Tag: Balata Refugee Camp - Page 3 - International Solidarity Movement

Seven Palestinians arrested during Nablus military raids

5 November 2009

In the dead of night, at 2am, Thursday 4 November, the Israeli Occupation Force made a series of military raids on civilian home in Nablus, arresting 7 young men.

Al-Ein camp was brutally attacked by a force of some 100 Israeli soldiers, encircling a large part of the camp while firing sound bombs. A large number of houses were invaded, their occupants awoken and forced to stand outside in the freezing cold, while soldiers with dogs wrecked havoc upon their personal belongings. One woman saw two young Palestinians with their hands tied behind their backs, while the soldiers had placed toy guns, partisan scarfs and knives at their side and were taking pictures of this (apparently a ploy to prove that they were ‘dangerous militants’, thereby justifying their arrest). Among the arrested were Mustafa Kasem Al-Mabruk, 21 years old, and Ahmed Khalid Abdo Bohe, his cousin, who is 18 years old. Mustafa’s brother, Abdul Rahman, who is 28 years old, was arrested two weeks ago and is being held in Mashido prison, in Israel.

In the old city of Nablus, a neighbourhood was surrounded by upwards 70 soldiers, who proceeded to throw sound bombs and invade several houses.

The Al-Satar family was also awakened by an invasion of their house. The soldiers had come for the 21 year old Abed Al-Satar Saleem Abo Seres. The young man made a run for freedom, but he was trapped between the soldiers, and when they caught him they hit in the face and chest before arresting him. The women, who were now alone in the house, could only stand and watch as the soldiers called them derogatory and disrespectful names, threw their glasses to the floor, broke a wardrobe (pulling out clothes and personal belongings in the process) and spilled all of the family’s flour and sugar. The house has been raided before and another son has so far spent a year and a half in Mashido prison, in Israel.

Both invasions ended at around 4:30. This type of unprovoked action is usual for many Palestinians, as the Israeli Army tends to suspect all young men of being a danger to them, and prefers to see them confined for years at a time in prisons, although the charges against them are hazy if not non-existent.

Thursday’s invasion of the Al-Satar family’s home struck deep in the heart of a city where presence Israeli Occupation Forces has become an extreme rarity. The entirety of Nablus, with the exception of its main street (which is still subject to Israeli military patrol between the hours of midnight and 6am) lies in Area A, under Palestinian civilian and military control. Nablus’ three refugee camps – Al-Ein, Askar and Balata, are located just on the city’s periphery and in a far more precipitous state. Their location in Area C (full Israeli control) not only prohibit them from expanding to accommodate their rapidly growing population, but also, under the Oslo Accords zoning agreements legalises presence of the Israeli army. This presence is manifested on an almost nightly basis in Balata, Nablus’ largest camp. 13 boys were arrested in a night raid on Al-Ein camp last Wednesday, making this one the second attack in as many weeks.

Israeli forces invade Balata refugee camp

29 June 2009

Early morning the 29th of June, the Israeli Occupation Force invaded four houses in the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. The soldiers arrested 3 boys of between 16 and 17 years old, without letting them or their family know why. In several of the houses, the soldiers had destroyed furniture, mirrors, cabinets and kitchen equipment.

At around 2 o’ clock in the morning, about 40 heavily armed soldiers with around 8 jeeps surrounded the house of the Mamroti family in the Balate Refugee Camp in Nablus. When the soldiers entered the house, they wanted to talk to the father in the house, Daod Salem Mamroti, whom they asked to undress. Later, the soldiers forced the parents with their five children out on the street, and demanded to see all their ID-cards. When they found the family’s 16 year old son Mohamed Daod Salem Mamroti, they took him to the school nearby while the rest of the family had to stay inside a groceryshop close to their house.

“While we stood inside the groceryshop, we could hear the soldiers entering our house above, and we heard how they broke our things and our furtiture. They didn’t tell us what they were looking for, or for how long we had to stay inside the shop. It was terrifying!”, Daod says.

After the family had stayed in the groceryshop for two houres, the soldiers left their apartment, put Mohamed in a jeep, and drove away. When the family again could enter their apartment, they didn’t believe their eyes. Everything was torn upside down, furniture were destroyed, mirrors were broken, cabinets were empty, and all their stuff was on the floor. They found the water tanks opened, without knowing if the soldiers had done something to the drinking water, and the kitchen looked like a wreck.

