-the greatest threat to world peace- visit, look, and vote 2-Duisenberg: Israeli occupation worse than Nazi occupation of Netherlands 3- Beginning to Understand? 4-Manufacturing Anti-Semites 5- No Witnesses 6-Nablus Report - Lina Jansson 7-Two articles with photos worth looking at

1-the
greatest threat to world peace- visit, look, and vote
Time Magazine is polling to see who people think is the greatest threat to world
peace. Guess who's winning so far. Go cast your vote and find out.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/gdml/peace2003.html?cnn==yes
=============================================================================================================================================================2-Duisenberg:
Israeli occupation worse than Nazi occupation of Netherlands

By Reuters

AMSTERDAM - A Dutch Jewish group on Friday called on European Central Bank chief Wim
Duisenberg to distance himself from "disturbing and highly controversial" statements
by his pro-Palestinian wife during a visit to the Middle East.

Europe's top central banker waded into an escalating row over his activist wife
Gretta Duisenberg earlier this week after she met Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat and urged Israel to stop occupying the West Bank and Gaza strip.

Gretta Duisenberg, head of Dutch group "Stop the Occupation," has been attacked by
the Israeli and Dutch governments as biased. Her mission has reportedly split over
concerns its message was being obscured by the Duisenberg commotion.

The Duisenberg controversy deepened on Friday when she was quoted by a Dutch
newspaper comparing Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza with Nazi
Germany's occupation of the Netherlands during World War Two.

"With the exception of the Holocaust, the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian
areas is worse than the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands," she was quoted as
saying in an interview with the Algemeen Dagblad daily newspaper.

"The cruelty of the Israelis has no limits. That they are blowing up houses of
Palestinians is not rare. The Nazis never went that far during the occupation of the
Netherlands," she reportedly told the Algemeen Dagblad.

Gretta Duisenberg, who last year created a storm of controversy and received a death
threat after she flew a Palestinian flag from her Amsterdam family home, could not
be reached for comment.

Wim Duisenberg earlier this week lent support to his wife in a letter to Dutch
foreign minister who had criticized her use of a diplomatic passport for her trip,
saying that he was 100 percent behind her.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), one of the most
prominent Jewish organisations in the Netherlands, called on Wim Duisenberg in an
open letter to clarify whether he supported his wife's controversial remarks.

"These statements by your wife are disturbing and highly controversial," CIDI said.

"The ECB derives its strength from operating independently from any political
debate. But if we take your remark in your letter that you are 100 percent behind
your wife at face value, we must conclude you approve," the group said.

The United States, Israel's guardian ally, this month joined a chorus of
international criticism at Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes which
have been denounced as "collective" punishment by Palestinians and human rights
groups.

The Organisation of Jewish Communities in the Netherlands said Gretta Duisenberg's
comments had not served the peace process in the Middle East but had polarised
opinions. It roundly condemned comments in the newspaper interview.

"It's a disgrace. It's really an insult to those Jews and non-Jews who perished...,"
a spokesman said.
=============================================================================================================================================================3-
Beginning to Understand?
by David Redmon
January 10, 2003

> Tonight at 9:00 p.m. in Biet Sahour, Palestine, an > Israeli soldier aimed and
> shook his M-16 rifle at me and my Palestinian friends. What did we violate to
> receive such deviant treatment? We were standing outside, talking to each other in
> front of our hotel, otherwise known as "breaking curfew." "Get back inside! Get
> back inside!" the Israeli soldier yelled as he walked towards us with his American
> funded gun aimed at my body.

For an American who walks the streets of Boston with my friends and loved ones, the
experience with the Israeli soldier was confusing and scary. For Palestinians who
live in the cities where the Israeli military occupy their land with tanks and
F-16s, patrol the streets 24 hours a day, kill Palestinian civilians on a daily
basis, and terrorize Palestinian families while sleeping in their homes, this
abnormal situation is common.

