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1- From An Umbulance in Palestine from lisa Beth
2- HEBRON: No School Today by Art Gish CPTnet
3-Nablus – The Bride of the North. 17 February 2003. by Mary Daly
4- Palestinians Fear Being Trapped by Israeli Wall By JAMES BENNET NY Times
5- Letter from Bethlehem by Toine van Teeffelen
6- Interviews with ISM activists in Palestine
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1- From An Umbulance in Palestine
Two nights ago we transported a six year old boy, accompanied by his mother, from his home in a nearby village to Dr. Thabit Thabit Hospital in Tulkarem. This boy had a seizure earlier in the evening; he had no history of seizures, but his parents remembered that he had fallen the week before without apparent cause, and had been somewhat confused after that fall. At the beginning of the transport, this boy did not interact much with his mother and at times had a "fixed gaze" to the right, both signs of probable brain injury or abnormality. Although his behavior became more normal by the time we reached the hospital, it was clear that he needed doctors who have access to specialized diagnostic equipment.

When we returned to the ambulance dispatch center, i asked one of the managers--who happened this evening to be dispatching--if the Tulkarem hospital has the diagnostic equipment this patient needs. He informed me that this equipment, as well as appropriately trained personnel, are not available at this public hospital; patients in need must go to Nablus. When the dispatcher received this emergency call, he immediately contacted the Nablus hospital to inform them of this potential patient--the kind of phone call routinely made in the United States if one emergency room receives a patient with, for example, severe burns, and wants to transfer that patient to a specialized burn center. The Nablus hospital said it was able to accept the patient, but advised our dispatcher against transport to their facility due to extended travel time: four-to-five hours estimated from the Tulkarem area to Nablus.

Five hours.
Five hours to travel 30 kilometers. The reason for the delay? Ambulances that were arriving in Nablus reported being held at the checkpoints for that long. If you recall in my first report, I described the "check" procedure at the checkpoint, a process that can be accomplished (and at times is accomplished) within 30 seconds. To our knowledge, none of the ambulances reporting this delay had international accompaniment; but as the dispatcher explained, my presence would not have guaranteed quicker passage, and it was deemed better for the patient to be in a hospital ill-equipped for his needs than to remain at home. At least they can manage any further seizure activity and provide other life support not possible in his village. (The dispatcher informed me that in fact there is a private hospital in Tulkarem with the equipment this boy needs, but that hospital is not an acutal option for most residents, as they cannot afford it.)

Only two days prior to this experience, three ambulances were turned back at Al Taiba checkpoint, between Tulkarem and Nablus, being told simply that the road was not open to them. This same dispatcher telephoned the Red Cross office in Tulkarem to inform them of the situateion, who then contacted the Israeli Civil Administration . . . who insisted that there were no ambulances delayed or denied passage at this checkpoint. The dispatcher then sent one of the ambulances out to try again, and the soldiers permitted their passage without problem--and without acknowledgement of the previous refusals.

One more "checkpoint delay" anecdote i will include here, from personal experience: I was travelling with an ambulance driver, we had successfully transported several dialysis patients to Nablus, and we had just left that city to return to Tulkarem. There is a checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus, called Qousin, with concrete barriers extending approximately 1/4 kilometer's length of the road, bisected by a booth manned by soldiers. There are also "camouflaged" shelters on either side of the road, one up on a hill, from which soldiers keep vehicles and individuals in their sights.

Persons travelling by vehicle or foot must stop at either end of the concrete barriers, waiting for a subtle signal to move up towards the center booth, where they are "checked". The wait for this signal is unpredictable, from seconds to hours. On this morning, as we left Nablus, we waited about 10 minutes without any sign of ackowledgement from the soldiers; we could see one ambulance on the other side, and as we continued to wait, a second, then third, then fourth ambulance lined up--each trying to transport patients into Nablus, not one being acknowledged. There were also several other vehicles, a bus, and about 50 pedestrians lined up on either side. I decided to approach the soldier in the booth: although we were not transporting patients, Tulkarem was waiting for our return so we could serve the community, and it was not known to me (or to the soldiers, who had been ignoring all of us) what was the status of the patients in the other ambulances. Midway in my hike to the booth, soldiers began to approach in my direction. Then i heard yelling from the public address system in the camouflaged shelter on the hill (which i did not understand, but learned later was an order for me to return to the ambulance).

