BostontoPalestine
Boston support group for the International Solidarity Movement

Home
About us
News from Palestine

Contact
    Email
    Subscribe
    Donate

Current Delegation
    Summer 2005

Past Delegations
    Olive Harvest 2004
    Freedom Summer 2004
    Past Campaigns

Events
Photos
Videos (ISM)
Rachel Corrie
Links
Speakers
Be a Delegate
Press
faq
Actions!

7) Sept 12, 2003 Basketball In Jenin

6) Sep 11, 2003 Retribution

5) Aug 30, 2003 Checkpoint: Security or Harassment?

4) Aug 23, 2003 Jenin Under Curfew

3) Aug 3, 2003 Israel's Roadmap to Peace

2) July 25 2003 Report from Jenin

1) July 16 and 17, 2003 Report from Jayyous

7) Sept 12, 2003 Basketball In Jenin
by Joe, in Jenin, West Bank

Today, I played basketball for the second time this week with a group of guys from Jenin. It is so much fun because the guys are quite good, so we play some serious ball. Playing "hoops" has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had here in Palestine; I feel like I am back home playing with my friends at Morrison (the local court in my town). On Monday (the first day I played), whether it was running up and down the court clapping after a good shot or complaining about a foul being called on my team, being completely engrossed in the game provided a temporary, and much needed escape from the Occupation. Today, however, demonstrated how short-lived that escape really is.

When we were playing today, we heard an APC (which is the size of a tank) or a tank approaching Jenin. The guys stopped the game for a second to assess if we needed to stop playing entirely. Even I have gotten so experienced to hearing tanks approach Jenin that I can tell how close it is getting, so the guys could tell that that the tank was far enough away that we could continue. We resumed playing, but once again, later on, we could hear the tank(s) approaching, so we had to stop again to assess the situation. This time there was encouragement from some of the guys to hurry up the game because the tank(s) were getting closer. We were able to finish playing without a problem, but the fact that when a person plays basketball in Jenin, he needs to be concerned about tanks exemplifies how out of control the situation is here in Palestine.

It is crazy to think that as we were playing hoops, a serious incursion could have begun in Jenin. I just thought to myself, "How could tanks possibly drive into Jenin? We are playing basketball! Reason would say that there must be serious gunfire or something of the sort for there to be a need to bring tanks into Jenin (of course there was not)." I think this was my train of logic, because growing up, when I would see pictures on the news or in history books of tanks driving in the streets of a city, I would think that it was a war zone, and that the streets were generally empty, because there were major battles going on, so it was not like the tanks were disrupting life by driving in the streets. However, nothing could be further from my perception of tanks in a city than life in Jenin. This is not a war zone! If I could convey only message to people who are not here in Jenin, it would be that when there are pictures of tanks and APCs driving in the streets of Jenin it is not because there is need for the tanks to quell a serious threat to Israeli security. People in Jenin, like anywhere else in the world, are simply trying to live a normal life (e.g. be happy, have a family, a home, etc.), so when the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) send in tanks, life is completely disrupted. These streets are crowded and full of life. The fact of the matter is that it is completely arbitrary and unjustified, and from a personal standpoint, heart breaking to realize that young guys my age actually need to fear tanks when they play basketball. This is the sad reality of life under occupation.

6) Sep 11, 2003 Retribution

by Joe

Two nights ago, there were two suicide bombings: one at bus stop near a military base near Tel Aviv and another in a café in West Jerusalem. That same night, Jenin was victimized by incursions from the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) that lasted from about 3:00am to the early morning hours. Tanks and APCs (which are the size of tanks) drove into Jenin, Apache helicopters flew overhead, and Special Forces occupied several homes in the Old City area. It was frightening to see and hear explosions in heavily populated residential areas such as the Refugee Camp (I would hear the sound of the explosion and then seconds later see this billow of smoke come up). Two military jeeps and a police jeep drove around the city in the early morning (around 6:00am) announcing from loudspeakers that Jenin was being placed under curfew. As I have said before, and want to reiterate again, curfew is a misnomer, because in reality the entire city is placed under house-arrest. If any person is caught walking on a street, she is liable to be arrested or shot.

