1) The Man in the Clothes Shop _ Chris Green 2) Just Like Christmas _ Drew Penland 3) From an Ambulance in Palestine_ Lisa Beth 4) Right to Education Petition from Bethlehem

1)
The Man in the Clothes Shop That Dared To Be Open
Date: February 10, 2003

Author: Chris Green
Area: Tulkarem



A quick message-


I told you two days ago about the man who worked in the clothes shop, which
dared to be a bit open during curfew and was shot in both legs.
He was buried today. He was 21, about to be married, and had worked in the
shop for a couple of weeks. The bullets went through steel shutters and through the
windows before they hit him.



Today in the store besides the obvious pictures of bullet holes in doors, we
also took pictures of jerseys still on the racks with holes in them and
racks of jeans shot through. I went into the shop later in the day and tried to buy
a shirt but the shop workers wanted to give it to me because of our help, so we end
up
leaving some money on the counter and hoping it's enough.

At the funeral an old man working in the Ministry of Health stopped to talk
to me and gave me a portrait of his son- killed in March last year by an
Apache helicopter in Ramallah.

Apart from that it was a quiet day in terms of trouble but everyone was
expecting trouble so it wasn't a great shopping day for the equivalent of
Christmas Eve. However, the shops were very busy, but everyone asks the price
of everything. There was a power cut for the whole town this morning for
about 4 hours- I don't know if it was imposed by the Israelis or not, but
last night I past through a district of the Refugee Camp where the overhead
cables had been cut- some of the tanks have special insulated cutting gear.
I was due to go to Aziz's Mum's house for Zatta on home made bread so she
was making it in a homemade oven in the back yard. Another family are making
plans to build an oven so that they can bake bread when all the power is cut
off when (if) the war starts and the Israelis impose an unlimited curfew.
Yesterday I collected two stories from an ambulance driver of brutality
against him. One was only last week, but they are too long to tell here.

Last night I collected 10 letters from local children wanting pen-friends two
of them were written in English-Yousif Moosa Ibrahim writes
"My ambitions: To be a doctor to treat the poor people in my camp, To see
peace all over the world, and to see all my family together in one country.
By friendship the world will be smaller"

I got some better feel of the smallness of the geography of this region
yesterday when driving through it in the ambulance- I realised that all the
places that I picked olives last year were all very close, even though it
sometimes took ages to travel between them.

A lovely early evening in the Orphanage below our flat, dancing and
reviewing our performance of "We are the Children of Palestine" which they
love to sing. They drive people made with some noise making puppets we've
bought, but they get a collection of presents from the ambulance drivers
and local people. Tonight we are going to sleep in houses in the Camp just in case the
military come in to spoil Eid

The checkpoints around the city have been very heavily applied today, to
stop people traveling to visit their relatives-an important Eid tradition.
As a present to the house I bought two plastic chairs two stools and another
small table- Luxury- why did I do this two days before I leave?

Love
Chris

=================

2)
Just like Christmas
February 10, 2003
Author: Drew Penland
Area: Tulkarem

Today the feeling in Tulkarem is akin to Christmas in most of our countries.
Or almost. The only difference is that soldiers in armored vehicles can
enter your shop or mall at will and injure or murder with impunity. Let me
tell you of one incident, of the many, from the last ten days. I think it
will prove instructive about the present state of affairs in Occupied
Palestine.

Two days back I and another ISM activist were watching one APC and border
police jeep enforce curfew near the hospitals in the afternoon. They were
announcing menacingly "curfew" over their loudspeaker and a few youths were
throwing rocks from behind buildings without effect. After sitting at an
intersection for a short time the armored vehicles headed down a hill to
where they often head back to the Occupation forces base.

Just as we sought to catch our breath there was shouting from up the hill in
the area of the hospital. It seemed more was yet to come. From around the
corner at the hospital rolled a different APC and border police jeep. We
stood at the side of the road and watched them come down the hill towards
us.

The vehicles looked like they were from some absurd war fantasy for
jingoists. Machine guns poked out of every window of both vehicles.
Normally one or two machine guns are pointed at local Palestinians (and us)
through windows but this time 5 or 6 guns protruded out of each vehicle and
to me was a clear signal trouble was coming.

