Delegation in Palestine: Reports and Reflections
26 Dec 2003
Delegation in Palestine
Friends, Our Defend-Palestine delegation is now travelling in Palestine visiting
Palestinian self-organized groups. We have been received with grace and enthusiasm.
Marie, Polly, Ursula, and myself, Samia, will be reporting on our experiences.
27 Dec 2003
Friends,
As we report from Palestine, we ask you to spread our messages to all that you
feel would feel sympathy or learn. Thank you from the entire delegation.
Samia and all
From Damascus to BeitLahem in One Day!
12 Dec 2003
This should be a ridiculous statement instead of one which ends in a mark of surprise. The great surprise is due to our knowledge of how many borders and closure points there are between these two great Arab cities.
A friend and I left Damascus at 5:00 am and crossed both the Syrian/Jordanian and the Jordanian/Israeli border within a period of 9 hours. In total, we had to remove suitcases and packages from one car to another, or from carts to conveyor belts, or to search tables, approximately 12 times. The final straw that could break any back was when we were delivered at a closure point by one cab at the outskirts of BeitLahem (Bethlehem) and had to climb a huge mound of stones, dirt, garbage, and huge cement blocks by foot dragging all our luggage. This most primitive means of travel for two citizens of the two most advanced capitalist cities of the world – Tokyo and New York -- is imposed by the most technologically advanced government of the world – The USA and its peon Israel. It is not a choice or a necessity imposed on us by Palestinians who suffer even more under these circumstances
We had been purchasing books in the Arabic language for an art school and were heavily loaded. At the Jordanian border, we had to worry that the officials did not suspect that our books were political matter. I had to encourage one official to enjoy the pictures as he posed to deeply admire the most conservative image in one book. On the other hand, on the Israeli border, the search officials looked through the pages of each book searching for confirmation of their nightmarish imaginings.
To both of them, paintings were as strange as angels from Mars but boring.
We spent a day with our hosts at their cultural center in BeitLahem. We had dinner together and heard their dreams of developing new crafts in the hope of creating new industries and means of living for Bethlehemites. They stressed their determination to stay and maintain their community no matter what news devilish tortures the Israelis impose.
Just before we left, we attended a concert. It was really sweet to see the loving performance for children who have been living under the heightened stress of Israeli aggression for the past three years. The performers practiced a mixture of modern and traditional African rhythms and song with dance. Then four Palestinian young men joined them in a total drum performance and the children were enthralled.
We packed to leave with many fewer packages and suitcases and had to cross that mound of dirt by foot again. As we crossed, Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers were standing at the crossing of roads not far away looking like an evil infestation bent on destroying the normalcy of Palestinian communities. The children at the concert were fresh in my mind as I stared at the evil intent of the Israeli army.
Many parts of Bethlehem that used to be alive and busy are dark at night and abandoned by day as the wall slowly comes to divide the city in two. As I walk around in Al Quds (Jerusalem) today, a more advanced state of destruction of Palestinian community life is apparent. Hotels are empty and businesses closed. But I am glad to be here today, a birthday for me, back in the city of my birth.
Samia A. Halaby
THUNDER IN PALESTINE REFUGEE CAMP
December 14, 2003
I remember that as I sat, a few days ago, with my friend in Palestine Refugee Camp on the outskirts of Damacus, his eight year old daughter ran into the room frightenned seeking her parents comfort. I had been hearing a rumble and assumed it to be distant thunder. But Zuhdie, my friend, immediately ran to the balcony to check. As we all ran out after him, he explained that there is such heavy demand for electricity that huge shorts occure often.
We looked down the alley and saw a crackling electric fire burning in a thicket of electric wires. As I watched the fire down the alley in Palestine refugee camp, I remembered Beirut after the war and saw in my mind's eye those wild, thickly woven thatchets of electric wires intespersed with plastic bottles inside which people had rigged connections. The plastic bottle took the place of electric tape isolating wires from each other. These thatchets were created in the absence of city services by people creatively searching for ways of sharing a bit of electricity from their neighbors generators.
I felt anger at what US imperialism is imposing and has been imposing on Arab life as I watched the youths of Palestine Refugee Camp throw handfulls of dust and gravel at the crackling wires. I saw youths climb the roof and slowly pour a bagfull of sand at the wires but were unable to hit the target. A thick cloud of white dust engulfed the youths below who backed away. I saw the orange-red fire burn in its strange beauty through the white cloud of dust. The youths returned to keep casting handfulls at the fire. Finally, someone arrived with a fire extinguisher.
I turned to the eight year old child and tried to reassure her and she bravely said that she was not afraid. Clearly these often recurring electrical storms at the refugee camp are deeply disturbing and frightenning to her.
Samia A. Halaby
PERMITS FOR A HONEYMOON
PERMITS FOR TO LIVE
December 14, 2003
Palestinians continue to resist even as Israelis continue to tighten their fascist controle of Palestinian life. Palestinians need a permit for to travell from one city or village to another. A newly married friend told me that they are seeking to go to Jericho to take a well earned vacation as belated honeymoon. But the Israeli refuse the permit to her husband, a young Palestinian who does not believe in violence even while he suffers from Israeli violence daily.
A US citizen who also hold a West Bank ID has been deneid permit to travell to the airport and also to travell to the Allenby Bridge to leave. They say that only people who invest heavily in Israel may move freely in and out. She is being punished for wanting to have a Palestinian ID.
Permits to leave to the airport are given at the last hour. People call to see if they have permission to leave and are told to call in one hour. They call every hour of the day of their departure and end up being told to wait for a call back. An hour or two before the time of their scheduled departure, they are informed either yes or no. Many are unable to get themselves packed and to the airport in time.
More soon.
Samia A. Halaby
BAB AL-AMMOUD (The Damascus Gate)
December 15, 2003
What shall I say in my mental discussion with my father, Assad Saba Halaby, who told me that he graduated from BAB AL-AMMOUD UNIVERSITY of hard knocks. What shall I say to my mother who was part of the finer life of our great Arab city of Al Quds. First, I have to digest it myself that Israel has reduced us to a minority in our own city, and that Bab Al-Ammoud, has become a dirty ghetto.
Returning from the internet cafe late last night, I had to walk through a very dark section of the covered streets of the old city leading to Bab Al-Ammoud. The electric lights had blown-out and the narrow stone pavement was dirty, wet, and unbelievably full of garbage. For a long stretch, I walked in fear of rats not of Israeli soldiers.
Of course, I had to pass Israeli solders just before I left the open area inside the gate. There was a large group of them prancing about and singing, some Druze were singing in Arabic, in discordant disorganized ways. Their motion was of relief to be in a crowd big enough to abate their own terror. The night before last, there were only three of them, and their bravado indicated such terror. Their nervousness is scary as we all know that these inhuman youths can kill at any moment for any pretense and seem to enjoy inflicting pain and death. When will Jews at large wake-up to the horrors of the actions they support in Palestine? When will they realize the jeopardy that Israel and Zionism places them in? When will they understand the historical shame that Israel has inflicted on Judaism?
Samia A. Halaby
THE GREAT WALL OF SEPARATION AND HORROR
December 15, 2003
Yesterday, my friend Mizuko and I visited the town of Jayyous and had the privilege of talking with the mayor and with the director of the Jayyous Charitable Society.
We received detailed descriptions of how the so called separation wall is separating Palestinians from their means of subsistence, from their farms, from their water wells, separating Palestinians from their schools and villages and towns, separating Palestinians from their jobs and family members, separating Palestinians from their health-care providers, from their markets. It is indeed a GREAT WALL OF SEPARATION
The wall separates Palestinians from all the roads of quality that Israel builds. Who pays for these roads and these walls are working class people in the US and here in Palestine. People who work hard and pay high taxes. People who are separated from each other and from their jobs and means of living both here in Palestine and to a substantially lesser extent in the US
We had the privilege of accompanying Um Ammar to one of the gates of the Wall. Um Ammar has a home on the other side of the wall from the town of Jayyouse to which she belongs. Her children go to school is Jayyouse. She shops in Jayyous. She works in Jayyous. From her home on the other side of the wall and from Jayyouse she needs a permit to go anywhere. To go from her home to her town, Um Ummar has to go through the gate.
Now going through the gate is a production of great pain and terror. The Israeli military guarding this wall has to come and open it for her. There are appointed hours when they come to let her in. Invariably there are late from between one to four hours. They harass her and often shoot at her. Sometimes they do not open the gate at all.
