1- International Activists to Dismantle Gaza Strip Roadblock - ISM Release - 2- Please Protest against violence by the Israeli Army against a British humanitarian worker. 3- Please Take action for Omar -ISM coordinator under adminstrative detention 4-The demolition of the market in Nazlet Issa village near Tulkarem - Lissa Nessen 5- Excuse me, Do you mind walking to your death? - Amer Abdelhadi 6-Articles worth looking at (Ghassan Andoni)

1- International Activists to
Dismantle Gaza Strip Roadblock

At 10 am on Saturday International Activists will
attempt to dismantle the roadblock on Saleh ed-Deen
Road (the Western Road) between Rafah and Khan Yunis.

The Moraj area, through which the Saleh ed-Deen Road
passes, is straddled by an outgrowth of the Gush Katif
Settlement (one of the largest in the Occupied
Territories) and is where the Israeli Army bases a
large portion of the tanks and bulldozers they use for
military incursions and demolitions throughout the
cities and refugee camps of the Gaza Strip.

The army has declared the Moraj Area a closed military
zone, cutting communications between Rafah and the
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and forcing ambulances to
take a circuitous eastern route which extends the
journey from 7 minutes to up to half an hour.

The activists of the International Solidarity Movement
based in Rafah have chosen the road block as a target
for their protest because it represents an outrage of
the Geneva Convention, United Nations Resolutions 194
and 242 and the human rights of the indigenous
Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip.

For further information contact Olivier on 055 874 693.

Michael Shaik
ISM Media Coordinator
Phone: +972-2-2774602
Cell: +972-67-628439
web: http://www.palsolidarity.org
=============================================================================
2- Please Protest against violence by
the Israeli Army against a British humanitarian worker.


On Tuesday 21 January, Anne Gwynne, a 65 year old
British humanitarian worker in Nablus saw two
Palestinian photographers being beaten and kicked by
Israeli soldiers. When she went to their assistance
and tried to persuade the soldiers to cease their
violence they began to kick her and hit her in the back
with their rifle butts.

While the violence inflicted upon Anne is mild compared
to that inflicted upon Palestinian civilians on a daily
basis, it represents a serious threat to the safety of
all international humanitarian activists working in the
Occupied Palestine and must not go unchallenged.
Should the soldiers of the Israeli Occupying Army
believe that they can assault and intimidate
international activists with impunity the whole mission
of the ISM will be imperiled.

Please contact your Member of Parliament and demand
that the Foreign Office issue a formal protest to the
Israeli government deploring this violence by the
Israeli Army against a British humanitarian worker and
calling upon them to respect the non combatant status
of international humanitarian volunteers working in the
territories.

You can access the email of your MP at
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/alms.htm#s.

Please also forward this message to your friends and
anyone you know who is concerned about human rights in
Occupied Palestine. For soldiers to assault a 65 woman
under any circumstances is an outrage. Her assault by
the soldiers of an Army that is illegally occupying and
colonizing the West Bank represents a threat to all
humanitarian volunteers working in Palestine.

Michael Shaik
ISM Media Coordinator
Phone: +972-2-2774602
Cell: +972-67-628439
web: http://www.palsolidarity.org
=============================================================================
3- Please Take action for Omar -ISM
coordinator under adminstrative detention.

Dear All,

Here is the latest news of Omar for those who have kept
up with his situation please excuse the repartition in
the main report aimed at those who are just coming on
board. Amnesty International has taken up Omar’s case
and you will eventually be able to read about him at .
http://web.amnesty.org/web/web.nsf/pages/IOT_detention

Three human rights groups have tried to visit Omar at
Ofra with no success. Addameer, the Mandela Institute
and the Red Cross have all been denied access to the
prisoners in recent attempts.

TAKE ACTION

Please write to the Israeli authorities (See Addresses
at the bottom) describing what has happened to Omar as
an example, but urging them to immediately and
unconditionally release all administrative detainees
held on account of their non-violent political opinions
or activities, and to release the others unless they
are to be charged with a recognizable criminal offence
and promptly tried in a proper court of law in
accordance with internationally accepted standards for
fair trial.

Personal details:-

Name; Omar Ibrahiem Saud Titi Identity number 940
388 978 Age: 30 Birthday May 5 1972, Marital
status: Single Address: to be supplied later
Family mobile telephone number; 00972 (0) 55694175
Arrested December 23 2002 at 3-30pm.

At the time he was accompanying international
peacekeepers at a checkpoint going in to Azmut village.
The IDF soldiers took and checked his ID as they do
with all Palestinians entering or leaving the village.
After holding him for some time they said that he was a
wanted man and arrested him, blindfolded and tied his
hands behind his back before putting him in to the back
of an APC. I heard from his lawyer at Addameer that he
had been beaten up by the soldiers that had arrested
him while being transported in the APC.