Like we had done in the past during curfew, a few of us internationals went out into the streets to meet up with the local AP and Reuters photographers to monitor the military and to see if anyone was breaking curfew. As were walking around the Old City, we encountered a tank and an APC sitting in the street, but left (as usual) to another part of the city once we arrived with our cameras. We then proceeded to an area where a home was being occupied by the military. There were several military jeeps outside, and after waiting at a safe distance of about one hundred yards away (at the advice of the local photographers) for some time, we decided to approach the home to see what was happening. As we approached the home, soldiers came out with their guns aimed at us. We quickly moved to the side of the street against a home with our hands in the air. A minute later, a young, blindfolded Palestinian man was led into the back of one of the military vehicles. After reading innumerable testimonies (and hearing so many myself) of young Palestinian men being kidnapped from their homes so that they may be held in Israeli "administrative detention" for months without ever being charged with a crime, I could not believe that I was actually witnessing an arrest.

It has been over a day now since I saw the young man being taken away, and the image is still as clear as day in my head. I picture the young men who have become friends from Jayyous and Jenin being taken away in a similar fashion. It depresses me every time I think about it, because I know, like the young men in Jayyous and Jenin I have met, he is not a "wanted man." Undoubtedly, if he were a "wanted man," the soldiers would have killed him on the spot. Instead, he is another victim of Israeli retribution. His arrest will be used as a statistic by the Israeli government to show its people that it is taking the needed "steps" to prevent suicide bombings. The government can now say with pride that it arrested seven men from the Jenin area the night of the suicide bombings while the innocent man I witnessed being kidnapped has to sit indefinitely in an Israeli prison.

After walking into the compound of the home, and seeing children pick up empty casings from the Israeli guns, the lights of one of the cars shot out, and the empty dinner aluminum packages of the soldiers had left lying around, we walked to another home that had been occupied during the night by the IOF. Right away, the destruction was evident. A grenade had blown out the steel doors to the compound of the home and now there were small children were playing on the doors. Like many other times with children, it was a scene I could not bear to see them experience. I was reminded of the fact that children here in Palestine have to grow up collecting empty gun casings, instead of baseball cards like I did growing up, and instead of playing with toys, play with the remains of a military incursion as they were doing now. As we walked into the entryway of the home, I almost had to leave when the old woman of the house held pieces of a window in her hands and cried as she hysterically told us what had happened in Arabic. I could understand a word she was saying, but it did not matter. It was clear that what had happened was a horrific tragedy. Eventually, we found out that the military had come into the home at 3:00am while the old woman and two her sons (both of which are doctors- one is fifty-five years old and the other is fifty-seven) were sleeping. After blowing open the door, the soldiers shot above their heads, and into their dressers, mirrors, windows, and cabinets; effectively trashing the place. No weapons were found, and no arrests were made, but this did not seem to lessen the amount of damage done by the soldiers. While it might appear that the IOF was unsuccessful in its pursuit of stamping out "terrorism," it was completely successful in exerting its strength against innocent Palestinians and illustrating how it can terrorize Palestinians without fear of being held accountable.

Within an hour of leaving the home, we heard that curfew had been lifted, and about half the stores of Jenin had opened. It did not matter; the day could never be regained. School had already been canceled, and because the military did not drive around officially announcing that curfew had been lifted, many shop owners were not willing to risk opening shop only to realize that curfew had not in fact actually been lifted. Thus, another lost day for these struggling businesses.

B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, has written two excellent publications that discuss in depth the illegality of curfew ("Civilians Under Siege: Restrictions on Freedom of Movement as Collective Punishment" and "Lethal Curfew: The Use of Live Ammunition to Enforce Curfew), so I will not go into great detail on this same issue, but I would like to note several interesting quotations from these reports.

In response to B'Tselem's report, "Civilians Under Siege," IDF (more appropriately known as IOF) public relations spokesman, Major Efrat Segev, said, "It should be mentioned that this measure (i.e. curfew) is only taken when security need demand it, as a result of the combat situation in the area." I have witnessed three curfews in Jenin and nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that there have been two separate days of suicide bombings, and then in response Jenin was placed under curfew. These two separate occasions has made the true intention of curfew, i.e. collective punishment, unmistakably apparent.

Furthermore, Major Segev states in his letter, "The purpose of imposing the curfew is both to enable the IDF soldiers to conduct battles in built up areas with no obstructions, and to protect the lives of the residents." I would counter this statement with the following testimony:

On the morning of Friday, August 29, 2003, curfew was lifted after Jenin had been suffering from it for three days. A few hours later, at approximately 11:00am, four tanks and four APCs drove into the middle of Jenin, near the Old City, to help evacuate soldiers that had come under fire from Palestinian resistance fighters while the soldiers had been occupying the top floor of a building. I stood among the men at the market, because just when it looked as if normalcy had been restored to Jenin, there was absolute pandemonium as shop keepers tried to find cover around the marketplace when the tanks drove in. Even before reading the ridiculous statement from Major Segev in the B'Tselem report, I was outraged at the fact that the IOF would undergo a military operation just after they had said that the streets were safe to return to for the residents of Jenin. It was obvious to me that the IOF lifted curfew to use the civilians of Jenin as human body shields for the soldiers, i.e. making it harder for the resistance fighters to fight back if fellow Palestinians are in the area. Therefore, when I read the statement from Major Segev, my thoughts on how much the IOF lies and does everything with the Palestinians' welfare as their least of their priorities were completely solidified.