When they do let her through, they open it for only one little crack so that her food and other shopping bags can not squeeze in with her. They have to be dragged in sideways. Her several little boys whom she takes back and forth to school through the gate are a lively bunch who sneak here and there under the voluminous batches of razor wire. They invent endless ways of pushing things under the wire or climbing the posts. She yells at them to behave because if the soldiers see their antics, they will not let her through. If they do not let her through, she would have four kilometers to walk to try and go through another gate.
Um Ammar complained of her trouble and of her unemployed husband. We offered her a gift of money from an American worker. Having heard so many Palestinians express anger with Ameriricans, I told Um Ammar that this was from a member of the working class and that she should realize that America is divided between those who have privilege and those who work hard. She said that of course she knows that very well.
Um Ammar then proceeded to tell us of how determined she is to keep crossing the gate no matter what trouble they give her. She has a real stubbornness about it and this is her truly heroic resistance.
Um Ammar is part of the popular thinking of Palestinian workers and peasants. She is proud of her four sons and two daughters. I asked about her daughter was and she revealed with pride that she has six other daughters that she has already married-off. Um Ammar looked hail and hardy. She clearly is part of that demographic balance that gives the criminal Zionists their great fear of peace with Palestine.
Samia A. Halaby
HOMES DEMOLISHED AND STOLEN
December 20th, 2003
This evening in Bethlehem an exhibition of my work will open at Dar Al Nadwa Gallery. It will be followed by an openning of the work of teenage artists followed by a talent show and a dance perpormance. Still yet inspite of all these activities and of the comming Christmas season, BeitLahem (Bethlehem) is very quiet. People are slowly recoverring from the many Israeli incursions. Their town is divided by the Wall of Horrors. In small talk they ask each other how far the wall has gotten in their district.
Christians of Al Quds (Jerusalem) are forced to make a special event out of attending Christmas services at the Church of the Nativity. They charter a bus, get permits from the Israelis, and plan all this long in advance. Not much is expected here on Christmas day. But there are groups who will march in the Christmas procession and meet the Christmas procession holding up posters and photos and banners and plackards informing all who will look about the horrors of the Israeli Wall.
I walk around BeitLahem pleased that Arabs are living in the ancient stone houses that look so sweet and charming. I am sitting right now in one such house where the sone walls are a good four feet thick. These are the kind of walls that withstood lots of Israeli fire.
I am grateful that a bit of old Palestine is still in Palestinian hands and has not become an Israeli Coney Island. I walked in similar streets in Al Quds and saw them full of Israelis. I noted the way they painted the shutters a deadly blue, that deadly blue of their flag, that deadly blue that knows nothing of Mediterranean skies. It felt as discordant as the celebration of a Hebrew service which I saw in that same street last year. I wondered at the residents as as I might wonder at a people come to earth from Mars. I wondered where they thought they were. Why did they dance? Were they so pumped up by US intelligence that they thought themselves somehow transported thousands of years back into history -- somehow escaping their own suffering of the early 20th century. I wondered at their sense of reality at their nightmares at their dreams. I wonder when and if they might wake-up to realize how disgusting their celebration is. Why have they not yet waken-up to the fact that they celebrate nothing but privilege gotten in the bloodiest most horrible of ways. This make it clear that Church and State must and should be separated. A Hebrew state is undemocratic and shot with privilege to which the privileged choose to be blind.
I see so much Israeli housing and so little Palestinian housing. One thinks that Palestinians must make up not more than 15% of the population when in fact they make up 50% of the population. This is a measure of privilege. This is why we need one democratic secular state with equal access to housing and with all the democratic rights available equally.
Samia A. Halaby
From Jerusalem to Ramallah
Sunday, December 20th, left Amman heading to Israel by bus. Bus was delayed for very long periods of time in between different checkpoints. Each time the bus was stopped, we were to give our passports and made to get off the bus and then back on. Upon arriving at the final area, we stood in lines waiting to be checked again. There was a separate line for tourists and for Palestinians, reminding one of the apartheid in South Africa and the bigotry of the 1960's in America. The Palestinian line went very slowly and continually grew. One could not notice that most of the Israeli soldiers were teenagers from various European countries and Russia. They were armed with rifles and in total charge, everyone subject to their whim and mood of the moment. an elderly couple from Finland was questioned over and over again, and despite answering each question very clearly, they were questioned over and over with the identical questions. The same thing happened the the next elderly couple from America, despite their answers, the same questions were repeated several times. When my turn came, I apparently satisfied them and was soon on my way out. Arrived in Jerusalem, a beautiful city and met Samia.
We left for Ramallah and went through the usual checkpoints, our American passports allowed us through easily, but the native Palestinians were questioned and delayed for long periods just trying to get back to their homes. We were invited to a Palestinian home where many mothers gathered to share the evening. if only the world could glimpse into this home and realize that the women and children here are identical to every other woman in the world who want security, peace, and freedom and to live without brutal, suffocating occupation and to live with dignity. Sadly one mother described the behavior of her young son since a very brutal occupation of the city. This young boy gets so frightened at the sound of the slightest noise, that they find him crouched down hiding and he continues to have nightmares. He is psychologically scarred as so many other Palestinian children who experience so much violence at the hands of their occupiers. Monday we left for Jerusalem, more checkpoints, but we passed without incidence. While walking in this beautiful city, we observed a young man seemingly unconscious or worse and 2 Israeli soldiers on horses nearby.
After they left, we asked the children what happened. They said the young man had taken drugs and that soon the Israeli police would be on the way. i wondered why an ambulance had not been sent, because in mostly countries this would be done for someone in this physical state. Even more sad was that there is no drug rehabilitation or any kind of help for young men like this. The children who told us about the young man looked very young, i was surprised when they introduced themselves and said they were thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. They looked only 8 to 9 years old. Sadly the lack of nutrition is taking its toll on many Palestinian children. We visited the Dome of the Rock, its beauty is indescribable.
Miriam
NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE FOR 4 SHECKELS
December 22, 2003
I cleared the closure from BeitLahem on the way to Al-Quds. I presented my passport to two teenagers who were a mixture of bored, stupid, gleeful, and dangerous. I walked a long path created by the Israelis and which is under their immediate military administration yet since it was for Palestinians, it was not cleaned and therefore full of garbage. As the long path departing the closure hugged the side of a high hill, I found myself walking against a wall which faces Gilo and Har Homa. I looked at the wall expecting to find big blotches of blood as I imagined that who ever passed this windy spot was in the gun sights of some mad Israeli settler.
For the last stretch of the path, I found a bus load of settler teens sitting at the edge of the wall with their legs dangling over those who marched the path. They said disrespectful stuff in Hebrew to the woman walking just in front of me. She got very angry and started scolding them. I added my angry diatribes as well. They turned wild. An old man who came from behind us tried to calm us down and says its just not worth the satisfaction of blowing steem. All three of us got into a 'serveece' cab going to Al Quds. The old man turned to look at the teens. He noted that they had not been admitted to BeitLahem, and that their teacher was putting them back in their bus, and that that was a good thing. He said that had they gotten into BeitLahem either one of them or one of ours would have surely been killed.
Why? These children were wild, freed by their settler parents and teachers to do anything their wilding-crowd behavior pleased against Palestinians. They are defended by soldiers and no one dares even yell at them. They can provoke angels to outrage.
These are children born to fascism -- Jewish children. Then one can see the effect of Israeli fascism filtering down to tiny islands of Palestinian control. I hear our driver demanding to see the ID cards of those riding his cab. ID card holders from the West Bank and Ghazza are rejected. They would cost the driver a fine of 5000 shekels and the loss of his car and his license. Some west bankers hail the shared cab asking to use what is a public transport system. The driver rejects them; they say they have a police permit. Our driver rejects them again. They ask pitifully about what to do to get to their destination. The driver gives them kind words but leaves them behind. The woman next to me says, it is just not worth the 4 shekels -- the cost of one ride.
After dark in Ramallah, a friend and I visit two friends on a lark. Everyone has gone home early. The occupation and the cruel military incursions are still too fresh in memory. I worry to frighten our hostesses. They receive us with great enjoyment. We want to take them to dinner with us. One will walk with us but refuses to ride. She can not get into her car at night for fear of what to do should she meet an Israeli tank on the streets of Ramallah. She has a nightmare that she would freeze. She freezes as she is thinking of it. Truely, here in Palestine, to go out at night is an act of resistance to occupation. For us who come visiting from the outside, the only fear we have is of the solitray night. We breeze in easily ready to spend dark hours enjoying a meal at a restaurant.
Samia A. Halaby
Settlers with guns watching Palestinian kids play soccer......
