1-Non-violent protest against the Israeli "Apartheid Wall" is met with tear gas, clubs and rubber bullets in Jayyous village. 2- 52-year-old English humanitarian worker Angie Zeltzer arrived Sunday evening at Ben Gurion Airport, and was denied entrance to Israel. 3- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SEEKING JUSTICE IN ISRAELI COURT FACES DEPORTATION 4- Almost Armchair Travel 5-International Solidarity Movement - Media Advisory 6-Jenin Victims Narrate Israeli Atrocities in Extraordinary Book

1-Non-violent protest against the Israeli "Apartheid Wall" is met with
tear gas, clubs and rubber bullets in Jayyous village.

Jayyous, Qalqilia, Dec 29, 2002 --

Up to 500 Palestinians, supported by more than 100 internationals,
converged on the village of Jayyous today after two separate marches
passed through several villages in the Qalqilia district in the
occupied West Bank of Palestine. The rally was to demonstrate clear
opposition to the building of Israel's so-called "security fence",
better known as the "Apartheid Wall". Instead of following
the "Green Line" separating Israel from the Palestinian West Bank, the
wall in fact reaches up to six kilometers into Palestinian land,
confiscating valuable Palestinian agricultural land and water.

As the Palestinians and internationals passed through northern and
southern Qalqilia, in the village of Ezbet Salman demonstrators were
confronted by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers who used tear gas
against the marchers. Nevertheless, the marchers continued to Jayyous,
where they rallied in a schoolyard. After speeches
denouncing the wall, Palestinian farmers and internationals tried to
march together to their fields where Israeli contractors were
preparing the wall foundation on confiscated land only 200 meters from
the village.

They were met by private security guards employed by the wall
contractor who were crouched in a firing position with Uzi rifles at the
edge of the village. Together with Israeli soldiers, they
attempted to bar the marchers' path out of Jayyous. The
demonstrators tried to negotiate their passage to the fields.
Despite tension, the demonstration remained peaceful until an
Israeli Border Patrol jeep forced its way through the crowd from the
rear. The Israeli soldiers and security guards brandished truncheons to
create a path the demonstration.

Shortly thereafter the Israeli soldiers threw a concussion grenade into
the crowd, followed by rounds of tear gas. In the chaos that followed,
young men began to throw stones at the Israeli soldiers. Two Palestinian
men were shot in the groin and leg with rubber
bullets. Mustafa Shawkat Samha, a local Palestinian journalist with a
Palestinian press pass, was forcibly detained by Israeli Border Police
on the suspicion of throwing stones, despite the insistence of many
people who saw him during the clash that he did not throw any stones.

After dark fell 20 soldiers in five army jeeps drove through the
village of Jayyous announcing a curfew. The soldiers entered at
least three homes, in one case by kicking in the door, demanding to see
IDs. In one home, it was reported that Israeli soldiers
attacked and injured a mother who had intervened to stop the
soldiers from beating her young son.

According to a report by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network
(PENGON), the entire planned Apartheid Wall, which has begun to go up in
the Qalqilia district, will effectively annex 10% of
Palestinian land in
the West Bank. In Jayyous alone 72% of local land will be lost. The land
in the Qalqilia area is some of the most fertile in the West Bank, and
contains important water aquifers.

For more information on-the-ground, please contact Radhika at 052 574
754, Patrick at 067 628 514 or 052 371 338, and Issam from
Jayyous at 059 778 185.
=============================================================
2- 52-year-old English humanitarian worker Angie Zeltzer arrived
Sunday evening at Ben Gurion Airport, and was denied entrance to
Israel.

She came in order to testify in a criminal trial against a settler from
Kiryat Arba who assaulted her, cursed her and spat at her face, when she
photographed him throwing stones at Palestinians in Hebron and injuring
a young boy badly.