They rolled by and we waited for our companion who was pinned in at the
hospital by herself. As the vehicles rolled by into the city center they
picked up speed.

Just past us and at the edge of site I shuddered at three bursts of machine
gun fire that came from the APC. I ran in the direction of the shooting and
witnessed the vehicles rush off. Within seconds a man exited a shop and
called in a shrill voice for an ambulance.

I was one of the first to the scene and rushed into the clothing store. A
young man lay on the floor of the shop. He looked like a ghoulish yellow
puppet with an extra joint in his legs. Both his femur bones in his legs
were snapped by two bullets and blood was visibly spurting from one of his
legs into a growing pool that surrounded him on the shop floor.

He was reaching with his hands into the air and in severe shock and
excruciating pain, but conscious. All I could do was hold his hand. I had
my camera and thought to photograph him and try to help, but I froze for a
time. I just went rigid and held his hand and watched the crowd grow
outside the store. As people started filtering into the store I took
several steps towards the shop entrance and tried to stop people from
entering. It seemed that the young man was in such an undignified state and
I knew that too many people around him wouldn't help.

In a flash several paramedics, people who are true heroes of this struggle,
rushed through the door and with some local help the injured man was lifted
onto a bed. The ambulance was off within seconds back to Thabit-Thabit
Hospital (Tulkarem).

Now, some details about the young man. His name is Muhammed. He is 21 and a
university student who was hired at the shop for this holiday season to help
out for this busy time. It was his third day at work. He was the friend of
a close friend of mine.

I did not witness the actual shooting directly. We had to confirm with
locals that it was from the APC and not the jeep. They said it was from the
big machine gun atop the APC called a 215 something.

The evidence at the scene is quite damning. The store had been closed with
steel doors at the time of the incident. The heavy gun just shot right
through the cement wall and the steel doors into the back of the store and
the man.

At the time of the shooting there were six people in the store, including a
mother and her 10-year-old son. Many more could have been killed quite
easily. Much of the merchandise is now bullet holed and a window manikin
had its hand blown off.

The following morning the blood from the floor was mopped clean and the
store back open for business. It was almost like nothing ever happened, but
not in the hearts of the people.

The man was transferred to a hospital in Nablus (see other report) that
night and according to a doctor from the hospital underwent 7 hours of
surgery. He continued to have complications through the next day and his
bleeding never stopped. He was conscious much of the time, I cannot even
imagine the pain.

This morning he passed away. Today another funeral procession.

In truth similar incidents happen every couple days, and lesser but not
insignificant incidents like maiming kids with more frequency yet. It is
difficult to keep up with them and that is just in this city alone.

When contacted the Israeli Occupation Forces Spokesperson explained that
shooting at random was illegal and therefore not done by IOF soldiers.
Really. Apparently the killing of civilians isn’t as random as it seems.

Thanks oh Israeli soldiers for bestowing upon the people of Palestine such
pleasant gifts this holiday season. They should be more grateful. Be
assured they will never forget you and your gifts. Pray that they, and your
god, will forgive you.

Eid Sayeed,

drew
February 10
Tulkarem Occupied Palestine

Drew Penland is available for interviews over the phone and via email. He
can be reached by phone in Occupied Palestine at:
972-(0)52-371338
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)
From An Ambulance In Palestine
Date: February 10, 2003
Author: Lisa Beth
Area: Tulkarem

This is an account of one stage in the treatment of Mohammed Qadourah from a
paramedic's perspective. Mohammed is a 21-year-old university student who
was gunned down while working his third day at a retail shop in Tulkarem.
He was shot through both legs; one femur was shattered, and the other was
also fractured with damage as well to the femoral artery. His bleeding was
immediate and profuse. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance crew
worked to stop the bleeding and transported Mohammed to the local hospital.
There, the emergency room staff splinted both legs, took X-rays to diagnose
the injuries, started intravenous lines with multiple units of blood,
administered pain medication, and continued attempts to slow the bleeding
with only partial success.