25 Dec 2003
Its a picture that hasn't left my mind since I’ve arrived. There are so many things to talk about as we have seen so much over the past couple of days. and forgive me I’ve never traveled to Falasteen and my knowledge of certain things are most likely stories you've all heard or witnessed yourselves but I’ll share a few of them just the same.
i was nervous crossing the border from Amman and was harassed slightly but they let me through without too much of a hassle. However, i was shocked that most of the Israeli’s at the border control where young! i mean, these looked like the type of kids that would be lifeguards at a beach and here they are deciding who can pass and who cannot pass their precious border. The arrogance in their faces shocked me a little. granted i was aware of it, I mean, as it is a fascist, nationalist state of course you would have fanatics and people that have hate and arrogance in their eyes. But here were young Israeli women (in their early teens) treating everyone like cattle. You can have people who are ignorant of the situation as many in the US are but there is something else here that I cannot put my finger on and it is particularly disturbing.
Nevertheless, we made it to al-Quds and spent the day traveling around. We’ve met many different groups since them. ARIJ - the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalam is doing great work on the wall. You MUST check out their website! What they speculate is going to happen is worse more than some of you expected and they have a lot of valuable information. I imagine others will be giving reports and I do not want to repeat things to you but I'll close with a quick story:
As we were walking around al-Quds we noticed some Palestinian boys playing soccer. We were above them on a hill looking down. To our right stood about 20-30 Israeli boys almost 1/2 of them with rifles watching the boys as well. It was absurd! They weren't soldiers or police just boys with guns watching some children they may shoot at a number of hours, or days, or months later or maybe they will not wait that long..............
So I often think of young arrogant Israeli teenagers watching Palestinian boys play soccer.
And I have no more words ---
Polly Sylvia
Religion, A Weapon of Oppression
December 26, 2003
A few days ago, on the 22nd of December, a friend and I were returning from the Haram Al Sharif when we were confronted by a troubling event. The Haram within the walled, old city of Al Quds (Jerusalem) contains both the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque. After much difficulty, we had persuaded the Haram guards that my fair American companion was indeed Muslim. The truth was that I spoke Palestinian Arabic well enough and she, knowing no shred of Arabic, is Muslim. After much insistence we gained admission. Why is admission so difficult to a place that Muslims are so proud of? The simple answer is the fascist persecution of Israel dressing itself with Jewish religion. The Haram gates are guarded by armed Israelis who enforce certain threatening rules on the rights of entry.
We did not know then that we had entered the Aqsa mosque only a few hours after the shoe-attack on the Foreigh minister of Egypt. When we did find out, we laughed a lot and felt very proud of ourselves to have been there on that same day to pay our respect – my friend in a religious way and myself to the great aesthetic beauty of the architectural monuments. How appropriate it was that a man, a traitor to the Palestinian Right of Return and a collaborator with fascist Israel, was shoed in that place.
It was already dark as we walked out towards Bab Al Amoud (Damascus Gate) feeling peaceful and aesthetically satisfied at having experienced the great works of architecture of the Dome of The Rock and the Aqsa Mosque. The narrow covered market street going through the Muslim Quarter was quiet. Suddenly we came upon a crowd of young men chanting excitedly, stomping in circular motion, and waving an Israeli flag. They seemed nervous and frightened but defiant. They were aware that they were in the midst of a hostile neighborhood -- hostile to them in reaction to Zionist oppression. The flavor of the Jewish dancers was more of a military invasion than a religious celebration which we were soon told that it was.
We entered a shop very near the dancing and asked about it. The shop-keeper informed us that the house next-door was owned by a Jew who, in 1967, gave it to Israel. A Temple was soon created in the building. We were told that this kind of defiant and invasive dancing took place in front of this temple whenever the Israeli youths could find a religious justification.
We noticed that some conservative Jews wearing long black coats and having traditional hair arrangements seemed to walk past these Jewish youth with disregard. Their manner of marching by without as much as a shred of recognition surprised me. I asked the shop-keeper about it. He said that the traditional ones did not create trouble for them except that they insisted on walking through their markets when they could easily use a shorter and easier path, but that the modern Jewish youth who were noisily dancing in the street created serious trouble and were very disrespectful. Their intentions of disrespect and invasion were obvious.
In Palestine, each of the three religions has a different day of rest. If any more religions enter Palestine, no work-days would be left.
Two nights ago, I attended Christmas eve services in the Church of the Nativity in BeitLahem (Bethlehem). I had had to go to a lot of trouble to obtain tickets for me and for my fellow Defend-Palestine delegates. After much trouble we gained admission to the 9:00 pm Carroll service. It was mostly in English and in an Anglican chapel attached to the main Church. All this was disappointing. My ignorance had led me to expect singing in Arabic in the main church.
Beyond disappointment I experience the oppressiveness of content. The British Consul read the 6th LESSON of the service. To add insult to injury, this member of British colonialism which had opened Palestine to Zionist colonization, read a passage from Luke in his twisted Arabic. To add oppression to injury to insult, this lesson informed us that "Bethlehem was the city of David." I understood the intended lesson – that we Palestinians in our own church could not use our own language and had to have the short Arabic segment of a mostly English service read by a foreigner delivering a message which told us that our city belonged to our oppressors – the Israelis.
So long live Palestine. Long live revolution. May the heroism of our freedom fighters spark an international revolution to liberate the entire world. May we all experience the wonders of a revolutionary New Year.
Samia A. Halaby
A Detail
December 27th, 2003
Sometimes in the midst of great tragedies a small barely-noticed detail refuses to leave one's consciousness. It size ridiculous by the scale of reality surrounding it. Yet, somehow, it represents the whole.
Such a detail is a slab of marble erected at a small infirmary at Jalazone Refugee camp near Bireh. This bit of marble is the most expensive and most luxurious bit of material in the entire building of the infirmary which is made of cement painted with available colors and disintegrating in several well worn locations. The hands of many camp residents have rubbed the corners and sharp edges of the cement building with its plain cement floor. The reception room is bare with only little uncomfortable benches to sit on, but it also contains a lovely piece of white marble.
A doctor is present for only three hours per day and received 200 patients during that period. This single clinic serves a camp of 11,000 residents.
Having paid billions and billions to Israel, and having guided the destruction of Palestine, the US government saw fit to remodel this little infirmary which is supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. This little act of generosity was, as you might have guessed by now, documented on this marble slab which read something approximately as follows: "This clinic was remodeled through the generosity of the United States of America."
Having destroyed our country and robbed us of our homes and lands and culture, and having reduced our population mostly to underpaid or unemployed workers the US offers a teensy weensy morsel of aid and obscenely announces it on a piece of white marble.
I wonder what would be appropriate to commemorate the hundreds of billions that they give to Israel or yet more the thousands of billions of profits they cull out of the Arab World. Of what material might such commemorative slabs made of? Palestinian workers feel that it is their blood that such monuments of capitalism are made of.
The American members of our Defend-Palestine delegation of course felt deep embarrassment at the obscenity of this tablet of marble.
Samia A. Halaby
Arroub Refugee Camp
27 Dec 2003
Hi everyone,
This is my first trip to Palestine and there are so many new impressions I don't know where to start. It is definitely a very emotional experience. I am happy to come with the best guide ever (Samia, who set up all our meetings with organizations, families, refugee camps......) and with great co-travelers, Polly and Marie. My greatest amazement is probably about the Palestinian people...I really admire their continued struggle against the occupation, and their wonderful warmth, generosity and good spirits in the face of all the difficulties. Every day we meet with people who have experienced the death of a relative, imprisonment and humiliation. Today we went to Arroub Refugee camp near Al Khalil (Hebron).
From Ramallah we had to pass several checkpoints and change service (minibus) several times. We hear a lot of stories on these trips. For example on our way back, the driver told everyone how he was held by the Israeli army for 8 hours at the checkpoint, with his hands cuffed on the back with electric wire, hunched over in their tent, for their enjoyment.
The entrance of Arroub Refugee Camp is on a main road guarded by a huge watchtower. You can't see the soldiers, but they are in there, watching your every move. I didn't dare take a photo, but shot one out of the van on our way back. They were yelling at some guys to show their IDs, but as they speak Hebrew the guys didn't understand that they had to raise both arms instead of one. Apparently they have a camera which can actually read the ID at that distance....the entrance to the camp is blocked by barbed wire and everyone entering by vehicle must have a permit.
We met with a great group of people who were all happy to see us and show us around. They were really amazing, hospitable, generous (they cooked us a wonderful lunch, served us coffee and tea...) and with a wonderful optimism and joy despite their miserable situation. They told us about the children, how the Israeli soldiers come in the middle of the night (12-5 am), tie their hands on their backs, tie their eyes and take them to the prison at the nearby settlement. The children are 12-16 years old and often they are kept for months......
