Unkommentierte Zusammenstellung einiger (weniger) der von Herrn Dr. Jörg Bremer,
von der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, 
innerhalb von wenigen Tagen UNAUFGEFORDERT erhalten EMails....

(zuletzt erhaltenes Email an oberster Stelle - bitte besonders das unterste EMail, das zuerste erhaltene EMail beachten)

 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2002 3:01 PM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: (Fwd) Letter to a Pilot - Avnery answers the Air Force
Commander


-----Original Message-----
From: gush-shalom-press-admin@mailman.gush-shalom.org
[mailto:gush-shalom-press-admin@mailman.gush-shalom.org]On Behalf Of
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
Sent: Sonntag, 25. August 2002 14:38
To: gush-shalom-press@mailman.gush-shalom.org
Subject: (Fwd) Letter to a Pilot - Avnery answers the Air Force
Commander

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/


------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:                   "Uri Avnery" <avnery@actcom.co.il>

Hi,
I hope the attached will interest you.
Latest developments:
Gush Shalom has submitted an official complaint to the army Chief
Advocate against the commander of the Air Force and others
concerning this action.
The government Attorney General is still looking for grounds to indict
us.
Salamaat, Shalom,
uri

ňářéú ŕçřé ŕđâěéú


  Letter to a Pilot
  Uri Avnery - 24.8.02

       I have read the interview given by your commander, Major   General
Dan Halutz, and, like many others in Israel and abroad, I   was shocked.
       On July 23, one of your comrades (or perhaps you yourself?)   dropped
a one-ton bomb on a house in a dense residential   neighborhood in Gaza. The aim was
to execute, without trial,   Salah Shehadeh,  a Hamas activist. Apart from him,
16 neighbors,   including 11 children, were killed. Tens of other men, women and
children were wounded.
       In school you certainly learned the words of the famous poem   by Bialik, the
national poet, “Even Satan has not invented the   revenge of a little  child.” I assumed
that you are torn by doubt   after this act, that you look at your children
and tell yourself:   “Children are children. How are their children responsible for
the   situation?”
       And here comes your commander and says that you have no   pangs of
conscience, none whatsoever. I don’t know whether he   is telling the truth or
slandering you.
       The general says that he told you: “Your execution was   perfect…You did
exactly what you were told to do…You did not   deviate one inch left or
right…You have no problem.”
       Those who do have problems with this action and protest   against it (like myself)
are called by the general “bleeding   hearts…a insignificant and vociferous minority…”
He accuses us   of “daring to use methods of mafia-style blackmail against
fighters…treason is forbidden…a paragraph must be found in the   law in
order to put them to trial in Israel…(this) reminds me of dark   time of the Jewish
people, when a minority amongst us informed   against other Jews.”  He also condemns “the
obsession of some   journalists…they are bored…so they jump…”
       These extreme utterances do not testify to the mental   tranquility
of the general, who says that he has “a deep feeling of   justice and morality.” I would say
that on the head of the general,   the blue cap is burning.*  Each word betrays hysteria.
       But the style must cause deep anxiety. The words would have   sounded natural if
uttered by a general in Argentina or Chile   during the military dictatorship, or by a
Turkish officer about to   topple the civilian government. When an Israeli general uses
such   words against the media and civil society, a red light is turned on. The more
so since he was not summarily dismissed but, on the   contrary, publicly lauded.
Israeli democracy is losing height.
       But I do not want to speak with you about Dan Halutz, but   about yourself.
       Who are you? What are you?
       One of the pilots explained to the interviewer, Vered Levy-
Barzilai: “(That) is the uniqueness and the beauty of the world of   the pilot. You sit up above,
quietly, with your wide space. There   are no noises, no booms, no shouts of people. You
are totally   focused on the target, you don’t have the dirt and the horror of
the   battlefield. You do your thing and head home.”
       Dan Halutz, too, describes his feelings thus: “If you really want
to know what I feel when I release a bomb, I will tell you: I feel a   slight bump to the
plane as a result of the bomb’s release. A   second later it’s gone, and that’s all. That’s
what I feel.”
       “That’s all.” Down below horrible things happen, mutilated   bodies fly in the air,
wounded human beings writhe in pain,   people buried under the debris utter their last
groan, women   scream over the bodies of their children, a scene of hell, not   different
from the scene of a suicide bombing – and “that’s all”. A   slight bump to the plane,
and then home, to a warm shower and   bed.
       I must confess that it is hard for me to imagine this experience. I
did my combat service in the infantry, I saw who I was shooting at   and who was shooting
at me; I could at any moment have been   wounded (as I was) and killed. It is difficult for me to
imagine the   experience of a person up in the sky, sowing death and destruction
without being in any danger himself.
       Is this pilot – you! – afflicted by doubt? Does he sometimes torment himself?
Does he ask himself if a certain action is   permitted, moral, right? Or does he – you! –
become a robot, a   “professional” who is proud of his perfect control over the
awesome machine-of-death entrusted to him and of the “exact”   execution of his
orders?
       I know that not all pilots are robots. I still see before my eyes Colonel Yig’al
Shohat reading from his paper, with a voice   trembling with emotion, his historic
appeal to his fellow-pilots and   pupils in the Air Force to refuse manifestly illegal
orders, such as   precisely this action in Gaza. Shohat, a war-hero who was shot
down over Egypt and whose leg was amputated by an Egyptian   surgeon, is the
exact opposite of Halutz.
       You must decide – to be a human being like Shohat, sensitive   to the suffering of
others, or a robot like Halutz, who feels a slight   bump while he kills dozens of human
beings.
       The Rules of War were born after the Thirty Years War, one of   the most horrible
in the annals of Europe, a holocaust in which a   third of the German nation was wiped
out and two thirds of   Germany laid waste. The international conventions are based on
  the conviction that even in a hard war, when each side is fighting   for existence, the
commandments of human morality must be kept.
       Don’t make it easy for yourself by adopting the primitive   slogans of Halutz, who
justifies everything by saying that   Shehadeh was “evil incarnate”, words which betray
his ultra-  rightist world-view. Shehadeh was not put on trial. None of his alleged acts
were proven. He certainly believed that he was   serving his people, as you believe that
you are serving yours. But   even if it were proven that he was a dangerous enemy, this
does   not justify in any way the killing of his neighbors. The argument that this
wholesale killing prevented the killing of Jews is not   valid. When the pilot released his
bomb he knew for certain that   he was killing many people, while Shehadeh’s ability
to kill us was   only an assumption. On the other hand, it was certain that this   killing
would lead to acts of revenge, and that much Jewish flood   would flow because of it.
Furthermore, there is a hell of a   difference between a guerilla group and a mighty
army acting on   behalf of a state.
       Under these circumstances, would you have told your   commander: “I refuse to
fulfill this order, because it is manifestly   illegal?” Israeli law and human morality
oblige you to do so. But   Dan Halutz says: “Refusal to perform a sortie is
not part of the   rules of my game.”
       What about the rules of y o u r game?

*An allusion to the Jewish adage: “On the head of the thief, the hat is burning,”
meaning that his behavior discloses his guilt.


24.8.02
_______________________________________________
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

--

To unsubscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
In some programs it is enough to use the following link:
mailto:gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org?subject=unsubscribe
--

For assistance: info@gush-shalom.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2002 10:51 AM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: [pcraddressbook] ISM Updates August 24



-----Original Message-----
From: Rapprochement Centre [mailto:pcr@p-ol.com]
Sent: Samstag, 24. August 2002 08:13
To: pcraddressbook
Subject: [pcraddressbook] ISM Updates August 24


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/mG3HAA/rfOolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

1-Updates and corrections on ISM press release
2-Gambling with our lives!
3-Appeal on behalf Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna
4-Update from Nat Holder, Jerusalem
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1-Updates and corrections on ISM press release

"Two Internationals and Two Palestinians arrested by the Israeli army in
Nablus"

Canadian citizen Fiona Becker, Suha Arraf, a Palestinian Israeli journalist,
and American citizen Erica Weitzman, as well as Seif Abu Keshek, a
Palestinian living in Askar refugee camp, were detained yesterday (Friday)
by the Israeli army outside an occupied house in Nablus. Fiona, Suha, and
Erica were detained by the army for 9 hours, after which the army handed
them over to the police, who detained them at Ariel police station for an
additional 5 hours before releasing them and sending them out of the West
Bank  Seif was separated from the others and taken inside the occupied house
for questioning, but has since been released.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2-Gambling with our lives!

Emergency call

Sharon and Peres are pushing the USA to attack Iraq.

Israel is the only State in the world supporting this war.

All the European and Arab countries are against the war. Even in the
American leadership and in Bush's own party there are voices warning against
this adventure - despite of the fact that they are opposing Saddams regime.

It is almost sure that with the outbreak of such a war, Saddam Hussein would
"shower' upon us all the arsenal he has got: poisonous gas, lethal deseases
and maybe even radio-active radiation.

Israel is as defenseless as it had been the last time: Back into the the
"sealed room" with the maskintape and the "protective" masks. We can get
pills against radiation as well...

Thousands and tens of thousands of Israelis might be hurt.

This looks like an absolute madness - but there is a logic to this madness:

In the imminent chaos created in the Middle East in case of war, Sharon
hopes to implement his old scheme to expell the Palestinians from all of
Palestine. ( "TANSFER" ). For this end he is ready to inflict a disaster
upon all of us.

An amazing fact: Up till now there has been almost no voice raised in Israel
against this crazy policy and total madness. Not a single politician in the
coalition or the oposition, nor any officer in the army dared to voice an
objection.

Silence of the Sheep.

Gush Shalom

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3-Appeal on behalf Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna
23 August 2002

On August 22, 2002, Israeli police arrested Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios
Hanna, Spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem and the Holy
Land. At around 10 o'clock in the morning, he was detained by Israeli Border
Police at his home in the old city of Jerusalem after which he was
transferred to the Israeli detention and interrogation center at the Russian
Compound ('Moscowbiya').

Early in the morning, Israeli police at Yaffa Gate, one of the entrances of
the old city of Jerusalem, called him and asked him to come to the Israeli
police station to testify concerning an events that happened before a few
days. He told them that he would come after attending a meeting. After he
left his home in the old city of Jerusalem, a number of Israeli policemen
were standing outside his home. Also present there were a number of Israeli
journalists, who took pictures of his arrest. Israeli police took
Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios Hanna to the Russian Compound ('Moscowbiya') in
an Israeli police car.

At the Russian Compound the Israeli police charged him with: (1) 'suspicion
of relations with terrorist organisations'; (2) 'illegally entering an enemy
country', which means in Israeli official lexicon Syria and Lebanon; and (3)
'incitement'. Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ordered
Archimandrite Hanna's arrest and interrogation. Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios
Hanna was interrogated for five hours, in which he was shown interviews he
gave to the media, in which he expressed his support for non-violent
resistance against the foreign military occupation. During his
interrogation, some journalists were present and he was filmed inside the
Russian Compound.

Archimandrite Hanna said that he always visited Syria and Lebanon to attend
religious and inter-religious conferences and dialogues. He traveled to
these countries on his passport issued by the Vatican. Moreover, it should
be emphasized that it is well-known that churches work across borders.
Israeli police confiscated Hanna's two passports, his Israeli passport and
his passport issued by the Vatican. This is the first time, Israeli police
arrested a religious leader or priest. The Israeli police interferes with
divisions inside the Church. It is apparent that Israel wants to impose a
different kind of Christian priests, those who are isolated from the rest of
the Arab world, Arab Christians and Muslims. Archimandrite Hana said: 'We
are opposed to harm any human beings, because all human beings are the
creation of God. This is an Israeli campaign to prevent an Arab priest to
obtain a higher position within the Patriarchate', adding 'Israel is using
these punitive measures to put pres..

