1- a great film, if you have the opportunity do not miss it. 2-Saved by Alexa and the Canadians! 3-A community rises up to stop construction of the Apartheid Wall 4-Camp Rafah 5-Gazans will try to march home 6-what happened the next day at Mawasi

1- a great film, if
you have the opportunity do not miss it.

From: Leila Sansour leila@sansour.com
To: pcr@p-ol.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 06:51 AM
Subject: Jeremy film

Dear Ghassan,
I thought I would let you know that the Jeremy Hardy
film will be screening on the evening of the 25th of
January for the first time in New York as part of the
Palestinian film festival. Could you please let everyone
who might be interested know about it. Details of the
festival could be found on http://www.dreamsofanation.org
There are a lot more screenings being organised at
the moment and some people are thinking of linking
them with the effort to promote and fundraise for
ISM which I will be happy with.
====================================================2-Saved by Alexa and
the Canadians!

Two jeeps of soldiers approached our group and we sent
to them a couple of negotiators. The soldiers made
their demands clear. Our peaceful protest and the
community voicing its opposition to the Wall was
unacceptable. Everyone had to be gone from the site
within 15 minutes or they would tear gas us and
declare curfew in the community.

The resoluteness of the community at this time seemed
unclear. Because threats were being made and their
were more soldiers, we advised the children (mainly
young boys) to go to the village. With about 5
minutes remaining and as yet no decision on our
subsequent actions made, hope appeared. Three
vehicles moved through the community towards where the
army had blocked the road and people were gathered.
The first two vehicles were clearly marked UN
vehicles.

Someone mentioned we should try to stop them and at
least let them know what was happening. Two people,
with me close behind tried to get the first vehicle to
stop with only murky UN faces poking out, in a truly
UN sort of noncommittal way. As the second vehicle
approached we could see that the third vehicle had a
Canadian flag. Being close to the second vehicle by
this point I overheard that it was a Canadian
delegation. I had my passport out in a fraction of a
second and said to the man in the second UN car "Eh,
I'm a Canadian!" Stone faces suddenly brightened and
he said "Really?" and opened the car door.

Once the UN vehicles people got out the soldiers
retreated and were far less menacing. Funny how that
always is the case.

We quickly discovered the Canadian delegation was a
bunch of UN Agency people and a number of prominent
Canadians that looked and talked like Canadians and
Federal NDP Leader Alexa McDonough and several of her
aides. We tried to explain what was going on and how
this peaceful community was threatened, but were
stymied by what appeared to be a Hebrew Speaking
likely Jewish Canadian (he had a Canada flag on his
jacket). He insisted that Alexa and Co. go and speak
with the Israeli soldier in charge to assess the
situation.

Several people in the back of group were visibly
grumbling about how they had to leave and ISM people
were concerned that this was a ploy to eat time
and not allow us a chance to speak with Alexa. Which
of course it was!

The Hebrew speaking man took center stage and asked
the soldier about the wall and general situation at
Alexa's request. He replied in broken English
with lies and damn lies about how the community was to
be compensated and that there was local support for
the Wall being built. Several of our
people interjected that he was lying and the situation
was quite tense. Someone from ISM challenged him to
tell us what the army had been up to that
morning and why a local man was on his way to
hospital. He replied that the army had nothing to do
with it. A local Palestinian who works with ISM
displayed for Alexa and the lying soldier the video
clip of that morning over his digital video camera.
It covered the shooting of the man and blood curdling
screams that followed. It was perfect and really said
a great deal about the lies that are being perpetuated
in this occupation. I really believe that it can be a
powerful tool to let fools speak and show
themselves for the fools they are.

The situation was quite chaotic and I interjected that
we would let the soldier speak further if we were
given an opportunity to speak too. We
received vague assurances. I didn't want this group
to scramble away for lack of time without a chance to
highlight the realities.

The soldier and fellow spoke briefly and then their
time was up. Next the Arab Canadian representatives,
several of the UN Agency people, Alexa, an
ISM activist from the US and I went ahead to see scar
where the Apartheid Wall was to be built. The other
ISM activist spoke very well about the situation and
as we walked and talked they seemed to agree with us
about the abhorrent nature of the military occupation.

