PALESTINE'S POEM OF OCCUPATION
BY ARIEL SHARON
****A 15-year old boy from Askar refugee camp, Nablus,
died yesterday
affected by wounds subjected around 2 weeks ago.
Ahmad Saqer was
critically wounded with live ammunition in the stomach
fired by occupation
soldiers on 11 January 2003.
****In Hebron, the occupation army yesterday embarked on
a campaign of
home demolitions under the pretext of
"security" and "construction without
permit". Seven homes and 2 farms were demolished in
Deir Rasih, Karma,
Abda, Wadi al-Shajina villages in the town of Doura and
in Khilat al-Miya
Village, east of the town of Yatta.
****Israeli bulldozers under heavy military protection
raided Khilat
al-Miya Village and demolished the home of Fathi
al-Najjar, detained by
the occupation authorities since 3 months.
****At the same time, 31 school girls were admitted into
al-Muhtasib
Hospital yesterday following an intensive attack with
teargas bombs on
'Al-Zahraa', 'al-Hajiriya' and 'Al-Ukhwa' girls' schools.
****In Ramallah and al-Bireh, occupation bulldozers at
noon yesterday
demolished 2 homes without warning. The demolition of the
2 homes came a
short period of time following the demolition of 2
factories in Kharbatha
Bani Harith Village in Ramallah, under the pretext of
being located near
to a settlement established on the residents' land.
****On another front, occupation soldiers supported by a
group of
Musta'ribin (Soldiers disguised as civilians) invaded 2
homes in Ramallah
and arrested two female university students in 'Al-Da'wa
Wa Usoul al-Din'
College and 'Al-Quds' University. Another resident from
Atara Town was
arrested at Surda military roadblock.
****In Rafah, the resident Abdel Aziz Awad (21 years old)
was critically
wounded in a sudden Israeli military attack on homes in
Block 'O'. Awad
was wounded with a number of bullets in the stomach and
chest.
****In Salfeet, occupation military forces at dawn
yesterday invaded 4
villages and arrested a number of residents during brutal
home raids and
searches. In Tulkarem, the occupation army invaded the
refugee camp at
dawn yesterday and opened fire towards shops and homes.
At least 3
residents were moderately wounded in the military attack.
****In Nablus, a large military force invaded the city at
dawn yesterday,
raided the home of Sheikh Maher al-Kharazan and arrested
his son.
Occupation soldiers blew up the entrance to the home and
arrested Sa'd (22
years old).
****The occupation authorities continued to impose a
curfew on Nablus and
its refugee camps for the 4th day running, while
occupation soldiers
chased the residents under the pretext of breaching the
curfew.
****A curfew continued to be imposed on Bethlehem
yesterday. Israeli
security sources declared last night that Abla Sa'adat,
the wife of the
General Director of the PFLP (Palestinian Front for the
Liberation of
Palestine) Ahmad Sa'adat, was arrested the day before
last at 'Al-Karama'
Crossing. Abla Sa'adat (47 years old) was on her way
through Jordan to
represent Al-Dameer Institution in the International
Social Forum in
Brazil on 24 January.
****A woman appealed for help yesterday, after her
husband was prevented
from returning to the West Bank and informed at the
crossing by the
Israeli army that he has been "exiled". The
woman said that her wounded
husband went to Amman for medical purposes and was
prevented from
returning home. She stressed that her husband's financial
situation does
not permit him to stay in Jordan and that he committed
nothing wrong and
is not involved in any political activism.
****The family of Nour Ahmad Rzeiqat accused the
occupation army this
evening of torturing their son to death after his arrest
3 days ago from
Fatouh town, west of Hebron. Sources in Al-Ahli Hospital
reported today
that Nour is clinically dead. He was critically wounded
when subjected 3
days ago to torture by a group of Israeli soldiers.
****The Israeli Supreme Court yesterday legalised the use
of Palestinian
civilians by the Israeli army as human shields.
****In Tulkarem, Israeli soldiers disguised in
Palestinian traditional
clothes raided a coffee shop in the city and arrested all
18 people
present inside. Among the arrested is Fateh member Hani
Abu Laymoun. The
invading soldiers withdrew from the city under intense
fire.
****The occupation army invaded Anabta Town, east of
Tulkarem, this
morning under intense fire. Several homes were brutally
raided and
searched.
****The occupation army invaded Anabta Town, east of
Tulkarem, this
morning under intense fire. Several homes were brutally
raided and
searched.