Archimandrite Hanna was intimidated and pressured by the Israeli policy to
refrain from any political activitiy. He said: 'Israel claims that the
Church should not interfere in politics, but this is a false claim, because
the Palestinian cause has both a moral, political and religious dimension,
and the Christians in the Holy Land are part of the Palestinian people and
are subject to the same oppression as their Muslim brothers and sisters, who
both are prevented from praying in Jerusalem'. Moreover, it is an
established fact that Israeli Rabbi's intervene heavily in politics in all
possible forms, which is even encouraged by Israel's state ideology.

We call on all local and international institutions, those religious,
political, and human rights organisations to intervene and to protect and
defend Archimandrite Dr. Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna.

The Arab Greek Orthodox Chuch councils, committees and institutions in
Jerusalem, the Holy Land and Jordan

Contact:

Archimandrite Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna: 050-668778;
Adi Bajale: 056-379312;
Attorney Ilias Khoury: 02-6283502 (office); Marwan Toubasi: 059-803097
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4-Update from Nat Holder, Jerusalem
August 23rd, 2002

For the last 5 days I have been in Israel, with Israelis.  Ahh, Israeli's
who are not in military uniform!  Instead, many were in the garb of India
and
the Rainbow family.  These were Israelis on a non-political,
Buddhist-inspired silent 7 day peace walk from Haifa to Amirim, and i met
them in the Israeli-Palestinian town of Tamra, half way through their walk,
on Sunday Aug 21st.

Jonathon, Mike and i arrived via 3 buses from Jerusalem.  Bags checked (my
two hip pouches are NOT ideal for frequent bag searches).  The bus stations
in Jerusalem and Haifa were crouded with men and women in olive uniform with
big guns at their sides, in transit to or from the Army.  Prime targets for
Palestinian bombs.  But still life seemed to fully function here - no
curfews, streets filled with people, businesses
open.  Back in Nablus, streets were probably empty.

Arriving in Tamra, a man from the municipality drove us to the community
center where the walkers were scheduled to arrive at noon.  When we got out
of the car, we saw a line of people walking in silence, as if in meditation.
Their eyes met mine and they gave smiles which beamed through the wrinkles
of their contemplative held presence.

Inside the hall, when the large circle of walkers broke up, some people
laughed, smiled, some played a guitar and sang, some slept.  Seeing the
gayity of people, i thought: "How dare they celebrate life, how dare they
enjoy the life here which is won by oppression.  Don't they know what their
government and military is doing to their Palestinian neighbors?" Again and
again this thought/feeling entered my mind. I looked around me and thought
about and saw how all of these people were Jews who had come to a land that
celebrated them, where they could be really themselves.  Wierd that these
people who looked like they were from california or europe were speaking
this strange language.  I had love for each of them, and a kind of hatred
which came from the same place in me - extreme feeling.  it was anti-jewish
and love of jewish at the same time, maybe self-love and self-hate. i cried
many times during the first few days.  for the first time in almost a month,
here was a space which invi.

Sunday afternoon i formally entered the walk by putting on the white sash
(like what a buddhist monk wears) and joining a walk through the town of
Tamra.  One step in front of the other ('Peace is every step' rang in my
mind - Tik Nat Han).  The locals looked at us from cars and shops and homes,
smiled, laughed, shouted 'ah-lan' (arabic for hello/welcome).  Some ignored
us or smirked.  We walked, one after another, and the line of us stretched
up and down the street farther than i could see around the bends.  Peace
ants.

That night we stayed in the homes of local families. Aimen, son in the
family, in 11th grade in high school, wants to study aviation but because he
would not be hired in this field in Israel because he's Arab, he'll study
engineering.  The family was much more Israeli/Western than families i met
in Nablus - for example, the mother ate and talked with us.  Also, the
occupation of the West Bank was not even mentioned (despite the fact that we
were on a walk for peace), and when they found out what i had been doing in
the West Bank, the mother said "thank you" after furtively looking at the
other Israeli walkers.  If they felt solidarity with Palestinians, it was
held back from us.  If they hated president Bush like Palestinians in the
West Bank will immediately express as soon as they know i'm American, if
they want an end to the occupation, this was all left unsaid.  Our staying
there was about relations between Israeli Jews and Israeli Palestinians, not
explicitly about ending the co.

It struck me that these were very different Palestinians than those in
Nablus, and the analogy of African Americans and black Africans came to
mind. And despite this, I cried seeing Israelis and Palestinians sharing
conversation and culture.  Aimen said he didn't believe that Israeli Jews
would actually come to his town, that he only believed it when they actually
arrived - this is so rare, which makes the situation so much more hopeless.
This was the first time many of the Jews on the walk had been invited into a
Palestinian's home.  For some, it was the first time in a Palestinian town!
Others said that this was no big deal, that the walk really needed to be in
the West Bank, that Jews needed to meet the people who they felt were their
enemies: the bombers and the militants in the territories.

Monday we walked through the hills to a Jewish town.  At night there was a
concert by a folky Israeli group, and again i was sick to tears at how it
seemed to me they didn't even know their government was oppressing
Palestinians: they were all happy and dancing. There we camped on a green
lawn, and at 3am we discovered why it was so green: i woke up to a pulsing
sound and shouting and comotion, which i thought for a few
seconds was machine gun fire, and i lay flat and thought of bodies around me
and of settlers or soldiers firing on us.  then i felt the water drenching
me and realized it was the sprinklers which popped up from the grass.  i was
more scared in those few seconds than anything else i had experienced in the
West Bank.

Tuesday we walked to another Palestinian town, and Wednesday we arrived at
the Sulha: a gathering of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sufis, Druze, and
others.
Goodnight from the old city of Jerusalem.
love, nathaniel
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

===================================================
The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People
64 Star Street, P.O.Box 24
Beit Sahour - Palestine
www.rapprochement.org
=================================
The center is a non-profit making NGO, started in 1988 during the first
Intifada.
PCR runs community service programs, youth empowerment and training
programs.
PCR is also very much involved in the non-violent resistance against the
Israeli Occupation to Palestine.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
pcraddressbook-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/


-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 5:15 PM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: El-Bireh: Extra-judicial execution



-----Original Message-----
From: LAW Society [mailto:arjan@lawsociety.org]
Sent: Mittwoch, 21. August 2002 16:57
To: media@lawsociety.org
Subject: El-Bireh: Extra-judicial execution


El-Bireh: Extra-judicial execution
21 August 2002

Yesterday evening, August 20, an Israeli death squad, dressed in civilian
clothes, killed Muhammad Sa'adat Yusuf Abdelrasul (20), the youngest
brother of Ahmad Sa'adat, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Muhammad Sa'adat was shot in his head, face and chest with eight bullets
from a short distance and left bleeding until he died. Israeli army jeeps
which surrounded the area prevented access to ambulances from the Red
Crescent to evacuate him or to provide first aid.

At around 17.45, Muhammad Sa'adat left his hime at al-Nahda street, which
is located opposite of Friends' School, in El Bireh. He was on his way to
the grocery of his father in the same area. He noticed a white Mitsubishi
parked in the street opposite his home. Inside the vehicle were two armed
men in civilian clothes. When he was less than twenty meters away from the
car, the two armed men left the car and opened fire. Muhammad Sa'adat ran
towards a flowershop to hide. The armed Israeli undercover unit chased him
and shot him with eight bullets in the head, face, chest and lower parts of
his body.

Immediately, a large number of Israeli army jeeps arrived and imposed a
tight siege on the area. Israeli soldiers surrounded Muhammad Sa'adat and
prevented Red Crescent ambulances from approaching, eventhough the Arab
Care hospital was only a few meters away. They also prevented access to
residents. The Israeli occupation forces left him bleeding for twenty
minutes before he died.

Muhammad is the youngest brother of Ahmad Sa'adat, the secretary-general of
the PFLP, who was arrested on January 15, by the Palestinian General
Intelligence Service. Ahmad Sa'adat was then transferred to the
headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. On June 3, 2002, the
Palestinian High Court ordered the release of Ahmad Sa'adat as he had never
been charged or brought before a judge. On June 4, the Palestinian
Authority decided that Ahmad Sa'adat should not be released 'due to Israeli
threats of assassinating Sa'adat'. Ra'anan Gissin, an Israeli spokesman
said that if '[Sa'adat] is not brought to justice, we will bring justice to
him'. One year ago, on August 27, 2001, Israeli forces extra-judicially
executed the late general-secretary of the PFLP, Abu 'Ali Mustafa in
Ramallah by a missile from an Apache helicopter.

On May 1, 2002, in a deal to lift the Israeli siege on the headquarters of
the Palestinian Authority, six Palestinians detained at the compound in
Ramallah, including Ahmad Sa'adat, were transferred to Jericho where they
remain detained under the monitoring of UK and US observers.

Extra-judicial killings cannot be reconciled with the Fourth Geneva
Convention, which seek to protect the lives of protected persons, and
violate human rights norms that affirm the right to life and the
prohibition on execution of civilians. The circumstances under which most
extra-judicial executions are carried out, suggest complete disregard for
the risk involved to the lives of bystanders.

Until today, LAW and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
have not received a response to the urgent request submitted on July 25,
2002 to the Israeli Supreme Court based on their former petition (769/02)
to the Court demanding to immediately issue an interim injunction ordering
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Minister of Defense Benyamin
Eliezer, the Israeli army and Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon to end the policy
of assassinations.

Since the submission of the original petition, 48 persons, who have been
targeted for assassination have been killed along with seventeen
bystanders. This is in addition to 53 Palestinians, who have been targeted
for assassination, of which 21 were confirmed by official Israeli reports,
in addition to at least 25 bystanders who were killed from the beginning of
the Intifada and until the date of the submission of the original petition.

LAW strongly condemns Israel's assassination policy. Israel is legally
responsible for the acts of its agents, and is under corresponding
obligations to ensure that its agents adhere to the Convention and to
prosecute those agents who commit grave breaches. All state signatories to
the Fourth Geneva Convention have also the right and are under a positive
obligation to seek out and prosecute individuals responsible for committing
or commissioning grave breaches, wherever the perpetrators be. Article 148
of the Fourth Geneva states that 'no High Contracting Party shall be
allowed to absolve itself or any other High Contracting Party of any
liability incurred by itself or by any other High Contracting Party...'

Israel's ongoing human rights violations further illustrates the need for
the immediate deployment of an international protection presence to prevent
violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and to protect Palestinian
protected persons within the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
_____________________________

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH), and the World Organization 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: www.lawsociety.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 3:50 PM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: Stringent curfew regime in Nablus threatens population
withhumanitarian tragedy



-----Original Message-----
From: Palestine Monitor [mailto:palmon_media@hdip.org]
Sent: Mittwoch, 21. August 2002 15:27
To: palmon_media@hdip.org
Subject: Stringent curfew regime in Nablus threatens population
withhumanitarian tragedy


The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse

Urgent Update
Stringent curfew regime in Nablus threatens population with humanitarian
tragedy
August 19, 2002


The curfew regime in the West Bank has now been imposed continuously for
almost nine weeks. Since 19 June this year, when the Israeli army launched
the second West Bank-wide invasion in less than two months, curfews have
been enforced upon all major Palestinian towns and villages. The curfew and
mobility restrictions affect the life of every Palestinian living in the
West Bank: businesses have been forced to close down, family, social and
cultural life has more or less ceased to exist, but most critical is the
direct humanitarian and health situation.

The strictest curfew regime has been imposed on the inhabitants of Nablus
who have suffered the effects of the Israeli restrictions for the longest
period. The 115.000 inhabitants of Nablus have been under constant curfew
for 60 days. In this period the curfew has only been lifted for 52 hours. In
other words; in almost two months, people have been allowed out of their
houses for only two days.

According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, president of the Palestinian Medical
Relief, a humanitarian tragedy and medical crisis is unfolding in Nablus.
There is a pressing shortage of basic food and medical supplies to the
besieged population. The infrastructure has been extensively damaged and
Israeli troops have cut the water supply in parts of the city for extended
periods. Health authorities report that epidemics such as hepatitis are
spreading due to contaminated drinking water. The psychological effects of
living under military imposed curfew are also serious as the Israeli army
sustains a heavy presence in the city during the day, and inhabitants tell
of constant shooting at night.

