Mustafa Barghouthi argues that the current clashes don't amount to war because wars are fought between two armies. Like Shamas, Barghouthi defines the conflict as a popular uprising against an Occupying Power. He argues that the Israelis are using disproportionate force against a lightly armed, mostly civilian population and he agrees with Shamas that the Israeli closures of Palestinian areas amount to collective punishment.

Q: Is this a war?
I think I would call it a status of warfare. Israel has escalated the situation to become something like warfare. But it is not war, because that’s between two armies. Here, there is only one side that possesses an army, and that is Israel. Why does Israel do this? First because it doesn’t want to look like an occupying force. Israel does not want to be held accountable as an occupying power. They want to avoid having accountability -- to be an oppressive occupying force without accountability. That’s why the Israelis escalated it. A very important indicator of escalation into warfare is that more and more deaths are coming about by shelling. People were totally torn apart by Israeli shelling.

Q: How are the Israelis escalating it?
They have used and abused military power in a disproportionate way. They use tanks and apache gunships, ships from the sea, heavy weapons, heavy machine guns and rockets. This is a totally disproportionate use of gunfire. The maximum that Palestinians have used so far is Kalishnikovs. Israel has managed to escalate this into a status of warfare by running the confrontations with Palestinians in a military manner. I don’t know of one case when they used water cannons. Even their use of tear gas has decreased. With civilian demonstrations they turn quickly to gunshots. And then there is the way they shoot at people. We have documented much of it. There are two important points. First is the pattern of injuries, which show the use of military power, not a police approach. The second is that they shoot to kill.

About 50 percent of people killed were shot in the head or neck. In the first month this was 52 percent and the second month it was 46 percent. In the entire period 98.6 percent of the people killed were shot in upper body and 60 percent of the injured were shot in the upper body. The fact that almost half of the people were shot in the head is clear evidence of intent to kill. We have evidence that soldiers were shooting to prove their marksmanship. They are trying to create a particular psychological effect, to show that they can shoot whomever they want.

Q: You say this is not a battle between two armies, but rather a civilian uprising. How is this reflected?
The majority of the injured are civilians. Moreover, many of them are children. About 38 percent are under 18 years old and 17 percent below 15 years old. Around 98 percent of the demonstrators are civilian.

Q: Yet Palestinians are using weapons and the Israelis say armed gunmen are using civilians as shields. What's your response?
In the beginning there were cases where armed Palestinians would participate in demonstrations. Now that is not the case. Not any more. Most clashes are between civilians and the army. When there is shooting, the response is totally disproportionate. In the gun battles between (Israeli) Gilo and (Palestinian) Beit Jalla, only two Israelis were injured. On the Palestinian side there were several deaths and injuries. The Israeli army claims that they shoot in self-defense. This is not true. Not a single Israeli soldier was killed by stone throwers. On the other hand, we have lost 330 people, mostly civilians, and more than 11,000 people have been injured. These are huge numbers for a population of three million people. If these incidents happened in the United States, you would be talking about 25,000 deaths and more than 900,000 injuries in less than three months.

Q: Is there collective punishment?
Totally. You can say that the whole country is under complete siege. Now they have turned entire cities into jails. Every village and town is cut off. A trip that would usually take 20 minutes now takes two-and-a-half hours, if you manage to cross. The Israeli Army has blocked most of the roads. One important point: Israel also imposed orders that in others places in the world would be racist. No Palestinian male under 35 is allowed to pass checkpoints. Orders say that no car carrying Palestinian men can move without at least one female.

Q: How is healthcare being affected by this clashes, both for the injured and the general population?
Because of the closures many people are unable to get normal healthcare. Primary healthcare has been impacted severely. Around 68 percent of people in rural areas can’t reach hospitals, or arrive with a great amount of delay. Travel at night is nearly impossible because of settler attacks. Two women have given birth at checkpoints, two people died of heart attacks all because they were prevented from reaching hospitals. The country’s immunization and vaccination programs are not functioning because they are unable to get vaccines to rural areas, which is normally done by mobile health teams. More than 60 Palestinian health workers were shot by the Israeli army, and two doctors have been killed.

Q: Are doctors and health care workers able to help the injured during the clashes?
They get some access, but they are also targeted. About 50 ambulances have been damaged partially or totally by the Israelis. One driver was killed. And 60 people from first aid teams have been shot while they were attending the injured [a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention].

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi is a physician and Palestinian civil society leader. He is President of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees as well as director of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute, which houses the Palestine Monitor, an information clearinghouse for the Palestinian NGO Network. The Monitor was launched recently to convey unified responses from Palestinian civil society about local developments and to provide objective and accurate information to the press and international community.