She decided to fight the deportation order. Her lawyer, attorney
Shamai Leibowitz, filed a petition in the Tel Aviv district court. The
authorities realized that soon a judge might issue an interim injuction,
sobeforethe judge on duty could be found - the Ministry of Interior
officials tried to force her onto an airplane.

She was assaulted by the Head of the Immigration Police in the
airport, wrapped up in a blanket, and forcefully dragged to an
Austrian Airlines airplane. She screamed for help, and tried to
resist but they violently threw her onto the airplane. She continued
shoutingfor help, and the pilot refused to take off. The pilot
ordered the government officials to take her off the airplane.

Weeping and crying she was brought back to the cell at the airport.
Meanwhile, at 20:00, the judge on duty finally issued a stay of the
deportation, and scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, December 31, at 11:30
AM at the District Court in Tel Aviv. The judge hearing the case will be
Judge Ruth Eliaz.
==============================================================
3- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SEEKING JUSTICE IN ISRAELI COURT
FACES DEPORTATION

International Women's Peace Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: IWPS Hares (+972)(0)9-251-6644
Shamai Leibowitz 064-414-505; 03-670-4170

HEARING IN TEL AVIV DISTRICT COURT,
11:30 A.M. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2002

Angie Zelter, a founder of International Women's Peace Service-
Palestine was stopped at the airport on Sunday when she attempted to
comply with an order to appear as a witness in an Israeli court
proceeding. Zelter, a British citizen, was to appear at the trial of
Frank Karmel, which was scheduled for December 31 at the Russian
Compound court in Jerusalem. Ms. Zelter was attacked by Karmel, a
settler from Avraha Avino in Hebron on August 29, 2001, while
attempting to stop teenage Israeli girls from throwing stones at an
elderly Palestinian man. Karmel hit Zelter on the head, wrestled a
camera off her neck and smashed it to pieces, spat at her and
verbally abused her as she witnessed and photographed the attack on the
Palestinian man.

However, when she arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday afternoon,
Zelter was told that she was not allowed to enter Israel
for "security reasons" and that there was no record of her pending court
case. She was detained and placed in a holding cell at the airport
police station and told that she would be immediately put on a flight
back to Britain. The UK consulate, which has followed the case of Frank
Karmel, intervened to stop the deportation
temporarily. However, late Monday afternoon, Karmel's attorney
accepted a plea bargain. Zelter was told that there was no longer any
need for her to testify, and she would be summarily deported. Police
attempted to physically put her on a plane back to London, but Zelter
argued so profusely that the flight crew refused to have her on board.
Zelter then contacted attorney Shammai Leibowitz who filed a petition to
stay the deportation order so that Zelter can witness the plea and
sentencing of the person who attacked her.

Zelter was anxious to appear in court in order to spotlight the
impunity with which settlers routinely flout Israeli and
international law. Most cases of violence against Palestinians by
Israeli settlers in the West Bank are not prosecuted; even murders of
Palestinians by settlers have been dropped for "lack of
evidence." Zelter hoped, by vigorously pursuing the prosecution of this
incident, to encourage others to hold Israeli settlers, who are living
in Palestine in violation of international law, accountable under
Israeli law for the violence they routinely perpetrate in an effort to
drive Palestinians from their land.

When she was attacked by Karmel, Zelter was volunteering with the
Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international human rights
organization. Since then, Zelter helped to found IWPS, which is
supporting local efforts toward nonviolent peacemaking in the Salfit
District, a fertile area which has the second highest settlement
population in the West Bank. "Angie cooperated with Israeli
security forces to ensure protection for Palestinians during the
recent olive harvest, so it is ironic that she is now being called a
security threat," said Arik Asherman of Rabbis for Human Rights,
which works closely with IWPS. Zelter's long-time peace work is the
subject of a documentary currently being produced for British
television. Israeli authorities have refused to tell Zelter or her
attorney what the "security reasons" for her being denied entry are.

