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Sorry... these have been sitting in my inbox for a couple of days but my computer's been dead since someone poured coffee over the keyboard...
Hi folks,
further to the emails from Palestine:
Two friends of mine and Sarah's went out last week, pretty much
spontaneously. They went to Jerusalem and, in an astonishing move that's
gone unreported, they got food into the Church of The Nativity. The people
inside have been in there for several weeks under seige from Israeli forces
who refuse to let food in. The Israelis have cordoned the square and keep
letting off smoke canisters when anyone gets close enough to film the place.
Those trapped inside - Palestinians who took shelter when Israeli attacks
began - have been in there for weeks with dead bodies among them, surviving
on salt, water and leaves from the trees they can reach.
Our friends met in a group and - in a classic Reclaim The Streets tactic -
waited for the forces to get there, then split into three groups, each
taking a different route so that the forces couldn't effectively follow them
all. Two groups got stopped, but one got through and delivered staple foods
to the people being starved in the Church.
Here's the last email;
=====================================================
yesterday, thursday 2 may, 25 members of the international solidarity
movement for palestine crossed manger square and delivered food and people
into the church of the nativity.
10 internationals, including one british man Alister Hillman, are now in the
church. as the remaining 13 tried to leave the area, they were prevented
from leaving by the israeli military and illegally (due to
the israeli occupation being illegal) detained for 8 hours in the peace
centre. here they were interrogated and had cellphones and passports
confiscated.
at 1.30am, they were handed over to israeli police who drove the 13 (5
women, including 3 British) to the bethlehem checkpoint. they separated the
women and the men, driving the men to various settlements around hebron and
the women they dropped off individually without money, identification or
knowledge of the area at isolated districts on the outskirts of jerusalem.
they hit one of the women who protested at their action.
they were told to report to the ministry of the interior the next morning
and upon doing so, where they refused to sign what they were told were
deportation orders issued because of being in a closed
military zone. no english translation was provided. they were held for a
further 8 hours. consular support was eventually let in but legal
representation wasn't. they were then told they were leaving but not told
where. at no point were they told they were not allowed to leave.
they left the building unrestrained at which point two British women
continued to walk up the street and left the area. they are without
passports or airplane tickets.
we are now stuck in israel without passports and probably being looked for
by the israeli authorities, wondering whether we've been really dumb but
fuck it. we came here to support the palestinian people and it would seem a
bit a bit of a shame to leave after two days!
not sure what support we need... definitely press release in english papers
about al being inside the church and about deportation accompanied by ban of
10 years and refusal of international women to comply with this kind of
intimidation. one woman was assaulted by israeli police and threats of
physical violence had been made to many of the men during interrogation. not
sure what plan of action is
but hoping to go back to bethlehem.
lots of love [] and []
ps if we end up in jail can you please do solidarity actions - even if u
think we're really, really stupid and a little bit impulsive!. cheers!
====================================================================
Just to let you know that the folks who got the fod into the Church Of The
Nativity are safe and well and back in the UK. Here's their email:
=============================================
We're home and safe and thanx soo muh to everyone for all your support!
Now a bit gutted we handed ourselves in esp. after reading some of the later
helpful emails sent to us... oh well. maybe we can be more use to Al from
england anyway- rather than 2 women scuttling round the streets of Jerusalem
in ridiculous headscarves!
Spoke to al this morning, hes pretty weak and says the food drops are a
joke. on Sat they recieved 6 pot noodles, 2 cakes 1 pack of fags and some
cartons of chocolate mousse- between 180 people!!
They r being lied to by the British consul and the negotiators about the
reality of the stage the negotiations r at in an attempt to get the
international citizens to leave. Thereby leaving the paletinians inside
vunerable again.
We're trying to think of solidarity stuff to do and it'd be great if other
people did the same.
thanx again for everything- we feel very loved and supported! |
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