The same night, at around 2 am, a group of about 11 heavily armed Israeli soldiers from IOF also entered the house of the Hashash family in the Balata Refugee Camp. The soldiers demands everybody to go outside, except the father of the house who was forced to go with the soldiers in to the house with the them as well as two huge, military trained dogs. The soldiers were saying that they were looking for a gun, and tore the bedroom up side down. The soldiers demanded to see the family’s tree son’s ID-cards, and asked particularly to talk to the family’s 16 year old son Ashraf Kait Hashash. Thy asked Ashraf many questions, and arrested him. The family was not told why he was arrested, were they were taking him, or when he was going to come back.

At around 3 am the 29th of June, another group of Israeli soldiers, entered the house of the Awais family in the Balata Refugee Camp, and arrested the family’s 17 year old son Mohamed Besem Mahmod Aweis without any explanation. The soldiers did not destroy anything within this house, nor did they treat any of the family members violently.

At 2 am in the morning, the 25th of June, a group of Israeli Soldiers entered a small house in the Balata Rafugee Camp, and arrested the family’s 17 year old son Mohamed Salam Hashash. They did not explain why they arrested him, or when he will be released. Luckily the soldiers did not destroy anything inside the house.

Balata Camp commemorates the Nakba

14 May 2009

The Nakba Committee of Nablus organized a commemoration ceremony in Balata village. About 500 people from the area gathered to attend the event where various speeches were given by community officials such as the Mayor of Nablus and others.

Some 500 Palestinians with flags and banners gathered in Balata village at the outskirts of Nablus to observe the 61st memorial day of the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians where expelled from their homeland and became refugees.

The mayor of Nablus, Dr. Jamal Mhezen, held a speech about the Nakba and the political situation today. He pointed out that the Palestinian government did everything Israel was asking for, and rhetorically he asked, ”What did Israel do for the Palestinians?” He talked about the rights of return, and emphasized that Palestinians want peace, but that there are more than one ways to achieve it. He encouraged everyone to continue their struggle for peace in memory of the martyrs.

During the speech of the mayor, a fight broke out between two men. The Palestinian police force attempted to disperse the crowd. Several shocked protesters ran away or became panicked. The situation calmed down shortly thereafter and the ceremony was resumed.

On grounds leased from Balata village for 99 years, the UNWRA established Balata Refugee Camp in 1950 following the establishment of the State of Israel and the ensuing war with the Arab countries. According to Mahmoud Subuh, International Relation at the Yafa Cultural Center, some 800,000 Palestinians had become refugees by 1949. Balata Camp is the largest populated refugee camp in the West Bank. Yet it has the smallest surface area of a mere one square kilometer. It was established for 5,000-6,000 refugees, but today, 25,000 live there. Initially, tents were built as a temporary solution to ease the refugee problem until the conflict would be solved, and the UN Resolution 194 “The Rights of Return” implemented. However, the law of return remained in existance only on paper and was never implemented.

The tents of the first 5,000 refugees remained for about 10 years, however. Then, people were allowed to replace them with small houses, 3x3x2 meters, but only with the permission of the UN. Subsequently, residents were allowed to add more stories as the families grew. There are families of up to 80 people living in a single house. Everyone used communal bathrooms initially, but now they have bathrooms separated by gender.

Since 1970, refugees from Balata Camp were allowed to go into Israel to seek employment, which improved the economic situation somewhat. Yet, the cramped living condition in the Camp is extremely hard to deal with. People are fighting with each over minor things out of frustration. Kids are tough, and are seen as the “Mafia” by the village kids who are going to the same school. They do not have a bright future so the objective of the Yafa Cultural Center is to offer art classes, music, filmmaking and other activities to the youth and women.

Balata Camp is very active politically. During the second intifada, 230 refugees of Balata Camp were killed, and 480 are still in prison today. The root of the economic problems is due to the fact that the refugees at Balata Camp came there with nothing. Most of them came from the Yaffa area. Most people are workers. Before the 2nd intifada, about 60% of the Balata refugees worked in Israel. Now, there is a mere 3% due to restrictive laws for Palestinian workers in Israel, harassment at checkpoints, and the Occupation in general.