Zelter's appeal will be heard in the Tel Aviv District Court on
Tuesday, December 31, 2002 at 11:30 a.m. Hopefully, this will
enable her to be in Jerusalem for the Karmel plea hearing at 2:00 p.m.
END
==============================================================
4- Almost Armchair Travel
Annie C. Higgins

I took a tour of the Palestinian territories over a six hour time span,
quite swift considering the state of roads and roadblocks in the West
Bank and Gaza. I did it the easy way, almost like armchair travel, but
from one hospital bed to another at the Jordan Hospital in Amman, where
many Palestinians are brought for treatment that
they cannot get in Palestine.

Upon my arrival I heard news from Jenin, which I had left the day
before: the Israeli Army dropped bombs on a house, killing `Alaa
Sabbagh and `Imad Nasharte, both active in the resistance, and
leaving a newborn infant fatherless. As I was told, an unmanned
surveillance plane had been hovering above to target the house, and then
the house was attacked from the air.

But I was visiting people who were more fortunate, people whose
existence itself remains a form of resistance.

My first stop was with `Imad Jabbarin whose legs were badly injured when
an unexploded landmine left behind by Israeli invaders exploded in the
street outside his house. This took place in June 2002 when the
destroyed area of the Jenin Refugee Camp was being cleared. I recalled
the emphatic declaration of a foreign member of a team
examining the remaining materiel in the Camp: "We found absolutely no
evidence of the use of landmines!" `Imad is making great
improvement. By November he was able to take a sitting position in bed,
and had used a wheelchair once.

A young boy about eight years old from Nablus sped in and out of the
room in a wheelchair, calling a brief hello. I was to see him
frequently, but just as a flash. His childhood was slightly revised, but
still constituted of action and play.

A mother from Nablus invited me to visit her son in an isolated
room. We donned masks and gloves before entering. Her son, Nidal
Sharif, was resting quietly but his Palestinian instinct of
hospitality was instantly activated, and he greeted me, offered me a
chair, and a part of the orange he was eating. He had been shot in
several places, but most dangerous was the bullet that entered at the
bridge of his nose. He was conscious and alert, which was an
excellent sign, but he needed special attention.

Back in a regular room which has about seven beds, I met Nidal Jirmi
from Nablus whom I found to be the uncle of a young woman I had met in
Balata Refugee Camp in June. She was the one whose little girl had
dancingly approached the soldier and his gun as he kept us in a room
while his comrades searched the house. The soldier had smiled, but
Shirin called the little girl back. Later the guard very
thoughtfully had another soldier bring a wastebasket for one-week- old
Mujahid's diaper. Mujahid, of course, means "one who struggles" as those
in the resistance do. The soldier who shot Shirin's uncle had not been
in the same thoughtful mode as our guard.

Jenin Refugee Camp was also represented by Rami Wasfi Ibrahim whose
mother had been allowed to accompany him to Jordan since he is a
minor. Most of these journeys are made under the auspices of the
Palestinian Authority, but many patients wait months languishing in
hospitals without treatment, until the permission comes through.

The city of Jenin's representative was Jamal Rabi` al-Qutt, a
delightful boy who would be in high school had he not left school to
support the family by taking a wheeled cart around the streets to find
customers with his bright charm. His injury at the hand of the Army had
cost him his hand. He would jokingly hold up his handless forearm and
pretend it was a microphone. He had more verve and joi- de-vivre than I
have seen from some people who haven't suffered so much as a scratch.

Another young man, older than Jamal, had also been wounded in the arm.
His entire forearm was gone, and he had written his feelings about the
Army's skill on the cast where his elbow should be: "You are all dogs,
and my life is torture/kullukum kilaab wa-
hayaati `adhaab." Yet he too had high spirits, and could joke and engage
in fun conversation with everyone in the ward. He happily
took up the job of distributing the extra pastries that I had
brought. When I was offering treats, I made sure to offer an apple,
rather than an orange that needed peeling, to those with only one hand.

The shiny-haired boy from Nablus continued to zip in and out in his race
car wheelchair.