The settlers also torture the children on the street by kidnapping them, taking off their clothes and throwing them into cold water. They scare them with sound bombs and use tear and other, more dangerous gas (on the entire camp). A woman was pregnant and had a still birth because of the gas. Later an English teacher joined us and I asked him about his prison experience (as so many, he was in jail on and off for two years only because he was a political (peaceful) activist. They took him from his house in the middle of the night, blindfolded and handcuffed him, took off his shirt and used his back as an ashtray. They brought him to an isolated cell for a month and interrogated him. They tortured him by forcing him to take ice cold showers at night, putting stinking hoods (drenched in urine or vomit) over his head etc etc. We have met many ex prisoners and it is really admirable how they keep on fighting, knowing they could be thrown in jail at any minute. They do great work in the camp, with the women and children. I always love seeing how they treat their children, with so much love and trying so hard to protect them. They organized a camp for them in Bethlehem and it was the first time for most of the children to visit Bethlehem - even though it is maybe half an hour away. There is so much more to report, so I will write more soon.
Salamat from Ramallah,
Ursula
Defend-Palestine] Prisoners and Resistance
27 Dec
Yesterday, we traveled to Al Jalajone Refugee Camp, which is right outside of Ramallah between two villages, one which is still able to harvest their olive trees - for now. It is also very close to an Israeli settlement which is also home to one Arab house where the man refuses to sell his home even after harassment and after the Israeli's are trying to buy him off. His home has this striking green garage which you can notice from the street.
We had an amazing tour guide, who showed us around the camp and explained to us how they organize the 6,000 refugees who live their. We saw their schools and clinics. They are also building a new community center which may have a gym, if they are able to raise enough money. This is important as people within the camp are not able to exercise or walk freely as most of us back home are. They live in a cage, as a movie we saw another day was called. Inside the camp we were also blessed to meet with the family of Iyad, who has been imprisoned under administrative detention for a year and a 1/2. He is a 30 year-old man who is one semester away from graduating from college but unfortunately that is now put on hold. He has been in and out of prison a number of times, like so many Palestinian men, and women. His crime? Political Activism. We also heard that Iyad's mother as recently passed away quite possibly from a broken heart. When Iyad last called they did not want to tell him his mother passed as they had a very special relationship but he heard the commotion in the background and figured it out for himself. His brother's eyes looked so tired and hurt as he told us this story. I cannot imagine.
There is not one family in the camp who has not had someone arrested or killed since the beginning of the last intifada. We visited Addameer, a prisoner's rights campaign group, and heard more about the current status of prisoners. Some have been imprisoned for more than 20 years. At Addameer we also heard of a case where they aren't quite sure where the man is being held. They arrested him and his wife, finally releasing his wife, and although Addameer r has received a court decision telling them where he is; when they arrived at the prison they were told that he was not there. As we left Addameer they were to receive a decision from the Israeli High Court regarding this case as this man has been missing since November 21, 2003.
These cases aren't unusual of course, but what is amazing is the continued resistance in a number of ways from groups like Addameer who are doing amazing work. There is even a committee within Al Jalajone camp, itself, who our guide is working for, that helps prisoners try to find work when they are released if they can find it and get readjusted back into the community as best they can. There are cultural groups working with children to keep there spirits up. These are only small examples of all the work that is being done. It is amazing though people are so very tired here, so very tired, how they continue in resistance against a fascist Israeli occupation.
I close with the sweetest of stories because though Occupation is a cloud and a cage on all Palestinians, their resilience - their humanity - their spirit is amazing.......We had lunch in a small cafe in Ramallah and Ward, a 7 year old boy, proceeded to play foot games with me under the table. During our play, he had a number of conversations in Arabic with me (mind you I do not speak Arabic at all) and though I responded so very little to the stories he must have been telling me it did not stop him and he continued on and on giggling as he went.........
till soon,
Polly Sylvia
Refugee Camp
Dec.27th we traveled to Arroub refugee camp. The first thing one notices is the tall tower that overlooks the entrance to the camp. it is occupied by a few Israeli soldiers who are hidden behind opaque glass and use a microphone to shout orders in Hebrew at anyone they choose. The tower appears to be about 25 feet high. If one does not speak Hebrew, he or she might find themselves in a very difficult and dangerous situation as the soldiers often become angry and over-react if one appears to be slow in responding to their shouts.
A few weeks ago a young Palestinian woman was shot to death for failing to stop when orders were shouted to stop in Hebrew. upon entering the camp, one must step around the barbed wire and cement barricades. The poverty of the first glimpse of the camp is overwhelming. the buildings are broken, some half finished, some with broken windows. No matter where one goes, whether it is the women's center or the center for children or homes, one cannot escape the bitter cold as gas and electricity is an expensive commodity and few can afford it. No matter what resident of the camp you meet, there is no shortage of horror stories and suffering as a direct result of the Israeli occupation.
Most of the boys have had experience being harassed, arrested or imprisoned. One boy, 13 year old Mohamed was arrested and taken behind the tower and beaten during the eight hours he was held. The soldiers often use beatings as a means to obtain names of children who threw stones. Mohamed was more fortunate than the others like Billal who had been arrested and held for 8 days at Gocha Zion, which holds Palestinian boys from ages 9 to 16, and is located within one km from Arroub camp. After sentencing which usually begins with a 6 month term, the children are sent to Talmond prison. Often there is torture and deprivation regularly used by those in charge. The 6 month term is routinely extended, and in this case it was extended two years. Most of the time family members are denied visits according to the difficulty passing checkpoints and the whims of the prison guards. Sometimes it takes several attempts before a family member will finally see their sons and brothers through a glass partition. It is an atrocity for a so called "democracy" to deny the basic human and legal rights of an entire population and abuse children in such an incomprehensible manner.
Marie Fares
Al Khallil (Hebron)
December 28th, 2003
We walked today through the old section of the city of Al Khallil. Some of its main streets have just been released from Israeli occupation. But much of the heart of the city has been commandeered by the Israelis who have hugely expanded their settlements in the middle of the city. Beside the many housed that they have stolen, they have occupied the roofs and second floors of a large section of the old city. They throw their garbage down at the Palestinians in the streets below. This in addition to throwing heavy items and stones at passers by. The place was deserter, but a few shop-keepers were beginning to re-open their shops.
We went to enter the Ibrahimy Mosque. As some of you might know, the Israelis committed a brutal massacre at the mosque in 1994 and then used their own crimes to occupy the area for "security" reasons. We had to go through two metal detectors to enter. As we moved from one space of the mosque to the other we were confronted by a little guarde room made of yellowed, semi-opaque bullet-proof glass. Inside was an Israeli soldier. This in the middle of the mosque, mind you. This guarde sits there with his feet disrespectfully up on the table-top guarding a metal wall. This metal wall sections off a large chunk of the mosque which the Israelis have occupied and turned into a temple.
Settler and Israeli Jews move freely in and out of their stolen section of the mosque, while moslems, in their own mosque, have to walk through two metal detectors run by Jewish Israeli soldiers before they can go in to pray. There are no Palestinian soldiers on the Jewish side -- of course.
Samia A. Halaby
AN ISRAELI SOLDIER SAYS DIE ALL OF YOU
December 29, 2003
We were told to die. Yesterday, as we climbing up the steps towards the Ibrahimi mosque in al-Khallil (Hebron), between the two banks of metal detectors we were told to die. The ill wisher was an Israeli soldier, a member of the Israeli 'Defense' Forces, supposedly guarding the mosque. He yelled: "Die all of you." He was striding past us as we waited for worshipers to come out of the mosque.
"Die all of you" is indeed what the Israelis are doing to Palestinians. On the news you heard that last week 23 Palestinian were killed by Israeli soldiers, or maybe the US corporate media did not deem it worth mentioning. But those assassinated and deliberately shot dead are the only ones who are, maybe, mentioned by the non-Arab media.
Palestinians are suffering in every part of their life. Every movement and every action is subject to Israeli permission. From morning till night, Palestinian life is subjected to cruel Israeli incursion. No one's home is safe. No street is safe. No business is free to buy or sell where they wish. No goods are allowed to move between Palestinian towns unless the Israeli own it. If a farmer in Sair, a village in the south, wants to sell his produce in Ramallah, he cannot. For if he or she puts it on a truck to go to the next town it would be immediately confiscated -- that is if it makes it through the closure points and the Israeli soldiers swarming all over them like hungry killers.
Towers and pill-boxes with guns and gunners are at every high spot. Children and adults suffer from emotional and nutritional problems. The emotional pressure is enormous. The heroism of 'soumoud' is also enormous. There is much pain and much heroism.
