ZGram - 12/31/2001 - "New Year's Eve 2001"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

New Year's Eve - 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

It's been one heck of an eventful year - certainly a year that will not
disappear in some memory hole.  We need to bid it goodbye on a positive
note - for remember:  We are not the last ones of Yesterday but the first
ones of Tomorrow.

I fished out the following for you to show you that the spirit of defiance
against injustice isn't dead:

[START]

December 29, 2001

For Immediate Release

PALESTINIANS DISMANTLE ISRAELI MILITARY CHECKPOINT

Over one hundred internationals deploy to allow Palestinians  safe passage

[Surda, Palestine] Over one hundred foreign civilians served as an
"international protection force" for Palestinians today and deployed at the
Surda military checkpoint (on the road from Ramallah to Birzeit University)
to  allow Palestinians safe passage to and from work and school.

The Israeli military checkpoint set up at Surda is illegal according to UN
Resolutions and international law. The checkpoint is also a site of daily
abuses  of Palestinian human rights by Israeli soldiers. Palestinian cars
are not  permitted to pass and thousands of Palestinians, old and young are
forced to  walk uphill for over a kilometer when passing. The
identification cards of young  Palestinian men are often confiscated and
the young men themselves forced to  wait, sometimes hours, in obedient
positions behind barbed wire. Israeli  soldiers have even resorted to
harassing Palestinian youth, as international  observers* have witnessed
soldiers yelling at 8-10 year old children, asking  them for their
identification.**

Israeli soldiers attacked the international group deployed in the area with
tear gas and concussion bombs, despite the non-violent nature of their
presence.  The foreign peace activists clearly identified themselves as an
international  peace force and carried a message of peace and justice.
Activists were pushed,  shoved and even kicked by soldiers who acted
violently and aggressively. More  than one time, soldiers trained their
sights and laser targeting from their guns  on unarmed activists in a
threatening gesture.

Palestinian and international activists held firm, and kept the road open
all  day, allowing Palestinians to pass without harassment. Additionally,
Palestinian  activists removed an Israeli outpost, used by soldiers to
illegally control the  area. At no time were stones thrown by protestors
and at no time were there any  violent gestures or actions by the peace
activists.

Today's action by internationals and Palestinians is a call for more
concrete  intervention by the international community. "It's shameful that
our countries  stand by while Israel continues to terrorize the Palestinian
people. I'm here to  stand up against injustice and to urge my government
to do the same," said U.S.  citizen and participant Brian Wood.

For photos, see:
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=Palestinian&c=news_photos.
Digital photos also available. For more information, call Huwaida at
052-642-709  or Palestinian Center for Rapprochement at 02-277-2018.

=====

Notes to Editor:

*The international observers are part of a group called International
Checkpoint Watch. The ICW is made up of volunteers from various foreign
countries who monitor checkpoints on a regular basis to document human
rights  abuses.

** Children do not have identification. You are assigned an ID card at the
age of 16 in Palestine.

[END]

=====

Thought for the Day:

"You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your
wife till she's joined a women's club, nor Old Glory till you see it
hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town."

(O. Henry)