I was unable to write a report about the curfew that was placed on Jenin from Tuesday, August 26, 2003 to Friday, August 29, 2003, but I would like to share how surreal it was on Thursday, August 28, when curfew was lifted for four hours in the middle of the day. It was weird to see the streets come to life after Jenin had been nearly a ghost-town for two and a half days only to know that Jenin would once again become a ghost-town a few hours later. I could not understand how the IOF could justify placing Jenin under curfew in the first place, but to see the transition from house-arrest to temporary freedom go smoothly really hit home for me the extent of the cruelty of curfew. To see life return to normal made it abundantly clear that people buying goods in the city of Jenin, or eating a falafel, or doing anything for that matter had nothing to do with Israeli security. Thus, the question is why do the people of Jenin have to needlessly suffer under house-arrest when clearly them being out in the streets living life as normal does nothing to Israel? Emotionally, it was really hard to see people scrambling to buy food and other goods before curfew was reinstated with the return of tanks at 4:00pm, because no one could know how long curfew would last; it could have been for a day, a week, a month or more. The hardest part was witnessing people retreat to their homes, which had effectively become jail cells.

In the end, it is unambiguous that curfew is simply retribution and has nothing to do the "demands of security" as Major Efrat Segev would like the international community to believe. Whether it is the man whom I saw getting arrested, the old woman's whose home was raided, the convenient store owner who could open his store, the teenager who could not go to school, or the child who could not sleep with tanks driving by his or her home, all are victims of a crime they did not commit. All have to suffer a life under occupation.
 

5) Aug 30, 2003 Checkpoint: Security or Harassment?

Humbly written by Joe, Jenin, West Bank

All I could say was "aasef" (I'm sorry) to the family as they turned their car around to go back to Jenin after being prevented at the checkpoint on Nablus road from returning to their home in a nearby village. I was left there crying after the boy in the backseat, who I would have expected to be upset by my futility in imploring the soldier to allow his family (his aged father and mother, and himself) to go back to their village, simply smiled.

At many different checkpoints during my time here in Palestine, I have seen families get turned away from returning to their homes, sick people from going to hospitals, people from going to work, teachers and students from going to school, etc. innumerable times on a daily basis. In general, this happens daily to thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank as the IOF (the Israeli Occupation Forces) inexplicably does not allow Palestinians to travel to and from Palestinian cities (I emphasize Palestinian, because I want to stress that these are not checkpoints to enter Israel, but to go from one Palestinian village/city to another). Today felt different though, and it was because of these differences that I just lost it after seeing this family get turned away at the checkpoint.

I cried, because a minute after the other international and I arrived at the checkpoint (which consisted of a tank and an APC- which is the size of tank), and were fed the usual garbage from the soldiers that they could not allow anyone to pass for security reasons, i.e. security for Israel, (how an unarmed Palestinian entering Jenin puts Israel at risk is beyond me), they drove off making the road passable for Palestinians. It is important to note that this is not the first time that soldiers have told me that no Palestinian could enter or leave Jenin for security reasons and then left shortly afterward, for it happened yesterday. However, what made today different was that after over two hundred cars (I counted) passed where the tank and APC had been forbidding cars to travel, the tank returned in one hour only to once again forbid people to go to and from Jenin. It appeared that it could get no more ridiculous when the soldiers prohibited cars from passing and then proceeded to leave, but for them to return and once again reject people "for security reasons" proved that I was wrong. The other international and I could not resist asking the soldiers how they could possibly justify what they were doing, and the soldier could only reply, "I understand why you are confused. I can't explain." How genuine is this security risk to Israel when the soldiers just get up and leave?

This is the life in Palestine.

