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INTERNATIONAL
SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT July, 2002 July 31, 2002 ISRAELI ARMY ATTACKS JENIN HOSPITAL [JENIN] The Israeli army, obviously not learning from the first time they did this, has once again rammed a utility pole. This time the military vehicle escaped unscathed, but has left the hospital without power. The wires, crackling with electricity, are hanging down at such an angle that ambulances have only a four inch clearance. Should the wires touch the vehicles they could kill the people inside. Medics have to make the tough decision of driving under these wires or keeping patients from the hospital. This continues the Israeli policy, especially in Jenin of attacking the civilian infrastructure. Activists also report that at 4am one building containing eight apartments was destroyed for no apparent reason. This leaves dozens more people homeless and increases the desperate humanitarian situation in Jenin. The International Solidarity Movement is opposed to the horrible and tragic civilian attacks happening in Israel and Palestine and call for an end to the Occupation as an end to the violence. For more information in Jenin contact: Rebecca 972 (0) 67 437 690For more information on the International Solidarity Movement contact:
Media Alert July 30, 2002: UPDATE Friends, the three US citizens who were taken yesterday by the Israeli military for trying to prevent the Israeli Army from destroying roads used by Palestinians, were released late last night. As the International Solidarity Movement continues to call for resistance, solidarity, civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action against the Israeli occupation and forces supporting this oppression, we ask that everyone take part in some way. There is an action alert at the end of this message, that though geared towards US citizens, can be altered for use by others. Please take a moment to act. ------------------------------------- July 29, 2002: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE International Activists Arrested for Blocking Destruction of Palestinian Roads by Israeli Military [NABLUS] An Israeli army bulldozer accompanied by an armored personnel carrier today attempted to dig trenches in the road that leads from the Palestinian city of Nablus to the neighboring village of Iraq Bureen. Yesterday, international activists and Palestinians worked to remove roadblocks that had been placed by the military on this road to obstruct Palestinian movement and block the delivery of food and water. See: http://www.palsolidarity.org/update_pages/release_nablus27julyroadblock.htm Soldiers have blindfolded, handcuffed and thrown in an armored personnel carrier 3 American citizens, Jonathen Mello, Travis Lee Pugh, and David Yee. Other internationals are currently sitting in the road, still trying to block the bulldozer from tearing up the road. All film and cameras from the internationals have been confiscated by Israeli soldiers. For more information, please call in Nablus: Susan: +972(0)55-829-680 ------------------------------------- July 28, 2002: For immediate release INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS TRYING TO STOP ISRAELI WAR
CRIMES; PREPARING FOR
IMMINENT ATTACK IN JENIN [JENIN] Over 40 international activists have placed themselves in life threatening situations to halt Israeli war crimes being carried out right now in Jenin. Currently there are three situations: 2. The Israeli military has contacted the mayor of Jenin informing him of their intentions to blow up the Nadi Youth and Cultural Center. Internationals with ISM and the French Civil Mission for the Protection of the Palestinian People are planning to enter the center as well as surround it in a human chain. 3. Two tanks and a jeep entered the city center and began firing on Palestinian civilians this morning. Due to local resistance the Israeli army pulled out but are currently en route to the city center again with reinforcements. Activists are in the city center and plan to protect the Palestinian civilians by acting as human shields. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 of the Fourth Convention states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." International activists and Palestinian civilians call on the members of the press to expose these vicious acts of violence and outrageous war crimes. Please contact internationals in Jenin immediately: ------------------------------------- Qalqilia, West Bank, Palestine -- July 26, 2002 Report Qalqilia is a farming town, with many residents dependent on agricultural production for their livelihood. The Israeli government has decided to build a wall completely surrounding the town, and construction of the wall is well on its way. Every day we see Israeli construction workers putting up another section of the 20-foot