Children are suffering extremely under this oppression and economic hardship, not getting healthy nutrition and poor education. About 60% of the kids at Balata Camp are anemic. Some 6,000 kids go to three schools, which means that classes have up to 55 students. Psychological problems are very frequent, i.e. children are wetting their beds, are aggressive, etc. What makes the situation worse, is that recently, the UN cut back on services so that the schools have the worst teachers because they are not paid well and are offered only temporary contracts. In terms of health, there is severe shortage of medicine at local hospitals

According to Mahmoud Subuh, the exodus of Balata refugees such as moving to the village, buying their home and build their existence outside the Camp is not the solution. It would take away their status of refugees and with it, they would lose their rights of return. They would become citizens without a state.

Another child shot in Balata

ISM Nablus
2am, 7th July 2005

Israeli armed vehicles arrived at the camp late in the evening. Despite the presence of two large groups of civilians, including two internationals, the soldiers began firing live rounds directly into the camp. We had not heard any Palestinian gunfire. When medics arrived on the scene minutes later we learned that a child in the other group, 50 meters away, had been shot in the head. We don’t know if he is dead or in critical condition. The jeeps continued to fire and entered the camp smashing market stalls and preventing us from reaching the scene of killing to take the number of the jeep responsible.

Residents called for assistance after their home was occupied by the Israeli army. The soldiers have prevented medical teams from returning to the area, declaring it a closed military zone. At two am there are several jeeps in the camp. We have been forced to take cover inside a house. We hear army dogs and announcements from nearby jeeps. The shooting continues and there have been several explosions. Nablus has suffered nightly incursions for the last week.

Leaving Balata

by Amanda D.

I’m on the plane home. Much as I want to see people I’m not sure how to talk to them. Much as I wanted to go home and do laundry and take a bath I’m figuring out how and when I can get back. I was sad yesterday to leave the family I had been staying with in Balata. I was sad to leave both because they are wonderful and I’m not sure if I’ll ever see them again and because I can leave. I can pack up and go home to my own bed where I no longer am afraid to sleep at night because there are not tanks on the street outside, and my house has not been spray painted with arrows to lead the Israeli military right to it so they can destroy it with tanks or explosives. The family I stayed with cannot even go to the neighboring city, Nablus.

Balata is a refugee camp with 20,000 or so refugees in it. These are people who have been displaced since 1948 and cannot get out of the West Bank to return to their cities or villages in what is now known as Israel. There are three families in Balata who have requested that internationals stay with them because they are afraid their houses will be demolished. The Israeli government has a policy of demolishing the homes of “suicide bombers” or other fighters. The people here call the snipers or bombers “martyrs.” But some call anyone who has died for Palestine a martyr. So, for example those nine children killed recently in Gaza are martyrs as well.

In the last few months, Balata has had several martyrs. There have already been house demolitions, and also areas that were bombed from F-16s or Apaches. The name of the son who died in at the home where I am staying is Mohanned. He was 18 years old when he died, I saw his picture. His family is still grieving. He has 9 brothers and sisters. If the military were to demolish his house they would displace his entire family who are ALREADY refugees from Jaffa. His younger sisters love doing my hair at night. I don’t speak Arabic, and a few of the siblings understand English but only a little. Still, we got to know each other through charades. They have opened their home to us, feed as very well and laugh with and at us. One of the sisters taught me a card game called five. The oldest brother, Mohammed, loves music and he fixed up the family’s stereo. We had a little music exchange- they listened to our American music and played Arabic music for us. The biggest hit was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ which I happened to have with me. Mohammed likes love songs (his little brother made fun of him) and so he played a few by Egyptian and Lebanese artists. The idea of this family losing their home is infuriating and heart breaking.

One of the problems is that the military doesn’t always evacuate the other homes, or warn the neighbors of a demolition. Again this is in a refugee camp, the houses are all really close to one another. This can mean neighboring houses also go down- with people in them. The brother of the family some of the other New Yorkers are staying with had the first floor of his home destroyed by tank shelling. He and his son were inside. His son was okay but he broke both of his legs and was wheelchair-bound, now he has canes.

Nablus is under its 41st day of 24 hour curfew today (Monday). I feel like I haven’t adequately explained curfew. All the stores except a stray one here and there are closed. Schools, factories, offices- closed. Nobody can work or go to school so there is no money being made or exchanged. Ambulances can run, but some of the neighboring villages can’t be reached by ambulance because of road blocks and (when I say this I mean 6-9 feet piles of big rocks, stones and gravel sometimes dug out of the road itself and pushed to form a pile that all over the road and on either side so you can’t drive around it) or snipers. Sometimes you see men in the street, children, and every once in a while women. The doctor at UPMRC and a friend pointed out that this is harder for women and children because they are in the house more.

