Palestine: ISM Update On Arrested Internationals

NABLUS] Six international peaceworkers participating in The ISM Freedom Summer in Palestine campaign were arrested this afternoon in the city of Nablus, on the West Bank.

The arrested are:

Daniel Knutsson from Sweden
Avi Zer-Aviv from Canada
Aviv Kruglanski from Israel
Alex Perry from the UK
Thomas Pellas from France
Saul Reid from UK

The group had removed 2 earthen roadblocks in the Nablus area and were working on removing the 3rd today when Israeli soldiers suddenly drove army jeeps toward them at high rates of speed. The soldiers chased after a bulldozer, driven by a Palestinian and containing 2 internationals as passengers, which had been participating in the road block removal. One soldier entered the cab of the bulldozer and remained there while a jeep followed the bulldozer en route to a nearby military base, as ordered by the soldiers. International volunteers blocked the road to the military base in an effort to prevent the confiscation of the bulldozer by the Israeli military. Other internationals surrounded the driver and started to walk him step by step back toward Nablus. At this point the soldiers threatened to start shooting people if they continued to move.

The group negotiated with the DCO and agreed to replace the 2 roadblocks that had been removed in exchange for allowing the driver, the bulldozer, and the internationals to return to Nablus.

After one roadblock had been replaced and the second was being rebuilt, the deal suddenly altered and the soldiers declared that the internationals would not be permitted to return to Nablus after all since he suspected that they were with the ISM. Another deal was negotiated whereby 11 internationals would remain outside the city and 6 others would return to Nablus to collect the personal belongings of all the volunteers, then they would all leave the city.

Suddenly the soldiers declared that they were going to arrest the bulldozer driver and take the bulldozer. The internationals again moved to surround the bulldozer. At that point Daniel, Aviv and Alex were arrested and taken away in a jeep. Soldiers declared that they would arrest all of the internationals. Avi, Thomas and Saul tried to block the path to the rest of the internationals and they too were arrested.

All 6 were handcuffed and transported by Israeli bus to Ariel police station.

Photos can be viewed at  http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?
page=reports/writings/10Jul03_NablusPalsolidarity.htm



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

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


6, 2003 – From Jordan
Letter from Jenin

I can't even put my anger into words. Really, its so much worse than you suspect and fear.

While the media talks about a roadmap to peace, here's whats happening:

People want to know if its true that the Israeli military have pulled out of Bethlehem. Of course they haven't, but so what if they had? Can people from Bethlehem leave Bethlehem? "We haven't left this camp in two years," say my family in the Azzeh refugee camp. Where can they go? They are trapped by checkpoints, fenced in by bypass roads, and choked by settlements. The hills around Bethlehem are alive - with huge, monstrous settlements, built on stolen land.

Bethlehem residents can visit the church of the Nativity. But what about the other major holy site in Bethlehem, Rachel's Tomb? Rachel's tomb is off limits to Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Only Israelis have access to this major holy site. The several hundred yards around it are also confiscated. In fact, the Israelis are in the process of confiscating more of Bethlehem, to "annex" Rachel's Tomb into Israel. If they change the definition of Bethlehem - redefine it into a fraction of its former self - when its easier to "pull out."

This is what's happening in the whole West Bank. The definition of what is the "West Bank" is being physically changed. Once the Israeli Government has cut the West Bank into tiny pieces a fraction of their current size, it will be easier to "pull out" of the West Bank.

The major tool of this confiscation is the "security wall" being built by Israel. They call it a "seperation fence". Fine, lets call it that. And lets recall the the Afrikaans word for "seperation": Apartheid. The Apartheid Wall is nearing completion on the West side of the West Bank - where its estimated to have confiscated around %10 of the most fertlie

land. As well as cutting through or displacing - redefining - 30 towns or villages. But this is just the beginning. The Israelis are also beginning a Wall along the east side of the West Bank. The exact dimensions are unclear, because the Israeli government wont say its plans. Some estimate it will take another %40 of the West Bank.

Heres some of what I've seen here in Jenin:

All of the villages here along the "green line" border are facing land confiscation. There is no formal notice. One day, Israeli engineers come onto their land, leaving behind blue flags marking a line. Within days or weeks, the bulldozers come. Then, the builders. And within weeks, their land is gone, and a Wall is in its place.

One farmer uprooted his own trees, hoping to replant them somewhere, rather than see them destroyed. He is currently being threatened with a prison term.

The wall is being built at a devastating speed. In the Jenin area, there are at least seven Israeli companies working at building the Wall, so it is being built in several places at once. In some areas, the Wall is almost 100 meters wide. There is barbed wire, followed by a trench, followed by a fence, followed by a settler road, followed by another trench. The atmosphere in the cities is different from before - a quiet desperation.

People are still being terrorized by regular invasions: last night, there was an explosion, and all the power in Jenin went out, tonight, there was a tank outside our building - but the real terror is in the villages, where a massive land grab and depopulation is happening, with almost no media attention.

This is ethnic cleansing on a massive speed and scale. Remember that when the media talks about a roadmap to peace.

-------------------------

This is my fourth time here with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). ISM activists have been called "tank chasers" and "human shields". Neither is accurate. Human shields is particularly inaccurate, as it refers to a specific human rights violation regularly practiced by the Israeli military.

This Summer, we are working hard at community building and outreach. The ISM Freedom Summer campaign was officially launched in Tulkarem, where we attended a demonstration organized by the residents of ten local villages affected by the Wall. ISM organizers in Tulkarem spent three weeks organizing in advance of this demonstration, meeting with at least three individuals, organizations, or municipalities every day.

Here in Jenin, we have kept a similar pace. I can't say all of our plans, but I will say this: in the West Bank, the Wall is coming down this summer.

For a map of the wall in this region, please see:  http://www.nad-plo.org/maps/Qalqilya_land_grab.htm

Web: www.palsolidarity.org