My heart was stolen by a youth from Tulkarem whose head was in a
device that seemed to orbit at eye-level with a steel band. Its
purpose was to get his vertebrae back into the correct position. Oh,
such patience in that face, but also a clear longing to be free of
metal, and lying down, and this imposed abnormality. Ahmad
Muhammad `Awde had been shot by a tank's sniper while returning from
high school. The bullet entered the back of his neck and exited from the
front. He was not throwing stones. He is a top student who loves school,
and had attended with the other students in spite of the
Army's illegally imposed curfew. Now in the Jordan Hospital, he
wanted more than anything to eat normally, instead of being fed by a
tube. His mother motioned me to keep my bag of fruit out of sight. But
he had dreamt of eating his favorite foods, and that was some relief. He
had spent seven days in Kfar Sabi` Hospital in Israel
before being transferred to Jordan.

`Attaf Thabit from Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus had taken shrapnel in
both legs, with one still in need of treatment. He was to go to Iraq
within the week. Nobody else seemed to find this an unusual
destination, and they spoke of specialists there.

I tried to calm a local hero, schoolboy Jihad Abu Layl of Jenin
Refugee Camp who had lost an arm. I reminded him of his friends back
home, and how they had deputized me to say hello. He was not to be
consoled, and the doctor in Intensive Care reminded him there were other
patients who needed attention, as well as some quiet on the floor.

Hamid Rashid Qufayshe from Khalil/Hebron joined Mahmoud Abu Shamali of
Gaza, both recovering from the effects of Israeli snipers'
excellent aim. Mahmoud Abu Sahlul of Khan Younis in Gaza,
temporarily blinded, was hoping to regain his sight. In the bed next to
him was a boy from the village of Sile near Jenin who had lost an eye,
but was moving about energetically with his new perspective.

Many patients were accompanied by family members, mostly parents
because the majority of the wounded are so young. It is like a
military hospital, except that none of them are soldiers. I am
reminded that Palestine does not have a formal Army to defend
against this unrelenting, formidable foe. In traditional Arabic
poetry, war is a mill, grinding away lives. In contemporary
metaphor, Palestine has been called a fire whose fuel is its youths.
There is no formal Army to protect them.

Dr. Annie C. Higgins specializes in Arabic and Islamic studies, and is
currently doing research in Jenin, Occupied Palestine.

Annie Higgins in Jenin, Occupied Palestine
tel: + 972-67-540-298
==============================================================
MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release

December 31, 2002

PALESTINIANS AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS TO DEFY
ISRAELI CHECKPOINT IN GAZA

Sunday, December 31, 2002 -- a group of Palestinians, on the
initiative of the Palestinian Popular Refugee Committee in Rafah
(Gaza Strip), will attempt to cross an Israeli Occupation Forces
checkpoint at Mawasi in order to deliver emergency food and medical
supplies to a village surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements.

Over 300 Palestinians are expected to be at the checkpoint from the
Rafah side, and another 100 from the Mawasi side to greet them. The
delegation will be accompanied over 25 international observers (from
Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the United States).

The action will begin at 10am at the Palestinian Popular Refugee
Committee Center in Rafah, and expects to be at the Mawasi
checkpoint by 12:00 noon time. The checkpoint is surrounded by IOF guard
towers, and live bullet rounds have been reported to be shot at others
that try to cross the checkpoint without IDF authorization.

Contact in Rafah: Kristen (059 357 526 or 067 341 268)
======================================
5-International Solidarity Movement
Media Advisory

[Nablus, Askar Refugee camp, Monday Dec. 30, 2002]

The Family of Abu Bushar in askar Refugee camp is expecting their 19
year old sun Mahmoud to be arrested at any time after they have
received a call from
the military that they are coming to arrest him soon.

Three days ago, the army invaded the house looking for MOhammad and shot
at the place that he is supposed to be sleeping at.

The army threatened that they would kill him if he does not trurn
himself in soon.

