International Solidarity Update

International Solidarity Update

1)ISM prisoners stage protest from prison 2)Peace camp is reborn "protest camp" in Jenin 3)Roadblock removal creates Alternate route around Wall

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.

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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.

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