TITLE: IDF Digs Trench to Keep 65,000 Villagers Out of Ramallah

AUTHOR: Amira Hass and Amos Harel

PUB: Ha'aretz

DATE: March 8, 2001

Israel Defense Forces bulldozers left a ditch Thursday night which effectively closes off the large Palestinian city to some 65,000 residents of 25 local villages. Tearing into a road that runs north of Ramallah, the IDF digging damaged the water pipes and telephone lines used by one West Bank village, Surda, leaving residents there complaining of dry taps and disconnected phones. According to the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, the IDF plowed a trench two meters deep, and dozens of meters in length. Army bulldozers worked on a stretch of road between the Bir-Zeit region and the "Wallerstein" road. The IDF plowing cut-off the Bir Zeit region, classified as a "B" area - under Israeli security control - from Ramallah "A" zones, which are undercomplete Palestinian Authority control. While the IDF had responded to five months of Al Aqsa Intifada violence by distributing concrete slabs on roads and digging up trenches to seal off a number of towns and villages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, until now the army had refrained from placing any such obstructions on routes between Ramallah and outlying Palestinian communities. On occasion, the IDF set up temporary checkpoints which restricted the movements of some local residents. But by and large, residents moved freely on the road north of the Palestinian city, which was used as an alternative route for villagers who live west of Ramallah, whose own local roads (which pass by Jewish settlements such as Beit El and Ofra) have been shut down. The IDF sources say that the road north of Ramallah was blocked off in response to a number of terror attacks that took place in the region recently, including a gunfire attack on February 25 in which two settlers from the Ateret settlement were wounded. Tuesday's trench digging appears to have had two objectives: to contain terror units based in Ramallah and prevent them from carrying out attacks in regions to the north of the city; and to make it clear to Palestinian residents that there is a "price" to be paid for continued attacks against Jewish settlers in the region. One institution which is likely to suffer from the new road block is Bir Zeit University. Classes there have been conducted without interruption throughout the months of Intifada fighting. [Mewnews: Denied by Palestinians - see below] One Bir Zeit academic predicted yesterday that university students who have not so far participated in clashes against IDF troops, are likely to take to the streets and confront soldiers now that their university studies have been disrupted. Palestinian academics and activists aren't the only groups harboring doubts about the wisdom of the IDF's new policy of cutting off Ramallah. IDF officers in the Central Command told Ha'aretz that by digging the trench, "we are taking on a major risk here." "In contrast to manned checkpoints at which a reasoned decision by an officer enables Palestinians to pass for humanitarian reasons, this trench cannot be crossed. "The practical significance is that thousands of people are cut off from hospitals and health clinics, not to mention places of work, and markets." The IDF sources concluded: "It's doubtful that the collective punishment of tens of thousands of people, in retaliation for the acts of a few isolated terror cells, can be justified. From the Palestinian Law society: At 1 a.m. this morning Israeli soldiers imposed a total siege of Palestinian villages within the Occupied Territories. They have dug a trench and installed a blockade, starting from Sorda village near Ramallah, from Ein Sheikh Yusef, up to the town of Bir Zeit. The trench and blockade is 2 metres into the earth, and it is about 150 metres in length. This total siege prevents any access to or out of the areas by vehicle. 25 Palestinian villages, and their 65,000 residents, have been affected by this closure, in particular El Mizra'a el Qiblia, and Abu Qash, Kobar, and Abu Shkhedim. The Israeli soldiers, in the course of digging up the trenches and installing the blockade have destroyed the water pipes (the only water supply outlets) and telephone cables of these villages. The residents are left without any water or telephone access. Students of Bir Zeit University are meant to start the new University term on 17 March 2001. However, the five thousand students attending the University will be unable to gain access as all access roads and routes to Bir Zeit University from other Palestinian villages or towns have been closed off by Israeli soldiers. Other than Bir Zeit, these villages will also suffer from lack of access to medical treatment or care, as there are no hospitals or medical clinics in these villages. The residents would usually go to Ramallah for medical treatment, however all movement by vehicle out of the villages is prohibited. Furthermore, the Israeli forces are also stopping the delivery of any crucial supplies into the villages, including medical supplies. According to Dr. Albert Aghazarian of the Public Relations department of Bir Zeit University, and other residents of the 25 villages affected, there have been no recent clashes or demonstrations in the area. Furthermore, there have been no shootings from these villages at Israeli soldiers or settlers. There are no genuine security or military reasons for taking these measures. The total siege is being imposed by the Israeli government as a repressive form of collective punishment, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. David Goldman Israeli statements Senior officer: IDF entering PA areas Jerusalem Post- The IDF is encroaching on Palestinian Authority territory as a tactical measure to provide better security to its forces and Jewish residents, a senior IDF officer said yesterday. The move also has strategic value of showing the Palestinians that there is a territorial price for continuing the conflict, he said. The "territorial assets," as he called them, are mainly in the Gaza Strip along the approach roads to the three blocs of Jewish settlements. He said the IDF is against evacuating any Israeli-held territory or difficult-to-defend settlement in the Gaza Strip at this moment, since the Palestinians would interpret this as a victory. He made the statements following comments by Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's farewell to the General Staff. Barak said that separation, either in an agreement or unilaterally, should entail abandoning isolated settlements. "There is a supreme preference to reach a separation with an agreement, but without an agreement, we should enact a unilateral separation accompanied by setting up blocs of settlements and wide security zones on the eastern border and around Modi'in. [We should have] control over the central heights and, at the right moment, we should transfer some of the isolated settlements to settlement blocs or inside the State of Israel," Barak said. The Palestinians have take steps to improve their defenses to block any Israeli move on their areas. "It reminds me of Beirut in 1982, when the PLO feared a land assault," said the officer. "Gaza is the bunker of the Palestinians." The Palestinians have introduced a number of new weapons, including sniper rifles, rifle grenades, and homemade 81 mm. mortars. The army believes there is a fledgling arms industry in the Gaza Strip. While the IDF sees an increase in Palestinian weaponry, the Palestinians are said to sense there is a growing shortage after five months of conflict. This has caused Palestinian groups to start stealing weapons and ammunition from each other, he said. The IDF has not succeeded in foiling even one attempt to smuggle weapons into Gaza and a senior officer said that Egypt is not helping. He said that many of the weapons and materiel are being smuggled in through tunnels dug from Egyptian Rafah. The IDF is using specially designed drills to try to locate the tunnels, but the soldiers are exposed to heavy Palestinian sniper fire. One soldier has already been killed guarding the drilling unit. "The Egyptians are making some effort to stop this, but I can't say how effective it has been," the officer said. The navy too has had little success in stopping weapons and ammunition from being smuggled in sealed barrels, he said. This weekend, the IDF Spokesman issued a statement flatly denying reports in Egypt that Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz had accused the Egyptians of supplying weapons to the PA. The officer said that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been monitoring IDF transmissions and have become quite sophisticated in their attacks lately. The life-size doll tossed on the border fence there last week was a sophisticated trap aimed at luring IDF soldiers to a booby-trapped field. Knowing the IDF is monitoring their communications, the Palestinians repeatedly spoke of a bomber who was wounded, hoping to draw IDF sappers into the trap. IDF bulldozers eventually destroyed the doll and neutralized the surrounding bombs without mishap. END top