The current talks about Israeli withdrawal do not seem to include Nablus and
other areas where Israel’s wide-reaching collective punishment measure are
at its most severe.

For more information contact The Palestine Monitor +972 2 2985372 or
+972 (0)59 254218 and see www.palestinemonitor.org

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:42 AM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: Israeli High Court Approves the Demolition of the Home of Yusif HamidZurub in Rafah

 
-----Original Message-----
From: mezan [mailto:mezan@hally.net]
Sent: Dienstag, 20. August 2002 12:51
To: mezan@hally.net
Cc: Mezan
Subject: Israeli High Court Approves the Demolition of the Home of Yusif HamidZurub in Rafah

Reference:  66/2002

Date:  15 August 2002

 

 

Press Release

 

Israeli High Court Approves the Demolition of the Home of Yusif Hamid Zurub in Rafah

 

On the morning of Tuesday 20 August 2002, the Israeli High Court gave permission to the Israeli military to proceed with the demolition of the home of Yusif Hamid Zurub in the Israeli-controlled Al Mawasi area in Rafah. The house is 250 meters square and home to Mr. Zurub’s family of 10.

 

On 15 August 2002, the High Court issued a temporary injunction against the demolition in order, following a series of appeals submitted to the judiciary consultant of Israeli Forces by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. After reviewing the case on 20 August 2002, the court finally rejected the appeal to cancel the demolition.

 

It should be mentioned that Yusif Hamid Zurub is the father of Asaad Zurub, who was convicted of stabbing an Israeli settler in the Rafih Yam settlement on 12 May 2002. The Israeli military decided to demolish the house by way of punishing Asaad’s family.

 

Al Mezan declares that this decision is illegal and has been based upon political considerations. Al Mezan also emphasizes that home demolitions are a method of collective punishment, and therefore constitute grave breaches of international and humanitarian laws. The Center calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to halt Israeli aggression against Palestinian people and their property and to condemn the decision of the Israeli High Court which is in clear contravention of internationally accepted agreements and standards.

END


 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please inform us if you would like to unsubscribe from our mailing list.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
Jabalia Office:Palestine, Gaza Strip, Jabalia Camp - Main St.- P.O.Box 2714
Tel: 972-8-2453555 Fax 972-8-2453554
Gaza Office: Gaza/ Omar Bin Abd Al-Aziz St. (Aidiya)
Tel.:28204421/ Fax: 2820447
E.mail:- info@mezan.org or mezan @ planet.com
Web Site: www.mezan.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please inform us if you would like to unsubscribe from our mailing list.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
Jabalia Office:Palestine, Gaza Strip, Jabalia Camp - Main St.- P.O.Box 2714
Tel: 972-8-2453555 Fax 972-8-2453554
Gaza Office: Gaza/ Omar Bin Abd Al-Aziz St. (Aidiya)
Tel.:28204421/ Fax: 2820447
E.mail:- info@mezan.org or mezan @ planet.com
Web Site: www.mezan.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:42 AM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: [iea-announcements]REPORT & INVITATION: Women?s Meeting in
Rama


-----Original Message-----
From: Yehuda Stolov [mailto:msyuda@mscc.huji.ac.il]
Sent: Dienstag, 20. August 2002 02:17
To: Yehuda Stolov
Subject: [iea-announcements]REPORT & INVITATION: Women?s Meeting in Rama


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/Ey.GAA/CtTslB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->


On Monday, August 12, a follow-up meeting to the July Women's Interfaith
Encounter Conference in Nazareth was held in Kfar Rama -- a town that is
home to Muslim, Christian, and Druse.  The meeting hall of the Catholic
church was filled to overflowing with more than eighty Muslim, Christian,
Jewish, and Druse women.

In the center of our large meeting circle, the women of Rama had created a
large centerpiece on the floor -- a big circle containing four smaller
circles of the four religious symbols -- a cross, a crescent, a Jewish
star, and the colorful Druse symbol -- all created with yellow flowers on a
background of white flowers and surrounded by a circle of thorns.  This was
a deep and beautiful expression of the power of our religions to sustain us
in such difficult times and created a  moving atmosphere that inspired us
throughout the meeting.  Opening blessings of support and encouragement
were given by Sheik Muhammed Kywan, Yehuda Stolov, the director of the
Interfaith Encounter Association, and Father Elario Antoniastes who was
hosting us in the meeting hall of the church of Saint Anthony.  They all
encouraged us to continue to stengthen the feminine energy in religions.

Dialoguing together in small circles, the women shared their struggles and
hopes, sometimes having to work hard to listen and understand each other's
pain. We created an ambitious program for future activities and ended doing
Sufi whirling dances to Israeli klezmer music, embracing each other, and
planning to all meet again Thursday October 10 at 2 p.m. in Faradis
Village. The enthusiasm and energy of the women resulted in plans for many
future activities including a trip October 1 to Banias and Safad, a Succot
celebration in Kfar Vradim and a Ramadan celebration in Kfar Rama, a full
moon celebration with music and dancing in Acco, and inter-religious study
sessions. One additional inspiring result was that the women of Kfar Rama
planned to hold their own monthly Women's Interfaith Encounter to
strengthen the relations among the different faith groups living there.
We were so grateful to Kfar Rama for their gracious hospitality and for
their powerful example of women willing to work together to improve their
relations.  We all experienced the healing power of sharing, respect, love,
and harmony -- and went home strengthened and encouraged by our oasis of
peace.

We encourage all women in the North to join us in Faradis on October 10 --
and in any of the other wonderful planned activities.  We appreciate all
the support, prayers, and love we receive from everyone -- we all
strengthen each other.    We experience the benefit of the seeds we are
planting together.

Elana Rozenman,
National Coordinator for Women           052861779
erozenman@hotmail.com

Please contact the Northern facilitators for more information:

    Christian   Randa Sabag Zarik       Turan           067705156
    Druze         Siham Halabi      Daliat El-Carmel  048396043
    Jewish          Merav Chofi         Ein Shemer        046374130
                                          0526698
    Muslim          Ibtisam Mahamid   Faradis         046397139
                                          067433974

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
The Interfaith Encounter Association
P.O.Box  3814, Jerusalem 91037, Israel
Phone:   +972-2-6510520
Fax:     +972-2-6510557
Website:  www.interfaith-encounter.org

Yehuda Stolov, Director
E-mail: msyuda@mscc.huji.ac.il

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THE INTERFAITH ENCOUNTER ASSOCIATION. SUPPORT ONE OR
MORE OF OUR PROGRAMS AND JOIN US AS A MEMBER IN WORKING FOR INTERFAITH
UNDERSTANDING AND PEACE.
All contributions are welcome, small and large!

Contributions made from the U.S., Switzerland and the U.K. are tax
deductible.

You and others are welcome to join our e-mailing lists by sending a blank
message to:
*   In Israel (gets also invitations): iea-announcements-subscribe@egroups.com
*   Abroad (gets reports only): iea-reports-subscribe@egroups.com


To Subscribe, send a blank message to:
iea-announcements-subscribe@eGroups.com

To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
iea-announcements-unsubscribe@eGroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 4:27 PM
To: info@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: FW: [Lawlist] Ill-treatment of Palestinian female detainees {01}


-----Original Message-----
From: BadMsgQ@lawsociety.org [mailto:BadMsgQ@lawsociety.org]On Behalf Of
Lawsociety
Sent: Montag, 19. August 2002 16:47
To: Lawlist List Member
Subject: [Lawlist] Ill-treatment of Palestinian female detainees {01}


Ill-treatment of Palestinian female detainees
19 August 2002

Palestinian female detainees in Israeli prisons are ill-treated. Today,
fifty Palestinian women are imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention
centers. Forty female detainees are detained at al-Ramle prison,
including six minors. The other female detainees are detained in al-
Jalameh and the Russian Compound ('Moscowbiya').

Prison conditions in Ramle do not meet the basic minimum standards.
Palestinian female detainees are exposed to humiliating body searches.
Those who refuse to undergo this humiliating search are being handcuffed,
with the hands on the back, and forced to take off their clothes. There
have been cases when Palestinian female detainees were threatened being
stripped and searched by Israeli male guards and solitary confinement.
Inspections of the cells of Palestinian female detainees are done in an
aggressive manner, properties are thrown on the floor, to be left for the
detainees to clean up.

Palestinian female detainees are exposed to humiliation, degradation and
verbal harassment from Israeli prison guards and Israeli criminal
prisoners. Only a metal fence separates political prisoners from criminal
prisoners. This has especially a negative effect in terms of
psychological problems, in particular, on the detained Palestinian
minors. There are only seven cells in Ramle prison. Each cell hosts five
to seven Palestinian female detainees. Recess periods depend on the
relation between the prison authority and prisoners. Regularly, recess
periods for Palestinian female detainees have been reduced or banned
completely.

Medical treatment is poor. There is a physician at Ramle prison, but
since she is Russian, she does not speak or understand Arabic, which
makes it impossible treating psychological problems, which has, in
particular, a negative effect on minors. The female detainees are in
general not allowed to call their families. Even in the case of
Palestinian female detainee is allowed to call her family, the prison
authorities record the phone call. She is not allowed to inform her
family that the phone conversation is recorded. Palestinian female
detainees with Westbank identity cards are prevented from family visits.
Family visits are only allowed for female prisoners who carry a Jerusalem
identity card.

On Monday, July 29, waste water flooded into the prison cells. Prison
guards assaulted the Palestinian female prisoners with teargas grenades
and two of the female prisoners fainted. This assault followed a request
by the Palestinian female prisoners at the prison authorities of Ramle
prison to do something about this.

Prison guards broke into their cells and transferred Amna Mona to al-
Jalami prison, and Suad Ghazal (18), who was arrested at the age of 15,
to Abu Kbir detention center, and Ahlam al-Tamimi to the Russian Compound
('Moscowbiya') in Jerusalem. The prison authorities placed a number of
Palestinian female prisoners in solitary confinement as a punitive
measure for protesting the transfer of the three female prisoners.
Subsequently, the Palestinian female prisoners started a hungerstrike,
which lasted until August 16. As a punitive measure, nine other
Palestinian female detainees were held in solitary confinement and
Palestinian female prisoners carrying a Jerusalem identity card were also
prevented from family visits.

LAW is deeply concerned about the inhuman and degrading treatment of
Palestinian female prisoners in Ramle prison. In the same way that Israel
is accountable under international law for preventing torture and ill-
treatment, it is also required to uphold prisoners' privacy rights as
codified in article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.

The Fourth Geneva Convention clearly prohibits the transfer of
Palestinian detainees from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to
Israel. Article 76 states that 'Protected persons accused of offences
shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall
serve their sentences therein'.

Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees does not meet the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Body
of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of
Detention or Imprisonment, and the Basic Principles for the Treatment of
Prisoners. These instruments are binding on Israel to the extent that the
norms set out in them explicate the broader standards contained in human
rights treaties. LAW further calls on the Israeli government to ensure
that the rights of detainees are protected in accordance with
international human rights and humanitarian law. Moreover, LAW calls on
the international community, in particular the member states of the
European Union to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva
Convention and to live up to their legal obligations.

