The Israeli army committed another horrific massacre against the Palestinians, this time in Khan Yunis, Gaza, as the world looked on in silence. Khaled Amayreh reports from Jerusalem Click to view caption This week, the Israeli army committed another atrocity against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, killing and maiming more than 150 innocent civilians. The latest carnage began shortly before dawn on Monday when 40 Israeli tanks backed by Apache helicopter gunships rampaged through the neigbourhoods of Al- Amal and Khan Younis, south of Gaza. The tanks scoured the neighbourhoods, firing randomly on civilian homes, apparently with the purpose of terrorising inhabitants. Then, before leaving, a group of soldiers began breaking into Palestinian homes in search of "wanted persons". None were found. Disturbed by the prospect of ending the operation empty- handed, a group of Israeli soldiers broke into the home of Rahima Hassan Salameh, 52. In unintelligible Arabic, they asked the woman to hand-over her son. Rahima told the soldiers, who were pointing their M-16 automatic rifles at her, that she didn't know his whereabouts. However, after Rahima had uttered these words, the commanding Israeli officer pulled the trigger of his rifle, riddling the body of helpless Rahima with bullets, in full view of her seven children. She died instantly. As Rahima's family began crying for a car or ambulance to take her to hospital, in the hope that her life might be saved, a neighbour hastened toward the home, but was shot dead by Israeli troops who were shooting at anything moving. As dawn broke, around 4.30am, and Israeli tanks began leaving the Amal neighbourhood, hundreds of people left their homes to see what had happened, a habitual practice following every Israeli incursion. There was an aura of death and bloodshed in the air. Indeed, as more than 300 youngsters and boys gathered outside the Katiba Mosque, an Israeli Apache helicopter, still hovering over Khan Younis, launched a single hellfire air-to-ground missile right into the crowd. The result was a mass of blood, incinerated flesh and body parts. "It was a slaughterhouse," said one medical rescuer describing the gruesome scene. "This is a huge massacre. Israel is carrying out a terrible genocide against helpless and defenceless men, women and children. When will the world rise up to stop this genocide?" said Fouad Abdul- Salam, who lost his cousin in the bloodshed. "How many more Palestinian children will have to be slaughtered by that terrorist Sharon and his cohorts before the world wakes up?" So far, 15 people have been confirmed dead and at least 147 injured, 78 of them listed in serious to critical condition. The ensuing evacuation of the victims to hospitals was seriously hampered by Israeli tanks, which began firing on incoming and outgoing ambulances and other vehicles taking the victims to area hospitals and medical facilities. By 8.00am, most of the victims were transferred to hospitals, which became crowded to capacity with the dead and injured from the massacre. Soon, the Israeli army began strafing the hospital with heavy machine-gun fire and at one point, two artillery shells slammed into the main surgery ward, killing at least one person and wounding five others. Hospital official, Mohamed Sha'ath, described the targetting of the hospital as "an expression of a brutal, ugly and bestial mentality". "They slaughtered 14 and maimed 140 a few hours ago, and now they want to kill those not killed in their hospital bed. Can you think of a more criminal and Nazi way of thinking?" The Palestinian Authority (PA), nearly completely paralysed by the Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank and extended house- arrest of President Yasser Arafat, could do nothing more than repeat the same appeals to the international community for protection from Israeli aggression. PA official, Saeb Erekat, accused the Israeli government of seeking to abort the latest efforts to revive peace talks. His accusations seemed too measured, perhaps even irrelevant, in light of statements by Israeli officials. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seemed more interested in outmanoeuvering Benyamin Netanyahu for leadership of the Likud Party than in giving peace talks a chance. Unmoved by international criticism of the atrocity in Khan Younis, or, indeed, by the loss of innocent lives, an indignant Sharon emerged triumphant following the massacre. He declared the "operation" in Khan Younis "successful". "The operation was a successful operation. It was complicated, it was a difficult operation, there will be more operations in Gaza." Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas and Fatah, vowed to retaliate for the killings, arguing that they had no choice but to "defend our children in the face of this genocidal war against our people". The PA leadership appealed desperately to the resistance groups to refrain from granting Sharon another pretext to murder more Palestinian civilians. However, Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi, retorted by saying that "Sharon doesn't need a pretext to slaughter our children, he is slaughtering them whether there is a pretext or not." This, he added, means "we must hit the Zionists hard. If Palestinian children are not safe in Khan Younis, Israeli children will not be safe in Tel Aviv and Haifa." For the moment, it seems that most Palestinians support Rantisi's views. The unmitigated killing of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army has hardened their views. Indeed, not a day has passed in the last four weeks without a Palestinian school-child, farmer, or olive harvester being murdered in cold blood. On 6 October, for example, a number of Israeli extremists murdered a Palestinian farmer while he was harvesting his olive crop at the village of Akraba near Nablus. This killing took place in full view of the man's family and Israeli soldiers, who did nothing to stop the crime. Twenty-four hours later, the Israeli police released a statement that they believed settlers had been "firing into the air and a Palestinian may accidentally have been hit". The dismissive statement seems to epitomise the overall Israeli approach to Palestinian lives. Earlier, some 20 armed settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters at the villages of Akraba and Yamoun, using metal sticks, M-16 machine-gun butts, and stones. Four people were seriously injured. Again, the Israeli army and media described the assault as a "dispute over the ownership of olive orchards". This attack occurred only a few hours after Israeli tanks opened fire on Palestinian school-children on their way to school in Nablus, killing 15-year-old Ammar Jamal Rajab. Rajab is the third Palestinian school-child to be killed by Israeli army bullets in four days. The Israeli army justified this as an enforcement of its open-ended curfew on Palestinians. On Friday, 5 October, Israeli soldiers and police attacked worshipers at the Al-Aqsa mosque following the Juma'a congregational prayer. One worshiper said the soldiers charged into the large congregation without the slightest provocation, firing rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters. "They ganged up on innocent worshipers who were praying to God. They behaved like the Gestapo," said one eyewitness. At least 30 people were hospitalised for gas inhalation, gunshot wounds and bruises. Some old men collapsed while younger people sought to resist the unprovoked rampage. By continuing his rampage of murder and oppression against defenceless Palestinians, Sharon seemingly hopes to make life for most Palestinians so unbearable that they will eventually leave their ancestral homeland, most Palestinian analysts believe. His immediate aim is to bring Palestinian society as a whole to its knees, they added. Needless to say, collective Arab impotence, international indifference and the scandalous way with which US President George Bush administration treats Israel, encourages Sharon to effect and expedite his bloody agenda. The question now is whether the world will allow Sharon to realise his goals.
