DAY 35 BETHLEHEM AREA BEING SHELLED: ANOTHER THREE KILLED BY ISRAEL
Earlier this evening, Israeli artillery bombed Al Khader, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Aida refugee camp in the Bethlehem area. The attacks were from helicopter gunships, anti-aircraft weapons and artillery from tanks. In Al Khader, a missile fired by a helicopter led to a fire in three apartments on the fourth floor of an apartment block, owned by Raid, Samir and Marwan Ali Othman, housing them and their families.
In Al Khader, Wael Shu'aeb Ghneim, 27 years old, was killed by a large calibre bullet from a helicopter in his chest.
Near Solomon's Pools, at the Palestinian checkpoint in Bethlehem, a Palestinian police officer was killed by live ammunition fired into his chest, during a shoot-out between Palestinian security services and the Israeli army. His name is Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Hroub, 27 years of age, from Deir Samet village near Hebron. In the same incident, Adnan Khader Atalah, from Irtas village, was shot with live ammunition in his leg and is being treated at Al Maqassad hospital.
In Silet Al-Harithia and Al-Funduqumiya villages, 13 civilians were injured by Israeli forces. These two villages are now under curfew.
In Silet Al-Thair five were arrested by Israel forces: Mazen Mahmoud Hantuli, Sami Addil Abu Ali, Ala' Fawzi Abu Eta, Nasser Ali Abu Khader, and his brother, Turfa. Abu Eta was arrested after being injured.
In Tulkarem, the Israeli army shelled the Khadouri Technical College and the Ministry of Agriculture offices.
Earlier, in Tulkarem, seven Palestinians were injured, four with live ammunition, including Colonel Tawfiq Hassan Khalil, 56 years old, from Zeita village.
In the Gaza Strip, 3 children were killed today. Ibrahim Riziq Umar, 15 years from Shati refugee camp, was killed by a bullet in the chest. Umar and the two other children reported earlier, Mohammed Hajjaj, 15, from Ashuga'iah, Ahmad Abu Tayeh, 14 were all killed with live ammunition at Al Mintar east of Gaza City. Throughout the Gaza Strip, forty people have also been reportedly injured today.
Presently 145 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, 46 (31%) of whom are children.
Israeli Army Incitement against Red Crescent Humanitarian & Emergency Ambulance Services
The Palestine Red Crescent Society rejects and condemns Israeli allegations, brought forward by the spokesman of Israeli Army, on Israel Radio this morning, claiming an ambulance has fired from the PRCS Headquarters in Al-Bireh.at the “Pisagot”: settlment on Jabal Al-Taweel. These allegations are baseless and endager the work of emergency medical crews.
The violence employed by Israeli troops over the past 5 weeks has targeted children, civilians, medical personnel and ambulances. The current false allegations against PRCS and its ambulances have gone too far. This smear campaign can only impede our humanitarian mission and cause unnecessary suffering and deaths, as well as continue to place our emergency medical personnel in danger. It is noteworthy that on Oct 24th, PRCS emergency crew worked to save the lives of Israeli soldiers, in a serious traffic accident on Jericho road, near Hizmah village.
Israeli troops have to-date fired at and hit 35 ambulances, injured 40 paramedics and volunteers, and killed one emergency medical technician. They continue to prevent the ambulances from reaching the wounded, and have dragged, beaten and arrested the injured from within the ambulances. To-date PRCS has logged over 72 specific violations related to preventing ambulances from reaching their destinations.
These most basic violations of the Geneva Conventions, and International Humanitarian Law must be highlighted to the world.
Moreover, these violations against the Palestine Red Crescent Society have apparently embarrassed the Israeli Authorities, thus causing them to put out false accusations and rumors to justify shooting at medical staff, ambulances and the sick & wounded in ambulances.
Despite the current crisis and difficulties, PRCS will continue its mission of offering emergency medical care and first aid to all in need regardless of religion, race or color.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society appeals to the world community, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent, to pressure the Israeli Authorities to immediately stop firing at ambulances, medical emergency personnel, and to permit the safe passage of ambulances. Those working under the Emblem of the International Crescent must be protected by international law.
