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Israeli forces prevented ambulances from reaching this man’s mother and brother who bled to death |
RAMALLAH,
April 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israeli police prevented
activists attempting to carry humanitarian aid to besieged
Palestinians in the West Bank from carrying out their work Wednesday,
April 3, news agencies reported.
Israeli
occupation forces fired tear gas and beat back activists with batons,
preventing them from delivering truckloads of food and medicine to
Ramallah in the West Bank, Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz,
reported.
More
than 2,000 Israeli Jews and Arabs attempting a peace march protesting
Sharon’s war on the Palestinian people clashed with Israeli
occupation forces on the doorsteps of a school for the blind outside
Ramallah, Ananova news agency said.
The
school’s teachers hurried to get the 70 blind children enrolled in
the school away from the Israeli aggression, herding them into the
school’s basement, and from there, smuggling them out of the school
and back to their homes.
"It
was awful," said teacher Suad Younan, 42. "They were so
scared, and because they are blind it really triples the agony for
these children."
"We
managed to sneak some of the children out of the compound," she
said. "We were climbing fences, jumping in ditches to try to get
them home."
Thirty-two
of the children remained trapped at the school, she said.
Activists
from Israeli peace groups, including Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, Physicians
for Human Rights, Bat Shalom and Israeli Arabs, led by Arab members of
Knesset and members of the Arab National Monitoring Committee, arrived
by buses from the center and north, Ha’aretz reported.
The
paper also reported that the demonstrators chanted anti-Sharon
slogans, and protested against Israeli occupation. Israeli forces
responded by firing tear gas into the crowds, and beating them back
with batons.
20
of the demonstrators and 7 Israeli police were wounded by the end of
the clashes.
Ha’aretz
quoted member of Knesset, Mohammed Barakah (Hadash) as saying, “if
they are ready to use the butt of a rifle on an MK [member of
Knesset], who knows what they are doing inside the territories.”
The Israeli paper reported that even more demonstrations are planned
by groups such as the Peace Coalition to take place inside Israel in
the coming days.
A
statement issued by the Peace coalition Tuesday night, April 2, said
that, "The government's decisions and actions are endangering
life and not protecting it.”
The
group says that they plan to increase the demonstrations and
activities in order to protest the Israeli government's military
aggression in the West Bank, Ha’aretz reported.
Ha’aretz
also reported that representatives from the Arab National Monitoring
Committee, an umbrella group for nonpartisan political activity in the
Israeli Arab community, met with diplomatic representatives of Jordan
and Egypt in Israel to protest those countries' leaders as "not
taking action on behalf of the Palestinian people."
The committee issued a statement calling the United States a
"terrorist entity" and demanding a boycott of American
products. The committee’s statement also criticized Israeli media,
charging it ignored Israeli Arab public "expressions of protest
and other demonstrations against the Israeli aggression in the
territories."
Meanwhile,
in a press statement published Wednesday, April 3, human rights group
Amnesty International said that the Israeli army and authorities
should “cease violations of human rights and humanitarian law,
including unlawful killings and excessive use of lethal force;
destruction of Palestinian homes and property; closures of towns and
villages; arbitrary arrests; torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment of Palestinians; hindering access of medical
professionals and medical care; hindering access of international
humanitarian organizations, human rights organizations and
journalists.”
The
statement also said that “the international community should act
immediately to deploy international observers with a strong,
transparent human rights monitoring component.”
