1-House demolished in Rafah
2-Hundreds Rally Against Wall and for Unity
3-Israelis fire on parents of injured British peace activist
============================================================1-House demolished in Rafah
ISM activists and Palestinians shot at by tank nearby
Rafah, Gaza Strip.
At Approximately 7:15 PM on Friday, May 2, 2003, ISM Rafah was informed that the Israeli Military had begun to demolish a home in the Barazil area. In addition to the demolition crew, a tank was stationed nearby shooting, as it usually does, into the area. Two ISM activists approached the area to assess the situation. Using a strip light and megaphone, and wearing flourescent jackets, the ISM volunteers cautiously approached the tank and requested a pause in bulldozing to enable the family to remove their furniture. When the volunteers were approxamitely 20 meters from the tank, two or three Palestinians approached. The tank opened fire; the red flashes of two gun barrels were seen by both activists, who flung themselves to the ground. Further shots were fired, even after Palestinians retreated. The two internationals crawled through the dust and sand to a safer place behind a mound of earth, where they waited about ten minutes before walking across the road to relative safety.
ISM activists had been sleeping with the family in the targeted house for five weeks.
The IOF has been systematically demolishing houses in Rafah to clear a 100-meter "no-man's land" between the city and the Occupation Wall being built along the Egypt border. Thus far over 700 homes have been demolished in Rafah.
ISM Media Coordinator
Beit Sahour, Occupied Palestine ==============================================================2-Hundreds Rally Against Wall and for Unity
May 4,2003, Mas'ha, Occupied Palestine
Four hundred Israelis, Palestinians & International peace activists participated in a rally yesterday in the village of Mas'ha to fortify the existence of the Mas'ha peace camp located in the West Bank, Occupied Palestine. Founded one month ago, the peace camp exists in order to draw attention to the construction of the new Israeli "security" wall within the western border of the West Bank. This wall, commonly referred to as the apartheid wall, will confiscate over 30% of Palestinian land within the West Bank, including villages, water access and agricultural areas.
Despite sweltering heat and a rocky climb, demonstrators walked from the roadblock near Mas'ha through the village itself and converged on top of the hill where the camp exists. At the peace campsite, speeches were made by representatives of many groups including, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, the Land Defense Committee, Mas'ha Village Council, the International Women's Peace Service, the International Solidarity Movement, Gush Shalom, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, the Alternative Information Center, and Black Laundry. Many mentions were also made in support of the international peace activist presence that has recently come under fire from the Israeli Government.
Tanya Reinhardt a professor at TelAviv University said that `Behind the smoke screen of "the road map" - a new fake "peace initiative", Israel is stealing Palestinian land. The wall is not built on the border line of 1967. When the plan for the wall was approved by the previous government in June 23, 2002, Peres said in protest that it amounts to annexing 22% of the Palestinian land to Israel. The route of the wall was since extended even deeper into Palestinian land. The military junta that rules Israel is driven by one goal - get as much of Palestinian land and water as possible. Farmers who are seperated from their land and means of livelihoods will be forced to move out of their villages. Thus the fence is a form of cruel transfer. What is happening in the Mas'ha camp is a new form of struggle. Palestinians and Israelis unite to break the barriers of the occupation and the Israeli military junta, to protect together Palestinian land, and to carry the message that a different future is possible of coexistence based on justice.
I salute the members of the international community who are present with us today. I admire your courage and determination, in these dark days, when Israel is killing members of the ISM, and declaring that their presence is illegal. Your presence carries the message that this is not just a local struggle of Palestinians and Israelis, but the struggle of all people of the world, who have not lost their conscience. Your presence gives us hope. The combined will of the people of the world, is bound to win.'
Together, this rally and these groups can stand as an example of true peace and cooperation between peoples, and work to build an international campaign against the Apartheid wall and the subsequent transfer of thousands of Palestinians.
Declaring the rally a success, organizers from all represented groups pledged to continue this campaign and work in support of unity amongst the people of Palestine, Israel and the world. ism-alert@palsolidarity.org ================================================================3-Israelis fire on parents of injured British peace activist
By Cahal Milmo
06 May 2003
The parents of a British peace activist who was shot in the head by Israeli troops came under fire themselves as they travelled to the spot where their son was critically injured.
Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall were in a British diplomatic convoy entering the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip when Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint fired a shot, which passed narrowly over the top of their vehicles.
The incident on Saturday afternoon took place despite the Israeli Army being given notice of the journey on at least three occasions – the last minutes before the convoy arrived.
The Foreign Office said last night that an explanation had been requested from the Israeli authorities for the warning shot, which was fired as the two armoured Range Rovers entered the Abu Khouli checkpoint on the edge of Rafah at about 1pm.
Concerns were being raised yesterday over the conduct of Israeli soldiers in the south of the Gaza Strip. The incident in which the Hurndalls were fired at comes not only after their son was shot in Rafah, but after two other Westerners were killed in the city.
The Hurndalls, whose eldest son, Tom, is in a coma in an Israeli hospital after he was shot three weeks ago while trying to reach two Palestinian children, were being accompanied by Tom's youngest brother and the military and political attachés to the British embassy in Tel Aviv.
Mrs Hurndall, a schoolteacher from Tufnell Park, north London, said: "We were passing through the checkpoint very, very slowly when there was the sound of a bullet – it was like the sound of a large stone coming off the car.
"What struck me was the ludicrousness of the situation. Here we were, the parents and brother of someone who has been wounded by Israeli Defence Forces and who then fire a warning shot over our car for no apparent reason.
"It was a measure of the insanity that can take hold here." The single shot was fired from one of two watchtowers that stand above the checkpoint, causing the two British cars, identifiable by their white diplomatic plates, to come to an immediate halt.
Not until the defence attaché, Colonel Tom Fitzalan-Howard, had stepped from the car with his hands in the air to talk with the soldiers inside the tower was the convoy able to proceed.
Notice that the cars would be passing through Abu Khouli was given at least three times – in the days before the trip, just as it was setting off and 10 minutes before it arrived.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "A single warning shot was fired as our staff were crossing the checkpoint. No-one was injured but the incident has been raised with the Israeli Defence Forces."
It is understood that an Israeli Army captain at the checkpoint later told members of the convoy that the shot had been fired because the vehicles had not stopped. There was no order to do so.
The journey by the Hurndall family to Rafah, where they met peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement who had been working with Tom, was made as they launched an appeal to raise £20,000 to bring him back to Britain by air ambulance.
The 21-year-old student, who was studying photography at Manchester Metropolitan University, was hit by a high-velocity bullet fired by an Israeli sniper as he moved towards two frightened Palestinian children in daylight.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/ story.jsp?story=403582
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