Il nostro caloroso incoraggiamento
a Leila, una giovane donna dai valorosi ideali,
una cara amica che in questi giorni si sta addentrando in Palestina
per proteggere una popolazione indifesa;
che ogni giorno subisce il terrorismo e la violenza dell’esercito israeliano,
privo di pietà anche nei confronti di donne e bambini.
Dear Leila,
you have all our full support.
guerrilla radio
December 1, 2004 – New York. On Tuesday, November 30, the Israeli
military demolished the homes of two Palestinian families living in
Deheisheh Refugee Camp. The demolished apartments were located in a
building shared by the kindergarten of MADRE’s partner organization, the
Ibdaa Cultural Center. The entire building was rendered
structurally unsound by the explosions; Ibdaa’s kindergarten was
badly damaged.
The Hamash family homes were destroyed as retribution for violence
allegedly committed by Mahmud and Mahammad Hamash, who are in
Israeli custody. Yet, neither the Hamash children, who have now been made
refugees for the second time, nor the Ibdaa kindergarteners are
responsible for these alleged crimes. Indeed, international law
defines house demolition as a form of collective punishment and a
war crime, stating that “No protected person may be punished for an
offense he or she has not personally committed” (Article
33, Fourth Geneva Convention).
Ibdaa co-founder Ziad Abbas witnessed the demolition. He said, “At a
quarter to four this morning at least 12 Israeli army jeeps invaded
Deheisheh Camp and surrounded the Hamash families’ two flats, in the same
building as Ibdaa’s kindergarten. The army ordered the families outside
into the damp and cold early morning air. They were given 30 minutes to
remove their life’s meager possessions. After the
explosions, children’s books and paintings from the Ibdaa
kindergarten mixed with the rubble in the streets.”
MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization, forcefully
condemns the illegal, immoral practices of Israel’s occupation.
Every day, Deheisheh’s youngest children face a combined assault of
Israeli army violence and grinding poverty. They have been shelled and
shot at, their houses invaded by soldiers in the middle of the night.
Their most basic rights to food, clean water and health care have been
violated by soldiers enforcing closures and curfews.
Yet,
until today, the children of Deheisheh had a sanctuary at the Ibdaa
kindergarten. Inside its bright walls, they played and sang, learned and
laughed. Ibdaa’s commitment to safeguarding the childhood of
Deheisheh’s youngest generation is not shaken by the brutality
of Israel’s occupation policies. MADRE rededicates itself to
working with Ibdaa to strengthen its programs for Deheisheh’s
children and families.
MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that
works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas
worldwide. Our programs address issues of armed conflict and forced
displacement; women’s health and reproductive rights;
economic justice and community development; Indigenous Peoples’
rights and resources, food security and sustainable development;
human rights advocacy; youth; and US foreign policy.
MADRE provides
resources and training to enable our sister organizations to meet
immediate needs in their communities and develop long-term solutions to
the crises they face. Since we began in 1983, MADRE has delivered over 21
million dollars worth of support to community-based
women’s groups in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East,
Africa, the Balkans and the United States.
END —
Please assume this email is under surveillance, and don’t use any names.
Also do not add it to any lists. Thank you!
hi all, too knackered to write personal report but here is the one I just
wrote for the press, will send related photos tomorrow
love
me
REPORT BIL’IN DEC 14 2004
INTERNATIONALS BEATEN AND PALESTINIANS WOUNDED
DURING ANTI-WALL DEMO IN WEST BANK
Internationals from the International Solidarity Movement and the
International Women’s Peace Service today joined with Israeli peace
activists to support the village of Bil’in in their second day of
resistance to the construction of the Apartheid Wall. Approximately 150
men, women, and children from Bil’in walked onto their confiscated land
and halted surveying work.
During the demonstration, plastic-coated bullets, tear gas, sound bombs
and batons were used by the Israeli soldiers and border police against the
demonstrators. Five Palestinians were wounded, and three Internationals
and four Israeli activists were beaten and arrested. Soldiers and
construction workers eventually left at 1.30pm.
Construction of the Wall began in this area yesterday, when the villagers
nonviolently halted bulldozers. Bil’in village, located in the Ramallah
region of the West Bank, has a population of 1,500 people. The village
farmers own 4000 dunums of land, 2,380 dunums of which has been
confiscated for the Wall construction and given to the nearby illegal
Israeli settlement of X. This land includes up to 3,000 olive trees.
Shortly into the demonstration, when Palestinians halted surveying work,
soldiers began to fire tear gas and sound grenades into the crowd .
Israeli activists arrived and were immediately targeted by border police,
who arrested four as they attempted to protect Palestinians and
Internationals. An ISMer witnessed one sound bomb deliberately thrown
directly at a Palestinian man, who was wounded in the neck and hand when
it exploded. As he was carried away for medical help by four other
Palestinians, the soldiers again fired sound bombs directly at them. Sound
grenades, tear gas, and plastic-coated bullets were continuously used from
this time on. Soldiers and border police began to drive the demonstrators
back, using physical force and repeated beating with batons.
At approximately 9.45am, a Palestinian man was violently beaten and
detained by soldiers; he was later released. The Israeli soldiers and
police then appeared to target Internationals who were cameras. A group of
military personnel grabbed a young American ISM woman who was filming, and
began beating her, also severely beating and injuring a young British ISM
man who tried to protect her and had earlier received severe baton blows
while trying to protect the Palestinian man. After repeated baton blows,
they removed the Internationals and arrested them. Shortly afterwards,
another International woman who had filmed both events was also arrested.
The soldiers forced the demonstration to retreat up the hill back into the
village. They remained on the edge of the village for some time,
continuing to target children defending their land by stone-throwing, with
sound bombs, tear gas, and plastic-covered bullets.
Five Palestinian men were wounded, three of whom were hospitalised. One
was injured by beating, two by sound grenades, and two were shot with
plastic-coated bullets, one in the stomach and one in the back.
by LEILA