For some time after that Omar's ware-a-bouts ware
rather vague as the IDF would not reveal his
whereabouts. At first we believed that he was in Ofra
as fellow prisoners in Hawwara had told us he had been
taken there, and Addameer had been given papers
informing them that he would be appearing in court on
the 5th January at Ofra.

Addameer’s lawyer Mohammed Hussein asked for an
adjournment due to the prisoner’s strike and his
unavailability on that date. The Case was adjourned
until the 7th January but they did not bring Omar to
court at the appointed time and the hearing did not
take place. It now seams that Omar was still being held
at Hawwara military base in solitary confinement until
the 7th when he was transferred to Ofra to late to
appear in court.

Omar eventually appeared in court on the 13th January
and was given 6 months Administrative detention he had
spent three weeks in detention. In a travesty of
justice the military judge said that in the secret
dossier that he was given there was ample evidence that
Omar was active and that he posed a danger to the
security of the area, and that he had no hesitation in
giving him the full 6 months. When the lawyer pointed
out that Omar was working with the "International
Solidarity Movement" ISM and this was a political
decision to prevent Palestinians working with peace
groups rather than anything to do with security the
military judge became angry and unhelpful refusing to
listen to any more arguments. The layer said that Omar
was well and understood the situation and was handling
it well. That he understood why he was being detained
and that it was a political decision.

We had hoped that the lawyer could give Omar 150
shekels for spending, which is allowed by the military
prison authorities, but the request was refused. This
means that Omar still has no money for cigarettes and
other things that are sold to the prisoners by the
solders that guard them! He says that the solders that
first arrested him abused him, and that this happened
while being transported in the APC.

But since then he has not been mistreated either at
Hawara or Ofra. While he is at Ofra it is imposable for
anyone other than a lawyer to visit him. But if he is
transferred to Ansar III then family members with
Jerusalem ID and travel papers might be allowed to
visit. The lawyer also asked about his health and
although he did mention his chronic stomach complaint
he said he did not need to see a doctor. It is unlikely
that we can get any medicine in to him as the military
say that their doctors will look after the prisoners
and supply any treatment that is necessary. Addameer
the prisoners support and human rights association
whose lawyer represented Omar in court on the 13th Jan
say they will appeal the case and if Omar is willing
eventually take it to the High Court.

1175 Palestinians are currently placed under
administrative detention, while at least six thousand
individuals have been placed under this detention since
April 2002. Administrative detention, or internment,
entails the imprisonment of individuals, without charge
or trial, initially for a period up to six months but
possibly renewable indefinitely.

Administrative detention was renewed for 63 % of
prisoners in 2002. In most cases, the renewal occur in
the last few hours of the detention, in a few cases
detainees were rearrested again immediately after their
release and before they could reach their homes and
meet their families. The judges in these cases are
military commanders of specific ranks, who are entitled
to issue administrative detention orders against
individuals alleged to form danger to the public
security or public interest of state of Israel.

Administrative detention was used in Palestine during
the British Mandate under Articles 108 and 111 of the
Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945. These
regulations give a military commander the power to
issue an administrative order without limiting its
duration, nor prescribing rules of evidence, nor
restricting the power of the commander.

These regulations were implicitly repealed by the
British at the eve of termination of their Mandate on
Palestine in 1948 and were not part of the law in force
in West Bank during the Jordanian rule. Regardless of
this fact, The Israeli occupation authorities insisted
on using these regulations as part of the local law.

Please continue to write, e-mail, fax and phone your
protest to the Israeli authorities and contact your
local Israeli embassy asking why they are using these
illegal behaviors. =======+++=====
Here are the details that you will need for Omar

Omar Titi, ID number 940 388 978, born 5th May, 1972.
Arrested on 23rd December, near Nablus at a checkpoint
into Azmut. Currently held at Ofra Prison

ADDRESSES

Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister and Minister of Immigration Absorption
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
P O Box 187
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91919, Israel
Fax: +972 2 651 2631
Telex: 25279 MPRES IL
E-mail: rohm@pmo.gov.il

Uzi Landau
Minister of Public Security Ministry of Public Security
(Police) Kiryat Hamemshala
PO Box 18182
Jerusalem 91181, Israel
Fax: +972 2 584 7872

Meir Sheetrit
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 628 8618
E-mail: sar@justice.gov.il

Eli Yishai
Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister
Ministry of Interior
2 Kaplan Street
PO Box 6158
Kiryat Ben Gurion
Jerusalem 91061, Israel
Fax: +972 2 670 1628
E-mail: sar@moin.gov.il

