Category: Journals

Volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement are encouraged to write personal reflections about the work they engage in with Palestinian communities, the events they experience, and the people they meet. These journals offer the human context often missing in traditional reports or journalism. These articles represent the author’s thoughts and feelings and not necessarily those of the International Solidarity Movement.

From Nablus to Yanoun

by Aron

Yesterday I returned from the village of Yanoun, which is Southeast of Nablus. The village is split into upper and lower, separated by a 1/2 km dirt road. The total population of the village is about 97, mainly children. In the past residents of the village have fled under threats of death, so now there is a constant international presence to help protect the villagers and monitor the situation. We went for 3 days to relieve the other internationals there, (so they could have the weekend off). Because of the commitment involved several groups coordinate to effect a constant presence. These include ISM, CCIPP, and the Ecumenical Accompaniers Etc. The village is surrounded by the illegal settlement of Itamar and its illegal outposts. Periodically settlers come down to intimidate and threaten. They have in the past beaten and killed people. One settler in particular called Victor likes to drive down into the village, armed with M16 or similar and drive around and around before leaving, laughing hysterically at people and internationals. Needless to say some of the children there are terrified of all strangers. Last week 29 settlers came to the village, 10 armed with M16’s, handguns or similar, who knows what their intention was?

The villagers can no longer access all their remaining land as they will be shot at if they cross an invisible line on their land. A distinct problem if your sheep wander off too far, so internationals go with the sheep herders sometimes to protect them too.

The village has a generator to supply electricity from 6:30 pm to 11:30 pm, the internationals switch it on and off at the appointed time, nobody wants to walk around the village at 11:30pm for fear of the security guard in his tower on the top of the hill in the illegal Itamar outpost, like a tower overlooking a prison. The last generator sits forlornly on a ditch, blackened from where the settlers burnt it out.

A grid supply is being sponsored by the Belgium government and is hopefully nearing completion despite attempts to stop the work by some Israeli bureaucracy. The illegal outposts blaze huge lights all night long from their state sponsored electricity supply.

Even getting to Yanoun is difficult, the roads which once led from Nablus to adjacent villages have long been dug up, closed or turned into settler only roads, forcing one to drive along pot holed dirt tracks for miles and miles to get there.

Think things couldn’t get much worse? The path of the planned apartheid wall will cut between the 2 sections of Yanoun, leaving Upper Yanoun and about 1/2 of the land and quite possibly some or all of the water supply of Lower Yanoun on the Israeli side of the wall, annexing it to the Itamar settlement.

On returning to Nablus we were refused entry at the Huwarra checkpoint because we have tourist visas, forcing us to travel another route, over the mountains, involving long walks and several taxi rides, soldiers on the mountain top gave out passports a brief glance and allowed us through, as most other people who were refused access at Huwarra were. Something to do with security? I don’t think so, only humiliation and the breaking of a people, spiritually and financially. Arriving home to Balata we find there is a new martyr, a teenager who was comatose in hospital for approx. the last 7 months died, having previously been shot by the Israeli Occupation Force.

Two Israeli tanks invaded Balata refugee camp Saturday afternoon in Nablus city. Soldiers fired gunshots at a group of youth who threw stones, wounding three of them. Medical sources in Rafidiah hospital described the wounds of Yahia Alkhatib, 15, as serious.

Tuesday

Last night (Monday night) the IOF entered Nablus by Rafidiah, we hopped into a taxi to investigate the situation, during our trip up town the taxi driver pops one eye out to demonstrate its glass, the real one having been shot out by soldiers 2 years ago. The latest developments are still a little unclear, but we understand 26 men detained, 4 of whom were arrested and taken away, including 2 men who had been shot. The IOF also wrecked an internet cafe during their incursion.

During the evening and night 2 F16 jets, “buzzed” Nablus, flying low over the city and rattling buildings, they flew over perhaps 10 timed each over the space of 2 hours. Later a spy drone could be heard fling low or hovering over the city, its noise not as loud as he F16s but still distinct and loud in the otherwise quiet night. This too left after an hour or two, during this time 2 explosions were heard. Again this morning and afternoon F16’s are buzzing over the city, 2 of them with 5 or 6 passes each so far.

