Patricia Smith

Adla Abdel Jaber As-Sayyefi, 37 years old, went into labour at around 3am on the morning of December 10th. Her husband rushed to his parent’s house concerned because Adla was due to go hospital to have an operation as it was going to be a breech birth, but she went into labour too early. Patricia Smith tells the story.

The current Israeli military incursion and complete re-occupation of the West Bank is about to enter its fifth week.

Last night two Palestinian boys were killed in an explosion in the Al-Ama’ari refugee camp in Ramallah. Eyewitnesses said that some children, who were playing football in the street, had found a pipe-like object lying on the ground.

Israeli troops yesterday attacked the Ramallah offices of Palnet‚ the main Internet service provider in the West Bank. Patricia Smith reports from Beit Hanina.

For nearly a month, two million residents of the West Bank have been under almost constant curfew. This deliberate policy by the Israeli government has created a humanitarian disaster throughout the West Bank.

Yesterday and overnight the Israeli forces carried out actions that are indicative of their occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

The major towns and cities in the West Bank remain under curfew; isolated from each other by a series of barriers, dug up roads, check points and military patrols.

The Israeli group, Peace Now, released results on June 30th from their latest survey on settler activity. They found “that since the elections of February 2001 and up to the present time some 44 new settlement sites have been established in the West Bank.

Currently all Palestinian cities in the West Bank, except Jericho, are under strict military imposed 24-hour curfew. In real terms this means that almost two million Palestinians in the West Bank are confined to their houses.

The Israeli army has launched a massive military operation against Nablus City, including its four refugee camps.