I recently
spent almost 3 weeks in and around Nablus, Palestine - the largest
city in the Occupied West Bank. I was a participant volunteer
in ‘Freedom Summer’ a campaign with the International
Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian led organization dedicated
to ending the occupation through non-violent resistance. I joined
the ISM because I saw an opportunity to try to compensate for
some of the injustices that are being inflicted on the Palestinian
people by the Israeli government through American support and
with my tax dollars.
Our training
at the Faisel hostel in Jerusalem was cut short because of the
dire need for Internationals in the West Bank to protect Palestinians
from Israeli injustices. My group decided to go to Nablus.
We started
out in a taxi with yellow - Israeli 'Jew only' plates so we were
allowed to drive on the 'Jew only' roads. These are very nice,
well lit highways that criss cross through the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip. Palestinians are not allowed to even cross these roads
- they will be shot if they try - and so villages are cut off
from each other because of them. Along the way we passed a small
Palestinian boy of about 9 years of age. Our driver backed up
to offer him a ride to his village a few miles down the road.
The boy opened the side door of the van and when he saw the 10
of us with our pale skin, light hair and green or blue eyes, his
eyes grew wide with fright. He yelled 'Yahood' (Jew) and ran away
like the wind. He thought we were Jews and that we would kill
him. That wasn't hatred in his face, it was pure fear and it was
fear based on experience. The settlers kill the Palestinians frequently
and nothing is done to them. On the contrary, they are armed and
trained by the Israeli government and the soldiers in the West
Bank are there for no reason except to protect the settlers.
We found
the turn off to Nablus had been dug up by bulldozers so we ended
up having to change taxis 3 times and we were forced to continue
our journey along a small dirt path that was in unbelievably poor
shape. Eventually we made it to the checkpoint. Our Palestinian
taxi driver (white and blue 'non-Jew' plates on his taxi) was
afraid to stay to see us through because settlers in this area
have a nasty habit of shooting Palestinians here and the soldiers
protect the settlers. When we were finally let through we were
sternly warned by the soldiers not to take any photos. They weren't
worried about weapons or anything - it's the cameras that concern
them. They asked me if I worked for CNN. They don't want the world
to see what they are doing - for good reason. Other Internationals
who tried to pass later were denied access and had to bypass the
checkpoints by walking for hours over the mountain.
Nablus
is unbelievably beautiful. It sits between mountains and I never
once saw a single cloud in the sky - plenty of Apache helicopters
- but no clouds. Every day the children fly elaborate homemade
kites very high in the sky. Many are in the colors of Palestine.
It is impossible to describe just how beautiful it is. Many times
I took a few moments just to stare in awe at the beauty of this
city and the generosity and kindness of the people living here.
The settlers and the soldiers have stolen the mountains so they
can look down on the Palestinians in Nablus - it's much easier
to shoot them from the hills - and they do...every day. Some internationals
rode in UN and Red Crescent ambulances to prevent the soldiers
from firing on them. Sometimes they let them through with the
wounded and other times they didn't.
I spent most of my time in Balata Refugee Camp where I stayed
with a wonderful family. Their home was targeted for destruction
by the IDF. The soldiers had already been here on March 1st to
destroy the home. They locked the family in a room on the second
floor, put all of their furniture in a pile on the first floor,
burned it, pocketed the family's life savings, and detonated a
plastic explosive on the first floor to weaken the structure so
the bulldozer would have an easier time knocking it down. Tiles
fell off the kitchen and bathroom walls on all 3 floors, glass
broke throughout the home, and huge cracks appeared in the walls.
The IDF pulled their bulldozer back though, because someone had
called the media and they decided it wasn't such a good idea to
bulldoze the home down with the family inside on International
TV. The reason they gave for needing to demolish this home - which
remember is in the middle of a refugee camp - was that 'suspected
militants' sometimes visit there. We stayed in the home to protect
it from the bulldozer. Each night the IDF brought their bulldozer
by - accompanied by a tank and an APC. Sometimes the cut off the
electricity first and other times they didn't. They'd park outside
and fire machine guns and throw percussion grenades around. This
usually continued from about 11:00 at night until 3:00 AM. They
also managed to shoot people from time to time if they saw them
peeking out of windows. I attended too many funerals of people
who were shot for no reason. The army collectively punishes people
by not letting them have the bodies to bury. We, the Internationals,
were prepared to carry bodies from the hospital ourselves so they
could be buried but the army always backed down and released them.
