1. Israeli Troops Kill 1, shoot 2, and arrest 4 in Jenin
From: "ISM Media Alerts"
2. I'll Shoot You In The Head
From: "ISM Media Alerts"


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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 22:50:28 +0200
From: "ISM Media Alerts"
Subject: Israeli Troops Kill 1, shoot 2, and arrest 4 in Jenin

Israeli Troops Kill 1, shoot 2, and arrest 4 in Jenin

At approximately 2:00 PM on Monday April 28, 2003, Israeli troops
entered the refugee camp in Jenin. They were evidently searching for
four members of Islamic Jihad. During the incursion they shot and
killed
17 year old Muresab Ibrahim Jaber and shot a 12 year old boy named
Samer
Suse in the leg and another in the shoulder. They did also arrest 4
members of Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli army entered the camp with 1 tank, 1 APC's, 1 bulldozer and
2 Cobra helicopters. They also had 2 tanks and another APC at the
hospital which was not far away in the city of Jenin. They used one of
the APC's to block the entrance to the camp and it was parked next to a
school. There were seven members of the International Solidarity
Movement from the US, UK, Sweden, and South Africa, in the area at the
time of the invasion. The Internationals split up into three groups.
Two
groups were to help children get home from school and the other was to
maintain a presence at the hospital.

According to Nancy, the group of ISMers at the school with the APC,
were
successful in getting the children across the street by walking in
front
of the APC. However, just as the last children were coming across, the
soldiers in the APC began firing over the heads of the last ISM person.

Just behind the hospital, Israeli troops were shooting into a house.
Members of ISM phoned the DCO to let him know that there were many
children still in the area of the shooting. 2 ISM activists also let
themselves be seen by the tanks because there were so many children
around. Five minutes later, the tank began firing at the
Internationals.


Several of the ISM then made their way closer to the tanks by
approaching from behind. They had been told that there may be injured
children there. It turned out that, at that point, there was not.
However, the tank continued firing intermittently, so moving out was
difficult. That is when they shot Samer, who was standing about 2
meters
from Nancy at the time.

The ISM stayed where they were until the tanks left. On the way out,
one
of the tanks ran over the side of an ambulance.

For more information contact:
Nancy 067 732 791


Tom
ISM Media Coordinator
Beit Sahour, Occupied Palestine
 ism-alert@palsolidarity.org
972 -2-277-4602
011-972-52-360-241
011-972-67-862-439



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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 11:28:33 +0200
From: "ISM Media Alerts"
Subject: I'll Shoot You In The Head

I'll Shoot You In The Head
Roy Bard
Asira Checkpoint
April 28, 2003
On this morning of April 28, 2003, we learned the details of how a
French
civilian was 'detained' by a soldier yesterday in Asira Valley, just
outside
of Nablus. His detention consisted of being handcuffed, blindfolded,
having
a gun placed right by his head, being put in a Jeep, driven to a nearby
settlement,
being interrogated and released without arrest or charge.

The message is clear, we are not wanted in asira Valley, a checkpoint
where
ISM has worked for several months, watching villagers being terrorized
by a
combination of foot soldiers, soldiers in jeeps and in troop carriers.
Often
the villagers are held for hours, with no access to toilets, water or
shade
from the sun or rain. Often they are made to return back the way they
come
from - either from the village, or from Nablus. Many times they become
aware
of the presence of soldiers when shots are fired by the snipers on the
hills, their uniform making it difficult to spot them in the greenness
of
spring.

Internationals have spent many hours staying with detained persons,
negotiating on their behalf, phoning Human Rights Organizations and the
Army
command; to question some of the more obscure and inexplicable
decisions

that the seemingly omnipotent soldiers on the spot make.

Many times villagers are held for hours and released, their bags
unchecked.
Many of the soldiers have no support vehicles, they know they are
dealing
with an unarmed, frustrated civilian population. Many times they have
told
us it is a Closed Military Zone: it is not. Many times they have
threatened us
with arrest. Until yesterday they have not fallen through. Many times
they
have shot at us: we have regarded these as warning shots and have
stayed.

Now, things are different!