I follow the soldier's orders and go inside the empty hotel that caters to the
non-existing tourists. Hussein, an eleven year old boy who lives next door to the
hotel, looks at me and says, "I speak French, English, and Arabic. What do you
speak?" I respond in the singular, "English." Hussein smiles and says, "We cannot be
Palestinians in our land. We cannot exist if the Israeli military continues to
patrol our streets and enforce curfew."elevenished by his elevent year old
intellect, I inquire with a seemingly naive question, "What is curfew?" Hussein
ponders for a few seconds and carefully explains curfew to me as if I am an eleven
year old. "It is house arrest. It means I can't go to school, I can't go outside to
play. I can't go see my friends, buy food with my family, or go for a walk." I
continue, "What will happen if you go outside?" Hussein chuckles at my question. In
an adult-like manner he shrugs his shoulders, raises his hands in frustration, and
says, "If the soldiers catch me, they will arrest me."

Two Israeli military jeeps slowly driving through the Palestinian streets
immediately interrupt my lesson from eleven year-old Hussein. The men inside the
jeep are holding M-16s and repeatedly announce, "It is forbidden to be outside! It
is forbidden to move!" Epiphany: I am a prisoner inside this hotel. I cannot leave.
I cannot talk with the neighbors, buy a fresh pineapple, or go for a walk with
Hussein. For a brief moment, I am Palestinian. Hussein looks at me, projects a
frustrated smile, shrugs his shoulders and expresses his frustration, "See what I
mean? Do you understand our situation?" Epiphany: I am an American, imprisoned by
pro-Israeli propaganda everywhere in the U.S.A. What can I do but respond to him
with honest, sincere ignorance? "No, but I'm beginning to understand. I'm trying to
understand."

In 10 days I will return to the privilege, expensive rent, and gross inequalities in
Boston. I will hold the hand of the woman I love as we walk the streets together,
passing the homeless who use Starbucks coffee cups to request spare change. During
this walk I will wonder, "Do the hundreds of other people in the streets around us
understand the situations in Palestine?" If not, I hope they are beginning to
understand; I hope they are trying to understand. It's too bad Hussein will not be
there to explain it to us like an eleven year old.

------------------------
David Redmon is not a journalist, but he is a
volunteer for International Solidarity Movement and is
currently experiencing the occupation in Nablus.
Please access http://www.palsolidarity.org for more
information.
=======================================================================================================================================================4-Manufacturing
Anti-Semites
Uri Avnery

The first Israeli victim of Saddam Hussein is a Zionist myth on which we were
brought up. The myth tells us that Israel is a haven for all the Jews in the world.
In all the other countries, we are told, Jews live in perpetual fear that a cruel
persecutor will arise, as happened in Germany. Israel is the safe haven, to which
Jews can escape in times of danger. Indeed, this was the purpose of Israel's
founding fathers when they established the state.

Now Saddam comes along and proves the opposite. All over the world, Jews live in
safety; they are threatened by annihilation in only one place on the planet: Israel.
Here
national parks are being prepared for use as mass graves, here (pathetic) measures
against biological and chemical weapons are being prepared. Many people are already
planning to escape to the communities in the Diaspora. End of a myth.

Another Zionist myth died even before that: The Diaspora, so we learned in our
youth, creates anti-Semitism. Everywhere the Jews are a minority, and a minority
inevitably attracts the hatred of the majority. Only when the Jews gather in the
land of their forefathers and constitute the majority there, we learned, will
anti-Semitism disappear throughout the world. Thus spoke Herzl, the founder of
modern Zionism.

Nowadays this myth, too, is giving up its blessed soul. Whatever good the existence
of the State of Israel may or may not have done, the current government of Israel is

quickly undoing. The Sharon government is a giant laboratory for the growing of the
anti-Semitism virus. It exports it to the whole world. Anti-Semitic organizations,
which for many years vegetated on the margins of society, rejected and despised, are
suddenly growing and flowering. Anti-Semitism, which had hidden itself in shame
since World War II, is now riding on a great wave of opposition to Sharon's policy
of oppression.