I accompanied the ambulance crew who transported Mohammed from Dr. Thabit Thabit
Hospital in Tulkarem to Nablus, where Rafidia Hospital is better
equipped for trauma patients. When we picked up Mohammed from the Tulkarem
Emergency Room, he was awake and oriented, able to talk to his family gathered
around the bed. He had only a weak pulse in his left foot and none in his right,
evidence of an interruption in his circulation beyond the
injury sites; his skin was white, his arms and legs were cold, and pulses in
his wrists were very weak, all indications of his body's attempt to
compensate for the hemorrhage by shunting the available blood away from the
periphery and into his vital organs. He was also restless and in pain, and
continuing to bleed through the dressings on his legs, especially on the
right side.

We transported Mohammed, accompanied by a Tulkarem ER doctor and Mohammed's father,
to a meeting point close to the Nablus hospital. There we were met by another
ambulance where Mohammed was transferred through a roadblock set up by the Israeli
army—the reason a transfer of care was necessary—and the second ambulance continued
on to Nablus. At the time of this transfer, Mohammed's condition had deteriorated
significantly. He was no longer responding to us, and except for grimaces of pain,
seemed unaware of his
environment. Pulses were no longer present anywhere except weakly in the
carotid arteries (the major blood vessels in the neck); his blood pressure
was only 60/40 despite additional IV fluids administered while we were en
route; and his respirations were mechanical and ineffective, an ominous sign
of shock so severe that his brain was not receiving enough oxygen-carrying
blood. At the time I began writing this account, the update on Mohammed was
that he had gone through several hours of surgery at the Nablus hospital and
was in critical condition.

Our transportation of Mohammed would be called "Code 3" in the United
States: "lights and sirens", and permission to disobey traffic laws safely
in order to hasten the journey. However, "Code 3" in Palestine is defined
much differently. For the most part, Palestinian ambulances do not use
sirens, as the sound is too similar to the Israeli army vehicles that are
constantly patrolling the cities and villages, and would therefore serve
only to frighten the residents. In addition, while an American ambulance
must negotiate stoplights and intersections—where the traffic law exemption
comes into play—the Palestinian ambulance encounters instead multiple
"checkpoints". Many of these checkpoints are established and known, but
just as often the Israeli army will set up spontaneous checkpoints. At
these locations the ambulance must stop. An Israeli soldier will either
approach the ambulance and request identification of the driver and all
passengers, or will request that the driver exit the vehicle with these
i.d.'s; often, the ambulance is waiting several minutes before the soldier
initiates this first stage of the check. At times, the driver must also
lift his shirt and turn around at gunpoint, to prove he is not armed. The
soldiers then inspect the ambulance, compare i.d. photos with faces,
sometimes inspect bags and purses, and ask about our point of origin, our
destination, the reason for transport, and other questions which vary in their
apparent relevance. The Palestinian ambulances do not have traffic law exemptions
at these checkpoints.

During the leg of the journey in which I participated, we were stopped at
least three times. At one checkpoint we were delayed at least five minutes,
even though the units of blood attached to IV lines were clearly visible, as
was the blood on and around Mohammed's legs that continued to seep out
throughout the transport. One soldier included in his interrogation the
questions, "who shot him?", "why are you going to the other hospital?", and
asked our point of origin three times. Finally, after several minutes, I
approached the jeep with the intention of explaining again that our patient
is critical—as I motioned to the soldier to roll down his window, he simply
returned the i.d.'s and told us to go on.

My role has been not only as a paramedic and part of the rescue crew, but
also as an international presence to facilitate movement through these
checkpoints. It is unclear how much longer this ambulance would have been
required to remain at the checkpoint if I had not been present.

At the time I am finishing this account, we have learned that Mohammed died
of his injuries this morning, Monday, 10th of February.