****A resident from Kufer Zibad Village, Tulkarem, died
today at an
Israeli military roadblock near al-Kafriyat junction,
after he was
prevented from crossing to hospital despite his serious
medical condition.
****In Nazlat Issa, more shop owners were ordered to
evacuate their shops
in the market in preparation for demolition in the coming
2 weeks. The
occupation army demolished over 60 shops so far under the
pretext of
"construction without permit".
****7 homes and a farm were demolished in Za'tara and
Beit Ta'mar village,
including the latter's village council. The demolition
activities are
aimed at giving way for the construction of a settlement
road expected to
cut through several villages and towns in Bethlehem. 30
other homes face
demolition threats. Owners were handed demolition orders
in recent weeks.
**** In Daba'a village, Qalqilya, several were wounded in
a demonstration,
in which foreign solidarity activists took part, against
Israeli
demolition activities. The occupation army embarked on
the demolition of
hundreds of olive trees from the village, south of the
city, today.
**** In the Gaza Strip, 3 homes and a water well were
demolished in Beit
Lahya today, where Israeli soldiers brutally raided and
searched homes.
****In Deir al-Balah, the Israeli army confiscated a home
and transferred
it into a military base. The occupation army also carried
out destruction
activities in the city.
****The occupation army through a military order
confiscated 15 dunums
(1dunum=1000m2) of land from Aba and Qabatya in Jenin.
The Israeli
military order would further isolate the villages from
their surroundings
and the city of Jenin as well as inflict grave losses on
the residents.
****Settlers began to carry out activities on land
confiscated recently
west of Khan Younis in al-Ras area to the east of 'Neveh
Dkalim'. 40
dunums were demolished last week and surrounded by barbed
wire.
**** Fateh leader Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Barghouti
were placed in an
isolation prison today in Bir al-Sabi'. The prisoners
declared a strike
tomorrow calling for the closure of the isolation cells,
describing them
as "coffins for the detainees".
Compiled by Hear Palestine - Jan 23, 2003
Dear Friends,
Here in the big prison called Gaza when we face such
ordeals, we think about
your solidarity about the increasing antiwar
movement worldwide and, your
practical support, we don't feel alone, your solidarity
strengthens our
resolve, your solidarity is our life line in facing
such ongoing ordeals,
the Palestinian people know a lot about your growing
antiwar movement,
normal Palestinians in the street are highly
touched with the human shields
that are leaving to Iraq against war, our battle against
Israel is yours, it
is a battle against injustice, war , oppression and
racism.
The future is ours and one day we shall overcome
Yours in love and solidarity,
Mona El Farra
Union of Health Work Committees
Gaza
> TERRORISTS AMONG THE APPLES
> Art Gish, Hebron, West Bank
>
> January 30, 2003
>
> All of Hebron was under total curfew today. I
could sense something was wrong. As I walked up the
street I soon realized there was trouble at Al
Manara. I was horrified at what I saw. There
were two tanks and two bulldozers leveling the produce
market which extended over two blocks. Produce lay
scattered and smashed everywhere, here in this city where
many are hungry. Shop owners were scrambling to
save boxes of tomatoes, oranges, bananas, and more.
>
> My first response was to just stand there, weeping
and sobbing. The scene was so horrifying, so
disgusting, so depraved. I could not emotionally
bear it. I felt completely helpless.
>
> The produce market was at Al Manara because the
Israeli military closed the former produce market in
response to the massacre of Muslims in the Ibrihimi
Mosque in 1994. In every peace accord since then,
Israel has promised to reopen the market. It has
never been reopened. Israeli settlers now live in
that building.
>
> I continued to feel helpless, but I also felt I had
to do something. I started carrying boxes of
produce out of the way of the bulldozers. I saved
maybe 12 crates of produce from being crushed.
>
> I began confronting soldiers. In a loud voice,
I asked them if they were proud of what they were doing,
if this is peace, if this is what they want Israel to
become. I shouted, "Baruch hashem Adonai"
(Blessed be the name of the Lord).
>
> The soldiers tried their best to ignore me, but I am
sure they heard me. I ignored their commands for me
to leave. One soldier spit at me, so I walked right
up to him and invited him to spit on me. He
declined the offer.
>
> Three soldiers aimed their guns at and moved toward
a group of Palestinian bystanders. It looked to me
like they were going to shoot. I quickly jumped in
front of the soldiers, raised my hands in the air and
shouted, "Shoot me, shoot me, go ahead and shoot
me." The soldiers immediately left.