The pressure has bent many people out of shape. The wonderful morality and social responsibility so clear in both traditional and working-class Palestinian society is under attack. Taxi drivers who work between Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Ramallah are subjected to Israeli taxes, expensive licenses, and unreasonable fines. Their behavior reflects the attempt at gaining a living as a small business under fantastic pressure. Many resort to being tricksters and cheats. Foreigners are often subjected to exorbitant prices through misleading information.
On the other hand, are workers who are severely underpaid and hugely under-employed. There is also massive un-employment. Yet, most of the workers who have ridden the 'serveece' (collective taxi) with us have been polite and helpful. Yesterday, when our driver was arrested by the IDF, we dropped in the middle of the highway at night between Khallil and Al Quds, it was two workers who accompanied us politely and kindly showed us what to do and which bus or taxi to take.
In fact, it is important to note that the vast majority of refugee camp dwellers are workers -- vastly exploited by Israel and also by Palestinian capitalists. It is the poor, the impoverished peasants, and the workers who will suffer most as a result of THE WALL OF HORRORS. They are already living in bantustans and allowed to move in an out only on foot. Any cars that enter Arroub refugee camp, for example, have to have a permit from the Israeli military forces occupying the West Bank.
Actually, it is time to stop saying the West Bank and Ghazze (Gaza) are occupied. They are, in real fact, being digested and confiscated and torn to shreds by Israel. Israel has no intention of leaving, but only of creating the condition for extreme exploitation. "Die all you," as the Israeli soldier said, is part of the methods used to attack the working class here in Palestine.
What is surprising in all this is not so much that the governments of the world have turned a blind eye to the plight of the Palestinians, but that the communist parties of the world have not yet waken up to the fascism of Israel and the just struggle of the Palestinian working class.
Samia A. Halaby
THE WALL OF HORRORS
December 29, 2003
THE WALL now being completed by Israel and America is only the first of many more walls which will surround, besiege and strangle all Palestinians towns and villages in the West Bank and Ghazze.
THE WALL is the largest infrastructure being built now in the entire world. A breath-taking, three-stories high in many sections, and a thousand kilometers long to date, it ranks as one of the "Wonders of Modern Life." This is a wonder of horrors.
THE WALL and the many Zionist settlements are part of the architecture of our time. Our time is capitalism in a state of extreme deterioration. Its architectural signposts are this wall and the settlements that are built like walls.
In fact, one settlement, Gosh Zion, is built like a long long long train of houses in three rows. Its extreme length makes it a wall not a neighborhood, not a gaited community. It is another divide which cuts the West Bank into segments more easily digestable by Israel. This is an imperial architecture of military function. Gosh Zion is not home. Gosh Zion contains a jail where children between 9 and 16 are taken when they are kidnapped by the Israelis from Arroub Refugee Camp only one kilometer away. The children are kept there for 10 or more days unable to see their parents. After this period of questioning they are taken to an Israeli prison devoted to children called Telemon. I am not certain of the spelling of this prison for children.
Children in Arroub refugee camp cried when they saw our Defend-Palestine delegation from New York. They thought we were Israelis.
Samia A. Halaby
Nablus
Dec.30th, we left for Nablus. we found that Nablus was still under siege, and we had to find an alternate route. We took a van through the mountain roads that ran through rugged terrain and many, many roadblocks consisting of mounds of earth, rocks, deep dug out holes etc. a few minutes into our journey, the driver spotted the Israeli jeep and incredibly darted back to our starting point in reverse through the same difficult road blocks. We waited for several minutes and then received word that the military jeep had left. We again began our journey. Sometimes the roads were so steep we had to get out and walk up so the van was lighter in order to make it up the hills. along the way we observed a military tower, but incredibly nothing happened and we continued on our way.
After about two hours of winding, narrow roadways often closer to ledges, we arrived in Nablus, where we were met by our host. She guided us through the old city and showed us the medical clinics. They were spotless and one was able to provided some lab work to the patients that came. they pointed out the damage done by the Israeli soldiers, the doors were still broken from the forced used to enter the clinics. Why would an occupying force target the few medical facilities so badly needed by the women and children of this besieged city? Is this what the Israeli government calls self defense? How pathetic they are! As we walked further, we heard shooting and observed the soldiers on rooftops nearby. It was now that we really understood what the occupation was like for the Palestinians on a daily basis. Just trying to get to work or to classes makes one prone to shootings by both Israeli soldiers and settlers, who routinely carry weapons, and often use them with little or no thought to the taking of a human life. Settlers have run down Palestinians with their cars without even looking back or stopping. Is this also the concept of Israeli self defense? I failed to mention the horror stories told by our taxi driver as we were on the way to catch the van to Nablus.
The trees damaged or removed, the Palestinians not allowed to harvest their olives, the shootings of some harvesters, the land confiscations and the stealing of entire harvests by the Israelis after the farmers were through filling up the trucks with their olive harvest. The driver was very sad and said that every time he passes this way he is reminded of these ongoing atrocities. I marvel at the strength of these resilient, brave people. Despite all their constant suffering, they continue to struggle to achieve their human rights, their wish is to live as everyone, in peace and security, just as anyone else in the world. We next visited the Najah University, where we were told of the difficulties faced by the students. Just getting to classes is an immense task. Some students and professors have chosen to stay near the university at great expense. the determination to make education a priority is the goal of these young people and their dedicated teachers.
We were then taken to meet the former mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shak'a. He lost both his legs in an assassination attempt by the Israelis. He told us many stories of how the israelis attempted to replace the public municipal leaders with their own, etc. After he failed to yield to their threats of bodily harm for failing to comply with their corrupt orders, they made an attempt on his life. he lost both legs, but not his determination and will to struggle for the rights of the people who trusted and elected him. After thanking our gracious host, it was time to leave for Ramallah.we reached the checkpoint and were told that Nablus had been closed, and they wanted to know how we entered, etc. They took our passports and asked many questions.
We noticed a Palestinian man who had his hands tied behind his back and made to sit in between a barricade in the freezing cold with no coat. He told us he was there for two hours already. The soldier came to us they told us to wait a distance away from them. We waited in the cold while they, the soldiers, either did nothing, just stood around or joked foolishly with one another just to waste time. They showed their delight in being in charge of another human being, having others at their mercy gave them great pleasure, they very much resembled Nazis.
Finally we were called in about 40 minutes to talk with the so called" one on charge" of the Nablus checkpoint. He said Nablus was closed and no one was permitted to leave or enter, therefore we had done something "illegal" and he had the power to have us arrested and have us banned from"Israel' forever. With further conversation he finally agreed to let us pass the checkpoint. As we walked down the dark road, settlers started to drive towards us and stop. We felt uneasy as the carry guns, have been known to shoot indiscriminately and might even run us down with their car. I think we all really felt for the first time, since this trip, what it felt to live under the brutal occupation. Being at the constant mercy of a gun toting settler or soldier, having no human rights or liberty at all. Being brutalized, terrorized, living in constant uncertainty of the safety of oneself, your family or your property. seeing all the expanding, massive settlements and the wall suffocating, strangling every last inch of one's being must be the saddest state a life can reach. I only hope that justice will prevail one day and the brutal, constant occupation will come to an end.
Marie Fares
Dear Nablus...
30 Dec 2003
As most of you may know, Nablus has been under siege for over a week now but even more so since the attack in Tel Aviv last friday. Of course the news forgot to mention that this attack came after two Palestinian men were killed in Nablus. We had planned to go to Nablus since the beginning of our trip but weren't sure we would be able to enter. Nablus is completely closed to everyone leaving and entering and this includes Palestinians, Internationals etc. except for Soldiers and settlers of course and emergency vehicles, so they say. We took the backroads into Nablus because even though Palestinians pay taxes to Israel for roads etc. apparently that does not mean they have the right to use them. We were able to take a cab for a bit of the way but of course there was a checkpoint and as Israeli's passed us in their cars we had to sit and wait patiently for them to 'notice' us. We sat there for about 15 minutes when the soldier finally came over and as he saw we were Americans, didn't even check out passports, he just let us through. It was disgusting. i felt so embarrassed. It took us a total of 3 hours to get to Nablus as we took a van through the mountains. At certain points we had to get out and walk up steep hills as the van could not make it with all of our weight. It also had to dart back at one point because an Israeli tank saw us, I've never seen someone reverse so quickly and if you can picture this mountain road it was quite a sight.
But finally, we made it to Nablus and it looked just like Al Khalil. It was empty, meaning shops weren't open and most people were not on the street. For those of you that do not know Nablus it is a very large, beautiful city set in a valley in the West Bank. It has many restaurants and shops and all that a city would have. It sort of reminded me of California - and it was empty! Everything was closed, there were broken windows and shattered buildings and only a few people walking the streets. Mind you the soldiers were still there, you had to be careful where you walked or which street you turned down - gun shots were heard at certain points as well.
