INDEPENDENT NEWS

Jenin Action Summary/Qalqiliya Call to Action

Published: Tue 29 Jul 2003 02:07 PM
Jenin Action Summary/Qalqiliya Call to Action/Frederik Lind Returns Home
Outside 'Anin today, north of Jenin, a group of approximately 300 Palestinians, 30 ISM activists, and 20 Israeli activists, succeeded in dismantling a gate in the fence that has blocked access for the villagers o= f 'Anin to their fields. Holes were cut in the Apartheid Wall by bolt-cutter= - wielding Israelis.
This victory did not come without cost: the Israeli army, on the far side o= f the fence, responded with the usual methods of dealing with non-violent demonstrations: tear gas, sound grenades, and bullets.
6 ISM activists were wounded by being struck with rubber-coated steel bulle= ts and shrapnel from riccochets and sound grenades. Several Israelis were also lightly wounded. No Palestinians were harmed, thanks to the large presence of internationals and Israelis.
After being fired upon, the crowd retreated, confident they had at least temporarily opened a gap in the matrix of control the Israeli army has spre= ad over their lives. Several international, national, and local Israeli media= outlets had reporters as eyewitness to the events, including TV cameras.
A lead story and photo are available on Ha'aretz' English website, www.haaretz.com
Following is Greta Berlin's eyewitness account of the events:
*******************
Thirty to forty internationals marched up the road to the gate in the Apart= heid Fence separating the farmers of Enin from their land. The Israeli governme= nt had grabbed acres of land for this horror, this fence that is making Palestinians into another Polish ghetto. They say it's for security, but i= t's a land grab that is as egregious as the land grap of the South African government. We were joined by another 30 Israeli peace activists who marched the long winding road to the road, the road that the Israeli army had filled with roadblocks, broken boulders the size of small cars. Up we marched to the razor wire, the huge gate in front of us, the Palestinians behind us. The = Israeli settlers and the army stood there with armored personnel carriers and guns.=
Within a minute, the internationals were shaking the gate, cutting the lock= with the bold cutters, shaking and shaking the sides to pull them down. "Boom",= the first noise bomb went off in front of us. Then tear gas, then noise bom= bs, then more tear gas, this time aimed directly into the crowd of internationa= ls and Israel peace activists. As we crouched and covered our ears, the first= international was hit, Andrew shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet, the= n, seconds later, Thomas, shot in the back as he clung to the side of the gate= , its outward swing turning him toward the Israeli soldiers, making himself a tar= get. I walked quickly toward Thomas with another ISM international to see if he =
was OK, and the Army shot directly in front of me, a rubber bullet grazing = my right calf as I stepped into help Thomas. The Israeli army says it doesn't= shoot at women. It is not true. Within five minutes, the gate was open and five of us were wounded with rubber bullets, Kelly wounded in the back as he tried to carry Sam away. H= e had been shot twice in the leg as he tried to pull the onerous gate down. Five wounded, tear gas now being shot directly into the seventy of us, so w= e pulled back. Razor wire covered the other side of the gate, and the Israel= i army stood directly in front of our banners, our bodies, our passion to hel= p the Palestinians. It was certainly no match. We stood there for several minutes, the Israeli peace group and us, and we =
shouted, all of us, over and over again... Free, Free Palestine...one, two,= three, four... we don't want your stupid war... five, six, seven, eight, stop the = fighting, stop the hate. The media shot footage as fast as they could. After all, If it bleeds, it leads... and we peacekeepers, the people holding the line =
against Israeli agression... the people who are there because Israeli refus= es to allow UN peacekeepers in? We all bled. Greta
****************** Thursday morning a call has been put out for creative, colorful, non-violen= t resistance and protest against the wall that has surrounded the city of Qalqilya. International and Qalqiliyan activists will demonstrate from the= ir side of the wall, while Israeli activists will meet them on the opposite si= de.
More information will be available as it is known.
Frederik Lind returned home today to Denmark, after being delayed several days by the harassment of the Israeli beaurocracy. Frederik, one of the Je= nin activists arrested more than two weeks ago at Arraboneh Peace Camp, had made a deal with the authorities to be allowed to leave on his original fli= ght on Friday, voluntairily, in return for having the deportation charges dropped.=
However, Israeli vindictivness or incompetancy meant that his release on Friday was delayed just long enough that his flight was missed. Additional= ly, Saturday security checks at the airport again caused a missed flight.
Finally, today he phoned from the plane and made a succesfull return home.

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