Sharon's propaganda agents are pouring oil on the flames by accusing all critics of
his policy of being anti-Semites. Many good people, who feel no hatred at all
towards the Jews but who detest the persecution of Palestinians, are now called
anti-Semites. Thus the sting is taken out of this word, giving it something
approaching respectability.

The practical upshot: not only is the State of Israel not protecting Jews from
anti-Semitism, but—on the contrary—its government is manufacturing and exporting the
anti-Semitism that threatens Jews around the world.

For many years, Israel enjoyed the sympathy of most people. It was seen as the state
of Holocaust survivors, a small and courageous country defending itself against the
repeated assaults of murderous Arabs. Slowly, this image has been replaced by
another: a cruel, brutal, and colonizing state, oppressing a small and helpless
people. The persecuted has become the persecutor; David has turned into Goliath.

We Israelis, living in a bubble of self-delusion, find it hard to imagine how the
world sees us. In many countries, television and newspapers publish daily pictures
of
Palestinian children throwing stones at monstrous tanks, soldiers harassing women at
checkpoints, despairing old men sitting on the ruins of their demolished homes,
soldiers taking aim and shooting children. These soldiers do not look like human
beings in uniform—the world does not see "the neighbor's son" most Israelis see.
These soldiers look like robots without faces, armed to the teeth, heads hidden by
helmets, bullet-proof vests changing their proportions.

People who have seen these photos dozens and hundreds of times start to see the
whole State of Israel in this image. For Jews, this creates a dangerous, vicious
circle. Sharon's actions create repulsion and opposition throughout the world. These
actions reinforce anti-Semitism. Faced with this danger, Jewish organizations are
pushed into defending Israel and giving it unqualified support. This support enables
the anti-Semites to attack not only the government of Israel, or the State of Israel
as a whole, but local Jews, too. And so on.

Anti-Semites of all stripes and hues are, of course, repulsive. They will vilify
Jews whatever we do. Anti-Semitism, like other forms of racism, is never justified.
But that is not the point. The point is that the actions of the Sharon government,
and the unqualified support given to this government by the Jewish establishment,
has enabled these hard-core anti-Semites to win over well-meaning people who are
repelled by Sharon's actions.

The Israeli government pretends to speak for all Jews around the world, yet no
attempt has been made by mainstream Jewish organizations to reject this claim. This
may turn out to be a terrible mistake.

In Europe, Jews already feel the pressure to reject Sharon. But in the United
States, Jews still feel supremely self-confident. In Europe, Jews have learned over
the
centuries that it is not wise to be too conspicuous and to display their wealth and
influence. But in America, the very opposite is happening: the Jewish establishment
is
practically straining to prove that it controls the country.

Every few years, the Jewish lobby "eliminates" an American politician who does not
support the Israeli government unconditionally. This is not done secretly, behind
the
scenes, but as a public "execution." Just now the Jewish establishment rallied
against the black congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a young, active, intelligent, and
very
sympathetic woman. She had dared to criticize the Sharon government, to support the
Palestinian cause, and (worst of all from the Jewish establishment's standpoint) she
had gained the support of Israeli and Jewish peace groups. The Jewish establishment
found a counter-candidate, a practically unknown black woman, injected huge sums
into the campaign, and defeated Cynthia.

All this happened in the open, with fanfare, to make a public example of McKinney—so
that every senator and congressperson would know that criticizing Sharon is
tantamount to political suicide. Not content with this flexing of power, the
pro-Israel lobby—which consists of Jews and extreme right-wing Christian
fundamentalists—is now pushing the Bush administration to start a war in Iraq.