Finally, I challenged Alexa to take a stand on this
issue in Canada and for the NDP to adopt a meaningful
policy and she basically said that she was on side. I
hope so.

Soon time was up and the group were on their way.
Nevertheless, the soldiers were sufficiently reticent
about the situation that the they left shortly
thereafter. Maybe they were frightened by our powers
to bring representatives out of nowhere!

All in all, the Canadians saved the day! It was a
small but cherished victory for the community to slow
construction of the wall that will
permanently cut off their community from Palestine.

Thanks to the Canadians, and to the Honourable Alexa
McDonough for showing up and witnessing first hand the
suffering that the Israeli military
Occupation of Palestine is causing the Palestinians.
I hope she will take meaningful action on this issue
and continue to contribute to bringing this
crime to an end, like she and her delegation did on
this occasion.

-4-

Drew Penland is available for interviews over the
phone and via email. He can be reached by phone in
Occupied Palestine at: 972-(0)67-658873 (please
remember the time difference!)

For information, to arrange interviews or to support
ISM efforts please contact Reem Alnuweiri,
ISM-Vancouver Coordinator by email at:
ism-vancouver@palsolidarity.org
==================================================3-A community rises up
to stop construction of the Apartheid Wall
Author: Drew Penland
Date: January 8, 2003

The Apartheid Wall, now being built at lightning pace
in Occupied Palestine, is officially being constructed
for Israeli Security. But cutting through the
flimsy rhetoric its true illicit nature is clear: an
illegal attempt to steal Palestinian land by force.

For the village of Rasatiye in the Occupied West Bank
the stakes are high. If the wall is built the
community will be on the Israel side of the wall.
Locals have been told, much to their despair, that
after the wall is constructed their land will join a
number of illegal Israeli settlements and become part
of Israel.

Today I was among an ISM team that assisted a
non-violent attempt to stop the construction of the
Apartheid Wall in the small village of Rasatiye in
Occupied Palestine. The mood of the community this
early morning was bouyant. About 150 local
Palestinians and a dozen ISM activists were called to
gather at the community mosque over the mosque
loudspeaker, a device almost exclusively used for the
Muslim call to prayer five times a day. The mosque
loudspeaker is only used in times of emergency, like
when a wall is being built by a foreign occupier that
may in effect kill your community.

There was a sense as the last of the locals gathered
that local people were happy to take non-violent
action to try stop the destruction of their community.
Community opposition to the wall is strong. They know
that their land is part of Sharon's plans for a
greater Israel. They, however, as Palestinians are
not.

We moved to the sight of where the wall is being
constructed. It was a place familiar to me because
several days earlier I had visited the sight and was
shocked to see ancient olive trees being ripped out of
the ground in the area around where the wall is to be
built and being placed in a pile near a road.

Olive trees are the very essence of Palestinian
society and intertwined with the fate of the
Palestinians. Since the beginning of this intifada
they have met a devastating fate. Reportedly over one
million have been destroyed or removed from Occupied
Palestine in the last two years. Some of the stolen
olive trees are trucked to Israel and resold by
Israelis in nurseries to other Israelis.

On that day a group of local Palestinians were also
feverishly taking what they could from what had been
one mans poultry business. The building and the
neighboring house were reportedly slated for
destruction. The wall not only destroys the land but
also any adjacent buildings. Across the street a
shiny new elementary school built with Swiss Aid money
has also been threatened with demolition.

At that time I recall a local farmer sitting powerless
as his land was being destroyed. He weeped openly
with his hands on his head. The weeping farmer and his
land being stolen is not a first for me, it is a
heartbreaking sight I have witnessed all over this
part of Occupied Palestine.

Today two behemoth machines of destruction, the
largest bulldozer I ever recall seeing and huge
backhoe were jackhammering the land and noisily making
a huge mess of a previously pristine agricultural
area.

Four Israeli boys guarded the worksite. Two were
heavily armed Israeli
soldiers, pimply geeks of about 18 years in real life
who appeared to be
mild-mannered. The other two were armed private
security guards, one sporting blond Rayban wrap-
around sunglasses, a bleached blond swath of hair and
an unjustifiable
swagger and the other darker with good English and a
small trace of sincerity amidst
his need "just to do his job". These were the boys
who were imposing this
arrangement on the village of Rasatiye.

