Palestine to Israel: Clear your minefields
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/22/1998

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the US Administration to subsidize Israel's second phase withdrawal from the West Bank should his government go ahead with the idea, Israeli sources said.

The sources noted that the amount Netanyahu has asked for was US $1 billion and has argued that the US should cover the cost for such a redeployment since it is the party that has insisted on the implementation of the interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine National Authority.

The Palestinian government, meanwhile, has also reportedly asked for US $100 million aid from the US to cover the cost of Palestinian forces taking over the areas vacated by the Israeli troops. Though there has not been any agreement on the part of the Israeli government to go ahead and implement the second stage of its troop withdrawal at a scale of 13 percent, the Palestinians in theory have prepared themselves for the potential withdrawal of the Israeli forces.

"One of the major problems we will face once the Israelis pull out," said a Palestinian officer, "is the numerous mine fields and military exercise ranges the Israeli army will leave behind in the West Bank." Immediately after the 1967 war, Israel took over vast areas of lands in the West Bank and used them for live ammunition exercise and maneuvers. Since then dozens of Palestinians have been either killed or maimed in mysterious blasts, some of which proved to be anti-personnel mine explosions and others bombs left over by the Israeli troops after their maneuvers.

When Lady Diana passed away in the tragic car accident in Paris along with Dodi Al Fayed, many Palestinians had a number of reasons to mourn her. For them, she wasn't only a renowned world celebrity but also a campaigner on their side. The role late Diana played in launching an international campaign calling for world nations to clear their anti-personnel mine fields was warmly received by Palestinians, mainly those living in the northern part of the West Bank where most of the explosion incidents took place.

Most of the Palestinian victims of land mines and anti-personnel mines have come from the area of Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank. Latest statistics have shown that since Israel occupied the West Bank in the June 1967 war until February this year, 334 mines have exploded, claiming the lives of 144 Palestinians and maiming 320. Those statistics have shown that anti-personnel mines have caused 141 explosions of those while 117 blasts took place as a result of explosion of ammunition left over by the Israeli army in their fields of training or during their military maneuvers. Besides, there are exactly 76 cases of mysterious explosions that are yet to be solved. No one has managed to determine what exactly had exploded in those incidents. According to Palestinian experts, most of the mines that exploded were made in the US, with some others made either in Israel itself or in the UK.

Several hundreds of Palestinian families in the West Bank are worried over the possible withdrawal of the Israeli army from the West Bank in part of the second phase redeployment, which is currently the focal point of difference between Israel on one hand and the US and Palestine on the other. They are afraid that once the Israeli army pulls out, numerous bombs and mines are going to be left over in their own lands, making them hazardous. "It is so ironic that we call on Israel to pull out yet are worried of what it may leave behind," said Khalil Mousa, a villager living on the outskirts of Jenin whose relative was killed in a mine explosion a few years ago. He said that the Palestinians should stand firmly in talks with Israel prior to the implementation of the second phase withdrawal and vehemently demand that all those mines be cleared right as they leave.

Palestinian security sources do not believe mines can pose a real problem for them unless Israel refuses to give them maps of the entire mine fields and the live ammunition exercise ranges phase. "It is the right of every nation to demand that all occupying forces leave clear areas behind them," said a Palestinian officer who disclosed that the issue of mines was discussed some time ago with the Israelis. "Do not forget," he said, "the whole negotiations process is frozen at present and therefore we had no chance to raise more questions about this case.

"When you see the whole peace process is on the verge of being blown up and when the whole region is sitting over a powder keg you do not really get worried over a mine here or there," the officer said. He expressed hopes that once talks are resumed between Palestine and Israel, both sides will find a way to solve the mine fields problem in the West Bank.

Palestinians argue that throughout the years of Israel's military occupation of the West Bank, there has not been a single incident in which Israel had conducted a thorough investigation. Palestinians argue that Israel had investigated only 77 percent of those incidents but not in a thorough way. Out of those investigated by Israel, 43 percent involved questioning the victims instead of taking practical measures to prevent the occurrence of further blasts in the future. And in only 26 percent of the incidents did the Israeli army show up in the area to examine the theater of the blast, they said.

People below 40 years old are the victims most vulnerable to this fatal phenomenon. They include farmers who go out to plow their fields but come across deserted explosives left over by the Israeli army or enter by mistake mine fields, which in most of the cases do not have any warning signs that ask people to keep away. Children come next in the list of victims. They are the ones who take to the fields to play but sometimes get injured or even killed. In cases of bomb explosions, many kids were fatally wounded as they played with those objects without knowing what they were. Others simply walked into mine fields, unaware of the fatal consequences that awaited them.

Palestinian statistics report that 34 percent of those killed or injured in mine fields were below 18 years old while those between 19 and 39 years old formed some 48 percent of the victims and only 17 percent of the victims were above 40.

Previous Stories:
  UN Security Council denounces confrontation in West Bank, backs peace   (5/21/1998)
  Israel vs. the universe, the Europeans have an answer Israel understands: Economics   (5/20/1998)
  Egypt's landmines are old and hard to locate in The Devil's Garden   (9/10/1997)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search