Posted by Mr. E from ? (160.129.27.22) on Sunday, April 21, 2002 at 1:19PM :
a bit old - haven't been posting lately....
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Saturday, April 13, 2002
Birkin, a village immediately next to the one Jeff and Kathy are staying in, has just been surrounded by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tanks and troops. Three people from the team they have joined are in Birkin. There are 77 families, approximately 400 people, in Birkin, that are recent refugees from the town of Jenin. Additionally, two days ago the IDF invaded the town of Arabi and killed five people. It has been reported in the US media that the IDF is pulling out of the areas they have thus far occupied. From the ground, it seems obvious that this is not the case, as the IDF continues to employ a village-by-village effort which goes unreported in mainstream media.
Last night, Jeff, Kathy, Sophia, and Brian recorded the stories of four men who had been tortured, interrogated, and in two cases, forced to act as human shields, during the invasion and attack on Jenin. Many are wondering if what is being referred to as the “massacre of Jenin” might have cost well over a thousand lives.
We are reminded of the United State’s efforts to “eradicate terrorism” in Afghanistan. It would seem that the Israelis are doing something very similar. Regarding Colin Powell’s visit to the region, Guntzel and Kelly recall that on September 11, after the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center, Powell said, “The people that perpetrated this barbarous act think that by killing people and destroying buildings you can achieve a political goal. They are always wrong.”
Mr. Powell should adhere to this view now.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Voices in the Wilderness urges all who receive this report to continue demanding an immediate end to the occupation and an end to all attacks on Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Contact your local television, radio, newspaper, or other media outlet, and ask them why they haven’t reported the invasions of Birkin or Arabi. Demand fair and unbiased coverage of the crisis in the Occupied Territories.
Listen to interviews with Kathy and Jeff on Worldview, a nationally-syndicated show from Chicago Public Radio. You will find the RealAudio archive at: http://www.wbez.org/frames.asp?HeaderURL=services/hd_serv.htm&BodyURL=services/audioarc.htm
(Click on "Worldview," then select April 11th on the calendar.)
Visit the following websites for up-to-date news items and personal accounts regarding the current crisis:
www.electronicintifada.net
www.haaretzdaily.com
http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/
Continue to visit www.nonviolence.org/vitw for full reports from Kathy and Jeff.
-- Mr. E
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