URGENT REQUEST FOR MEDICS!!

Dear Medics and Other Medical Personnel,

As you all doubtless know, the Palestinian people have been under the worst
siege in their tortured history for the past 9 days. Last night I spoke
with our Palestinian medical contact in Ramallah. He has urgently requested
medical personnel come to the West Bank as soon as possible to help relieve
this humanitarian catastrophe. The International Red Crescent has ceased
functioning, and Israel has denied entry to the International Committee of
the Red Cross, who are effectively doing absolutely nothing to remedy this
crisis.

In flagrant violation of international law, the Israeli army has killed
several medical personnel, arrested many others, fired upon ambulances,
invaded hospitals, run over ambulances with tanks, and has been—at
gunpoint—preventing medical personnel from treating the wounded and sick,
and burying the dead. Women and children have died in childbirth, unable to
get through checkpoints to hospitals. I include two recent articles from the
palestine monitor (www.palestinemonitor.org) below. These detail some of
the suffering of both health officials and the general population at this
time. Please take a moment to read them.

Doc Rosen and I are putting out this call. We ask those of you who are
interested please to contact us immediately. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT just
get on a plane. The situation there is severe, and they don’t need clueless
people just showing up and saying "Hi, I’m here to help." We need to know
who you are and feel confident that it is a good match for your skills,
experience, temperament and psychological well-being to be there right now.
We consider you—and those there under fire—our family, and would be remiss
in not taking care to prepare you as well as we can.

In terms of medical experience, our contacts in the West Bank said that said
even those who only have Red Cross First Aid would be of value. Obviously,
the more trauma experience, the better. You don’t need to be superhuman,
but you need to have a very healthy nervous system, and be extremely
emotionally and psychologically strong. Experience in Seattle and Quebec is
helpful, as is emergency room and trauma unit experience, however this will
probably be well beyond either of those experiences in terms of the quantity
of trauma you may witness and experience.

Our Palestinian contacts stress that people must be qualified medically and
extremely disciplined. They don’t ask for certification or degrees, but you
understand—this is a literal warzone. You’re going to be dealing with
gunshot wounds, people injured by shrapnel and bombs, as well as regular
medical difficulties, shock, and various forms of trauma.

You’re going to see dead bodies—perhaps many of them, as there have been
reports of massacres--; you may be forced to watch people bleed to death,
unable to reach them for fear of getting shot; you may be asked to bury
people, and you risk arrest, injury, and death simply by trying to get out
to treat people.

No language skills or previous experience in the region is required,
although both are helpful.

Doc and I will visit with you personally if you wish to go, and can provide
logistical and strategic information at that time.

Thank you in advance for considering this urgent request. News stories from
the front follow.

Yours in struggle,
Val Phillips-Colorado  phillips_val@hotmail.com (best way to reach me is via
email)
Colorado Campaign forMiddle East Peace
www.ccmep.org, 720-956-0700 (leave a message, call back if I don’t reply
within 24 hours)
OR CONTACT DOC ROSEN DIRECTLY


Palestine under siege
Israeli Forces Block all Medical and Ambulance Services in the West Bank
April 4, 2002

The health situation is deteriorating in the West Bank as the Israeli army
advances on every major Palestinian city and town, imposing curfew,
destroying infrastructure, killing and injuring people, and continually
preventing ambulances from reaching the sick and injured, leaving the entire
Palestinian population without any medical assistance.

In Nablus, Israeli Forces are preventing any ambulance from moving, and the
UPMRC has been receiving frantic telephone calls from civilians requesting
help. Many calls have come from residents of the Balata, Askar and Beit Ilma
refugee camps. UPMRC has learned of 15 injured people who need immediate
attention, and numerous pregnant women in labour who cannot leave their
homes to go to hospital.

In Tulkarem, Israeli tanks have destroyed five ambulances and two Red Cross
cars. Troops also invaded the government hospital and the Red Cross offices.

At this moment in Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilia, Nablus, Ramallah, and
Bethlehem, people do not have access to medical care and many are bleeding
to death. The Israeli army is preventing Palestinian ambulances from
reaching the sick, violating the IV Geneva Convention, particularly articles
16 and 17, which expressly protect medical services in conflict situations.

