Balata under heavy attack

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Tuesday February 21, 2006 09:43

by Jon G

As of 2am Sunday morning, Balata is under heavy attack by the Israeli
military, terrorising and imprisoning the 30,000 residents in their homes.
Two helicopters, fifty armoured jeeps, tanks and bulldozers have
surrounded the camp, closing all entrances and imposing 24-hour 'curfew'.
The Balata youth took to the streets and continue to resist the invasion
with stones.
see www.balatacamp.net for updates and photos

Two teenagers have been confirmed killed, a home demolished and over
thirty injured. Two UNRWA schools have been transformed into temporary
bases, and tens of homes occupied throughout the camp.

The invading army have repeatedly targeted medical workers and ambulances
- on one occasion an ambulance was rammed from two sides by military jeeps
while carrying injured.

A number of men have been arrested, including Ahmed Abu Ras, a local
Al-Aqsa fighter. The house Abu Ras was found in, belonging to the Hamami
family, was bulldozed in an act of collective punishment. One seriously
wounded man was arrested from an ambulance and interrogated, before a
Palestinian ambulance was allowed to collect him again.

The two murdered teenagers, shot with live ammunition, were Mohammed Ahmad
Natur and Ibrahim Ahmad Sheikh Khalil, both 17.

There follow excerpts from the IWPS (International Women's Peace Service -
www.iwps-pal.org) report from Balata:
------------------------------------

20.02.06

There is only one ambulance left inside the camp. It will bring wounded
only to the edge of the camp, out of fear of not being allowed back in.
Wounded individuals are carried on stretchers to the entrance of the camp
and transported to Nablus hospitals. Normal ambulance traffic has come to
a complete halt.

In the morning an ambulance carrying an injured person and a woman in
complicated labor was ambushed by two jeeps. The jeeps drove into the
ambulance from both sides and shot at it. The soldiers forced the
ambulance to stand still for half an hour to use it as a shield against
youth throwing stones at them.

Around 1:00 pm two ambulances were held up by several jeeps. According to
the ambulance team they were detained for already 30 minutes and someone
with a bullet wound in the shoulder was beaten inside one of the
ambulances. The soldiers forced the ambulance personnel to undress his
wound, which had just stopped bleeding. The ambulance was held until the
family, with the help of the ambulance team and the IWPS volunteers,
brought his ID card. After his ID was checked, the ambulance continued its
way, only to be stopped by the next jeep on the road.

Around 1:30 pm the IWPS volunteers arrived inside Balata refugee camp on
foot, where they witnessed the shooting of two boys shot in the leg and
the side. One of them had a flesh wound and the other’s bone was crushed
by a bullet. A medical team and the IWPS volunteers ran two kilometers
with the two injured boys, because the ambulance that was carrying them
was not allowed to move.

Later, the IOF did not allow an ambulance transporting a boy with a rubber
bullet in his head to move. They were forced to carry the boy on foot.

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Still under attack...

Fri Feb 24, 2006 19:42

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued their
military operations in Balata refugee camp and the eastern
part of Nablus for the 5th consecutive day.

- Five Palestinians killed on Thursday, 23
February 2006, including 3 in an extra-judicial
assassination.

PCHR's initial investigations indicate that at
approximately 06:00 in the morning of Thursday, 23
February 2006, an armored IOF force consisting of 30
military vehicles resumed military operations in Balata
refugee camp and the eastern part of Nablus. Helicopter
gun-ships provided aerial support for the ground forces.
IOF troops embarked on a house to house search in the
target area. Scores of children and youth gathered in the
Daheya area, and started throwing stones at the IOF
vehicles. Immediately, IOF opened thick fire at them.
Ibrahim Mohammad Ali Sa'idi, 19, was injured by a bullet
in the abdomen. He was evacuated to Rafedia Hospital by
ambulance. Efforts to save his life failed, and he was
pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

At approximately 11:00, IOF fired at Na'im Mohammad Saleh
Abu S'reis, 22, from Balata refugee camp. He was hit by a
bullet in the abdomen. An ambulance evacuated him to
Rafedia Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 13:12
after efforts to save his life failed. IOF claimed that
they fired at him for breaking the curfew imposed on the
refugee camp.

In a new crime of extra-judicial assassination, IOF killed
3 citizens in Balata, and claimed that they were "wanted."
PCHR's initial investigations indicate that at
approximately 15:15, IOF besieged the house belonging to
Mohammad Abu Khamis in the Qar'an neighborhood, in the
center of the refugee camp. IOF fired rockets at the
house; and gun-ships fired heavy machine gun at the house.
Three Palestinians who were inside the house were killed:

- Hammouda Esh'teiwe, 38;

- Mohammad Abu Khamis, 32; and

- Hasan Fathi Hajjaj, 22.

Furthermore, IOF gunfire since the morning resulted in
injuring 7 civilians, including 2 whose injuries are
serious. The two are:

- Issam Fathi Radi Makhlouf, 22, bullet in the
abdomen; and

- Maher Walwiel, 40, bullet in the abdomen.

In an incident of targeting medical personnel, IOF
deliberately fired at an ambulance tending the wounded.
The driver of the ambulance, belonging to the Union of
Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, was hit with two
bullets, in the hand and left leg. His name is Jarir
Zakaria Qanadilo, is 37 years old, and is from Nablus.
Based on eyewitness accounts, PCHR's fieldworker indicated
that the ambulance driver was injured while attempted to
tend to Zakaria Abu Asab, who was hit with a bullet in the
shoulder, in the center of the refugee camp.

In addition, two international volunteers, both females,
were injured. A Dutch volunteer was injured by shrapnel in
the shoulder; and an American volunteer was hit with a
bullet in her hand.

PCHR strongly condemns the continuing IOF war crimes
perpetrated in Balata refugee camp and Nablus since
Sunday, 19 February 2006. These crimes have led to the
death of 8 people and the injury of 45 others. These
crimes are fulfilling previous Israeli threats to impose
additional sanctions against the Palestinian people. The
Centre points to the fact that these actions against
Palestinian civilians increase tension in the area and
threaten to cause additional casualties among the
Palestinian population. The Centre calls upon the
international community to intervene immediately to put an
end to these war crimes. The Centre calls upon the High
Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to
fulfill their responsibility to ensure the right of
protection of Palestinian civilians in the OPT.

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Balata under heavy attack

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