The few reports seeping out of Jenin refugee camp describe a scene of terrible carnage. According to the London Independent, survivors from the camp in the nearby village of Ramani say that bodies are being taken out of Jenin camp in trucks. Abdullah Washai told reporter Justin Huggler that he watched his 17-year-old brother slowly bleed to death in the camp, after a hole had been ripped in his shoulder by a round from an Israeli helicopter. When the boy’s mother ran into the street screaming for help, Washai says, Israeli soldiers shot her dead. His claims are typical of those who have managed to escape the scene of the worst fighting of Israel’s onslaught in the West Bank.

But censorship by the Israeli authorities has made it impossible to verify the stories coming out of Jenin. Journalists have been denied access to the camp and risk their lives even in the streets of the town.

Reports from a delegation of International Solidarity Movement activists who are outside of Jenin tell similar stories. According to a report they sent out this morning, a Palestinian United Nations Relief and Works Agency employee was detained at a checkpoint for three days without food, and the right side of his face paralyzed due to severe beating.

The International Red Cross says Israeli authorities are refusing to allow ambulances to treat the wounded all over the West Bank. As we reported on Democracy Now yesterday, the Israeli military threatened to shoot any foreigners traveling in ambulances in Nablus. To help us paint a picture of the scene in Palestine now, we are joined today by two medical experts who have been working in the Occupied Territories.

Guests:

• Samah Jabr, Palestinian medical doctor, journalist and peace activist.
• Dr. Sally Motch, Hebron-based psychologist, and a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders.

Related links:

• Doctors Without Borders
• Medecins Sans Frontieres