July 18, 2002 From Tamara in Jenin: The heat permeates everything, turns muscle into melting modeling clay. Bodies droop over chairs, eyes hooded and heavy, lids fluttering at the gates of sleep. Fever creeps up through my limbs, my cheeks are flush. I feel sickness in every cell, and I fight to stay awake. I don't want to be sick again. I came here to work, not sweat in silence in the stale blank apartment. "I'm not contagious."I tell myself. "It's just the water," and with that bit of self convincing I trudge to the Red Crescent, my poor arabic morning greetings more slurred than usual. A newborn has been left by the roadside. We ride to the hospital to claim him,and bring him to an orphanage in a surrounding town. This sort of abandonment is rare here.Mothers delight in their families, and towns are close knit, but Jenin is devastated. The economy is hard struck, the water lines cut, the sounds of gunfire and bombing have become background noise, the musak of the occupation. Even the most hopeful voices carry a ring of fatality in them. The nurses have named him Abdullah. He has charcoal gray eyes, and a headful of dusty black hair. I cradle him in my arms,kissing his forehead with ridiculous desperation. A Jewish woman with a Palestinian baby in her arms, trying to transfer some sense of love and belonging to this little one. I carry Abdullah into the ambulance, fussing with his blankets. The radio crackles, the driver answers.I have been ordered to go back to the dispatch center.They say the Israeli soldiers won't let internationals go with ambulances outside of the city. I try to protest, but I am suddenly washed with a feeling of despair. All at once I feel useless. This stupid American woman condescending enough to come into this town, and think that I could help. The problems here are complex, and weighted with issues I have never had to organize around before. My naivete is heavy about me. I cannot work anymore today. I am physically ill,and mentally pained.I know I cannot show my sorrow or my rage to my Palestinian friends.I haven't earned it. I have only touched the skin of their suffering, what lies beneath I cannot even imagine. I am dizzy walking backing to the flat. Homesick, and heartsick and embarrassed. In bed I listen to my walkman. Ani sings me an activists lullabye, "I'm no heroine.Least not last time I checked.I'm too easy to roll over, and I'm to easy to wreck.I just write about what I should have done,and sing what I wish I could say, and I hope somewhere some woman hears my music and it helps her through her day." We paid for this occupation, sitting in our air conditioned houses, never questioning where our tax dollars are sucked away to. My big woman's ego has been leveled, and I am just a little girl with a fever struggling to make sense in the rubble, in the heat of Jenin. ======================================================== July 16, 2002 From Garrick in Gaza: We travelled to Rafah on 7/12. We met again with the Children's Parliament there and I learned a lot more about what the organization does there. They work with children 11-16 years old. They organize letter writing campaigns, provide services to children, particularly psychological services, organize exchange trips to other countries including Germany, Lebanon and Egypt (Children travel from Rafah to these countries and they bring children from these countries to Rafah) to promote contact between children internationally. The main organizer is wanted by Israel for inciting children. He's also not on Arafat's most favored list as Arafat has imprisoned him in the past for refusing to heed Arafat's orders. The children are amazing and are so amazing to interact with. They can't understand how the international community allows them to suffer under occupation the way they do. =========================================================================================================== To take simple action against this injustice, please consider forwarding this and other ISM alerts to govermental representatives and media outlets. Include your own note demanding that action be taken to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinian lives and livlihood. Some contacts, we have included below. To help us ensure more accurate media coverage in the US - www.pmwatch.org President George W. Bush E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Fax: (202) 456-2461 Secretary of State Colin Powell email: secretary@state.gov Fax: (202) 261-8577 European Union President, Mr. Romano Prodi romano.prodi@cec.eu.int Council of the European Union: public.info@consilium.eu.int karin.roxman@consilium.eu.int UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ecu@un.org, coi@un.org, inquiries@un.org, commond@un.org Mr. Terje Rod Larsen Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the United Nations in Palestine Tel: + 972 8 282 2914 Fax: + 972 8 282 0966 Email: unsco@palnet.com, lemore@un.org Ms. Mary Robinson United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights webadmin.hchr@unog.ch or Fax: +(41-22) 917-9016 European Union Missions at the UN: <austria@un.int>, <belgium@un.int>, <denmark@un.int>, <finland@un.int>, <france@un.int>, <germany@un.int>, <greece@un.int>, <ireland@un.int>, <italy@un.int>, <luxembourg@un.int>, <netherlands@un.int> Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il Spokesperson for the PM's Office Arnon Pearlman-Tzadok dover@pmo.gov.il Public relations for the PM's Office Ms. Rutti Bait pniot@pmo.gov.il Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres sar@mofa.gov.il Deputy Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior ssar@mfa.gov.il Spokesperson Ms. Yaffa Ben-Ari dover@mfa.gov.il Public Relations <pniot@mofa.gov.il> Israeli Defense Minister, Benyamin Ben Eliezer Fax: +972-3-6916940, 6976990 e-mail: sar@mod.gov.il