Rewarding Atrocities, ISM Update

1. ISM Evaluation
Hello folks,

We are currently in the process of evaluating ISM. If you have ever
been a long termer with ISM and want to fill out an evaluation form
please send an email to sra [at] riseup.net and then we will send you an
evaluation form. The forms are due by April 18, so please email us
soon if you want one. We hope to improve the effectiveness of ISM, so
all feedback is welcome.

Thanks,

The Evaluation Committee

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2. More Poison

In a recent escalation of ongoing attacks against Palestinians,
Israeli settlers have spread poison on sheep grazing grounds. The
Palestinian communities of Yasouf and a number of villages in the
south Hebron hills have had their food and livelihood devastated as a
result.

On the morning of April 12, 2005, a shepherd from Yasouf village in
Salfit was grazing his sheep when he noticed small pink pellets on the
ground near the Yasouf roadblock across from the Israeli settlement of
Tapuach. The incident was reported to the police, who took the
shepherd's testimony and kept the box of pellets. Bir Zeit University
found the pink pellets to be wheat seeds boiled in Brodifacoum, a rat
poison which the villagers fear is entering their sheeps' milk.

Since March 23rd, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement outpost
of Havat Ma'on in the south Hebron hills have repeatedly poisoned the
land of At-Tuwani and Mufakara villages with thousands of bright green
pellets of barley boiled in Fluoroacetamide. Unlike Brodifacoum,
Fluoroacetamide has no known antidote and has killed 22 sheep in
At-Tuwani and left more than 70 ill.

Fluoroacetamide is highly toxic and very soluble; if inhaled or
touched it can be harmful to humans, and it can damage the land if
dissolved by rain. The poison is banned in many countries and cannot
be obtained in Israel without a government permit.

On April 6, villagers of At-Tuwani found pink pellets, identical to
those found on Yasouf's land earlier this week. If Tapuach follows
Havat Ma'on's lead, more poisonings can be expected. Palestinian
shepherds in both areas are already prevented from using the majority
of their land due to growing settlements and outposts.

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3. ACTION ALERT – IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!

CALL-FAX-DEMONSTRATE

Israeli Navy Awards Unit Responsible for Killing Nablus Professor and
his Son
Family of Professor Khaled Salah is Still Demanding Justice from US
officials

(APRIL 10, 2005) – According to a recent article in the Jerusalem
Post, the Israeli Navy has just given commendations to members of a
military unit for their `bravery' in Nablus during a mission in which
serious breaches of the IVth Geneva Conventions were perpetrated. The
July 6 2004 incident included the cold-blooded sniper killings of
An-Najah National University Professor Khaled Salah, a US resident,
and his 16-year old son Mohammad.

We call on people of good conscience to read the following description
of the incident, consult the attached links, and follow the concrete
steps at the bottom of this email to lodge protest against such an
outrageous insult to the people of Nablus and to the Salah family. It
is imperative that these war crimes be investigated and dealt with
appropriately and not be allowed to be passed-over in silence.

The operation in question, conducted in the pre-dawn hours of July 6,
involved the use of Israeli helicopter gunships, missiles, tanks,
APCs, and armored jeeps deployed to the `jabaal shamali' (north
mountain) in Nablus. The raid included participation by the
Shayatet-13 commando unit (the ones rewarded last week for their
participation in the mission). Two PFLP activists were also killed by
this unit on that night. According to eye-witnesses in the
neighborhood one of the PFLP militants killed in the operation, Yamin
Ali Farj, was extra-judicially executed by the commandoes while trying
to surrender after having sustained injuries. Following the raid
Israeli military bulldozers demolished the homes of both PFLP
activists in Beit Furik village, leaving dozens homeless, as well as
the building in Nablus in which the militants were holed up during the
raid. Due to the intense military response in such a heavily populated
civilian location, many of the surrounding buildings also sustained
considerable damage, including the Salah home.

It should be noted that Prof. Salah and his son were killed after the
cessation of hostilities between the Israeli military and the local
armed resistance. Furthermore, according to the family and medical
volunteers on the scene that night, Dr. Salah's son Mohammed died
because Israeli military officials refused to allow medical personnel
access to the boy, who lay bleeding on the floor of the family home.
The killings of Dr. Salah and his son constitute a willful, deliberate
and disproportionate use of force by the Israeli military – and in
particular by the Shayatet-13 commandoes – against Palestinian
civilians. According to a Press Release that was issued the day of the
assault by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, "Such [murderous
Israeli] attacks on our communities have, since September 2000, caused
the death of 34 educators and 696 students."

An-Najah National University also issued a statement the day of the
killing which "appeals to the international community's associations,
local and international human rights [organizations] as well
as…academic institutions all over the world to put pressure on the
Israeli government to stop such aggressions against Palestinian
citizens." During a press conference held by the surviving victims of
the Salah family, the daughter Diana ended her testimony with the
following assertion: "If I am Palestinian they will kill me...If I am
an American they will kill me…should I be Jewish to be safe?"

According to a recent article by Genevieve Cora Fraser, of the Birzeit
University Right to Education Project, Amr Salah, the eldest son in
the family who is currently living in the United States, called for
international solidarity with the family and demanded that the US
government investigate the incident. Despite a call placed to the US
consulate the night of the attack, neither Consul General David Pearce
nor any other US diplomatic officials have investigated the Israeli
military's targeting of a family with US resident and citizenship
status. The family has asked that a direct appeal be made to the State
Department and the US Consul General in Jerusalem demanding that US
officials investigate this incident and that they censure the Israeli
Navy for rewarding war-crimes.


