Currently there are more than six villages around the West bank city of Nablus that havebeen cut off completely by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Tanks, armored personnel carriers (APC’s) and bulldozers have created barriers four tofive feet in width from dirt and concrete. At many of these barriers the soldiers havecreated ad hoc checkpoints where they harass, humiliate and prevent the movement of thelocal Palestinian population. Some villages have been put under curfew, equivalent tohouse arrest, and all are suffering from the lack of commerce and food deliveries.
This morning the main road exiting from Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus has been bulldozed,but locals have resisted and filled in a small path for cars to pass. Due to the deep cutsof the bulldozers a sewage line was severed. Raw sewage is running down the street almostreaching nearby Askar Refugee Camp. Curfew in Nablus has prevented any substantive workfrom being done to fix this awful and risky situation.
This afternoon internationals witnessed the closure of Boreen, a small Palestinianvillage. Susan Barclay, Eric and Rae Levine were on ambulance duty with the Union ofPalestinian Medical Relief Committees. From the ambulance they watched and photographedIsraeli bulldozers, protected by an APC, dig a trench across the only road linking Boreenwith the rest of the world. The dirt has been piled high and the internationals have beeninstructed by the occupation forces that all of the villages are inaccessible but are notclosed military zones.
Later, still in the ambulance, they met a group of students who told the internationalsthat they had been picked up by soldiers. The men were separated out, blindfolded, tiedand taken to an unknown detention area. They were later released but some without theiridentity cards, making it impossible for them to go home.
Denial of Water
The village of Beit Farik has a population of 12,000 and Beit Dajan has 3,500. Only oneroad leads to these two villages and that road is flanked on each side by Israelicolonies. Palestinians say that they cannot walk this road because of the heavy militarypresence and the fear of being shot by colonists. The intensity of the situation increasedrecently when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a home in the colony of Itamar earlierthis month.
Every year there is a water shortage in the villages and normally water is purchased andtrucked in. Currently there are two water trucks sitting at an Israeli military checkpointand are being denied entry. Internationals investigated this situation and report that thecheckpoint consists of six cement blocks and five pillars of concrete that form a smalloccupation forces camp with tanks and APC’s. The villages have received no water and aredesperate for the deliveries.
As a general principle, in both internal and international armed conflict it is lawful toattack only military objectives. From this derives the rule stated in Article 54 of thefirst of the two 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions that “starvation ofcivilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.” Denying the civilian population water isjust as illegal as denying them food. (Crimes of War p.377)
We represent the United States, Canada, Israel, UK and call on our governments and peoplesto condemn these acts of barbarism.
For more information:
Rae Levine 972 (0) 56 382 317
Eric Levine 972 (0) 57 380 414
Susan Barclay can be reached at either of the above numbers.
For more information on The International Solidarity Movement please see our website:
http://www.palsolidarity.org“>http://www.palsolidarity.org