I cried, because after shooing away several cars with the flick of his hand, the soldier allowed one civilian vehicle (ambulances carrying sick people and NGO vehicles are generally allowed to pass) to pass through the checkpoint right in front of the car with the family, which was not allowed to pass. It was inspiring to see these two vehicles approach the tank, despite the soldier telling them not to, to demand that they be able to return to their homes. At first, I was hopeful that the family would be able to pass, because the soldiers had just let a non-NGO car carrying two men pass, but it did not matter. It did not matter the old father and mother, and their considerably younger son were clearly not a security risk, they did not stand a chance of being able to go home. I do not understand exactly how the soldier could justify allowing the first car, but then not the car with the family, but I think it might have to do with the fact that one of the men in the first car spoke Hebrew, because when the boy was pleading with the soldier to go through, once his father came over and did not know any Hebrew, they were immediately shooed away (the soldier did however know Arabic). Furthermore, soldiers have justified not allowing anyone to pass, because then everyone will actually think that they have the right to return to their homes on the other side of a checkpoint (is that really unreasonable?), so the soldiers simply do not allow anyone to pass. However, even as the soldier was allowing the first car to go through, he was still able to shoo away other cars, so he could have allowed the car with the family without compromising the insidious intention of the checkpoint, i.e. not allowing anyone home.

Where was the family to go?

I could not take it anymore as I saw the family drive away. I remember when I first got to Palestine, I was outraged at the existence of checkpoints. Over time, however, I stopped asking, "Why?" and instead thought about how I could get around them or what was the best strategy to go through them as quickly as possible. Now, though, their absurdity has just completely overwhelmed me. I am sick of hearing soldiers tell me that people cannot leave Jenin, because of what happened in West Jerusalem. The people in Jenin have no connection with what happened there! What angers me the most is the fact that these soldiers think it is a fair compromise to allow ambulances and NGO (a.k.a. humanitarian) vehicles to pass. What is non-humanitarian about people wanting to go home? All cars should unconditionally be able to travel within the West Bank.

As we were leaving the checkpoint walking down Nablus road back to Jenin, we saw an APC chase several cars that were traveling on a side-road that allows cars to avoid the checkpoint. The road is unpaved and equates to an arduous path through the mountains to Jenin. In addition, it means potential, fatal run-ins with soldiers or an APC; for example like what was happening when the other international and I were walking-by. Two cars, a smaller car and a service van (a big taxi), were trapped among a group of trees by the APC, and were being sprayed with its smoke (some internationals and local Palestinians believe this smoke is DDT, or another type of pesticide). By the time the other international and I had run over to the APC, a soldier, sticking out of the top of the APC, had made the men get out of the service to show him their identifications. They had not yet handed him their IDs, when the soldier saw me with my video camera. As I was explaining the situation into the camera (of course, loud enough so he could hear it), he quickly shut the lid to the APC with him inside. The APC then left to go further down the road to find more vehicles to stop from going around the checkpoint, but more immediately, he stopped harassing the men in the service.

It was nice to know that my mere presence (with the video camera) had stopped the harassment. The men in the service were extremely grateful as they sped away, because it is common for soldiers to detain people for several hours "to check their IDs, to make sure they are not wanted people" at checkpoints, so when a person is "caught" going around a checkpoint, the punishment can be much more severe. After feeling completely hopeless and useless only a few minutes earlier, it was great to see that my presence can do something (I have the whole episode on camera, so people can enjoy seeing the soldier all pissed off that I had arrived).

It is a relief to see that the Occupation has not become so normalized that I am desensitized to its effects. These checkpoints are a horrible reality that Palestinians face each and everyday. Furthermore, it should be abundantly clear that the true intention of these checkpoints is harassment, not security. The fact that the soldiers just pick up and leave and yet still try to justify when they are there that no one other than an ambulance or NGO vehicle can pass is absurd. In addition, it can only be assumed that the men in the service were stopped because they could have been "a security risk," therefore why would the APC leave just because I had arrived with my video camera without checking the vehicle or their identifications? The fact of the matter is that the APC did not pullover the cars for any "security" reason.

Finally, I wrote in my report about the shepherds in Jayyous that simply by living, these shepherds are resisting the Occupation. Today, I saw another way that a simple aspect of life is a type of resistance. From the families who attempt to plead for their right to return home, to those who wait until the road is uninhabited by tanks and APCs, and to those who travel around the checkpoints, they are all resisting Israel's goal of making life intolerable for Palestinians (in this case, by attempting to trap Palestinians in Jenin and away from their homes) simply by traveling. It is incredible how a taxi ride becomes a means of resistance, and demonstrates the extent of this brutal Occupation.

"The following letter was written to friends and family during a second day of curfew in the city of Jenin. Curfew is a misnomer, because it does not mean that people need to be inside by a certain time, but is a form of house arrest; people are not allowed to leave their homes at all as life is brought completely to a halt."

