ISM Reports: International volunteers stage protest from prison

International volunteers stage protest from prison

Bethlehem
15 Jul 03
ISM Media Office

International Volunteers Stage Protest From Prison

[Occupied West Bank] As of 7:00 pm tonight, Tuesday July 15, local
Palestinian time, eight peace
workers from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), currently
being
held by the Israeli Occupation Forces at the police station in Ariel
settlement in the West Bank, stopped eating in protest against the
brutal
treatment of Palestinian prisoners and in solidarity with Palestinian
prisoners across Israel
hunger striking. The ISM activists are also demanding their own
immediate
and unconditional release, as they were arrested while peacefully
protesting the
illegal policies of the Israeli Occupation Forces and are currently
being held in an illegal settlement.

Four of the internationals imprisoned were arrested Wednesday July 9
and four more were arrested July 10,
both groups engaging in non-violent activities. They have not been
granted
bail at the request of the prosecution, which claims that they are \"a
high
security risk\". Their judicial hearings have been postponed several
times and they have not
been given a date for their next hearing. Two Israeli citizens arrested
participating in the same activities have already been released and
their charges dropped.

For more information, please call

Huwaida: +972-67-473-308
ISM Media Office: +972-2-277-4602

For reports on the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, please
see the following links:

Arrests, imprisonment and torture
 http://www.pchr.org/Intifada/Arrests_torture_stat.htm

Administrative Detention - Statistics
 http://www.btselem.org/English/Administrative_Detention/Statistics.asp

Palestinians held by Israeli security forces - Minors
 http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Imprisoned.asp#Anchor-47857

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Peace Camp Is Reborn as "Protest Camp"

Jenin
16 Jul 03
ISM Media Office

Protest Camp Starts Today. Roadblock removal to happen on Friday.

It has been one week since four ISM activists from Sweden, Canada,
Denmark,
and the US were arrested in the village of Arrabony in the Jenin
region.
They were arrested while staying at a peace camp on Palestinian land
scheduled to be confiscated for the building of the Apartheid Wall. On
that
same day, a man in the Berqin valley, just outside Jenin, was killed by
the
Israeli military.

Despite the \"road map\", Israel continues building the Apartheid Wall,
as
well as the confiscation of land, the continued presence of roadblocks
and
checkpoints, and the continued expansion of settlements.

ISM activists in Jenin have continued to work with communities across
the
region, to support nonviolent resistance to the occupation. Two days
after
the \"Jenin Four\" were arrested, Palestinians from the city of Jenin
and at
least eight nearby villages worked with ISM activists to remove a
roadblock
from the village of Abaa.

Yesterday, the Jenin Four began a hunger protest - in solidarity with
the
thousands of Palestinian prisoners that continued to be held in
violation of
international law.

Today, ISM volunteers from Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Holland,
Canada, and the US will return to to the area of last weeks peace camp,
to
set up the Arrabony Protest Camp. From this base, ISM activists will
work
with community members from the Jenin region on several projects,
including:

-Roadblock removals and other direct actions. The first roadblock
removal
will take place this Friday, in the Berqin Valley, the area of last
week’s
assassination carried out by Israeli occupation forces. We are also
planning more actions in the area.

-Documentation. ISM activists will visit villages in the area to
document
the effects of the Apartheid Wall.

-Community work. ISM activists will continue to hold an informal
\"Summer
Camp\" and other activities for area children.

ISM activists in the Jenin region continue to be led and inspired by
local
resistance to the devastation of the Apartheid Wall.

For more information, please call
Jordan - +972-66-312-547

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Successful Roadblock Removal Creates Alternate Route Around the Wall

Tulkarem
13 Jul 03
Neal Cassidy

[Qaffin, Tulkarem] A group of 12 international volunteers and 15
Palestinian activists removed
a roadblock today, allowing local traffic between this
Northern West Bank village and Tulkarm to bypass two gates in the
newly-constructed separation wall.

Qaffin is a village of 9,000 situated northeast of the town of Baqa
al-Sharqiya, a Palestinian town on the Green Line that has been
completely
surrounded by the wall. In the last week, a gate on the southern side
of
town was completed, and Israeli Army soldiers have now set up a
checkpoint.
The result is daily traffic queues of dozens of vehicles in both
directions,
and delays of up to two hours. Construction on another gate on the east
side
of Baqa al-Sharqiya is nearing completion. If these two gates are
closed, as
others have been, travel between Tulkarm and the Qafin area, with a
combined
population of 15,000, will become impossible.

Working with only hand tools, and later with the assistance of a
tractor
brought be a local farmer, the group moved tons of dirt and large
boulders
from a bridge where debris had been piled two meters high, opening a
lane
sufficient to allow passage of singe vehicles. Israeli Army units in
the
vicinity apparently were unaware of the action, and by days end,
traffic was
passing over the bridge.

For more information:
Flo - +972-64-309-753

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For more information on the ISM and the Freedom Summer Palestine
Campaign, please call:
Huwaida: +972-67-473-308
ISM Office: _972-2-277-4602



For the latest information on ISM see  http://www.palsolidarity.org

The latest volunteer reports are available at
 http://www.palsolidarity.org/index.php?page=journals_reports_main.php