This, too, openly and in full view of the American public. Dozens of articles in the
important newspapers point out the Jewish pro-war influence as a plain political
fact.
Of course, Jews have a right, just like every other citizen in the United States, to
raise their voice in the political arena. But, as the ancients remind us, "pride
comes before the fall." The shameless flaunting of Jewish power, the buying of
representatives and senators, the immense pressure put on the media, is
counterproductive in the long run. It is the ghetto mentality turned upside down;
instead of timidity, arrogance.

What will happen if the war the pro-Israel lobby is advocating ends in failure? If
it has unexpected negative results and many young Americans die? If the American
public
turns against it, as happened during the Vietnam War?

What will happen when Sharon's policies bring about revolution in the Arab world, as
they will if he is allowed to continue on his current path? As long as the Jewish
establishment can convince the American public that the interests of Israel and the
United States are identical (an idiotic notion) this will not arouse anger, but when
the day comes—and it will come—when the two countrys' interests are seen as
diverging, what will be the reaction then?

One can easily imagine a whispering campaign starting: "The Jews have pushed us into
this," "The Jews support Israel more than they support America," and, finally, "The
Jews control our country."

Of course, the special political culture of the United States encourages the rise of
special interest groups—but that was also true in Spain of the Golden Age and in the

Weimar Republic in Germany. History does not have to repeat itself, but neither
should one disregard its lessons. Just because Jews can constitute a special
interest group does not mean that creating a disproportionate influence over
Congress and the White House is the best strategy for enhancing the future of the
Jewish people.

There are people in Israel who secretly wish for the victory of anti-Semitism
everywhere. That would confirm another Zionist myth on which we were brought up:
that Jews will not be able to live anywhere but in Israel, because anti-Semitism is
bound to triumph everywhere. But the United States is not France or Argentina; it
plays a critical role in the Middle East. Israel's national security, as established
by all Israeli governments since Ben-Gurion, is based on total support from the
United States—military,
political, and economic.

If I were asked for advice, I would counsel Jewish communities throughout the world
as follows: break out of the vicious circle. Disarm anti-Semites by breaking the
habit of automatically identifying with everything the Israeli government does. Let
your conscience speak out.

Return to the traditional Jewish values of "That which is altogether just shalt thou
follow!" (Deut. 16:20) and "Seek peace and pursue it!" (Psal. 4: 14). Identify
yourselves
with the Other Israel, which is struggling to uphold these values at home.

All over the world, new Jewish groups that follow this way are multiplying. They
break yet another myth, that the duty of Jews everywhere is to subordinate
themselves to the edicts of the current Israeli government. They know that the true
duty of Jews worldwide is to cling fast to Jewish values.
=============================================================================================================================================================5-
No Witnesses

IWPS Report 27, January 9, 2003

On Sunday, December 29, three women from IWPS, Kate, Maggie and Mariko participated
in a demonstration in Jayyous where international activists and Palestinians from
many villages in Qalqilya were attacked with tear gas, sound bombs and live
ammunition. A Palestinian journalist was arrested, and a Palestinian member of the
International Solidarity Movement was shot twice. The attack occurred when
activists and villagers attempted to visit one of the many areas where bulldozers
are uprooting trees and clearing land for the “security fence” or Apartheid Wall
(see Reports No. 9, 21, and 23). Earlier that day, tear gas was fired at a group of
ISM activists and villagers attempting to photograph the work being done on the
wall in Izbet Salman, a village about 20 kilometers from Hares in southern Qalqilya.

That same afternoon Karin and Nijmie walked to Ariel settlement to meet Cathi, our
new volunteer. Because of the difficulty of transportation to Palestine from the
Ben
Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, we recommended that Cathi take the settler bus to Ariel
and that we would pick her up from the gas station that is just inside the entrance
to Ariel property. Unfortunately, that is by far the quickest and easiest way of
reaching us; the alternative is to go to by way of Jerusalem which can be expensive
and take up to four hours.

