Notes from an international civilian in Palestine April 20, 2002
The horrors I've seen and heard this last week will stay with me always. But I will also remember the generosity I've received from every Palestinian I've met, the bravery I've seen, the hope and kindness in the face of all this terror and brutality.
Last week, after two weeks of staying in the Al-Azzeh refugee camp in Bethlehem, I travelled north with a small group of activists.
Leaving Bethlehem, we defied curfew, avoided tanks, climbed over roadblocks and travelled towards Jenin.
We stayed with a kind family in a village near Jenin. Soldiers and military checkpoints blocked every possible route into the city. Just that morning, a Palestinian had been killed walking in the valley near the military checkpoint.
In this village, the school had been turned into a temporary shelter for men from the Jenin refugee camp. How sad, to meet refugees twice removed - forced out of their original homes by the Israeli military decades ago, and now forced out of the refugee camp that has been their home for most of their lives.
They told the most haunting stories. Stories of loved ones killed by missles and bulldozers. Stories of torture and terror. All of them had been taken from their homes by soldiers, most of them beaten or tortured, then all were stripped of their clothes and left by Israeli soldiers in this village. 200 of them so far, with more arriving daily. 550 in the next village. The residents of the village all worked together to help the refugees, providing food, shelter, and clothes for the men. (Only men had been left in this village. Its still unclear what the soldiers did with the women arrested).
A group of activists with video cameras and sound recorders stayed behind to document the stories of these refugees, while others continued onward into Jenin. Several friends of mine travelled into the Jenin refugee camp, site of the most brutal massacre of this cruel and bloody invasion. Perhaps none of them will ever be the same again. They told me stories of body parts strewn across floors, more bodies buried beneath rubble, others burned beyond recognition. Mass graves, destroyed neighborhoods, and everywhere the smell of decaying flesh. This was not a battle between two armies. This was mass murder, with Apache helicopters, planes, missles, tanks and bulldozers, used against a mostly unarmed civilian population.
I left with a small group to go to Nablus, where the killing was continuing, and only one international civilian was there to observe the military abuses. We hiked for three kilometres over mountains and through villages, attempting to hide from tanks and jeeps.
We stayed in a medical center, and by day we rode with ambulances. In several Palestinian cities, international observers are riding in ambulances. This is because the Israeli soldiers continue to target doctors and relief workers for assassination. In the last two weeks, eight medical workers in Nablus were killed by the Israeli military. All of the ambulances had bullet holes. Every day we were there, soldiers would detain the ambulances at least once, for at least two hours. Three times in five days, they forced everyone out of the ambulance, made them strip to their underwear, and stand for hours in the hot sun.
These paramedics and ambulance drivers and medical volunteers were truly among the most awe-inspiring people I've ever met. Throughout the harassment and terror, they continued to go out, day after day.
At night, we were kept awake by the sound of airplanes, missles, and tank shelling. By day, we saw the devastation. The Casbah, Nablus' old city, was in ruins. I saw schools, hospitals, and churches, in buildings two thousand years old, reduced to a pile of rubble. I saw medics trying to rescue a young boy, burned beyond recognition by a tank shell. I visited a hospital where the morgue was so full of dead bodies that they had to store some in an ice cream truck. I saw a refugee camp overrun with trash and sewage because no one could leave their houses for two weeks to repair the damaged infrastructure or pick up garbage. The are just glimpses from this latest invasion.
I looked in the face of a fifteen year old Palestinian girl, a volunteer medic, shaking and crying in fear, as we tried to stop Israeli soldiers from seizing her. I was punched and kicked and beaten by those same soldiers.
But above all, I'll never forget the people I've met here. The friends I've met, the love and forgiveness and generosity, are what I'll take home with me.
For the latest news: Indymedia Palestine, http://jerusalem.indymedia.org
Press contact: Kristen Schurr 011 972 59 357 526, or 011 972 67 341 268
For Bethlehem, contact Georgina: 011 972 55 840 767
For Jenin, contact Sofia: 011 972 55 851 896
Adam and Huwaida: 011 972 55 975 374
An International presence in occupied Palestine is urgently needed! Please come, or lend your support to others going. For information on Freedom Summer in Palestine, see www.palsolidarity.org, or write huwaidaa at yahoo.com or anticapitalist at hotmail.com. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>