Israeli Assault on Humanitarian Infrastructure and civilians goes on

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 02, 2002 03:48 by irishhead

Israeli Assault on Humanitarian Infrastructure and Civilian Population Continues

URGENT UPDATE
Israeli Assault on Humanitarian Infrastructure and Civilian Population
Continues
April 1, 2002 – 8:45 PM

Today the Israeli military attack on humanitarian infrastructure and
civilian population continues.

In Ramallah the 4th day under complete 24 hour curfew
- Many houses without water, electricity, and telephones
- Food is becoming scarce
- Soldiers make house to house searches ransacking and looting homes and
shops
- 100’s of men and youths arrested and detained
- Tanks patrol the streets opening fire randomly and indiscriminately
- Many foreign reporters have left the area after pressure from the Israeli
government
- Buildings such as the Kassabe cinema/theatre have been destroyed, Al Haq –
a local Human Rights organization, HDIP a Health Research Institute is
currently being ransacked and destroyed.

The list of atrocities continues…

A peaceful demonstration from Bethlehem to Beit Jala, composed of foreigners
and Palestinians came under live fire from the Israeli army in the vicinity
of the Lutheran Church. Eight people were injured, seven of them foreigners.
Keith Elizet, an Australian was shot in his abdomen. He is currently being
operated on and is in serious condition. The seven other injured are Paul La
Rodi, USA, Isako Iso, Japan, Jimmy Dad, UK, Lila Mond, France, Zeid Faisal
Khalil, USA, Iyad Hamad, Bethlehem and Kelly Baiden, UK. They have all been
released from hospital.

Attacks on the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees Building
- The UPMRC offices in Ramallah have been fired upon. Ms. Louisa Morgantini,
an Italian member of the European Parliament, and a delegation of Italians
who had been accompanying the ambulances all day in an attempt to get
medical treatment to the wounded were in the building at the time.
- The building was then evacuated; children, their mothers and fathers
forced at gunpoint onto the street, evicted from their homes. New has just
reached us that Israeli soldiers planted explosives in the building and have
detonated them.
- Dr. Muhammad Scafie, a 45-year-old UPMRC doctor who has diabetes – the
head of the First Aid section of Medical Relief was used as a human shield
when the building was evacuated.
- Dr. Scafie was then taken at gunpoint by the soldiers to all the
surrounding houses and forced, still at the end of the gun, to enter the
houses after the soldiers had exploded the doors open, to go into the dark
and smoky houses ahead of them as a shield, as the soldiers searched them.
Dr. Scafie has just now been released – after approximately 4 hours.
- Ms. Morgantini, who was detained at the same time as Dr. Scafie, has also
just been, released.
- An Israeli tank attempted to shell a UPMRC ambulance as it was trying to
access a patient, narrowly missing it.
- The local UPMRC clinic in Qalqiliya also come under attack, and is
currently being used as an interrogation center.
- Dr. Jihaad Mashal, a UPMRC Director, has been detained for 4 days in his
house. 22 people are confined to one room – and despite the medical crisis
the doctor is not being released.

We demand that you intervene immediately to stop these crimes continuing in
the Palestinian areas.

For more information contact Juliana at the Palestine Monitor +972 (0)2
5834021 or +972 (0)2 5833510