Day 2

Day 2: Eyewitness Reports as Israel Continues Attack of Ramallah and now Bethlehem Area

Heavily-armed Israeli occupation soldiers on Saturday stormed and ransacked a principle hospital in Ramallah, vandalizing its interior and terrorizing

Palestinian sources described the behavior of the soldiers as "more befitting to wild beasts than human beings."

Dr. Odwan Barghouthi, head of the Ri'aya hospital, said the soldiers force their way into doctors' offices, ICU wards, internal medicine and other wards.

"They pushed doctors and nurses aside and forced their way throughout the hospital, this is unacceptable, this is terror," said the Palestinian doctor.

He accused the Israeli occupation forces of seeking to "terrorize the patients and vent their insolence on innocent civilians."

Earlier, Palestinian Red Crescent sources pointed out that Israeli troops were seizing RCS ambulances and using them as shields.

The Occupation troops also cut off electricity and water supplies to Ramallah, including the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

PA information minister said all communication between Arafat and the outside world was cut off by the Israeli army.

He appealed to the international community for help, saying there would grave consequences over the Israeli onslaught on Arafat.

As of 15.00 today, March 30, more than 50 foreign civilians accompanied physicians and Red Crescent personnel in a civilian mission to get urgent medical aid into the Presidential compound.

Medics and civilians left from an area under total siege and marched past tanks deployed in the Manara. Shortly before reaching the President's compound they were stopped and Israeli forces refused to allow them to proceed. The group protested that the Israeli military were in flagrant contravention of the Geneva convention, as well as international humanitarian law, by choosing not to allow medical assistance to the injured. The delegation insisted that they would take medical personnel and supplies in. Finally it was agreed that two doctors, two ambulances and four foreign observers would be allowed access inside the Presidential compound.

The two internationals who were inside the compound expressed their great relief to see that eventually pressure had succeeded and that medical aid was eventually allowed in. One body has been removed and the injured inside have now received medical attention.

The international delegation who accompanied the medical group comprised of Huwaida Arraf, Jose Bove a French national and an Italian member of Parliament. They all expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians struggle for freedom and voiced their condemnation of the war policies of Sharon's government.

The foreign civilian's who entered the compound went in as a symbol of the international outcry over the brutal attacks on the Palestinian people and as a symbol of the intervention that is immediately sought from the international community.

Adam Shapiro has now left the compound in exchange for one doctor and one medic. Caoimhe Butterly has remained due to her concern that medics are not being allowed free access and that her continued presence may help facilitate further assistance.

Inside the Presidential compound the foreign civilian delegation met with President Arafat. Both the President and the other Palestinians inside are in good spirits and expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the international solidarity. President Arafat stated that "Occupation is the real terrorism, and the Palestinian people will continue to struggle for their freedom. Our people will be free." The foreign delegation supported the President's statement.

Today, 100 internationals including Italians, British, American, Palestinians, and other European citizens marched in the streets of Beit Jala to protest against the Brutal Israeli invasion of the town. The march approached the Israeli tanks with signs calling for an end to the Israeli occupation. the peaceful demonstrators were attacked with sound bombs and bullets shot from the side of the soldiers. after 30 minutes protest in front of the tanks, the group decided to march back to Bethlehem. the group will spend the night with Palestinians in the three refugee camps of Bethlehem; Dehasha, Aida, and Aza.

Internationals are determined to face the same treatment that Palestinians face in refugee camps.
For more information contact Ghassan 972 (0) 52595319

The mighty US-tax funded Israeli army that has taken over local, private Palestinian TV channels in Ramallah is now broadcasting hard core pornography. It started last night and is now on again (3:45pm).

I guess this is how Israel plans to stop suicide bombers and build healthy neighbors.

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -- Dante

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

Today,30 of April, the Palestinians living inside Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in exile, mark "Land Day," the 26th anniversary of the killing six Palestinians who were protesting land confiscations in the Galilee, Israeli forces continue their assault on Ramallah and its residents.

A full-scale Israeli offensive throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories is going on, specially in Ramallah where the Israeli occupying forces invaded the compound of PNA President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah as part of a systematic and longstanding campaign to undermine, humiliate, and destroy the Palestinian political leadership. Today a delegation of 4 Internationals made it to the PA compound to visit Arafat and bring him solidarity while a group of 20 was outside surrounded by the army waving a white flag. Israeli troops have seized complete control of Ramallah and imposed a total curfew, ambulances were stopped and completely searched and everybody was being forced out of the ambulances, houses were searched and distroyed.

At the same time, Israeli officials have begun a massive military build-up, including the mobilization of 20,000 army reservists, in preparation for a declared war throughout the Palestinain territories that will be widespread, prolonged, and bloody. It is a drammatic and complete economic and socialsuffocation,a full-scale

invasions of Palestinian refugee camps and villages that is killing and will continue to kill many civilians.

