Palestine: Recent Update

Subject: UPDATE: Latest developments in Palestine
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 01:59:26 +0200

From Addameer <addameer [at] planet.edu>:

Update--17 October 2000, Web posted 11:15 PM GMT+2
SEPTEMBER 2000 CLASHES INFORMATION CENTER
***Palestine: http://www.addameer.org/september2000/***
North America: http://nigelparry.com/september2000/

As the final statement of the Sharm Al Sheikh summit was being
made this afternoon, Farid Moussa Issa Massassrah, 28 years old
from Beit Farouk, Nablus was shot dead by Israeli settlers while
picking olives in his family\'s olive grove. Israeli settlers, under the
protection of the Israeli military, attacked Palestinian farmers
harvesting olives in their orchards in Beit Farouk, firing live
ammunition at the farmers. Farid was shot in the head with live
ammunition, and three others were injured, including Farid\'s
cousin, Majdi Mahmoud Issa, 42 years old from Beit Farouk, who
was shot by live ammunition in his chest, and remains in critical
condition. Ambulances were prevented from entering the area to
transport the injured, in addition to preventing civilian cars carrying
those injured.

Mohammad Hassan Taleb Al Dakheel, 26 years old, from Nablus,
died this afternoon as a result of injuries sustained on 2 October.
Mohammad has been in critical condition for the past 17 days after
being shot in the head by live ammunition.

Thousands of Palestinians participated in the funeral of 14 year old
Muayad Osama Abd Al Jawarish from Aida Refugee Camp,
Bethlehem, who was killed yesterday after being shot with live
ammunition to his head.* Severe clashes erupted following the
funeral in the Bethlehem area. Exchange of fire was reported near
the Southern entrance of Bethlehem. The Southern Commander of
the Israeli Defence Forces stated this evening that one soldier was
wounded and is in critical condition. He stated further that tanks
had been deployed around Beit Jala, and that Israeli attack
helicopters would be brought in if the situation did not calm down.
Recent reports state the Israeli helicopters are preparing to attack
the village.

At Beit Hanoun/Erez Crossing in Gaza, Nabil Sa\'ed Abed Khater,
41 years old, from Shaja\'iyeh, Gaza, and a member of the
Palestinian National Security, was killed after being shot in the
chest by live ammunition. At least 40 Palestinian workers were
injured after clashes erupted at the crossing, including Jalal Abu
Hajar, 30 years old from Jabalya, who is in critical condition from
live ammunition to his stomach. Reports received this past hour
state that Rafah Refugee Camp has been attacked by Israeli
helicopters firing LAW missiles, with 4 injuries reported thus far.
No further information is available.

In Ramallah, clashes erupted once again at the Northern entrance
of the city. There have been no reports of serious injuries thus far.
Recent reports state that heavy gunfire is being heard from the
nearby Israeli settlement of Pisgot.

In Jenin this afternoon, Israeli settlers attempted to destroy 55
dunums of Palestinian Olive orchards in the area. Olive harvesting
is one of the main livlihoods for many villages in the West Bank
and Gaza. Jenin has been declared a closed military zone by the
Israeli authorities.

Clashes continued throughout other cities in the West Bank in
protest to the Sharm Al Sheikh agreement. A strict internal
closure remains in place within the West Bank, despite
agreements made this afternoon to lift it. Israeli controlled areas of
Hebron remain under curfew for the 18th consecutive day, with
attacks by Israeli settlers reportedly taking place in the evening.
The village of Huwarra remains under curfew for the 10th
consecutive day. The majority of villages and towns in the northern
West Bank remain completely isolated from one another, with a
number of areas declared closed military zones. The prevention of
medical supplies and food reaching these areas continues.

This afternoon, medical supplies and equipment flown in to Egypt
and intended to be transported to Gaza for Palestinian hospitals
was prevented from entering by the Israeli authorities on the Egypt-
Gaza border crossing.

**Correction: In Update--16 October 2000, Web posted 11:50 PM
GMT+2, we reported that Muayad was shot in his stomach. He
was shot to the head with live ammunition on his way home from
school.


***NOTE***The September 2000 Clashes Information Center
website, http://www.addameer.org/september2000/ was down this
evening. Both Palestine Online and Planet, the two local service
providers hosting the site, went down between 8PM-10PM. Our
service provider has managed through great risk to his personal
safety to get to the server in order to repair the problem. The server
is near Jerusalem, which is currently blocked off by Israeli military
checkpoints.

The site is now up but may go down again, as we have received
recent threats. We are currently in the process of moving the site
to be hosted outside the country for increased reliability and
security. In the event that the server does go down again, we will
continue to offer regular updates through our contacts abroad.
Please note that our mirror sites at the moment are: