Israel greeted the new year by killing seven children in the Gaza Strip, reports Khaled Amayreh from Ramallah On 4 January an Israeli Abrams tank stationed in Beit Lahya in northern Gaza fired one or two huge artillery shells at a group of Palestinian children harvesting strawberry crops. The shells killed six children from the same family, three brothers and three cousins, all aged between 10 and 14. A seventh boy, aged 19, was also killed in the shelling. The bodies of the victims were mutilated beyond recognition. The Israeli army immediately switched into "hasbara mode", concocting lies aimed at absolving itself of blame for the hideous crime. Initially, Israeli radio and TV stations, as well as newspaper websites, declared that "the IDF killed between six and seven terrorists who were trying to plant bombs." An hour or so later, the army spokesman modified his tone, saying that "it appeared that a Hamas cell was operating in the area." Then, after it became clear that the victims were children and that no "terrorists were operating in the area" the spokesman resorted to the ultimate defensive tactic, blaming the victims for their own death. It is all too familiar to the Palestinians of the area. Mohamed Sultan, who lives not far from the site where the killings occurred, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Israeli army would never condemn itself by telling the truth. "The Israeli army lies as mush as it breathes. When they murder children, knowingly and deliberately, they concoct a narrative about Hamas or terror groups. The truth of the matter is that the Israeli army embodies terror in its ugliest form. Israel is terror placed between two mirrors, it is infinitely evil." The seven victims follow 12 Palestinians murdered by Israel since the beginning of 2005, all of them in the Gaza Strip. In Khan Yunis Israeli occupation forces have over two weeks left more than 27 dead and destroyed hundreds of homes and farms. According to the annual report released on 1 January by the Israeli human rights organisation B'tselem, which monitors human rights violations in the occupied territories, the majority of Palestinians killed and maimed by the Israeli occupation army in the past 12 months played no part in the resistance. B'tselem said it was not clear if 19 additional victims killed in the same period were involved in the resistance. According to the report, the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army and paramilitary settlers since the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000 stands at 3,185, including 626 children. Of these, the report said, 1,712 were not involved in the resistance. The latest killings in Gaza, suggest some Palestinian and Israeli observers, might have been intended to appease the Jewish settlers' camp whose messianic followers are putting up stiff resistance to Ariel Sharon's unilateral plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Settler leaders have been demanding the Israeli government "kill the terrorists" instead of uprooting Jews from "their land". On 3 January, the government ordered the army to vacate an outpost near the "troublesome" settlement of Yetshar in the northern West Bank after local settler leaders issued an ultimatum to the soldiers to leave or else they would be removed by force. Meanwhile, the Israeli army has been carrying out a wave of arrests among Palestinian civic and community leaders in the southern West Bank, apparently in order to disrupt plans by Islamic opposition groups to participate in the upcoming legislative and municipal elections. During the past two weeks, Israeli troops rounded up scores of community leaders and Islamic activists, many associated with the political leadership of Hamas. The detainees include students, teachers, civil servants, businessmen, engineers and other professionals as well as ordinary people, many of whom are thought to be potential or undeclared candidates in the upcoming elections. The bulk of the arrests were concentrated in Hebron, Dura, Beit Ula, Dir Samet, Surif, Burj and surrounding villages. "They came around three o'clock," said the wife of Sheikh Fathi Amr. "They started throwing large rocks on the outer door and, when we opened, they told us via a loudspeaker they had come to arrest Fathi." Fathi Amr, 54, is a high-ranking official at Hebron's Islamic Waqf (Islamic endowment) Department and head of a local orphanage. Wafaa Rajoub, wife of Nayif Rajoub, told the Weekly that she was sure the arrests were linked to the upcoming elections in Dura, scheduled for April. "They simply want to dump all popular (Islamist) candidates in jail so that only supporters of Fatah can win. Why don't they say it clearly? Don't contend the elections or else you will be arrested and then no body would nominate himself." Nayif Rajoub and his twin Yasser, both brothers of PA official Jebril Rajoub, were arrested last week. An Israeli army spokesman denied that the arrests were politically motivated. He argued that the detainees were involved in "harmful political activities" and that as such they posed a "security threat to Israel". The Israeli army reportedly mistreated the detainees, leaving them standing in heavy rain for more than 16 hours at the Adorayem training camp outside the town of Dura. At least two of the detainees, Fathi Amr and his cousin Hussein Amr, fell ill as a result of the ordeal, according to an East Jerusalem lawyer who visited them at the Etzion detention camp north of Hebron. Hamas has strongly criticised the latest "political witch- hunt" against Islamist political leaders. "Now the world should see for itself who is stoking the fire of violence. Rounding up innocent people from their homes and dumping them in concentration camps, this is the ultimate incitement for violence," said Hassan Youssef, Hamas political spokesman in Ramallah, who himself was released from prison recently. "Israel is launching war on Hamas's political wing, this leaves people no choice but to go for violence."
