By brandishing the flag of 'Israeli security', governments in the West have equally easily been able to 'explain' to the public, why they invest so much of their taxpayers' money in the protection of an obviously land-grabbing Zionist state. The 'War on Terrorism' mantra has, since 2001, been added to this policy of intimidation, making an aspiring pro-Palestinian advocate fear being labelled 'supporter of terrorists', next to 'anti-Semite', no matter how baseless these accusations are.

Phased Ethnic Cleansing

The Nakba of 1948 resulted in roughly 800,000 ethnically cleansed Palestinians, who were forcefully expelled from their homes and lands by Zionist forces. For a long time, Israel managed to bypass criticism upon these war crimes, by means of outright denial, and by propagating the notion that Palestinians had left their homes in response to calls by Arab leaderships to do so. Israeli historian Benny Morris, in the nineties, was the first Zionist to identify the Palestinian exodus as a result of direct violence from Jewish terrorist organizations, and thereby nullified the previously propagated theory.

The first phase was hereby concluded, and resulted in enough land with emptied Palestinian villages, to be able to declare the birth of the Zionist state. The villages, approximately 400 of them, were subsequently razed to the ground, their names wiped off the maps, and replaced by Hebrew names, signifying that this land was henceforth forever to be Jewish, and that none of the refugees would ever be allowed to return to their homes.

And indeed, until today, in defiance of UN resolution 194, which calls for the unconditional return of the refugees, Israel considers these Palestinians to be expelled forever. Besides that, it has managed to manipulate international politics in such a way, that its refusal to comply with this and other UN resolutions and international agreements, is handled as if being Israel's prerogative.

The second wave of ethnic cleansing took place in the war of 1967, then portrayed by Israel as a war of defence, expelling 300,000 more Palestinians, and confiscating yet more land. Even in those years, media manipulation was already developed to an extent that the public in Western countries largely accepted this 'defence' theory. However, what seems to still be escaping the attention of a significant section of the public in the West, is the fact that today's clearly visible colonization process of the West Bank, completely contradicts the 'defence' motive widely believed before. Why would a defence zone, which should have a temporary status, afterwards be infiltrated with fortified colonies, often referred to as 'Israeli settlements'?

Declaredly, these settlements, considered illegal by international law, will never be removed, but will be included in the unilateral border declaration that is to be issued by Israel before 2010, as Olmert's ruling Kadima party boldly promises. Then why is the retreat from Gaza publicized as an act of peace, rather than as a decision made in the interest of Israel's ethnic segregation and land annexation policies?

For this same reason, many fail to recognize the fact that the Apartheid Wall is, in reality, a land acquisition plan, based on illegal and forceful confiscation. And, according to a solid Israeli tradition, there is no permanent land acquisition without including the "demographic factor": in the land that we acquire, how many Palestinians do we need to evict, in order to secure the Jewish character of the Zionist state?

There is, indeed, as should be expected, an ethnic cleansing plan connected to this new phase of land acquisition. In its current form, however, it strongly differs from the 'classical' Zionist approach, which constituted outright expulsion through military aggression, as it did in the first and second waves of ethnic cleansing.

Slow Ethnic Cleansing

In this third phase, which coincides with an era of massive expansion of communication technology and networks, through the advent of internet and satellite media, an outright violent expulsion might damage Israel's public image in an irreparable way. For this reason the third phase has a different strategy, less visible from the window of routinely controlled media, but aiming to be as effective as possible, in terms of attaining Jewish dominance in illegally 'acquired' land.

In this day and age, economical refugees from many poor countries are roaming all over the world in order to find their life sustenance elsewhere. Through making life utterly unbearable, and, if necessary, unsustainable in the areas where Palestinians are living, locked in by a militarily reinforced wall, this Israeli regime is apparently trying to cause a similar wave of emigration, based on economic urgency. For comprehensive and detailed reports on how Palestinian daily life is made practically impossible by these policies, excellent information is provided by Stop the Wall (www.stopthewall.org), and by many other human rights organizations.

As another example of Israel's policy of economical aggression, the far reaching effects of the massive uprooting of hundreds of thousands of olive trees by the Israeli forces, upon Palestinian economy, are reminiscent of the tactics white settlers used against the Native American peoples, when they started the systematic eradication of their primary source of existence, the North American buffalo.

With a shortage of food and other necessities, and no jobs, and with two-thirds of the people living under the income of 2 $ a day as a direct result of years of economical suffocation under Israeli siege, it seems likely to the policymakers that vast areas, especially those newly confiscated by the Apartheid wall, which reaches deep into Palestinian lands, will be emptied from Palestinians in this fashion. This phase of 'slow ethnic cleansing' has been initiated, but has so far met with a remarkable resilience of the Palestinian population to largely maintain not only their presence in their land in spite of extremely harsh conditions, but also their social cohesion, while being put under intense pressure to be pushed towards internal strife and conflict.

The democratically mature manner in which the recent Palestinian elections were handled, in a way that declaredly impressed former US president Jimmy Carter, is a shining example of this widely felt dedication and resilience. Nonetheless, social disruption, which is one of the aims of the Israeli siege, is inevitably on the increase, as becomes clear from the reports of an increase of inter-Palestinian violence, issued by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).