ISM activists are staying with the family since three days.

Please act to stop an expected murder, call embassies and Israeli
official bodies.

For more info call: Eden 067-361-694 (Staying with the Family)

==============================================================
6-Jenin Victims Narrate Israeli Atrocities in Extraordinary Book

Monday, December 30 2002 - Palestine Chronicle

Prof. Norman G. Finkelstein: "I am grateful to the editors of this
volume for preserving the truth of Jenin's martyrdom for future
generations - and, in doing so, redeeming in some small measure the
suffering endured there."

http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=2002123005580064

SEATTLE (PalestineChronicle.com) - After several months of Israeli
attempts to conceal the conduct of the IDF in the Israeli invasion of
the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, the most compelling,
detailed and revealing account of the historic events will finally be
available to the public.

The book entitled "Searching Jenin, Eyewitness Accounts of the
Israeli Invasion, 2002", is without a doubt, a must for anyone
interested in Middle East history, politics and current events. The
work, which includes final statistics of casualties, human and
material losses, is by far the most comprehensive and exhaustive
volume written on the issue.

"Searching Jenin," a collective effort of nearly 60 scholars,
reporters, and activists, Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, is
edited by Ramzy Baroud, editor-in-chief of alestineChronicle.com, and
includes a Forward by the highly-renowned scholar, Noam Chomsky. The
book is being published by Cune Press in Seattle, and is a part of their
Bridge Between Cultures project.

"I owe my greatest thanks to our commissioned reporters in
Palestine,"said Ramzy Baroud, the editor of 'Searching Jenin", Many of
them put their safety, and in some cases, their lives on the line to
collect account after tragic account for this book. Because of their
integrity and professionalism, they were able to interview
many high profile figures that refused to take an interview with any
other news agency."

Not only does the book include scores of telling accounts of
residents who witnessed and survived the invasion, but it includes
interviews with people such as the wife and the mother of Mahmud
Tawalbe, the leader of the resistance in Jenin. Tawalbe was shot and
killed by Israeli forces. The book also includes a detailed
interview with the only eyewitness to the extra-judicial execution of
Abu Jandal, the second in command of the Palestinian resistance in
Jenin.

The courageous reporters who combed the streets of Jenin, interviewed
medical personnel, resistance fighters, and even children, including an
8 year old girl named Rund, who complained that the army broke her only
doll. Rund's father was later shot and killed by the army. They also
interviewed an elderly widow who explained how she
implored Israeli forces as they demolished her small home, burying her
disabled son alive under the rubble. Her son's body was never recovered.

"We had so many obstacles to overcome, primarily the Israeli army's
refusal to allow me entry into Palestine," stated Baroud. "For the past
several months, the Israeli government has done everything in their
power to cover-up their actions, including the barring of a UN
investigation team to the area. Until now, the Palestinians are
still unable to carry out their own official investigation due to the
fact that the camp is still under a strict curfew. But in spite of all
these hurdles, and thanks to the hard work and contributions of so many,
the truth is going to come out into the light."

Baroud and Cune Press are ready for the anticipated controversy such a
book will stir, which follows the recent release of the film
documentary titled, "Jenin, Jenin", a film that was abruptly banned by
the Israeli government. However, they both state that "Searching Jenin"
will not simply add fuel to the controversy about the events in Jenin,
but that it will prove to be the most revealing document to date
regarding the atrocities last April that came to be a symbol of
Palestinian resistance world-wide.

Ali Samoudi, the project facilitator in Jenin stressed, "The
promotion of this important book is the collective responsibility of all
who care about justice and truth. This book is dear to the
hearts off all refugees in Jenin, because for the first time, we are
narrating our own story."

For further information or to order your copy of "Searching Jenin"
contact our managing editor, Suzanne Russ:
Russ@PalestineChronicle.com

Ramzy Baroud is available for interviews and welcomes book reviews, he
can be reached at:
Ramzy Baroud <Editor@PalestineChronicle.com>