Elyakim Rubinstein
Attorney-General/Legal Advisor to the Government
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah al-Din Street
Jerusalem 91010, Israel
Fax: +972 2 628 5438

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tel: (00972) 36 080 339
Fax: 00972 36 080 343

=========+++======== This appeal is
presented by: Dave Rolstone,
Hamdden,
Efailwen,
Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire.
SA66 7UZ
Tel. :- 01994-419-678
Mobile:- 078166 12957
e-mail :- boats@hamdden.co.uk
============+++=========
=============================================================================
4-The demolition of the market in
Nazlet Issa village near Tulkarem - Lissa Nessen

Sunday morning we received a call about demolition
orders for the market in Nazlat Issa, a Palestinian
village north of Tulkarem on the Green line. The
location of Nazlat Issa along the Green Line has
allowed for a vibrant center for economic activity
because of the frequent visits to local businesses by
Palestinian Israeli customers and the easy
transportation of goods into Israel.

Nazlat Issa is one of the 15 villages northernnorhtern
West Bank) that will be situated between the Green line
and the wall Israel is building to physically separate
Israel from the Palestinians. Nazlat Issa and the
other villages will be isolated within Israel,
completely separated from friends and relatives, social
services, work, schools, medical care, etc... in
neighboring villages, unable to enter Israel or enter
the West Bank - stuck in a virtual no-man's land, in
somewhat of an Israeli prison, reinforcing Israeli
control and siege.

Israeli authorities have ordered the demolition of
nearly 200 shops and six homes in Nazlat Issa. The
reason given by Israel for the demolition orders is
"lack of building permission".

Many Palestinians echoed my thoughts on the real
motivation. The Israeli government is destroying the
fabric of Palestinian society on many different levels.
Through the systematic methods of "enforcing"
occupation, through land confiscation, illegal Israeli
settlement construction and expansion, bipass roads,
curfews, closures, home demolitions, restrictions on
movement, etc... Israel is creating unbearable living
and economic conditions. There is power behind creating
such conditions under which people are forced to move
(transfer?)...

Monday, the Israeli army came and saw international and
Israeli peace groups present as well as the hundreds of
Palestinians working to pack up their merchandise in
boxes and put their things on trucks to send off to
their homes in the village. Mothers, daughters,
brothers, sons, friends. The whole family was there
working to clear their things out... a dental office, a
pharmacy, a produce market, a hardware store, a
butcher, a toy store, a falafel stand, a glass shop, a
shoe store...Amidst the thunder, lighting, and rain,
shopowners and their families packed things up and even
started taking down the walls of their buildings. As
it got dark and the military and media dwindled, the
internationals headed back to have some food and find
our sleeping arrangements for the night. We met with a
group of local men and discussed the possible
hypothetical situations and actions of the following
day. After much discussion, and word of 5 arrests in
the village, we split up into working groups. I was in
the early morning lookout group, so I went to bed
shortly thereafter.

Tuesday morning, I went down with Radhika and Dunya (my
little affinity group)... 6:30 AM when we arrived down
at the market area, there were 6 military jeeps present
and bulldozers were arriving on flat-bed trucks. The
soldiers came up to us where we were standing under a
balcony trying to keep dry from the rain. They
notified us that the street that we were standing on
where the shops were was a 'closed military zone' for
the day. He showed us the order (a photocopied "fill
in the blank" sort of a sheet) which confirmed that the
entire village of Nazlat Issa and the village next to
it, Baqa Ash Sharqia was a closed military zone. We
made some calls to the house where we had stayed to
notify the other internationals to come.

Women were walking their children to school, cars were
driving through the "closed military zone," and I
notified the soldiers who had "kindly" asked me to
leave that I would leave when they stopped allowing
Jewish settlers coming from inside the West Bank
through the checkpoint into Israel. They told me that
in 5 minutes they were going to impose the military
order.

Little by little more internationals came, more
bulldozers came, some press, and soon following them
came some shopkeepers to continue to remove goods. The
military started pushing people out of the area.
Radhika, Dunya, and I headed into a shop to help the
frantic family wrap up their goods and begin to box
things up.

I tried to think of it as meditation...Picking up the
glass bowls, pitchers, vases, glasses Wrapping them in
the paper, Putting them in boxes. I began to wonder
what it was like for my family in Poland The men with
the guns were coming, and the time was not known...I
began to wonder what future this destruction will
bring. I don't know if they saw me broken, the tears in
my eyes. I felt my heart breaking as the woman by the
door bowed her head and lowered her eyes, with
shoulders fallen down like teardrops. My heart has been
broken before...Many brush off the pain. The ache has
dispersed through my body.