>
> A tank came roaring toward me, its big gun barrel
aimed at me. I raised my hands in the air in
prayer, and shouted, "Shoot, shoot, Baruch hashem
adonai." The tank stopped within inches of me.
>
> I then knelt in the street in prayer, with my hands
raised. I felt alone, weak, helpless. I could
only cry out to God.
>
> Later this afternoon I went back to Al Manara and
watched shop owners dig through the huge piles of rubble,
trying to salvage what they could. What could I
say?
>
> The Israeli military had put all of Hebron under
total curfew today, saying they were looking for
terrorists. Now I wonder if there really were
terrorists hidden among the apples and oranges. Or,
are the Israeli soldiers committing acts of terrorism
against the civilian population of Hebron?
>
> I fear for what may come next.
>
> Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical
initiative to support violence reduction efforts around
the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking
work, please visit our website at http://www.cpt.org.
> Photos of our projects may be viewed at http://www.clubphoto.com.
Login as 'cptheb@palnet.com'
BRITISH VICE-CONSUL OF ISRAEL, A CONSUL
AD-VICE
Letter from International Solidarity Movement
Hi
everyone, First I'd like to say thank-you to
all our British supporters who emailed their MPs
about the treatment of Anne Gwynne. Today I got a
call from Andrew Woodcock, the Vice Consul of the
British Consulate to Israel, asking for details of
what happened to her and how she was. I recounted
to him the story of the beating Anne endured and the
threats of rape that were made against her at the Beit
Fouriq checkpoint and offered him her phone number which
he accepted. I then asked whether the Foreign
Office intended to protest her treatment to the Israeli
government.
Mr. Woodcock
replied that the Foreign Office has issued a travel
advisory warning British nationals against traveling to
the West Bank and that those who disregard this warning
do so without British government approval.
I said that
these people were not thrill-seekers going to the West
Bank for kicks but humanitarian activists who were often
the only international presence monitoring what was going
on in the Occupied Territories and who, by their
presence, were saving lives.
I said that the presence of the activists was often the
only protection the Palestinians living in the
territories had and that Anne's main job in
Nablus was to escort ambulances through Israeli
military checkpoints.
Then Mr. Woodcock
condescendingly explained to me that, while he was aware
that these people believe that they have good reason for
being in the West Bank, it was nevertheless the case that
they had ignored Foreign Office advice that they should
not travel to the West Bank and so the British government
cannot be held responsible for what happens to them.
If this is truly
the position of the British government it represents
possibly the most craven abdications of the British
government's responsibility to protect its citizens in
modern history.
What it means in practice is that the Israeli army of
occupation can do what ever they want to British
humanitarian volunteers working in the Occupied
Territories without having to fear any sanctions from the
British government.
People like
Anne are only in the West Bank because the
United Nations has abdicated it's responsibility to
protect the human rights of the Palestinian people due to
pressure from the United States. If any country
apart from Israel was occupying and colonising the West
Bank and terrorising and its entire
indigenous population, UN monitors would be on the
ground doing her job.
Her case is not one of someone
being caught in the crossfire of a gunfight or of someone
in danger of being accidentally killed by Israeli
shelling. It is the case of Israeli soldiers
deliberately assaulting and threatening to rape a 65 year
old grandmother whose only crime has been to provide an
example of courage and concern for human rights of which
all British people should be proud.
Everyday in the
Occupied Territories Palestinians are being murdered,
tortured, harassed, humiliated, dispossessed of their
lands and driven from their homes while Western
governments look the other way and continue to sell arms
to Israel. While the violence inflicted upon Anne
was certainly mild in comparison to these outrages, this
is one case in which you can really make a difference.
Please contact
the British Foreign Office (http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390545) demanding that the British
government formally protest Anne's treatment to the
Israeli government.
Please
take this matter up with your MP expressing your concern
for the welfare of British humanitarian volunteers
working in Occupied Palestine. (You can find their
email addresses at http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hcio/lists.cfm.) Please
contact your local media to inform them of Anne's
case. (You can refer them to me for further
information.) Please forward this email to
all your friends who are concerned about human rights. In Solidarity,
Michael
ISM Media Coordinator Beit Sahour Occupied Palestine
Phone: +972-2-2774602
Cell: +972-67-628439
web: http://www.palsolidarity.org
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