From: "International Solidarity Movement"

Jenin: Israeli Army Retracts Claim that ISM Sheltered Armed Man

In a very rare occurrence, the Israeli army has actually
admitted that their spokesperson gave false information
to the Associated Press regarding the incident in the ISM
apartment in Jenin. The Israeli army spokesperson
claimed that there was a pistol found in the apartment.
Another spokesperson claimed that there were two
Russian rifles also in the apartment. However, the
Israeli Army website claimed that the pistol was found
near the apartment.

As a result of these inconsistencies, the media office
was able to track down one of the spokespersons.
After much discussion and persistence with AP and the
Israeli Army; we finally got an admission by the Israeli
Army that there had never been any gun in the ISM
apartment. As a result of the Israeli Army being caught
lying, the AP published a new story, retracting their
original story and even criticizing the Israeli Army.
Below is the retraction, the press release from the ISM,
and the original story as it appeared in the Jerusalem
Post. If you have seen the original AP story in any of
your local papers, please be sure that they get a copy
of the retraction.



Army backtracks on details about militant arrest
at International Solidarity Movement

Sat Mar 29, 1:21 PM ET

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army on Saturday withdrew its
claim that a gun was found during a search of a West
Bank office of the International Solidarity Movement,
a pro-Palestinian group.

Israeli troops raided the office in the West Bank town of
Jenin on Thursday and seized a wanted member of the
militant Islamic Jihad group.

Originally, the army reported that a pistol was found in
the office during the search. On Saturday, the army
withdrew the allegation, saying only a weapon was found
in the building, which also has apartments and the offices
of two other international organizations.

"The information originally released was wrong," an army
spokeswoman said. It was unclear where exactly the gun
was found.

The army alleged that the Islamic Jihad member,
accused of planning several attacks against Israelis,
was being sheltered by the International Solidarity
Movement.

The group, however, said there were clashes outside
their office on Thursday when the man appeared in the
stairway. A volunteer invited him into the office because
he looked hurt, the group said.

"He looked terrified, was soaking wet and appeared to be
in pain. Concerned about his welfare ... he was brought
into the apartment," a statement from the group said.
"He was given a change of clothes, a hot drink and a
blanket."

The group said the man spoke Arabic and none of the
members in the office could communicate with him.
Shortly after he entered, Israeli troops arrested him.

He is still being held and has not yet been charged.

Members of the International Solidarity Movement often
act as human shields, placing themselves in between
Israeli troops and Palestinians.

An American member of the group was killed on March
16 while trying to stop an Israeli military bulldozer in the
Gaza Strip (news - web sites). She fell in front of the
machine, which ran over her and then backed up,
witnesses said.

Israeli officials are still investigating the bulldozer
incident that killed 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, a student
at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

For further information contact:

a.. Patricia on +972 67 529 587 or
b.. Tobias on +972 57 836 527 or +972 67 437 690

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Tom
ISM Media Coordinator
Beit Sahour
Occupied Palestine
Phone: +972-2-2774602
Cell: +972-67-862 439
web:  http://www.palsolidarity.org
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From Michael Shaik
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Rafah: Successful Start to Anti-Terror Campaign in Tel e-Sultan

This evening 9 international activists (from the US and the UK) began a
campaign against a curfew that the Israeli Army of Occupation has
imposed upon the Tel e-Sultan area of Rafah for the last three weeks.

The location and timing of the action was significant to the ISM because
it was two weeks ago, on the 16th of March, that the American ISM
activist Rachel Corrie and a 50 year old Palestinian man were murdered
in Rafah by Israeli soldiers. A week prior to the murders, the Israeli
Army had declared that anyone who ventured out after 6 pm onto the
street in the Tel e-Sultan area of Rafah that faces the Al-Mawassi base
would be shot on sight. The curfew time was later changed it to 5 pm.

Upon hearing of the murder of ISM activist Rachel Corrie on the 16th of
March, Ahmed (whose family have requested that the ISM withhold his full
name) walked out onto his doorstep to smoke a cigarette at 5.15 pm.
Although his house was not on the street under curfew but an adjoining
side street, the 50 year old street cleaner who worked for the Rafah
Municipal Authority was shot in the head by a sniper firing from
Al-Mawassi.

Ahmed is one of several Palestinians (including children) who have been
shot in Tel e-Sultan since the proclamation of the curfew, which has
also forced people to stay in their homes from late-afternoon, close
their businesses early and refrain from attending the sunset and evening
prayers at the local mosque. To further terrorise the people of Tel
e-Sultan, a tank has been parked next to an orphanage and has been
firing its machine-gun down the street at random times every night.

At the request of the community, the activists, carrying megaphones,
banners and wearing bright orange jackets, assembled on the street at
5.15 pm to defy the curfew,. As six o' clock came and went and the
Israelis refrained from firing, the residents of the neighborhood began
to leave their homes to join them and attend to their affairs.

The activists continued the action until 8.30 pm before retiring. They
intend to continue defying the curfew as part of their ongoing campaign
against Israeli terrorism and in tribute to their fallen comrade Rachel
Corrie who was killed while resisting a home demolition as part of this
campaign.

For further information contact:

Alice on +972 67 857 049
Joe on +972 67 628 507.

Michael
ISM Media Coordinator
Beit Sahour
Occupied Palestine
Email:  ism-alerts@palsolidarity.org
Phone: +972 2 277 4602; mob: +972 67 862 439

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