We spent the afternoon there, even visited a University that despite this occupation is having exams! People can't even travel there easily and they still continue on and with a 90% attendance rate. Imagine having to travel every day the way we came, would you make it to school? They told us that a group of girls were being held in an apartment since yesterday by Israeli soldiers. They have communicated by phone and have not been allowed to leave. This is only one small story of what has been going on in Nablus over the past week. We all decided to leave through the checkpoint as we figured we could get out with our American Passports and to travel the backroads again, who knows how long it would take or what we would find. Settlers have been known to shoot from the mountain side, nevermind the soldiers that would be lurking. Anyway, they held us for 40 minutes at the checkpoint in the cold as they took our passports. They asked us why we went to Nablus and how we got in. They didn't even check our passports but we waited and waited and finally a soldier talked to us and questioned us. He told us it was illegal for us to be there that no one was allowed in. After much grief we had him convinced we were no bother and just mindless travelers passing through. So he let us pass as we gave no indication we were peace activists attempting to mess up their plans of 'catching a terrorist'. This is what one soldier said when we asked him what he was doing there?!? He didn't even look convinced himself.
It was a very trying day but soon enough we will be back in the US and this will be a memory but not a reality that I will have to deal with everyday. I am safe now in Ramallah but am thinking of the people that I met in Nablus who are completely trapped in their city. This is war but one that isn't reported nor told as it is. The people of Nablus are being attacked and they have no way to defend themselves. If and when they do, Western media labels them as 'terrorists'. I was a little frightened at the checkpoint but my ordeal lasted about 45 minutes - while this occupation has lasted for over 50 years.....
Soon enough we will see the wall and I will try to report again. many of us our reporting about our time in Nablus but is important - it was such an experience for us and even more so as we realize how little of this news is shared and how much the people here continue to endure......
more soon,
Polly Sylvia
Settlements and Checkpoints......
30 Dec 2003
I haven't written a message for a couple of days as I didn't want to repeat anything that has been said, want to give you all as much 'new' information as possible but there are a couple of things that have happened that stick out particularly in my mind (as clouded and heavy as it is these days). We are writing many messages about Al Khalil because you cannot imagine how eerie it was to walk through its empty streets. Like a movie I wish I could walk you through the parts that have been completely taken by Israeli settlers and soldiers. I also wish you could have gone to the mosque with us. We all hear stories of war and killings and occupation and the complete attempt at cultural and physical annihilation that Israel has set out to accomplish but occupation in a word really is surreal. For instance you are entering a mosque A MOSQUE and there are soldiers who have taken it over. I am not religious but you can't be serious!! Oh, but they are. To the right of one building across from the mosque is a small plaque (much like the one Samia mentioned at the camp which THANKS the United States) anyway, this one said "Please be respectful of, I think it was, Adner's Tomb". I think I laughed out loud. Are they serious? This is absurd. Respectful?? I have not seen an ounce of respect from Israel or Israeli's since I've arrived. Who can see these events and not think of them as absurd.
So, I often think what goes on in the heads of settlers and young Israeli soldiers. I have come in contact with soldiers all too frequently and I look in their eyes and some times I see empty cold- hearted eyes but at other times I don't. So what is going on in their heads? We speak historically of atrocities like the Holocaust and we feel so strongly for these atrocities so why is it the ones that are occurring now, we don't feel so strongly for? This is fascism. FASCISM. I read the other day that In 2002-2003 alone, 56 new settlements have been erected, and of the mere eight Sharon claimed to have disabled, five have been covertly rebuilt. The number of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank has reached 757 according to OCHA. Everyday I pass through at least 2 or 3 checkpoints. They change them as well. There are some more permanent ones but you will travel the same way on two different days and a random checkpoint will be erected in the middle of the road. There is no sense of consistency here, as rules change day to day. There is a large checkpoint between Al Quds (Jerusalem) and Ramallah where you must walk through this long maze of concrete walls to be checked and allowed on the other side as Palestinians need permits to travel from one town to another.
There are also settlements everywhere. Near every Palestinian village or refugee camp there are settlements creeping in around them. So we talk of a peace plan and the 'conflict' in the Middle East. This is no conflict this is Occupation! And an attempt at annihilation of a group that does not have weapons of equal caliber, they are, in many ways, defenseless against this disgusting war machine. There will be no peace here until there is justice and from what I've seen we have a long way to justice.
Finally, as we left one checkpoint on our way back to our hotel the soldier inquired about us being from the US, as he let us pass he said "enjoy your time here". Please re-read that sentence. What a world we live in.........
Till soon,
Polly Sylvia
TODAY IN NABLUS
December 30, 2003
The Defend-Palestine Delegation accepted the invitation of Nabulsi friends and visited the town in defiance of the Israeli closure and curfew. Cell phones make constant contact and continuous instructions possible.
For the last leg of our trip, we found ourselves in a ten-passenger van with six young men driving through narrow, rocky paths through the mountains. We were shaken about violently and soon learnt to avoid bumping our heads against the ceiling by putting our palms up on it. The van was so smashed itself that its appearance told a profound tale. All the windows were muddy or taped or replaced with opaque home made materials. I forgave the cold air comming through a little rectangle of open window. I looked hungrily at the passing landscape. I absorbed its beauty with hunger my heart acheing with love for homeland -- literally land that is home.
For one and a half hours we eked through the narrowest paths, the sharpest corners, through a water tunnel under one settler highway, over and down huge piles of mud, transversing paved highways, and waving between olive trees their branches swishing past us. We got out of the van several times for it to back up and then return at high speed, empty of passengers, in order to get to the top of a steep mud path. The passengers helped the driver placing bits of found metal over a deep rut, checking rocks, and running ahead to check for the presence or Israeli military vehicles.
Suddenly at one point our driver reversed with all passengers aboard, at such high speed, and with such amazing skill through all obstaceles among olive trees that we knew something was wrong. He had seen an Israeli military vehicle and they had seen us. So we returned to a small village and waited. The Israeli military also waited. Eventually, they left and we continued on our way. While at the village, the little girls took the opportunity to besiege the four of us with smiles and questions. One little girl asked me what language we all spoke. I said that I spoke Arabic and all the others spoke English. I suggested she talk with them. She said no, I will speak with the Arabic speaking one. But in fact they smiled and giggled and flirted with all of us. The villagers were gracious and hospitable and we used their toilets.
When we were finally delivered to our friend in Nablus, she took us to see a clinic run by the Union of Health Work Committees. She told us that she had worn her nurses coat walking through tanks this morning because that was the only way she could survive.
We had asked to visit unions and to speak to workers there. She apologized that they were all closed as indeed most of the city was closed. She then took us for a walk through the old city. The old city was occupied as was all of Nablus. But the population plays a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the military. They warn each other of the location of the Israelis and they move in the areas where they are not.
So we walked through the narrow covered sections of the old city till we reached where one bunch of the Israelis were located. We were told that they were trying to find what they think is an underground escape rout for freedom fighters. They were busy searching an area that they had closed and we heard them shooting and we heard explosions.
We saw bands of youth who where feverish with excitement and who did not know how to react to us. They were derisive of us as we clearly looked like foreigners come to take a look and leave. Our hostess told us to bear with them. She said that the boys often confront the soldiers with stones. We came close enough to see five heads of cowardly soldiers hiding behind a wall, and they were looking back at us. Our hostess feared taking us closer though she said they let foreigners through.
We the visited Balata refugee camp and the demolished home of a freedom fighter. We also visited Kifah, a mother of four who had been shot by the Israelis nearly two years ago and who lost use of her arm. She had gone to Amman 6 times to get medical treatment. The injury had taken her joy in activism away. Her friends keep visiting in the effort of bringing her back to them.
We then went to Najah University where the public relations officer explained to us the condition of the University. We understood the heroism of sumoud and the will to resist. 90% of students manage to attend school in current horrific conditions. Many have rented rooms or store fronts in Nablus so that they would not have to commute from the north. Many professors offered their homes as registration offices and the school sent application forms to all so that distant students who could not come to Nablus might register. They were able to maintain the same level of registration as last year. We heard of many other highly creative ways that the University administration, the teachers, and the students have invented in order to allow education to continue.
We then visited the famous ex-mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shak'a. It was a great honor to be received by him. We heard of the heroism of the city during its many years of Resistance against Israeli attack. We had the honor of being served hot Nabulsi 'Knafe' which arrived just at the end of our visit. This was indeed a great experience. We had the honor of sitting with Shak'a, meeting his gentle wife, hearing his narrative, and examining his collection of Resistance art. The whole was then completed by the very special Nabulsi cuisine of 'knafe.' Truly, Nablus is great.