I began to tell one soldier--whom i recognized as the one who checked us on our way in--that we need to get to Tulkarem. He said "just wait"; i said, "patients are waiting for us," and he told me again to wait. Then he and the other soldiers proceeded to drill: military exercises, choreographed maneuvers, crouching behind the concrete barriers and running and crouching again, calling out "sheisheisheishei" to mimic the sound of gunfire . . . Fifteen minutes of this war game, and when we thought it was over, fifteen more minutes while they huddled behind the booth, evaluating their performance.

I might say it reminded me a little of watching an American football training session. Except that these players wore olive-tree-green uniforms and deadly rifles, and patients needing medical care waited in each endzone, utterly disregarded. i am told often by my colleagues, the people i accompany, that my presence makes a difference. I continue, however, to feel frustrated and ineffective. These are my feelings after ten days of night shifts; how does it feel to be a Palestinian paramedic, living and working under these conditions?

Today, i do not know if that six year old boy has arrived finally in Nablus or if he waits still in Tulkarem, which is a strong possibility. Without diagnosis and treatment, the chances of another seizure increase; continued seizures can potentially lead to coma or even death.

In the ambulance, his mother sat next to me, on occasion quietly losing control and trying to hide her tears from her son.
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2- HEBRON: No School Today

February 17, 2003
After a short break for the Feast of the Sacrifice, school began again on February 15--at least for some children. Other children never got to school again, because the 15th was the 93rd day of curfew in the area around the Old City of Hebron.
Soldiers chased some children who slipped around the corner to get to school in the curfew area. They frightened some children enough to send them back home.
I accompanied two groups of girls past the soldiers. I also helped three women teachers to get into the school after soldiers told them they could not go. The Ibrihimi boys' school was locked shut, so those boys had to go back home. Three soldiers sat in a jeep and watched as two mothers accompanied their children up the street toward the school. When the mothers and children got near the school, the soldiers suddenly sped toward them in their jeep. One soldier jumped out, pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the women, forcing them back down the street.
I asked why the children could not go to school. "It's because they are terrorists", they said.
Soldiers told me that I was looking only at the local situation. If I looked at the big picture, I
would see that keeping children from going to school does help make peace. A soldier told my teammate that if we were Israelis we would want all of these children to be dead. One soldier told us he was born without a heart.
It seemed that the longer we were in contact with the soldiers, the more relaxed and less aggressive they became. The problem is not with these soldiers, however. The problem is with the orders they receive. The problem is the occupation itself, which must be ended for peace to be possible here.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among Mennonite and Church of the Brethren congregations and Friends Meetings that supports violence reduction efforts around the world.

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3- Nablus – The Bride of the North. 17 February 2003.

