Presidential compound � 25 foreign
civilians remain inside (going on their 12th day, since
Sunday March 31) with hundreds of Palestinians. Although I don't have
an exact count, when I was in there I estimated between 300-400 people
inside, confined to about 12 rooms on two floors.
Caoimhe Butterly, the Irish national who has been in the compound for
a full two weeks reports a serious health crisis. The compound has
not had running water for 13 days. This means that no
one is able to wash, bathe or even flush the toilet. People are
becoming sick and there is a fear of the spread of diseases.
The Palestinians have repeatedly asked the Israeli military and
authorities to be able to fix the water lines into the compound but
have been denied permission. A meager supply of food is getting into
the compound daily, but rations are small and people are losing a lot
of weight. The internationals inside the compound
reiterate their call for international intervention.
To reach the foreign civilians inside the
compound, please try calling:
+972-55-385-257; +972-55-559-145;
+972-59-312-574; +972-59-567-800
Be aware that the reception inside the
compound is very bad and Israeli radars frequently intercept,
therefore actually getting through is difficult.
Ramallah � the town continues to be under
total siege and curfew. There was a brief lifting of the curfew
yesterday (from 1 � 5pm) to allow people to rush to the stores to
purchase desperately needed food items. Milk is hard to
find and fresh fruits and vegetables have not entered the town for
over two weeks. People still lined up for bread, but many, many
families are no longer able to afford even this. Two
weeks of stagnation on top of an economy that was already in shambles
has resulted in extreme cases of poverty. Nevertheless people looked
relieved to get some fresh air. Though this was the
second real lifting of the curfew, a look of astonishment could still
be seen on the faces of the Ramallah residents � toppled light poles,
upturned streets, shattered glass, burned buildings, bullet-riddled
storefronts; People stepped over the bullets, glass and twisted metal
to greet each other and continue on their way. A number of us
gathered in the streets to sing songs and chant slogans against the
occupation. One empty bottle thrown by a young kid lead
to bullets being fired and a barrage of tear gas shot into the crowded
city center. A number of elderly women had to be carried off and
treated for tear gas inhalation.
As 5:00pm rolled around the streets emptied of
people. No one dared to be caught outside after curfew was imposed.
Only a day earlier a mentally disabled young man, who probably
didn't realize that he shouldn't be outside, was chased by Israeli
soldiers and shot dead. The sharp shots of snipers, the rolling fire
of machine guns, the rumbling of tanks and random explosions can be
heard sporadically through the otherwise dead town. We
no longer even wonder what is being blown up. The destruction is just
too great. Israeli soldiers continue to round up young men. On
Wednesday a teacher's college in Ramallah was invaded and
approximately 160 young men/ students at the boarding school were
taken away. We learn of the abuse and torture via those that have been
released. I have one such 17 year old boy staying with me. During
the last lifting of the curfew (on Monday April 8) we met on the
street in the center of town. There I learned that he lives in a
nearby village but worked in Ramallah. On Saturday, March 30 he was
taken from his workplace, along with approximately 100+ others to the
military compound of Ofer. He was bound and blindfolded and left out
in the cold for 7 days, during which time he was interrogated and
kicked around. His money and ID card were taken but never returned to
him. He was released with a few dozen others on the outskirts of
Ramallah on Saturday April 6 and had to walk back into town. This is
extremely dangerous as soldiers shoot at anything they see moving
during curfew. Because he is unable to reach his village, for the 2
days from his release until I met this young man he was sleeping in a
bombed out building.
Foreign civilians continue to accompany
ambulances and volunteer with food distribution. We've been shot at a
number of times but keep going, as do the Palestinian doctors, medics
and medical relief volunteers. Yesterday a Japanese
volunteer, Kuniomi Asai was injured when a soldier threw a concussion
grenade at him for walking too close to the presidential compound.
Bethlehem � the town also remains under
total curfew. The standoff at the Church of the Nativity continues.
Yesterday, heavy black smoke was reported to be seen coming out
of the church. In the residential neighborhood around Manger Square,
no one has been allowed to leave and no food or medicine has been
allowed in. Foreign civilians have tried a number of
times to walk towards Manger Square on foot, only to be turned back at
gunpoint. The situation is getting desperate for families being
denied food and water. There will be another attempt
today by foreign civilians to walk towards Manger Square.
