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30-Oct-2003

Israeli military shoot two more peace activists

by: Zoe Vince/ISM Vancouver

Shot ISM volunteer being treated in hospital.
PHOTO: ISM website ,

Occupied territories: In an International Solidarity Movement press release from the end of October, ISM-Vancouver volunteer Melissa stated that the Israeli military shot two international peace activists in the leg with live ammunition. According to her report, Mark, an American, and Jeremy, an Australian, both ISM volunteers, were each shot in the thigh with live ammunition on 24 October.

According to the ISM report, Israeli troops invaded the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, in Occupied Palestine, and “cut off electricity to the camp and fired indiscriminately into the dark, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others.” The volunteers were shot at “after they escorted several Palestinian children to safety away from the Israeli troops.”

“Several international witnesses stated there was no Palestinian gunfire in the area and that Mark and Jeremy had identified themselves as unarmed international civilians in the spotlight of the Israeli Humvee that subsequently shot at them”, the ISM reports adds.

The report goes on to say that on the way to Rafida Hospital, Nablus, where the two activists are being treated, their ambulance was stopped and detained by Israeli soldiers.

The volunteers were working for the International Solidarity Movement, a “Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and international activists who use nonviolent, direct action to support Palestinian efforts for freedom and an end to Israeli occupation.”

In the last two weeks, Israeli forces in the Gaza strip have allegedly killed more than twenty civilians, and destroyed hundreds of homes, leaving more than 2000 Palestinians homeless.

The latest attack on ISM activists follows the shooting of five other volunteers in July 2003, when Israeli soldiers fired on demonstrators protesting against the construction of the “apartheid wall”. The wall has, in the village of Jayyous alone, reportedly cut off farmers from 2000 acres of land, and threatened the survival of more than 80 per cent of villagers.

The shootings are the latest in a string of attacks on internationals by the Israeli military, including the spring 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie and near-fatal shooting of Tom Hurndall – who remains in a coma.

Read more Peace News about military attacks on activists: see Target peace (activists) from issue 2451
http://www.peacenews.info/issues/2451/2451091.html

Source: ISM