The weather was so nice that they decided to walk through our village and a
neighbouring village, then cross the settler road into Ariel. When they were about
50 meters
from the entrance to the gas station, a car slowed down to scrutinize them. The man
on the passenger side rolled down the window and began firing questions in harsh
tones. ‘Where are you going? What are you doing? Who are you?’ The two replied
‘We’re just here to pick up a friend who’s come in on the bus.’ They also responded
that they live in Hares, which made the man extremely uncomfortable.

The unmarked car did not appear to be a security vehicle. When asked to show our
ID’s, we demanded to know who our questioners were. They mumbled something about
being ‘settlement security’, and then showed us some type of identification card
after first confirming that neither of us can read Hebrew. The old man in the car
commanded us to wait on the sidewalk until he could call ‘security’. We asked him
why as we were only going to meet our friend, but he insisted that we wait, and he
commissioned two soldiers who were standing by, to prevent us from moving forward.

After about five minutes, two men came walking up to us. These men were also not
identifiable. We asked who they were and they also said cryptically ‘security’.
They asked for our identification. Nijmie showed a copy of her passport, but Karin
had left hers at home. They again posed a litany of questions to us in very harsh
and angry tones, suggested that we were trespassing and we had no right to be there,
and that they didn’t believe our story about why we were going to the gas station.
We attempted to explain about the bus coming in but they argued saying that the bus
had already passed.

After about ten minutes of interaction with these unpleasant people, who were
incidentally carrying M16 rifles, we decided that we should wait for Cathi back out
on the
street. We told them that we would do this, and they responded by saying that we
were forbidden to leave, and that they were calling the police. When Karin and
Nijmie
tried to leave, one of the men grabbed Karin and pulled her hands behind her back as
if to put handcuffs on her. He had a bunch of plastic handcuffs through his belt
cuff. About fifteen minutes later, the police came. We attempted to negotiate with
the police for another half an hour. During this time, Cathi finally emerged from
the Hotel in Ariel and came toward us. Despite the fact that an Israeli ally from
Rabbis for Human Rights intervened on our behalf, the police took Karin to the Ariel
police station, and we had to go home and bring the requested documents there before
she could be released. What began as a quick errand ended up being a four hour
ordeal that underscored the difficulty that internationals are facing when we are
suspected of working in support of Palestinian human rights.

Moments after Kate returned to Hares from Jayyous, her mobile phone rang. It was
Angie, reporting that she was being denied entry to Israel and held at the airport
pending deportation. Since the project began, we knew that it was a real
possibility that we would be deported, or not allowed into the country at all. The
Israeli government has increasingly been attempting to prevent international
witnesses from crossing its borders, excluding over 10,000 journalists, human rights
workers and peace activists in the last two years.[1] At our training last summer,
we talked about the best strategies for passing the airport screening and how to
tell the truth without raising any alarms. When two of the first team members were
arrested and threatened with deportation, we worried that the project could be
short-lived. In the last four months, however, as team members and volunteers have
been admitted with no problems and there have been no further arrests, we came to
believe that the Israeli government did not perceive our presence as a threat.

Suddenly, it seems that even a small women’s human rights group in a remote village
in Palestine affronts the Israeli government’s desire to avoid criticism from the
international community. Angie, who was coming now in order to testify at the trial
of an armed settler who attacked her in the Hebron area last December, was told that
she was on a “list” of people who pose a “security threat” to the Israeli state.
She was placed in a holding cell (with a deportee from Mongolia who had been there
for three days and expected to be there another week waiting for a flight) and told
she would be sent back to London immediately. On Monday afternoon, they tried to
force her onto a plane, while an Israeli lawyer was appealing the deportation order.
She resisted, and they wrapped her in a blanket and carried her to the tarmac and
onto an Austrian Airlines plane.

Angie complained loudly that she was being deported against her will in order to
prevent her from testifying against armed settlers who attack Palestinians and
international observers. She made sure that everyone on the plane heard, and
reports that people were getting out of their seats to hear what was happening. The
flight crew decided that they would not have her on board, so she was returned to
the holding cell.

