Gush Shalom
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International release & protest letter request
Tel-Aviv, April 3, 2003

WHILE THE IRAQ WAR INTENSIFIES: ORDEAL IN TULKAREM, RAFAH

--West Bank: After mass arrests in Tulkarem more than 1000 men
released but forbidden to go home;
--Gaza Strip: Israeli tanks and bulldozers invade Rafah;
--"A good and successful action" the commander of the Ephraim Brigade,
referring on Israeli radio to the Tulkarem action.

An Israeli Army Colonel has taken public responsibility for the large-scale
harassment of civilian population at Tulkarm Refugee Camp, in violation of
International Law and of the Fourth Geneva Convention to which Israel is a
signatory.
The officer - identified on the Kol Yisrael radio only by his first name, David,
and by his function as commander of the Ephraim Brigade - is at the head
of the Israeli forces which today staged a massive invasion of the Tulkarm
Refugee Camp, an invasion which "Colonel David" declared to be "a good
and successful action, with satisfactory results".

According to an eye-witness, a Tulkarm resident - and corroborated by
accounts in the Israeli and foreign press* - the Tulkarm Refugee camp was
on early Wednesday morning invaded by large Israeli forces - infantry,
APC's and tanks supported by helicopter gunships. The soldiers ordered all
men and boys between 15 and 55 to leave their homes and concentrate at
two locations in the camp - the UNRWA Girls' School and the courtyard of
the Jipon Paint Factory. There they were kept for many hours and
interrogated, one by one. The army detained eleven men which were said to
be "wanted terrorists". The other men and boys were then loaded on buses
and lorries which took them several kilometres outside Tulkarm, where they
were told to get off and forbidden to go back to their homes for the coming
three days. There, the army left them, with nothing but the clothes on their
backs, making no provision of any kind for their thee days of enforced exile.

Inhabitants of the nearby Danabe Village, as well as of the Nur Shams
Refugee Camp which is so far untouched by the army raid, tried their best
to help the displaced men and boys - but being in difficult economic
circumstances themselves, found it difficult to take care of so many.
Meanwhile, some women of the Tulkarm Refugee Camp came to bring food
and basic provisions to their husbands, brothers and sons -but then found
that the soldiers would not let them back into the camp, and became
displaced, too.

Gush Shalom sent tonight a letter to General Menchem Finkelstein, head of
the Army's legal Department, setting out the above facts and pointing out
that they constituted a violation not only of International Law but also of the
IDF's own Military Code and of what the army claims are its policy guide-
lines as regards treatment of civilian population. "Failure to point out to
Colonel David - whose full name must be familiar to you - the grave legal
and moral consequences of the acts to which he took responsibility would
make yourself and the army's Legal Department share in that
responsibility."

PS: Just as were composing this message, an emergency call came from
the opposite side of the Occupied Territories - Rafah in the Gaza Strip. A
large Israeli Army force, accompanied by many tanks, has entered the
town. Two houses are known to have been demolished already, and the
army also blew up a mosque which had been severely damaged in a
previous invasion. We got the news from a group of internationals of the ISM
(International Solidarity Movement) who are there this night, and who are
preparing to act as human shields to defend other
threatened homes - undeterred by the death of Rachel Corrie, who tried to
do the same in the same place two weeks ago.
Over the past two years, the army has been steadily destroying houses
along the border with Egypt, several each week - on the basis of the
ruthless doctrine that some houses are being used by arms smugglers and
that since it is not known which are the ones, it would be "better" to destroy
all.

*
 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/279841.html
 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFu
ll&cid=1049249993927
 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFu
ll&cid=1049249996247

Please send a protest letter (sample follows) to:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Spokesperson of the Prime Minister
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
Spokesperson Defense Ministry
Foreign Minister Siwan Shalom

cc to:
"Secretary of State, Colin Powell" ,
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Mr. Terje Rod Larsen
European Union, Jerusalem, Email  mailto@delwbg.cec.eu.int
UN Special Coordinator, Gaza, Email  unsco@palnet.com
Sérgio Vieira de Mello UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

European Parliament Belgian Office
International Solidarity Movement
Gish Shalom

and/or send a (copy by) fax to some or all of the following:

Israeli Foreign Minister: +972-(0)2-5303506
General Manager Israeli Foreign Ministry: +972-(0)2-5303704
Situation Room Israeli Foreign Ministry: +972-(0)2-5303896
Head of IDF Legal Department General Menachem Finkelstein
Fax +972-(0)3-5693270
Secretary of State Colin Powell Fax: +1-202-261-8577
Prime Minister Tony Blair, Fax +44-207-925-0918
European Union, Jerusalem, Fax: + 972- (0)2-532 6249
UN Special Coordinator, Gaza, Fax: +972-(0)8- 282-0966

Sample letter:

I read the news about new grave irregularities from the side of the IDF, in
Tulkarem and Rafah, and I wonder whether it is a coincidence that this is
happening while the Iraq War. intensifies.
Let me remind you that it is advisable for the Israeli authorities and their
subordinates to strictly comply with international law and conventions. It could
prove unwise, to say the least, for a small state as Israel is, and which needs the
support of the international community, to take the superpower model as
guideline for itself.

--
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