I called Drew who told me that all the Palestinians
were being cleared out of "the zone" and that Radhika
Dunya and I were the only internationals left in the
area. Just then the electricity was cut, so the
bulldozing could begin. We continued with the light
from the open door, until the light was blocked by 6
soldiers, with their guns pointed standing outside the
doorway telling us to leave, to lock the door and get
out of the area. Not defeated just a little undone, we
walked out of the shop. One of the men who we were
with handed me the keys to his shop, and told me his
brother was still inside and I needed to go give him
the keys. I didn't quite understand, but I turned
around and took one step back from where we had come,
and a soldier grabbed my arm. He told me, "I told you
to walk away". I said, "DON'T TOUCH ME! THERE IS A MAN
AND THE SHOP... I AM GOING BACK TO GIVE HIM THE KEYS!"
Another one pushed me came from behind and started
pushing me the other way and told me "I don't really
care about any man... and I told you to walk away!" At
this point I screamed and began to cry, "What is the
matter with you? There is a man in the shop who is
afraid to come out! His brother asked me to get him out
of the shop! I have his keys! Please don't grab me!"

I search for the fear and the kindness in their faces.
A slight ease in the grip, "Let go of me!" Their grip
loosened and I was free...He told me he doesn't think,
he just does what he's told to do. I can still hear him
cursing at me as I wander off.

Hysterically crying, I walk to shop. I met the man and
escorted him back out to where the soldiers had left
me. Now a military police man joined up with the
soldiers. He came up to the hysterically crying me...
He grabs my arm from behind and tells me its time to
go... This is when I really lose it. "I don't know
about you, but I'm a Jew, the way you are treating
these people makes me sick... and I can't believe what
you are doing! My grandmother was forced out of her
home in Poland under the threat of weapons by the
Nazis. What is happening here makes me SICK!" This
violence makes me believe that this violence is what
they need to be in control.

Under heavy military protection and in just under 4
hours, 60 shops, 1/3 of the market of Nazlat Issa was
destroyed. The jeeps left, the bulldozers left, the
media left... Operation Wanton Destruction was
completed.
=============================================================================
5- Excuse me, Do you mind walking to
your death? - Amer Abdelhadi

Palestinians under curfew did not feel relieved after
the Israeli High court issued a restriction order to
ban soldiers from using civilians as human shields
unless permission is granted by the person(s)
performing the human shield themselves. The Israeli
media never mentioned that the soldiers do not USUALLY
seek permission to make people walk in the firing line
and enter places that are likely to blow up either by
booby traps made by Palestinians or by the army
themselves. “It is like asking a woman if she agrees
to be raped before the actual action is made. She can
never say no at gun point nor would she ever grant
permission” Someone said.

Nonetheless, the usage of civilians as human shields
continued, business as usual. Samer Sharif was abducted
in the street while trying to reach the nearest shops
to buy bread for his family. Samer, just under 20,
together with a 16 year old boy were made to climb on
top of the army jeep hood and hold on tight to the
frame of the front windscreen. They were told that they
will help to stop stone throwers from throwing stones
at the jeep.

The soldiers, who accelerated the jeep at a high speed,
started shooting from a little hole made for the
purpose just behind where the boys were horrifically
hanging. The screams coming out of the boys never
slowed down the soldiers who were enjoying the scene
and laughing loudly about it.

The boys’ nightmare ended as soon as two reporters
preparing to use their cameras to document the ordeal
appeared on the scene. The soldiers beat up the
reporters and specifically threatened to take their
eyes out if the scene was shown anywhere media.

Samer was then taken to a near by school, beaten up
very hard using machine guns butts, legs, hands and
sticks before he was released. He walked a few meters
before he fell unconscious. Samer didn’t know what
happened to the other boy that shared the horrible
experience with or how he got to hospital. Samer
suffered several concussions all around his body,
medical sources said.

The decision by the high court did not mean much to
Palestinians as the death toll of innocent civilians
kept rising. The same court had previously issued a
restraining order to stop the army from using civilians
as human shields after many human right organizations
took the matter to the public.

“When did they ever ask permission to do anything”
someone said “I do not think they need a permission
when they are holding you at gun point”.

The curfew that started on June 20 is still enforced on
the city of Nablus. The Israeli army is using new
tactics such as ripping the nails out of innocent men
by appliers. The use of excessive force is rising all
the time. The world is watching, yet has done little.

Amer Abdelhadi

Radio Tariq Al Mahabbeh
TMFM 97.7
Nablus Under Siege
============================================================================
6-Articles worth looking at (Ghassan
Andoni)

1-Nablus: 'Mountain of Fire' Under Total Lockdown
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20030123081314274

2-Without Justice, There Can Be No Peace
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20030123073623976

3-Peace Now: NIS 2.2 billion went to settlements in
2001
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=255125&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0