high cement wall. It looks a lot like the Berlin wall, but with an added component: guard towers, much like those you see in a prison. The towers are being installed every few hundred feet, to be staffed by Israeli soldiers (most of which are young men aged 18-22) with surveillance equipment and guns. This will give the Israeli army the power to peer out over all parts of the city, viewing the inside of people's homes (including the bedrooms) and shoot at will. The one entrance to the city will be strictly controlled by the Israeli army, and the gate will be closed at the whim of the officers in charge. Construction of this wall will have many devastating effects on a town already suffering a great deal due to the occupation. Farmers will be forbidden from farming on their own land if it is located outside the city limits, workers will be unable to reach their jobs (both those who commute in to Qalqilia and those who live in the town and work outside of it). In essence, the prison-like conditions created by the curfew will be made concrete by the completion of the prison wall. The worst effects, however, will be environmental, as much of the water supply of the city comes from winter flows from the nearby mountains. This water will be dammed by the wall and flood huge amounts of farmland both in Israel and the West Bank. The effects of the damming of the water supply will include contamination with waste water (leading to diarrhea, dysentery, etc.). It will affect Israelis as well as Palestinians. Here are some recent incidents that reflect everyday occurrences in Qalqilia during the current occupation. July 10 - Chukri Fayik Dawoud, 10 years old, was outside his family's home when he was shot by an Israeli soldier. Two other children were injured by bullets. The curfew was off at the time, which meant that people were free to be outside of their homes. The army gave no warning that they were going to attack, they simply rolled into town with tanks and armored vehicles and began to shoot. The army gave no explanation for killing this boy, who was the youngest child in a family of four children. His father had recently undergone heart surgery, and Chukri and his 14 year old brother were always helping their father in the shop he owned. Chukri was running an errand for his father when he was shot. His 13-year old sister saw him get killed. July 15 - The Israeli army launched an assault on a plastics factory that produced car seat covers and accessories in Qalqilia. 40 workers were inside the building when the assault began at 8:00 in the morning, as well as two families who lived in apartments above the factory. The Israeli soldiers threw fire bombs into the building, which immediately ignited the highly flammable materials in the factory. The soldiers gave no warning, and offered no reason for the assault. They surrounded the building, and refused to let the local fire department enter to put out the fire. Despite this fact, most of the workers and the families with their twelve children managed to escape. One man, Mahmoud Helal, was stuck on the second floor and burned to death. His friends and co-workers tried repeatedly to tell the soldiers he was trapped inside, and begging them to allow the firefighters inside to rescue him, but the soldiers refused. According to one friend of Mahmoud's, when he told a soldier that his friend was trapped inside, the soldier laughed and threw another firebomb inside the building, telling Mahmoud's friend, "I will kill you next". Mahmoud was 23 years old, and was working at the factory to save money for his university studies. His family was devastated by the loss, as his death was a particularly painful one and completely unexpected. He was a completely innocent man whose only crime was going to work on the day that the army decided to attack his factory. The army gave no explanation for the attack, which displaced two families from their homes, destroyed the jobs of 60 people and caused 2.5 million dollars worth of damage to the company. July 18 - Fathi Hassan Sweedan, 40 years old, was shot in the head while picking olives from an olive tree on his land in the village of Azoun near Qalqilia. The army gave no warning that they were going to shoot, and gave no explanation for the attack. July 20 ? Anis Albe was killed near Qalqilia when he was crossing a road to go to work in the town of Kfar Saba. July 24 - Ghaleb Nazal was driving his car in the evening when the Israeli army rolled into town with its entourage of tanks and armored vehicles. Ghaleb requested permission to pass in order to reach his home, and the commanding officer gave him permission to pass. As he was driving, a tank rolled up and rolled over his car. He managed to escape with only relatively minor injuries, but his car was completely flattened by the tank. July 25 - Three men were arrested, forced to kneel, blindfolded, for five