Fw: [rapprochement] Reports from Palestine May 25

["Edvino Ugolini" <edvinoug@tin.it>]

F R E E  P A L E S T I N E  AND ALSO  I R A Q !

- Caritas Jerusalem to participate in convoy going to Gaza to
protest Israel's closure of the Eretz crossing
2-ISM ACTIVISTS DETAINED BY ISRAELI ILITARY
3-Home Demolitions in Nablus
4-Eric Schiller's Sixth report from Hebron, with CPT
============================================================
Press Release - Caritas Jerusalem - 24 May 2003

1- Caritas Jerusalem to participate in convoy going to Gaza to
protest Israel's closure of the Eretz crossing

On Monday 26th of May, Caritas Jerusalem will take part in a convoy
going to Gaza, along with other humanitarian aid and development
agencies. The convoy is arranged by the Association of International
Development Agencies (AIDA). The purpose of the convoy is to demand
free and unrestricted access to all to Gaza.

On the 10th of May the Israeli authorities denied access through
Gaza's Eretz crossing to all individuals without diplomatic
passports. Caritas Jerusalem  is deeply concerned about this
development, which has barred humanitarian aid and development
workers from carrying out projects in Gaza.

For further information, please contact:

Nanna Ahlmark
Communications Officer
Caritas Jerusalem
nanna@caritasjr.org
+972 (0) 67 336 514
===========================================================
24 May, 2003 For Immediate Release

2-ISM ACTIVISTS DETAINED BY ISRAELI ILITARY

[Refugee Camp, TULKAREM]  Two American ISM volunteers and one
Palestinian were taken by Israeli Forces at 9:45AM this morning
after accompanying schoolgirls to their homes.  Mike Johnson, age 52
from Washington, Matteo Bernal, age 22, from Kentucky and Osama
Qashoo, 21, from Qalqilia are currently being held at the Tulkarem
DCO.

ISM volunteers arrived to the Tulkarem refugee camp at approximately
7AM this morning, witnessing dozens of schoolgirls on their way to
school amidst a heavy military presence including three tanks,
multiple armored personnel carriers, a D-9 bulldozer, hummers and
jeeps.  About fifteen girls between nine and eleven years old were
stranded on their on way to school, crying and paralyzed in fear
from the Army's sound grenades and random firing of rubber bullets.
The ISM volunteers informed the Israeli Military of their decision
to escort the girls out of harms way. The army agreed to let the
volunteers take the children home and did not instruct them to leave
the area.

Upon attempting to leave the camp at 9:45AM, after having led the
schoolgirls to safety, Israeli Forces stopped the volunteers,
refusing to let them leave the camp under the pretext that the area
was a military zone.  A large truck and a military jeep arrived, at
which point the three volunteers were taken to the Tulkarem DCO
where they are currently being held in a 15X30 cell.

Johnson and Bernal are the sixth and seventh foreign ISM peace
activists to be taken by Israeli forces in the past two weeks.

For more information call: Radhika Sainath 972 52 475 663
       Mike Johnson 972 67 421 345
       Flo Razowsky 972 67 361 708

 _________________________________________

Balata Incursion

A group of Israeli peace activists and internationals are monitoring
the activities of a tank that has entered Balata Refugee Camp near
Nablus. It is reported that some children have been throwing stones
at the invading tank. No injuries have been reported at this time.