But, in the airport in Switzerland I saw in an article that the population of Nablus had ignored curfew today and the whole city had opened up as if there was no curfew. The only sort of Palestinian resistance we see in the news is sensationalized “suicide bombers” or when snipers attack settlements or settlers that are misrepresented as civilians or villagers. Friends saw people in kuffiyehs passing out communiqués on Friday. They were told that the people were from Fatah. When my friend asked them what it was they said it was ‘for the children.’ The second time they asked about it they were told it was a message to people to open up the city and resist the curfew. I always knew terrorist was not the right word to describe these people or their struggle. After seeing the activities of the Israeli military here, that characterization is insane. The Palestinians are facing the 4th or 5th largest army in the world (!) and according to international law, the occupation is illegal.

And further in the international law department- it is illegal under the Geneva Convention (I’m told, I need to double check but I know it is illegal) to occupy homes where people are living during wars. It’s also illegal to use hollow point bullets, which both the Israeli military and the New York City Police Department use. But I met this man who had his house occupied 5 times in the last 12 months. He said, “The Palestinian people are not terrorists, the Israeli soldiers are terrorists, they occupied my home.” This family has a beautiful house with a panoramic view of the valley and Nablus. We went Saturday to try and get a statement about the occupation of their house. I guess because of its position and view, the army decided it would be one of its bases of operation.

The family: husband, wife, 2 teenage girls and 2 younger boys were welcoming, although we didn’t meet the mother. She’s been ill since the occupation, she has a heart condition and was sleeping when we arrived. They said the noise of tanks and helicopters at close range sets off her heart and too much stress could be fatal. After sharing lemonade and coffee with all of us, we sat on the family’s porch to talk. The house is empty of furniture except for beds. Because the soldiers move all the furniture and stain it, it’s all stashed away, piled up in one of the small rooms. The father says they’ve spent nearly $100,000 repairing the damage after the soldiers left. That’s why the walls have not been repainted and the furniture waits in a room- so when the soldiers return they won’t be able to destroy anything. They also paid the electricity and water for the times they were kicked out and the soldiers were there, they have received no compensation from the Israeli government.

They spent 12 years building the house and lived in it for one week this December before the soldiers occupied it the first time. The girl, 17, tells us each time they come it is the same, but we focus on the most recent occupation. In December, the soldiers were there for five weeks. They were there in February twice, April, and then this last time starting on June 20th for 32 days. At 8 a.m. on the 20th, when 10 family members were there, they heard 20 tanks, 10 APC’s and 1 Apache helicopter overhead and coming up the hill to their house. They all threw themselves on the floor, but then heard loud knocking. From past experience they knew if they didn’t open the door the soldiers would break it down. The father opened the door and 40 or 50 soldiers with machine guns streamed into the house. The family refused to leave and all ten of them were forced into a small bedroom on the first floor. This, the fifth time, they were allowed to use the bathroom and the kitchen. The other four times the Red Cross brought them food and tried to make sure they could use the bathroom.

The soldiers brought in all kinds of equipment and guns. The family sent the younger kids to stay with a neighbor or a family. The soldiers shot out of the windows down into Nablus and killed two men just down from the occupied home who had been standing on a little porch outside their window. One of the worst things, according to the family, is when the soldiers would bring groups of 3 or 4 Palestinian men handcuffed and blindfolded to the house. The family could hear the men being beaten in the next room. Sometimes the soldiers would throw away their I.D. cards, the father said he would go out and look through the trash for them later on and try to return them. After 10 days the family was forced to leave. 22 days later the soldiers left their homes. So they are now with no furniture waiting. They say it is hard to sleep-especially for the kids- who have nightmares about the soldiers and the beatings.

We’re getting closer to New York now, I haven’t finished my customs declaration yet. I wonder what will happen if I put Occupied Palestine for #9 “Countries visited on this trip prior to U.S. arrival.” My friends saw the video that Jihad (whose family my friends stayed with) and Mohanned (whose family I stayed with) did before they died on T.V. in Balata. Both of them mentioned that the Palestinian people were going through so much, and internationally people were silent and that no one comes forward to help the Palestinians. I am furious that my money is paying for the occupation, and that those are our weapons the Israelis use.

Time to get a little sleep.