Lecture discusses life in West Bank

Students gathered in Hodson Hall's room 216 on Monday at 7:30 p.m. to hear Maryland Institute College of Art graduate Danielle Sara Frank's first-hand account of what it is like to live under Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip.

The presentation was organized and co-sponsored by Hopkins Students for a Free Palestine, Season for Non-violence, JHU Feminist Association, Middle Eastern Students Association, Muslim Students Association and Pakistani Students Association.

"I decided to attend Ms. Frank's presentation because this issue is very close to me and I have always believed in the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands," junior Tala Al-Talib said.

"Hearing her lecture reminded me of the human rights violations faced by the Palestinians on their own lands and strengthened my resolve to educate those not familiar with this conflict about the terrible humiliation and injustice that the Palestinians face every day," Al-Talib added.

When asked why he felt Frank's first-hand account was important, President of Hopkins Students for a Free Palestine Mark Seaborn stated, "We're responsible for [the situation between Israel and Palestine], as people living in the United States, because we're the people supporting Israel.

"The corporate media is not going to tell you about what's going on, really."

Frank concurred: "The U.S. is just as complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine as is Israel. The nature of U.S. aid shapes that occupation, and the function of this aid is to serve strategic U.S. interests," she said.

While abroad from June to November 2003, Frank worked with the International Solidarity Movement and the International Women's Peace Movement.

"While I was in the West Bank and in Israel, you can't tell if someone is Jewish, or Arab, or Israeli just by looking at them," Frank said.

As a volunteer, Frank helped local Palestinian communities cope with the Israeli military occupation.

"There is a roadblock outside of Jenin - and a reason why there are foreigners there are for reasons like this. We were basically there for three hours just trying to move that one concrete block using carjacks and crowbars to push it over three or four feet so a car could get through, and we were stopped because the army came and started shooting at us," Frank said.

In addition to roadblocks, Frank discussed "security fences" and checkpoints enforced by the Israeli Army to protect Israeli settlers. "Amongst other reasons that checkpoints debilitate people's lives in that they can't get to work or school, is that they stop ambulances from being able to cross, and are humiliating in general," said Frank.

According to Frank, curfews also limit mobility and freedom of people living in the West Bank. Frank said, "[The Israeli Army] decides curfew for whatever reasons that they want. I've been locked under curfew because the army was going through a village taking out all the wanted men - all the men who they claimed were connected with militant factions, and they wanted to get these people out. I've been under curfew in other places, where we weren't given any real reasons as to why there was curfew."

Frank illustrated the severity of violating curfew. "This is my friend Mahmud," Frank said, pointing to a photo. "Mahmud works with UPMRC, which is a medical relief NGO. He was outside trying to provide medical relief to people who were shot during curfew, and he was also shot. And a friend of mine from Australia went to help Mahmud and was also shot."

Aside from curtailing individual freedoms, Frank stated that the Israeli Army often violates International Law, especially in the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and their families.

"This is pretty typical of how prisoners - once they've initially been captured - are made to sit, blindfolded. These men were there for eight hours, during which they were denied food and water. That's a pretty clear violation of international law," she said.

Frank also claimed that the Israeli army destroys homes belonging to families of Palestinian fighters. "This is Abdullah," said Frank, pointing to another photo. "He lives in Del-a-Sum, which is the village outside of Turkarm. His brother was a suicide bomber, and they demolished his [Abdullah's] house.

"That's a very clear violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, which makes that kind of action illegal," Frank said.

She continued by stating, "I've met the families of many, many fighters who've had people in their families killed, and of people who blow themselves up and die that way.

"People say different things -people say, 'We're proud that our child or family member died for the liberation of Palestine.' And there are people who are so tired of all the fighting, they just want it all to stop. But what everybody says is that they didn't know what was going to happen, and that there was nothing they could have done to stop it."