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NPK-info 07-06-2001- Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.xs4all.nl/~npk
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Ter attentie:
* In navolging van Bath Shalom in Israel en groepen "Vrouwen in het Zwart"
houdt Vrouwen in het Zwart Nederland, met mannen, een wake/demonstratie.
Vrijdag 8-6 tussen 13 uur en 14 uur op het Spui in Amsterdam.
Tegen de Israelische al 34 jaar durende bezettingspolitiek.
* Zaterdag 9 juni in Amsterdam [zie www.felix.meritis.nl, 020-623.13.11]
spreekt Illan Pappe - auteur van "The making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,
1947-1951" - op de miniconferentie "Het Israelisch-Palestijnse conflict in
historisch perspectief". Anderen daar zijn Mahmoud Issa, Ludwig Watzal en
Göran Rosenberg.
Op 7 juni gaf Illan Pappe aan dat Sharon - die louter denkt in militaire
"oplossingen" - uit is op een tweede Nakba.


Uit het nieuws:
Israels onderminister Melchior verzekerde zich vandaag [gelet op NOVA] in
Den Haag van
de onderdanige steun van Nederland bij het aankopen van Israelische wapens
[1].
Er gelden "alleen technische criteria" zo werd bezworen en over politieke
criteria gelet op Israels gewelddadige al 34 jaar durende bezettingspolitiek
viel slechts uiterst schuchter iets te beluisteren.
Israelische wapens zijn tegen de Palestijnen die voor hun vrijheid strijden
uitvoerig uitgetest en goed bevonden, zo zullen de technici o.a. in de
Gazastrook wel moeten kunnen constateren.
NOVA gaf een goed beeld van politieke lafheid; het punt komt nog in de
Kamer.


Hierna
* Israeli occupation troops attack [2] college students near Ramallah,
Khalid
Amayreh
* International Labor Organization Report on the situation of workers of the
occupied Arab territories


NPK/WL, 7-6-2001


[1] Volkskrant 6-6: "Ministerie verzet zich tegen aanschaf Israelische
raket"


[2] nog een aankooptip voor het Nederlandse leger?


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Israeli occupation troops attack college students near Ramallah


by Khalid Amayreh


Occupied Jerusalem: 5 June, 2001 - Israeli occupation forces today
attacked hundreds of Palestinian college students on the West Bank, using
rubber-coated metal bullets and stun grenades.


Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Israeli occupation soldiers prevented
as many as a thousand students from proceeding to their BirZeit campus on
the grounds that all West Bank roads were declared "closed military
zones."


The students, however, refused to accept the draconian repressive measure,
insisting on their right to education.


Then occupation troops fired on the students, injuring at least six
students.


Many other students reportedly suffered from gas inhalation.


The Israeli government adopted on Monday a set of draconian measures
against the Palestinians for the purpose of breaking their will to resist
the ongoinh zionist military occupation.


The draconian measures including laying a hermetic siege to all Palestinian
population centers including small villages and hamlets and barring all
food and fuel supplies from reaching the Palestinian population.


The Israeli government says the repressive measures are necessary for the
safety and security of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank.


The bulk of the settlers belong to Jewish messianic movements which
advocate the "redemption of the land of Israel" and the "annihilation of
non-Jews" in Palestine.
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International Labor Organization Report on the situation of workers
of the occupied Arab territories


http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc89/pdf/rep-i-an.pdf


Here is a story from AP:


U.N. labor agency cites Israeli economic burden on Palestinians


The Palestinian economy has been hard hit by Israel's blockade of the West
Bank and Gaza, with almost 40 percent of Palestinian workers unemployed
and over 60 percent of the population below the poverty line, the U.N.
labor agency said Tuesday.


''The current crisis has exacerbated all the economic and social problems
of the Palestinian people and has dramatically increased the level of
unemployment, job insecurity and the extent and depth of poverty,'' said
the 49-page study by the International Labor Organization.


The study is to be discussed at a special session June 14 of the ILO's
annual conference, which began Tuesday. Another feature of the 175-nation
conference is expected to be a review ILO attempts to stop the widespread
use of forced labor by the military junta that rules Myanmar, or Burma.


The Palestinian study noted that Israel's own economy also is suffering.
The country, which by 2000 had recovered from a three-year recession, was
almost simultaneously hit by a global fall in high-tech stocks and heavy
losses in the tourist industry because of tensions in the region.


But conditions are much worse on the Palestinian side, said the report,
written following an ILO mission to the region in May.


Israel's blockade has caused average daily losses of dlrs 10.9 million to
the fragile Palestinian economy, it said.


Since October, when the Israeli closure of the border became an almost
daily occurrence in response to Palestinian unrest, the economic impact
has been deeply felt inside the territories, it said.


Some 70 percent of the almost 146,000 Palestinian workers who were
previously employed inside Israel have lost their jobs because of Israeli
restrictions on border crossings.


Unemployment has risen to 39 percent, and around 64 percent of people are
living below the poverty line set at dlrs 2 a day in the study.


Israel says it needs to maintain a blockade on Palestinian areas in order
to prevent terrorist attacks. The ILO said it recognized Israel's security
concerns.


Following the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians
the territories' economy experienced a minor boom, with unemployment
dropping from almost a quarter of the labor force to around 10 percent by
2000.


The ILO report cited the Palestinian territories' ''extreme dependence on
the Israeli economy.''


''Some three-quarters of Palestinian imports originate in Israel while
more than 95 percent of all Palestinian exports go to Israel,'' it said.


The report also said Palestinian industry and agriculture was facing much
higher costs because of transport restrictions.


Israeli tourist industry losses for 2001 are expected to reach dlrs 950
million, the report said. The construction sector had borne the brunt of
restrictions on Palestinian workers, while a lack of farm laborers meant
produce had not reached the market.


In an unprecedented move last November the ILO urged all member
governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with Myanmar to
ensure they are not abetting forced labor. But the body left it up to
individual governments, organizations and labor unions to determine what
they will do.


The ILO said Saturday that it had reached agreement with the Myanmar
government on a visit by an assessment team in September.


The team will look at the implementation and impact of measures meant to
eliminate forced labor, and could spend up to three weeks in Myanmar. It
is expected to report back to the ILO governing body in November.


Myanmar has won support from fellow Southeast Asian nations that say it is
serious about ending the practice.
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