As we marched today towards the site the "boys" seemed
caught completely by surprise. They appeared not to
know how to react as we stopped the huge backhoe in
its tracks with little real struggle by surrounding it
with people. One of the security guards soon brokered
a deal with locals that the crane and bulldozer would
be let go if it left the community. We marched it
right out of the community. It felt like a real
victory for the community, but the soldiers were not
about to let the people win.

Our procession stopped and was at a standstill merely
watching as the machinery moved into the distance. The
soldiers were about 200 meters away and
retreating steadily. Then, one soldier shouldered his
rifle and shot a canister of tear gas from his M-16.
One canister and then a second sizzled over heads and
landed in an area where there were women and children.
The crowd parted to avoid
the noxious gas as it rose around us and I got a fair
dab in my lungs.

Then he took aim for real. He visibly aimed his gun
straight into the crowd and a shot rang out that was
followed by screaming. A local man had been shot. I
approached I thought maybe he had been shot with a
real bullet. I saw a very courageous boy, the man's
son, pick up a hot tear gas canister and lob it away
from area of his fallen father. Someone yelled out
that he had been hit with the tear gas canister. He
appeared to be in great pain and his son, brave soul,
was crying.

Attacking peaceful demonstrators when they were at a
standstill as a non-violent action came to a
conclusion was the most cruel and cowardly action I
can recall. A savage act to terrorize a peaceful
demonstration of farmers and activists. The man was
brought to the village and an ambulance called.

The soldiers continued to leave and my attention
turned immediately to 2 more military jeeps that were
moving through the village towards us.

They soon stopped near us and the crowd, now about 50
people, gathered to
the house that was threatened by the wall.
===================================================4-Camp Rafah
Date: January 13, 2003
Author: Polly Wilkens

Internationals fighting non-violently for peace and an
end to the Israeli occupation in Rafah, Gaza Strip,
have initiated a campaign for
a permanent presence through camping in tents along
the strip of destroyed Palestinian homes and farms
better described as 'no man's land'. Pitching tents
on the rubble of what were once Palestinian
homes, demolished by the Israeli Occupation Forces
(IOF), twelve members of the International Solidarity
Movement (ISM) currently have
twenty four hour surveillance of the activities of the
tanks and bulldozers. The ISM is a Palestinian led
organization that uses non-violent direct action and
the status of Internationals to act as human shields,
demonstrating against the indiscriminate violence of
the IOF. The demolition of now almost 600 homes
clears the way for a security barrier that allows the
IOF to construct the 40ft tall wall that will divide
Egypt from Rafah and in the future separate all of
the Gaza Strip from the rest of Palestine.
Internationals stayed with one family whose mother has
not been allowed to see her family in
Egypt for 7 years. She was unable to be present at
her mother's funeral two months ago.
The ISM presence in Rafah has been short-lived thus
far and has continuously worked to establish a
proactive relationship of trust in
an economically devastated community made fearful and
desperate by years of Israeli oppression. The tent
action began in response to many families evacuating
their yet to be demolished houses that are
still subjected to random gunfire and possible
demolition throughout the night. Two Internationals
were staying with a family whose house was under
severe threat of demolition. During their evening
meal they witness the initial warning of inevitable
destruction by tank shells that came through the
ceiling and walls followed by rapid gunfire into the
house at body level. They escaped with only minutes
to spare before the house was razed to the ground by
bulldozers that worked throughout the night. During
the days that followed while people retrieved their
salvageable belongings and repaired damaged water
lines, the tanks fired rounds to scare them away. The
Internationals were present and approached the tanks
with banners and a loud speaker. They withstood tear
gas bombings and gunfire to protest the tanks presence
and their terrorism to the people. The tanks ceased
their firing.