hours in the hot sun as their homes were destroyed by bulldozers. One was Ahmed Hazza, 52 years old, who spent 21 years of his life as a political prisoner in Israel (1968 - 1989) and suffered from many internal injuries from that time. He was the General Secretary for the Fatah political organization in this area and very active in working for peace. He was recognized as a patient negotiator and willing participant in the political process. According to local sources, his arrest will obstruct the peace process. The other two men arrested were his nephew, Ehad Hazza, 27 years old, and a neighbor, Jawad Barham, 30 years old, who lived in the house behind. Jawad's family is quite poor, and his mother has had a very difficult time raising her eight children after her husband left her when Jawad was young. His mother and his sister are both quite sick, and have had to resort to begging in the marketplace for money for medicine and food. Now they have lost their home, and the soldiers gave no reason for arresting the men or destroying the homes. Also, Jamal Shekar Ge'ada was shot in the stomach by Israeli soldiers in Qalqilia with no warning. There was a child looking out of a second-story window in the house behind where Jamal was standing. The soldiers sprayed a round of bullets toward the window, barely missing the four-year old child and his one-year old brother who lay sleeping near the window. As Jamal tried to make his way to a nearby home to get help for his injury, he was shot 3 more times in his legs and his side. The Israeli soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to retrieve the injured man, and after about 30 minutes took him in an armored vehicle to an Israeli hospital where he remains in critical condition today (July 26). A ten-year old child who witnessed the attack was standing nearby with a shocked look on his face, repeating "They were smoking" (i.e. the Israeli soldiers were smoking cigarettes when they shot this unarmed man). July 26 - At about midnight on the morning of the 26th, the Israeli army began attacking a neighborhood in Qalqilia without warning or explanation. They gathered about 200 people in groups and made them stand on the street for 13 hours, until 1:00 this afternoon. The soldiers went through each home on the street (close to fifty homes), using a resident from the home as a human shield as they went through the homes opening cabinets, overturning furniture, and shooting bullets through walls, doors and furniture. The soldiers said they were looking for guns, but they found none. They were looking for no particular person, but merely searching randomly for guns. Some children were isolated from the others and interrogated for 13 hours, with soldiers continually asking him, "Where are the guns hidden?". The Israeli army destroyed 2 cars, a van, a water tank, and farm equipment as they smashed through a yard with their armored bulldozer tank. They also arrested at least one man, Hassam Daod, age 30. At about 9:30 am, on a nearby street, a 35-year old man named Zeyad Taisir Ahmad Hajj Hassan was preparing breakfast for his family in this kitchen on the second floor of his home. Israeli soldiers shot a number of bullets through the window. He was shot in the head while holding a pot of coffee. He was brought to the local hospital and was being transferred to another hospital when he died at about 11:00 am. His wife and brother-in-law both went into shock and had to be hospitalized. His four children, ranging in age from 1 to 6 years old, also witnessed the event. The Israeli army gave no explanation for the attack. INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT - www.palsolidarity.org ------------------------------------- July 27, 2002 [NABLUS] At 9am on July 28th 20+ activists with the International Solidarity Movement will attempt to remove dirt roadblocks built by the Israeli military this morning around the village of Iraq Boreen, just three kilometers from the major West Bank city of Nablus. Though they expect confrontation with the Israeli occupation forces the needs of the village demand action. Israeli bulldozers, protected by armored personnel carriers, dug deep trenches and high dirt barricades effectively cutting of the small village from all social and commercial interaction. Most importantly the village is unable to receive the water trucks it so desperately needs during this hot and dry time of year. The village requires 10 water trucks per day and today received none. Without removal of these barricades the Palestinian civilians can expect no water. As a general principle, in both internal and international armed conflict it is lawful to attack only military objectives. From this derives the rule stated in Article 54 of the first of the two 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions that "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited."
