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The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM - the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS: FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET, LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of publications. We will be putting more of this information out so watch this spot... MIDDLE EAST In April 1948 commandos from Begin's Irgoun organisation entered Deir Yassin, a village near Jerusalem. The Red Cross reported 250 men, women and children killed. This was prior to independance on 14th May 1948 and the declaration of war by the arab states the following day. Begin declared, 'Not only was the massacre of Deir Yassim justified but without it there would have been no state of Israel.' More then 40 years later in the occupied territories the same logic reigns between the settlers and the Palestinians. From the Hebron massacre to the six Palestinians killed by a special unit of the Israeli army in the refugee camp at Jabalia in the Gaza strip there is more to this than mere 'extremism'. The Israeli government, by outlawing zionist groups like Kach and Khana Hai, have managed to hide the nastier side of the problem but haven't they themselves always colaborated with the settlers? Thus in January 92, Moshe Arens, Defence Minister, gave authorisation to civil guard units to patrol the perimeters of their settlements in a policing role. Bt'selem, the human rights organisation has registered from December 87 to December 93, 39 cases of homicidal settlers: three have appeared in court the heaviest sentence being three years imprisonment. Israeli society is shocked at the Hebron massacre and stays silent about everyday events. In order to absolve itself of international condemnation, the state has recourse to methods used elsewhere: the Governmental Commission of Enquiry. Thus the Israeli State will be hailed as having tried to confront reality but will there really be an open debate concerning human rights in the occupied territories? For Michael Warchanski, a journalist at the Centre for Alternative Information Even if the army, the security forces and the government are condemned by the evidence the condemnation will be stiffled by international recognition of its autocratic capacity. Meron Benvenisti former mayor of Jerusalem states The bias of the enquiry allows the government to mask the real problem. Peace will remain an impossibility for as long as the question of the settlers remains unresolved. At a time when negotiations have started again the government is hell bent on acquiring maximum territorial control in areas outside that designated for autonomy... thus some 46m sq. metres have been acquired since 1993 by the settlers. For how long will these opposing camps co-exist in the occupied territories? As the 'peace process' continues the settlers accuse their government of treason. The settlers council announced on 5th December last year a campaign of civil disobediance and the setting up of armed militias. There have been water supplies being sabotaged, murders... all of which came to a climax with the Hebron massacre. The Israeli government has been forced by public opinion to react.... as have Hamas.... The future will decide if the peace agreement between Arafat and Rabin will really profit the Palestinians. LML 20/4/94 Centre for Alternative Information, PO Box 31417, Jerusalem Fax: 02.25.31.51.