----------lisa beth
Tulkarem, Palestine

=================


Request To Join A Committee Of Recommendation For A Petition To Stop Restrictions On
Palestinian Daily Life And Education





Dear Sir or Madam,



Through this letter we would like to enlist your support for a petition. The
petition, included at the end of this letter, will be addressed to international
educational authorities requesting that the Israeli government lift the present-day
collective measures that it has imposed upon the civilian Palestinian population in
the West Bank and Gaza. Specifically we would like to ask you whether you are
willing to join a committee of recommendation for the petition. This committee will
be presented in the following way:



"The petition is endorsed and recommended by the following persons (name and
title)". In this way, we expect to collect more signatures and support and to
increase the petition's impact. After the action will be completed in about two
months' time, we will foreword the signatures to international educational
authorities and the international press.



We appreciate having your response within two weeks (before February 14). If a
person from your circle is willing to join the committee, we would also appreciate
to have a brief description of their position/title. Apart from the petition
itself, you can find a background text below. We welcome your response at
aei@p-ol.com or fax: +972-2-277.7554.



Thank you very much for your attention and support.



Fuad Giacaman and Toine van Teeffelen

Arab Educational Institute/secretariat "Let Our Children Go To School Campaign"

Bethlehem / 00-972-2-274.4030 / fax: 00-972-277.7554


INTRODUCTION TO PETITION
The Israeli army regularly and routinely imposes full 24-hour curfews across many
inhabited areas of the West Bank without explanation and without accountability. It
is expected that new curfews will be issued to coincide with a possible war in Iraq.
After experiencing prolonged curfews during the last year, several of which lasted
for more than a month, many Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have
reached the limits of what they are able to bear.



The present Israeli Occupation is creating a humanitarian disaster. In combination
with tight closures and other restrictive and oppressive measures, the curfews
severely disrupt normal personal and family life. The economy in the Occupied
Territories is in dire straits, poverty and health conditions reach alarming levels,
and normal community life is completely paralyzed. It is not difficult to imagine
how people feel when they consistently lack control over their daily lives and are
barely able to plan. This particularly applies to education where the staff working
at schools and institutes for Higher Education are constantly having to improvise
their lessons and change their schedules, or cannot go to their work. Some
universities have been closed by military order.



Not only are hundreds of thousands of pupils and students lacking any study rhythm,
they are also often exposed to killings, injuries or teargas, and feel hopeless
about their present and future. Their lack of orientation is compounded by the fear
for a war on Iraq, and its consequences for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Many
educators here have to live with the thought that a new young generation – the large
majority of the Palestinian people, in fact – at present do not feel any future
here. Regard this message, written while Bethlehem is once again under curfew, as an
_expression of self-respect and a cry for help. We very much appreciate your
support, especially at this dark moment in our lives.



The Arab Educational Institute (AEI) in Bethlehem is working on community education,
especially for youths, in the southern West Bank. Its work focuses on peace and
non-violence education, as well as inter-religious and inter-cultural cooperation
and exchanges. AEI is affiliated to Pax Christi International, supported by CORDAID
and a partner in the Euro-Arab Dialogue from Below (EAd) network.



AEI is also the secretariat of the campaign "Let Our Children Go To School" which
started in the beginning of October 2002 in Bethlehem with a demonstration of many
hundreds of school children in the presence of Christian and Moslem religious
leaders, civil authorities and local NGOs. Another two demonstrations were held in
Bethlehem and in the West Bank village of Taybeh, before the December curfews made
new planned demonstrations impossible.



PETITION TEXT

To be addressed to international educational bodies and authorities.



Dear Sir / Madam,



Restrictive measures which collectively and over prolonged periods target the
civilian Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza, such as the present
curfews and closures, are completely unacceptable and should be lifted immediately.



The undersigned emphatically support the rights of the Palestinian people in the
West Bank and Gaza to go to their schools and institutions of learning, and to
conduct their normal duties of daily life.



Also in order to strengthen a long-term prospect for a just and stable peace in the
region, we request you to do everything in your power to put appropriate pressure
upon the Israeli government in accordance with the demands of international legality
including the right of education.



Name:



Profession:



Email address:







Copy and send the signed petition to: aei@p-ol.com or +972-2-277.7554 (fax).



The action will last until April, 2003.
===============================

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
http://www.palsolidarity.org