Currently there are more than six villages around the West bank city of Nablus that have been cut off completely by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Tanks, armored personnel carriers (APC's) and bulldozers have created barriers four to five feet in width from dirt and concrete. At many of these barriers the soldiers have created ad hoc checkpoints where they harass, humiliate and prevent the movement of the local Palestinian population. Some villages have been put under curfew, equivalent to house arrest, and all are suffering from the lack of commerce and food deliveries.

This morning the main road exiting from Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus has been bulldozed, but locals have resisted and filled in a small path for cars to pass. Due to the deep cuts of the bulldozers a sewage line was severed. Raw sewage is running down the street almost reaching nearby Askar Refugee Camp. Curfew in Nablus has prevented any substantive work from being done to fix this awful and risky situation.

This afternoon internationals witnessed the closure of Boreen, a small Palestinian village. Susan Barclay, Eric and Rae Levine were on ambulance duty with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. From the ambulance they watched and photographed Israeli bulldozers, protected by an APC, dig a trench across the only road linking Boreen with the rest of the world. The dirt has been piled high and the internationals have been instructed by the occupation forces that all of the villages are inaccessible but are not closed military zones.

Later, still in the ambulance, they met a group of students who told the internationals that they had been picked up by soldiers. The men were separated out, blindfolded, tied and taken to an unknown detention area. They were later released but some without their identity cards, making it impossible for them to go home.

Denial of Water

The village of Beit Farik has a population of 12,000 and Beit Dajan has 3,500. Only one road leads to these two villages and that road is flanked on each side by Israeli colonies. Palestinians say that they cannot walk this road because of the heavy military presence and the fear of being shot by colonists. The intensity of the situation increased recently when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a home in the colony of Itamar earlier this month.

Every year there is a water shortage in the villages and normally water is purchased and trucked in. Currently there are two water trucks sitting at an Israeli military checkpoint and are being denied entry. Internationals investigated this situation and report that the checkpoint consists of six cement blocks and five pillars of concrete that form a small occupation forces camp with tanks and APC's. The villages have received no water and are desperate for the deliveries.

As a general principle, in both internal and international armed conflict it is lawful to attack only military objectives. From this derives the rule stated in Article 54 of the first of the two 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions that “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.” Denying the civilian population water is just as illegal as denying them food. (Crimes of War p.377)

We represent the United States, Canada, Israel, UK and call on our governments and peoples to condemn these acts of barbarism.

For more information:

Rae Levine 972 (0) 56 382 317

Eric Levine 972 (0) 57 380 414

Susan Barclay can be reached at either of the above numbers.

For more information on The International Solidarity Movement please see our website:

http://www.palsolidarity.org">http://www.palsolidarity.org