Occupational Hazards

To my friends,

I have been in Rafah now for two weeks, and it is still very hard for me to communicate to the outside world what I am seeing here. It’s hard to explain the feelings, tastes, and smells of my days here. It seems that we are in this strange in between period, that everyone here is waiting until the silence ends, and Israel resumes it’s reign of terror.

I want everyone in the united states to know that Israel is NOT keeping with the agreements of the ceasefire. Many people (though not enough) are talking about the apartheid wall that is being built inside the 1967 borders of the West Bank. It is very very important for people to connect this wall in their minds with the massive wall that Israel continues to build around the Gaza Strip. Here they call the Gaza Strip a prison cell because no one is aloud to enter or leave, but this wall really makes it official.

Today we got a call from a family whose home is along the border of Egypt where they are building the wall. Several months ago the family was forced to evacuate the house, and they are now living with relatives in another part of town. We went to visit the family, and the mother, Umm Tarick, told us the story.

On Monday, August 4th the family got a call from their old neighbors saying that the Israeli army had begun to demolish their home. (THIS IS IN THE MIDST OF THE CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT) The house was surrounded by mounds of sand, and the family has been forbidden to enter to get any of their belongings. The family owns the land, and the house was built legally in 1995. The construction of their house cost them $50,000 dollars.

On Tuesday morning a group of young children from the neighborhood volunteered to enter the house and retrieve some of the families belongings like their identification papers, and other important documents. they thought that because they were children the army would not shoot at them. While the children were in the house two tanks came and announced that if anyone tried to go near the house they would be shot dead. The next day, the same group of children again entered the house to retrieve what they could. The Israeli army opened fire, and the children all ran from the house. nobody was injured.

Umm Tarrick’s husband worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years to make the money to buy their house and belongings. Between the house, the land, and the families belongings, the Israeli army will be destroying $130,000 of this families hard earned money. We offered to help this family in any way we could, and Umm Tarrick thanked us. She asked us not to try to enter the house, because she is too concerned for our safety. As we left, I turned to see her sobbing into her hands. There was nothing I could say. I feel very helpless here sometimes.

Last night I stayed at Abu Ahmed’s house again, and got to hang out with Sally and Suzanne. At about 10:45 pm we were watching television, and suddenly we heard an extremely loud explosion very close to the house. Suzanne jumped up, and turned off the television quickly. It was unclear to all of us if it had been the Israeli army or some sound grenade that a kid got ahold of, but we were all very visibly shaken. Very soon after we went to bed, but Suzanne could not sleep. She complained of a stomach ache, and told me in Arabic that it was because of the shock of the explosion. we sat up for about half an hour listening to the tanks drive back and forth, and trying to communicate in each other’s languages. She tried on her new mandeel and dress for me, and eventually we went to bed.

I don’t want Suzanne to live in fear anymore, and I’m not sure if I can do much more than sit by her, and try to make her laugh. I have to go now. Thanks so much all of you for listening and hearing.

all my love,
emma

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Read another letter home by Emma: Weddings and Martyrs.

Weddings and Martyrs

Friends,

I am sorry my reports have been slow. Sometimes it is so hard to find the words to write about the things that I see everyday in Rafah. In the last two weeks there have been seven assasinations in the Gaza Strip. These are done with missles that are fired from F16s. Sometimes as many as seven missles are fired in one assasination, killing innocent bystanders, and destroying shops.