UPMRC urgently appeals for international organizations and individuals to
protest the Israeli army's inhumane and illegal behavior towards medical
personnel and to pressure the Israeli government, through any means
possible, to cease their actions and allow medical teams to operate. We
furthermore urge all humanitarian organizations world-wide to help the
Palestinians deal with this disastrous situation. We call on these groups to
send international medical teams to Palestine since this seems the only way
to get the Israeli Forces to allow medical services to be provided to the
civilian population.

Medical Teams are Targeted - Civilian Population Under Attack
4th April 2002

The Israeli army continues it reoccupation of the West Bank towns - now
Ramallah, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Qalqiliya, Nablus, Jenin, parts of Hebron
and Tulkaram have been attacked. The attacks still continue in Jenin. The
latest attacks further exacerbate the already dreadful humanitarian crisis.

An eyewitness in Jenin, only meters from the refugee camp entrance said the
shelling began at 2am this morning when the camp was bombarded by missiles
from Israeli apache helicopters and tanks. Throughout the day Jenin has been
invaded by more than 60 tanks, indiscriminate shelling the norm; at least
seven people have been reported dead thus far. The Red Crescent hospital in
Jenin was also attacked in the bombardment, an attack in which one woman was
killed.

In Bethlehem approximately 243 people are still surrounded in the Church of
the Nativity, 45 of them priests and nuns, the rest Palestinian citizens.
Israeli soldiers have already blown up the door and people inside fear that
soon they will invade. Ambulances are still prevented from reaching the
injured. At 6:30 this morning Samir Ibrahiem Salma made his way to church as
he has done every morning for years. People told us that he was "simple",
but a kind and harmless man; Israeli troops shot him dead. Another fatality
was the 56-year-old bell ringer - shot while ringing the church bells.

In Beit Sahour, a town adjoining Bethlehem, the municipality has been
occupied and damaged by Israeli troops.

The invasion of Tulkaram is complete. In the process Israeli tanks destroyed
four Red Crescent ambulances and two Red Cross cars that were parked outside
the Red Crescent building. All civilians are under curfew, trapped in their
homes with dwindling food supplies, no access to medical care, and little
water. The 50 children in the city orphanage are in the same dangerous
predicament, four of them who are very sick are prevented from getting to
the hospital - unfortunately this is now the norm. The mayor of Tulkaram,
Izz ad-Don As-Sharief described the dangerousness of the situation, ' it is
all very bad. The Israelis have broken the water pipes, and destroyed the
electricity generators that pump the water. There is no bread, no water, and
no milk for the children. The people who tried to get to the broken water
pipe which is spraying out water - the soldiers shot at them".

Nablus has also been fully invaded with 250 tanks on the streets of the
city, 23 people are reported injured, but only seven were able to get to
hospital; as in the other Palestinian cities all civilians are prevented
from receiving medical care, with services blocked. Medical Relief has set
up six field hospitals in different areas of the city to treat those wounded
from the Israeli attacks.

Ramallah remains under complete siege - all passage in and out is barred,
the Israeli army arbitrarily detained UPMRC medical staff three times in the
course of the day. The majority of people have no access to drinking water.
According to Abdul Karim Assad, the head of the Ramallah water company, it
received permission from the Israeli authorities to repair the water pumps
destroyed by the tanks in the invasion. However the workers were harassed by
soldiers on the ground when attempting to go to the pumps - and so returned
to their homes. A second round of negotiations occurred - and again the
workers set out to repair the pump. However while they were working all
those involved were taken away - we can only assume they were imprisoned.

The Ramallah water company serves 230 thousand people. Currently, about 150
thousand people do not have water at all throughout most of Ramallah
including all hospitals, 90% of al-Bireh, four nearby villages, all of
al-Ram and parts of Beit Hanina.

Also in Ramallah, Dr. Nader Eideh the head of the Red Cross maternity
hospital reports Israeli soldiers entered the hospital and took away five
staff members - two doctors, two nurses and a technician.

Maha Dibeit, a 39-year-old seriously disabled Christian woman was last night
being fed by her mother when she choked. The ambulance was called for, and
the family tried to save her. The ambulance was stopped from reaching her,
and she died. Her body remains in the three-roomed house as the soldiers
still prevent the ambulance from removing her body - her 69 year old father
is too terrified to try to remove her, too afraid to leave the house.

According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti " the most important issue here is the
complete and severe humanitarian crisis. All ambulances are blocked and
targeted, medical care is paralyzed, and soldiers on the streets terrorize
people. We don't have water, others don't have food."