arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)
Nablus under renewed attack
by Maria V. Monday, Nov. 04, 2002 at 11:23 PM
At 5:00 AM Sunday morning Israeli troops rolled into Nablus, re-imposing the 24h/d military curfew on the city that had been partially lifted for the past 3 weeks. The curfew follows an extremely violent but 'routine' arrest operation by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers in the Askar refugee camp inside Nablus. (based on ISM-reports and pressrelease)
International ISM volunteer Susan Barclay (U.S. Citizen) on the situation in Nablus: "Israeli Army were sporadically shooting all day into the city and outskirts of refugee camps." This morning five high school students from the Balata Refugee Camp were seriously wounded by
Israeli tank fire while on their way to school, not knowing curfew had been imposed. Israeli soldiers have taken to the hilltops and back roads, stopping all Palestinian movement and also arresting any Palestinian not carrying an identification card.
The arrest operation in the refugee camp concerned one man and was considered so routine it was not even mentioned in the Israeli or International press. 'Routine' in Palestine means the IOF arrives in the camp and opens fire indiscriminately and incessantly to awaken and simultaneously paralyze everyone with fear. It means hundreds of human beings packed into dense homes that awaken in the flash of a second to bullets, thundering through the thin alleys, ricocheting off cement walls, garbage cans, and steal doors. In their search for Naser Abu Aliz, soldiers entered and blew apart 6 houses of his family, friends, acquintances, neighbours. The houses they found empty they ransacked and in th others they fired live ammunition in front of parents and children as young as 6 years and 8 months old. At 4:50 the IOF left Askar camp; leaving 6 houses in utter disarray, 9 other homes with their windows blown out, and people glued together in sticky, terrified tears.
Israeli news sources report that the army suspects a bomb making factory present in Nablus.
Journalists and activists are urgently needed to come to Nablus. Please contact:
Susan Barclay: tel. +972-55-829-680, +972-59-877091
Saif Abu-Kishek: tel. +972-59-335-271, +972-67-328-536
Hussein Khalili: tel. +972-59-355-404