One of the paintings that was given to Shak'a was by the painter Issam Badre whose own story of life under the intifada is a chapter in itself. Badre had made a painting to commemorate the blown-off legs of Bassam Shak'a when the Israelis tried to assassinate him in 1980. The painting was requested by Najah University for a special commemorative exhibition. Possessing sufficient sickness of heard and mind, the Israelis came to the exhibition and confiscated this and several other paintings.
Leaving Shak'a's home by taxi we noted that the driver called his dispatcher to find out just where the Israeli Military was so that he might find us a root to the Nablus Closure point at Huwwara village. The center of the city where we had arrived at noon was now occupied. We had to drive uphill to take one of the highest roods following the side of the mountain.
As I took my final look at the city of Nablus spread beneath us between two high mountains, as many times today, I again remembered the remark of an Israeli being interviewed on ABC television. Responding to a famed reporter about the difficulties Israel is having today, this man said that "maybe we have to give up our dreams about Nablus." Knowing all we saw today and seeing the city in its great size and having heard from Shak'a of the heroism of the Resistance, the obscenity of this Israeli citizen's dreams of Nablus took concretely nightmarish proportions.
As we descended the mountain and began to take routs leaving the city, we ran into a new type of closure being erected by boys between ten and fourteen years of age. Stones and cinderblock and metal pipes and all manner of material were being arranged in rows to hinder the Israeli vehicles. Our taxi driver and the boys had the normal heated exchange which contained no hostility. The boys finally let us through, but with great seriousness and amazing maturity, they warned the driver not to come through this spot again tonight. It was beginning to get dark, and they had work to do.
Leaving at Huwwara closure we ran into trouble. The soldiers started questioning us. How did we get in today? We had done a very serious infraction of Israeli law regarding tourists? We kept gently arguing. We were left to stew. We saw a man behind the waist-high cement pathways. He was prostrateed on the ground, his arms tightly bound with plastic electric bands. He was cold, He finally began to talk to us. He had been there for two hours on the cold ground with meager clothing. He had come to the closure point wanting to get his car from the other side.
Later a student came and we supported him saying yes we were at Najah and indeed there are exams. They let him through. When they got tired of our calling and nagging they marched us to an area like a holding cell and told us to wait. How long will we wait? A very long time.
After 45 minutes their military boss came and questioned us more and threatened us with all manner of ill results and then gave us our passports back and let us through.
Outside in the dark, we just kept walking. We ran into a car and I asked the way to Ramallah. The man was a settler. A military jeep pulled up. They clearly wanted to protect the settler. Polly said that the settlers needed protection from four women. They opened their jeep's door and began calling to us. I approached and they asked if we needed something. We said no.
We just walked into the darkness on the highway away from the lights of the closure point. Mercifully, a little distance away, a taxi started towards us from a distance. He was frightened that we were settlers. He was a gracious and gentle driver and asked for a very modest price. After the many drivers who tried to take advantage, this driver seemed like a gift.
Nabulsis are seriously sufferring for the obscene dreams of Zionist greed.
Samia A. Halaby
War in Nablus
30 Dec 2003
Hi there,
We are all writing about today......this has been the most incredible day yet. We decided to try to get to Nablus even though it has been closed for a few days. The taxi driver from Ramallah was a wealth of information and had a story about every corner of the road. About soldiers stopping the car, throwing everything they found on the ground, emptying water bottles in the summer heat, being held for hours.....there were checkpoints or former checkpoints everywhere. The landscape is so beautiful, hills with olive trees and small villages.....destroyed by checkpoints, watch towers, road blocks and ugly settlements on hilltops. He had so many stories......
Then we had to change cars and took a service (van for c. 10 people) to Nablus. As the roads were closed and nobody could enter Nablus, we were told we could take the back road across the mountain. Imagine a steep hill with olive trees and a small dirt road which leads around sharp corners up the hill...it was a very bumpy road and many times we thought the van wouldn't make it. We got to a deep gap in the road - the driver and some passengers quickly filled it with metal plates etc. they found sitting around. We jumped over big dirt hills and other road blocks and flew over deep potholes and big stones. As the van climbed yet another hill, we saw an Israeli military jeep (?) coming at us. The driver literally spun the van around and raced it back down the hill, over the dirt paths and roadblocks. At that point my adrenaline started kicking in and i was ready to duck and cover as the military is known for shooting (later a soldier told us they would indeed shoot). I couldn't believe how quickly the driver made it back down ad sought refuge on a side road of a small village. Incredible how he maneuvered the van on this obstacle road. Everyone got out of the van and a bunch of curious kids came out and asked us our names and where we are from (all the kids know those questions in English).
We waited until the danger had passed and got back up the hill. Another stop, another change of vans. This time we had to get out a few times because the road was steep and the van couldn't make it with all the passengers. We gladly walked. The entire trip from Ramallah took over 3 hours (maybe half an hour on a regular road).
Nablus was deserted and our guide took us to see the medical center and the old city. It would have been beautiful, but today it was a war zone. the military had just pulled out the tanks (some still visible). The stores were closed, garbage everywhere as the municipal offices were closed. The shebab (boys) led us to peek around to where the Israeli soldiers could be seen. We heard shots. The kids ran back only to take a peak a few minutes later. Then we visited the University. The Head of Public Relations told us about all the difficulties the students have just coming to town and attending classes. Yet attendance is 90 %. Yesterday a group if female students were locked up in a building in the middle of town and were not allowed to leave. As we were walking by the building we were told the soldiers were watching us with their guns pointed at us. We didn't look up.
We also visited Balata, a refugee camp very close to Nablus. We saw the house destroyed by the army because it belonged to the family of a member of the Popular front (he was 19 and killed by the army). We visited another family - the mother had bee shot in the arm by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the night when she got out of the house to help young men who were being shot at.....
LAst we visited the former mayor who had been shot by the Israeli army and lost both his legs. He told us of his long battle against the Israelis. For over five years after he was shot he was under close surveillance and couldn't make a move without a soldier right behind him. On the way out of Nablus we were stopped by yet another roadblock - one made by Palestinian boys for the Israeli army. They took their jobs quite seriously and it was very moving.
There is so much more to write and again, everybody we meet has many many stories to tell. We took a cab back to the checkpoint as we were told they would let us leave (since we are foreigners). They held us at the checkpoint for about 45 minutes. It was cold and windy and was getting dark. As I stood there waiting i looked over a cement barrier and saw a man crouched in the small area with his hands cuffed on his back, just waiting in the cold. He told us he had been there for two hours. The soldiers took our passports and questioned us. They said there had been a warning and we weren't supposed to be in Nablus and why we were there etc etc. One guy was American and we asked him what they were doing in Nablus. He wasn't sure but said they were trying to catch "terrorists" (as i am sure you know they call everyone who wants to have any right as a Palestinian a terrorist. In fact we were told that the incident in Tel Aviv was a revenge for two Palestinians being killed (the poster s of these martyrs are everywhere) but i bet that was not in the American press). We asked him if he had caught any yet and he sort of grinned and said he hadn't caught any yet (to me it sounded like he was a little embarrassed, but i'm not sure if that was because he hadn't caught any yet or because he didn't know why there was a war in Nablus; actually to me it sounded like he was eager to catch a "terrorist"). A bunch of soldiers dealt with us, all with their big guns pointed in all directions. We were led away and told we had to wait until they found the "big guy" and checked out passport numbers. we waited in the cold and dark. Finally the guy in charge (none of them seems older than 18 or 20) and said this was very serious and the police could come and deport us as it was very dangerous for tourists and there was a war going on in Nablus etc etc. We tried to convince him to let us go and finally he handed us our passports back (i didn't say much as i was so infuriated about everything that i was afraid i'd say something wrong). It really is a war. The war o f the Israelis against Palestinian civilians.
We are exhausted after one day of dealing with all this.......and here they have to deal with it every day.....
Ursula
P.S. By the way we also saw a group of settlers on the way to Nablus (near yet another checkpoint) on the other side of the street. Several of them were wearing guns as big as the ones of the soldiers and they were NOT soldiers. At that point we had to wait in the cab for a while, while the settlers just drove right through the checkpoint.
A message from Gaza
02 Jan 2004
Dear friends,
From Gaza I wish you a the happiest of new years, I am sure that while you are celebrating, you will not forget the struggle of oppressed nations towards freedom and justice including Palestinian people who are daily subjected to the most unjust and inhumane acts by Israeli occupation all over Palestine - Rafah, Tulkarem, Jenin and Nablus to name a few.
