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Crisis Situation Continues as Israeli Army Expands Military Aggression Throughout the West Bank
The Palestine Monitor, 2 April 2002


Betreff:  [AL-AWDA-News] Crisis Situation Continues as Israeli Army Expands Military Aggression Throughout the West Bank
Datum: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 21:34:55 +0100 (BST)
Von: Patricia Smith <palestine_monitor_alquds@yahoo.co.uk>
An: Al awda news <Al-Awda-News@yahoogroups.com>

The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse

URGENT UPDATE
Crisis Situation Continues as Israeli Army Expands Military Aggression Throughout the West Bank
2 April 2002

For the fifth consecutive day the Israeli army continues to assault the West Bank city of Ramallah, deepening the humanitarian crisis, attacking civilians, maintaining a 24-hour curfew and total siege on the city. No one can move in the city – no one can get in, or out.
     Water, electricity and telephone lines have been cut, people are unable to get food, medical workers come under attack when attempting to gain access to the sick and wounded, hospitals report shortages of oxygen, blood, IV solutions, antibiotics, and blood spectrum antibiotics. The Ramallah hospital buried 25 bodies on their premises as they were forbidden from taking them to the cemetery; there are fears that many more bodies remain scattered around the town, inaccessible to medical personnel. A photojournalist was arrested and 10 Palestinian Red Crescent workers traveling in three ambulances were arrested on the way to treat people wounded in the Israeli attacks on Beitounia; forced out of the ambulances at gun point they were then made to strip and wait at the side of the street. The same treatment was meted out to a UPMRC ambulance driver, who was stopped, stripped in the rain and then had the final humiliation of soldiers throwing mud on him.
    The army informed local human rights organizations that it was going to lift the curfew between 2-6 PM this evening, however when people were told this, and attempted to leave their homes, the soldiers in the city opened fire on a number of them. A 14-year-old boy, Kindi Amin Qutamey was shot in the leg in downtown Ramallah, a victim of another Israeli lie.
    This situation is mirrored throughout the West Bank; the Israeli army now has re-occupied the cities of Qalqiliya, Tulkaram Beit Jala and Bethlehem. It is reported that tanks and other military vehicles are making their way to Jenin and Nablus.
    Near Bethlehem, Mar Shaba monastery came under Israeli attack. When soldiers demanded the nuns and monks open the door to the church, they refused. The soldiers proceeded to open fire at the door wounding one sister in the attack.
    In Bethlehem, a father of 3 children moved to his mothers’ house in the old city – as it was in an area less vulnerable to an Israeli attack, or so he thought. His 64-year-old mother, Sumaya, was shot dead with two bullets to her chest, when an Israeli tank invaded the area; at the same time shelling from the tank killed his brother, Khaled. The children in the house, eight in total, are cowering in the bathroom – the safest place, and away from the corpses that remain in their home as no ambulance or other vehicle can come to remove them.
    Tanks in the grounds of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem surround over one hundred people inside. Some of the wounded have received medical treatment, but are unable to leave the church. At the time of writing the Israeli army is once again firing on the church and the surrounding areas.
    The situation has gone beyond dire. With foreigners and journalists being forced to leave, and communication difficult from the besieged towns, Sharon’s army has carte blanche to act without restraint against the civilian Palestinian population.

For more information contact Juliana at the Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510



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