'The Siege of Nablus'

[Aidoneus]

Act immediately to lift the siege off Nablus, Balata and Beit Foreek
Report, Nablus residents via ISM, 3 January 2004

Greetings from Nablus under siege,

Nablus has been under siege for the last 10 days while Balata refugee camp has been under siege for the last 18 consecutive days. We have just heard that every single entrance/exit to Balata has been sealed off completely. No food or medicine is allowed in. Medical relief teams are being obstructed and at times completely prevented from passing through. Activists from ISM (the International Solidarity Movement) were attacked while carrying out their missions to observe and bear witness on what the Israeli occupation authorities are brutalizing the Palestinian population. Beit Foreek has been completely sealed off; its mayor reports that there are signs of starvation.

--snip--

Reports from Balata indicate that a deliberate starvation campaign is being conducted by the Israeli military which has sealed off the camp and prevents food and medicine from getting through every single alley way, or formal or informal entrances. A few days ago, the Israeli military shot and injured 4 people who were walking a funeral for an old woman who passed away. No demonstrations or political events were taking place in or around the funeral.

The siege of the old city of Nablus and its neighborhoods (Yasmeeneh, Qaryoun, Habaleh) has been intensified since December 30, 2003. The Israeli military claims that they were looking for the leader of the Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Abu Sharkh. They took his brother and wife as hostages, paraded the wife in a jeep in the Old City and forced her to call out to her husband over loudspeakers to surrender in return for her freedom. She was released only yesterday. No one can get into the Old City, but Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, who is in the Old City, has called on the whole world to immediately intervene to support the people of Nablus. He condemned media outlets for neglecting to cover what's going on, including the largest Palestinian daily, Al-Quds, which has not reported on what's going in Nablus in its front page. Dr. Hamdan criticized the Palestinian Authority who have not done anything to aid Nablus and demanded that "Abu Alaa, the Palestinian Prime Minister, hold a ministrial meeting in Nablus to highlight the horrible conditions the city is experiencing under this brutal Israeli campaign."

We have just heard explosions in the old city. It was in Qaryoun neighborhood inside the Abdelhadi Palace that houses 75 people. The Palace, built 400 years ago, is a waqf (Islamic religious property), endowed by Mahmoud Abdelhadi for the use of Abdelhadi women who have no place to live and no sources of income (widows, single women who do not work or have no income, and women whose main breadwinners are disabled). The Israeli military ordered the 75 people to vacate the palace at 3:30AM and left them out in the cold. Mr. Aslan, a neighbor, invited took in all the 75 people and offered them hospitality and warmth. The families are scattered throughout the old city (before the more strict siege) and unable to go home. Dr. Mahdi Abdelhadi, Director of PASSIA, has gone to the Israeli High Court of Justice. The Court ordered an injunction against the destruction of the Palace but the military appealed the decision and received a permission from the court to destroy this historic building "if security needs call for such action." This also requires your immediate attention.

--snip--

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2329.shtml

[xchrom]

1. the damage

to the palestinian people will take so long to repair.
it all seems hopeless to me.

[Resistance]

2. Seige?

Israeli forces destroying homes? Attacking civilians and peace activists? No it just couldn't be. This story must be made up. All the witnesses must be lying, and the source is sympathetic to Palestinians so they must be liars too.