Rafah, Tulkarem, Small gathering for Rachel
1. Rafah: Two More Palestinian Children Shot for being in their Homes 2. Tulkarem: Israeli Army Kills 15 year Old
Boy and Continues it's Terror in Tulkarem 3. West Jerusalem: Small Group Honors One Month Aniversary of Rachel Corries
Death
Two More Palestinian Children Shot for being in their Homes
Rafah, Gaza
At 18:00 today Israeli army parked a tank in front of the Mosque in Rafa and began firing two bursts of machine gun
fire down the street. They shot 7 year old Alva Omar in the shoulder while he was inside of his home and 17 year old
Ahmed Radwan who was standing in the doorway of his house. Activists from the International Solidarity Movement have
accused the Israeli army of consistently parking a tank in front of this Mosque and shooting randomly down the street of
a residential neighborhood. In an attempt to prevent exactly what occurred today, the ISM activists had recently planned
to set up a tent on the site where the tank parks.
Unfortunately, they never succeeded in raising the tent. It was also in this area that Tom Hurndall, one of the
activists, was critically shot in the back of the head while trying to move a child out of view of an Israeli sniper
tower to safety. Earlier this morning members of the ISM in Rafah received a request from local Palestinians to bring
some water tanks down from the Mosque to be fixed. They had been shot up over night by the army. At 12:10 PM the
ISM-group arrived and announced their intention to the army by megaphone. It took about one half hour to empty the water
tanks and bring them down from the roof of the Mosque to the street. There were six bullet holes in them. Throughout
this process there was no shooting or harassment by soldiers. Approximately twenty minutes after the ISM group left, the
army showed up to examine what the group had done. They then pulled back, only to return with a merkava and a bulldozer.
It was then that they began firing and shot the two youth.
Israeli Army Kills 15 year Old Boy and Continues it's Terror in Tulkarem
Tulkarem,
Three members of the International Solidarity Movement were detained today for standing outside Tabith Tabith hospital
and taking photographs while the army surrounded the hospital and attempted to arrest a patient who was undergoing
treatment there. Approximately 7:30 AM Mike from Switzerland, Dimitri from the US and Osama, a Palestinian ISM
coordinator, were taken to the Tulkarem District Commissioner's Office (DCO) for about 2 hours. While in the DCO, they
talked with five Palestinian prisoners who had been held in the small cell, about 2.5 meters square They were
blindfolded and had been in handcuffs for about 48 hours with only two blankets and with inadequate food and water. The
ISM activists were able to give the men some water and cigarettes. The activists were then taken to Jubara checkpoint
and released.
Throughout the day, the siege around the hospital continued. Elsewhere in the city a 15-year-old boy (Jusef) was shot by
the Israeli soldiers and bled to death while soldiers delayed the ambulance from reaching him. The army continued to
enforce curfew in the city with bullets and teargas, preventing residents from reaching schools, shops and offices.
Jusef's funeral took place at 2 pm. By 4 pm, the army was back in the city firing rubber bullets and injuring over a
dozen youths before leaving again.
Group Honors One Month Aniversary of Rachel Corries Death West Jerusalem
Bea from Kansas
Yesterday, one month after the murder of Rachel Corrie in Rafah, a group of Israeli peace activists and two activists
from the International Solidarity Movement (Bea and Abby, both from the US) gathered in front of the King David Hotel on
Passover to remember Rachel. Supporters including Palestinians and Internationals who had planned to attend the
memorial, were turned back at checkpoints as the IOF celebrated the Passover holiday by further restricting movement in
the West Bank and Gaza.
The group at the King David Hotel shared photos of Rachel and of other internationals who have been killed or injured by
the IOF in recent months while peacefully supporting the Palestinian people. Ian Hook, Caoime Butterly, Brian Avery and
Tom Hurndall were remembered and honored as well as Rachel. The group shared stories of homes demolished and rebuilt,
checkpoints watched and other interventions, resistance to the IOF draft and honoring those imprisoned for resisting. We
also shared many other experiences of opposing the injustice of the occupation and working together for peace. It was a
quiet but not a silent event, as we all had a lot to share and talk about. The US and Palestinians flags I had brought
stayed in my backpack as most of the group felt a quiet gathering was the most comfortable for the occasion. I was happy
to have met more of our Israeli peace activist friends and felt cheered and uplifted by their support and by our mutual
encouragement of each others' efforts for peace and justice.