THE HANDSTAND

JULY 2003

CAMP AGAINST THE OCCUPATION

TUL KAREM REGION, WEST BANK, PALESTINE

Founded by a coalition of the International Solidarity Movement, the National and Islamic parties of Palestine, the Wall Defense Committee and over ten villages within the Tul Karem region of the West Bank, Camp Against the Occupation stands as a meeting place for all those in opposition to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. Established on July 2, 2003, Camp Against the Occupation marks the opening days of the International Solidarity Movement’s summer campaign, entitled “Freedom Summer 2003”. The Freedom Summer campaign focuses on the restriction of movement that Palestinians endure daily due to this occupation. Camp Against the Occupation was created as an element of this summer campaign in order to directly challenge Israel’s construction of the separation wall.  The wall stands to restrict Palestinian movement even further, to cut off thousands from their agricultural lands, to isolate access to water and to literally imprison Palestinians within the west bank. It is the intention of Camp Against the Occupation to highlight these issues through non-violent, direct-action that aims to actually stop the wall and end the occupation.

For a map of the wall in this region, please see: http://www.nad-plo.org/maps/Qalqilya_land_grab.htm

The objectives of Camp Against the Occupation are as follows:

        To draw international media attention to the on-going Israeli military occupation of Palestine and specifically highlight the building of the Separation Wall within the West Bank

        To expose the truth of the current situation in Palestin, and in doing so change public opinion so that the international community will put pressure on the Israeli Government to work within International Law, to stop the construction of the Separation Wall and to end the occupation.

        To support and participate in non-violent direct action initiated by local Palestinian communities that function to directly confront and challenge the on-going occupation and the wall itself.

        To put a stop to the Separation Wall that will transform the West Bank, Palestine into the largest ghetto in the world, literally imprisoning the majority of the population within a 25 foot (8 meter) high concrete wall and a maximum-security fence.

        To organize resistance to Israeli occupation forces and policies that have robbed Palestinian civil society of any semblance of normalcy, security, or dignity.

For more information please contact:
For more information on Freedom Summer Palestine, please contact: Huwaida 067-473-308

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
July 2, 2003
For Immediate Release

                                            WALLS MAKE GOOD GHETTOS
                                              Demonstration to Stop the Wall!

[Tulkarem Region, West Bank] Palestinians from 10 villages in the Tulkarem region will be joined by dozens of internationals from the International Solidarity Movement to stop the work on a section of the Separation Wall that, when completed, will totally isolate 3 villages: Baqa Sharqiya, Nazlit Issa, and Nazli Abu-Nar, from the rest of the West Bank, trapping over 6,000 Palestinians between a maximum security (electrified) fence and the Green Line.

In the Tulkarem area alone the construction of the Separation Wall has isolated 47,000 dunams (4 dunams == 1 acre) of land from Palestinian farmers and landowners, caused the destruction of 25,000 almond and olive trees and will isolate and/or destroy 6 water wells, used by Palestinian farmers to tend their agricultural fields, directly affecting over 11,000 Palestinians in the Tulkarem region, imprisoning them in their ghettos and isolating them from their farmland.

The International Solidarity Movement’s Freedom Summer Palestine Campaign will focus on the Israeli occupation policy of denying Palestinians the freedom of movement, a basic right guaranteed to all people under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Palestinian civilians are forbidden to leave their towns and villages without special permission from the Israeli military.Roadblocks, checkpoints and now, the construction of the Separation Wall, have ghettoized Palestinian Bantustans.  Palestinians and internationals will campaign to highlight the oppressiveness of Israeli occupation policies and bring to light the fact that, despite all the talks of a “Road Map”, facts on the ground continue to be created to entrench the occupation, and Palestinian human rights continue to be violated.

For a map of the wall in this region, please see: http://www.nad-plo.org/maps/Qalqilya_land_grab.htm