In the early morning hours of 25 January 2004, IDF soldiers entered a-Nabi Saleh, a village in Ramallah District. The head of the village council, Bashir a-Tamimi, told B’Tselem that, around 2:00 A.M., soldiers knocked on people’s doors and ordered the residents to go to the village square. At the square, all the residents, including small children, were instructed to go to one soldier who recorded the person’s name, another soldier who took their photograph, and a third soldier who took their fingerprint on a blank piece of paper. When several young men refused to be fingerprinted on a blank page, the soldiers threatened them with weapons. At the end of the operation, one of the soldiers explained to the residents that the reason for these activities was that people from the village had thrown stones and paint at soldiers. The soldier warned the residents that if those acts continued, the soldiers would take harsher measures. A-Tamimi estimated that the soldiers photographed and fingerprinted about 450 of the 500 residents of the village. He added that, before the operation ended, soldiers took away three youths, who were about 13 or 14 years old.

On the morning of 12 January 2004, IDF soldiers entered the Tulkarm refugee camp and arrested Fatah member Haytham Luwaisi. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, Luwaisi had attempted to commit attacks in Israel. Three days later, the IDF demolished the home in which Luwaisi’s family lived. In the course of arresting Luwaisi, the soldiers used Ahmad ‘Asaf, age 33, a resident of the refugee camp, as a human shield. The use of human shields is forbidden by international law and by a High Court of Justice order. IDF operating procedures also prohibit the practice.

      ‘Asaf told B’Tselem: “He [a soldier] told me that I had to go inside houses that he would identify and open the door and windows and turn on the lights. He told me to tell anyone who was in the houses to go outside with their hands raised over their heads. He told me that if someone refused, I had to come outside and tell him and that if I didn’t tell him the truth, he would kill me or put me in jail."

AUSTIN, Texas -- O Karl Rove, Karl Rove, birder thou never wert. If George W. Bush loses the election narrowly in November, put it down to the birders. You read it here first. What was Rove thinking when he allowed William Haynes II to be nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit?

            There are all the usual reasons for rejecting a Bush judicial nominee -- he's only tried one case; no understanding of the Constitution; author of the "enemy combatant doctrine" that allows American citizens to be held in prison without trial, without counsel and without knowing the charges against them. But the fatal faux pas is the feather-blowing tale of Haynes' role as the top Defense Department lawyer in the case of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Is anyone investigating this "accident"?  I hope you will have some updates for those of us who remember the Karen Silkwood story only too well--and others.  Thanks for the Bob Fitrakis stories.

Joyce Chumbley

Editor's note: To read more about Athan Gibbs and electronic voting, visit www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/853 or www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/834.

You are listed as supporters of Al Awda, assoicated with Islamofascist terrorists,as a supporter and you BLATENTLY lie about groups supporting them

SHAME ON YOU; DEATH OR JAIL FOR ALL TERRORISTS, THEIR SUPPORTERS, DRUG DEALERS, COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS TOO THAT SUPPORT THESE TERRORISTS BECAUSE YOU ARE PROMOTING TERRORISM UPON THE EARTH.

A CURSE ON YOU AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT YOU INCLUDING UP TO THE VATICAN AND ALL OTHER DRUG DEALERS

YOU MUST BE HAPPY WITH YOURSELVES KNOWING YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE MURDER OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS

Also from GreenGrow:

NO TO LEGALIZATION OF TRAVEL TO CUBA HAVENT YOU READ THE STATE DEPTS SPONSORS OF TERRORISTS LIST NUMNUTS?