Today from inside the refugee`s camps the international solidarity groups go on with direct actions to prevent the invasion of Bhethlem. In the morning around 100 International activists marched from Bhethlem till Beit Jailah, where are still positioned 20 Israeli tanks, asking the soldier to go away from the occupied territories and showing the solidarity of the Global Civil Society with the palestinian people. During the action there were few tensed moment specially when the army threw a sound bomb to scare people, intimidating them to go away. The activist stayed in front of the tanks for about 30 minutes and then sat down with their hands up. In the afternoon a delegation of 200 Italian disobbedients activists got into Bhethlem forcing the ceck point and joined the other International delegation

in the main square of Behtlhem. there we had a meeting with the local authorities and some representatives of the political palestinian organizations. In the night around 100 italian activists moved to Dheishe refugee camp( the site of the IMC ItalyCenter)to protect the families from imminent israeli attacks. Also the other international groups will be sleaping in the other refugee`s camp around Behthlem. In the night the situation here in the camps is quite even if there are shootings and fights in Bhethlem and in the Bhethlem university.

The international Civil Society will continue to be close to the palestinians and will be present here during those days with direct actions and activities to bring solidarity and raise our voices to break the silence of governments and of the EU that allows Israel, which has the unlimited and unconditional support of the US, to commit war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.

6:00pm: In Al Biereh, Israel Army Demanding All Palestinian Males from 16-60 Years Old Come to School Yard

AL BIEREH, West Bank: As I write the Israeli army is going from neighborhood to neighborhood demanding all males from 16-60 exit their homes and gathering them at a local school (Mugtarabeen) yard. My sister-in-law just called and advised that her husband, Mohd Yacoub, was one of the tens that were rounded up in her area.

The Israelis have taken over Al-WATAN local TV channel in Ramallah and is airing programs that are anti-Palestinian. This aggression is much more than the tanks you are seeing on CNN.

Electricity is off in several areas. We were without it for the most of yesterday. Israeli tanks make systematic rounds through the neighborhoods. Gunfire was heard most of the night.

A lot of physical damage is being done to the city, but that is secondary right now while human loss that still threatens us.

The real damage is to the children. Sharon has created another generation of resistance that will not know the notion of reconciliation or have hope for peaceful co-existence.

The US and Israel will torture the word terrorism for months and years to come, but the Palestinian resistance, armed and otherwise, that the Palestinians will embark on for years to come will be all the more legitimate and justified given the terror of 37 year of military occupation and 18 months of aggression led by an Israeli war-criminal cabinet. Frankly, I do not think that Palestinians will give a damn from now on how the powers-to-be term their struggle.

And as for the suicide bombings that Sharon has bluffed the world into believing he is stopping with his aggression, well, painfully they will increase, to the disliking of all, even those under the occupation. More and more Palestinians will now equate life and death and undertake actions that reflect such a mental and physical condition.

Our Palestinian brothers and sisters within Israel have taken to the streets today in commemoration of LAND DAY and to call for an end to the latest Israeli aggression.

No one here is surprised at Sharon's actions or the US's pitifully inaction. But we wonder where is the Israeli public? Where are those that know damn well that when all is over and done they are going to live with us, happily or not? Do they know that their silence will create an amount of hate that will need decades to repair? Do they care? Can they not see a people in desperation? Do they not have limits to their personal involvement in humiliating a whole people? Do they not fear their children's lives as they rampage Palestinian cities?

As for Arafat, Sharon has put Israel in a corner. If he is killed, the ramifications in the region will bring many black days on Israel. If he lives, the Palestinian people will have, yet again, defeated Sharon with barely no resources.

Well, I leave to spend some time with my daughters before becoming a prisoner of the occupation...

7:00pm: Tanks Occupy Beit Jala, Italians Make it Through Bethlehem Checkpoint

- Tanks and APC's (armored personnel carriers) are stationed in Beit Jalla near the Lutheran Church. Reports are coming in that the Israeli army has increased troop presence at the base near Beit Sahour and people are preparing for the worst. In Bethlehem we are hearing occasional gunfire.

- The Italians who made it through the Bethlehem checkpoint today have swelled the numbers of the International Solidarity Movement here to over 400 and they are spreading themselves out in homes throughout Dehaishe, Ayda and Azza refugee camps.

- In Ramallah, American citizen Adam Shapiro and Irish national Caoimhe Butterly have just got out of the Presidential compound. We at IMC Palestine are ecstatic that these brave individuals fought long and hard to get ambulances in, finally winning in the end.

Israeli forces round up Palestinian men and teenagers

LAW offices in Ramallah entered and destroyed by Israeli army Israel enters Palestinian controlled-areas in Hebron

At 1.30 pm, Israeli forces entered al-Ra'ya Hospital. Six soldiers with dogs entered the hospital and demolished the entrance to the health insurance room and tried to enter a room with injured persons to arrest them. Doctors and staff prevented them, because the staff feared infections from the animals. After 15 minutes they left the hospital. There are now six tanks opposite the hospital.

Reports from Ramallah indicate that Israeli forces have started to round up all men between the age of 14 and 40 years old. House-to-house raids have been reported and the Israeli forces are currently rounding up Palestinian men and teens at the square of al-Omari Mosque near El-Bireh Municipality and in other areas.