Ethan (USA) 972 (0) 67 387 872 For more information on the International Solidarity Movement please call: Huwaida 972 (0) 52 642 709 [Arabic & English] This action is part of the International Solidarity Movement's Freedom Summer Campaign. For more about the campaign, please see www.palsolidarity.org or call 972-52-642-709 or 972-2-277-2018. ------------------------------------- July 23, 2002: for immediate release PROTEST LABELS ISRAELI ARMY "MURDERERS" [OCCUPIED RAMALLAH] Over 40 foreign civilians confronted the Israeli army outpost in Ramallah today in protest of the brutal Israeli attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza City yesterday and calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The demonstrators, representing the United States, England, France, Puerto Rico and Japan, carried black flags with the words "Gaza 23.07.02" painted on them. Four of the black flags were planted into the ground around the Israeli tanks, as the protestors chanted and waved Palestinian flags. A group of the protestors also scaled the walls around the army post carrying buckets and cans of paint. One armored personnel carrier and one Israeli army truck were doused with red paint, while the words "Murderers" and "US $" were painted on another armored personnel carrier. Pictures and video footage available. For more information, please call: Huwaida at +972-52-642-709 or +972-67-473-308 ------------------------------------- Press Statement In the aftermath of Israel's brutal attack on unarmed civilians sleeping in their homes in Gaza, we, members of the international community, can no longer stay silent. We are citizens of the United States, Puerto Rico, France, England and Japan, and have come to Palestine because the Palestinian struggle for freedom has touched all of us deeply. Because the United States has blocked all attempts at international intervention, we have come to stand with the Palestinian people. We are here to show that this conflict is not about Arab vs. Israeli or Muslim against Jew. We are here to stand for justice, human rights, and international law in the face of a brutal, cruel, military occupation. We are marching today to register our outrage at the mass murder of Palestinian civilians by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza City yesterday, and also against the daily humiliation, torture, and murder that have become the daily routine for Palestinian people under this occupation. We are marching for the children killed, the homes demolished, the infrastructure destroyed, and the hope lost. We call on people everywhere, who crave justice, to join us. ------------------------------------- July 23, 2002: for immediate release Brits and Americans Physically Assaulted by Israeli Army [NABLUS] Internationals have been assaulted by the Israeli army today trying to help ambulances get into the village of Sara, approximately 7 kilometers from Nablus, to assist injured and recover three Palestinians shot dead by the army. The military launched an attack on the village without prior provocation and are not allowing aid to enter. Ethan, an American student, was forced to the ground, kicked several times and punched in the stomach. The soldiers verbally threatened to break his bones. Mika, from the UK, was also thrown to the ground, kicked, grabbed and threatened. Activists are staying in the village of Tel overnight and will attempt to enter Sara again. For more information in Tel contact: For more information the International Solidarity Movement contact: ------------------------------------- July 23, 2002: for immediate release ISRAEL PUNISHES ENTIRE CITY FOR ACT OF RESISTANCE [JENIN] At least three Palestinian youth have been wounded in the city
of Jenin after Israeli forces fired on them from 2 Apache helicopters.