Last night I stayed at Abu Ahmed’s house. His daughter is getting married today, and the whole house feels the excitement. His neighbor Abu Fati invited us over for tea, so we went. We sat with his whole family for about an hour, and I talked with his daughter who is trying to learn English. While we were there we heard several tanks drive by the border, sometimes shooting. When we left, we noticed that there was no one out in the street. We heard a tank drive by, and cautiously walked toward Abu Ahmed’s. After a few steps, the tank opened fire in our direction. We darted back, and waited until it continued on. Back at Abu Ahmed’s I could feel my heart racing. This is what the people of Rafah face everday when walking in their neighborhoods, to school, or the store. It is so hard for me to imagine, even living here, what it must feel like to own the house that is being shot at every day, or not be able to leave like I can. The tank continued to fire at Abu Ahmed’s house all night, for about five minutes every hour. The sounds of rapid machine gun fire have been incorporated into all of my dreams.

Several days ago our group went to the nearby city of Khan Younis to visit the shahiid tent of an eight year old girl who was shot while playing next to her house. A shahiid tent is a tent that is put up for three days after someone is killed by the Israeli military. The family welcomes guests to pay their respects. We went inside, and spoke with the mother and sisters of Aisha (the shahiid).

The morning that Aishe was shot, she had been fasting with her mother. She grew hungry, and her mother gave her some money, and told her to go buy crackers and juice, as she was so young, and needs to eat. Aisha went on her bike to the store. On her way back she stopped to play with several children right outside her home. Their house is right next to an Israeli settlement, which is guarded fiercly by towers and tanks.

Aisha’s mother told us that the tanks open fire frequently on the children who play in the street. There were no adults in the area, yet on this day they opened fire again, sending live bullets through the young body of Aisha, killing her, and seriously wounding several other children. Could these eight year olds be armed resistence fighters? Aisha was the pride of her family. She got 98% on all her tests in school, and Aisha’s sister says that anyone who knew her would have given their life for her. She died because she lives in an Occupied land, where soldiers are so afraid of children that they stay inside their huge tanks while shooting at anything that moves.

I am afraid that if the Israeli soldiers in Rafah never leave their tanks, their fear will grow until nothing will ever stop them from murdering all innocent children they see. I want these soldiers (who are people caged inside their weapons), and the people of Rafah who caged inside Rafah by the soldiers, all to stop living in fear. The only way to live without fear is to live in justice and peace, without Occupation.

All of my love,
Emma

Ethnic Cleansing is the name of Israel’s Policies

by Vladislav

Just thought I’d drop a line to say I’m still well and alive. I am living in the occupied territories of Palestine, in the West Bank town of Tulkarem. I have been working with the International Solidarity Movement here, a Palestinian-led group of internationals from around the world who help the Palestinian people resist the occupation through non-violent means. The group is truly international with all sorts of countries represented.

The group is about 30% made of folks of Jewish decent, who like me, feel that this is a really outrageous injustice that is being done supposedly in our names.

We help organize demonstrations, and provide protection for the Palestinian people. Whereas the army would normally use live ammunition to stop a demonstration, they would think twice when internationals are present.

This all sounds wonderful in theory, but in reality, I’ve been stuck in crowds of rock-throwing kids, wondering if the Israelis would return live fire. Tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets have been tossed our way at demonstrations, although thus far no live fire thankfully. I’ve also seen quite a bit of crap here. The situation is really horrible – the Americans think that all the Palestinians are terrorists, when in reality on the ground they are simply defending their homeland against an occupying force. The real terrorists are the Israelis – the number of civilians that die here on a regular basis during ’peace talks’ is staggering.

The other day I visited a morgue and saw the results of Israeli terrorism. They shot a man in the legs with a half dozen bullets. Then at point blank, about four bullets were pumped into his head (gun directly to the head). The Israelis claimed he had a bomb near him, but if that was the case, why execute him? War crimes occur here on a daily basis – we have a flat for example right above a red crescent building that has been shelled by Israeli tanks (hospital bombing!) several times. The Israeli soldiers routinely use rubber-coated metal bullets to shoot at Palestinian kids’ eyes. The bullets pierce the eyes and enter the brains, killing the victim. This of course is in response to rocks being thrown at armored jeeps.