Palestinian people are struggling for freedom, justice and return, with the support and solidarity of all freedom lovers and people who work day and night, to achieve a big goal for all nations, honest people who cannot enjoy normal living ,while others are suffering and fighting injustice worldwide.
With your love, support and solidarity the future is ours and one day justice will prevail.
We wish you a happy new year
Mona El-Farra
Dr. Rabah Muhanna
My Last Night in Palestine
02 Jan 2004
I want to write one last message before I leave Palestine. We have all seen so much over the past 10 days. As always it has included visits with wonderful people (Palestinians of course) and seeing such a beautiful countryside juxtaposed with settlements, checkpoints, soldiers and lastly this apartheid wall. Our trip to Qalqilya was difficult. We almost did not make it in as when we arrived to the only entrance to this beautiful city we were turned away. They told us they would not let Americans in; it did not matter that we were visiting friends or not - the answer was no. I was furious. I am so tired of traveling and passing through checkpoints and being questioned "where are you going" "why do you want to go there" "who are you seeing" - why should i have to justify such things. Then i have to apologize for all the people that have to do this daily and often do not get to travel where I have gone. Palestinians need permission and permits to travel and my American passport has served me well; regardless of the trouble I have seen. How disgusting. Anyway, we tried to pass again when the soldiers changed their shifts and we had a better story ;) so we made it after all. During our wait we visited the neighboring village of Jayyous and visited with people who told us how damaging the wall is not only economically and socially but psychologically as well. How children are affected, how people are not able to tend to their farmland, how water has been stolen by Israel etc.......
As we spent the night in Qalqilya I felt strange. I knew that we were completely enclosed in a wall and though I hadn't seen it yet I felt its presence. We stayed with some friends and they told us more of the situation of the wall and of families where men were in jail, or killed, or out of work. Every family we have met has had people killed or jailed or both. It is not an exception. They showed us maps of Qalqilya and the wall itself. I know many of you know that Qalqilya is completely surrounded by a wall except for ONE ENTRANCE but just in case you don't, it needs to be described. It is a concrete wall that is at least 25 ft. high and surrounds the whole city, which I think is home to about 30,000 Palestinians. This means that at the outskirts of their city all they see is a wall. It even in some areas during different times of the day blocks out the sun! As if this wasn't bad enough, there is a wall (it actually is a fence) inside of the wall, which separates Qalqilya into three areas, two of which are mostly farmland but can only be entered into if people have a special permit. We heard stories such as a 35 year old man who wasn't given a permit to work on his lands beyond the wall, as he was a 'security threat', though he was given permission to travel to Tel Aviv!! Imagine!!! A security threat that travels to Tel Aviv? They can't even lie well!!!! The people we stayed with also talked of the checkpoint into the city (again, this is the only entrance) being closed by 7pm every night and at times being shut for days and/or weeks. This means people never know when they will be able to leave and if and when they do, whether or not they will be able to come back.
So this is the wall! This cage. This prison. And they have plans to expand it throughout the West Bank! So many other stories that I could tell you but I'll save it for the others........
I want to thank all of the people I met on this trip who took care of us along the way. I have spoken to many Palestinians and despite their tired eyes there truly is a resistance that I have not seen in many people and it gets stronger as it is being passed on to the children as well in their families and in their communities where committees are working to organize, to teach, to preserve culture etc. The work that was being done in women centers and children centers in Qalqilya (and elsewhere) was impressive!
I don't know what else to say about my trip and my experiences......I’m at a loss for words! but I thank you for letting me share it with you.......
Polly Sylvia
ISRAEL, THE LEADING EDGE OF CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT IN OUR TIME
January 2, 2004
As I spend the New Year here in Palestine traveling through the West Bank, I try to absorb the meaning of the WALL OF SEPARATION AND HORROR being built by Israel and being funded by the US.
What I see is a vast development project the equall of which would be hard to find in our time. Unlike the revolutionary early years of capitalism when investment brought advancements in technology which fed, housed, and provided better medical care for the populations coming under its control; and unlike its middle years when investment developed cheaper products and useful infrastructure for most to use; this WALL OF SEPARATION AND HORROR along with the long strings of SETTLEMENT OF RAIL-ROAD LENGTH is capitalist investment in methods of devouring and steeling the meager material possessions of the poor and working-class.
Robbing the poor, the working-class, the peasant, and the under-developed has become a distinct feature of capitalism in our time. Not only has capitalism become useless it has begun to drive mankind to depths of poverty and backwardness. CAPITALISM IS MOVING IN REVERSE creating ignorance, decease, malnutrition, unemployment, underemployment, massive poverty, and psychological pain.
THE WALL OF HORRORS is a symptom of CAPITALISM MOVING IN REVERSE. Uable to make profit, the ruling class now amasses wealth through robbery and destruction. In Palestine wages-slaves are forced to give their labor for the lowest wages possible and suffer being prisoners inside Israeli Bantustans while doing so.
I entered Qalqilya yesterday and returned today. As I entered the only gate of this walled prison/city I saw Israeli soldiers torturing residents. They gave us a hard time but we are here for only one time. I felt disgust with fascist USIsrael as I watched a man enterring his own town, opening his trunk for the US's Israeli soldiers, showing his ID, showing the hard-to-obtain permit, and being subjected to humiliating questioning.
We were rejected entry to Qalqilya on our first attempt and were told by the US's Israeli soldier that US citizens are not allowed by law to enter this town. On our second attempt, our hostess had to spin a tale and beg and gently persuade -- very humiliating. We gained entry. It was evening and I watched raws of workers having to wait in line with permit in hand as they lined waiting to enter their home town. They had been to the US's Israel to work and the US's Israeli soldier was slowly calling them in one at a time and examining their papers. They looked tired, bent, anxious to get home. They quietly did what was necessary to bring the painful day to an end.
Inside their walled prison, life is difficult. Most families in Qalqilya have lost their bread-winners. Family heads are in jail or killed or un-employed. Workers coming in know that their neighboring families have been sitting home with no work and no income and no where to go. There are no weekend excursions, no rest, people are nervous, unable to focus, depressed, angry, tired, hungry.
Near the wall at the edge of the city, we met a peasant woman digging what was left of her land. She told us that she was 73 years old and has been loosing chunks of her land at each of the wars Israel uses. They have taken it all bit by bit over the years. Now, the remaining parcel does not grow produce properly because early in the afternoon the wall casts a shadow and the land is denied the sun and is subjected to cold air. In the end she cried. But not before giving us a succinct and cogent analysis of the international situation politically and economically.
Samia A. Halaby
DRONES OVERHEAD ALL
NIGHT LONG
January 5, 2004
Last night in Ramallah was heard, all night long, the annoying sound of drones overhead. Residents used to the sound and aware of its consequences were unable to sleep.
It is difficult to explain how it is here in Palestine under US/Israeli occupation. Massacre at slow-motion is in process, and with it the unnerving sense of fear and disquiet knowing that military terror against the civilian population is possible at any moment.
I caught myself this afternoon, as I walked the streets of Ramallah, thinking of how nice it will be to be in Amman or Beirut in a few days -- thinking of how relaxing it would be.
The truth is that I could not hear the drones because I do not know their sound and so I slept well, by my cousin was kept awake by them. We know that they are photographing continually, keeping track of all movement, preparing for attack.
The one military fact which most disquieted me and most deeply penetrated my sensations was in Qalqilya. The city, as most of you know, is completely surrounded by a wall. Qalqilya residents are entrapped by this wall built by their enemy -- not a wall built to keep the enemy out. There is only one way in or out of the city. It is controlled by US/Israeli soldiers who know nothing of humanity or of working-class ethics. They torture everyone going in and out of the city, but most of all they torture the residents who really need to go in and out.
Yet, there are two other openings in this wall besieging Qalqilya. These two are portals large enough to allow military vehicles easy access to torture the population inside. Not only are citizens entrapped within this wall of horrors, but they are also subject to military attack within this wall whence they cannot move.
Palestinians are imprisoned by US/Israelis -- mostly Jews -- and are subjected to unpredictable intermittent attack. Many Jews, in exchange for privilege, are allowing themselves to be habituated to being oppressors and torturers. Palestinian collaborators, many of them Druz, are also allowing themselves to be similarly habituated, but for lesser morsels of privilege.
What is more, as I write of Drones in Ramallah, and military portals in Qalqilya, I and all Palestinians are aware of the torture that Nablus is undergoing -- that ancient, historic homes have been demolished, that children have been killed, that medical care is disallowed, that food and water has been stopped, and that residents are imprisoned in their homes.
As workers or as supporters of working-class morality and equality, for the sake of all of our future, we cannot but accept our task at this time in history -- to bring capitalist exploitation and imperialism to an end.
Samia A. Halaby
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