The PRCS also calls on all governmental, non-governmental and humanitarian bodies throughout the world to work on the provision of protection for Palestinian civilians and to putting an end to the violence against Palestinian civilians. -30-
Note: the PRCS will convene a press conference today, 1st Nov. 2000, at 20:00, at the PRCS Headquarters in Al-Bireh
For more information, contact Muhammad Ayyad Tel: 02-2406515, Mobile: 050-689348 Email: info@palestinercs.org Also see www.PalestineRCS.org for images, updates and details
Your Majesty the Queen This is what we are,Mothers!
Yes, we are mothers. We wake up at dawn and sleep only after all our family has gone to bed. We are mothers who still breastfeed our children, yet another burden on our weary bodies in a time when so many mothers in the world have chosen to feed their babies formula, saving time and preserving the beauty of their figures. We are mothers who still bake our own bread at home, oblivious to the amount of time and effort that it takes to provide food to our children. We are mothers whose suffering goes beyond the imagination of any other mother in the world, watching our kids leave home on their way to school under the most dangerous circumstances imposed by the cruel status of occupation. We are mothers who toil from dawn to dusk, picking olives amidst the tormenting threats of the settlers.
And yet we see nothing but the needs of our children and the promises we made them for after the olive harvest. We are mothers who have suffered separation from detained, deported or martyred husbands and have accepted the role of being both mothers and fathers to our kids, setting aside all other needs we might have as women, focusing only on the future of our kids. We are mothers who are sometimes forced to give birth in prison cells. We are mothers who have been imprisoned and separated from our kids for no other reason than our quest for our rights and for the right of our children to live. We are mothers who wake up to the sound of bombs dropping, carrying our children out of their beds to where it is less dangerous; and no sooner that that, to see their very bedrooms and toys destroyed. We are mothers for whom experience has taught that no life is possible with our new neighbors, these bellicose ‘pioneers’ who have raided our land, killed our men and rendered our kids homeless.
We are mothers who are intelligent enough to understand that there is no decent future for our children under a racist, foreign occupation that deprives our children of their most basic human rights: the right to life... the right to live with a faith, the right to return of refugees dispersed in all countries of the world deprived of citizenship... the right to an education in schools that have adequate basic services and infrastructure, the right to good nutrition, which cannot be achieved except under humane economic conditions... the right to play safely, which is a dream in the narrow alleyways of the camps with open sewage draining by, the right to self-expression in a homeland that accepts and respects them for who they are and does not discriminate on the basis of their nationality or religion... the right to move freely in their country and to get to know its holy sites and history...in short, the right to live as all children of the world.
Your Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, the country of human rights! Have you realized now who we are or do I need to elaborate on my introduction?
May I ask you if you have ever found yourself on the streets with your baby in your arms? Have you spent nights in a tent covering your baby with your body to protect him or her from the cold, oblivious to your own pain? Have you ever given him or her your share of food to ease his or her hunger, not caring about the pains in your own stomach?
Have you ever lived with your kids in a small room in a miserable camp, working for them and nurturing them, and trying to transform that ugly room into the castle of their dreams entirely on your own, without a helping hand? Have you ever been amongst children who have no place to play other than unhealthy alleyways, and finding yourself hesitant as to whether to allow them to play despite the danger, or to prevent them from playing for fear of their health, going to sleep without having resolved your dilemma?
Have you ever tried to be a mother to children destined to live for long years not knowing their father except from behind the iron bars of a prison cell, anxious to protect them from the cruelty of the prison guard while sometimes pleading for a visit? Have you ever known your child to leave the house, fresh as a blossom, and to never come home because some racist, impulsive settler saw nothing in that child except yet another obstacle to his fascist plans? Have you ever known the feeling of your husband being deported from his country just because he exercised his right to self-expression, after which you had to be both mother and father to your children?
Have you known what it is like for your husband to leave for work at 2 a.m. and not to come home before 8 p.m. because he is an Arab and has to pass through the ugly Erez checkpoint in Gaza, and has to endure the racism of the occupation army and live his life as an absent/present father to his kids? Have you ever felt what it is like to have the military close the roads, unconcerned with your needs and those of your children? Have you ever tried to be a mother carrying your dying child in your arms across a military checkpoint because some racist soldier or officer did not allow you to get to the hospital for help?