4)Aug 23, 2003 Jenin Under Curfew

Curfew is an illegal form of collective punishment that is difficult to adequately describe. I can capture the tanks, APCs (Armored Personal Carriers- the size of tanks), and hummers driving throughout the city on videotape, and I can even get clips of the empty streets, but these shots are simply insufficient. These two-minute frames might be gripping in the media back in the United States (if the media would ever report on this curfew), but what I can never sufficiently capture on film are the men, women, and children who are prisoners in their own homes. They cannot leave to get food, water, or go back to their homes in the villages near Jenin if they became stuck in the city when this curfew began. Their lives have been completely brought to a standstill.

The closest analogy I can create for people back in the United States is a snowstorm (hopefully you realize how limited this analogy is even before I begin to describe it). The way people prepared for the impending incursion reminded me of how people back in my hometown prepare for a bad snowstorm. People were hurrying to get food, water, and other last minute necessities before the stores closed earlier than usual. Then the next day, Friday, during the first day of curfew, we, the internationals, commented to ourselves that the children were edgier and more aggressive with us than usual, which also reminded me of how bad weather traditionally brings out the worst in people. At first I was caught of guard by how rough the boys were, but unlike people getting annoyed with bad weather, it is perfectly rational for the boys to be angry considering that there are tanks driving in their streets. Clearly, these limited similarities need to be put into perspective. Instead of the weather being the impediment to normal life, it is an occupational military that is not held accountable for their actions by the international community.

Yesterday I was talking with a person back in the United States, and I said how this curfew is unprovoked, and the person interrupted me by saying, "Don't start with how 'unprovoked' it is; what happened in Jerusalem was a tragedy." How these two events are linked is beyond me. What does the taxi driver in Jenin have anything to do with the suicide bombing in Jerusalem? Why should the old woman who cannot buy food for her family have to suffer for a crime she did not commit? The illogical reasoning of the person to whom I was speaking demonstrates how the pro-Israeli media has won. If people back in the United States actually think that everyone in the West Bank deserves to suffer more under these curfews/incursions than their usual daily share under the occupation, this occupation will continue to oppress until the Palestinians have been completely driven into submission. Despite the overwhelming sadness I felt when I initially got off the phone, the conversation reaffirmed my purpose for being here; that is to be a witness to the unreported atrocities that Palestinians suffer.

Even more upsetting than any phone conversation I could ever have is thinking about the long-term effects of this collective punishment. Above, I described how the children are acting more aggressive, but on a long-term scale, I cannot imagine how deep this curfew/incursion, and other curfews/incursions, scars these children's psyche. As one man said to me yesterday, "We have to teach our kids about tanks, Apache helicopters, and fighter jets. Do you have to do that in the United States?" This reality of the curfew/incursion is felt long after the tanks are gone. It is an example of the oppression that I traditionally have trouble articulating. When I describe Palestinian life back to people in the United States, people have a harder time understanding the awful effects of the occupation if there is no immediate oppression from gunfire or tanks, but the very fact that people have to teach their children about and prepare them for these realities is in itself an injustice.

This curfew has also changed my perception of stone-throwing. I am ingrained with this mentality of examining situations in terms of productivity and effectiveness, therefore I have not been the biggest fan of stone-throwing, because I have viewed it as unproductive and as a risk not worth taking. It has even appeared in some cases that my presence, along with the presence of other internationals, has created the space for children to throw stones, so I have been wary about staying around the stone-throwing scene (for fear of feeling responsible if a child was shot). However, I now feel that I have a better understanding for why children and young men throw stones. They have witnessed their city be shutdown, their parents forced to stay in their homes, and even when there is not a curfew, they witness their lives be completely governed by the occupation. They are not trying to make a political statement when they throw a stone, nor do they believe that their stones will stop the tanks, but they are bored, angry, and frustrated, so when they see these tanks driving on their streets, they pick up rocks and throw them. It is as nonviolent (or violent) as me yelling at a police officer, who is pushing me at a protest, that these are "my streets." The stones do no damage to the tank or APC (however, I actually did see a stone make it into the little hole where the soldier sits in the tank, but the soldier simply threw the stone out of the tank). Stone-throwing is an expression of aggravation and simple resistance. Like my words at the police officer, these stones are not effective, but just as I feel, these children feel that they need to do something. Just as I am not going to let the police officer push me around, these kids are not going to just let the tanks drive throughout their city. Therefore, I see no possible way that a soldier riding in an APC or tank could ever justify shooting one of these kids for throwing a rock.