LAW is gravely concerned about the fate of thousands of Palestinian
political prisoners who are still in custody, without charge or trial,
often under administrative detention orders which may be renewed
indefinitely. There is strong evidence that the majority of those
detained have been arbitrarily detained, and that thousands of
Palestinians have been rounded up, humiliated, ill-treated and held in
poor conditions as a collective punishment.
_____________________________

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation
for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organization 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: www.lawsociety.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 1:19 PM
To: Honestly-Concerned-Mailingliste-owner@yahoogroups.com
Subject: FW: [pcraddressbook] ISM Updates August 18


-----Original Message-----
From: Rapprochement Centre [mailto:pcr@p-ol.com]
Sent: Sonntag, 18. August 2002 08:46
To: pcraddressbook
Subject: [pcraddressbook] ISM Updates August 18


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/Ey.GAA/rfOolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

1-Neighbor Practice (Uri Avnery)

2-Event announcement (be there)

3- Reflections from Erica
4-MR. PRESIDENTl (Joyce Heart)
5-The White House needs to hear from us
6-HEBRON UPDATE (CPT)

============================================================================


1-Neighbor Practice
Uri Avnery

17.8.02


The topic of war crimes is now firmly fixed on the national and military
agenda, and cannot be removed anymore..  This week there was a public outcry
about the death of Nidal Abu-Muhsein in Tubas village on the West Bank. The
19 years old youngster was taken from his home by the soldiers who had come
to the village in order to arrest (or kill) his neighbor, the Hamas activist
Nasser Jerar. Nidal was compelled to approach Nasser’s door and call on him
to come out. Nasser, who must have been waiting for the soldiers, opened
fire and killed him. Then a bulldozer was called in and  to destroy the
house, burying Nasser alive under its ruins.

The use of a local resident as a “human shield” is a war crime. That was
confirmed, on live television, by a senior reserve officer, the former
president of the highest military court. The Fourth Geneva Convention
expressly forbids the use of “protected persons” (as the convention calls
inhabitants of an occupied territory) for such purpose. This practice, like
the practice of compelling Palestinian neighbors to tour buildings suspected
of being booby-trapped, is similar to the killing of hostages in retaliation
for resistance actions.

In the past, such a case would have aroused no reaction whatsoever. It
belongs to the daily routine of the occupation. But in the wake of the new
awareness concerning war crimes, (following the action of Gush Shalom,
which, with no small risk to itself, broke the taboo that has hovered over
this subject), a public debate started. It was disclosed that this is a
widely-used method, which has even been given a regular military
appellation: “neighbor practice”. Not long ago. the army promised the
Supreme Court to give up the practice had no intention at all of fulfilling
the promise.

On the same live TV program, a reserve brigadier-general who has served in
the past as a deputy division commander in the occupied territories, said
that this method has been used “thousands of times”. The scull-cap wearing
general asserted that this was “moral”, since it saves the lives of
soldiers. The assumption is that the Palestinian fighter would not open fire
on an Arab neighbor, so that it would be possible to capture (or kill) him
without taking risks.

(I mention the fact that he wore a scull-cap in order to stress a sad fact:
when somebody appears in public to justify war crimes, it is invariably a
religious person. This throws light – or darkness – on the mutation of the
Jewish religion that has taken place in Israel.)

The army spokesmen masquerading as journalists announced proudly that Marwan
Barghouti, the Fatah leader, was also captured with the help of the
“neighbor practice”. (Thus making possible a show trial for him and turning
him into a Palestinian Nelson Mandela.)

In order to justify his actions, the religious general argued that the
“neighbor practice” is more humane than the alternative method: dropping a
one-ton bomb on the house of the Hamas activist Salah Shehadeh, in a crowded
residential neighborhood in Gaza, killing 17 neighbors, including nine
children.

The dropping of that bomb was a war crime, too. One of these days it may
lead the whole chain of command to The Hague – the Prime Minister, the
Defense Minister, the Chief-of-Staff, the Commander of the Air Force and the
anonymous pilot. According to a newspaper-report, this possibility has
caused quite a stir in the Air Force, especially after some anonymous
persons smeared the words “war criminal” on the cars of several officers.

These pilots and their comrades are angry. They are uttering all the trite
slogans current in the streets: they only fulfill orders. They act according
to the instructions of the elected political leadership. They defend the
home. Also: they are excellent technicians. And, more importantly, they are
loyal to their comrades.

One can envy them. According to the report, they entertain no moral qualms
whatsoever. They have not listened to their colleague, Reserve Colonel Yig’
al Shohat, the war hero shot down over Egypt, who has called upon the pilots
to refuse precisely such orders. Obviously, they have not heard about the
American pilot who had dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima, who later sunk
into a deep depression, became an alcoholic and died.

I am sure that the report does not give the whole picture. There are – there
must be – pilots, who have become profoundly aware of the war crimes
dilemma. I am sure that in all parts of the IDF there are officers and
soldiers who are bothered by it. I hope that more and more of them will come
to the conclusion that there is only one “neighbor practice” that will
provide security for Israel and its citizens: a peace practice that will
turn the Palestinian people into a good neighbor.

============================================================================


2-Event announcement (be there)


REPORT-BACK FROM

Deir Ibzi’a,Palestine

When:  Sunday, August 25, 2002, from 5 to 8 PM

Where:   Fellowship of Humanity Hall,
390 27th St.,  (Btw Telegraph Av. And Broadway in Oakland)

Who:    Arla, Cathy, Jim, Jon, Mary and Wendy,

5 to 6 pm - Reception and Middle Eastern Food
6 to 8 pm - Slides and Report back Presentations
Letters and Artwork from Children on Display!

Suggested Donation: $10 – 15

Sponsored by the Northern Ca International Solidarity Movement  Support
Group

For more information email: nomoreoccupation@yahoo.com or visit
www.norcalism.org


============================================================================

3- Reflections from Erica

13 august 2002

Last night around 1 am, Z. came and knocke don the dorr of the house where
I'm staying.  He motioned for me to comep to the roof:  the buildings
blocked the view, but from his won roof he had seen soldiers on foot, coming
towards Old Askar refugee camp. When we went back inside, the man whose
house it is bolted the door.  That day his wife had tgone to the hospital
with their 2 day old daughter:  the baby had a high fever and trouble
gbreathing, and he didn't even know if she wouldsurvive.  He went to bed and
I stayed up with Z., smoking cigarettes and talking to fill the eerie
silence, puncutated only by the yowls of stray cats and the sound of the
trucks speeding up and down the road, occasional machinegun fire.  At one
point Z. began talking about his land back in Jaffa--from where his family,

like almost every family here--was exiled in the years after 1945.  He had
tears in his eyes.  Like most people here in Nablus, he hasn't been able to
even leave the town's borders for years--never even mind leaving the west
bank.  The camps themselves are small ghettos, getting more and more crowded
as the population grows and the camp is not allowe to expand it's borders.
Nablus itself is a ghost town; the peop;le wave to us from out their
windows, the children shout "howryoo!" and "watchernem!" at us, but often
dont' dare to go outside incase tthe tanks come through, whciht they do
almost every night, shooting at anything that moves.  At a children's peace
demonstration in Balata camp yesterday, one little boy with sad, patient
eyes ran up to me and showed me the scar on his leg where the bullet had
been.  Every night we hear that at least one more person has been killed in
the city by the army, one more man arrested, one more house destroyed.  I
don't thinik there's any way I can communicate fully7 how constant is the
state of fear and powerlessness in which the Palestinians live.  "Are you
afraid?" Z. asked me last night.  "Me?  Afraid?  No:  are you?"  "No," he
said smiling, but the way he smoked cigarette after cigarette, the anxious
peering out the window every 2 minutes, proved otherwise.

As I write this report I am sitting in the school of Deir Hatab village,
where the Nablus medical center is doing a "mobile clinic."  In fact its
nothing more htan medical distribution, and the simplest of medicines at
that:  decongestant, antiseptic, children's fever reducer, multivitamins.
The ambulence pulled up as we were walking down the road and asked for
accompanyment.  On the road to the village--only a 10 minute drive--two
soldiers stopped us; they took the IDs of the doctors, and my and Angelo's
passports.  I watched them radio their base, looking at the passports as if
they had never seen one before in their lives.  The made the ambulence
driver open up the first aid kits, the bags of medicine.  Finally they let
us pass:  after 2 more minutes, the ambulence stopped and dropped us off so
it could go to another clinic in Ramallah.  We got out, taking the boxes of
medicine, climbed over a small hill to where a van was waiting for us to
pick us up and take us to the school.  There are dozens of wome lined up
now, many carrying their small children.  Without this delivery, they
wouldn't ahve access to even the most basic over the counter medicine that
any American or Israeli can pick up at the corner store.  Just one more
daily inconvenience, humilation  or prohibition here for all the things that
should be taken for granted.

I can't help myself from thinking constantly and since the moment I arrived
in Nablus, "this is what Kosovo must have been like a year before I
was there."  (The feeling is so strong, so visceral, I've been constantly
fighting the urge to speak albanian to people:  last night I actually
accidentally said, "qysh?" to a little boy who was trying to talk to me.)
Not only does it look similar, not only are the customs--enless cups of
coffee and oversweet tea, enless offers of cigarettes--similar, but, and
more importantly, the stories I hear are the same as well.  There's hardly a
man here who hasn't done time in an Israeli prison; there's hardly a family
who hasn't lost a loved one to military fire.  Everyone here, also, jumps
when they hear a hard knock on the door.

17 august 2002

Curfew is lifted today in Nablus for the first time in over a week: all of a
sudden the city is no longer a ghost town, but a real city, the market
bursting with life, everyone out in the streets.  I can't write long: at 6
the curfew will be imposed again, and everyone will be under the effective
house arrest that "curfew" implies. and even this  is only half the story:
outside the city, tanks wait to turn back anyone tryig to enter or leave.
Gabe and I had goen to a house in an outlying town where soldiers have
occupied the top two floors for the past week, with no indication of
leaving.  The man who spoke to me said that it was the second time the
soldiers have occupied the house:  the first time, it was for 27 days, and
they locked the 4 families of the hosue in the bottom floor for the first 15
of those days, only allowing the family to enter the yard after a group of
internationals came to check out the situation.  We had gone today to bring
some food and diapers; a family was trying to get back to their village
after having taken their son to the hospital.  They ahd been stuck here
while the curfew was lifted.  Even now they were afriad of problems if they
tried to go into the valley without international presence.  For good
reason.  We walked down with them part way; they crossed over a massive road
block the army had made and we watched them walk down the hill.  After 2
minutes a tank came.  We approached with our hands up.  As one solidier was
taking our documents, the tank fired into the valley, in the air over the
family.

They had to turn back and walk up the hill with all their bags, their little
son limping  all the way.  The army searched their bags, and after arguing
with the husband, eventually let them go.  Another group of men, farmers who
lived in Nablus but worked in the village, were made to turn back.  "But
what about their  work? I asked the soldier.  "Yes, well, it's collective
punishment, but what can we do?" I wasn't quick enough to point outto him
that collective punishment is illegal under international law.

The lifting of curfew is cold consolation anyway after the army went through
old Nablus last night with tanks and foot soldiers.  At 6 in the evening
the operation began.  Parts of the old town have been completely destroyed
by last night's shooting and fires: the army did not allow fire trucks to
enter and put the fires out.

There's so much I could say, more than I could write if I had 45 hours
instead of 45 minutes, the joy and the warmth and the intelligence of the
palestinians as well as the humiliation and the violence and the poverty of
the occupation.  I have heard stories about the actions of the Israeli army
that have chilled my blood.  No one should have to live like the people here
live.  It's well and good to shake one's head over the humanitarian crisis
here, but it's empty pity without understanding that it doesn't have to be
this way.  The media portrays Palestine as a land of either terrorist
fundamentalists or some kind of prebiblical nomadic tribe:  as I sit in this
internet cafe, I can fairly well vouch that the Palestinians are as
educated, kind, intelligent, fun as any other people.  The vibrancy of the
city today compared to the locked doors and empty streets of yesterday is a
testament to how much the occupation, and nothing else, is responsible for
the misery here.

I'm sorry I don't have time at the moment to resp9ond to whatever debate is
circulating around my presence here, nor to write any personal emails to any
of you.  But I'm well--exhausted, angry, and sad, but well--and I send my
love to all.
Erica
============================================================================
===========
4-MR. PRESIDENTl
by Joyce Heart

THESE ARE GREAT WORDS.  "AMERICA CAN BE SAVED ONE PERSON AT A TIME. ...THIS
GREAT SOCIETY OF OURS CAN BE CHANGED ONE HEART, ONE SOUL, ONE CONSCIENCE AT
A TIME....THERE ARE SOME LIVES WHO ARE TROUBLED, SOME LIVES WHO ARE
DESPONDENT, SOME PEOPLE ....LIVE IN POCKETS OF HOPELESSNESS AND
DESPAIR....SERVING SOMETHING GREATER THAN MYSELF IN LIFE IS AN IMPORTANT
PART OF BEING A CITIZEN."

