 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Events | Campaigns | News | Membership | Take Action | Eyewitness | Links | Resources | Contact Us | Forum |
|
|||
|
|||
|
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 Brief report from group At last in reach of internet cafe. We have been in villages since Monday, in variety of olive picking situations. All very graphic and laced with meeting families, staying in village homes, experiencing Ramadan (breaking fast after sunset - huge sociable meals etc.). One village, called Jinsafut, was dominated by surrounding settlements, army outpost and huge ugly house on top of hill built by a notorious settler thug called Moishe Zohar. The villagers feel they cannot venture onto their land without some international presence. We had one day of reasonably successful picking' keeping to land which was some way from the settler house and only had to cope with a visitation from the local administration, settler security and police. Ater long argument were allowed to help the Palestinians go on picking. But then we found a group of 40 settler youths bearing down on us with 6 or 7 men with guns all shouting abuse. Then a most amazing thunderstorm broke. The Palestinians ran off into the bushes in fear and we were all completerly drenched and panicked. It was chaotic and frightening. Eventually the military police arrived and rounded up the settlers but then departed rapidly. The settlers continued to roam around but eventually straggled off and we and the Palestinians were able to leave, still in drenching rain and crashing thunder. It transpired that the youths were from the local settler school and the armed men with them were their teachers, out on some kind of hike. Whether it was aimed at the Palestinians or not we aren't clear. The other situation had a different set of obstacles and threats. The village of Fulamia is very close to the green line and has been notified that the new protection fence' will be built on its land but at a distance of one to six kms within the Palestinian land. Equally drastic, it will also cut off the water supply which is controlled by a French-funded artesian well system. This means a degree of land theft which is devastating and would efffectively remove 90% of the village's agricultural land either by theft or by loss of irrigation. A large group of French solidarity supporters had arrived and joined with the smaller international group to plan a continuation of protests against the contractor who had been hired to cut down a swathe of precious old olive trees in preparation for building this section of the fence. The protest planned by the French and the villagers included the imaginative staging of a mock wedding on the site where the olive trees had been cut (French bride, Palestinian groom) with singing and dancing. this was an attempt to oppose a celebration with music and dancing in face of the tragedy being created by the Israelis. In fact the wedding only delayed the confontation briefly. When the army and contracor and ccontractor sewcurity arrived the 60 or so demonstators were given 15 minutes to clear the site of face being cleared by the army. (One factor we hoped would help - an announced meeting between the Israeli Govt and French consul to consider the role of the irrigation project, was regarded as irrelevant by the army.) After 15 minutes the army began to clear the demobnstators by using repeated rounds of tear gas and stund grenages. Each time we had to run but then regrouped until we were halh was across the site. Then the army threatened to use rubber bullets if we did not agree to retreat gradually. Inevitably we agreed, and there then followed a painful process of the army jeeps pushing us slowly back until the contractors' men could move in and beging cutting the olive trees again. This was a very bitter moment. The mayor of the village - an old but seemingly tireless man - made a very dignified speech, saying the Palestinians were unarmed people fighting great injustice, who in the end could only rely on diplomatic intervention. I think we all felt unutterably sad and impotent, and profoundly sympathetic with the Palestinians who are living with this oppression continuously. We all had discussions afterwards about how much this kind of non-violent action can achieve. But we do feel some little impact has been made - not least because there was a surprisingly good level of press response (much due to endless phoning by Chris Osmond and others) - Reuters, the BBC, Independent and Daily Telegraph - all sent some one to this rather inaccessible W Bank village. News today is that protest action will continue in this village because the contractor and police attacked a farmer who was working alone near the site and pursued him off his land. Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 Report from group Just 5 mins before computer room here at YW closes at midnight. Have finally got back to J'lem after long trip from Tulkarem, mostly delayed by appalling checkpoint holdup at the main checkpoint from the north and long detours to avoid other road blocks. we got there around 10am and found many people - cars, trucks and taxis had been waiting since 6 as the soldiers let vehicles thro one at a time and made meticulous searches. In the end our taxi driver persuaded the whole queue to let us try and persuade the soldiers to let us thro separately from the main line (the taxi driver of course wanted to take advantage of this for his own convenience) which happenend, and then we felt ashamed and guilty leaving the long miserable and angry queue still waiting. But we also had to go a v long way round, thro the Jordan valley to avoid other blocks. Very tired after Chris (a Sussex student and one of our group) and I did amblance duty with Red Crescent in Tulkarem last night from 6pm to 6am. They take one international out on each call in hope it will make slight impact on army where necessary. This was one night after tanks had been in the camp and one man was killed and several injured. I went out on 3 calls, all just ordinary medical cases but the tanks were again in the town and on one call we had to take a long way round to avoid them