For more information call: Neta Golan 972 59 871 055
==============================================================
3-Home Demolitions in Nablus
> 5-21-03
> Nablus
>
> Last night in Nablus two homes were destroyed by the Israeli
> Occupation Forces. The destruction of these homes is in direct
> violation of Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Conventions, namely, "No
> protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not
> personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all
measures
> of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is
> prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property
> are prohibited."
>
>
>
> The Khilfe family house, home to 7 related families, was destroyed
> at around 4:15am. At 11:30pm, two jeeps and a large armored truck
> arrived at the Khilfe home. Approximately 15 soldiers, without ever
> producing legal orders for invading a family's home, or providing
> any reason for their presence, ordered the members of the family
> present [9 men, 6 women, and 4 children], and an international
peace
> activist working with ISM, to leave the house, and proceeded to
> overturn the contents of the home.
>
>
>
> During the 5 hours that Israeli Occupation Forces occupied the
home,
> members of the family were forced to remain in the street. Among
the
> family were several elderly men forced to remain in a squatting
> position for several hours, and a pregnant woman who became ill
> under the strain of the situation. The international peace activist
> present was able to assist in negotiating the provision of chairs
> for the elderly men, and access to an ambulance for the pregnant
> woman.
>
> After drilling holes in interior walls, and closing all of the
doors
> and windows in the house, Israeli Occupation Forces detonated a
> large explosion that collapsed the rear external wall, destroyed
the
> interior of the first floor, and entirely compromised the integrity
> of the Khilfe Family home.
>
> Simultaneously, the house of ? in the Old City of Nablus was
> similarly destroyed. The families were not permitted any time to
> remove any belongings:  even the simple request to retrieve an
> identity card was denied. [Palestinians found without an identity
> card are subject to immediate arrest and detention.] The interior
of
> the ? home is now a charred, black hole, and was still smoking when
> we arrived at 1pm to document these violations of the civilian
> population of Nablus.
>
> The 'home' in Palestine is the core of the family:  to destroy a
> home on the basis of a single family member's actions is to shatter
> the lives of parents, aunts, uncles, children. It is important to
> note that:
> - these families, already grieving at the loss of a child or
parent,
> are now rendered homeless
> - collective punishment is a violation of internationally
recognized
> human rights law, to which Israel is signatory [4th Geneva
> Convention]
> - this is neither an act of defense nor one that increases Israeli
> security, but is purely a violent act of revenge, perpetrated
> against a civilian population,  by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
>
> for further information, please contact:
> Andreas [German] 067 936 510
> Local Coordinator [Arabic, English] 059 335 271
> Int'l Coordinator [English] 067 490 537
=============================================================
4-Eric Schiller's Sixth report from Hebron, with CPT


Greetings to you all,

A lot has happened since I last wrote to you. Last weekend saw a
rash of
suicide bombings in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Israel).
Hebron
was not spared. A suicide bomber killed himself and two settlers
only 200 m.
from our CPT offices and living quarters. Our situation has
definitely
worsened since that event.

Unfortunately, Greg Rollins, our CPT team leader had earlier left
his
passport in his pants while they were being washed. This meant that
for a
while he was without his passport and visa. The day following the
suicide
bombing, Greg and Chris Brown were in the Palestinian-controlled
area of
Hebron (H1), observing the detention of a group of Palestinians by
the
Israeli occupation army. While observing this, they themselves were
detained. Chris was released but Greg was arrested and is now being
threatened with deportation. The charge is that he was
inappropriately in
the H1 area. Greg's Israeli visa was washed out from his passport.

The next day our CPT offices and living quarters were raided by the
Israeli
occupation army. On the subsequent day, the CPT quarters were raided
again
and everyone had their pictures taken. An earlier press release that
was
sent out outlines the new restrictions that are now being imposed on
us.
Basically, by a series of regulations, an attempt is being made to
shut down
our peace activities. These restrictions are now being directed at
all
international peace activists in the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
We are
now experiencing the harrassment and intimidation that has been
become part
of the daily life of Palestinians.

While the above events were occurring, a Catholic Franciscan sister,
Kathy,
and I were staying with a Palestinian extended family which has two
homes
threatened for demolition. They are awaiting a final decision from
the
Israeli high court about their case. After the suicide bombing in
Hebron,
rocks were thrown down on us from the nearby settlement for a period
of one
hour. It was a moving experience staying with the Palestinian
families in
one of their homes during the rock throwing. There were about 8-10
adults
and about a dozen children, some of whom were babies. Some children
were
crying. One of the children thought that Kathy and I were settlers.
During
this time some of the men held a prayer session.

This network of Palestinian families is determined to stick by their
land
and their homes in the face of attacks and harrassment. They realize
that if
they yield to this harrassment it will only occur again as the
settlement
expands. The remarkable thing is that their resistance to this
settlement
pressure has been entirely peaceful and non-violent. However, they
themselves have received many violent attacks.

We are now hunkered down in our CPT quarters in the old city of
Hebron.
Threats from settlers have become a fact of the daily living
experience
here. Today a settler got out of his car and started to threaten one
of our
CPT female members. This same settler then got in his car and
swerved his
car at another of our CPT women members. Also a Palestinian who was
visiting
us was threatened by two settlers who were carrying machine guns. In
all of
these cases it was the presence of Israeli soldiers that restrained
the
actions of the settlers!

In the old city centre curfew is imposed on and off willy nilly,
thus
completely ruining the economic activities of the shopkeepers who
are still
there. Fully 80% of the shops are now abandoned. The old city is
dying. It
is clear that the the Jewish settlers are planning to take it all
over soon.

Thank you for you interest and solidarity,

Eric

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support
violence
reduction efforts around the world.  To learn more about CPT's
peacemaking
work, please visit our website at http://www.cpt.org. Photos of our
projects
may be viewed at http://www.clubphoto.com.  Login as
cptheb@palnet.com




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