Prepared
by: Members of the International Solidarity Movement in Al-Fara'
Refugee Camp.
Town
of Ak-Kaaba: Masri Home
Ezzeddine Masri was a member of Hamas who
made an
operation killing himself and 22 israelis at the
Sbarro restraunt in West Jerusalem on August 9th
2001. His action was in retaliation to an attack on a
Hamas Office in Nablus on August 1, 2001. The public
office was exploded by apache missiles. 8 people, 2
Hamas leaders, 4 office staff and 2 children (ages 6
and 8)walking by on the street, were killed.
The Israeli Occupation Forces arrived at
the Masri
home at 2am on Sunday, August 4th 2002, nearly 1 year
after the operation in West Jerusalem. Their force
consisted of 2 tanks, 8 jeeps and more than 200
soldiers. The soldiers kicked in the door to the
house awaking Ezzeddine's parents and 4 children (each
under 4 years). They asked a neighbor to knock on the
door of the adjacent house. The Occupation Forces
arrested Ezzeddine's father and three brothers. The
family had 20 minutes to leave the house and the
soldiers asked all of the neighbors to leave the area.
The house was exploded at about 5am. 4
neighboring
houses were damaged by pieces of the house and by the
concussion from the explosion itself. A large piece
of the roof from the house flew over 50 meters,
landing on the roof of a neighboring house and
smashing
a large hole in the roof. Doors were shaken from
their frames, a car was destroyed, windows were
shattered and there were holes in the exteriors of the
neighboring houses. The stable of the Masri house was
also completely destroyed leaving 20 sheep dead.
"What
is our crime?" Ezzeddine's uncle asked.
The Red cross visited the house and promised
a tent
which has yet to arrive.
The father and three brothers were released
after 4
days of detention in Ofr detention camp, a newly
established prison camp that consists of large tents.
They were beaten and interrogated. One of the
brothers, who showed us marks from beatings and
lacerations from handcuffs, estimated that there were
about 7000 palestinians held in Ofr currently.
Town
of Tubas: Fukha Home
Mazen Fukha, 28, a member of Hamas was
arested by the
isreali occupation forces on Tuesday, August 6th 2002
under the auspices that he was suspected of helping
bombers. His family has not been in contact with him
and does not know where he is being held until the
date of this report.
36 hours after Mazen was arrested, 4am
on Thursday,
8th August 2002, the Israeli Occupation Forces came to
the Fukha Home, owned by Mazen's father. They arrived
with 16 jeeps and more than 200 soldiers. They told
the 9 people in the house (Mazen's father, mother,
sister, wife, brother and 4 children) to exit the
house immediately. The people refused because some of
the women were without proper clothes. The soldiers
entered the house and told the family that they had 20
minutes to leave the house.
As they tried to save some things from
the house,
neighbors offered to help, but were scared away by
shots fired in the air. Both Mazen's father, Muhammad
Sulieman, and his 18 year old brother, Ma'an, were
arrested. The women of the family and many of the
neighbors were told to go to the municipality building
500 meters up the road.
At 5:45 am, the army exploded the house
with dynamite.
Rubble from the house landed hundreds of yards from
the house. All of the glass in the neighbors houses
shattered and many of their door frames were broken
from the blast.
Some neighbors were still in their homes
and a man who
did not understand what was happening approached the
house after the soldier had left. He was knocked to
the ground by the blast but did not sustain serious
injuries.
The family was surprised by the operation
because
their son has not even had a trial following his
arrest. He has not been convicted of anything let
alone his entire family.
Mazens mother said: "I was born here
and my
grandfather and his grandfather. Why do the people
from Europe and Russia have the right to live here and
we do not? How does someone from Russia have the
right to explode my house?"
The Red Cross visited the house and gave
the family a
small tent. The family does not know where either
Mazen, his father, or his brother are being held.
Witnessed By:
Colm
Breathnach, Dublin, Ireland
Matt
Horton, Los Angeles, USA
David Jarmula, Brooklyn, USA
-------------------------
After staying in the camp for a week without
incident,
we were called back to Jerusalem for assessment and
planning. It was painful and caused us to question our
usefulness as internationals. We cant be with a
community forever, so are we only delaying the
inevitable? Is it even worth it to begin with? If
anything, i guess we made beautiful friends, learned a
lot and at least our Irish comrade got the issue into
his country's media.
We left the camp at 5am this morning through
Tubas and
down to Muasker Tiaseer (Tiaseer Army Base) where we
parked in a line of cars to wait for the road to open
at 5:30am. When the time came around, we were
searched, questioned, passed and continued down the
mountains toward Jerhico en route to Jerusalem. From
the Tubas region down to the Jordan border there was
nothing but military bases, beduin camps and
settlements. When we reached the border, i was
surprised that it was not heavily fortified (at least
compared to the San Diego-Tijuana border i am used to)
and i guess it is naive, but that we were close enough
to see jordanian villages from the highway.
We passed two checkpoints on the highway
to Jerhico
where we pulled to the side to allow cars with yellow
'israeli' license plates to pass freely while we, with
white plates, waited inspection and questioning.
After turning on to the road to Jerusalem (al-Quds),
we were stopped by a police jeep who also searched and
questioned us.
The taxi took us to Qalandia checkpoint,
between
al-Quds and Ramallah, where we got another taxi to
take us into Al-Quds. When we reached the checkpoint
into the city, the soldiers looked at us
internationals, checked our passports, didnt check any
of the palestinians, and turned us around. 20
creative minutes later through residential streets, we
arrived at the old city.
I am not sure how long i will be here or
where i will
go, but i will keep yall posted when i have the
chance.
Thank you for all of your letters and i hope you are
all well. If you cant reach me by email, feel free to
call: 011-972-6-734-9442
Matt Horton
