IMC Newsblast - Palestinians under seige

IMC NEWS BLAST | Thursday, 4 April, 2002 | http://www.indymedia.org

The week-long siege continues with even more casualties and attacks
on civilians and journalists. Six Palestinian citizens of Israel
were severely beaten by Israeli police at a protest outside the US
Embassy in Israel. Nine injured internationals are missing after
leaving in ambulances from the West Bank to meet embassy officials. A
group of Italian politicians tried to enter Tel Aviv to put pressure
on Israel to let the internationals leave Bethlehem; Israel refused
to negotiate and kicked the delegation out of the country. Israel
refused a high-level EU delegation from any form of mediation with or
without Arafat; but the US envoy will get to meet Arafat on Friday.
Israeli helicopters, tanks, and
troops fight with armed Palestinians in Nablus. Israel has taken over
1,000 prisoners. Food and water is running out for everyone under
the occupation. Corpses are rotting in the streets. A newborn baby
died at the Dheishe UN Medical Clinic today because IDF soldiers
would not allow the ambulance passage to the hospital. All reporters
within the seige are being intentionally targeted by IDF snipers.

IMC NEWS BLAST: a selection of important news summaries, stories, opinions
and media found on a variety of the Independent Media Center websites.

2. BREAKING NEWS
* Uncensored continuous coverage on Indymedia sites
* Contacts in Palestine

3. KEY ARTICLES
* Eyewitness accounts and other reports
* Israeli Refuseniks
* History and Political Analysis
* International activists in Palestine
* International journalists in Palestine under attack
* Palestinian protests in the occupied territories

5. WORLDWIDE SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATIONS
* International solidarity protests
* How can I protest?

8. KEY RESOURCES
* Middle-East Media
* Other Alternative Media
* Activist resources

Protests erupted when Ariel Sharon, Israel's most agressive military
leader, came to power in 2000, and then brought 1000 armed Israeli
soldiers to Jerusalem's holiest site. The Israeli military attacked
civilians and Palestinian suicide bombers retaliated. The siege
against the Palestinian people has been accelerating since the
breakdown of the Oslo peace accords two years ago. Over 300 Israeli
army officers and troops are refusing to participate in the
occupation. Titular Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, is under
siege in his office; Egypt has suspended most diplomatic relations
with Israel, and other Arab countries might get involved following
massive Anti-Israel civilian protests.

Media coverage of the Palestinain-Israeli conflict is shockingly
problematic, political, and uneven--especially in the United States.
But hundreds of thousands of international readers are depending on
Indymedia as a primary source for breaking news -- articles,
photographs, audio and video -- from the occupied terroritories. Many
of our journalists are being held captive or are under siege, while
many other people who have access to the internet continue to publish
to the IMC-Palestine site. This newsblast contains essential reading
to give those reports context and balance.

~ Uncensored continuous coverage on Indymedia sites ~
Eyewitness accounts, photos, audio interviews and video:

~ IMC Journalist Contacts in Palestine ~
(for international dialing drop the 0 before the phone number)
English - Heather 00 972 (0) 67 270 398
English - Georgina 00 972 (0) 55 840 767/ 00 972 (0) 674 5459
English - IMC Palestine 00 972 (0) 2 277 7558
Arabic/English - Bilal 00 972 (0) 52 814 992
Italian - Francesca 00 39 3389 77 3899

The IMC-Palestine website launched 28 March, 2002, brings Indymedia
innovation to the civil war. Using Indymedia's innovative
"open-publishing" newswire, journalists and activists on the scene
have had the ability to upload articles, images, audio, and video,
directly and immediately to the Indymedia newswires, without the
filters and controls of most media. With very little publicity, the
IMC-Palestine site has had phenomenal traffic, a testament to the
poignancy of immediate, and authentic, grassroots reporting.

If you'd like to receive the IMC Newsblasts, you can subscribe by going to
www.indymedia.org and clicking on the IMC-News Updates in the left column,
or go directly to: http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-news

The IMC is a decentralized network of independent media makers,
organizers, and activists working to increase democracy and social
justice by reporting events and producing information as acts of
autonomy, resistance, and liberation. This News Blast was compiled
by a working group comprised of
individuals throughout the network.

The IMC was established to cover the WTO protests in Seattle in
November, 1999. Hundreds of media activists have since set up nearly
sevently independent media centers around the world, including sites
in Argentina, Belgium, Brasil, Chiapas, Canada, France, Italy,
Nigeria, Palestine, South Africa, Sydney, U.S. and many more.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)