Essa bin Mohammed Al-Zedjali, Arab News

MUSCAT, 31 May 2004 - Since it occupied the Palestinian lands, Israel has never stopped committing heinous crimes. History tells us of a series of ghastly massacres of unarmed, innocent Palestinian civilians by the Israeli Army. The rate of Israeli crimes has shot up over the last four years.

The merciless killing of Palestinian children, women and elderly, the wanton demolition of houses, schools and places of worship and the indiscriminate destruction of farms and crops by Israeli tanks and bulldozers have become an everyday feature.

Israel's one and only goal is the destruction of life in the occupied Palestinian lands. Let us have no doubt about it; Israel is beginning to outdo the Nazis when it comes to criminal, inhuman acts.

One is shocked when one reads the history books that tell of the horrible crimes committed during Nazism and the cold-blooded massacres the Nazis committed, killing millions without any regard to universal rights and global conventions.

However, what is happening in Palestine can on occasion look like an improved version of the same impulse. Statistics reveal that more than 1,800 houses had been destroyed and over 2,800 families made homeless in Palestine over the last few weeks. In 2002, the city of Jenin was totally wiped out. It appears that Israel now leads the world in committing crimes against humanity and is determined to maintain and enhance the record, every day.

US President W. George Bush says Israel has the right to defend itself. But who is the defender here? It is Israel that has occupied Palestine. It is the Palestinians who are defending their land, honor and dignity, whereas Israel is the aggressor and occupier.

Israel unleashes mayhem and spills the blood of innocent Palestinians in the occupied Palestine lands everyday, adding more names to the list of martyrs. Israelis have shown that they are merciless and filled with hatred against the Arabs.

The world is watching silently as the Israeli bullets hunt down children and women and their bulldozers raze houses and farms, paying scant respect to tearful pleas from Palestinian civilians. We used to equate Nazism with barbarity and inhuman acts. Whenever a reference is made to crimes against humanity, history quoted the Nazis and what they did. But Israel is committing these crimes now. The raw reality of its crimes is beginning to displace the Nazis in the popular imagination for the dubious honor of barbaric killings.

Who is murdering young, innocent children? Who is gunning down women and the elderly?

Who is shelling unarmed civilians with the help of Apache planes?

Who is destroying houses?

Who is turning fertile farms into barren deserts?

Who is flouting international law?

It is Israel. Israel, no doubt, now leads the world in committing crimes against humanity.

- Essa bin Mohammed Al-Zedjali is editor in chief of The Times of Oman.