There
is a significant measure of resistance creeping back into the
people of Jenin. They say: “We cannot live under 24 hour
curfew, constantly subject to the gunfire of the Israeli soldiers,
having our homes and shops destroyed.” So, many people—old
to young, women to children—have been throwing watermelons
and tomatoes at the tanks as they roll through the streets. One
young boy successfully stuffed a piece of watermelon in the barrel
of a gun on a tank. The desire to live in freedom is outweighing
their fears of death and so they resist with what they have.
One young
boy told an international activist in the area: “The only
thing I want in the world is to protect my watermelon stand. Please
stay with me.” Many fruit and vegetable stands have been
run over by tanks in recent weeks, taking away the very livelihood
of the people who sell from them.
Local
estimates say that only 20% of the inhabitants of Jenin Refugee
Camp, only three months ago home to 14,000, have left the camp
due to continued Israeli military operations there. Soldiers continue
using dynamite to blow up homes in the camp at whim, causing fear
to grow and expand and forcing people to seek shelter elsewhere.
Men of all ages are continually arrested or detained, beaten,
blindfolded, and handcuffed. For most of them, this is the second
time in three months this has happened to them.
Those
who remain in the camp are still trying to pick up the pieces
of their homes that were willfully destroyed by soldiers when
they entered the camp nearly three weeks ago. They went door to
door, pillaging and destroying everything they came across. At
the time the soldiers entered the camp, most people were still
in the process of picking up their lives from the large invasion
back in April. They have had to start from scratch again.
Some
prisoners taken in April have been allowed visits from immediate
family members. This includes some of those held in administrative
detention, meaning they have not been charged with any crime but
are generally being kept in prison for two three-month periods.
The Israeli
military is still searching Jenin for two active resisters to
their presence in the West Bank but is having trouble finding
them. One of them comes from a very large family in the Jenin
area. Many people, therefore, carry the same family name. One
man with this family name, but a very, very distant relative of
the wanted person, was arrested the 20th of June 2002 and is being
given a four-month sentence because he belongs to this family.
Food
trucks are often being hassled trying to enter Jenin. Some drivers
have had to spend the night in their trucks—which are not
fitted with sleeper compartments—due to the Israeli military
holding them up. No reports of people starving have surfaced but
in the last three months, there has often been a skimpy amount
of food available in the city.
The presence
of international activists attuned to cultural and situational
sensitivities in Jenin and the Jenin Refugee Camp has been able
to slow down “the most brutal soldiers in the West Bank”
as they continue beating, killing, injuring and arresting the
people of Jenin District. Due to one or two internationals continually
standing between the Israeli soldiers and their targets—children—soldiers
have largely changed their ammunition from live to rubber-coated
steel bullets (which are still lethal at ranges under 100m). Tanks
and APCs continue to fire live ammunition exclusively. International
activists follow soldiers or tanks around as they move through
the city or the camp, trying to provide a constant presence and
intervene where possible. Physical intervention has been undertaken
numerous times by them, lessening the severity of the beatings
some Palestinians have received at the hands of the Israeli soldiers.
International
activists have also been subject to beatings, verbal abuse, and
one was drug on the ground recently. One Palestinian-Canadian
was detained for several hours Friday the 12th of July with many
other Palestinian men and later released. He witnessed 18-year
old Israeli soldiers slapping a 70-year old Palestinian man in
the face while in detention.
Resistance
will continue to grow in the hearts of the people of Jenin and
Jenin Refugee Camp due to the unsustainability of the living conditions
imposed on them by the Israeli military. Operation “Determined
Path” is planting seeds of hatred and despair in the hearts
of Palestinian children through the destruction of their communities,
homes, and families. The first stage of the Al-Aqsa intifadah
may be over, but the next one is already being born.
