940 Palestinians died since september 2000
Mustafa Barghouthi, head of the Palestinian non-governmental health, development, information and policy institute said Wednesday 940 Palestinians died and another 25,000 were injured since September 2000 when the 2nd Intifadah started.
The NGO activist told a group of US researchers, intellectuals and academics the Israeli occupation troops uprooted 40,000 olive trees and destroyed more than 4,500 houses, reports Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.
Also, thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, he said deploring the economic blockade and the racial discrimination practiced by Israel which he described as worse than the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Israel, he explained, destroys houses of the Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem under the pretext they have no building permits, although such permits are not issued to Palestinians, while Jewish settlers are allowed to live wherever they want in the Palestinian territories.
Israel, which controls 80% of water resources in the West Bank and Gaza gives Palestinians no more that 80 cubic meter per capita a year while a settler consumes more than 1,400 cubic meters for the same period.
He added that 55% of Palestinians are unemployed and more than 50% live under the line of poverty with less than two dollars a day.
Barghouthi, who is also president of the union of Palestinian medical relief committees briefed the delegation about the Israeli aggression against medical teams, saying ten relief workers were killed and 160 were shot and wounded by Israeli troops.
He added that 31 Palestinians died at Israeli checkpoints after long hours wait.
Barghouthi also warned that the blockade could result in an outbreak of epidemics in Palestinian territories.
Barghouthi was arrested by Israeli police twice last Wednesday and his knee was fractured in a tussle with police during the arrest.
Israeli police said he was arrested the first time for entering east Jerusalem without a permit. He was held for about four hours before being freed at Al-Ram checkpoint, where paramilitary Israeli border police detained him again.
The delegation condemned the arrest and the Israeli assault on foreign delegations who have recently visited the Palestinian territories as part of an international campaign to protect the Palestinian people.
They promised to try their best to inform the American people about the reality of the situation in the Palestinian territories when they return home.