It wouldn't look good on the evening news if Internationals are
carrying bodies to the families because the Israelis were holding
them hostage. I was able to get some video of the nightly tank/bulldozer/APC
parade but the family wouldn't let me risk it most of the time.
There are huge holes in the walls of all of the homes which the
IDF blasted throughout the camp so they can move from house to
house without entering the street. They even spray painted arrows
on all of the interior walls to show other soldiers the pathways
that have been blasted through. Every wall in these homes is scarred
with bullet holes. Balata Camp, well - all of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip really - are dotted with demolished homes and families
living in tents on top of the rubble. When the army demolishes
these homes the families don't have homeowners insurance of anything
to help them recover. Israel NEVER compensates anyone for damages.
The people are left with nothing and with no hope of every acquiring
anything again since no one is allowed to work or move around.
Destruction of homes is also illegal under the Geneva Conventions
and International Law but since when did Israel care about laws
or human rights?
One evening early in my stay the tank and bulldozer came early
to Balata camp. They must have been bored that day because at
about 4:00 in the afternoon they decided to have some fun with
the little kids playing soccer in the clear area near the camp
entrance. A tank would pull up close to the kids really fast,
turn sharply to blow clouds of dust on them, and then retreat
100 feet or so. I watched this for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Boys started picking up stones but I kept knocking them out of
their hands. I was videotaping the tank and was getting scared
because the children kept crowding around. I didn't want the kids
shot if they targeted me because of my camera and with the kids
crowding around me there was more chance that the soldiers would
notice me & the camera. I put the camera down and started
trying to get the kids to go home. Eventually a kid threw a rock
- which didn't even come near hitting the tank - and the tank
opened fire - not on the one who threw the rock but on a crowd
of kids standing at least 50-75 feet away from the one who threw
it. 9 children were injured - 2 of them very seriously. I'm not
talking about teenagers here - these were little kids. I can't
help but think the soldiers in the tank were gleeful that they
had finally provoked them enough to get a rock thrown so they
would have an excuse to open fire. They did back off after shooting
the kids so they could be taken to the hospital. I guess we should
be grateful that they were so compassionate. Often times they
prevent the ambulances from entering until everyone has bled to
death. A similar incident happened nearby a week later but this
time the IDF managed to kill at least one child. I soon learned
that this kind of thing is what passes for 'normal' in the occupied
West Bank.
I spent nights in Balata and days in Nablus. These areas have
been under 24 hour curfew for some time. Everything is closed.
No one can go to work or even leave their homes. Ambulances are
the only vehicles that can be seen and even they are shot at if
the occupation forces see them. Of course firing at ambulances
is illegal under international law but then so are curfews, occupations
that last 35 years, settlements, collective punishments, house
demolitions, and most everything else that the Israeli army does.
We, the Internationals, broke curfew openly every day. There is
power in having a foreign passport and we used that power every
chance we could. The soldiers seemed very confused. On one hand
it was clear that they wanted us to like them, that they wanted
to be seen as one of us - part of western society. I’d like
to think that most of them were ashamed of what they are doing.
None of them I spoke to admitted to having shot children yet children
are shot all the time so at least some of them were lying.
We staged protests in Nablus opposing the curfew. As we marched
and chanted our numbers grew as more Palestinians felt safe enough
to join us. No soldiers showed up, perhaps because the press was
there.
There are several homes in Nablus that the army has taken over.
They put all of the families in one room and lock them in then
they put snipers at the windows in the upper floors. We managed
to get one family released but not until after the army had thrown
percussion grenades at us, fired live ammunition, and hit us with
tear gas (which, to our delight mostly blew over us and gassed
the soldiers in the home behind us). We still refused to leave
and they finally gave up and left the home.
