Day 16

8:00pm: Curfew in the West Bank April 13th, 2002, The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse For 16 days now complete and total curfew has been imposed on the Palestinian towns and cities invaded by Israeli troops. The lifting of these curfews happens for three or four hours every forth or fifth day, but in some areas it has not been lifted at all. This curfew is totally unjustified and serves no purpose except to punish Palestinian civilians and to attempt to destroy Palestinian society and institutions. With the curfew comes the complete paralysis of all sectors of society: economy, education, and health.

Economy The Palestinian economy, already weakened from 19 months of an Israeli imposed closure has been further destroyed as everything is closed and people are unable to work. Factories, banks, shops, restaurants, offices all are affected. Not only does this have a short-term, immediate and obvious negative effect, but long term economic life will also been seriously affected. The cost of repairing the physical damage that the army has inflicted in the last 16 days alone will be prohibitive, and a cost that Palestine is in no position to pay. Prior to the latest Israeli aggression, the West Bank and Gaza Strip had an unemployment rate of more than 50%, with 62% of the population living below the poverty level i.e. $2 per day. This latest assault on the economy is dragging the whole society into an economic crisis of disastrous proportion. Furthermore it is becoming clear from the hundreds of testimonies from people whose houses and businesses were entered by Israeli soldiers, a great deal of thieving and plundering has also occurred with savings, gold and other goods stolen by the soldiers or destroyed. Education The invasion of Palestinian cities and towns has further contributed to the destruction of the education system. Prior to the invasions of March 29, a number of schools had been attacked, and access to schools was severely restricted by the Israeli closure. The invasions have further damaged educational infrastructure. At the same time, all schools, universities and training institutes throughout the West Bank are completely closed. In the recent invasion of Birzeit, near Ramallah, student dorms were searched and numerous students were arbitrarily detained and arrested by Israeli troops. Te curfew has moreover endangered the lives of many children and teachers. Research projects underway have been halted, and also research institutes such as Muwatin and HDIP have been invaded, occupied and damaged by Israeli soldiers. Health Since the Israeli attacks, there have been widespread violations of medical neutrality by the Israeli army through systematic prevention of medical aid and treatment of the sick and wounded, attacks on medical personnel and the medical infrastructure. The number of Palestinian deaths since the latest Israeli invasion on the 29th of March now exceeds several hundred, a large number of which died because they were deprived of medical treatment, and there are at least 3000 people left injured, mostly civilians. Health care centres have been attacked and partially destroyed. Many health workers were used as human shields during house-to-house searches. Ambulances have been unable to collect the dead. People have been left dead in their homes for days and with the hospitals unable to bury the imminent danger of diseases spreading is evident. Additionally other aspects of the health sector have been negatively affected by the Israeli attacks; as the service of medical treatment has been prevented, primary health care, vaccination programmes, mother and child health, emergency services, the lives of those people requiring kidney dialysis or chemotherapy and those who suffer from diabetes and other conditions have all been endangered. The 73% of Palestinians who live in rural areas are also prevented from accessing medical care � either the city they visit for care is closed to them, in emergencies the ambulances are prevented from reaching them, or the mobile clinics and doctors who visit their villages are prevented from doing so. Furthermore the long term psychological trauma and damage can only be guessed at after a population has been subjected to such aggressive and brutal attacks. Infrastructure The level of destruction of buildings and infrastructure is huge. Many buildings, schools, roads and homes have been destroyed and damaged � as have electricity, water, and sewerage and telephone networks. Currently in Jenin and Nablus people do not have water or electricity. 12,000 refugees have been made homeless in Jenin as large swathes of the Jenin refugee camp has been torn down. The curfew is endangering lives and punishing a civilian Palestinian population. Yesterday evening Dr. Ali Sha'ar's wife went into premature labour. The doctor, who is a public health specialist and employed by the American NGO, Save The Children, called for an ambulance but it was prevented from reaching his home in Nablus. Desperate he called the American consulate and colleagues in an attempt to get help to get his wife to hospital. The baby was born, but as it was premature and in need of specialized hospital treatment, which the Israelis denied it - the baby died. Dr. Sha�ar is desolate, and commented "I spend my whole professional life trying to prevent the writing of death certificates for children, and I have to write that of my own. I try to save the lives of children, and was helpless to save mine." On the 10th of April Jamal Turkman, 31 became another casualty when shot dead by Israeli snipers. He left his house in Wadi Burkin as he thought the curfew had been lifted: it had but not in his neighbourhood. On the 8th of April, a man in his early 20s, was driving home in the Ramallah neighbourhood, Im As-Shariyet, when the curfew was re-imposed; a sniper positioned in the Arab Nation College shot him with four bullets � he died immediately from the shot to his head. Manal Ibraheim, a 28-year-old mother of three was shot dead by a sniper when she was in her home in Ramallah. These are a few of the victims who are dead because Israeli soldiers are present in the towns and cities of the West Bank and are imposing a crippling and dangerous curfew on the population. Dr. Mustafa Barghouti says, "This illustrates that Sharon's war is a war against Palestinian civilians. Palestinians demand the immediate lifting of this terrible curfew that is endangering the lives of us all. How many more people have to die before the world sees this curfew for what it truly is - a cowardly attack on the people and society and institutions of Palestine." We urgently need international protection to prevent the deaths of more people. For more information contact The Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510 www.palestinemonitor.org