Besides, Sakher Habash, member of the central committee of Fatah, who was arrested in his home in Ramallah, also arrested in the round-up of Palestinians underway in Ramallah is Qais AbdelKarim Abu Leila, the deputy leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Palestinian policeman Hussain Husni Asqar (25) from Qalqilya, was pronounced dead. He died of his wounds sustained while resisting Israeli occupation forces at Friends' School. He was shot in his head, chest and leg. Another three Palestinian policemen are still in critical condition. They have been admitted to Ramallah hospital and Sheikh Zayd hospital.

In addition to several other buildings in Ramallah, Israeli forces entered al-Isra' building, located on Radio Boulevard on the way to the compound of the Palestinian Authority. Israeli forces destroyed the front door and invaded the building, which hosts among commercial offices and shops, the Ramallah office of LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association, al-Sharq TV, the Center for Democracy, and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office. Israeli forces have destroyed office equipment, including computers, photocopiers, faxmachines, which they have thrown out of the windows.

Meanwhile Israeli forces entered Palestinian-controlled areas in Hebron, also known as "H1". This area covers residential sectors as well as the commercial areas of Bab Al-Zawiya and Wadi Al-Tuffah, situated west of the Old City.

LAW urgently calls on the international community to take effective measures in order to protect the rights and lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and specifically to immediately send an independent, effective protection force to the area.

LAW calls on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to comply with their obligations to ensure respect for the Convention, by taking urgent action to prosecute Israel's grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (war crimes).

LAW also calls upon the European Union, a vital trading partner for Israel, to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and renew its arms embargo against Israel as a means to pressure Israel into compliance with basic norms of human rights and international humanitarian law.

____________________________

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Federation Internationale des Ligues de Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and the World Organisation Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2-
5833317, email: law@lawsociety.org, web: http://www.lawsociety.org

This has been the second day of the appalling war against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank and the first day of attacks, siege and curfews also in areas located in the Be. Throughout the whole day, thousands of new soldiers were deployed inside Ramallah and, as we write, even more are heading towards the already besieged and occupied city. The Israeli army has placed snipers on the top of every high building and across the town a total curfew has been enforced.

Hence, no one is able or willing to leave the houses or dwellings they find themselves in. Since yesterday and up to now five members of the Palestinian Police on duty were assassinated - without any gunfire or display of resistance whatsoever and their corpses were left to decompose and were found by chance today.

The Arab Care Hospital was attacked and was searched with trained dogs. The only two ambulances available to medical relief teams were both confiscated by the

Israelis (one yesterday at 10 p m and the second was confiscated today at 11:15 am along with its driver, Mr. Mahad al-Qadi, who, at the time of writing, is still under Israeli detention. We have been receiving alarming news about Israeli soldiers using the ambulances in their raids against Palestinians.

Since yesterday the occupier soldiers have been carrying out house-to-house searches. Whenever they enter a house they make sure utmost possible material

damage is accomplished (destroying all furniture, fixtures and ransacking all belongings) not to mention psychological trauma and damage. Soldiers were

reported to widely having resorted to stealing money and mobile handsets. Several witnesses are available and are willing to make further formal complaints as

well as wish to present their cases to appropriated legal prosecutorial bodies as soon as the situation provides for.

Soldiers took control of the local TV station and since then have been broadcasting racist material with anti-Arab contents and also pornographic videos.

The overall mood is of despair and apprehension and Palestinians feel completely vulnerable.

Today scores of women, together with international grass-root solidarity teams tried to demonstrate in the center of the city and up to now around 100 people

have been arrested, including several political leaders. GIPP people from various countries, already inside Ramallah when the invasion took place, managed

to reach the Ramallah Hospital to donate blood and a number of them managed to reach the compound of the Palestinian Authority.

Finally, of worrisome proportions is the humanitarian crisis in the making: pregnant women cannot risk going after proper medical care for eventual deliveries,

many injured people are still inside the compound occupied yesterday by the invading forces and it is impossible for local medical teams provide care for

We demand immediate international pressure to allow provision of medical care and, foremost, we call upon you to exercise the utmost pressure possible on

Midnight: Internationals Acting As Human Shields in Palestinian Refugee Camps
March 30, 2002, International Solidarity Movement - Press Release

[Bethlehem, Saturday March 30, 2002] Approximately one hundred Internationals who form the International Solidarity Movement delegation in Palestine, and who came to Palestine to show solidarity with the Palestinian People, are staying with families in the refugee camps of Deheisheh, Aida and Azza (Beit Jibrin). The following organizations are supporting the ISM: the Italian Committee Supporting the Intifada, Indymedia, Disobbedienti and Action for Peace.

The internationals are from various countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, France, Germany and Italy. The internationals wanted to stay with the Palestinian families in their homes to protect them from an anticipated Israeli invasion into the refugee
camps in the Bethlehem area.

In addition, there are also internationals accompanying Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances throughout the region. Again, this action has been taken in preparation for the expected Israeli military invasion of the Bethlehem district.

For more information, please call the following numbers:
1- George S. Rishmawi +972-52-502079
2- George N. Rishmawi +972-52-299310
3- Ghassan Andoni +972-52-595319
4- Georgina Reeves +972-55-840767

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