1) Terrorizing Tulkarem
2) Reclaiming the City of Nablus
3) ‘Coming and Going’_ Ewa in Jenin

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1) INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
May 28, 2003

Terrorizing Tulkarem: Israeli Incursion Day 5

[Refugee Camp, TULKAREM] Wednesday marked the fifth day of the Israeli Army incursion into the Tulkarem Refugee Camp, during which period soldiers have pillaged homes, stopped ambulances on their way to pick up wounded children, occupied houses, and killed or wounded several children in the city.

Pillaging of Houses

ISM volunteers witnessed the aftermath of the Army’s house-to-house ‘searches’ today, visiting five of the families whose homes had been searched by soldiers. Volunteers observed unnecessary property damage including: broken cabinets, televisions and refrigerators, photos torn and glass frames shattered and the defamation of religious items.

Two families reported that soldiers threw food such as coffee, yoghurt and eggs on the floor then poured cleaning fluids on top. A third family stated that Israeli Forces entered their house four times during this operation, overturning a vat of olive oil and breaking electronic appliances. Soldiers overturned flower pots and kept a family that included two mothers who had recently given birth and their infants outside in the sun for hours, denying them access to food or milk for their children. While outside their house one soldier dropped a table out of the second floor window scaring the family when it landed inches away. All five families, which contained young children or infants, reported that the Army threw teargas into their homes upon leaving. No family reported an arrest.

Occupying Houses

In addition to the pillaging of refugee homes, Israeli Forces have occupied three houses for days. In one of the houses soldiers forced fifteen people, including and elderly woman with a heart condition and two infants to stay in a tiny store room for hours before transferring them to another room where they remain imprisoned. As temperatures reached the low thirties Celsius (low eighties Farenheit), the families reported being denied access to cold water, food or milk for the babies.

Shooting Children

As of 8PM May 28, Israeli Forces and Border Police have shot nine children in two days; six with live ammunition and three with rubber-coated bullets. The children range from seven to sixteen years of age. One of the boys bled to death as Border Police denied an ambulance access and one remains in critical condition.

Conclusions

The current operation is the second large-scale invasion of the Refugee Camp by Israeli Forces in less than two months. During the last invasion ISM volunteers witnessed the Israeli Army order all males in the Tulkarem Refugee Camp between the ages of 15 and 45 to report to the UNRWA school for girls. Approximately 3000 Palestinians were detained, interrogated, packed into lorries, and transferred from the Tulkarem Camp to Nur Shams Camp as the army conducted house-to-house ‘searches’. After witnessing the massive and abject fear generated by Israeli Army tactics and their excessive destruction to the property of an already ravished population, ISM Tulkarem asks: At one point does Israel begin to justify terrorism as ‘security’?

For more information please call:
Radhika - 972 52 475 663
Osama - 972 52 371 338
Charlotte - 972 67 657 349

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2) INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

RECLAIMING THE CITY OF NABLUS
City Removes Military Roadblocks


[Amman Street, Nablus] At 9am on Wednesday, May 28, 2003, members of the International Solidarity Movement and the local community, in conjunction with the Office of Public Works, removed a pair of roadblocks on Amman Street that snarled local traffic, prevented rapid response of emergency vehicles to all areas of the city, and resulted in the closure of several shops along this major thoroughfare.


Two bulldozers worked for 3 hours to remove one roadblock entirely, and cut a passable section through the second roadblock to allow traffic to move freely.
As evidence of how central this thoroughfare is to the city of Nablus, traffic began passing through the area the moment the bulldozers had cleared a single car's
width – and continued to pass steadily, dodging the bulldozers - throughout the 3 hours of road work.

This action of clearing roadblocks is not merely the coordination of a city's resources, but reflects the refusal of the Nablus and International communities
to be intimidated by the repressive military presence of the Israeli Occupation Forces. On the hill directly above the roadblock, there is an Israeli military
installation that has repeatedly fired upon pedestrians, traffic and city maintenance vehicles, killing many members of this besieged community. The two roadblocks by the destroyed PA headquarters, on Amman Street, were removed by the efforts
of Palestinians and Internationals as a direct protest against the unjust restriction of movement in Nablus, and the West Bank and Gaza as a whole. Illegal restriction of movement, and the unjust occupation of Palestine, takes the form of illegal colonies [settlements], military checkpoints, fences, trenches, gates, roadblocks, and at it's most extreme, the ongoing construction of the Apartheid Wall that
flagrantly ignores the pre-1967 borders. ISM Nablus

For more information, please call:
Local coordinator [Arabic] + 972 (0)59 335 404
International. cordinator [English] + 972 (0)67 490537
 http://www.palsolidarity.org

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3) COMING AND GOING
Ewa J. in Jenin
May 28, 2003

Curfew was declared throughout Jenin yesterday from 5am. A tank shell blasting into concrete - road or building, they take their wild pick - followed by wailing jeep sirens and the incursion of approximately 6 APCs and 3 tanks announced IOF forces were back inside Jenin.

There were kid-tank clashes from the early morning behind the UN school in the Camp, the old city and Haifa street. In the afternoon, fighters responded to tanks and jeeps circling in the Old City and Seabat area. Two soldiers were allegedly injured. A bulldozer was brought into the main square of Jenin and destroyed a tree and paving stones before leaving. Jenin was declared a closed military zone and international ambulance (Patients and Friends Society) volunteers were denied entry into Jenin from the Shoohadda Junction checkpoint but succeeded to enter from a different checkpoint.

An apache gunship was brought into to carry out surveillance/intimidation above the Saba el Kher area at approximately 10am but left after 15 minutes.

Tanks damaged four electricity pylons plus four main water cisterns/valves in the Old City in the following areas: near the National Hospital, Karrage Street, the Eastern Area and the Jordanian Hospital. Council workers took a volunteer with them to safeguard them from attack. There had been no co-ordination (despite attempts) between the council and the DCO, making them more vulnerable than usual to attack. Council workers succeeded to repair the electricity pylon in Karrage street on their third attempt, having been intimidated out of completing their essential task by the IOF every time they tried.

At approximately 4pm, a tank partially demolished the home of Hissam Mohammad Fesheshi in the Old City by smashing into it. There was no declared reason for this attack. Soldiers also surrounded the home of the Aijawi family in the old city, hoping to find a wanted man. Instead they stormed it and arrested his brother Aiman. A 16-year-old boy was also shot around the same time. He was struck by shrapnel in his skull but he is in a stable condition in the Gaza Hospital. Soldiers also shot 15-year-old Jenin Camp resident Munir in the leg, fracturing his shin-bone. His t-shirt was also torn with holes in the armpit/upper arm area from flying shrapnel and he had three separate shrapnel injuries

On his body. At least three more children showed me fresh shrapnel wounds on their bodies (arms, legs, neck) from yesterday's invasion. 10-15 patients and friends, an ambulance driver and ISM/PFS ambulance volunteer Michael (US) were detained at the Shoohadda road checkpoint for over 2 hours. Michael was beaten about the face by a soldier and verbally abused during his detention. No other physical aggression was reported to have occurred against the other detainees.

Today there is no curfew but in the words of the Canadian IOF soldier (who beat Michael yesterday) and prevented myself and a PFS ambulance from passing through his one-Hummer-two-soldiers-with-M16s checkpoint - 'Jenin is closed. Nobody comes in, nobody goes out'. Another, heavily worn-out and traffic streaming route was found and used within 5 minutes.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
www.palsolidarity.org