ADC Press Release:
Israel Defies Bush and UN, Attacks Nativity Church, Kills Hundreds
Washington D.C., April 8 -- The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC) today said that the Bush Administration's failure to
enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1403 and President Bush's verbal
demands that Israel halt its expanding rampage against Palestinians in
the occupied West Bank may have doomed the upcoming Powell mission to
the Middle East. Although the press has been banned from the areas
under attack and journalists attempting to cover the conflict have been
shot at and arrested by the Israeli army, reports suggest that hundreds
of Palestinians, many if not most of them civilians, have been killed in
recent days.
In the most shocking recent incident, Israeli troops and tanks today
fired on the Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem, where scores of
Palestinians have sought refuge. At least one Palestinian inside the
Church has reportedly been killed. "This is an act of indescribable
barbarity. It is a violation of every law of humanity and civilization,"
said Father David Jaeger, spokesman for custodians of Catholic sites in
the Holy Land, who is currently in Rome.
Reports also suggest that the Israeli army may have buried Palestinians
alive in the course of demolishing their homes in Jenin. The British
press on Sunday reported in detail that Israeli troops have been using
Palestinian civilians, including medical personnel, as human shields.
The Palestinian human rights group Al Haq stated that "Over the last ten
days Israeli forces across the West Bank have systematically carried out
attacks upon hospitals and medical teams. Bodies remain rotting in the
streets, the sick and wounded are being afforded no medical attention
and hospitals are running out of supplies."
ADC President Ziad Asali said, "It is clear that Prime Minister Sharon
is determined to expand and extend this conflict at all costs. No one
can any longer deny that his army is conducting a war against an entire
population and all of its institutions, including medical facilities and
holy places. No one can any longer doubt that Sharon is trying to
provoke the kind of outrage and fury among Palestinians that ensures
that he will find plenty of excuses for further aggressions in the near
future so that he can continue his reckless and futile campaign to crush
the Palestinians by brute force. By relying on rhetoric alone, some of
it open to willful misinterpretation by Israel, the Bush Administration
has allowed Sharon to create conditions in which Secretary Powell's
mission can hardly be expected to meet with much success. We welcome
his trip and his best efforts, but given the ever-increasing carnage and
the horror of the past 10 days, one cannot harbor any illusions."
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
4201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20008, U.S.A.
Tel: (202) 244-2990, Fax: (202) 244-3196
E-mail: adc@adc.org
Web: www.adc.org
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