Young men also continue to be rounded up and
hauled away. Who will help us get our fathers and brothers back after
the Israelis pull out?
Nablus � Three International Solidarity
Movement volunteers have been in Nablus for three days. They are
still reporting difficulty reaching the sick and injured by ambulance.
Yesterday one ambulance in Nablus was riddled with bullet holes
as others continue to be stopped and searched. Mary Kelley (Irish
national) reported being on an ambulance in which the driver was
forced to strip off articles of his clothing. Doctors of
the Rafedia hospital fear that soldiers will try entering the hospital
to search for "wanted" people among the injured patients. The Israeli
army had the hospital surrounded yesterday but as of 10:00pm had not
entered the hospital. There is a dire need for oxygen
which Israeli soldiers are not letting through despite coordination
with the Israeli Authorities.
Beth Daoud (US citizen), Paul Larudee (US
citizen) and Mary Kelley (Irish) can be reached at +972-56-589-156
Jenin � Horrible reports continue to come
out of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. WE have been trying to get
foreign civilians in there but have thusfar been unable to.
Two days ago we sent up 13 internationals and yesterday another
8. The internationals along with a number of foreign journalists were
denied entry by Israeli forces. The internationals spent
the night in a nearby village where refugees and released detainees
from the Jenin Refugee Camp have been staying. Below I include a
report from 13 of the internationals that was given to us two days
ago.
============================
Thirteen internationals, 1 Swede, 1 Italian, 3
British and 8 American,
coming from Bethlehem and Jerusalem to Jenin, where there are reports
of 300
dead and countless injured. 548 Palestinian men now living in Romani
has
been dumped by Israeli soldiers at nearby Salem checkpoint after
having been
arrested or escaping from Jenin. 160 were dumped naked outside of
Syba. We
heard several stories of horror from the men.
A Palestinian UNRWA employee was detained at a checkpoint for three
days
without food, and only Israeli soldiers� urine to drink. The right
side of
his face paralyzed due to severe beating. The Israeli interrogators,
described as torturers, told the imprisoned man that all UNRWA
employees are
spies for Hezbollah. When asking the Israeli doctors to loosen his
severely
tight plastic handcuffs, the doctor only tightened them further. His
home in
Jenin caught fire, which was saved by firefighters, only to be bombed
by an
Apache helicopter. He does not know what has become of his family.
A young Palestinian man was forced from his home in Jenin, and used as
a
human shield by Israeli soldiers. His back and neck are burned by
cigarettes.
A Red Crescent ambulance driver was arrested for feeding 200 women and
children for 3 days. When the food ran out, the 200 left the medical
center, heading for the Eastern side of Jenin. All were stopped, while some
women,
and all of the men were forced to strip naked.
At the school in Kyba, which is serving as a refugee camp for the
arrested
and escaped from Jenin refugee camp, there is a list on the wall of
those
detainees released from Salem checkpoint. In nearby Romani, the
mosque loud
speaker which otherwise projects a call to prayer, called out names of
the
missing and the disappeared from Jenin.
The 13 internationals intend to deliver humanitarian aide, assist
ambulance
drivers and document human rights abuses if we are able to reach the
town and
the camp.
For more information, please call:
Sofia Ahmed - +972-55-851-896
Kate Raphael - +972-56-621-935
Kristen Schurr - +972-65-622-017
=============================
The Israeli military claims to pull out of
Palestinian towns and villages only to continue surrounding them and
invade others. Yesterday the army moved into the villages of
Dahiriyya and Bir Zeit and the refugee camp of Ein Beit Elma, and
began conducting more house to house searches. Please continue to
pressure your governments to take immediate action against Israeli
aggression and brutality. Call, fax and email your Congressional
representatives and MPs. A partial list of authorities
to contact can be found on
www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
Good News:
More internationals are contacting us about
coming to volunteer their time and energy to help and protect the
Palestinian people. To volunteer to come to the Occupied Palestinian
Territories with the International Solidarity Movement, please
contact:
George S. Rishmawi at
abusalib@p-ol.com
or call +972-52-502-079
For more information on any of the above, or for
general information on the International Solidarity Movement, please
call:
Huwaida +972-52-642-709 or +972-55-975-374
Information on the International Solidarity
Movement (though it is not currently being updated) can be found on
www.palsolidarity.org
8:00pm: 1700 Palestinian Killed in last 19
months
The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse
Update
April 12th, 2002
Earlier today Attalla Al-Ha'iq, a 47-year-old father of five was shot
dead
by Israeli soldiers.