Injuries include: The city is now swarming with Israeli troops, and they are conducting house-to-house searches in the Old City of Jenin. The attck was in response to the non-fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier at around 5pm local time today. For direct contacts in Jenin call: ------------------------------------- Tuesday, 23 July 2002 Fatal fire in Qalqilya The ISM recently sent a delegation (of 9 US citizens) to Qalqilya. Whereas we haven't had a presence in Qalqilya before, neither has the international media, so Israeli government and military atrocities have gone virtually unreported. The activists (contact information at the end) will be able to provide you and media outlets with updated and eyewitness accounts from Qalqilya. Please feel free to contact them or our the ISM office at 02-626-4844. On Monday July 15, 2002, at 8:00 in the morning, the Israeli Defense Forces attacked a plastics factory in Qalqilya, a northwestern city in the West Bank, causing a massive fire and the death of one of its workers. Qalqilya was under curfew at the time, which means that nobody is allowed outside. In the past month, several people have died in Qalqilya during curfew; soldiers shot and killed a 10 year old boy playing soccer in the street, a man tending his field, and a pregnant woman standing inside her home. On the morning of July 15, one of the factory workers was standing outside the building. The army jeeps saw her, raced to the factory, and threw a grenade into the building. At the time, there were around 20 workers and 18 residents (living in apartments on the third floor) inside the building. The flames from the first grenade were extinguished by one of the workers inside. The army then ordered everyone out of the building, and sent two more grenades into the building. The factory, which manufactured plasic coverings for steering wheels, contained highly flammable materials; a fire quickly erupted and spread. As people ran out from the fire, the army fired shots in their direction. One man, Mahmoud Helel, did not run outside. He had forgotten his identification papers at home that morning, and was afraid that the army would harrass or arrest him. The owner of the factory, Dr. Khaldoon Zaid, told one of the commanders that he was 99% sure that one of his workers was still inside the building. The commander asserted that there was no one inside, that anyone could be seen through the windows, despite the fact that there was thick black smoke coming from the burning plastics. In the meantime, the local fire department was called. Due to curfew, which prevents the movement necessary to stock up on supplies, there was not enough gasoline in the fire truck to get to the site. An army tank gave the fire truck some of its gas. This act, of course, made it to the local news. However, further delays were caused by the army vehicles, which obstructed the way to the burning building. By the time the fire trucks reached the building, the first two floors were consumed in flames. Fire trucks from neighboring Salfit and Kefar Sava arrived later. After 3 hours, the fire was extinguished. A search team found Mahmoud's body, completely carbonized, on the second floor. Mahmoud was 22 years old. He lived and worked in Qalqilya, and attended University Al-Quds in Jerusalem. He was working in the factory to help pay for tuition. The factory employed 47 full-time employees as well as 15 auxiliary workers and 4 drivers. These people are now without work, in a nation where employment is scarce. The apartments on the third floor are not safe to live in; 2 families, with a total of 12 children, are homeless. The factory sustained damages of 2.5 million US dollars; these losses are not covered by insurance, which does not assist with damage caused by the military. For more information, contact the factory's general director, Dr. Khaldoon
Zaid: home 09-294-7737, or mobile 053-22-1413. ------------------------------------- For immediate release (received 7/22/2002) Internationals Under Threat of Being Shot by Israeli Army for Observing Collective Punishment [HEBRON] International activists from the USA, Ireland and the UK have been warned by the Israeli military that they may be shot if they continue to observe the army's war crimes in Beit Ommar. Today the Israeli army reinvaded the village with a vengeance. Internationals report a massively increased army presence but no Palestinian resistance or prior provocation. The internationals report hearing explosions all day from the central part of the town. Currently the activists are trying to make contact with a family whose home has been taken over by the military. They have not been allowed to communicate with the people inside and believe they are being held as hostages in inhumane conditions. The activists are observing the two main roads that lead from the town and are watching as the military hauls men from their homes and is taking them in the direction of another contingent of international activists. Internationals intend to observe and challenge the Israeli military's stunning breach of international law and human rights. For more information in Beit Ommar: ------------------------------------- For immediate release (received 7/20/2002) Americans Defy Israeli War Crimes Protecting Home from Demolition [QALQILIYA] Activists from the USA are acting as human shields in a home which the Israeli army is threatening to demolish today. Last night the Israeli army claims a bomb went off in a military jeep causing no injures. This morning the army broke into the home of a Qalqiliya resident, destroying the door and causing other damage. Luckily the family was out but upon returning they found the military still camped out inside. Suspicious of the family’s absence, the military summarily decreed that their home should be demolished. This demolition would leave an innocent family of five homeless and only serve to increase the tension and anger between Israel and one of its nearest Palestinian villages. