Bloody Bethlehem

As wounded Palestinians hide in corpse-filled ambulances and militants bray defiance, Israel begins to withdraw from two Palestinian cities. But with hatred on both sides deeper than ever, does Powell's mission even have a chance?

By Ferry Biedermann

Apr 9, 2002 | "The ambulance smuggled me to the hospital under the bodies of three martyrs," says Elias Kanaan, a 53-year-old artisan from the old city of Bethlehem. He was wounded near the beginning of the Israeli incursion into the city, he says, when a soldier shot him while the army searched his brother's house. For two days he lay bleeding in the house while the soldiers denied ambulances access to evacuate the wounded. When they finally came it was only for the dead.

"They put the corpses on top of me, to hide me. One of them was without a head. It has given me nightmares," says Kanaan, sitting in his bloodstained clothes in a wheelchair in the Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala, on the edge of Bethlehem. The story is corroborated by Peter Qumri, the director of the hospital, where most of the dead and wounded have ended up. "We were only finally given permission by the Israelis to get the dead, so we hid four of the wounded that were in the same area under the corpses and got them out. Two are still in intensive care. At least one man died because he couldn't get treatment. He bled to death."

The situation at the hospital, the main general medical facility in the area, is also critical, says Qumri. He recently received supplies that are stacked up in the lobby, but stocks of drugs are still "below the red lines." Patients last week had to go without breakfast for three days because of lack of food, says the director.

As Israel continues its massive military operations in the West Bank, these kind of stories are inflaming Palestinian and Arab public opinion, as well as tempers farther afield. Major demonstrations against Israel and the United States, which initially gave the Jewish state the green light for the attack before reversing course, have taken place around the world. The U.S. administration, aware of the deteriorating diplomatic and political situation, seems finally to be serious about getting Israel to wrap up its offensive. "I meant what I said to the prime minister of Israel. I expect there to be withdrawal without delay," said a clearly agitated Bush while touring Tennessee. He sent the U.S. mediator, Gen. Zinni, to Sharon on Monday night to emphasize that message. And Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Morocco on the first leg of a Middle East tour that will take him to Israel at the end of the week, demanded "a clear statement from Israel that they are beginning to withdraw" from Palestinian territories and that they "do it now."

In the evening, Israel finally started to comply, with reports that troops were withdrawing from two towns, Qalqilya and Tulkarem, where the fighting had been limited. In other cities the Israeli operations continued, though.

Powell warned Israel in thinly veiled terms that it was damaging American interests in the Arab world. "The strategic problems that are created by the continuing operation are rather significant and severe when you see what's happening throughout the rest of the Middle East," said the secretary of state, after repeating the U.S. position that Israel had the right to defend itself after the bloody suicide attacks last month. He received a frosty reception in Morocco, where on Sunday about a million people had filled the streets of Rabat to protest the Israeli actions. King Mohammad pointedly asked him why he had not gone first to Jerusalem -- echoing charges by Palestinians and others that Powell's trip was timed so as to allow Sharon a few extra days to smash the Palestinians.

While heavy fighting rocked Nablus and Jenin in the northern West Bank and a skirmish broke out at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of the holiest sites in Christendom, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday addressed the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and said the troops still had a job to do in the territories. "These missions have not been completed yet, and the army will continue operating as quickly as possible until the mission has been completed, until it has dismantled Arafat's terror infrastructure and until the murderers hiding in different places have been arrested," Sharon said, setting his nation on a seeming collision course with the U.S. Israeli officials have said it would take at least a month for the 11-day-old operation to succeed in destroying the "terrorist infrastructures." He also said the army would remain in position in so-called buffer zones after a withdrawal and "the places we leave must have a responsible Palestinian leadership that will take over the areas."

Considering that Israel has just destroyed most of the Palestinian Authority infrastructure and has been keeping Yasser Arafat in isolation, that last condition may be the hardest to meet. The bitter fighting, the reported brutality of the Israeli practices in the cities they occupy and the targeting of the PA leadership make the prospect for political progress after a pullout increasingly bleak. Palestinian commanders openly say that their organizations have not yet been broken and they will strike back. The level of hatred has gone up several notches. It is difficult to see how Arafat can be seen to give in to U.S. and Israeli demands to rein in the militants. Bush has not made it easier for Arafat by repeatedly insulting the Palestinian leader, saying that he "betrayed" his people, laying the lion's share of the blame for the current situation on him and refusing to meet with him. But even if Arafat does attempt to call off terrorist attacks, the anger over the military offensive is such that he will probably be ignored.

In short, the peace mission of Powell seems hopeless before it has even started.

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