His relative, Dr. Hanna said, Atallah from Beit Sahour was taken from
his
house by the Israeli soldiers, as they had demanded that he open his
shop so
they could search it. While he was doing this they shot him dead�.
Shot by four bullets in his face, shoulder and neck he died
immediately; the
ambulance was prevented from recovering his body for almost two hours.
The total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the
past 19
months is estimated to be 1,700 at least it is impossible to be
certain.
The numbers of injured are reckoned to be at 34,000.
According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, these figures need to be put in
context there are only 3.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank and
the
Gaza Strip. If we translate the numbers proportionally to the United
States
population for example, this would mean that 150,000 Americans had
been
killed, and over three million wounded in the past 19 months.
For more information contact The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510
www.palestinemonitor.org
6:00pm:
GIPP Delegations Break Israeli Imposed Siege
The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse
April 12th, 2002
Four groups here as part of the Grassroots International Protection
for
Palestinians, GIPP, have today succeeded in breaking the Israeli
imposed
siege on the West Bank. The delegates from France, Belgium, Brazil and
Iceland, including members of parliaments and other governmental
officials,
entered Ramallah and held a demonstration near the Palestinian
Authority
headquarters, where Yasser Arafat is currently imprisoned.
Other GIPP delegates who are under siege with Arafat inside the
compound
also took part in the demonstration, from the other side of the
Israeli
tanks and soldiers that surround the area.
The GIPP continues its activities and calls for people to come to
Palestine
in solidarity with Palestinians. Given the existing situation GIPP is
the
only form of international protection that Palestinians are given �
and at
no time has it been more necessary then now.
For more information on GIPP � visit
www.pngo.net
For more information contact The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510
www.palestinemonitor.org
9:00pm: Massacre in Jenin Confirmed
The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse
Urgent Appeal to the World
April 12th, 2002
It has now been confirmed that Israeli troops have committed a
massacre in
Jenin. The Israeli army admits several hundred people have been
killed, but
Palestinians fear the numbers are much higher.
Israel is now attempting to cover up its crime by removing the bodies
of the
dead from the camp and burying them in the northern part of the Jordan
Valley, in a secret location.
For ten days not a single journalist, nurse, doctor, international Red
Cross
team or observer has been able to reach the site of the massacre. No
representative from UNWRA, the UN body responsible for the camp, has
been
permitted to visit the area, everybody denied access so they cannot
see or
report what has occurred.
Most of the 15,000 residents of the camp have been killed, injured or
completely dispossessed of their homes and shelter. The camp has been
destroyed.
Israel refused to listen to the International community when it
demanded the
troops withdraw from the camp; now they are trying to create a
complete news
blackout of the situation, so the world cannot learn what they have
done
there. We, members of Palestinian civil society are concerned that
same
events may be carried out in a different area � as long as the army
remains
in the West Bank this is a real threat. We are also concerned that
next, not
content with a blackout on the media, Sharon will attack the
organizations
and Palestinian civil society institutions that are daring, and able
to,
speak out.
We are now, more than ever, in desperate need of an international
protection
force to be immediately deployed to the West Bank.
We appeal to the world to not remain silent. Sharon must be stopped.
The
atrocity he and his army have committed must be seen; new atrocities
must be
prevented. To add insult to injury, Israeli spokespeople are claiming
Palestinians are hiding the bodies of the dead in order to stage a
propaganda coup in the coming days. This lie is a cynical Israeli
attempt to
distort the truth � another Israeli attempt to cover up their actions.
Write to your representatives and Israeli officials � for addresses
see
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/Activism/Activism/contact_info_for_campaigns
.htm
For more information contact The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510
www.palestinemonitor.org
SUMMARIES