arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Israel Defense Force troops raided the Bethlehem office of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) Friday, detaining three people for questioning and confiscating computer disks and other equipment.

According to Israel Radio, Palestinian sources said that two female foreign volunteers were taken away from the site and a Palestinian employee was detained for questioning.

The IDF reported that two woman, in the country illegally, had been taken away for questioning.

The raid comes a week after Israel decided to crack down on foreign volunteers in the territories, after it became apparent that the two British men involved in the suicide bombing last week on a Tel Aviv pub had posed as volunteers while in the Gaza Strip.

Israel decided that it bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering the country and will try to expel at least some of the dozens of activists who are already here, according a plan drafted by the Israel Defense Forces and the foreign and defense ministries.

Most of the activists, who come from Europe, Canada and the United States, belong to the ISM.

Their goal is to act as "human shields" for Palestinian individuals and houses during IDF incursions into Palestinian towns, and they have often been involved in confrontations with IDF soldiers. They also try to help Palestinians pass through IDF roadblocks.

Some two months ago, an American ISM activist, Rachel Corrie, was run over and killed by an IDF bulldozer in Gaza. Her colleagues accused the bulldozer driver of having run her over deliberately. The IDF denies the accusation and decided not to indict the driver. In two other recent cases, international activists have been seriously injured by IDF gunfire during confrontations in the territories.

The IDF charges that many of the self-proclaimed peace activists are "provocateurs" and "riot inciters" who deliberately interfere with the IDF's work, with the goal of blackening Israel's image. Army sources noted that in one case, they discovered a wanted terrorist being hidden by ISM activists in Jenin. The sources said the activists received training overseas in how to deceive border control officials at Ben-Gurion International Airport in order to be allowed into the country.

Furthermore, both the army and the Foreign Ministry fear that additional foreign citizens might be killed or wounded by the IDF if the ISM's activities are allowed to continue.

Last week's bombing in Tel Aviv, which was committed by two men who entered Israel on British passports, added a new reason to the authorities' desire to clamp down on the foreign activists - fear that other terrorists from overseas might enter the country under the guise of peace activists.

Friday, May 9, 2003
For Immediate Release

[Beit Sahour, Occupied Palestine] Israeli forces raided the ISM
office this morning, confiscating equipment and material and
snatching three women. At 12:30pm on Friday, May 9, approximately 20
military vehicles, army jeeps and a large armored personnel carrier
(intended for many arrests) surrounded the ISM media office in Beit
Sahour. Dozens of soldiers, border police and civilian police
officers raided the ISM office, confiscating all computers, not only
in the ISM office but in the nearby office of the Palestinian Centre
for Rapprochement. Files, CD, and photos were all pillaged, while
soldiers broke equipment and damaged office space. Israeli forces
kidnapped Palestinian volunteer, Fida, American volunteer, Flo, and
a worker with Human Rights Watch visiting the office. At the time of
this writing, Fida has been released, and the internationals seem to
have been moved to the office of the Israeli Ministry of Interior,
most probably for deportation.

The Israeli government has declared an open war on international
peace and human rights workers. Israeli forces are doing everything
in their power to specifically prevent the nonviolent resistance to
their military rule. The stepped-up harassment of internationals and
journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is nothing short
of a further attempt to shield from the international community the
brutality of daily Israeli military actions against the Palestinian
people.

The ISM, however, has no plans to leave the Palestinian areas nor to
reduce our actions or our efforts. We need your help. Please protest:

In the US: Contact your congressperson, the State Department and the
White House using this link.
http://www.cflweb.org/congress_merge_.htm or http://www.congress.gov
Also call the State Department and demand action. STATE DEPARTMENT 1-
202-647-5150

For UK, Please call THE FOREIGN OFFICE 020 7008 1500, Also Contact
your MP and Prime Minister

For Israel Contact Israeli Minister of Interior, Tel: +972-2-629-
4701; Fax: +972-2-629-4750
Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom Fax: +972-2-5303704 e-mail:
sar@mofa.gov.ilIsraeli
Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz Fax: +972-3-6916940, 6976990 e-mail:
sar@mod.gov.il
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fax: (+972-2) 566-4838 or 651-3955 or
651-2631

For Canada: Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham, House of
Commons, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6; Fax 613-996-3443

Everyone, Contact the Israeli embassy in your country

See our website: http://www.palsolidarity.org for more ways to help or get
involved.

For more information, please call: +972-2-277-4602