[Nettime-bold] SchNEWS on: STATE OF TERROR

["roya.jakoby" <roya@girlfish.net>]

Thought I forward you this latest newsletter from Jo Makepeace in
Brighton. His SchNews newsletter is already 3 days old, yet more than
just up-to-date. The last paragraph mentions some sickening facts that
shouldn't surprise anybody, really...

laters, roya.

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

This week's SchNEWS: http://www.schnews.org.uk/

HOLY SHIT! IT'S YER FAITHFUL

SchNEWS

Friday 5th 2002 | Issue 349

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

STATE OF TERROR

"History is repeating itself...This is fascism, how they [the Israeli
soldiers] are dealing with people, detaining them in big schools and
interrogating each one, writing numbers on them. People are terrified.
The Israeli soldiers are shooting everything. Life here has totally
stopped; it's dead. This is terrorism against civilians. It is organised

terrorism by the state...this is an organised war against a whole people

who have no weapons to resist tanks, and helicopters and F16s." -
Ashraf, a Palestinian imprisoned in his home in Ramallah.

It's Monday in Beit Jala, a small town near Bethlehem and 150 people
from the International Solidarity Movement and dozens of Palestinians
are marching peacefully in the deserted streets. They are attempting to
visit families besieged in their homes, before Israeli tanks block their

path. Two of the marchers start to move towards the tanks with their
hands up in order to negotiate, but soldiers open fire at both the crowd

and the reporters that are there. Eight people are injured, one
seriously.

Other activists are holed up with Yasser Arafat in his headquarters.
Mario Lill from Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement (MST) is one of
those who are acting as a human shield and has become a sort of war
correspondent broadcasting live to Brazil. Others such as
anti-globalisation French farmer Jose Bove were arrested in the compound

by Israeli troops.

Wednesday and two thousand people including internationals, Israeli and
Arab civilians gather at a checkpoint near Ramallah trying to get
humanitarian aid delivered to the besieged town. Soldiers fire tear gas
and baton charge people. One of the protestors was Yehudith Harel "Two
Israeli faces surfaced today. One is the decent and humane face of the
Israeli Anti-war movement - an alliance of Israeli citizens - Jews and
Arabs, adamant to struggle together for Justice for the two peoples. The

second is the ugly and brutal face of the Occupation mentality and
practices threatening to crush us."

CASUALTIES

People from around the world have been volunteering in the occupied
territories of the West Bank for over a year, taking non-violent direct
action like clearing roadblocks and acting as willing human shields to
protect the Palestinian people. Invited by Palestinian activists, these
international supporters live and work in solidarity with them - a
similar call out to the one made by the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico.
People from abroad can often get away with a lot more when protesting,
partly because they have the eyes of the international press on them -
until Monday that was, when live ammunition was fired at the
international observers for the first time.

As for the Palestinians, even the doctors, nurses and paramedics are
being used by the Israeli army as human shields or forced to strip and
sit on their knees at gunpoint in the streets. Israeli forces have
stopped ambulances delivering aid or picking up the wounded and are
detaining the Palestinian Red Crescent society and aid workers. 120
Palestinian paramedics have been killed in the last 18 months.

As Israeli tanks roll in to Palestinian settlements, they destroy
telephone lines and cut electricity and water supplies. All men between
the ages of 16 and 50 are rounded up. Some homes are destroyed, others
have their windows blown out and walls dynamited as soldiers move from
home to home. Soldiers occupy other homes forcing the residents to live
together in a single room, with little or no access to telephone lines,
news coverage or even food and water.

An entire civilian population is being openly terrorised after over 50
years of occupation by the Israeli State.

Michael Ben-Yair, former Israel attorney general said, "The Intifada is
the Palestinian people's war of national liberation. We enthusiastically

chose to become a colonist society, ignoring international treaties,
expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied
territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these
activities...we established an apartheid regime."

Lev Grinberg (Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at
Ben Gurion University) sums up the situation: "Suicide bombs killing
innocent citizens must be unequivocally condemned; they are immoral
acts, and their perpetrators should be sent to jail. But they cannot be
compared to State terrorism carried out by the Israeli Government. The
former are individual acts of despair of a people that sees no future,
vastly ignored by an unfair and distorted international public opinion.
The latter are cold and "rational" decisions of a State and a military
apparatus of occupation, well equipped, financed and backed by the only
superpower in the world."

* Boycott Israeli goods protests happening around the country this
Saturday (6th) including: Waitrose, Western Road, Brighton 11am;
Sainsbury's, Queens St. Cardiff 10am; Marks and Spencers Oxford St,
Swansea Midday. To order boycott leaflets and stickers and find out
events happening in your area email: big@palestinecampaign.org or call
the Palestine Solidarity Campaign 020 7700 6192

* Saturday 13th April National rally and demonstration for Palestine.
Assemble 2pm, Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. Tel 020 7272 2888.

* To find out about more about the International Solidarity Movement
 http://www.freepalestinecampaign.org

* Bypass the corporate media
 http://www.jerusalem.indymedia.org
 http://www.zmag.org
 http://www.palestinechronicle.com
 http://www.alternet.org

* Nearly 400 Israeli Defence Forces reservists are refusing to serve in
the occupied territories. Read their reasons why
http://www.yesh-gvul.org

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

        While Palestinians are being shot dead by Israeli troops
        and Americans wage 'War on Terrorism' BAE Systems, the
        world biggest arms trading company, are laughing all the
        way to the bank as their share prices have increased by
        13.8%. Why not congratulate them at their AGM on May 3rd.
        To get involved, contact: Campaign Against Arms Trade
        0207 2810297 http://www.caat.org.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold