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Israel blocks entry to Nablus of the Peace Cycle Team

23 September 2004


The Peace Cycle has arrived in Palestine on Tuesday, September 22, but have been blocked from passing through the Beit Eba checkpoint at the entrance to the West Bank city of Nablus. Arriving at the checkpoint at noon, the cyclists waited over two hours awaiting permission to pass. Although the cyclists have been carrying the message of Peace during their entire trip on bikes from London to Jerusalem, the Israeli army does not allow them to move freely within the West Bank. The Team has been rerouted at least 15 miles around Nablus to the village of Howwarah. The cyclists all traveled from Jordan into Palestine last Tuesday. 

Girl's life ended by Israeli bullets

Sami Abu Salem Khan Younis 25 September 2004


On September 7, Raghda al-Assar was at school in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. After less than hour, she was receiving medical treatment in emergency room of Nasser Hospital after having been struck by Israeli bullets in her head while she was in her classroom listening to her English teacher. Raghda died Wednesday of the critical wounds she sustained two weeks ago. On September 7, Raghda was one of hundreds of Palestinian schoolgirls, dressed in crisp striped school uniforms, crowding the streets of Khan Yunis refugee camp on their way to school. Sami Abu Salem reports from Khan Younis. 

Child rights group notes sharp increase violations of children's rights

24 September 2004


Defense for Children International released a report on violations of children’s rights in the occupied Palestinian territories over the period of the first six months of 2004. The report shows that since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising against occupation in September 2000, the frequency and severity of violations of Palestinian children’s rights has progressively increased. This trend has continued in 2004, with a steady decline in the economic and social conditions in the occupied PAlestinian territories. Israeli forces have killed 81 Palestinian children during the first six months of 2004, bringing the death toll to 595 since 29 September 2000. Over 10,000 additional children have been wounded since the beginning of the Intifada. 

ACRI demands return of documents and letters confiscated from Vanunu

22 September 2004


The Association for Civil Rights in Israel submitted a petition this morning on behalf of Mordechai Vanunu against the prison warden of the Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and the Defense Ministry’s chief of security, to demand the return of documents and letters that were confiscated from Mordechai Vanunu, Israel’s nuclear whistle blower, before he was released from jail. The petition was submitted by ACRI’s chief legal counsel, Attorney Dan Yakir, referring to legal material and copies of letters from Vanunu wrote during his seventeen and a half years of imprisonment. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

23 September 2004


This week Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinian civilians, including a child and a girl. The child was shot at her desk in school and died later from her wounds. Three of the victims were extra-judicially executed in Gaza. Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces razed 77 donums of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces raided homes and arrested dozens of Palestinian civilians. Israel continued shelling of residential areas and civilian facilities, wounding a number of Palestinian civilians. Israel continued construction of the Wall in the West Bank and continued to impose a total siege on the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Israeli forces kill one Palestinian and destroy 54 homes in Khan Yunis

25 September 2004


On Saturday morning, 25 September 2004, Israeli occupying troops launched a wide scale offensive on Khan Yunis refugee camp, using helicopter gunships, tanks and military bulldozers.  They destroyed 54 Palestinian houses, rendering 414 people (66 families) homeless.  They also killed one Palestinian civilian and injured 5 others. Since the beginning of the current Intifada in September 2000, Israeli troops have destroyed 502 Palestinian houses completely and 270 others partially in Khan Yunis.  This year, Israeli occupying troops have demolished 552 houses completely and 88 others partially.  The previous operation to this was on 1 September 2004, when Israeli troops destroyed 2 five-storey apartment buildings, each of which included 18 flats, in al-Nimsawi neighborhood. 

Prisoner Stories: Loai and Ubai Mohammad Odeh

Rima Merriman Ramallah, Palestine 25 September 2004


When Loai’s and Ubai’s mother was born in 1948, her father, Saleem Abu Khaled al Tamimi of Hebron, was in prison for his part in resisting the British plan to partition Palestine. The boys never got to know their grandfather, because he died of a stroke in Ramallah during an altercation with Israeli guards when their mother, a student at Birzeit University then (1969), was being tried because of her activities in the Palestine Liberation Front. She was sentenced to four years in prison and spent a good part of her sentence in Ramleh prison, where her son, Loai (26), is currently being held. Ubay (19) is in Jalboun prison in the north, one of the harshest in the Israeli system. 

Zogby Poll: Should AIPAC be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status?

25 September 2004


Question: A tax-exempt organization that lobbies Congress on behalf of Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (also known as AIPAC), has been under investigation by the FBI for allegedly receiving classified information from a Pentagon official and using this information on behalf of the government of Israel. In view of this investigation, do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree that AIPAC should be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status? 

Canadian activists protest deportation of Palestinian refugees

25 September 2004


On Saturday September 18th more than 1,000 people took the streets of downtown Montreal under the banner of “Stateless and Deported” to illustrate the growing popular support for the struggle of Palestinian refugees fighting deportation in Canada, within the context of the Palestinian solidarity movement worldwide. The lively and spirited demonstration was also held to commemorate the thousands of Palestinian refugees who lost their lives in the September 1982 massacre of Sabra and Chatila during the Israeli invasion of Beirut. 

Israeli authorities impose more restrictions on UNRWA staff

24 September 2004


The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has today protested to the Israeli Government following new and constantly changing restrictions affecting the freedom of movement of United Nations staff crossing into and out of the Gaza Strip. International staff members holding valid United Nations laissez-passers are now being obliged to cross on foot through the Palestinian labourers’ terminal.  Only those holding a diplomatic visa can go through in their vehicles, and even they are prohibited from carrying other United Nations colleagues with them.  Passage on foot leaves the staff members exposed to considerable risk.