3 Jun 2003

1. Press Release – ISM Demands Israeli Retraction and Apology over Mike's Place Bombing Allegations
2. Nablus Home Occupied
3. Appeal for Streaming Media Server Space

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1. Press Release - ISM Demands Israeli Retraction and Apology over
Mike's Place Bombing Allegations

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
MOVEMENT

PRESS RELEASE
June 3 2003

ISM Demands Israeli Retraction and Apology over Mike's Place Bombing
Allegations

The International Solidarity Movement demands a retraction of
statements made by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a full
apology.

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website makes the following
accusations against the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "ISM members take an
active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers. At
times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under
the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations". This is
incorrect. The International Solidarity Movement does not and has
never worked under the auspices of, or in cooperation with, any armed
Palestinian resistance group. The ISM does not undertake any
activity in the Occupied Territories this is violent or illegal. On
the contrary ISM activists have been harmed by and threatened with
harm by Israeli army personnel.

In connection with the two British suicide bombers the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs states that "The two terrorists were careful to
establish their presence in Judea and Samaria by forging links with
foreign left wing activists and members of the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM)". This is incorrect. No ISM activist had
contact with the two men in the West Bank. Their sole contact was a
brief social encounter in Rafah in the Gaza Strip and no "links"
were "forged" in short time. See attached press statement for full
details.

Immediately after the suicide attack on Mike's Place Israeli
intelligence stated that the men had entered the Gaza Strip posing as
international peace activists with the ISM. In their report of June
3 Israeli investigations now prove that "On April 24, 2003, the
terrorists entered the Gaza Strip via the Erez checkpoint, along with
the Italian woman journalist and additional Italian journalists,
which greatly assisted them in avoiding suspicion at Erez". The ISM
has been shown to be innocent of this false accusation by the Israeli
government.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "It has become clear from
the investigation of the Italian journalist that the terrorists
exploited foreign left wing activists in the Palestinian Authority
(PA) areas for the purpose of covering their movements throughout
Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Even though the latter were unwitting, they
in effect were accomplices to terrorist activity". This is
incorrect. The Italian journalist was interrogated by the Israeli
authorities and has subsequently been found to be unaware of their
intentions and so is not guilty of being an accomplice. Similarly
the ISM activists in Rafah were entirely unware of the men's
intentions to commit an attack in Israel. Moreover ISM has not been
approached for questioning by the Israeli authorities in connection
with the contact they had with the suicide attackers. Further to
this the only contact ISM had with these men was a brief social
meeting in Rafah, not in the West Bank and it has been proved that
the men used a journalist as a cover for their movements. It is
important to state that since it's founding ISM activists have been
denied entry to the country and many have been deported. Moving
around the Occupied Territories is not made easier as a peace
activist.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "None of the persons
involved - neither Palestinian nor foreign - bothered to contact any
official body, despite their familiarity with the terrorists, even
after they understood that they were involved in the attack, until
they came under ISA investigation." This is incorrect. ISM held an
open press conference a few days after the attack on Mike's Place and
explained the circumstances under which the activists in Rafah
briefly met the British men. The ISM has never been approached by
the Israeli authorities in connection with an investigation.

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2. Occupied Houses in Nablus

Early in the morning of Tuesday, June 3rd several
houses located in Askar Refugee Camp, (Nablus) were
occupied by IOF forces. Members of ISM Nablus were
able to visit three of these houses in order to assess
the situations of the families involved.

While attempting to gain entry to the first house
visited two soldiers opened the door and pulled a
Palestinian passer-by inside at gunpoint. After
repeated attempts to contact the soldiers the ISMers
with the help of a neighboring family were able to
open a door into the house. Two internationals
entered the house and negotiated with the two visible
soldiers inside. They were allowed to communicate
with one man in the house for approximately ten
minutes. From this conversation it was learned that
there are thirty people being held in one room of the
house, of these 11 are children. There are ten
soldiers occupying the house. From what we were told
no one has been brought to the house other than the
one man who we witnessed, and no one has been
mistreated. Apparently the family has enough food and
drink. When questioned, the soldiers gave no solid
reason for their occupying the house and they stated
that they would be staying only one day. They also
stated that the man dragged in off the street would be
released within a few hours. While the house appeared
to have been searched there was no apparent damage.

The second house visited is being occupied by six to
seven soldiers with surveillance equipment. They
entered the house at 4:30AM. Five adults and two
children ages 3 and 4 years live in the house and are
located on the top floor. One of the family members
has diabetes but has access to adequate medication.
Another woman is six months pregnant. The soldiers
brought their own food and water with them and the
family seems to believe that they will stay for up to
a day and a half. Apparently the family has not been mistreated and
the house appears in good condition.

At the third house the internationals were not allowed
entry into the house but two family members, a man and
a woman were able to speak with them from a window.
The soldiers entered the house around 5:00AM and there
are now twenty soldiers inside. There are
twenty-eight family members living in the house. From
what we have gathered they have not been mistreated
and have enough food and water but are all being held
in one room. The soldiers informed the family that
they will stay for one day.
Follow-ups with all the families involved will be
conducted in order to assure the departure of the
soldiers.

House occupation is one of many illegal tactics used
by Israeli soldiers to phychologically damage the
Palistinian people. The trauma and embarassment of
occupation has long reaching effects.

For more information contact: 067 938 401

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3. Appeal for Streaming Media Server Space

Friends,

You may have noticed that we are starting to add flash photo
galleries to our website. We have thousands of photos and hundreds of
hours of video taken by ISM volunteers that we would like to publish.
Unfortunately, many of these videos and galleries are quite large and
downloads are very time consuming. Some users are unable to view them
because of the size of the files and time required to download them.
Therefore, we are in need of streaming media server space so we can
publish more videos and photo galleries depicting ISM volunteers in
action, human rights violations committed by Israeli forces, and the
contradictions of joy and despair that is the reality of life in
Palestine.

It is vitally important that these photos and videos be made
available to the public. Rarely is the human side of Palestinian life
reflected in western media. A photo or video can be worth a hundred
articles and is not as easily passed off as propoganda.
We are sending an appeal for a donation of streaming media server
space or contacts where server space could be purchased at a
reasonable price. Please send suggestions or contacts to
 webmaster@palsolidarity.org.

Thank you in advance,

Palsolidarity webmaster