YES, MR. PRESIDENT, ONE PERSON AT A TIME STARTING WITH YOU, ONE HEART, ONE
SOUL, ONE CONSCIENCE AT A TIME, STARTING WITH YOU NEEDS TO EDUCATE AMERICA
AS TO WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS AND HOW AMERICA IS SUPPORTING
ISRAEL IN HER EVIL AND HOW WE MUST STOP IT. THERE ARE PALESTINIAN LIVES WHO
ARE TROUBLED, DESPONDENT, AND LIVING IN HOPELESSNESS AND DESPAIR BECAUSE
ISRAEL REFUSES TO OBEY INTERNATIONAL LAW, U. N. RESOLUTIONS, AND GENEVA
CONVENTIONS, AND THE U. S. GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO HOLD HER ACCOUNTABLE,
RATHER, MY GOVERNMENT KEEPS GIVING THE AMERICAN TAX-PAYERS DOLLARS TO AID
AND ABET HER IN HER LAWLESSNESS AND TERRORISM.

"SERVING SOMETHING GREATER THAN MYSELF IN LIFE IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF BEING
A CITIZEN" AND I MIGHT ADD A CHRISTIAN. BEING MORE CONCERNED ABOUT JUSTICE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS THAN POLITICAL AMBITION.  SO, THE DOUBLE STANDARD, THE
HYPOCRISY, THE INJUSTICE MUST END.  STARTING WITH YOU, MR. PRESIDENT, AND
MOVING OUT TO EACH OF US TO PROMOTE INTEGRITY, JUSTICE, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.
THAT SHOULD BE THE AIM.  THAT SHOULD BE THE GOAL.  THAT SHOULD BE OUR MOTTO.

YES, MR PRESIDENT, I PRAY FOR YOU AND THE U. S. GOVERNMENT DAILY SEVERAL
TIMES A DAY. I PRAY THAT GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR
JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND END THE DOUBLE STANDARD, END THE DOUBLE TALK,
END THE SUPPORT OF A NATION THAT WAS FOUNDED ON TERROR AND CONTINUES TO
TERRORIZE AND OPPRESS A PEOPLE WHOSE LAND SHE TOOK.  IT IS WRONG.  THE U. S.
GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER TO SEE THAT THE PALESTINIANS
HAVE THE TWENTY-TWO PERCENT OF THE LAND (THAT IS , ALL THE LAND THAT WAS
TAKEN IN 1967) AND THAT THE PALESTINIANS HAVE A GENUINE AND VIABLE
PALESTINIAN STATE. ISRAEL SHOULD BE SATISFIED WITH THE 78% OF THE LAND.
THAT MEANS THE SETTLEMENTS MUST BE DISMANTLED. THE SETTLERS MUST LEAVE
PALESTINIAN LAND. THERE CAN BE NO PEACE UNTIL THERE IS JUSTICE.

A CONCERNED CITIZEN,
JOYCE HART


"I want to thank some special citizens today. They're college students.
I've asked them to join us here because I want you to know, America can be
saved one person at a time. You see, this great society of ours can be
changed one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time. And as we're here to
celebrate the victory of life, we've also got to understand there are some
lives who are troubled, some lives who are despondent, some people wonder
whether or not America is meant for them -- they live in pockets of
hopelessness and despair. And these six heroic students, people who have
said, listen, serving something greater than myself in life is an important
part of being a citizen. I want to thank these soldiers in the armies of
compassion for setting a great example for their fellow college students and
for some of us old folks, as well."
--George W. Bush

============================================================================
========
5-The White House needs to hear from us

From: TeresaOutlaw@cs.com
To: TeresaOutlaw@cs.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 11:43 PM
Subject: [Al-Awda-NC] Send Letter to Pres. Bush Protesting War


The Whitehouse needs to hear from us in large numbers to stop this insane
WAR binge.  We have to become the noisy majority.

President Bush is considering starting a war by invading Iraq.  Many of us
do not believe this is the right thing to do.  (An unknown numbers of lives,
two hundred thousand American troops and at least sixty billion dollars per
year.)

In an effort to make our point of view heard, I am suggesting that we
encourage as many citizens as possible to mail a post card to the White
House asking that another war not be started.  If we all mail our cards, or
letters, on the same day it will have maximum impact.  Perhaps it would be
newsworthy to the corporate media.  The important thing is to have as many
people as possible engaged in the project.  So I am asking you to forward
this e-mail to as many people as you can.  This will take less that five
minutes of your time.  With luck we can reach millions of people within the
next two weeks.

If we all mail our cards on or about August 15 we may be in time to
influence the situation.  If we all reach five people through eleven
forwarding it will reach forty eight million people.  The chain letter
effect.  I am asking you to spend twenty three cents and ten minutes to help
stop a war.

PLEASE forward this email to at least five people today.  Time is running
out.

Mail post cards to:
George W.  Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington,DC 20500
============================================================================
================
6-HEBRON UPDATE:  August 11  14, 2002

Sunday, August 11, 2002      No curfew

On his way through the Old City, some children told CPTer Greg Rollins that
there were soldiers inside a nearby house.  Rollins entered the house to
investigate and met three soldiers leaving the house.  One of the soldiers
said that someone had thrown a brick at them from this house the previous
day.  They had gone in then and messed up the place looking for the
perpetrator, but did not find them.  They returned on Sunday, but still did
not find the person fro whom they were searching.  "Don't you think trashing
a Palestinian's home will only encourage him to throw rocks at you?"
Rollins asked the soldier.  "No," the soldier replied.  "It sill make them
stop because they will be afraid of us."  After the soldiers left, Rollins
found only two very frightened girls around the age of 12 in the house.

Monday, August 12, 2002       Curfew imposed at 2:00 pm on H2
(Israeli-controlled area); on Bab iZaweyya (in H1) at 4:45 pm

Jerry Levin and Donna Hicks gave a tour to a US Congressional staff
delegation sponsored by American Muslims for Jerusalem and Jews for Peace in
Palestine and Israel.  On August 8, the Israeli authorities denied the
delegation entry into the West Bank from Jordan.  When they were finally
able to enter the country, they had one day to meet with international and
Palestinian peace groups and US government officials.

On his way to the taxis, Levin engaged a soldier in conversation at Beit
Romano.  The soldier said, "It is very difficult for soldiers in the Old
City.  The settlers think we don't like them when we stop them from going
after the Palestinians.  In Gaza, it is much easier for us.  If the people
come out of their place, we shoot them.  Here, it is more difficult."

CPTer Le Anne Clausen returned from escorting an educational group around
Gaza.  The group visited a site in Rafah where the Israeli military had
destroyed dozens of homes to create a "buffer zone" and were threatening to
demolish several more for Israeli settlement expansion.  As the group of
internationals headed toward the area of destruction, soldiers fired shots
over their head.  The group clearly displayed their passports and continued
walking, but the soldiers fired again.  When the group turned and headed
back the way they came, the soldiers fired three more shots that came
within a few feet of the group.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002      Curfew imposed at 12:30 pm in H2

At mid-morning, the team received a call for help from the owner of the
house adjacent to Avraham Avinu that settlers had occupied on the night of
Saturday, July 27.  The military had removed the settlers and told the
family they could return to their home.  The family had hired workers to
rebuild a wall between their house and the settlement that the settlers had
destroyed over the past two years.  That morning, settlers began stoning the
workers from inside Avraham Avinu.  When CPTers Hicks and Janet Shoemaker
arrived at the house, there were about eight soldiers inside
trying to turn the settlers away.  The soldiers ordered the CPTers to leave,
which they did so as not to escalate the situation.  The owner told the
CPTers she would stay in contact.

Walking back through the market behind Avraham Avinu, Shoemaker and Hicks
saw two soldiers escorting three settler men.  Shoemaker inquired with a
local shop owner as to their business.  "They are engineers," he said.
"They have come to look at the cracks in the walls and the structure of the
buildings."

Clausen and Hicks followed a young man into the market where a group of six
to seven soldiers detained him along with two older Palestinian men.  The
soldiers surrounded the young man, forced him to stand spread-eagled against
the wall with their guns pointed at him, and mocked him.  When
Clausen took out her camera, the soldiers started yelling, "No pictures!"
and moved the young man to another location.  The CPTers followed and asked
why they were holding him spread-eagled.  One soldier replied, "So he cant'
see who I am."  Then he stated, "So he won't attack us."  Clausen pointed
out that the man had not tried to attack him, that he was frightened and
unarmed.  The soldiers moved the man again.  Then they began to mock the
CPTers.  One began singing an Arabic song while gyrating his hips and
looking suggestively at the CPT women.  Others began screaming and running
around the corner with their guns pointed at them, in an attempt to startle
them.  Finally, they let the three men go and walked further into the
market.

Clausen then went to visit a family who had called earlier to say that
soldiers had taken their 18-year-old son out of their house into the street
and beaten him with their fists and rifle butts.  The family described the
same group of soldiers that the CPTers had just been following.

Ha'Aretz Daily, an Israeli newspaper, published an editorial sharply
criticizing the violence of the Hebron settlers and the Israel Police's
failure to deal with it.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002            No curfew

Clausen attended a meeting in Beit Sahour evaluating the International
Solidarity Movement's summer campaign and preparing for a fall Olive
Picking Campaign.
============================================================================
========


The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People
64 Star Street, P.O.Box 24
Beit Sahour - Palestine
www.rapprochement.org
=================================
The center is a non-profit making NGO, started in 1988 during the first
Intifada.
PCR runs community service programs, youth empowerment and training
programs.
PCR is also very much involved in the non-violent resistance against the
Israeli Occupation to Palestine.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
pcraddressbook-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



 

-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 1:19 PM
To: Honestly-Concerned-Mailingliste-owner@yahoogroups.com
Subject: FW: [GushShalomBillboard] Attack on Gush Shalom continues +
action news


-----Original Message-----
From: gush-shalom-press-admin@mailman.gush-shalom.org
[mailto:gush-shalom-press-admin@mailman.gush-shalom.org]On Behalf Of
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
Sent: Samstag, 17. August 2002 23:52
To: gush-shalom-press-tx81z@mailman.gush-shalom.org
Subject: [GushShalomBillboard] Attack on Gush Shalom continues + action
news


  //=//=//=//=//=//=//=//=//
   // Gush Shalom Billboard //
     //=//=//=//=//=//=//=//=//

[1] The concerned pilots (attack on Gush Shalom continues).
[2] The court to decide in deportation case of two Palestinian workers
[3] Thursday, Aug. 22, solidarity vigil re jailed COs, Defence Ministry, TA, 6 pm
[4] Appeal: Outbreak of Hepatitis A in Palestine

[Through billboard we forward what is on the agenda, based upon our own
material and on announcements received from others.]

[1] The concerned pilots (attack on Gush Shalpom continues).

The following appeared in Ben Kaspit's column of political commentary in
the weekend supplement of Ma'ariv. Our commentt appears between square
brackets.

