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ISM Reports: Activists Attacked. Arrest Updates. Roadblocks Removed

ISM Media Office | 10.07.2003 10:59 | Anti-racism | World

The Latest ISM Reports And Press Releases

1. Yestedays Arrests Update
2. IDF Prevents Farmers from Accessing Crops Beyond the Apartheid Wall
3. INTERNATIONALS AND PALESTINIANS ATTACKED BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS
4. DISMANTELING THE ROADBLOCKS TO NABLUS



1. UPDATE ON INTERNATIONALS ARRESTED





The four international peace activists arrested yesterday:

Tobias Karlsson, Stockholm SWEDEN
Fredrick Lind, VanLose, DENMARK
Bill Capowski, NY and PA (State College), USA
Tariq Loubani, CANADA

were all transferred to the Ariel settlement police station last night, put under arrest, and according to a phone text message received from the group at 7:00pm “NN ALL IN ROOM 1X2 M 4 OF US”

The lawyer for the four, Yoni Leherman, will visit them this morning, but has already been told that THE four will be issued deportation orders from the Ministry of Interior this AM.

Please help us protest the planned deportation of these international peace activists. Call, email, and fax the Minister of Interior at:



Minister of Interior Abraham Poraz
Tel: +972-2-6701402 or +972-2-629-4701
Fax: +972-2-566-6376 or +972-2-629-4750



Minister Mr. Avraham Poraz  sar@moin.gov.il
Director Mr. Mordechay Mordechay  mankal@moin.gov.il
Spokeswoman Ms. Tova Ellinson  dover@moin.gov.il
Public Relations Ms. Nechama Pluga-Zecharia  pniot@moin.gov.il

SOME TALKING POINTS: (Please also use your own):

- The international peace activists were in a Palestinian village (Arrabony) at the request of the local villagers. They were engaged in and supporting nonviolent _expression of protest over the illegal confiscation of Palestinian land.


- The peace activists were repeatedly harassed and threatened with physical violence and arrest by Israeli soldiers, armed guards and settlers, and at all times remained nonviolent.

- Why is the Ministry of Interior and the government of Israel preventing all access to Palestinian areas and acting to arrest and deport human rights defenders and peace workers who would witness and report on Israeli violations of human rights and international law?

For more information, please contact:
ISM Office: +972-2-277-4602
Huwaida: +972-67-473-308
Jordan: +972-66-312-547


END



2.

ISM Press Release
10 July 2003

For Immediate Release

IDF Prevents Farmers from Accessing Crops Beyond the Apartheid Wall

[Deir Al Ghasoon, Occupied West Bank]

At 9:00 AM today 40 Palestinians and 7 international volunteers
attempted to pass through a gate in the Wall of Apartheid to plant
crops on their land that lies on the other side. Israeli authorities
have repeatedly assured the farmers that they would be allowed
through to tend to their land. Despite these assurances, 16 soldiers
and 4 Israeli policemen pushed the farmers and the internationals
back through the gate and closed it.

This is the first time that a group of farmers has attempted to
obtain access to their fields. Individual farmers have been
prevented access in the past.

The soldiers responded to attempts to negotiate passage through the
gate by pushing the people back and telling them that they had 5
minutes to vacate the area.

Local press was called but they were stopped by soldiers at a
checkpoint and were not allowed to proceed to the area to report on
the denial of access of Palestinian farmers to their land.

Deir Al Ghasoon villagers own 3000 dunams of land that lie on the
other side of the wall and 500 people depend on harvesting it for
their livelihood. This is only one of several villages where the
residents have been cut off from their land and wells.

For more information on the Wall of Apartheid see
 http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?page=wall/wall.htm

For further information contact:

Flo 972 64 309 753


3.

July 10, 2003
11:05AM Palestine Time
For Immediate Release


INTERNATIONALS AND PALESTINIANS ATTACKED BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS



[NABLUS] Dozens of Palestinians and approximately 30 internationals have been attacked by Israeli soldiers in Til, near Nablus of the West Bank.

Since 6:00 this morning the group has been working with their hands to remove three large roadblocks closing off the villages of Iraq Bureen and Til, south of Nablus. The action is part of the International Solidarity Movement’s Freedom Summer Palestine Campaign and efforts to highlight Palestinian imprisonment and lack of freedom of movement.

Israeli soldiers have taken the Mayor of Til and his colleagues are violently detaining the internationals.

Please help us protest this violence against peaceful protesters by calling the Nablus District Coordinating Office (DCO):
+972 2 5486 218 / 217 or

+972 2 5486 301 / 302

There is at least one video camera in the area and pictures / video should be available on our website as soon as we can get them up.

For more information, please call:
Saif - +972- 53-448-566 or +972-52-485-881
ISM Office: +972-2-277-4602

===========================

4.

More on Nablus roadblock removal.....



DISMANTELING THE ROADBLOCKS TO NABLUS



[NABLUS] The residents of the Palestinian villages of Iraq Bureen and Til, south of Nablus, joined by the International Solidarity Movement, have again decided to remove the three major roadblocks that have imprisoned them in their villages for the past two years.



Iraq Buren and Til are located south of Nablus. For over two years the two villages have been surrounded by roadblocks, confiscating the basic human right of movement from the inhabitants. Three roadblocks separate the two villages from the city of Nablus; another one separates them from one another. Leaving the villages to work, school or university often requires a whole day of traveling, moving in between roadblocks and checkpoints. Not only has trade come to a halt, but also being famous for its milk, Til has lost its main source of income, devastating the local economy. Food, water and medical supplies are as good as cut off and ambulances are unable to enter the villages.


The people have tried to open the roadblocks several times, but the army has repeatedly re-erected them, setting up additional checkpoints in the area and controlling potential paths around the checkpoints.


The people of the villages, the village council and all the associations in both villages have again decided to remove the roadblocks and protest against this violation of their human rights -- Thursday July 10th 2003 at 6 am.



This call is being sent out by ism on behalf of Til and Iraq Buren as the villagers feel, the media does not cover their daily suffering sufficiently.
For more information:

Saif: +972-59-335271
Eva: +972-67-619275
For more information about the Freedom Summer Campaign or the ISM, please contact:
Huwaida: +972-67-473-308; ISM office: +972-2-277-4602

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ISM Media Office
- e-mail: info@palsolidarity.org
- Homepage: http://www.palsolidarity.org