On January 3rd the Internationals following the lead
of the local community set up the first tent on the
site of this demolished house to prevent tanks firing
at the existing houses and the busy street behind
them. During that night one family moved back into
their home sensing greater security from the
International presence. The next day the
Internationals went to the sight of a home being
destroyed by two bulldozers who were protected by
three tanks. The ISM members ran to get in front of
the massive D-9 American made bulldozers while
being filmed by media and fired at by the tanks. The
bulldozers did not cease their destruction and pushed
the Internationals without reserve into the rubble
causing serious risk and endangering their lives.
Inevitably the Internationals left the scene when the
risk of being crushed with the rubble became too high
but succeeded to draw the attention of the world
through a televised report on BBC. On top of this
site, the Internationals established their second
presence along "no man's land" erecting the tent under
the fire from the on-looking tanks. After the first
night of this tent's presence, the
local police chief told the Internationals that he
believed the tent was responsible for the
de-escalation of gunfire. The Internationals maintain
a 24-hour presence at the tent sites in order to
ensure the tent's survival and the safety of the
communities. During the past week of non-violent
protest and action no lives fell victim to the tanks'
violence and the communities' fear
seems to have decreased dramatically. The
Internationals want to establish a permanent presence
through a worldwide campaign to "Camp
in Rafah." Join them to protest the destruction of
homes that make way for a pointless wall of
oppression.

Contact:
In US – Ross Anderson (ross.c.anderson@yale.edu, 001
203 675 1312)
In UK – Polly Wilkins (ipi0pepw@leeds.ac.uk, 0044 113
225 4592)
In Gaza – Kristen Ess: +972-59-357-526
ISM Office - +972-2-277-4602
===================================================5-Gazans will try to
march home Date: January 13, 2003
Author: Carla

Hi all--

Mawasi is a village on the coast side of Rafah (in the
Gaza Strip) that is surrounded by settlements and
guarded by a checkpoint that has not allowed a
Palestinian through in 2 years. The villagers survive
on whatever they themselves grow. No food or medicine
has been allowed though for these 2 years. People who
leave have not been allowed back.
The action that is happening tomorrow has been
organized by Palestinians who are going to try & get
back to their homes. They estimate that 300 will
gather to return. There are 16 internationals here
with the International Solidarity Movement that have
been asked by the Palestinians to accompany them past
the checkpoint. The Palestinians are very excited
about doing this~

Yesterday a group of us went up to a tank to
communicate that we have been getting shot at in homes
& our countries would be very upset (so maybe we lied)
if any one were to be hurt. I was so outraged after
the experience. To quote Barbara Kingsolver, I "have
the privilege of a safe life", even here. I can walk
up to the tank and know they would not directly shoot
me (well, it did shoot over our heads and at our
feet). However, any Palestinian is fair game. The
soldiers shoot into occupied houses, down alleys and
streets. They just blanket an area with bullets. Many
civilians are killed, children in classrooms, children
playing outside of their houses, women cooking dinner.
. . . all unarmed, all innocent of doing anything
other than existing. How this helps Israeli security
baffles me.

Few of these people have ever seen a soldier, much
less spoken to one--Gaza is so different from what I
have heard of the West Bank where soldiers and
civilian Palestinians see each other face to face
regularly. Here the soldiers are up in guard towers at
checkpoints or inside of tanks, APCs & bulldozers.
They just shoot. There's no talking, no negotiating.
Yesterday was not a planned action we were just going
to look at the wall being built to better keep
Palestinians in and the tank started firing above our
heads. We then started to walk towards it to speak
with the soldiers that we are indeed here to stay.

(ISM has not had a presence in Gaza until this summer,
unlike the West Bank where there have been ISM
involvement for 2 years). The group of Palestinians
that hung behind had never been that close to a tank.
One young man who is one of our escorts told me he had
never seen the face of an Israeli until then. They are
always too far away. (Gaza is very traditional, the
women with the ISM scarve ourselves, and all of us
move around the city with Palestinians accompanying
us).

I've been calling media in Jerusalem to try & get
coverage of tomorrow. This has never been done
before--families trying to get back to their village
walking past a checkpoint. They would just get shot.
The determination, the strength of these people is
humbling. After all they live through, all their
losses, they laugh & joke & love their children. The
young man who accompanied me & Molly to see the
demolished house of the family she had been with told
me, when he saw me in tears as we walked away, that
this is why they laugh so much--a person simply cannot
contain that much grief forever--they see no future
different than what they are experiencing right now.
And they go on, setting the lat! est atrocity behind
them. Amazing people, no whining, no complaints, but
this steady determined day by day perseverance.

