Colorado Delegation to Palestine

8/5 - 8/10/02: Post-Invasion Pictures of Nablus by Coloradoan Sam Messier

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Palestinian boys showing off their collection of Israeli bullets gathered from the streets. August 9, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Sandbags in the window of this occupied house protect the Israeli sniper inside. August 9, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Kites flying in the skies over Nablus as a symbol of freedom * Read Sam Messier & Jill Dreier's journal about this picture. August 9, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Relief workers deliver powdered infant milk to a family inside a house occupied by the Israeli military. Because the door is barricaded, the relief workers must pass the milk through a small hole. * Read Jill Dreier's journal about this picture. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Residential door destroyed by the Israeli military. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Coloradoans came upon this small food shop as it was still smoking and burning two hours after the Israeli military had blown it up with dynamite. The Israelis claimed it was a bomb factory. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Israeli tank in Nablus. Read Sam Messier's journal about this photo. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

A little boy threw a molotov cocktail shown burning next to an Israeli armored personnel carrier in Nablus. Right after it was thrown the soldier in the APC started shooting into an apartment building-the opposite direction of where the molotov came from. Therefore showing that he had no idea where it came from.

Israeli Occupation Force terrorize Palestinians in Nablus under invasion. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

Israeli armored personnel carriers near Nablus. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

After Coloradoan Jill Dreier and German activist Fiona finished cleaning up the bloody remains of a Palestinian man killed by an Israeli sniper while standing on the roof of his own house. The blood had been there for two days. Risking their own death, the Palestinian family was able to drag the man's bloodied body off the roof. The family was afraid to go on the roof to clean his remains because of a brutally enforced curfew. Read Sam Messier eyewitness report about this picture. August 5, 2002 (photo: Sam Messier)

8/7/02: Funeral for Four Young People Killed Recently by Israeli Occupation Forces

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Today four Palestinians were killed by the IOF near Nablus. The youngest was 12 years old and gunned down by a tank while trying to get back to Balata Refugee camp where he lived. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Morad, 21, was one of two men gunned down by an IOF Apache Helicopter as he walked from Jenin towards Nablus on the mountain passes. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

One of the men killed is carried through the street on the way to burial. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Family and friend's of the martyrs helped to bury them at the service in Balata. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Hundreds of people came to the burial of the men and boys that were killed by the IOF on August 5th in the evening. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Family and friends sit around the grave of Morad to read from the Coran. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Family and friends sit around the grave of Morad to pray for the young man that was shot down by an Apache helicopter. August 7, 2002 (photo: tiros)

8/5/02: Nablus Under Siege, Day 3

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On the third day of the Nablus siege, Nablus Old City residents began to assess the damage caused by the IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] in the three days of house demolitions, house to house searches and bombings. August 5, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Boy at shop in line to stock up after three days of a military siege. August 5, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Soldiers run to the corner during their operation in the Old City Nablus yesterday morning.

Houses were demolished such as this house was by the IOF using heavy and deafening explosives.

Father and son clean the street a bit as a water main was destroyed by the IOF in their part of Old City. August 5, 2002 (photo: tiros)

This street was virtually totaled by the IOF as they ripped through the stores and ransacked them, in many cases looting and purposefully destroying food stuffs. August 5, 2002 (photo: tiros)

On the third day of the Nablus siege, people left their homes risking being shot at so that they could get a sense of the damage caused by the Israeli soldiers... August 5, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Man walks through the rubble of his street. The result of the Israeli siege and occupation.

Nothing was left of the main shopping areas inside Old City, Nablus after three days of siege.

Father and daughter walk as calmly as possible through the in streets of Old City after leaving their homes for the first time in three days while the city was under IOF siege.

Stocking up on goods, shop owners assessed damage and sold food to people for about thirty minutes in the afternoon as the IOF lessened its presence on this street in the Nablus, Old City.

8/4/02: Nablus Under Siege, Day 2

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During the second day of the IOF [Israeli Occupation Force] siege of Nablus, the IOF focused on house to house searches in the Old City and house demolitions, setting large explosives charges for detonation to destroy homes and residents' shops. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

These apc's (armored personnel carries) were stationed in the site of soap factory that was completely demolished and left as rubble and dust. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Soldiers stand stare as they are on guard in the center of Nablus. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

Every shop on this street was entered and demolished by the IOF. Explosives were used to enter many shops. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

House-to-house searches were taking place in the Old City. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

IOF tanks leave little but destruction in their wake. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

IOF soldiers take aim at an elderly man as he walks down the street to his home with a cane. He narrowly escaped being shot at due to international presence. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

During the second day of the IOF siege of Nablus, more than 150 were detained and journalists were given mixed messages about coverage. A Japanese cameraman was detained, handcuffed and held with a M-16 to his head for ten minutes as his video tapes were confiscated. After being authorized by a senior officer on site, one of my cameras was ripped from my hands and I was physically threatened by another soldier before the senior officer intervened, returning my camera.

Soldier indicates his next move to his partner as they are about to occupy a house in Nablus.

This is the latest most sophisticated set of tanks that have entered the Nablus siege fleet. These use similar technology as the Apache Helicopters and are capable of tremendous damage.

This ambulance was detained by the IOF as it was trying to get to a 16 year heart attack patient, who's heart failed after the heavy explosion detonated by the IOF in her neighbor's house. The IOF routinely make ambulances wait for passage. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

A main street in the Casbah. The IOF has focused on decommissioning the future economic possibilities of Nablus. August 4, 2002 (photo: tiros)

IOF tanks leave little but destruction in their wake. This boy pays no mind but to move away.

8/3/02: Nablus Under Siege, Day 1

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The Israeli Military occupied and began a siege of Nablus and the Old City center with more than 140 tanks. 3 people were killed, at least 10 injured, 50 men arrested, house demolitions including a soap factory and school occurred. August 3, 2002 (photo: tiros)

During the first day of the siege in Nablus more than fifty Palestinian men and one woman were held for hours in the hot sun, arrested, blindfolded and placed on a bus to be taken.

In Nablus, three people were killed including this man (Raid, age 24) who was shot in the head and the stomach by a sniper as he tried to see what was happening in the street from his balcony. The IOF would not allow his body to be removed from house until nearly 24 hours later. August 3, 2002 (photo: tiros)

8/1/02: Tank fires on children in Balata Refugee Camp

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