by Oreib Al Rantawi, IMEMC, 24 April 2007
It is not by chance, not accidental that only a few days after the Arab Follow-up Committee assigned Jordan and Egypt to start holding talks with Israel, to present the Arab Initiative, Israel escalated its attacks and assassination against Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli attacks did not exclude anybody; the army killed men, women and children, and also killed fighters and security men.
The under-cover forces of the Israeli army escalated their operations in the occupied West Bank, and once again, resumed the assassination policy.
It is never by chance that every time the Arabs take one step towards peace, declare an initiative or renew an initiative, the Israeli response comes by more invasions, more assassinations and more settlement expansion.
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Israeli Military Shoots Nobel Peace Laureate
Institute for Public Accuracy, 24 April 2007
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maguire said today: “I was invited with my friend to attend a nonviolent conference in Bilin, a village outside Ramallah [in the West Bank], and to give a talk there, which I did. At the end of the conference, we were invited to participate in a nonviolent demonstration with some of the Palestinian members of parliament and Israeli peace activists and local villagers and international visitors.
“We walked along to try to walk up toward the separation wall, and it was a totally nonviolent protest. And we were viciously attacked by the Israeli military. They threw gas canisters into the peace walkers, and they also fired rubber-covered steel bullets
“As I tried to move back and help a French lady, I was shot in the leg with a rubber-covered steel bullet, and the young Israeli soldier who shot me was only 20 meters from me. I was stunned by it, and then later on, after having some treatment by the ambulance medics, I went back down to the front line with the peace activists, and we were again showered with gas. I was overcome and had a severe nosebleed and had to be taken by stretcher to the ambulance and treated.
“And I witnessed there … an old Palestinian man with blood on his face. These were over 25 unarmed peace people who had been viciously attacked by the Israeli military. And it was a completely peaceful protest. It was absolutely unbelievable. I never in all my years of activism witnessed anything so vicious as from the Israeli military.”
The shooting of Maguire took place on Friday, April 20; she is now back in Ireland and available for interviews. For more information, see the following web pages:
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/04/21/april-20-bilin-protest,
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82119,
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/23/1350224
ANA NOGUEIRA:Nogueira is an independent documentary filmmaker who has footage of Maguire being shot. Footage is expected to be available later today at http://www.imemc.org — the web page of the International Middle East Media Center.
For more information, contact the Institute for Public Accuracy