Nablus is a city in the West Bank, approx. 70km north of Jerusalem with a population of 242,000. In
June 2002 the Israeli authorities imposed a “curfew” which lasted 120 days. This meant that
Palestinians were unable to leave their homes at any time without the risk of being shot by the
Israeli forces. Since then the city, like many others in the West Bank, has been “under siege”.
This means that Palestinians must pass through Israeli army “checkpoints” when travelling to and from the city. Today I, along with 2 other internationals, visited such a “check-point”.
The Beit Eiba check point lies around 4km to the west of Nablus on the approach road to the village of the same name. It is “open” from 6am until 6pm most days, but the Army can decide to close it at any time. At 1pm today when I arrived the point was “open”. Thirteen men were waiting to go back home to their villages. One told me that he was on he had been waiting for two hours. He was on his way home to study for an (accountancy!) exam tomorrow. The soldiers said that this was “corrective punishment”: Because they did not remember the men crossing the checkpoint, they concluded that they must have crossed on foot over the hills. The commander said that he would return their papers at 6pm, at which point they would be free to leave. Whilst we were there another man asked us to ask the soldiers about his taxi. The car was confiscated from him last week, it was not made clear why, however there are more than 10 such vehicles in the area. The soldier said that he could not have his car back until next week, because two weeks was the standard period for such a confiscation. At 5.15 the commander allowed the men to leave, one by one. He asked the student if he would cross the point tomorrow, to which the man said “yes, is it open?” The commander said, “maybe, I can’t say right now”.
****
Yesterday Israeli troops entered the city of Nablus. I saw at least 2 tanks, approx three armoured
personnel carriers (APCs) and several armoured jeeps. The Israeli army were trying to detain a local politician, and they reported four arrests. They entered the city at approx 2pm, when children were returning home from school, and the town centre was busy with shoppers and tradespeople. This “incursion” gave rise to “clashes”. I witnessed almost the duration of these. When I arrived a tank and three jeeps were stationed in one of the main streets, surrounded by stones. I could hear intermittent gunfire, but I couldn’t be clear where this was coming from. Troops left their tanks and armoured jeeps and moved into the building. A number of young men were throwing stones at the vehicles, later I saw three men with guns; one looked like a pellet gun, the other two were, I think, Kalashnikovs. The army fired back at the crowds and eventually forced most people into one street. Young men were in the street breaking up asphalt to throw at the soldiers. A few were also holding petrol bombs. Many were simply trying to find their way home, to pack up their stalls and to escort the injured from the area. I left the street with two women, one of whom was holding a baby. Later I asked other internationals to do the same with some elderly people fleeing from a building surrounded by gunfire.
So far three Palestinians have been reported dead, and 22 injured. Israeli army sources also
reported 2 injured.
The dead:
Ayman Abu Zanct (28)– eye witnesses reported that he was shot whilst trying to move his car from the path of an approaching tank. He was shot in the head at very close range, and the tank later drove over and crushed his car. He was not holding any weapons.
I have no details of the other fatalities except their names:
Samer Taknovy, (16) and, Feras Mabrokoch.
Some of the injured:
An ambulance driver, shot in the hand whilst trying to move a casualty onto his ambulance.
A 12 year old boy, shot with an “exploding” bullet through the neck. The bullet exploded on impact, removing his upper palate and nose.
Another ambulance worker, on his first day at work. A bullet penetrated the ambulance, leaving him without testicles.
I have had no reports of the army casualties.
****
This is not the only military presence in Nablus. The army currently “occupy” a number of houses in the city. I went to the home of one such family on Friday. The home of this family has been
“occupied” three times now. Twenty two people are forced into the lower floors of their house so
that the army can use the other floors. For the first days no one was allowed to leave the house,
not even to attend school. Recently the army have given permission for some persons to leave the house with permission. The occupation of such houses allows the army to have a base in the city whilst the detention of the family acts as a human shield.
A group of 12 internationals went to the house with chocolates, as is traditional at the end of Ede.
A soldier at the gate told us that we couldn’t go into the house and that he could not take the
chocolates on our behalf. At this point Ariel Za’ev, the local commander came to the gate. He
immediately released the safety catch from his gun and threw a sound grenade. He then pushed us away from the house. Liab, an Israeli girl was pushed to the ground several times, as was Charlotte (Irl) and Jim (US). After releasing some tear gas, he identified one of the group as a Palestinian (Hussain Khalili, 29). Hussain was dragged into the house where he was beaten and then detained for approx. 6 hours. He was later released without charge, following a barrage of phone calls from various activists and human rights groups.
****
Nablus, “the bride of the north” is unrecognisable since the Occupation. Once a thriving, affluent
city it is now a collection of shattered streets, shelled buildings and a people devastated by
bloodshed.
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4- Palestinians Fear Being Trapped by Israeli Wall
February 18, 2003