On Tuesday morning she learned that the case against the settler who attacked her
would not go to trial, because a plea bargain had been struck, whereby the man would
pay 3500 shekels to compensate her for the camera he broke and would do some
community service. It was of course disappointing for Angie not to get to tell the
story of the attack, which occurred while she was trying to stop teenage girls from
a Hebron settlement from throwing stones at an elderly Palestinian man. However,
her lawyer says that most cases of settler violence do not get prosecuted at all and
it is quite a victory that the man pled guilty. Certainly, the government had tried
hard to make the case disappear; they dropped it once and only reopened it because
of the intervention of Palestine Human Rights Monitoring Group and the UK Consulate
on Angie’s behalf.

At the hearing, the Ministry of the Interior openly said that Angie was not welcome
in Israel because she was coming to do human rights monitoring. The judge agreed
and told Angie she was not welcome in Israel; Angie pointed out that she had many
Israeli friends who do welcome her, and the Israelis in the courtroom stood up and
said that this was true. The judge said she meant the State of Israel didn’t
welcome her. Israeli supporters surrounded Angie and refused to move, which was the
only thing which prevented the government from forcing her onto a plane before her
lawyer was able to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Eventually, however, the Supreme Court also rejected the appeal of the deportation
ruling, and Angie was returned to England, with a secret police (Shabak) agent
sitting next to her.

A statement released by the Israeli Embassy in London after Angie’s deportation
claims, inaccurately, that Angie was deported when she left in November, and says in
part, “The Government of Israel welcomes the legitimate humanitarian activities of
the international community and facilitates these activities on an ongoing basis.
Members of the peace organisations visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority
regularly, and both communities enjoy the benefits of this voluntary assistance.
However, no country in the world can accept the entry of people who were intending
to harm the security of its citizens or who are subject to a deportation order.”

On Monday morning, while Angie was sitting in a holding cell at Ben Gurion, Kate,
Mariko and Cathi went to Huwara checkpoint, where IWPS does checkpoint watch once a
week. Checkpoint Watch was pioneered by Israeli women and is done by various groups
of internationals. Our main goals are to let the soldiers who run the checkpoints
Palestinians have to pass through to get to work, school or homes know that their
behavior is being monitored and recorded, and to document for human rights
organizations and people in our home countries the obstacles to freedom of movement
people face here. People always thank us for being there. Some feel that our
presence actually makes the soldiers pass people through more easily. Others simply
appreciate knowing someone is paying attention to the daily humiliation and
frustration of their lives, the hours spent waiting in line and being verbally and
even physically abused at the whim of 19-year-olds who tell us they would rather be
somewhere else.

We have been doing checkpoint watch at Huwara and Zatara, the main checkpoints in
our area, for just over a month. The reaction of soldiers has varied, from
curiosity about who we are and what we are doing, to grudging tolerance to open
hostility. Our activities have also varied, depending on what is happening at the
checkpoints. When we arrived at Huwara this Monday, things seemed to be moving
pretty well. Cathi and Kate sat near the soldier and greeted people and watched
them answer his questions. Mariko stood at the bus stop on the other side of the
narrow pedestrian walkway and watched the cars and ambulances being searched. We
counted, as we always do, how many yellow-plated Israeli cars and how many
green-plated Palestinian cars were stopped, searched, sent back or passed through,
and how many men, women and children passed through or were sent back. Nablus was
open, so people’s IDs were checked and they went through.

The soldiers had set it up so that there was just one narrow opening for people to
go through, and not only did people have to get out that way, but the people coming
from the other side had to get in. More and more people were arriving, and suddenly
the line wasn’t moving. The soldiers would call, “Banat!” (meaning “girls,” a
disrespectful way to call women of all ages) and all the women would try to come,
from the very back as well as the front, and it would make even more chaos in the
line. The soldiers decided they didn’t like this, and the two who were working the
cars suddenly came into the pedestrian area and started pushing men, yelling at
them, trying to make everyone stand in a straight line.