We sat in front of bulldozers and tanks to prevent them from demolishing
homes. Success in these endeavors is totally dependent on press
presence. The first thing the army does is fire at the press and
if that doesn't work they arrest them. Once the press is gone
it's open season on any people who happen to be around. We realized
that having the cameras there was the key to our success so we
made sure that we protected the press with our bodies. With the
cameras rolling, the army is not going to shoot Internationals
who are standing in front of members of the press to protect them
from Israeli bullets.
Israel passed a new law that allows them to deport or turn away
at the border anyone who is there to show solidarity with the
Palestinian people. They are afraid of this phenomenon of Internationals
coming in to do the job that the UN and the press should be doing
but cannot because of America. I met fellow ISMers in Nablus from
England, the US, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, India, Ireland,
Wales, Canada, and China. The youngest was 18 and the oldest was
a 77 year old man from Edmonton Canada with artificial knees.
The people are realizing that it is up to us to stop these horrible
daily abuses.
I didn't find one family in Balata camp that hadn't had at least
one child who had been maimed or murdered by the Israelis. There
isn't one home where guns haven't fired into the windows. There
isn't one wall that isn't marked with bullet holes. There is not
a single night when sleep is not disturbed by the sound of tanks,
machine guns, Apaches, bulldozers, or missile fire. Water is precious.
When it is available there is a tiny trickle of lukewarm water
from the spicket. This water comes from aqueducts underneath Nablus
but is taken by the Israelis for their own use and sold back to
the Palestinians. The Israelis get 80% - 90% of it and the Palestinians
are allowed to buy back 10% - 20% if they are lucky - 10% of their
own water that has been stolen from them. The electricity is shut
off by the army frequently - usually for no apparent reason except
to show who's boss.
What I find most disturbing is the way that the army deliberately
antagonizes the people - pushing and pushing and pushing, humiliating,
terrorizing, and harassing everyone - especially children - until
someone reacts. Then they go in with full force killing everything
that moves and destroying everything in their path and pat themselves
on the back for 'rooting out terror'.
I've been asked if the Palestinians display a hatred of Americans
and whether this hatred was directed at me personally. Absolutely
not! Unlike Americans, they are capable of separating the actions
of our government from the people and they love the American people.
I was, as usual when I'm in the Middle East, treated with kindness
and respect everywhere I went. I never had to find my own way,
carry a heavy load, or search for a meal or a cup of tea. It is
simply amazing. When I arrived in Israel I was warned by local
Israelis not to go to the occupied territories or East Jerusalem
and put myself in danger with those evil and violent Arabs. The
only thing one has to fear from the Palestinian people is that
they will over feed you with delicious and elaborate home-cooked
meals or that your schedule will be get delayed because you want
to take everyone you meet up on their offers of a meal, tea, coffee,
and a place to sleep.
It is also important to point out that many of the Internationals
who participate in the solidarity movement in Palestine are Jewish.
There were 3 American Jews in my group, and it was an Israeli
Jew who trained us and led us into Nablus, and probably almost
half of the protesters in my local area are Jewish. Many Jewish
people feel a particular need to speak out against the Israeli
government because they don't like what is being done in their
name. There are many Jewish organizations, several of them in
Israel, who are against the occupation and the treatment that
the Palestinians are receiving by Israel. They just don't get
much publicity here in America.
When I was leaving Nablus our taxi was stopped by tanks and bulldozers
blocking the road. They were digging up yet another section of
highway to prevent people from being able to move far from their
homes if curfew is lifted. As usual, the soldiers jumped out and
surrounded our car, shoving M-16s in our faces. The one who looked
at my passport said, 'What are you doing here? This is not your
place.' It took all my will not to reply 'What are YOU doing here?
This is not YOUR place.'
As we drove from Nablus the tears started to come. I didn't want
to leave; I felt that I belonged back in Balata. It isn't only
the power that I have as an International to protect people and
homes that make me want to stay it is because the people welcome
us so warmly. It is the genuine love and unlimited generosity
that they still manage to have despite the hardships that they
face every day. It is the knowledge that I DID something, I was
effective. On the scale of things what I did was very little but
if all I had accomplished was to let some of the Palestinian people
know that there are Americans who care, then I accomplished a
lot. I will go back - soon - and I will take more people with
me.
