Palestine: ISM Update

1. ISM Evaluation 2. More Poison 3. ACTION ALERT – IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED! 4. International Day of Action Against Caterpillar: Bil'in 13 April 2005 5. Bil'in Demonstrates against the Annexation Wall

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

1. ISM Evaluation Hello folks,

We are currently in the process of evaluating ISM. If you have ever been a long termer with ISM and want to fill out an evaluation form please send an email to sra@riseup.net and then we will send you an evaluation form. The forms are due by April 18, so please email us soon if you want one. We hope to improve the effectiveness of ISM, so all feedback is welcome.

Thanks,

The Evaluation Committee

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

2. More Poison

In a recent escalation of ongoing attacks against Palestinians, Israeli settlers have spread poison on sheep grazing grounds. The Palestinian communities of Yasouf and a number of villages in the south Hebron hills have had their food and livelihood devastated as a result.

On the morning of April 12, 2005, a shepherd from Yasouf village in Salfit was grazing his sheep when he noticed small pink pellets on the ground near the Yasouf roadblock across from the Israeli settlement of Tapuach. The incident was reported to the police, who took the shepherd's testimony and kept the box of pellets. Bir Zeit University found the pink pellets to be wheat seeds boiled in Brodifacoum, a rat poison which the villagers fear is entering their sheeps' milk.

Since March 23rd, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma'on in the south Hebron hills have repeatedly poisoned the land of At-Tuwani and Mufakara villages with thousands of bright green pellets of barley boiled in Fluoroacetamide. Unlike Brodifacoum, Fluoroacetamide has no known antidote and has killed 22 sheep in At-Tuwani and left more than 70 ill.

Fluoroacetamide is highly toxic and very soluble; if inhaled or touched it can be harmful to humans, and it can damage the land if dissolved by rain. The poison is banned in many countries and cannot be obtained in Israel without a government permit.

On April 6, villagers of At-Tuwani found pink pellets, identical to those found on Yasouf's land earlier this week. If Tapuach follows Havat Ma'on's lead, more poisonings can be expected. Palestinian shepherds in both areas are already prevented from using the majority of their land due to growing settlements and outposts.

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

3. ACTION ALERT – IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!

CALL-FAX-DEMONSTRATE

Israeli Navy Awards Unit Responsible for Killing Nablus Professor and his Son Family of Professor Khaled Salah is Still Demanding Justice from US officials

(APRIL 10, 2005) – According to a recent article in the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Navy has just given commendations to members of a military unit for their `bravery' in Nablus during a mission in which serious breaches of the IVth Geneva Conventions were perpetrated. The July 6 2004 incident included the cold-blooded sniper killings of An-Najah National University Professor Khaled Salah, a US resident, and his 16-year old son Mohammad.

We call on people of good conscience to read the following description of the incident, consult the attached links, and follow the concrete steps at the bottom of this email to lodge protest against such an outrageous insult to the people of Nablus and to the Salah family. It is imperative that these war crimes be investigated and dealt with appropriately and not be allowed to be passed-over in silence.

The operation in question, conducted in the pre-dawn hours of July 6, involved the use of Israeli helicopter gunships, missiles, tanks, APCs, and armored jeeps deployed to the `jabaal shamali' (north mountain) in Nablus. The raid included participation by the Shayatet-13 commando unit (the ones rewarded last week for their participation in the mission). Two PFLP activists were also killed by this unit on that night. According to eye-witnesses in the neighborhood one of the PFLP militants killed in the operation, Yamin Ali Farj, was extra-judicially executed by the commandoes while trying to surrender after having sustained injuries. Following the raid Israeli military bulldozers demolished the homes of both PFLP activists in Beit Furik village, leaving dozens homeless, as well as the building in Nablus in which the militants were holed up during the raid. Due to the intense military response in such a heavily populated civilian location, many of the surrounding buildings also sustained considerable damage, including the Salah home.

It should be noted that Prof. Salah and his son were killed after the cessation of hostilities between the Israeli military and the local armed resistance. Furthermore, according to the family and medical volunteers on the scene that night, Dr. Salah's son Mohammed died because Israeli military officials refused to allow medical personnel access to the boy, who lay bleeding on the floor of the family home. The killings of Dr. Salah and his son constitute a willful, deliberate and disproportionate use of force by the Israeli military – and in particular by the Shayatet-13 commandoes – against Palestinian civilians. According to a Press Release that was issued the day of the assault by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, "Such [murderous Israeli] attacks on our communities have, since September 2000, caused the death of 34 educators and 696 students."

An-Najah National University also issued a statement the day of the killing which "appeals to the international community's associations, local and international human rights [organizations] as well as…academic institutions all over the world to put pressure on the Israeli government to stop such aggressions against Palestinian citizens." During a press conference held by the surviving victims of the Salah family, the daughter Diana ended her testimony with the following assertion: "If I am Palestinian they will kill me...If I am an American they will kill me…should I be Jewish to be safe?"

According to a recent article by Genevieve Cora Fraser, of the Birzeit University Right to Education Project, Amr Salah, the eldest son in the family who is currently living in the United States, called for international solidarity with the family and demanded that the US government investigate the incident. Despite a call placed to the US consulate the night of the attack, neither Consul General David Pearce nor any other US diplomatic officials have investigated the Israeli military's targeting of a family with US resident and citizenship status. The family has asked that a direct appeal be made to the State Department and the US Consul General in Jerusalem demanding that US officials investigate this incident and that they censure the Israeli Navy for rewarding war-crimes.

