1-ISRAELIS OCCUPY HOME, EXPEL FAMILY (Iktaba, Occupied Palestine) 2- Az'mout Village protest, Nablus, Palestine 3-Palestinians forced to choose method of their "punishment" in bizarre "lottery" game

1-ISRAELIS
OCCUPY HOME, EXPEL FAMILY, RELUCTANTLY ALLOW CHICKENS TO BE FED
Media Advisory:
17 January 2003 (Iktaba, Occupied Palestine):

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)seized and occupied the home of the
Sharateh family at aproximately 2:00am, 16 January 2003, in the village
of Iktaba, near Tulkarem in the West Bank. Seven members of the family
were confined to the kitchen on the third floor of the four storey home
until aproximately noon, at which time they were expelled. Israeli
soldiers continue to occupy the house. This is the third time that the
IOF have occupied the home during the past two years. The occupation of
Palestinian homes and expulsion of residents by the IOF is illegal under
international law.

Residents say that during these past occupations, the IOF have used the
home as a sniper position as it is on a hillside and provides a clear
view of northeastern Tulkarem and the Nur Shams and Tulkarem Refugee
Camps. One of these occupations lasted for one month while the other
lasted for 10 days.

Activists working through the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)
arrived in Iktaba midmorning to inquire about the well-being of the
Sharateh family, as the family had no access to a telephone and had not
been able to communicate with anyone about the conditions of their
imprisonment. When the ISM activists approached the house, soldiers
pointed assault rifles at them and threatened to shoot and declared that
it was a
"closed military zone," though they refused to provide written orders
proving that this is true. The commanding officer then pushed the
activists away, ordering them to remain out of view of the house.

Elementary aged school children walking on the road by the occupied house
after classes let out were denied passage by the IOF soldiers and could
not reach their homes. A neighbor was denied access to the shed where he
keeps chickens and rabbits and was unable to feed the animals.

One hour after being rebuffed by the soldiers, the ISM activists again
approached the house to negotiate the conditions of the imprisoned
family and to allow the neighbor access to his animals. At this point,
the family was in the process of being expelled from the home without
being able to collect their valuables and belongings. Abu Ahmad Sharateh
says that during the previous occupations, Israeli soldiers stole over
NIS 13,000 in cash that had been kept in the home and burned part of the
top floor. He says that his family will seek temporary housing in
Tulkarem.

After additional negotiations, the commanding officer agreed to allow the
neighbor to feed his animals, but required that the neighbor provide
enough food to last for a full week, suggesting that he would not be
allowed additional access to his animals for at least that lenth of time.
The officer also ordered the ISM activists never to return to the house
again. He gave no indication as to how long the occupation of the home
would continue.

For more information, contact Drew (5-237-1338) or Waddah (5-050-3163).
[end]
==================================================================2-
Az'mout Village protest, Nablus, Palestine January 19, 2003

Today the children, women and men of Az'mout village came together in a
demonstration against the massive trench created by IOF (Israeli
Occupation Forces) that completely cuts the village (and two others) off
from all access to the city of Nablus. Emergency vehicles can not pass,
people are routinely denied the right to go to the hospital, students
can not go to school in the city and many men are being detained each
and every day by the apc or tank which creates a checkpoint.

These villages are litterally being strangled as their inhabitants are
denied the right to food, to movement, to work, and to emergency
services. Many children came to confront soldiers who occupy a
checkpoint daily right in between these villages and Nablus, blocking
all possible routes into the city and stopping and detaining at will the
residents. The soldiers at this checkpoint are known to be particularly
aggressive. One man from the village died because an ambulance could
not reach him and another man was beaten and hospitalized this week.

Today the school counsellor, asked a pertinent question that began the
protest: "If this situation is tolerable for you (speaking to soldiers)
as a human being, than we will accept it. Is this humane?"

Silence followed for a minute, and then a discussion began during which
the villagers demanded their basic human rights. Without doubt, the
village will continue to fight for the right to live. I stood in clump
of children, my hands held by young girls on both sides, and listened to
this articulate young man speak to the soldiers about the injustice in
this land: the confiscation of land by a nearby settlement, the ongoing
curfew, the systematic denial of human rights, and the trench; a man to
which the soldiers found very little to say. As I listened, charmed by
his way and his arguments, one key organiser of the demonstration handed
me a piece of paper on which she had written things like:

"We want peace and life. We want a simple life. We want an end to the
occupation. We don't want war." These are the people of this land. This
is thier message.

==========================================================================3-Palestinians
forced to choose method of their "punishment" in bizarre "lottery" game
15 January 2003
The Palestine Monitor - A PNGO Information Clearinghouse

On the 12th of January, Firas al-Sarfandi, 23, was stopped by Israeli
soldiers on his way home to the Jalazone refugee camp. Witnesses
reported that soldiers stopped Firas at around 5:00 pm, presented him
with some papers, forced him to choose one and then proceeded to beat him
for approximately half an hour. The soldiers then left him lying on the
ground, unconscious and covered in blood.

Medical sources in the Sheikh Zayed hospital in Ramallah, say Firas
suffered from a fractured femur as well as bruises and wounds all over
his body.

This is not the first time such "lottery" acts have been carried out. A
few weeks ago reports came out of Hebron concerning the then new and
bizarre form of cruelty inflicted upon Palestinians detained by Israeli
soldiers. A number of Palestinian youths reported on the Voice of
Palestine Radio station, and other media, that Israeli soldiers stopped
them, and then forced them to choose from various pieces of paper.
Written on the paper were body parts; the soldiers would then break
whichever body part the youth had chosen.

Apparently the soldiers then changed their mind, and offered the youths
choices between nose, leg or arm. They chose their noses, and so they
were broken One youth said, "I was taken from inside my shop in Bab
al-Zawiya to a settlement, then they forced me to choose a paper, and
then they broke my shoulder and beat me with their machine guns."

Palestinian newspapers reported that Hussein Shyoukhi, a lawyer
investigating Israeli soldiers participation in the "lottery," said the
choices "vary from a spit in the face and eating soap, to pulling out
teeth and breaking bones."

Victims of earlier incidents include Said Baker Al-Zary, 22, from Hebron,
who ended up with a broken arm as well as sixth grader Waseem Al
Sha'rawi, also from Hebron, who was stopped by soldiers when he left his
home to buy a few things at the local shop. The soldiers stopped him,
forced him to choose a piece of paper and his finger was broken. In
another incident in Hebron, Israeli soldiers stopped Wael Suleiman, 22,
in the industrial area, and beat him until he agreed to choose a piece
of paper. "Hitting and burning the car" was written - so two of the
soldiers hit him, while the two others set fire to the car.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, the president of UPMRC, said "Israeli soldiers
have always acted with a great deal of impunity in the occupied towns
and cities, and now we see them sinking to new depths. This torturous
form of a lottery reflects that the soldiers know no one will
investigate their behaviour, nor will they be punished for it. Basically
they have been given a licence to act however they want, and to terrorize
further a captive civilian population."