(...) What truly infuriated Prime Minister Sharon this week was the news of
graffiti reading "War Criminal" sprayed on the private cars of Air Force
pilots, and the threats of the members of Gush Shalom to collect incriminating
evidence against soldiers and officers involved in IDF operations in the
Territories, and pass it on to international tribunals.
On Tuesday [Aug.13], Sharon visited the Tel-Nof Air Force base and was
surprised at how frustrated and apprehensive the senior officers are about this
issue. First to raise it was the Air Force's Chief Psychologist who told of
being approached by many pilots. She said the pilot were concerned, some of
them "very concerned". Then the Air Force commander, General Dan Halutz, spoke
out about a widespread "feeling of insult, concern and apprehension" among his
officers.
According to one of the participants, the pilots who spoke to Sharon were
especially concerned at the possiblity that some years hence, after retiring
from active service and going on a family holiday to, say, Green Ireland, they
would find policemen waiting at the airport with war crimes warrants. The
presence of Sharon, who had already undergone a set of judicial proceedings in
Belgium (and seems about to be confronted with new ones soon) made the pilots'
apprensions all the more sharp.
At the cabinet meeting on the following day [Wed., Aug 14], Sharon seemed
shaken when he recounted this experience to the ministers. "It is
inconceivable" he murmured. "These people want to hand our soldiers over to the
enemy" [sic - Sharon concept of "the enemy clearly seems to include European
polic forces and international courts].
Defence Minister Ben Eliezer vehemently concurred with the Prime Minister.
He also gets similar feedback from army officers, and he too is furious. This is
the first time in the past weeks that the PM and his Defence Minister have
found common ground on any specific issue. In both of their bureaus,
withering criticism is heard about the Attorney General and his staff, who are
described as "dragging their feet" in pressing charges against the "informers".

[So far, the Attorney General seems unable to find an article of Israel law
according to which it is illegal to warn army offciers that their acts might be
in violation of international law. However, given sufficiant pressure the AG
might bend some law or another, or a brand-new law might be enacted as was
suggested in a radio interview earlier this week by Justice Minister
Sheetrit - who apparently is more worried about those who seek justice than about its
violations.

Meanwhile there was also made a threat this week against Adallah, the human
and civil rights association active on behalf of Israel's Arab citizens. Amram
Bogatch, the govenmental Registrar of Associations made a public threat to "open an
investigation against Adallah", on the charges that it "exeeded its mandate" by offering
free legal counceling; that it is linked to a political party, namely KM Azmi Bishara's
Balad Party; and that there are "irregularities" in the running of its finances.
Bogatch made all these charges only in the media, making no direct approach to Adallah
itself and of course giving the association no chance to answer his charges.
By attacking Gush Shalom and Adallah a signal is given aimed at intimidating Israeli
peace and human rights groups in general.]

[2] The court to decide in deportation case of two Palestinian workers
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:                   "Shelly Nativ" <shelly_nat@hotmail.com>
 Deportation: please come and show solidarity

>Mr. Magdi Nagar lives in the West Bank city of Beit Sahur (near Bethlehem).
He has lived there for seven years, and holds a Paletinian ID. He has committed no
crime. He was peacefully working in Israel when the police brutally
arrested him, and threw him in prison. He has been in Maasiyahu Detention
Center  for four months - without trial.
But because he is in prison for 130 days, he cannot get his ID to show the
Israeli authorities that he is a citizen of the Palestinian Authority.
Therefore, the Israeli courts have ordered his deportation to Jordan,
saying that he has not proven his Palestinian citizenship (hard to believe
the absurdity of the situation).

His first petition to the courts was denied by Judge Moshe Gal in
Jerusalem. The appeal to the Supreme Court was also denied by Judge Shlomo
Levin.

But Attorney Leibowitz filed a second petition, and this petition will be
heard on Aug 19, 2002 at 9:30 AM in the Jerusalem District Court .

This time it will be Judge Moshe Drori - and if there will be enough
people, public pressure might succeed in preventing this illegal and
immoral deportation.

  Please come and show solidarity. It is very important to fill up the
courtroom. This is the only effective way to save this man from a cruel
deportation and prevent him and his family from becoming our enemies.

Remember the details:
Date:     Monday, Aug 19 2002
Hour:     9:30
Place:   Jerusalem District Court, 40 Zalah ADin St. Jerusalem
Judge:   Moshe Drori

Shamai Leibowitz, Attorney-At-Law
     ----------------------------------------------
     Shamai Leibowitz,  Esq
      Ben Gurion St 11A
     Givat Shmuel ISRAEL 54017
     Tel: 972-3-5327772

[3] Thursday, Aug. 22, solidarity vigil re jailed COs, Defence Ministry, TA,
6 pm

With four of the Shiministim (Highschool pupils/ Seniors) at the moment in
prison (Kele-4) (apart from the four jailed reservist refusers in Kele-6)
there is going to be a solidarity demonstration at the Defence Ministry in Tel-Aviv,
Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 pm. More background on the motivation of the
refusers will follow.
Contact: Neta 052-830494

[4] Appeal: Outbreak of Hepatitis A in Palestine
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:                   Huwaida Arraf <huwaidaa@yahoo.com>
Date sent:              Fri, 16 Aug 2002 21:27:21 -0700 (PDT)
August 15, 2002
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in appeal for international assistance in what could be a dire
humanitarian crisis. The residents of Salem, a village near Nablus in the
West Bank, are facing a severe outbreak of Hepatitis A. According to Dr. Ghassan
Hamdan of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in Nablus, there have
been 95 confirmed cases in this village since the outbreak first began two weeks
ago.
Additionally, there are 9 confirmed cases in Iraq Bureen, a nearby community, and
other unconfirmed reports of further infections in neighboring villages.
Thus far, all 104 confirmed infections have been children.
Dr. Hamdan asserts that recent damage to the village’s infrastructure is the most
likely cause of the problem. Israeli military forces, while using bulldozers to place a
roadblock on the main access road to Salem, have broken open sewage lines,
possibly contaminating the area’s water supply. Another example of
infrastructure damage is the dumping of garbage from nearby Israeli settlements in areas
where villagers grow their food. Additionally, 58 consecutive days of curfew in
the Nablus area have led to poor overall sanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of
access to medical care, greatly exacerbating the situation.
Due to lack of funding, the Medical Relief in Palestine is unable to provide the
necessary vaccinations for the village’s residents. Dr. Hamdan warns that,
while the prognosis for Hepatitis infections among children is generally positive, if
the epidemic continues it may spread to infants and to the elderly, with potentially
devastating effects. Therefore, the need for help in this situation is urgent.
The major needs in this crisis are funding for the vaccine and assistance
with transporting the medication to the Nablus area. The Israeli siege which
restricts Palestinian movement, both within and between Palestinian towns, makes it
almost impossible for local Palestinians to transport medical supplies and move in
other emergency cases. We believe that the direct intervention of international
aid organizations is crucial in addressing humanitarian crises in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories. Our teams of international volunteers and activists, along
with our Palestinian partners, will continue to work around the siege to provide aid
to those in need. Please consider helping us.
Any organization or individual wishing to help with this crisis should contact the Union
of Palestinian Medical Relief Organizations in Nablus at +972-9-238-7174.
You can also contact Susan Barclay in Nablus at +972-59-877-091 or +972-55-829-680.
Thank you very much for your attention in this matter.
Sincerely,
Adam Stumacher
Volunteer
International Solidarity Movement

----
NB: Did it occur to you to write a letter to the editor (or if you are living abroad: to
the Israeli Embassy) about the witchhunt against Gush Shalom - suggesting for
example that the attorney general investigate violations of international law - and not
those monitoring them? NB: Don't forget to include your address and phone number.
        ----
    Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
    For Hebrew   http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html
    For English  http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
    French available at request

Also on the site:
    photo's - of action or otherwise informative
    the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English
    the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English
    (and a lot more)
              http://www.gush-shalom.org

In order to receive our Hebrew press releases [mostly WORD documents -
not always same as English]
mailto:gush-shalom-heb-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org
+ NB: write the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities you can send a cheque or
cash, wrapped well in an extra piece of paper, to:

     Gush Shalom pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033

or ask us for charities in your country which receive donations on behalf of
Gush Shalom

(Please, add your email address where to send our confirmation of receipt.
 More official receipts at request only.)

For more about Gush Shalom  you are invited to visit our website:
               http://www.gush-shalom.org/
              -\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-

_______________________________________________
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

--

To unsubscribe, send mail to
gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org
and write "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

In some programs it is enough to use the following link:
mailto:gush-shalom-press-request@mailman.gush-shalom.org?subject=unsubscribe
--

For assistance: info@gush-shalom.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 1:15 PM
To: Honestly-Concerned-Mailingliste-owner@yahoogroups.com
Subject: FW: [cpthebron] HEBRON UPDATE: August 11 - 24, 2002



-----Original Message-----
From: CPT Hebron [mailto:cptheb@palnet.com]
Sent: Samstag, 17. August 2002 21:56
To: cpthebron@yahoogroups.com; encounter-EMEM@yahoogroups.com;
palmediaalert@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [cpthebron] HEBRON UPDATE: August 11 - 24, 2002


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/Ey.GAA/7TwplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

HEBRON UPDATE:  August 11  14, 2002

Sunday, August 11, 2002No curfew

On his way through the Old City, some children told CPTer Greg Rollins that
there were soldiers inside a nearby house.  Rollins entered the house to
investigate and met three soldiers leaving the house.  One of the soldiers
said that someone had thrown a brick at them from this house the previous
day.  They had gone in then and messed up the place looking for the
perpetrator, but did not find them.  They returned on Sunday, but still did
not find the person fro whom they were searching.  "Don't you think
trashing a Palestinian's home will only encourage him to throw rocks at
you?"  Rollins asked the soldier.  "No," the soldier replied.  "It sill
make them stop because they will be afraid of us."  After the soldiers
left, Rollins found only two very frightened girls around the age of 12 in
the house.

Monday, August 12, 2002         Curfew imposed at 2:00 pm on H2
(Israeli-controlled area); on Bab iZaweyya (in H1) at 4:45 pm

Jerry Levin and Donna Hicks gave a tour to a US Congressional staff
delegation sponsored by American Muslims for Jerusalem and Jews for Peace
in Palestine and Israel.  On August 8, the Israeli authorities denied the
delegation entry into the West Bank from Jordan.  When they were finally
able to enter the country, they had one day to meet with international and
Palestinian peace groups and US government officials.

On his way to the taxis, Levin engaged a soldier in conversation at Beit
Romano.  The soldier said, "It is very difficult for soldiers in the Old
City.  The settlers think we don't like them when we stop them from going
after the Palestinians.  In Gaza, it is much easier for us.  If the people
come out of their place, we shoot them.  Here, it is more difficult."

CPTer Le Anne Clausen returned from escorting an educational group around
Gaza.  The group visited a site in Rafah where the Israeli military had
destroyed dozens of homes to create a "buffer zone" and were threatening to
demolish several more for Israeli settlement expansion.  As the group of
internationals headed toward the area of destruction, soldiers fired shots
over their head.  The group clearly displayed their passports and continued
walking, but the soldiers fired again.  When the group turned and headed
back the way they came, the soldiers fired three more shots that came
within a few feet of the group.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002        Curfew imposed at 12:30 pm in H2

At mid-morning, the team received a call for help from the owner of the
house adjacent to Avraham Avinu that settlers had occupied on the night of
Saturday, July 27.  The military had removed the settlers and told the
family they could return to their home.  The family had hired workers to
rebuild a wall between their house and the settlement that the settlers had
destroyed over the past two years.  That morning, settlers began stoning
the workers from inside Avraham Avinu.  When CPTers Hicks and Janet
Shoemaker arrived at the house, there were about eight soldiers inside
trying to turn the settlers away.  The soldiers ordered the CPTers to
leave, which they did so as not to escalate the situation.  The owner told
the CPTers she would stay in contact.

Walking back through the market behind Avraham Avinu, Shoemaker and Hicks
saw two soldiers escorting three settler men.  Shoemaker inquired with a
local shop owner as to their business.  "They are engineers," he
said.  "They have come to look at the cracks in the walls and the structure
of the buildings."

Clausen and Hicks followed a young man into the market where a group of six
to seven soldiers detained him along with two older Palestinian men.  The
soldiers surrounded the young man, forced him to stand spread-eagled
against the wall with their guns pointed at him, and mocked him.  When
Clausen took out her camera, the soldiers started yelling, "No pictures!"
and moved the young man to another location.  The CPTers followed and asked
why they were holding him spread-eagled.  One soldier replied, "So he cant'
see who I am."  Then he stated, "So he won't attack us."  Clausen pointed
out that the man had not tried to attack him, that he was frightened and
unarmed.  The soldiers moved the man again.  Then they began to mock the
CPTers.  One began singing an Arabic song while gyrating his hips and
looking suggestively at the CPT women.  Others began screaming and running
around the corner with their guns pointed at them, in an attempt to startle
them.  Finally, they let the three men go and walked further into the
market.

