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