In the end, this curfew is atrocious and emotionally draining. I was hit hard by the curfew this morning when another international and I were walking back from the one shop that is open with bread, water, and juice, and a father yelled to us from the rooftop of a building about the bread we were carrying. I looked up and saw him alone on the roof with his family (wife and three daughters) in a window on the floor below. He was asking if he could buy the bread from us, because he is too scared to go out and buy it himself. We said yes, so the man came down to the street. The other international, who speaks Arabic and was holding the bread, tried repeatedly to give him the bread for nothing, but the man would only take the bread if he could pay for it. We sold him the bread and left, but the question is how many other families are without food or water? It is depressing to think about. I know that in the past, ISMers have brought these necessities to people under curfew, so we would like to do the same now, but we are dependent on our local contact to let us know when people need food, so we have not done so yet (he keeps telling me that it has only been two days, but if people need things, they will call him- I am skeptical, but there is only so much I can do considering that I have only been in Jenin for about a week in total over a month's time).

Hopefully this horrendous curfew will end in the near future In Shallah (of course its ending will be as arbitrary as its beginning, so one can not say when this will be).

For A Better World,
Joe

3) August 3, 2003 Israel's Roadmap to Peace

Humbly written by Joe at Mas,ha Peace Camp

Last Tuesday, July 29, two young shepherds, who are in their young twenties, were kidnapped from the south-side of the Palestinian village Jayyous, behind the apartheid wall (there is no way that I can refer to it as a security wall when it is clearly being built to steal land and water from the Palestinians). They were kidnapped by the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) at approximately 10:00pm when they were keeping watch over their sheep. The two young men, who live in Jayyous, have grown up taking care of their sheep on the lands of Jayyous, but since the apartheid wall has been erected, life has been tremendously more difficult. To start, access to their land is limited, and on top of that the army drives through the village,s land and along the wall during the night to scare the farmers and shepherds. It is because of this concern that we, the "Boston To Palestine International Solidarity Movement delegation along with local farmers, established the Peace Camp on the northwest side of Jayyous to diminish the chance that the army would arrest, beat, and/or detain people, like they unfortunately did to these young shepherds.

Despite the fact that the shepherds were guaranteed by the Israeli high court that they would have access to their own land (Is this not ridiculous enough that farmers and shepherds now need to receive permission to go to their own land?), the army informed them on the night of July 29 that they could not be on their land with the sheep, and thus would have to come with the IOF soldiers. Once they were kidnapped, the younger teenager who was with the shepherds was forced to futilely attempt to bring the sheep back to Jayyous. The younger teenager received some help from the father of a Bedouin family, yet nevertheless lost a sizeable number of the herd. It is important to note that the soldiers initially told the teenager that he needed to bring the sheep across the arduous mountain side of Jayyous to the north-west side of the village to enter through the one gate left that allows farmers/shepherds to access their lands. Thankfully a higher-ranking IOF officer on the scene realized the absurdity of this demand and allowed the teenager to bring the sheep through the end of the wall on the south-side. (Currently, the opening that was promised on the south-side has been closed by the wall, but the wall is not completely finished, so people can climb around at the end. Generally, though, soldiers and the private security guards do not allow people to go from the village to their land through this opening.) The soldiers, mere suggestion that the teenager cross the mountainous terrain exemplifies the complete disrespect of the Palestinians and the ludicrousness of the army. As if kidnapping the shepherds was not enough, they had to do their best to drive away the shepherds, means of living as well.

I received word of what had happened when I was with Ben in the home of one of our friends in the village. In what was becoming a typical night, Ben and I were hanging out with the guys drinking tea -- when one of young men received word that his brother had been kidnapped. Brothers of both shepherds were there at the home, so word spread quickly to both families of what had happened. Initially the thought among the locals was that the shepherds were being held hostage by the military inside of the Bedouin family,s home, but within a couple of hours of attempting to call them and calling the military DCO (District Coordination Office) (the DCO said it had no idea where the young men were), we realized that they had been brought to Jaljulia checkpoint (Jaljulia is inside of 1948 Palestine and edges on the village of Habla, which is in the West Bank). The family of one of the young shepherds sent a taxi from Qalquilya to pick up the shepherds, but the military said that the shepherds could only be released in a taxi from Jayyous. At that point the brother of the shepherd whom I am close to came to the international apartment and asked me to go with him to go pick up his brother and the other shepherd. We decided it would be best if another international went as well, so John volunteered. There was only room in the taxi for the driver (a friend of the family), the father of one the shepherds, John and myself. It felt bizarre leaving the brother behind, but I promised him we would call him once the shepherds were free.