Yours (and theirs),
Carla
ISM volunteer – Seattle USA
=================================================6-what happened the next
day at Mawasi Hi all,
If you read Carla's story about Mawasi in the Gaza
Strip and you want to know what happened the next
day, here is the rest of the story:
The next day we did accompany Palestinians down the
road that used to lead into Mawasi (that now stops at
a checkpoint guarding the new settlements) carrying
medical supplies. At least one hundred rounds of
warning shots hit the ground around us as we slowly
made our way forward. A very long walk of only a
quarter mile. One reporter, a Palestinian, was shot
in the head (he was taken to the hospital and survived
as the wound was superficial), but the group decided
to continue forward. The task of those of us who were
internationals was to protect the Palestinians (the
reporter had been taking pictures to the side--very
exposed). We walked in front and on the outer edge of
their group, with them in the center, using the
privilege of our international status (we hoped) to
shield them. I had moved to the back of the group on
the same side as the guntower in order to shield! the
women and I have not ever paid so much attention to
absolutely every step I took. I was hearing sharp
cracks of bullets on the ground next to me. A lot of
them. Sprays of dirt kicked up by the bullets hit my
cheeks. Each step became a shear act of will. The
Palestinian women next to me must have been living the
same struggle, but they were here to try to go home
after two years, and I was here to accompany them as
far as they were willing to go. Carrying a cardboard
box of medical supplies (everyone else had see-through
plastic bags) I was acutely aware of how they would
have the excuse of saying they couldn't see what was
in the box--there could have been a bomb--if I were to
be hit. I opened the top, carrying it at an angle
to demonstrate there was nothing to hide.
Palestinians from Mawasi had not walked this road in
two years without being shot at. This obviously was
no different, however,! we made it close enough to the
guntower to be able to negotiate with the soldiers,
closer than anyone had done previously. Encouraged by
the negotiations, we took a few more steps forward,
eliciting more bullets, this time silent bullets.
That was truly eerie--the only sign we had that we
were still being fired on was seeing (and feeling)
dirt kicked up by the impact of the bullets. Unheard
bullets were more terrifying--and luckily only a few
were fired--those who had more experience with
soldiers in Gaza announced that it was time
to retreat, as the use of silent bullets meant serious
business. We did not make it past the checkpoint that
day, but two days later a group of Palestinians and
internationals did go those last few feet to the
checkpoint and negotiated getting the medical supplies
into Mawasi. A small victory.
Amazing to me was how quickly I got used to gunfire.
The first day I was in Rafah I went with Molly to see
the family she had been staying with. Their home had
been demolished that morning and the family was
gathering what it could salvage. We had to run for
cover as a tank fired on what was left of the house.
By the time I went to the Mawasi checkpoint I had been
staying in Gaza in Palestinian homes for a
week. Every day and almost every night I experienced
shooting from the tanks that rolled by the edge of
town, into the neighborhoods where the houses were
located. Gunfire was (is) a daily reality on the
southern perimeter of town bordering Egypt. Here
Israel has plans for a "security" wall designed to
keep Palestinians from leaving Gaza. The goal was
(is) to wear down the resolve of families to stay
in their homes that are on the periphery of t! own
near the future wall. Neighborhoods are repeatedly
assaulted by gunfire from tanks until families leave.
Sometimes a tank will target a house with mortar fire,
as was the inhabited house next to where my friend
Molly was staying. (Let me make it clear these are
unarmed civilians, families, non-combatants). Once
homes are abandoned, Israeli soldiers will first
dynamite, then bulldoze the houses, and begin to
assault the homes of families that are newly exposed,
homes that had laid behind the now demolished
ones. Slowly they are eating away at the edges of
Rafah.
That is all I have to share for now, except to add
that my experience of Palestinians is of a people to
whom family and land mean everything. I will hold in
my heart forever the smiles, the eyes full of
kindness, the humor, and the generosity of each person
who has contributed to my first memories of Palestine.
In Solidarity, with Love~
Carla