This is our 2nd message from Ramallah to describe the situation after nine days of siege and Israeli occupation of Ramallah, destruction, inhuman actions are still practiced against civilians, streets, buildings, trees, water & electricity networks
Dear Brothers and sisters all over the world,
This is our 2nd message from Ramallah to describe the situation after nine days of siege and Israeli occupation of Ramallah, destruction, inhuman actions are still practiced against civilians, streets, buildings, trees, water & electricity networks: one family in the church compound was out of water since five days and was forced to use the rain water for their daily use (thanks be to God that it is raining for a week which is not the usual thing here). April 5th, 2002 at 9.30a.m, the Israeli soldiers hit the gate of the church compound by their arms, they were about 14, when I came out to see, they shouted at me “Open the gate”, I opened it, then they searched two houses: one of them is my helper’s, He has three children Julie 12, Labib 9, Lana 4, his wife and her aged father 82 years old, Eight soldiers came in and ordered Raja to open the cupboards, get all the clothes out, moving their M16 guns in the faces of the children, searching under the bed of the poor crippled old man.
Then they searched the 2nd house by doing the same. About 9 soldiers ordered me to open the church hall and they searched the offices, the youth room, the kitchen area, the church library, and the church hall and they entered the church building with their weapons and dirty shoes. What I noticed that most of the soldiers are teenagers. They tried to play billiard and babyfoot (The irony is that Sharon is stealing these teenagers their youth and innocence). When the Israeli’s lifted the curfew for 3 hours, Mrs. Dabis went to see her house and she discovered that the soldiers entered the house and they destroyed most of furniture in the house, including appliances and personal effects; even the holy cross.
Furthermore, when people went out during the lifting of the curfew, they discovered that most of the stores are empty. There was no fresh vegetable or fruits in the market. Most of the essential foods, like bread and milk was missing from the stores shelves. Many of the stores were broken in and the Israeli soldiers stole most of the products.
Moreover, the Israeli soldiers are entering houses and detaining young boys and taking them away without giving any information to their families. In fact, one of our church members was taken away from his family without any reason.
Tomorrow is Sunday and our church members cannot leave their houses to attend the service for the second week. We ask for your prayers and support.