We decided that a group of us would go and picnic in the valley. We
needed to
assert our right to be there. Someone has to monitor the daily misery
that
is inflicted on the civilians of Asira.

With our stash of hummus, foul, falafels, oranges, bananas, pita and
water
we catch the service taxi to Sabatash at the top of the hill. There we
meet
a number of Palestinians who want to go down into the valley with us.
They
know there are soldiers there. They know people have already been
detained
and refused permission to go home.

We trek down the hill, a raggle taggle band of 3 brits, 3 Italians, a
South
African, A Medical Volunteer from the medical relief Committee and
Palestinian men and women.

All seems quiet as we approach the house in the valley. Then one of the
local women points; the soldiers are there, skulking in the bushes in
front
of the house. Slowly we walk up to them. The "nasty" one comes out and
greets one of the Internationals by name. "Why do you come here?", he
asks.
"You know that I told you I will arrest you if you do, Yesterday I
arrested
one of your friends from France".

Two Internationals attempt to engage with him, they tell him that it is
not
a closed military area, that we have come to have a picnic, that we are
peaceful. "Go back to Nablus" he demands. We assert our right to be
there. We
bear passports that request that we be allowed to proceed without Let
or

Hindrance. We tell him that under Israeli Law we can be there.

"Fuck the Israeli Government", he tells us. It is getting bizarre, a
soldier
from an illegal occupying army who has no respect for the government
that
he serves. He turns his attention to the Palestinians. He takes their
IDs,
pockets them and motions to them to go into the bushes. His friend is
standing in the bushes. They are detained. We ask why, no answer. We
have taken the
opportunity to get out the food and to start eating. We are not talking
to
them, we cannot see the detained persons, we are merely a token
presence,
having a picnic.

"If you don't leave' I will call for jeeps and you will be arrested
like

your friend. Then you will be deported like him." We tell him that we
are
prepared to be arrested and that the Frenchman was not deported but is
now
back in Nablus." The news doesn't seem to please him. He talks in his
radio
and then goes into the bushes where we cannot see him. We carry on
eating.
After a few minutes two shots sound out. We cannot see him, but we can
hear
where they are coming from. One of the group gets up to go look. The
soldier
emerges from the bushes, gun pointed straight at our group.

"IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE HEAD" he tells us.

I think of Brian Avery, my 24 year old American friend, in a hospital
in

Haifa, shot for no discernable reason. I think of Tom Hurndall, a 21
year
old activist from the UK, lying in a hospital in Beer Shee'va, his
brain

damaged by a snipers bullet while he tried to direct a child out of the
line
of fire in Rafah.

We cannot risk another shot in the head over a picnic. We tell him we
need
our friend, the medical relief volunteer who is in the group of
detained. He
just tells us to leave, training his gun on us the whole time. We are
prepared to be arrested, we are prepared to resist a deportation, but
not
this, not now. So we gather up our things, and start moving back up the
hill, to the point where we can get phone reception. We start phoning
Embassies and the media centre.

After about 15 minutes, the medical volunteer emerges from the bushes,
holding his ID. He has been released. He tells us that before the
soldier
shot at us, he radio'd the base in Hebrew and said that we would not
leave,
and that he wanted to shoot at us. When he finished the call, he turned
to
his fellow soldier and said "I will shoot one of them in the head or
the

eyes."

The world has sat back and allowed Israel to kill Palestinians under
the

guise of "security", no probing questions have been asked, no sanctions
imposed as they kill men, women and children with impunity. Now it
seems

that peaceful activists (the soldier checked neither our IDs or our
bags, so
it seems he knew this!) are legitimate game for these soldiers who are
here
in defiance of so many UN Resolutions.

Will the international community allow Israel to threaten and shoot at
picnicking citizens from its own countries? Will they raise no fuss,
ask
no
questions, impose no sanctions?

I fear the answer is yes.

For more information contact:
Duncan 067 628 519

Tom
ISM Media Coordinator
Beit Sahour, Occupied Palestine
 ism-alert@palsolidarity.org
972 -2-277-4602
011-972-52-360-241
011-972-67-862-439