and kept being blocked by the jeeps. Then we got stopped and searched, my passport looked at, but the soldier finally said 'save the queen' (!) and let us go on. The sound of tanks grinding through the roads and shooting as they go is terrifying and horrible. They have lost 6 ambulances in the last year, just willfully smashed up by tanks. The drivers and crew speak a little English and so it was a totally amazing night, just driving thro the totally silent countryside under the moon, then occasionally hearing explosions and gunfire from the camp and hearing some of the ambulance crew's stories. Chris went out on one call where they were trying to take an 8 year old boy to J'lem for eye surgery to try and save his eye after an accident, but the ambulance was held up for 45 minutes at the Tulkarem checkpoint and finally had to come back, then they went another way, and managed to transfer him to another ambulance. In the afternoon we had visited the camp and saw and met many people there. some of our group who weren't doing the ambulances went to stay in the camp overnight and were there when the tanks arrived again, but fortunately no-one killed or injured. |
Report from Balata Refugee Camp November 14, 2002 Evidence of IOF terror tactics against a defenceless civilian population was witnessed today by 2 ISM volunteers (Siama and Alison from the UK) in Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus. 2 nights ago Balata camp was woken at 2am by the Israeli soldiers invasion of the camp. For several hours machine gun fire, explosions and Apache helicopter fire could be heard all over the camp and city. Today we witnessed more of what the soldiers had been doing. Going from house to house in at least one part of the camp they took the heads of the families, stripped them, beat them and left them outside their homes whilst inside they shot randomly. Families described how they crowded into a single room for protection, young, old, men and women huddled together unsure whether they would be the next to be shot at and why their home was being targetted. The devastation was plain to see with bullet holes peppering walls, ceilings and doors. In one house we visited an energy bomb cartridge and M16 cartidges are evidence of the destructive weapons used. This operation can only be seen as an effort to terrorise and traumatise an entire community. The same night 4 homes in Balata were invaded by the military, entire extended families taken hostage and forced into a single room with no access to food, water or medication. Today we visited these homes, the soldiers having left during the night, and witnessed the vandalism they left behind. Furniture upturned and slashed, the contents of cupboards and wardrobes strewn all over, the remains of the food the soldiers had helped themselves to left all over the floor. In one house the soldiers had defaecated all over the bathroom floor. In 2 cases they stole 1000's of shekels of savings plus 2 mobile phones. Last night 4 more families that we are aware of were taken hostage in their homes. Gaining access to one home this morning we saw with our own eyes the entire family of 10 forced into one small room, a tiny baby in the arms of its mother. The family begged us to bring milk for the baby but after just 1 minute of speaking with the family the soldiers told us to leave forbidding us to return. At another home the soldiers refused to even open the door to allow us to talk to the family. With none of the world's media here to report on this terrorisation of a civilian community and no international peace keepers to intervene, who knows how many more families will become hostages and human shields to the IOF in an operation that the Israeli army claim is necessary for their national security. 4-Nablus, 14th November 2002 The IOF operation in Nablus started with gunfire and tanks moving into the city - especially around Old City and Ras Al Ein street - around 3:30 yesterday morning. The army was moving in from three different directions: Altour street, Amman stret and Beit Eiba. Explosions were heard in the area as well as shelling from tanks, apache helicopters and snipers?shots. The following morning there were approxiamtely 50 tanks, apcs and military jeeps everywhere in the streets and snipers hidden in many houses. Palestinian and International volunteers could not reach certain areas because of constant rounds of live ammuniation, for instance the area next to the badly damaged Abidelmogeth Alansary School, which had been occupied by the IOF. One house was burnt down and the electricity cut in the southwest of the Old City because of the shelling, here a fire also destroyed five cars. At least 15 houses were occupied in the area, the families inside are being used as human shields. The use of human shields is strictly prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention. International volunteers tried to speak with people inside occupied buildings yesterday but were not allowed to enter or phone calls were impossible because the families phones have all been confisicated. In other cases soldiers would simply not react to volunteers in front of the houses by pretending they were not in there at all. Last night the operation continued. Several major explosions were heard towards the morning as well as F-16a d one apache flying over the city. Around 10:30 two tanks and two apcs opened fire at a group of kids, injuring three and killing 18-year-old Jalal Ewajan. More than 25 tanks and apcs are currently in different locations around the Old City. The people suspect that the operation will take long time and they are worried about what the IOF plane to do because they use occupied houses as bases for military operations. ISM Press Release ISRAELI FORCES CARRY OUT VICIOUS ARRESTS OF INTERNATIONAL AND ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVISTS! Peaceful protests attacked |
International Solidarity Movement trip by locally based supporters to Palestine, November 2002. Click here to read further accounts |
| Events | Campaigns | Palestine News | Membership | Take Action | Eyewitness | Links | Palestine Resources | Contact Us | Home |
| ©2006 Brighton & Hove PSC - MoodCo Designs. |