The reality on the ground is that these people are simply defending their homeland against an invasion. This is the same story as of any indigenous people — they are being driven out, slowly and patiently. This is ethnic cleansing, pure and simple. The Israeli policies are very similar to what occured in Africa during the Apartheid, and there are tons of laws that are purely racist. For example, if an Israeli marries a Palestinian, their children will not be considered Israeli citizens.

The other key sticky issue is the security fence, which when completed will leave to the Palestinian people 42% of the West Bank, but in reality when you consider the settlements (230 some of them in the west bank) the Palestinians will be left with about 8% of the west bank. All the water will be owned and controlled by the Israelis, and the fence DOES NOT follow the internationally recognized borders of Israel, but rather cuts miles and miles into the Palestinian land.

The Israeli state is a well-funded apartheid state. The people on the other side are left to resist with Kalashnikov rifles and explosives. They are caught between the Israeli terrorists and Arab states that do not ever want to see a democratic Palestine. It is a critical misunderstanding to think that this is about religion – it is about simply one group of people driving the other out. This is racism and ethnic cleansing, plain and simple.

The suffering on the ground is immense. I’ve seen a lof suffering here – far far far too much. I’ve seen the damage that a bomb from an American-funded F-16 fighter jet does to a building. I’ve seen the conditions within which these people live, the poverty, the destruction, the pain, the suffering. I’ve seen bullet-hole ridden walls in many of the cities here, left over from Israeli jeeps and tanks that ride around the cities and shoot indiscriminantly. I’ve watched a brother of a man killed by the Israelis break down and completely lose it after the death. I’ve negotiated with Israeli soldiers and prevented them from arresting the Palestinians, physically using my own body as a shield to prevent them from getting to Palestinians.

Suicide bombings are not about religion. They are about people who have no hope in life, who are driven by the suffering, the pain to use their own bodies to call attention to their cause. They do not have rockets, they have no tanks, no gunships, no helicopters, no armored jeeps. They have their own bodies and home-made explosives. And under international law they have the right to resist the occupation through military means. I do not feel it is my place to condemn them choosing to resist by all means necessary, although I really do not feel that the violence will solve this conflict.

To talk of terrorism, I think it is also essential to point out that far more civilians die in car accidents in Israel each year than are killed by suicide bombers. It is also critical to point out that the casualty count on the Palestinian side is far heavier. Almost every Palestinian male has been through the Israeli jail at least once, usually for about 6 months administrative detention, and most have no clue whatsoever what crime they were guilty of (sound familiar? Think Guatanomo Bay for the Afghanistan war victims). The Israeli army routinely and regularly maims and murders civilians, usually with no reason whatsoever.

There is a real ladder here of value of life – at the bottom are the Palestinian men, then Palestinian women, then Israeli Sephardic Jews, Israeli Ashkenazi Jews, and somewhere near the top are the internationals – killing them is really bad PR. Israel is a racist state – plain and simple, there is nothing more to it.

The Israelis have done everything possible to kill the economy here (80-90% level of unemployment) through a number of actions (such as simply digging up the main streets of towns to kill off the shops by cutting the traffic through the area). Travel is impossible – a trip that used to take 10 minutes, now takes 3 hours to a full day due the roadblocks everywhere (mounds of dirt across major roads) and checkpoints. The other day coming from Jerusalem, a trip that normally takes 1.5 hours took 5 as my bus was pulled over by 18 year old boy soldiers who they decided to harass a bunch of Palestinian men.

Communique from Tobias in jail

Hi all.

So we´re down to 3. Me, Tarek and Fredrik here in cell #4. We are all in good spirits as we make an attempt to fight this injust deportation in the Supreme Court. As of now, we have no idea when our hearing is going to be. The word is anything from tomorrow (Sunday), until 3 weeks. Whatever happens, we stand firm in our conviction that we must fight this to as far an extent as we can take it. Our chances are slim but I hope with all my heart that I will soon be out there working again together with you, all my loved friends in Jenin and the ISM.

Love and Rage
Tobias

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Read about Tarek’s beating by prison guards here.