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Feb. 17 - Claire Anastas spent most of last week trying to keep her four children playing or studying while they were cooped up in their home here under Israeli Army curfew.
Then, on Sunday, the army informed her that it would soon build a new wall, at least 25 feet high,
outside her house. The wall will separate her neighborhood from the rest of Bethlehem, and her
children from their schools.
"This is a nightmare for us," said Mrs. Anastas, 34. "We're trapped."
Under the plan, Palestinians like Mrs. Anastas will be left on the Israeli side of the wall, and they
will have to pass through an army checkpoint inside it to reach the rest of Palestinian Bethlehem.
The family's predicament underscores the difficulty Israel is having untangling the knotted
populations, and their intertwined political and religious traditions, as it builds a new barrier
fence in the West Bank.
According to the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel must build the wall through the northern outskirts of Bethlehem to protect Jewish worshipers at the shrine they revere as the Tomb of Rachel, wife of the biblical patriarch Jacob.
The tomb, now hidden by 15-foot concrete barriers, topped by guard towers and patrolled by soldiers in battle gear, is just across Yasir Arafat Street from Mrs. Anastas's house. Less than 500 yards inside Bethlehem, it has been a flash point for years. Worshipers arrived there today in an armored bus.
"There's a very important historical and religious site which has been the target of repeated
attacks," Raanan Gissin, Mr. Sharon's spokesman, said. "The main purpose here is not to annex that land, but to provide security."
The new wall is a segment of a barrier fence of concrete and wire that Israel is building in what it
says is an effort to safeguard Israelis from Palestinians. The government says that the snaking path of the fence is being guided not by politics or religion but by security needs.
But the blurriness of those categories is at the very root of this conflict. Right-wing Israelis have
been pushing to fence Jewish settlements and holy sites into the Israeli side. The proposed path of the fence already means it will include thousands of Palestinians on the Israeli side, to some extent undermining the fence's stated purpose - separation.
Mr. Gissin said that in Bethlehem the government "decided to change the route of the fence" to ensure "freedom of access and freedom of religion."
Bethlehem residents say it is they who are in danger. Having watched the army beef up its presence around the tomb and repeatedly seize control of Bethlehem over the last year, they accuse Israel of now grabbing the town's last relatively open space.
"Bethlehem is the Bethlehem ghetto now," said Dr. Jad Issac, the director general of the Applied
Research Institute here, as he examined a satellite photograph of the area today.
He said that, rather than seeking to ensure freedom of religion, Israel was pushing Bethlehem's
Christian Palestinians to pack up and leave. About 360 Palestinians would be left on the Israeli
side, he said. "Once they get rid of the Christians, then they will label the rest as terrorists," he
said. Bethlehem, which abuts the southern boundaries of Jerusalem, has been the source of several suicide bombings against Israelis. Israel has blocked its exits with checkpoints, and along stretches of Bethlehem's boundaries it has already dug a trench five-feet deep and piled coils of barbed wire. Israeli soldiers routinely raid Bethlehem and arrest suspected militants. The army renewed its curfew here last week after an Israeli officer was shot dead on Tuesday night as he patrolled near Manger Square.
Rachel's Tomb has been relatively quiet in recent months, but this remains a tense, anxious part of the city. The olive-wood gift shops, falafel lunch spots and jewelry stores along Yasir Arafat Street were once the most bustling in Bethlehem, but now almost all of them are closed. Many residents have also left.
Inside one of the few stores still open, El Quds Auto Parts, the owner, Yusef Nemah, 50, leafed
through a receipt book to determine when he last made a sale: Sept. 25, 2002, for about $80 worth of parts.
Mr. Nemah, who specializes in Fords, said he could not blame his former customers. "If this wasn't my store, I would never think of coming here," he said. He said that he would like to move his shop, but cannot afford to.
The elegant family home of the mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Nasser, is on Yasir Arafat Street. He said the city would sue the Israeli government to stop construction of the wall, but most residents here seemed resigned to it. "It's a military order," said Amjad Awwad, 37, a grocer, with a derisive chuckle. "There is no law." Mr. Awwad said that he lived a two-minute walk from the store - but on the other side of the wall's path.
Palestinians here said they were told that the wall would be made entirely of concrete, to prevent
shooting attacks. Israel is offering some compensation for the land it is confiscating in the wall's
path, but not, Palestinians say, for some 750 acres on the Israeli side.
Palestinians said the army told them they would not be granted status as Jerusalem residents, meaning they could not freely travel into Jerusalem from their neighborhood, either. But Mr. Gissin said it was possible that affected residents would receive some sort of enhanced status.
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel retained security control of Rachel's Tomb, with a guarantee it would maintain the "present situation" there.
Dr. Shmuel Berkovitz, an expert on Jerusalem and Jewish holy places, said the new wall would
effectively annex Rachel's Tomb to Jerusalem from Bethlehem "as a matter of technical separation, without an official declaration." He said Israel's military leaders balked at taking that step after the 1967 Middle East war out of fear of provoking the Arabs.
He noted that in centuries past Ottoman and British rulers of this territory recognized Rachel's Tomb as a site holy to Jews. The structure, a small stone building with a dome, was built in Ottoman times. It is now completely enclosed by the fortifications, built in 1996 and 1997.
"Right now, you can't see any romantic place there," said Dr. Berkovitz. "You can see it only as a
military position."
Muslims say the tomb contains a mosque from which Israel excludes them.
Through a locked steel door, inside the building housing the tomb, the windows are shuttered for
safety, and the air is stale - stinking, today, of sewage. The lights are fluorescent. But the
worshipers still come. One older man, who asked not to be identified, said he came from Jerusalem today to pray for a granddaughter undergoing medical treatment.
He said he doubted that the proposed fence would end the conflict. "I think it's going to take the
coming of the Messiah, or the eviction of the Arabs," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/18/international/middleeast/18MIDE.html?
ex=1046583094&ei=1&en=afbb3f25ba358aa1
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5- Letter from Bethlehem (47)
11-Feb-03