Clausen then went to visit a family who had called earlier to say that
soldiers had taken their 18-year-old son out of their house into the street
and beaten him with their fists and rifle butts.  The family described the
same group of soldiers that the CPTers had just been following.

Ha'Aretz Daily, an Israeli newspaper, published an editorial sharply
criticizing the violence of the Hebron settlers and the Israel Police's
failure to deal with it.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002          No curfew

Clausen attended a meeting in Beit Sahour evaluating the International
Solidarity Movement's summer campaign and preparing for a fall Olive
Picking Campaign.


To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
cpthebron-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



-----Original Message-----
From: Joerg Bremer [mailto:bremer@netvision.net.il]
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2002 11:21 AM
To: sstawski@honestly-concerned.org
Subject: for your interest


(forwarded by Dr.Jörg Bremer, Frankfurter Allgemeine)


High, sorry to pester you, but I just go the following
from the International Solidarity people in Palestine.
It is so horrible it is hard to breathe after reading it.
This is how Sharon's and Bush's "fight against terror"
looks on the ground.. Is there any way in the world to
get it published? It should appear in all the major newspapers
and all they have is an e-mail list..
I do not know if you are on their e-mail
list, they and also Christian Peace Team sit in
Palestinian towns, and can still report on progress of Sharon's
"final solution" .. but they are being kicked out too (see below).
Is there any way in the world to
make such reports published in the West?

Best, Victoria Buch
-------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [palsolidarity] Silence and the occupation.  Two accounts

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


"...I arrive here having been forced, along with 8 fellow
peace activists from the United States, France and Ireland,
out of  the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  We were
physically assaulted and abducted by armed gunmen
from Israel's para-military Border Police in the
heart of the West Bank.  Our fate is that of an
increasing number of foreign doctors, relief
workers, journalists, observers and others in
solidarity with the Palestinian people.  We face
deportation and refused entry when trying to help
the Palestinian people, even as Israel escalates
its war against them.

This government of Israel does not wish the world to
see or know of what its forces are doing in the
name of occupation - for silence is the greatest
asset of oppression.

In this conflict, all are suffering.  I have seen the horror
and carnage wrought by both sides.  But in this conflict
there is only one occupation.

The occupation must end now.
We can be silent no longer."

--Statement given by Adam Shapiro of the ISM upon his arrival
at JFK Airport, NY

==================================================================
The following 2 accounts are quite lengthy, but
well worth the read.  The first is actually dated
two weeks ago, but things don't change.....
=========================


Susan Barclay in Nablus
Thu, 1 Aug 2002
I find a few moments to write not because it is something that I even have
the time to do, but more because if I don't write now, I am afraid to lose
the precious, tragic stories and sights I have witnessed in the last few
weeks.
During the past weeks I lay down to sleep between 2-4 a.m. to the sounds of
tanks clunking over the pavement, sporadic shooting – noises of the night
that Palestinian ears can distinguish in the flash of a moment -- and a mind
bursting with thoughts, scenes and stories that keep me from unconsciousness
even longer.

The morning begins with laughter as a friend tells me that he likes to watch
Tom and Jerry because it makes him smile. “Why do people watch Rambo? We see
that everyday—here it is not TV, it is real.” When Internationals first
arrive they are often baffled by the military machinery waging this war, but
the novelty wears off so very quickly; loss of appreciation frequently goes
hand in hand with habit, routine and repetition. Today alone, I saw over 15
tanks, 7 apcs, a number of jeeps, 30+ soldiers armed with M-16’s and a Land
Rover full of commandos. This is life here. Children 2-3 years old know the
words for soldier, tank, shooting, prison, and death; slowly and surely war
creeps into their beings.

The children play “war” frequently. One mother told me the other day—“The
terribly sad thing is that they always want to be the Israelis, no one wants
to be Palestinian, to be controlled, to be the victim. These little children
know who has power.” Another woman tells me of her discussion with a group
of children about life, saying that first children talked about problems
they are having—not sleeping, nightmares, constant fear—but then the
conversation turned toward dreams and desires. In the midst of talk about
parks, toys, and summer camp one girl raised her hand and said: “We need
some milk and bread.” Despite their disturbing loss of innocence, children
still manage to help me leave the mental space of many difficult realities;
by playing with my hair, laughing at my Arabic, or simply sitting on my lap,
they help me continually find healing, rejuvenation a! nd great hope.

The people of this land are in dire need of humanization. As I become closer
to the Palestinians living in Nablus and simultaneously start seeing the
same soldiers and developing a rapport of sorts, I can’t help but feel that
the situation, this ongoing, long going war is profoundly tragic.

One afternoon we were attempting to get food and medical supplies to an
occupied house in an area where the Captain has threatened us with arrest.
There is an apc at the bottom of a small hill about 300 feet from the house,
where the soldiers demand that the Danish man and I are to stay, while
Doctor Rassem and Feras Bakri go to the house to treat the child. Perhaps
this is so we don’t see the state of the home, or perhaps they suspect we
are journalists, or perhaps it is simply about power and control—in any
case, our goal is to care for the child and both Feras and the Doctor feel
comfortable going without us. I watch as the ambulance heads up the hill and
begin a conversation with the soldiers about “problems” in Nablus and how
they feel about being here.

These two young men were insistent on the fact that they want to go home,
that they think over 95% of Palestinians are good, that they want peace for
their children: “I just don’t want my children to ride the bus in fear”
Michel says. They talk about going out, dancing, not having showered in days
and sleeping on the floor. They say they only shoot armed people. I ask
about a recent death in Balata refugee camp where a 24 year-old was shot in
the head by soldiers in a jeep. Maybe he had a gun they say; maybe rocks, I
reply.

They share hopes for the future and claim that there is a violent cycle that
is incessantly repeating itself here—suicide bombing, invasion, bombing,
invasion… I ask how they think they are helping end the problems and they
say “By being here—no bombings in 20+ days.” “And when you leave?” I ask.
“Or do you plan to stay forever?” They seem completely ignorant of their
role in creating further bombings, blind to the fact that they are only
rendering a population more desperate, more hopeless, and more deprived each
and every day, pushing people towards the “nothing to lose” state that a
suicide bomber has invariably reached.

And then it is time to change shifts and three new soldiers pull up in an
apc and these two men, Michel and Avi climb into the new apc and head into
town to do I can imagine what. These interactions put faces to these
monstrous military machines; I think of the apcs that only a few hours
earlier terrorized an adjacent neighborhood; during house searches soldiers
took one man and beat him for over 30 minutes. I saw him this morning and
now I see Michel and Avi beating any one of my Palestinian friends and I am
left in total confusion. These are just young men beating, shooting, and
terrorizing other young men because they see the “enemy.” Seeing humanity
makes the destruction of life seems so senseless, so unbelievable. I think
that is part of our work here, each one a tiny thread weaving humanity into
hearts, souls, minds, and moments and trying t! o shelter the remaining
flickers of hope from the wild wind of war.

One of my dearest friends Khowla was walking by my side the other night,
discussing dreams and talking about her youth. “When I was young I had so,
so many dreams. I wanted to be a lawyer, to study biology, to go to
university, travel, and learn about everything. But Susan, when you see the
situation go from bad to worse again and again and again, all your dreams
get broken.” She is only 21. There is still so much time, I say as I squeeze
her hand.

The director of the Ministry of Education, Juman Karaman, welcomed us into
her home a few days ago; she lives in a home adjacent to one that is
occupied, where we were headed. She explained how very far behind the
students were due to constant closures and called this second term “a
complete catastrophe”. Final exams were scheduled for June 17th -July 4th,
but Nablus was invaded on June 20th; exams were put on hold and students
have been in the state of exam preparation ever since.

When curfew is lifted for a few hours—which has happened for a total of 30
hours in the 42 days (in Israeli prisons the detainees are given more than
an hour/day recreation)—students rush to the school and take an exam. They
are currently waiting for another curfew lift, to finish their exams,
studying now for over a month, and never knowing what day they will have to
perform.

Juman believes that education is not really about how much time students
spend studying, but rather about quality. With the constant closures and the
closing of surrounding villages, teachers were habitually confronting tanks,
apcs, and soldiers en route to their schools. She asked us to imagine the
state of a teacher who finally arrives at school, after having journeyed 1-3
hours in constant fear, wading through life threatening circumstances; “How
well can this person teach?” As for the students, she added: “After hours of
shooting, nerves worn very thin, constant uncertainty and fear, how can they
possibly learn?”

Over one month imprisoned in their homes—today is the 42nd day of curfew;
people are restless, frustrated, lethargic, angry, humiliated, and
saturated. They are using the small amount of money they had, unable to make
anymore, and the financial situation is ever increasingly dire. I was having
tea yesterday with a man who mutters: “Maybe I can carry 10 kilos, 20, or
50, but eventually I will break. Everyone has a limit.”

We are in an occupied house and talking to the man now living in the
basement with 30 or so soldiers on the top three floors. These 30+ soldiers
mean 5 apcs are parked out front, mesh covers the windows like giant spider
webs, and the night reverberates with incessant shooting and loud music—the
family has not slept well in over 25 days. The soldiers ask his children how
they are, and the children say ‘Not good.” The father says to me, “I want to
tell my children about peace, but how can I when we are living like this?
They don’t believe it.”

During the last week, the city of Nablus had been rather quiet during the
day and many people had been breaking curfew, coming out of their homes to
open a shop or buy a few things. The night is still plagued by military
operations, the sounds of tanks, gunfire, and surreptitious movement. The
villages have been the focal point of the military during the past days, as
they claim to be hunting the “terrorists” responsible for this or that
suicide bombing or settlement incident. “They use the same stories again and
again, killing the same terrorists three, four or five times,” the press
tells me a few nights ago. The villages lie to the southwest of Nablus,
little clumps of homes nestled in olive groves and rolling hills, accessible
only by thin dirt roads.

This week, they spent three days going village to village looking for
anywhere between 3-8 men. They killed three men the first day and denied the
ambulance access to the bodies. A group of us went out to Sara village and
attempted to get the ambulance in just to take the bodies but they told us
we had to wait until they had finished their operation. Our refusal to leave
was met with physical force: kicking, hitting and shoving 20 nonviolent
activists come to simply take the dead.

The next morning I went with the ambulance to get the bodies, as the Israeli
army had finally given their okay. We wandered up a hill to an olive grove
and found a very large group of men there, being searched and sorted into
two groups. They had come to see the bodies and help and ended up being
subject to search and arrest. They were separated into two groups, those
15-50 (over 75 men) and the very young and very old (over 45 people). ID’s
were taken and the men all sat on the ground waiting as about 20 soldiers
milled about and the paramedics waited for the final okay to head up 100m to
the bodies. As we watched this process, counting the men and asking the
soldiers questions, we saw another group of over 60 men being led down the
hill towards the paved road.

We are finally allowed to go get the bodies and as the medical team moves up
the hill, the men who had been sitting down get up and follow en masse. We
all arrive at three mounds covered by off-white tarps that are removed by
the paramedics. People crowd to see who the dead are and chaos reigns as
people move from one to the other. One man has a large hole in his head and
his brain is literally oozing out. The second has no leg from the knee down
and several large bullet wounds in his chest and groin. A third has an
enormous hole in what was his forehead, and we all see that his brain is
completely missing. No one knows the men, thus they think they must be
workers who pass through the villages to avoid checkpoints and soldiers;
they are certainly not terrorists. I ride in the ambulance to the morgue at
Rafidia hospital, sitting in the back next to the b! odies, overcome by the
smell, by death. We return to the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief
(UPMRC) center where I sit for!
 a moment, trying to catch my breath and find a few words; awoken from my
somber silence by a call to tell me that soldiers have left Sara and are now
in Tell. We have to move.

