Tag: Nablus

Village Demolished

Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus

On July 5th, Israeli forces demolished the entire village of Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus. The residents had received one day’s notice (via a piece of paper left outside one of their dwellings) that their homes were to be demolished. The villagers knew no-one to call; thus, the razing of their homes went ahead unhindered. The UN estimates 170 persons have been “displaced”, the villagers say Tana was home to about 100 families. The villagers intend to protest this destruction and reclaim their land this Thursday 14th July.

Tana is a small farming village in the Jordan valley in one of the longest continually inhabited areas of the world. Residents say the area is mentioned in the holy books and was known 3500 years ago. The village mosque, the only structure not to be demolished, has stood for several hundred years.

The paper announcing the demolition says that the villagers had built their homes without Israeli permission. Their caves and stone constructions are hundreds of years old. In recent years they have added steel and concrete structures to the front of their caves. A school house was built six years ago and, contrary to the UN report, this too was destroyed last week. When the army destroyed the village they demolished not only the steel structures but the caves themselves and even the villagers’ cars.

In 1989 the villagers had a court case in Israel, after which they were told they would be allowed to farm the western portion of their land. In recent years the villagers have also been threatened by settlers from Itamar, who came and swam in their water supply.

The villagers are not defeated and refuse to be intimidated. They intend to go back to their land, rebuild their homes and continue farming. International and Israeli activists supporting this action will assemble in Beit Furik at Beit Furik Municpality at 10am, Thursday 14th July.

For more information on Tana see Beit Furik Village’s website at: www.beitfurik.levillage.org/journal

Second child from Balata refugee camp died

On Monday Balata residents endured their second child martyr’s funeral in five days. Fourteen year old Noor Faris Njem was shot in the head late last Wednesday evening when the Israeli army came to Balata Refugee Camp and, without warning, opened fire on unarmed civilians. Noor (meaning light) was peering round a wall to see if the jeep was still there when a soldier shot him in the top of his head. After the best efforts of medics, he died on Sunday afternoon, the second child to die from injuries inflicted by the Israeli army that night. In retaliation for Noor’s shooting, two sixteen year old fighters lay in wait to fire at the army when they entered the camp. Khalid Mohammed Msyme was shot dead and the other boy is critically injured.

Balata is a refugee camp in the heart of the West Bank, tens of kilometers from Israeli towns. There was no reason for the Israeli soldiers to come to Balata that night. There was no Israeli military operation, no claim of any risk to any Israel civilians, settlers or soldiers. There was no reason for the Israeli soldiers to shoot Noor, an unarmed child. There was no reason for them to subsequently drive further into Palestinian streets late at night, where they knew they would find youths angered and hurt by the shooting of one of their friends. There was no reason for them to drive round the camp firing until they drew out two more boys, only leaving when they had shot them too. Two more children have died needlessly, added to the hundreds who have already died here.

Noor’s death was announced over the mosque at 7am by a man who could barely speak for the emotion. Although we had expected this news for several days, the death of a child is always disturbing. I am sorry to say we have lost count of how many funerals we have attended here. It doesn’t get easier. On the contrary, I feel the weight of this more now. At first I was relieved to find that I could bear the emotion of the occasion. With time, and deepening bonds to the community, I feel closer to tears with each martyr. Not tears of grief, these people are not my own family, tears of frustration at the futile waste of life here. With these latest two deathsI also feel a loss of hope for peace here. For the last four months Palestine is supposed to have enjoyed a ceasefire. It doesn’t feel like peace in Balata. In that time there have been countless incursions, dozens of injuries of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers, scores of arrests, an invasion, curfew, assassinations of two residents of Balata and now the shooting of three children, causing the death of two.

On Thursday morning Al Aqsa Martyrs and the other Palestinian resistance brigades in Balata announced an end to their part of the ceasefire. That means they will now retaliate for the Israeli occupations force’s attacks on them. I hope that the world’s media reports this honestly, explaining that the Israeli forces had never kept to their part of the ceasefire.

Another Child- Update from Balata

I’m tired. Not just from sleep deprivation — the Israeli occupation forces have entered several nights this week — although that is some part of it, or the anaemia I’ve now succumbed to. I’m tired by the frustration and heartbreak of being 50 metres away again when the Israeli army shot another Palestinian child, 16 years old Khalid Mohammed Msyme, the brother of a friend of ours.

A friend once described our role here as babysitting, watching the eighteen year old Israeli boys with guns so they don’t think they can shoot Palestinian children in the homes with impunity. I fear the truth is they do act with impunity. I’ve lost count of the outraged reports I’ve read of children being killed by an invading Israeli army in Palestinian towns. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve reported invasions, arrests and killings in breach of the Sharm Al Sheikh agreement and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve hoped this breach will be the one the world notices at last.

Before the army came tonight a Palestinian friend was telling me about all the killings and atrocities he’s witnessed. Occasionally he thinks of the smell of charred flesh or of the feeling of what he called “meat from their bodies” in his hands but mostly these graphic memories don’t trouble him. He says it was shocking at first but it’s normal for him now. I hope I never get to that point. Seeing the army murder should never be normal. When I called to tell him what happened tonight he sensed my frustration and guilt. I didn’t say anything, I knew it wasn’t right to but somehow I wanted to apologize for not stopping them shooting the boy. When I told him wearily they killed another boy, he said gently “It’s alright.” In that moment I was overwhelmed with resentment for everything he’s been through and utterly humbled that he wants to protect and reassure me. Why should he have to live through all that and then take care of a stupid foreigner too?

It’s light now, I haven’t slept; my emotions are still too high. Angry, frustrated, resentful, disappointed. The Israeli Army was in streets of Balata Camp again. In the heart of the West Bank of Palestine. The residents are refugees, people already displaced by Israel once. The children are continually under attack in this refugee camp, their home. I was never optimistic about Sharm but I’m still desperately disappointed. I’m frustrated, sad and weary that another child died. We were a few metres too far away. I wish this would never happen again but part of me wishes everyone there would have this experience. If everyone felt this sadness and frustration you would all pressure our governments and corporations to stop funding Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The mosque was broadcasting noise all night. I don’t know if it was a coincidental malfunction or a tactic of the army. At the call for the pre-dawn prayer I could still hear jeeps and a woman crying. Then ethereal echoes of more distant mosques, the unified broadcast muezzin rebounding off the hills. Finally the Balata mosque joined in after 4am. It was comforting.

At 7:25 the mosque announced the death of another boy, 16 year old fighter Khalid Mohammed Msyme. He died in a clash with the army during the night. The first boy, Noor Njam,14, although shot with a live bullet in the head, is not yet dead but not expected to live. A third boy, also 16, from Sanegre family, is critically injured too, having been shot in the stomach.

At the morgue boys not as high as my elbow jostled to see Khalid’s body. Khalid’s teenage friends sat outside in silence, dazed and shocked. An older friend tried to offer comfort but he was shaking with emotion himself. Khalid was a fighter and a martyr at just sixteen years old. Men lead the funeral procession back to the camp, praising the child as a hero. Meanwhile the women waited near his mother’s home. One of her sons died before the intifada, another has been imprisoned by Israeli for the last three years. In that time a second brother died and today Kahlid. His mother has lost three sons now.

During the funeral service we sat in silence, exhausted. New visitors were exhausted and shocked. Palestinian friends were silent in their grief. For myself I am just very weary. The futility of all this death is heartbreaking. The deaths of yet more children in a so-called ceasefire is devastating. I’m not hopeful the killing will stop anytime soon.

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.