The drive to Habla flooded me with a myriad of thoughts and concerns. The thought that consumed me the most was the gravity of the situation. The fact of the matter is that Palestinian men can be kidnapped from their villages in the middle of night and held in Israeli "Administrative Detention for several months, so this was a real possibility for these shepherds. This is not something that I have simply read about; I have spoken to young men in Jayyous to whom this has happened. For example, one was arrested in the middle of the night from his home and held in prison for seventeen months without a charge. Earlier in the night, it was impossible for me to comprehend that this could actually happen, but sitting in the car thinking about how the brothers and friends reacted when they heard what had happened to the two shepherds, I was hit with how much that possibility existed. I think it was once I was removed from the bustle of trying to figure out exactly were the two men were that I was able to comprehend what could actually happen to them.

When we arrived at the gate in the apartheid wall at Habla it was completely dark. We jumped out of the car, but out of the darkness came the two young men, without any soldiers, so there was no reason to continue hastily moving toward them. They were clearly shaken up and had tears in their eyes as I quickly gave my cell phone to one of them to call his brother in Jayyous. John and I did not ask any questions, but at one point the shepherd sitting in the front seat looked back at us and said in his broken English that they had been hit and beaten. My fears were confirmed and I felt devastated. I could not believe that this could actually happen. How can a government get away with building a wall, and then have its soldiers kidnap shepherds from their own land, and then beat them while in custody? Of course, the shepherds were not charged with anything before being released.

Arriving back in Jayyous was quite an emotional scene. When the taxi dropped off the first brother at his home, his mother who had been sitting there on the front steps waiting for him, grabbed him and began kissing him all over. It was clear from her tears of joy that she too understood what could have happened to her son. The scene instantly reminded me of a common Hollywood scene in which a mother greets her son after he has been away at war. I do not know why I thought of this traditional Hollywood setting, but the juxtaposition of the two scenes filled me with rage. I had rage at the fact that it was soldiers that created this injustice in the first place. I had rage at the fact that unlike a soldier who would receive this greeting, this shepherd was not at war, but was only trying to take care of his sheep. Furthermore, I was outraged by the very fact that that these two episodes could even be comparable, i.e. the Hollywood scene, in which the soldier has been away from his family for a long time, and the event of the shepherds going out to their fields like any other day. Unfortunately, this is the life of Palestinians. At any moment, their lives can be forced into utter chaos by the IOF. Simply by living, Palestinians resist Israel,s true "Road Map To Peace. Israel,s map to "peace has as one of its cornerstones land confiscation. By defying this cornerstone, these shepherds have demonstrated tremendous resistance.

The next day when I was having lunch with the group of guys I normally hangout with in Jayyous, the shepherds came by the house. By the look of them I could not bear to ask what had happened; their pain was still clearly evident. However, I did ask if they were going to go out to their land that night. Not only did they say no, but they also said they would not be going in the future. They will not risk being kidnapped by the military again. This means they will try to raise their sheep in town on the small property surrounding their homes feeding the sheep with grain that they buy. This appears to be a next to impossible endeavor. I do not know how much longer they will be able to "resist, i.e. survive, if they will not go back to their lands. What is clear is that Israel has taken another step toward their vision of "peace.

Writer,s note: To see a more a in depth analysis of the event, see John,s report, "Disciplining
Palestinians. I decided to write it as I did because I feel that to get a better idea of the common injustices experienced by Palestinians, a detailed account of the event must be transcribed.

 

2) July 25 2003 Report from Jenin

After spending two and half weeks in Jayyous, I have arrived in Jenin for four days. Today, I participated in a roadblock removal near the village of Aba.

The Aba roadblock prevents 25,000 people in eight villages surrounding Jenin from traveling the most sensible route to Jenin. Without the roadblock, for a person to travel to Jenin from Arabbony, one of the villages that are hampered by the roadblock, it would take ten minutes. With the roadblock, the drive takes 45 minutes. As one person pointed out to me, for an ambulance, time is of the essence, so when the trip is needlessly 35 minutes longer, this can make the difference between life and death.

The dirt/paved road leading from these villages to Jenin crosses a settlement bypass road, thus there lies the unjustified motivation for the roadblock (the Israeli government does not want Palestinians crossing the settlement road). On the Aba side of the intersection, there is a roadblock, but the land is so flat around the road that Palestinians have created a road beside the roadblock on one farmer's land thus nullifying the roadblock. On the Jenin side of the intersection, the Israeli government has dug a huge ditch that runs alongside the settlement road; therefore, Palestinians cannot drive around the roadblock (like they can on the other side). The roadblock consists of huge concrete blocks that are placed across the road. There is also dirt piled upon the concrete blocks and the road is dug up for a sizable length in front of the roadblock (I believe that most Americans would find the part of the road dug up impassable, but due to the occupation, for Palestinians throughout the West Bank, the road is typical).