During this time, three internationals have gone with the men, the 60 or so,
who were rounded up and kept on the paved road. They had been led through
the hills and back roads two by two, all their ID’s taken and eventually
large trucks come, handcuff and take the men to a local military base. The
three ask to be arrested with them, but the soldiers don’t want any
internationals today. They return to Sara village on foot and while talking
with locals hours later, hear cheering and find that the large majority of
these men have come back. The leave to meet us in Tell, a village 1 km from
Sara.

Tell is in the same situation—foot soldiers wandering in the fields, snipers
on the hills, tanks, apcs, and jeeps patrolling. I ask a soldier at a tank
“What are you doing today?” “There are three terrorists free.” “But you
killed three men yesterday….” “There are many.” We continue down the road
towards Tell and come across an apc, two large trucks, and soldiers forcing
handcuffed Palestinians inside. This is the Tell round up….taking all the
local men for interrogation. We walk towards them, but they are leaving, and
so we deal with what they have left behind: 9 donkeys, dozens of jars of
traditional yogurt, and scattered possessions. We set off with the donkeys
and belongings towards Tell to meet the other internationals and the medical
team that has gone to deliver vaccinations. The military operation in Tell
seems to be coming to a close; the jeeps and apc! s have left and so we
return to Nablus, leaving a few behind to sleep in the village.

The next morning, we get news from the next village, Iraq Boreen, 1 km from
Tell, 2 km from Sara. The IDF is still looking for their terrorists and has
rounded up all the local men at a school/women’s center in town. There are
already internationals in the village and those of us in Nablus head off to
the village. We begin the long walk out the small dirt path towards the
village and see dozens and dozens of soldiers wandering through the olive
groves below the village that sits on a breathtaking butte; we are denied
entry into the village by soldiers at a junction and told to wait. We do
wait, just until a bus arrives for some soldiers; we use this distraction as
a chance to walk right past them, despite their echoing “Stop, stop.”

In the village we find that the large majority of the men have been released
but the remaining men cannot get their ID’s back. It is clear that one of
the three jeeps is ready to leave with the ID’s so volunteers sit on the
ground to block its path. We are able to thwart the jeep movements for a
while and create quite a scene that the Palestinians support, saying whether
we go or stay they will have problems, so we might as well stay. The jeep
and soldiers eventually manages to remove enough Internationals to pull
forth; they return the ID’s to the men and leave us talking to the
Palestinians. We split in two, some staying the village, some walking back
into Nablus.

We have been doing a lot of roadblock removals during the last few days. The
Israeli army has closed every single village repeatedly and the
internationals staying in Iraq Boreen heeded the locals call to remove these
road blocks. A group of nearly 40 of us headed out to Tell, Iraq Boreen and
New Nablus and removed three roadblocks one morning. It was incredibly
beautiful to watch this simple success—working for a few hours and then
watching as water trucks, vegetables and taxis begin to pass—encouraged by
the sound of our clapping and the smiles of resistance.

Palestinians at the Iraq Boreen roadblock then asked us to come to Salem
village, where we helped remove three other roadblocks. We left a few people
in the village who called an hour or two later to say that an apc and tank
had come and a bulldozer was reported to be on its way. We moved quickly and
had internationals there in time to block the bulldozer. 5 people sat on the
ground and the bulldozer was unable to re-do the roadblock; the jeeps
however did come and the soldiers began threatening arrest. After 30 minutes
they begin taking the men, one by one, quick cuffing each one (with plastic
handcuffs) and blindfolding them. They were put in the back of an apc and
taken to Huwara military base (released hours later from Huwara after
refusing to say anything). We stayed in the area until they left knowing
they would bulldoze during the night. The day after we! came again to remove
the road block and will continue this resistance as long as the Palestinians
want to do so.

The quiet has been replaced with the familiar sound of tanks, jeeps and
shooting again. The bombing yesterday at Hebrew University in Jerusalem has
led to a greater military presence and 4-5 people were injured today from
tank machine gun fire, one of them this morning right in front of my eyes in
Balata refugee camp. What are they doing? One might think the Israeli army
targets certain people, or roams the city with a military aim. The reality
is that a very large part of their work is about terror.

This morning in Balata, they came in jeeps and began tear gassing everyone
in sight for over an hour. Balata is one of the only places in Nablus that
actively resists the Israeli army and succeeds—the children and young boys
throw stones and impede the tanks from entering into the camp regularly. Our
role this morning was not to negotiate or approach the tanks but rather to
be witnesses, and attempt to discourage shooting by putting our bodies on
the line. Two tanks are sitting in an open field at the southern entrance of
the camp; the children and boys are 50m from them with us. We make ourselves
visible and watch as the children and boys throw stones and push the tanks
back.

The tanks play cat and mouse for over two hours with the youth, racing
forward and shooting in the air, rushing the crowd and letting out huge
smoke clouds, then pulling back as the children race back out to throw
stones. After over two hours of this we retreat back 3-4 m to some shade and
sit as most the Palestinians mill about, seeming tired of these games. All
of a sudden there is tank machine gun fire directly overhead us and shrapnel
hits a 17 year-old boy in the head. I turn and see blood pouring down this
young man’s face, 1m in front of me. Everyone runs with him to a nearby
clinic and the Internationals watch them go and turn towards the tanks that
begin to retreat. What kind of military operation is this? All day they have
been wandering the streets, firing at will and terrorizing. Things are
closed again despite the fact that today marks the 14t! h day straight
without any lift of curfew—two weeks without even an hour to go outside.

Israeli, American made F-16’s bombed Gaza and we watched Aljazeera news, as
the numbers of those dead and injured rose ever higher, reaching over 170
(155 injured and 15 killed) by 2:30 a.m. when the news broadcast ended. I
sat with 7 young Palestinian men at the UPMRC center watching the people
shift through the rubble looking for more and more bodies, and then flashes
of the hospital in total chaos. Horribly, graphic images flashed across the
TV screen, especially of children no longer recognizable as human, but I was
most touched by the young man next to me, as I watched one tear roll down
his cheek, and felt that I too, was going to cry.

Israel had agreed to pull out of the cities in the West Bank as part of
recent negotiations and Hamas and Islamic Jihad had just called for an end
to suicide bombings that night. Midnight rolls around and Israeli forces
bomb an apartment building without any prior warning and with complete and
total disregard for the lives inside, with the very intention of destroying
them. The morning after, Hamas, Fatah, PLFP, and Islamic Jihad state loud
and clear: Israel is not ready for peace, does not want peace. Suicide
bombings are sure to follow. Can the world not see that Israel does not want
peace? I can only imagine how this horrible incident is being spun in the
U.S. Incessant stories about a Hamas member with little to no mention of the
entire BUILDING of civilians. I bet no one in the U.S. saw the mangled
children being shelved away at the hospital morgue,! the father who went mad
as he watched his son die on the hospital bed, the young boy with a severely
charred leg, or the mo!
ther lying covered in blood, an oxygen mask over her face and child on her
lap. What kind of a war is this? “They are trying to make life as unbearable
as possible,” a friend tells me yesterday, “Economically, medically,
psychologically, and physically.” That night we saw the creation of hell on
earth--hatred, evil, fear, and terror. “Where is the peace?” someone
says…..but everyone is silent.

This adorable 70 year old man from a nearby village greeted me the morning
after. He asked me only: “Did you see the children?” referring to Gaza. I
say “Yes” and watch as tears well up in his eyes and continue speaking for
him. Imagine everything that he has seen in this lifetime and yet still, the
loss of life, the death of innocent people, the killing of children makes
small streams of salt-water flow from his soul.

Sharon and the Israeli government are not going to end this war; it is not
in their interest to do so, as they may actually be forced to share this
land. The cycle of violence seems to have no end in sight. We, all of us in
the international community, must put pressure on our governments to TAKE
ACTION NOW. There are many ways for you to help wipe this man’s and this
land’s tears away. Make one call, send one email or letter today.
The sounds of machine gun fire, tanks and occasional explosions echo through
the windows from the streets in the heart of Nablus as I go to send this—it
is only 11 p.m. Don’t wait until tomorrow to do something—the time is now.
This simply must end.
=====================================
>From Beit Fureek, near Nablus:
August 13, 2002By Adam Stumacher

The town of Beit Fureek lies a mere seven kilometers from Nablus, but under
military curfew they might just as well be separated by an ocean.  According
to Atef Hanini, the town’s mayor, not a single resident of this town has
been to Nablus for two months now.  Previously much of the town’s working
population was employed in Nablus, so they are now unable to get to work
(though of course were they by some miracle able to get to the city, they
would find all shops and businesses closed due to curfew as well).  However,
the real crisis in Beit Fureek is not unemployment, but water.
Every ounce of water for this town of 12,000 residents must be brought by
truck from Nablus.  The Israeli authorities have refused to tap into the
water pipeline that passes less than five hundred meters from city limits.
There is also a spring close enough to this town that the residents can hear
its gurgling (when their ears are not filled with the sounds passing tanks
or M16 rounds).  This spring has enough water that it could meet the needs
of all the town’s residents, plus the residents of the nearby town of Beit
Dejan, which faces the same water crisis.  But one hundred percent of the
water from this spring is diverted to Israeli settlements in the Jordan
valley.  So the water tanker has become the tenuous lifeline for this whole
community.

The town owns a total of five water trucks.  The trouble is, the trucks are
only occasionally let through the nearby Israeli army checkpoint.  In
theory, they are allowed to pass back and forth to Nablus between the hours
of 10 AM and 2 PM.  But soldiers often detain the trucks so long at the
checkpoint that even completing one run per day can be a challenge.
Sometimes, when turned around at the checkpoint, desperate truck drivers
fill up from non-sanitary water sources, which has led to a serious problem
with amoebic dysentery in the town (which has almost no access to medical
care, again due to the curfew).

Beit Fureek had been averaging eight tankers of water per day since April,
while Hanini assesses the community’s basic survival need at twenty five or
twenty six tankers per day.  But when I visited the town on August 13,
extremely strict enforcement at the checkpoint for the past couple of days
meant that only one water truck had arrived in the town over the past 48
hours.

Some residents have been without water in their homes for over 40 days now.
The only way this community survives is by sharing whatever limited
resources they have with their neighbors.  Lack of water has severely
damaged the town’s agricultural output.  Farmers have stopped watering their
crops, and most of the town’s livestock has been slaughtered because there
is insufficient water to keep both animals and humans alive.  In short, the
people of Beit Fureek are being murdered, very slowly and systematically, by
the conditions of occupation.

But the killings are not always so slow.  I spent the night in the home of
Hassan, an extremely eloquent and erudite engineer in his late twenties.  He
told the story of his late uncle, Mohammed Zamout.  Mohammed was seventy
years old last October when he went to help in the town’s annual olive
harvest.  This is an extremely dangerous activity, as the town’s olive
groves are close to an Israeli settlement (the grove has been there for
generations, but the settlement lands were stolen since 1967).  At the end
of the day, when all the people of Beit Fureek returned to their homes,
Mohammed’s absence was noted by his family.  They searched all night, but
were unable to find his body until they returned to the olive grove the next
morning.  This seventy year old man had been shot, his arms were cut off
below the elbows, his legs severed below the knees, one eye was pulled out
of his socket, and his skull was crushed by a rock.  Israeli authorities
eventually arrested a settler by !
the name of Gurham for this crime, but Gurham pleaded temporary insanity and
was acquitted, never serving a day of jail time.

Every person you meet here in Palestine has a story to tell, and every story
leaves you unable to breathe.  You want to curl into a ball and cry, or
thrash on the ground and shout at the top of your lungs, but you cannot.
You offer your condolences, sip your coffee, and pledge yourself to fight
this injustice.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said that we should not rest until justice flows
like water.  But for the thirsty Palestinian people, the tanks are still
detained at the closest checkpoint.

Adam

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
For more information, please contact:
 Huwaida at +972-67-473-308
PCR at +972-2-277-2018
www.palsolidarity.org