[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [balata camp] Balata under invasion - ambulances attacked, two dead, many injured

[Morton K. Brussel]

FYI. What's going on in the Land of Canaan.  --mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: info at balatacamp.net
> Date: February 20, 2006 7:07:25 PM CST
> To: list at balatacamp.net
> Subject: [balata camp] Balata under invasion - ambulances attacked,  
> two dead, many injured
>
>
> 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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