SEPTEMBER

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03/09/1947

A postal bomb by Zionist Gangs injures British.

03/09/1990

Israel's government-run TV and radio ban the use of Arabic names of Palestinian villages and towns, ordering journalists and broadcasters to use the biblical Hebrew names.

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05-11/09/1964

The second Arab Summit meets in Cairo and "welcomed the establishment of the PLO as the basis of the Palestinian entity and as a pioneer in the collective Arab struggle for the Liberation of Palestine".

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09/09/1993

Arafat, in letter to Israel PM Rabin, recognizes "the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security", renounces "the use of terrorism and other acts of violence".

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12/09/2005

The Gaza Disengagement is considered complete as the last Israeli soldier leaves the strip.

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13/09/1993

Israel - PLO sign Declaration of Principles.

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16-18/09/1982 Massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Israeli occupied Beirut.

After a cease fire mediated by US emissary Philip Habib, PLO fighters left Beirut on Sept 1st 1982 and left the camps without their defenders although the Habib plan promised guarantees as to the civilians’ security. The peace-keeping international forces left Lebanon on Sep. 10th. An agreement was reached between Phalange Lebanon president Bashir Gemayel and Ariel Sharon on Sept 15th to mop up the camps.

At noon on September 15th the Israeli army encircled, sealed and shelled and snipe-shot the camps. The next day some 150 phalange men allied to Israel entered the camps and began killing and raping in continued contact with the surrounding Israeli armed units who prevented escapes and illuminated the scenery to make the job easier.

The International Committee of the Red Cross assessed that more than 2,750 Palestinian men, women and children were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut.

On February 8th 1983, Israeli investigation Kahane commission:

placed the victim figures as low as 700;

stated that “ no Israeli was directly responsible for the events which occurred in the camps”;

limited Israeli leaders’ responsibility - Begin, Sharon, Shamir, Eitan – to a case of negligence.

However perpetrators would later confirm Israeli participation not only in planning and logistics but also the direct involvment of Israeli military in Phalange uniforms.

The United Nations Security Council condemned the slaughter through Resolution 521 (19 September 1982) and the General Assembly issued another resolution on 16 December 1982 to qualify it as an “act of genocide”. Yet the culprits have not been brought to justice.

These massacres are considered one of the bloodiest single atrocity committed against the Palestinian people in living history. Similar in magnitude to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, Sabra and Shatila marked a huge turning point in history, as international sympathy began a shift in favour of the Palestinians.

Read more in English at www.indictsharon.net

17/09/1948

United Nations mediator Bernadotte assassinated by Yitzhak Shamir-led Stern gang.

In 1948 the United Nations sent count Folke Bernadotte of the royal Swedish House - a character of high international stature - in an attempt to find a way out of war in Palestine.

He realised that the borders drawn by the United Nations between a Jewish and an Arab state should be altered. His plan was to take part of the lands that  the new Israeli state had been alloted or had conquered through military force. This was his death sentence.

The Lehi group  - also known as Stern gang and ambiguously related to the Zionist leadership - decided his execution. Bernadotte and his aide French colonel Serot were killed in Jerusalem on September 17th 1948.

David Ben Gurion-led Israeli government failed to deliver on his promise to hunt the murderers. 

Two men - Nathan Yellin Mor and Matitiahu Shrriulewitz - were arrested and condemned to 8 and 5 years respectively in February 1949. They were soon granted amnesty and Yellin Mor was elected to Parliament the following year!

They actually had not shot the UN emissary; it was later found out that it had been a man called Yehushua Cohen, no less than Ben Gurion's body guard.

Read more in English at www.palestine-info.co.uk

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17/09/1978

Camp David I (Egypt-Israel). Carter, Begin and Sadat sign the Camp David Accords which propose a settlement to the Middle East conflict bypassing the Palestinian people and their sole representative, the PLO.

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20/09/1990

In Beit Sahur in the West Bank, Israeli tax authorities, escorted by a military force, begin a 2-day operation to confiscate private and commercial property from dozens of the Palestinians in the town. The Israelis enter Beit Sahur with lorries, force open shops and confiscate stock. Neither prior notice nor receipts are given.

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28/09/2000

Sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem sparks outbreak of second Intifadah.

Likud leader General Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Al Aqsa compound escorted by 1,000 armed men brought about riots in Jerusalem resulting in 4 dead and hundreds of wounded. The following wave of violence soon expanded to the whole West Bank, Gaza strip and Galilee and Jaffa. In time it led to the suspension of negotiations and Sharon’s election as Prime Minister of Israel.

Al Aqsa Mosque is the third holy site of Islam and its stands in an area also considered holiest to the Jews which they referred to as Temple Mount. Its political symbolic significance outmatches its religious value and makes it a very sensitive spot.

The fact-finding US Mitchell commission concluded that Sharon’s visit was not the cause for the Intifadah and the Israelis claim that the riot was not spontaneous because the Palestinian leadership were planning a return to violence. However:

The PNA warned the Israeli on 25/9 about the provocative nature of this act and expressed their worry about its outcome;

If the Israeli authorities believed/knew that the Palestinians were actually planning a return to violence, what should they expect of a war criminal visiting the Haram al Sharif?

There considerations of Israeli domestic politics also have to come in. It was Sharon’s electoral interest to provoke violence before the Israeli elections:

It helped him steal a march on his rival Netanyahu in their competition for the Likud ticket;

It was to feature Labour Barak as the incompetent leader of a failed peace process putting Israel’s security in jeopardy whereas he would be the man to deal with Palestinian disorder with a strong hand.

It is obvious that the visit alone was not the cause for the Intifadah; neither is the alleged call to violence by Palestinian leaders. The Palestinian people are not a flock of sheep to obey whatever their leaders tell them to do.

The real cause for the ongoing violence is deeper-rooted questions such as the failure of the so-called peace process. All things considered the spark of the Intifadah is a by-question. The first 1987 Intifadah was triggered by a traffic accident involving an IOF vehicle.

29/09/1947

Arab Higher Committee for Palestine announces rejection of UN partition plan.