asked to create the position of prime minister, reform their finance and security ministries and prepare for elections. Palestinians carried out most of their commitments. On the security front it was difficult for the Palestinian security apparatus, which was itself attacked by the Israelis, to control an angry population without basic tools and mobility.    While lack of success on the security front can be partially attributed to the fact that Israel has crushed the PA security apparatus and is still refusing to allow Palestinian security to be armed, there is no doubt that there has also been an absence of Palestinian political will.    Palestinian leaders say it would be political suicide to go after the militants at a time when more Palestinians are being killed and Israeli leaders are refusing to negotiate with the elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Average Palestinians and Israelis must find a way to regain the ethical high ground and stop these incursions, rocket shelling and suicide attacks.    Meanwhile, a mutual, effective cease-fire should be monitored by neutral international observers. This should immediately be followed by substantive and direct negotiations by the legitimate leaders of both sides. We Palestinians and Israelis must in the meantime search high and low for a way to regain our humanity and our sensitivity.    (The writer is a Palestinian journalist, director of the Institute of Modern media at Al-Quds University in Ramallah).    12 October 2004    Annan laments ongoing violence in Gaza as another girl is hit by Israeli gunfire. (UN News)    As another Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip was hit by Israeli gunfire while attending a United Nations-run school, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that he was deeply troubled by the continuing military action and violence in the area, especially its effect on local children.    Ghadeer Jaber Mokheimer, 11, was hit in the stomach during classes at the school in the refugee camp at Khan Younis, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement issued in Jerusalem. The fifth grade student underwent emergency surgery in hospital, where her condition was later described as stable.    UNRWA said two shots were heard at about 10:45 a.m. from the direction of an Israeli army position on the border of the Gush Katif settlement and overlooking Khan Younis.    Noting that it is the fourth incident of its kind in two years, and that the Agency has repeatedly asked Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen called again for an immediate end to such shootings.    Most recently, 10-year-old Raghda Adnan Al-Assar was struck in the head on 7 September while sitting at her desk in a classroom of another UNRWA-run school in Khan Younis. She never regained consciousness and died on 22 September.    In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan said he deplored the "high toll of death and injuries among the civilian population" and grieved "for the many children who have been killed or wounded" during the Israeli military operations in the north of the Gaza Strip.    The Secretary-General said he was disturbed by the destruction of civilian property, infrastructure and agricultural land during the operations and called on the Israeli Government to do its utmost to avoid harming Palestinian civilians.    Reminding both sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, he urged them to cease all forms of violence and search for a peaceful settlement.
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