The two soldiers were really worked up and screaming at the crowd. They announced
that the checkpoint was closed. Pretty soon there were about 200 people waiting.
The soldiers came to us and told us to leave. We asked why and they said it was a
“closed military zone.” Mariko argued that she couldn’t be in a closed military
area because she was at a bus stop. “It’s only a bus stop for Israelis,” she was
told. We moved further away, and called some of the numbers we have for Army
generals and Israeli organizations who resolve checkpoint problems. The soldiers
continued to tell us to leave. A border police jeep drove into the middle of the
crowd. The soldiers stood up and cocked their rifles, aiming at the air. The other
soldiers ran toward the front of the line, also waving guns.

One soldier told us “I need to use my power, and you’re going to make me look bad.
You’re taking pictures, and people are going to see and think it’s bad.” Cathi
said,
“But if you’re just doing your job and using your authority properly, you should be
proud to have people see it.” “I don’t care,” he said. “I think they should just
open this
shit up and let them all go, but I can’t do that.” “Well, maybe not, but you can
check their ID and let them through.” “Well we would but they won’t stand
straight.” Cathi
explained that they couldn’t stand straight, because there were so many people and
more people would come and push from the back. “I know what these people can do,”
he said. “I didn’t just get here, I’ve been here about three weeks.

You’ve seen me here before,” he said to Kate. “Yes,” she said, “and that day you
were just doing your job and we didn’t bother you, did we?” “It’s wrong for you to
be here. Get the fuck out of here. I tell you to leave, and I don’t care if you
sue me. I hope they put me in jail.”

At least 20 people with medical needs came to us with prescriptions and appointment
slips from hospitals and doctors, and asked if we could do something to help them
get through. Medical cases are supposed to get priority, so we called Physicians
for Human Rights to negotiate. While this was happening, the border police arrived
with the regular police. Kate and Mariko were arrested; police looked for Cathi but
she was in the crowd of men and they didn’t find her. Kate and Mariko were held at
Ariel police station for 8 hours, being told they were to be deported, but at the
end of the day they were released, Mariko with no conditions and Kate on a promise
to stay out of the West Bank for 15 days.

Israeli activists speculated that the problems at the checkpoint might have been a
response to Sharon’s call for “increased pressure on the Palestinians,” which he
stated
should include “extrajudicial executions” such as those carried out in Ramallah two
weeks ago. Fear is mounting in Palestine over what will happen here when the U.S.
invades Iraq. On January 6, in response to the previous day’s bombings in Tel Aviv,
soldiers announced to IWPS members at Zatara that “the entire West Bank is now
closed to people with cameras.” A Palestinian journalist from Jemaiin village who
works in Ramallah reported that he was held two and a half hours at Qalandia because
of this alleged new ban.

Whenever there is an attack in an Israeli city, people all over Palestine call their
Israeli friends to check that they are all right. Our neighbor came over on Sunday
evening and several times we heard him speaking softly in Hebrew on his mobile
phone, talking to one friend after another, asking “Hakol b’seder?” Dunya went to
the New York Times website and there was a slideshow of the carnage in Tel Aviv.
When we called an Israeli friend who lives in Tel Aviv to make sure she was okay,
she said that over 55 Palestinians have been killed in the last month (another
report said 189) and the deaths have not been reported in the Israeli or
international press.