While I do correspondence for a petition on Palestinian education, a friendly mail comes in asking whether the petition text should also not quote the reasons why the Israeli army is imposing curfews. Are Palestinian schools not places where violent demonstrations take place? But in fact we here in Bethlehem don't know much about the reasons for the curfews and closures except for the general referral to "security." There are very few schools in Palestine where under the present circumstances the administration allows students to be involved in any kind of political work like a demonstration. One teacher I know complains that she would not even be permitted to put her signature under a petition. All efforts are aimed at getting the school year finished without disturbance.
To read more please click here
http://www.hcef.org/news/news/index.cfm/dsp/newsview/itemid/908.htm

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6- Interviews with ISM activists in Palestine
Here are three recent KPFA Flashpoints radio interviews from Palestine, two with ISM, one w Kristen Schurr, and one w Anne Gwynn, and the other with 'Amani' a Palestinian NGo worker in Gaza City.
February 18, 2003 (Amani, Gaza City)
http://flashpoints.net/index-2003-02-18.html (text summary with audio link)
http://www.flashpoints.net/cgi-bin/ra.pl?date=20030218&start=01:10 (direct audio)
February 17, 2003 (Anne Gwynn, Nablus)
http://flashpoints.net/index-2003-02-17.html (text summary with audio link)
http://www.flashpoints.net/cgi-bin/ra.pl?date=20030217&start=00:47 (direct audio)
February 13, 2003 (Kristen Schurr, Bethlehem)
http://flashpoints.net/index-2003-02-13.html (text summary with audio link)
http://www.flashpoints.net/cgi-bin/ra.pl?date=20030213&start=00:50 (direct audio)