“At 1:00 PM today Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall made their way to Yebna, Rafah where their son Tom was shot on Friday, April 12, by an Israeli sniper. The entourage of two range rovers and a UN vehicle arrived at the ISM apartment where a throng of reporters and photographers awaited their arrival.” This update from Tom Wallace, International Solidarity Movement media contact in Beit Sahour, chronicles a family’s search for justice. Read more about Parents of Tom Hurndall visit the site of his shooting
This speech was written by the family of Rachel Corrie and read on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at numerous peace rallies around the world. Read more about "Rachel had dreams" speech
“[Tom and I] even had a conversation that day about the dangers of this place, and how none of us really understood them or we wouldn’t be here. I said that I still felt confident with my international status even after the recent violence against us. I believed that it was not a calculated targeting of internationals, just an increased amount of recklessness and hostility brought on by the increased effectiveness of our work. I said I wouldn’t really be intimidated until they openly target an obvious international. Not until they very intentionally kill one of us would I feel the terror experienced by Palestinians. Fate works in mysterious ways.” Joe Smith writes from Rafah about Israel’s shooting of Tom Hurndall. Read more about "Not again": Eyewitness Joe Smith writes about the shooting of Tom Hurndall
“Yesterday was marked by what I call a “mini action”. We very loudly moved into a house in which we will now have a constant presence. It’s a four-story building in the Rafah neighborhood called Yebne, a refugee camp right on the Egyptian border victim to significant amounts of shooting and demolition. This house belongs to the Jaber family, and contains around 35 people, four families with loads of children. Its located right across from two Israeli security towers, and an area where an Israeli tank often sits.” ISM activist Joe Smith writes from Rafah. Read more about Protecting Palestinian families in Rafah
While fears that Israel might use the war in Iraq as a cover to forcefully relocate Palestinians in the “seam line” area of the northern West Bank have not been realized, the Israeli army is rehearsing for such a “transfer.” Furthermore, Israel is escalating efforts to rob Palestinians of their lands in the occupied territories. Tanya Reinhart reports in Yediot Aharonot.Read more about Sophisticated transfer
On Thursday, On April 10, an undercover Israeli special forces team assassinated two Palestinian men in the middle of the5{Tulkaremis downtown market area. On the morning of April 10, Israeli soldiers shot and injured two civilian Palestinian brothers, both teenagers, in the Jibna area of Rafah, Palestinian witnesses say. ISM Media Coordinator Tom Wallace reports. Read more about Israel kills four in Tulkarem and Rafah
Israeli troops yesterday raised the level of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian security sources, yesterday afternoon Israeli Special Forces, dressed in women’s clothes entered the Palestinian town of Salfeet. Upon reaching the center of town they opened fire on 23 year old Badr Abdel Raouf Yassin, killing him. Read more about Another assassination
In the small hours of this morning the Israeli Army and border police invaded Tulkarem refugee camp with attack helicopters, tanks, APCs, hummers (special forces vehicles) and hundreds of soldiers and border policemen. After taking control of the camp, they began to round up the camp’s entire male population between the ages of 15 and 45. At dawn the men were marched in groups to the Tulkarem refugee camp’s School for Girls where they were held until for varying periods of time before being taken away in trucks. This update offers detail about what ISM activists witnessed at the scene. Read more about Israeli Army Invades Tulkarem Refugee Camp
“At about 5pm, we received a call from a Palestinian journalist friend of ours with information that bulldozers were working in the Tel Zorob area, the western-most refugee camp next to the Egyptian border. We were actually in the middle of a meeting, so within minutes all eleven of us were geared up and out the door. Five English, two Scottish, two Americans, and two Italians piled into a large taxi and headed to the scene.” Joseph Smith, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, based in Rafah, Gaza writes about the first major ISM action against bulldozers since his friend Rachel Corrie was killed on 16 March 2003. Read more about First major ISM anti-bulldozer action since Rachel Corrie killing