Our witnessing and documenting activities feel more important than ever. Yet it is
clear that the Israeli government will try to curtail our ability to continue this
work. We will keep our eyes open, and rely on you to help us tell the stories of
the people among whom we are living. Text: Kate and Nijmie. Photos available on
our website
soon
=============================================================================================================================================================6-Nablus
Report - Lina Jansson

Since the bombings in Tel Aviv, enacted by two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs from
Old City Nablus, most of us have been expecting an incursion into precisely that
area, as well as the individual houses of the martyrs. Instead, Balata refugee camp,
just outside of the city, was attacked last night by IOF Special Forces. Whether
this was the result of a tank being blown up near the camp yesterday evening (or so
rumour has it) or just an occupant's whim, is hard to say. Three families were
especially traumatised during the night, two of whom are close neighbours. At 2.30
AM, the father of the first family heard voices and the sound of a large group of
people walking right outside his door. All the family members quickly assembled in
the back room and were planning on opening the door if the stangers, who they
rightly assumed to be soldiers, were to knock. However, rather than knocking, the
IOF blasted the front door open with explosives and threw a tear gas bomb into the
house, before charging in towards the father and demanding that he tell them the
wherabouts of his sons.

Apparently disappointed to see that there were only three very young sons and seven
daughters in the house, they forced the father out onto the street, making him take
his shirt off and put his hands behind his head. While he waited in the cold for
about an hour, the IOF rummaged around the house, destroying the front windows and
blowing up a ladder that the family used to use in order to climb up to the attic
room. The children, extremely frightened and with their hands behind their heads,
watched as the soldiers ran around, talking amongst themselves in what the father
believes to have been Yiddish.

When we spoke to them this morning, the mother and daughters were still busy
cleaning up the mess left by the occupation forces. It was the first time their
particular family had been subject to such an invasion, but such violations are
sadly commonplace in the camp.

The second family live just behind the first and were attacked from two sides at
once.When we were welcomed into the house this morning, all the children were at
first quite suspicious and frightened, one girl immediately bursting into tears and
bitter, weary wails fitting for a person far older than her six or seven years. At
about 3 AM last night, a few soldiers blasted through the wall separating the
bathroom from the street, while others forced open the front door. 15 men and a dog
pushed their way into the house, blowing up the door and smashing the windows to the
first room on their right. In front of his ten young children (whereof seven are
girls and three boys), the father was handcuffed, pushed up against the wall and
repeatedly asked the names of all his children - this until he panicked and could no
longer recall one single name. Only then did the IOF leave.

The third family we spoke to today live some houses away, closer to the main street
of Balata camp. That which is left of their front door is now resting against the
wall of their living-room, while splinters and shelling from the bomb used to blow
it up scar the mother's leg. Three gas bombs were thrown into the house, which was
then searched and largely destroyed by 30 odd soldiers - smashing everything from
the stereo and TV to the front windows lining the upper part of the wall facing the
street.

The father was beaten and choked, while the others were forced not to intervene at
gunpoint. As with the other houses, the IOF were looking for sons.This family's
fourteen year-old boy was beaten and then taken away to an uknown location,
presumably Huwarra military base. While this was happening, the oldest daughter,
aged 20, was dragged into a separate room by one soldier, who there repeatedly made
sexual advances and attempted to abuse her. Thankfully being an extremely vocal and
courageous young woman, she managed to push this armed and aggressive soldier away
from her using a plastic stool, but as he was leaving along with the others he
threatened to come back and "get her". I would have liked the perpetrator to see her
utter disgust and fearlessness when telling us about him this morning. I very much
doubt anyone will ever "get her", whatever horrors they may think they succeed in
putting her through.

In the face of such inhumanity, insidious oppression and blind nationalism as this,
the firm handshake of that girl from the camp is the only thing lending me any hope.
While not wishing such strength on anyone- the strength acquired from not being
allowed to ever break in confronting adversity, that is ultimately what the
Palestinian struggle depends on, at least until the rest of us figure out a way in
which to face up to our responsibilities. I just hope this will happen soon enough
to prevent that girl from becoming a refugee for the second time, or losing the
sparkle in her eyes.
Lina Jansson
=============================================================================================================================================================7-Two
articles with photos worth looking at

Life Story of the Olives…7 jan 03

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1038.shtml

Missive to America…6 jan 03

http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?

story= 030107053641996