For further information on the case of Prof. Khaled Salah please consult the following sources:

An-Najah Mourns Passing of Prof. Khalid Salah (An-Najah University Website) http://www.najah.edu/khalid_salah/khalid_eng.htm

`Death in a Cemetery' (Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz - 23 July 2004) http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1355

Demand US State Department Investigate Israel's Killing of an An-Najah University Professor (Genevieve Cora Fraser, Birzeit University – 4 March 2005) http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/news/article267

Blog entries by an ISM volunteer who was in Nablus during the killings (July 2004): http://intothemiddleeast.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2004/7/7/104352.html http://intothemiddleeast.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2004/7/18/115254.html

The Jerusalem Post article on the commendations for the unit can be found at the following URL: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1112494794483

1) All letters should be sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to request a formal investigation into the killing of Dr. Kahled Salah and his son Mohammed Salah. Letters should be addressed to:

Attn: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice U.S. Department of State 2201 C St. NW Washington, DC 20520

The State Department can also be contacted by phone +1 (202) 647-4000 and email: http://contacts.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html

2) Letters and petitions requesting that Secretary of State Rice conduct a formal investigation should also be sent to US Senators and Congressmen, heads of state and legislators throughout the world and by contacting the USA's Jerusalem Consul General:

Attn: Consul General David Pearce P.O. Box 290 Jerusalem 91002 Email: jerusalemACS@state.gov

-AND-

The US Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Email: nea-ipa@state.gov 3) Statements should also be prepared and directed to the Israeli Navy, condemning them for awarding the behavior of Shayatet-13 Commandoes during an operation in which serious breaches of the IVth Geneva Convention were made. The Israeli Navy can be reached at:

Attn: Major General David Ben-Ba'shat Israeli Navy Head Public relations department IDF Spokesman Millitary Post 01025 Fax number: 972-3- 6080343 Email: info@mail.idf.il

- OR -

Israeli Navy Contact Page (in Hebrew), which can be found at the following URL: http://www1.idf.il/NAVY/Site/Templates/controller.asp?lang=HE&fid=44028&cp=1

This is more of an information page for potential candidates. But it is still possible to register complaints and will probably be passed on if they receive a substantial number of these (after all, there is an "other" category in the topic field...) Instructions: Fill in just the mandatory fields, with the little red square. They are, in order: 1. Topic (White Field: choose the bottom option in the menu) 2. First Name (yellow field) 3. Last Name (yellow field) 4. email (yellow field) 5. School Year (choose the top option, which means "unrelated to conscription") 6. Larger box for content

- AND ALSO -

Shaul Mofaz Minister of defence Tel - 03-6976663 Fax - 03-6976218 Email - sar@mod.gov.il.

Moshe Yaalon Chief of Staff Kaplan St. Tel-Aviv Fax: 03-5695594

Please when writing/calling these officials make sure to condemn the permissive attitude towards war-crimes in the IDF and demand that the Navy launch a full investigation into the incident and that the perpetrators of this atrocity be held to account.

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

4. International Day of Action Against Caterpillar: Bil'in 13 April 2005

About 15 internationals, 6 Israelis and 50 Palestinians gathered at the Bil'in mosque with placards and posters denouncing Caterpillar and the Annexation Wall. At 2 pm the protestors left for the construction site of the Wall to stop construction on the Annexation Wall and to highlight Caterpillar's participation in war crimes in Occupied West Bank and Gaza.

As soon as we approached the construction site, eight Israeli border police informed us that we had entered a closed military zone and that we had three minutes to leave before they would start using force. Negotiations between the villagers and the border police commenced with the border police presenting a map of the area. The border police radioed the villagers request to get to the confiscated land, but were told that we had to withdraw back to the village.

At 2.30 pm we were pushed back, but managed to write "No Wall" in English and Arabic, using stones painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag, on a road leading to the village. At this point some protesters were physically pushed back towards the village, with Israeli soldiers and border police taking up positions on its edge.

At 2.45 stone throwing started against the army presence. The soldiers responded with tear gas, with the majority of the canisters shot directly at protestors. This practice is in violation of Israeli rules of engagement.

At 3 pm two Israeli human rights activists from Anarchists against the Wall were arrested and charged with verbal assault.

At approximately 3.50 pm Israeli soldiers withdrew back to the construction site. Stone throwing and tear gassing continued, with the army advancing and retreating several times before they left at 6 pm.

Just before midnight we were notified that the army had entered the village and detained two Palestinians and had confiscated their mobile phones and IDs. One humvee and jeep entered the village shortly after. We were later informed that the soldiers had in fact approached the targeted house an hour earlier on foot.

A group of 20 villagers, 10 internationals and 10 Israeli activists marched towards the house to secure the release of the detainees. Catching the army by surprise, we walked through their lines and forced the release of the Palestinians, their mobile phones and IDs. The army retreated from the village at approximately 12.20 am.

The two Israeli activists were detained over night and had a court hearing this morning (14 April 2005) in Jerusalem setting bail.

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

5. Bil'in Demonstrates against the Annexation Wall Friday April 15th

Friday, April 15, the people of Bil'in, a village in the Ramallah district, will hold a demonstration against the continued construction of the Israeli government's Annexation Wall. The demonstration will begin after prayer at 1:00pm at the village mosque.

The Annexation Wall will leave 1,500 acres and five thousand olive trees from Bil'in and its neighboring village Saffa inaccessible. Olive trees are the main source of income in Bil'in and Saffa.

The construction of the Wall in Saffa and Bil'in will incorporate existing settlements as well as planned future settlements. This is contrary to the requirements of the Road Map, which stipulates a freeze in Israeli settlement growth.

© Scoop Media