For further information on the case of Prof. Khaled Salah please
consult the following sources:

An-Najah Mourns Passing of Prof. Khalid Salah (An-Najah University
Website)
http://www.najah.edu/khalid_salah/khalid_eng.htm

`Death in a Cemetery' (Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz - 23 July 2004)
http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node.php?id=1355

Demand US State Department Investigate Israel's Killing of an An-Najah
University Professor (Genevieve Cora Fraser, Birzeit University – 4
March 2005)
http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/news/article267

Blog entries by an ISM volunteer who was in Nablus during the killings
(July 2004):
http://intothemiddleeast.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2004/7/7/104352.html
http://intothemiddleeast.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2004/7/18/115254.html


The Jerusalem Post article on the commendations for the unit can be
found at the following URL:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1112494794483



1) All letters should be sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
to request a formal investigation into the killing of Dr. Kahled Salah
and his son Mohammed Salah. Letters should be addressed to:

Attn: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, DC 20520

The State Department can also be contacted by phone +1 (202) 647-4000
and email: http://contacts.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html

2) Letters and petitions requesting that Secretary of State Rice
conduct a formal investigation should also be sent to US Senators and
Congressmen, heads of state and legislators throughout the world and
by contacting the USA's Jerusalem Consul General:

Attn: Consul General David Pearce
P.O. Box 290
Jerusalem 91002
Email: jerusalemACS [at] state.gov

-AND-

The US Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs
Email: nea-ipa [at] state.gov

3) Statements should also be prepared and directed to the Israeli
Navy, condemning them for awarding the behavior of Shayatet-13
Commandoes during an operation in which serious breaches of the IVth
Geneva Convention were made. The Israeli Navy can be reached at:

Attn: Major General David Ben-Ba'shat
Israeli Navy Head
Public relations department
IDF Spokesman
Millitary Post 01025
Fax number: 972-3- 6080343
Email: info [at] mail.idf.il

- OR -

Israeli Navy Contact Page (in Hebrew), which can be found at the
following URL:
http://www1.idf.il/NAVY/Site/Templates/controller.asp?lang=HE&fid=44028&cp=1


This is more of an information page for potential candidates. But it
is still possible to register complaints and will probably be passed
on if they receive a substantial number of these (after all, there is
an "other" category in the topic field...)

Instructions:

Fill in just the mandatory fields, with the little red square. They
are, in order:

1. Topic (White Field: choose the bottom option in the menu)
2. First Name (yellow field)
3. Last Name (yellow field)
4. email (yellow field)
5. School Year (choose the top option, which means "unrelated to
conscription")
6. Larger box for content

- AND ALSO -

Shaul Mofaz
Minister of defence
Tel - 03-6976663
Fax - 03-6976218
Email - sar [at] mod.gov.il.

Moshe Yaalon
Chief of Staff
Kaplan St.
Tel-Aviv
Fax: 03-5695594

Please when writing/calling these officials make sure to condemn the
permissive attitude towards war-crimes in the IDF and demand that the
Navy launch a full investigation into the incident and that the
perpetrators of this atrocity be held to account.

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4. International Day of Action Against Caterpillar: Bil'in 13 April 2005

About 15 internationals, 6 Israelis and 50 Palestinians gathered at
the Bil'in mosque with placards and posters denouncing Caterpillar and
the Annexation Wall. At 2 pm the protestors left for the construction
site of the Wall to stop construction on the Annexation Wall and to
highlight Caterpillar's participation in war crimes in Occupied West
Bank and Gaza.

As soon as we approached the construction site, eight Israeli border
police informed us that we had entered a closed military zone and that
we had three minutes to leave before they would start using force.
Negotiations between the villagers and the border police commenced
with the border police presenting a map of the area. The border police
radioed the villagers request to get to the confiscated land, but were
told that we had to withdraw back to the village.

At 2.30 pm we were pushed back, but managed to write "No Wall" in
English and Arabic, using stones painted in the colours of the
Palestinian flag, on a road leading to the village. At this point some
protesters were physically pushed back towards the village, with
Israeli soldiers and border police taking up positions on its edge.

At 2.45 stone throwing started against the army presence. The soldiers
responded with tear gas, with the majority of the canisters shot
directly at protestors. This practice is in violation of Israeli rules
of engagement.

At 3 pm two Israeli human rights activists from Anarchists against the
Wall were arrested and charged with verbal assault.

At approximately 3.50 pm Israeli soldiers withdrew back to the
construction site. Stone throwing and tear gassing continued, with the
army advancing and retreating several times before they left at 6 pm.

Just before midnight we were notified that the army had entered the
village and detained two Palestinians and had confiscated their mobile
phones and IDs. One humvee and jeep entered the village shortly after.
We were later informed that the soldiers had in fact approached the
targeted house an hour earlier on foot.

A group of 20 villagers, 10 internationals and 10 Israeli activists
marched towards the house to secure the release of the detainees.
Catching the army by surprise, we walked through their lines and
forced the release of the Palestinians, their mobile phones and IDs.
The army retreated from the village at approximately 12.20 am.

The two Israeli activists were detained over night and had a court
hearing this morning (14 April 2005) in Jerusalem setting bail.

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5. Bil'in Demonstrates against the Annexation Wall Friday April 15th

Friday, April 15, the people of Bil'in, a village in the Ramallah
district, will hold a demonstration against the continued construction
of the Israeli government's Annexation Wall. The demonstration will
begin after prayer at 1:00pm at the village mosque.

The Annexation Wall will leave 1,500 acres and five thousand olive
trees from Bil'in and its neighboring village Saffa inaccessible.
Olive trees are the main source of income in Bil'in and Saffa.

The construction of the Wall in Saffa and Bil'in will incorporate
existing settlements as well as planned future settlements. This is
contrary to the requirements of the Road Map, which stipulates a
freeze in Israeli settlement growth.