Have you ever been at home with your children when your house was suddenly raided by armed soldiers, who turned the house upside down in what they called a ‘security precaution’? Have you ever been mother to children who wake up in a panic to the sounds of bullets and bombs and then cry over their broken toys when they return to their rooms? Have you ever tried crossing a checkpoint with your baby and having his or her diapers searched or being deprived of his or her milk for hours on account of ‘security measures’, while mothers of all other nationalities just confidently walk through, being spared this humiliating experience?
Have you tried being a mother taking her children to school, being stopped at a checkpoint for no reason at all, and failing to get her kids to school on time?
Have you tried any of this? And more?
And in any case have you ever searched for answers to questions you see in the eyes of your children asking for an explanation to all this misery, and found yourself speechless? Have you ever thought about what it means to have no answers to those questions? And what danger your child would be in if he or she insisted on going out in the streets to share in the game of the adults and fight back with a stone or a Molotov Cocktail? Have you pondered in what state he might come back to you?
I am sure you have not tried any of this. You were born to a royal family, a silver spoon in our mouth, your requests are orders to be obeyed. I therefore do not blame you for your statement, for how can you know?
I invite you to join us and try our life for two days... actually one day would be enough. I invite you to join us in one of the homes of the martyrs to see for yourself the mother of that young man, whom she has given all her life only to see him die in front of her eyes. I think you would take her for his grandmother because of the wrinkles on the young face drawn by the hardships of living under occupation, the life I have been trying to describe for you and which hope I have managed to convey, even if only in approximate detail.
I invite you to see this mother when she breaks down and starts her ululation. You think she does that in happiness? You are wrong. But your excuse is that you do not know about our life, you do not know about us. Africans dance in the most painful situations to get over the pain. If you want to know what is inside their hearts, I call on you to visit the hospitals to see for yourself the suffering and pain of those mothers, whose children have been injured and crippled by the bombing while sleeping in their bedrooms or sitting in the family car… or dying in the arms of a parent, like Mohammed El Dura, of whom, I am sure, you have heard.
I call on you to witness a martyr's mother wavering between the pain of having lost her child, and the despair with which she has seen the demise of the international conscience, as the world abandons both her and her son that same son who had to defend himself bare-breasted with but a stone in his hand.
That stone, Your Majesty, cannot answer back to bullets, bombs or tanks. It can only send a message to the world that the children of Palestine are indeed children, and like all children of the world, they have the right to live free. Like all mothers of the world, the mothers of Palestine too have the right to enjoy their motherhood.
Do you get the message now, Your Majesty?
Israel is moving towards the Apartheid System: Palestinian Workers' are dismissed on the basis of their National belongings and a fascist instigation to assault them
* Source: "Voice of Worker" press release - Nazareth.
* Nazareth: Affazi Restaurants company dismissed 200 Palestinian Workers Shkhonat Htekva in Tel Aviv is the headquarters of the chain of Restaurants namely: "Affazi". It has several branches all over the country, and employs 300 workers. According to the testimonies collected, there are 200 workers from Um-Alfahim, Baqa Al-Gharbieh, Nahaf, Tar'aan, Sahknin, Yamma, Al-Fraidis and Jafa. This criminal procedure was due to the late Intifada among the Arabs in Israel, which led to the dismissal of 200 Arab workers by an order from the Chains General Manager "Tsavika Wolf" as stated by the workers. The Arab worker, Khaled Mahmmoud Mahagneh from Um-Alfahem has testified before "The Voice of Worker". He said " when the events took place the majority of the workers, working in Arab cities were not able to go back to their homes in Al-Galilee or Al-Muthalath because of what we have heard about the attacks on Arabs. I personally, worked in Affazi Natania branch, with other 35 Arab workers; we used to work until 4:00 a.m. In Kippur day, we arrived to the restaurant at 7:00 a.m. and started preparing to cook. After a while we noticed that Natania Public Square was crowded with people and the walls were covered by raciest slogans supporting "Kahana" and against Arabs. We were afraid to death. I phoned the General Manager and asked him whether we should open the restaurants under these circumstances. He said: " open the Restaurant, I do not care about what will happened"
Khaled added: "When I heard him saying that I closed the restaurant to go home, I phoned all the Arab workers from Al-Muthalath and Galilee areas who are working in different branches and told them to take care. At 12:00 mid-night we were attacked and beaten by tens of Jews who were gathering in the Public Square. 16 workers from Um-Alfahem were badly injured. Without the police we would not have been alive. The worker Ibrahim Al-Najeeb was the most seriously injured who is still under treatment until now".