Two weeks ago, Palestinians and ISMers removed a portion of the roadblock, but the Israeli government put a new concrete block back in the old one's place, and put more dirt on top of the concrete blocks. I have heard from ISMers who were there that it was not the most successful action in terms of removing the roadblock, but there were many Palestinians involved. Even though, the Israeli government made the roadblock stronger, one of the villages informed the Jenin ISM team that they would like to remove the roadblock once again. The Jenin ISM team agreed that it was a good idea, and informed the other surrounding villages that they would be removing the roadblock on July 25. Many Palestinians said they would come to the roadblock removal.

The plan was to have a large Palestinian demonstration on the Aba side of the intersection while several Palestinians and thirty ISMers removed the roadblock on the other side of the road. I volunteered to assist with the Palestinian demonstration. Two weeks ago, settlers driving by yelled profanities at the Palestinians demonstrators, so the ISMers acted as peacemakers keeping space between the demonstration and the settler road. However, when we arrived at the school on the Aba side of the intersection, there were only a few Palestinians. Our Palestinian coordinator called the contacts in the villages, and they said they would be coming, but that they were simply running late. Even after calling the contacts again several times, the Palestinian contingent never arrived. After waiting over an hour, we decided that we should go through with the roadblock removal despite the fact that there would only be a few Palestinians assisting in the project (one of which was the mayor from one of the villages).

To remove the huge concrete blocks, we clear the dirt on top of and around the blocks, and then lift a side of the block by putting crowbars underneath the block. To flip the block out of the way, we use a carjack. It is quite a sight to see one of these blocks being flipped.

Before we could remove the first block, four soldiers arrived on the scene. The two assigned negotiators from our group did an excellent job of stalling the soldiers from disrupting the work. However, after the soldiers received reinforcements, they attempted to disrupt the work; there were now about eight soldiers in total. It was interesting to see how the soldiers' primary objective was to steal the equipment (i.e. shovels, crowbars, and pick-axes), and not to arrest anyone. This illustrated to me a growing belief (please keep in mind that this belief is now only based on two actions) that the soldiers want to avoid serious confrontation. It appears that if they really wanted to end the roadblock removal, it would have been a lot easier for them to try to arrest a few people rather than trying to run around the "blockers" (ISMers whose sole objective is to prevent the soldiers from getting close to the work by putting their bodies in between the work and the soldiers) to steal the equipment. They ended up stealing a shovel and pick-ax, but we were successful in removing one of the huge concrete blocks.

We decided to leave at that point. After walking down the road about one hundred yards, we noticed that the soldiers had left. After coming to consensus, we decided to go back to try to find the stolen equipment (which was thrown into the fields) and to smooth out the road where we removed the concrete block. We could not find the equipment, but we did remove this large rock (about half the size of the concrete blocks, but was nevertheless a major impediment to the road) that was on the side of the road (next to the open space we had just created). The opening to drive through was now larger.

Due to the fact that there was no Palestinian demonstration, I was able to assist with the manual labor. There were not enough shovels, so in the beginning I improvised by using an empty IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) ammunition box to scoop away at the dirt on top of the concrete blocks. I spent most of my time assisting with shoveling and pushing the blocks. After the soldiers grabbed two pieces of the equipment, there was this realization that we needed people to simply protect the equipment, so I helped do that part of the time as well.

As one person put it, "technically, the action was a complete success; philosophically, a failure (because there were only a few Palestinians)." I would agree with that analysis. However, I felt that going through with the project, despite a small Palestinian presence was an appropriate one. There were many ISMers there, and the project did have the community support (I can explain more philosophical reasons why I supported the decision another time). Whether or not the Palestinians were there to see the actual work happen, word spreads quickly in Palestine, so I am sure that many people will hear about the successful act of resistance.

In the end, the consensus is that the roadblock will be put back in its place either later today or tomorrow (the soldiers even taunted us by saying that we were wasting our time because the roadblock would be fixed once we left). However, I do not believe that the project's worth is diminished in any capacity. To show the IOF that we, Palestinians and ISMers, will continue to resist the occupation in general, more specifically this roadblock, time and time again despite the setbacks is of great importance. The end of the occupation will not come easily, but it will come eventually.