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 of the Fourth Convention states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." For more information contact in Qalqiliya: For more information on the International Solidarity Movement or the Freedom Summer Campaign contact: Huwaida 972 (0) 52 642 709 ISM Office 972 (0) 2 626 4844 ------------------------------------- For immediate release (received 7/10/2002) Subject: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian child "breaking curfew" Though we faxed all of the media outlets in Jerusalem with this info, we have yet to see it reported, except in passing on CNN -- "teenage boy killed in a refugee camp in Nablus." What doesn't cease to amaze me is how journalists can ignore something like the systematic opening of live fire and using tanks against unarmed civilians and children. Our activists in Jenin are having to follow soldiers around daily and stand in between them and Palestinian children -- to keep the soldiers from firing on children. We don't have enough activists here to be everywhere, but where is the international community and the humanity of the world? --- Huwaida ------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT July 10, 2002 At 12:30 this afternoon in Al Askar refugee camp soldiers shot from an Israeli tank at youth and children killing one and injuring two. This was apparently another "confusion" regarding the lifting and reimposition of curfew, in which Israeli soldiers felt they had to shoot unarmed civilians because they were in their streets. Rami al Katash, age 17, shot in the neck and face has died. Madi Fadel, age 13, was shot in the leg and Sami al Remawy, age 11, sustained shrapnel wounds to the head. The wounded have been taken to Al Ittiihad Hospital in Nablus. For more information contact: For more information on the International Solidarity Movement contact:
Huwaida Arraf 972 (0)52 642 709 For immediate release (received 7/3/2002) They were put in a small unfinished room, out in the open. They remained in the open day and night without adequate shelter from the heat or nighttime cold. They were given one meal a day consisting of canned food and not allowed to use toilet facilities. The men repeatedly asked why they were being held and requested to make phone calls to their family and consulates, but were denied. Soldiers yelled at them, pushed them and told them that if they tried to leave they would be shot. Today at approximately 1600 the men were released in a remote location near Nablus, whereby they made their way into Nablus on foot. The two medical workers are now with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) in Nablus, and Eric is due to be on a flight back to the United States tonight. The Israeli Army has thus far not given either the ISM or consular officials any explanation as to why these men were abducted, treated inhumanely and held incommunicado for two days. For more information contact: For more information on The International Solidarity Movement contact:
Huwaida Arraf – 052-642-709 ------------------------------------- For immediate release (received 6/30/2002) One armored personnel carrier (APC), one tank and a bulldozer rolled down the street towards the house. With local press from Reuters and other agencies as well as the internationals taping, four international civilians representing the USA, UK, Canada and Israel laid down in the street effectively stopping the advancement of the Israeli military. Israeli forces resorted to violence launching tear gas and sound grenades at them but the activists held fast. The military backed away and approached from another direction and the same situation was replayed. Israeli army jeeps arrived and arrested the press, forcing them into jeeps and taking them to an uknown location. The journalists are: Hassan Titti and Abed Qusini from Reuters. One American peace activist, Eric Levine, was forced into another jeep and hauled away. At this point we are trying to determine Eric's condition and whereabouts. International civilians are still intent on protecting the family from the Israeli military and will remain in the area. Video footage may be available. For more information in Nablus contact:
------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL CIVILIANS WITNESS MASS DETENTION The internationals are reporting that over 150 men are being held in a school field under the hot sun. Many of the Palestinian men have been held since the operation began at 0430. The men have been split into three major groups, with some smaller groups being held at gunpoint in other locations. Many of the men are tied and blindfolded. The entire camp has been sealed off by Israeli tanks and APC's. The soldiers are interfering with witnesses who are trying to insure that the Palestinian's human rights are not being violated. Occupation forces are refusing to give their names or numbers to the international witnesses and have fired warning shots over their heads. The soldiers are denying entry to one group of internationals and have threatened individuals with arrest. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not committed", and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited". For more information in Amaari contact: Huwaida Arraf 067 473 308 Other Stories
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