By cutting off the funds to the new Palestinian government, the EU and US are not only making a political and moral blunder, with regard to their push for democracy , and their contradictory disapproval of the outcome of it. They even become active participants in the physical and economical siege that Israel is suffocating the Palestinians with, and thereby turn themselves into direct accomplices of the third phase of Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Turning the Tide

With the results of the recent Israeli elections in mind, there is considerable reason to fear, that phase four, which is on the agenda of many of the right-wing parties, may at some point in time rule the agenda of Israeli politics. Euphemistically termed 'transfer' in Zionist terminology, it in fact constitutes the complete expulsion of the Palestinians. But before it even gets that far, the international community has an imperative moral obligation to pressure countries that are currently aiding Israel, into ending their participation in Israel's policy of phased ethnic cleansing.

Besides that, in order to regain their moral integrity towards the issue, and help solve the conflict in a manner that respects international law, they ought to pressure Israel into compliance with the International Court of Justice's 2004 verdict, which calls for the removal of the Apartheid Wall. The fact, that Israel has always chosen to ruthlessly ignore UN resolutions, should also be called into question, and calls for their immediate implementation would be vital steps in the direction of solving the very essence of the conflict.

Only a massive banning of Israeli products, and a freeze on its profitable international business contracts, could pressure Israel into abandoning its ethnic cleansing policies. There is no reason why to expect Israeli stubbornness, in its continuation of a system of ethnic segregation similar to Apartheid, to prove more resistant than the South African version, when faced with a comprehensive international boycott.

Israel, being the only nuclear power in the region, still refusing to sign the International Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, and in possession of the 4th strongest army in the world, still has the most powerful countries in the world on their toes to protect its 'security'. It is long overdue, that the security of the Palestinians, who clearly find themselves in a situation of grave and existential danger, is placed high on the international agenda.

Karni is officially closed because the Israeli army has declared a security alert for the Jewish Passover holiday. Yet it has barely been open this year. The effect is a paralysis of Gaza's commerce and severe shortages of basic foods. Not that the locals are in a position to buy what food there is. There is little money because the European Union, Canada and the United States have stopped funding the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, which can no longer pay its staff's wages.

The result is that families are existing on tiny amounts of money and businesses are facing collapse. Palestinian areas in the West Bank face similar difficulties, but the situation in Gaza is much more severe. John Ging, Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said while he did not expect people to starve, "the clock is ticking towards a crisis." -

"The international group, whether it is the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations), or any other international framework, would play the role of the broker and arbitrator at the same time," he added.

"I believe that to resolve the conflict, both sides should not be left alone with this imbalance of occupier and occupied," Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader, currently on a tour of Europe, encouraged the international community to "move fast" to secure a negotiated settlement to the conflict and stop a unilateral solution being imposed by acting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

"The international community needs to move fast. Israel's unilateral measures through which it strives to impose its vision and expansionist map by building the discrimination separation wall, Judaising Jerusalem, would lead to a practical annexation of more than 58 percent of the West Bank to Israel," the Palestinian leader said.

He was referring to Olmert's plan to dismantle smaller settlements in the West Bank and annex the larger ones.

Abbas said Israel's unilateral measures risk "eliminating any chance to establish a viable independent Palestinian state".

He cited Israeli moves to put "their hands on Palestinian artesian water resources, transforming our lands into isolated cantons."

The Palestinian leader said he had a free hand to negotiate with the Israelis despite the victory of radical Islamist group Hamas in recent Palestinian elections.

"As president of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and as elected chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, I am ready to immediately resume negotiations with the Israeli government," Abbas said.

"It is important for me to clarify that the Palestinian legislative elections, which brought Hamas to power, is not an obstacle in front of negotiations. Negotiations are still the mandate of the PLO, which signed all previous agreements with Israel," he added.

Abbas, due to meet Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg later Wednesday, also called on the international community to resume financial aid to the Palestinians which has been suspended since Hamas formed its government last month.

"We call upon the international community in general, and upon Europe too, at the individual level of each state and collectively in the frame of the European Union, to continue to provide various forms of moral and financial support, to enable us to achieve our goals in reaching peace in the area, and making it a success," the leader said.

Abbas was speaking in Oslo, the home of the now-defunct 1993 peace accords between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The Palestinian leader was due to travel to Helsinki later Wednesday and then to Paris.

Mr Abbas called for an international conference to help set the stage for direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

He said the quartet of the UN, the EU, the US and Russia could play the role of broker and arbitrator in such talks.

"I am ready to immediately resume negotiations with the Israeli government," he said, adding that the Hamas-led government was not an obstacle to negotiations with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority has been strapped for cash since Hamas swept to a surprise victory in parliamentary elections in January.

The Palestinian government needs £75m a month, but funding from the US, Israel, the EU and Canada has been stopped because of Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Hamas is on the EU and US lists of terrorist groups, meaning European and American officials are not allowed to deal directly with Hamas members.

In the past month, Iran and Russia have stepped in to plug the funding gap, with Tehran pledging $55.2m, but the aid-dependent economy of the Palestinian territories remains fragile.

Indonesia today urged foreign countries to continue to provide aid to the Palestinian government. During a visit to Saudi Arabia, the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said: "Give Hamas a chance to solve the Palestinian problem. Don't add to their problems by stopping aid."

Turkey has also criticised the EU's decision to cut off funding.

Norway, the second biggest donor to the Palestinians after the US, said it would deliver at least as much aid this year as last year if the Hamas regime fulfilled certain conditions.

"The support we will give them in 2006 will be equally big or bigger" than in 2005, the Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, told reporters.

Norway last year gave $60m directly to Palestinian Authority and $195m to the United Nations relief and works agency which helps Palestinian refugees.

Norway has already given the Palestinian Authority $10m this year. The next instalment is due around mid-2006. Norway backs the view that the Palestinian Authority must take steps to comply with the quartet's demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept previously signed agreements.