At the same day, many workers who are working at Affazi Restaurant chains were attacked and beaten in different places. Also, Many restaurants were demolished because they have employed Arab workers.
Furthermore, Ethiopian and Russian workers instead of Arabs. After three days of the bloody assaults, Despite the raciest atmosphere, Khaled and his colleagues return back to their workplaces in the Israeli cities. The workers were astonished when the administration asked them to teach the Ethiopian and Russian workers (substitutes) the basic skills.
Related to the huge number of unemployed workers, which reached up to 122 individual, the employer dismissed them all. One of the dismissed workers from Sakhnin addressed Voice of Worker by saying "I was dismissed from my work and I want my compensations. What drives me crazy is when I saw one of the bosses called Shousho taking a part in instigating against Arabs by saying "We want no Arabs in this country".
According to the collected figures and information, at least 200 workers are unemployed. 50 workers will be dismissed if they hire other nationalities.
The Director of Voice of Worker in Nazareth, Mr. Wahbeh Badarneh, conducted an interview with the Affazi chain manager, Mr. Tsavika Wolf who said: " I have employed 250 Arab workers from Galilee and Al-Muthalath, a group of them can not get to work due to the current situation. I can not let them come to work; they have burned one of the restaurants because of employing Arab workers. The situation is critical and we are seeking foreign workers in lieu of Arabs". The Chain manager quotations assured the dismissal of workers to be replaced by others.
Accordingly, the Voice of Worker Center will hold an urgent meeting with more that 150 workers in Ein Ibrahim / Um-Alfahem to adopt this case legally. This meeting will be attended by a number of the Center's Lawyers.
* Zaher Al-Fahoum is the only Arab dismissed Worker among one thousands Jewish workers
Zaher Fahoum, 24 years, married and a father of two children is working in Megdal Ha'emeq near Nazareth in a factory which produce computers spare parts. 1000 of workers are employed in that factory and he is the only Arab. In his testimony before Voice of Worker, Zaher stated "I work in "Feeshi" factory, we work two shifts, 600 workers during the day shift and 400 workers during the night shift. On Sunday, Kippur day, I was headed to work and as I arrived to Megdal Ha'emeq Central square the police stopped me and prevent me from entering the Industrial zone. I saw around 200 Jews who were blocking the road and declaring antagonistic slogans against Arabs so I return back home". Then he added: " Next morning, I received a phone call from my employer who told me that I have been dismissed because they do not want Arab workers from Nazareth".
* Tens of Arab Workers were dismissed from Marriott Hotel due to the Lay off policy
According to Voice of Worker connections with number of Anonymous Arab workers who stated that many workers were dismissed due to the lay off policy. Some Arab workers were asked to go for an unpaid leave, which makes it dangerous and anxiously matter. Although, the Hotel administration claims that their procedure is due to the political stagnation. The prevailing feeling that the dismissals process will cover 87 Arab workers due to raciest atmosphere in Netseret Elit City. A worker and father of four children and is considered an old employee at the hotel said: " the fear lies in the fact that the new General manager of Marriott chain is known to be racist which will effect our livelihood. The manager has expressed his worries concerning the big numbers of Arab workers employed in the Hotel. He has also stated that we should increase the number of Jewish workers in the hotel". The Arab workers have assured that as soon as they left the manager replaced them by Jewish workers.
As a matter of fact, the Arab workers went to the hotel to discuss with the administration the possibility of returning back to work, they were told: "The situation is critical and they have to wait until the beginning of February 2001". In that respect, Voice of Worker is working on a detailed research concerning the conditions of living for the Marriott Hotel workers as well as supporting them legally.
* Bloody Assaults against Arab Workers in Tiberias
However, the Arab workers in Tiberias were also subject to the barbaric racist attacks by settlers in several Jewish cities during the past weeks.
On October 7th, 2000, the city witnessed a fascist and racist burst out started at night hours when hundreds of Jews attacked and burned "Al-Bahar" mosque in Tiberias. Also, many Arab workers who worked in different restaurants, kundotoriah and Shekon D were attacked and badly beaten by Jews. Workers who are badly injured were transferred to Buriah hospital. Voice of Worker delegate visited them, the following are their names: 1- Ibrahim Al-Sa'ed from Rumanah village was injured in his head and back. 2- Shawki Mahmmoud Qaim / Al-Aziz village 3- Tawfiq Ahmed Qaim / Al-Aziz village 4- Sabah Fakhri Qaim / Al-Aziz village 5- Wesam Ghazi Qaim / Al-Aziz village 6- Muneer Ghazi Qaim / Al-Aziz village 7- Suhail Zaki Khatib / Al-Aziz village 8- Ghazi Khalileh / Al-Aziz village 9- Yahia Tawfiq Khatib / Al-Aziz village Moreover, the worker Shawki Mahmmoud Qaim stated: " My friends and I worked late on kippur day at Ron Shai located in Shekon D. During our shift we were surprised by 50 Jews who attacked the place. We tried to run away but we could not so, I hide in the cooling walking box but they broke the door and started beating us in a barbaric way. I was beaten on my head, back and fell unconscious, later on I knew what happened to my colleagues. Also I knew that few workers fled toward the plateau adjacent to Bauriah Hospital. The rest of the workers and I file a complaint to the police. But I do not know whether the police arrested anybody who might have conducted the assault. It is worth mentioning that Shawki and his cousin Tawfiq are still in bed due to the assault. Regarding the rest of the workers were hospitalized but did not go back to work.
* Women Workers working under the Police Patrol
On the other hand a bus driver who transport Arab women workers from Galilee to Delta factory stated that the police patrols the workplace due to repeated assaults against Arab workers in Carmiel. Also, the bus driver stated in an interview with Voice of Worker that the administration of Delta factory has not dismissed any women workers because they exploit them by paying low wages which is not accepted by Jewish women in the area.
* Soldiers shooting a Palestinian Worker in Haifa
On Friday, October 13th, 2000, after midnight, Fuad Nimer Aslah, 21 years from Arabet Al-Btouf village was standing in his workplace (shawermah restaurant) located on Jafa street in Haifa. He is one of tens of workers from Arabeh, Sakhnin, Deir Hana who work in Haifa/Al-Karmel, Hahalouts Street and Jafa. While he was selling Shawermah to a number of customers, the Israeli soldier Dani Timkan fired a live bullet from M16 rifle penetrated his head. He went through two surgeries, the doctors succeeded in taking out the bullet from his head. His condition is critical until this moment. The Israeli media stated that the soldiers who fired at Fuad Aslah committed this act to take revenge of what has happened for the two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah. The Hebrew newpaper stated that the soldier was drunk or experienced a mental disorder.
* A Worker from Basmet Tabou'n Said: " They fired me and told me, go to Dahamesheh and Bisharah to pay your wage"
Musa Ibrahim Zbaidat - Basmet Tabou'n Personal details are documented at "Voice of Worker" Center
The worker Musa Zbaidat, who was dismissed from his work at Hifat Hagaz in Kriat Ata near Haifa was working for a private security company. On October 23rd, 2000 Musa stated to Voice of Worker that the reasons behind his dismissal is a discrimination against Arabs. He added that since he worked in this factory as a security guard, 8 months ago, I have heard many racist slogans against Arabs. Particularly, since the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, the factory administration hatred against me increased after I showed my anger towards the demolition of Arab Bedouins houses in Al-Qabsi village near Karmiel.
A short time before the bloody incidents in Arab community, a security officer came to the workplace while we were on break joking "Let us ask about the identity, who is the Israeli? When I was asked this question I answered " I am Palestinian and proud to be so". Everybody was surprised by saying that because I am a Bedouin not an Arab according to their opinion. Since then all Jews in the factory were calling me Arafat, Bisharah, Dahamesheh, terrorist and a class B Arab. Expressing my opinion and recognizing my national identity decrease my working hours, from 8 shifts to 3 shifts a week. At the beginning of the Al-Haram Intifada and what have been happened in the Arab community, the atmosphere was prepared for my dismissal. The security officer informed me that due to decrease in production, I was dismissed and I have to go to work for Azzmi Bsharah, Dahamsheh and Arafat.
All what happened has been witnessed by the Histadrut and no measures has been taken to protect Palestinian workers in Israel.
The Democracy and Workers' Rights Center is calling upon all human rights supporters and International Trade unions to intervene directly or indirectly to stop these violations against the Palestinian workers. Your moral, technical and financial support is highly needed.