(See bottom of e-mail for more info on this campaign)
A DAY OF REST FOR THE MEDIA AS HOMES ARE DESTROYED
Chris and Carl Williams in Deheisheh Camp
Palestine Freedom Summer
Friday, August 9, 2002
Friday is the Jewish day of rest, Shabbat. So it seems that
theIsraeli army takes a break from house demolitions, at least that is our
guess. There were are few armored personal carriers (APC) going up and down the
main road in front of the Dheisheh Refugee Camp but nothing that dramatic.
We called a CNN press contact, Dianne, that had called us a few
days earlier. I asked for her and was told that she had gone home hours ago.
I said that I was one of the Americans staying in the Dheisheh
Refugee Camp at a house that was under demolition orders. He said that I should
call back for Dianne at 10am tomorrow. I told him that the house might not be
there tomorrow and asked if they would be interested in sending a camera crew
down to see the Israeli military dynamite the home. He said that it was Shabbat
and that all the camera crews were off duty, but if the house was destroyed
that he was sure that the wire news services would carry the story. Somehow
this wasn't much of a relief to us.
IDF ANNOUNCES CURFEW WITH GUNFIRE
Carl and Chris Williams in Deheisheh Camp
Saturday, August 10, 2002
We took that bus to Bethlehem to go to a protest starting in
Manger Square in front of the Church of the Nativity. A lot of the children
from Dheisheh were there. The girls sang a bunch of songs of protest.
There were a few speeches about peace and co-existance. The
attendence of the protest was pretty low because busloads of Israeli,
Palestinian and other activists coming from Jerusalem were not allowed through
the Bethlehem checkpoint. In fact, the Israeli army attacked the peace activists
that got off the bus with water cannons and mounted police.
For an article on the checkpoint attacks read:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=196148
After this disappointing situation we went around Bethlahem and
some members of our affinity group did some shopping and we got some lunch.
We took the bus back to Dheisheh.
That night when we were all back at with our home-stay families we
got word of 6 Merkava tanks or APCs and several jeeps coming into the camp from
over the hill. The Israeli army fired live machine guns rounds
into the air and announced the curfew. This was the first time
that we had heard curfew announced this way. It was around 9 PM. The army may
have also threw some sound grenades. These are small orange handgrenade type
bombs that make huge frightening and disorienting sounds but do little else.
They are effective at waking up the entire camp.
Our Palestinian hosts told us that this did not look like a house
demolition team. They believed that it was more likely a kidnapping team that
came in to arrest one or more Palestinians.
The next morning we found out that Palestinian fighters had
detonated a homemade 'bottle bomb' (not a molotov cocktail). A 'bottle bomb' is
a bomb made of TNT, semtex, or some such material that has a hand
detonation switch. We heard that the bottle bomb was detonated
underneath a tank or APC but the bomb is so weak it cannot damage a Merkava
tank or an APC.
The 'bottlebombs' can destroy Israeli jeeps however.
The Israeli army left the camp without approching either of the
houses we were staying at. We believe that there were no demolitions carried
out that night.
CHILDREN HIT WITH RUBBER BULLETS - ACTIVIST CAMERA DRIVES AWAY
AMORED
PERSONNELL CARRIER (APC)
Chris and Carl Williams in Deheisha Camp
Sunday, August 11, 2002
Chris got a called from a woman named Mary that said she read
about him on the web. She said that she was so inspired by the work of
theInternational Solidarity Movement and what activists were doing in Dheisheh,
she wondered where people found the strength. Chris said that she should have
seen how terrified he was when the first house was blown up. She said that she
has an Arab-American child and she felt so alone
and isolated in her views. It was a nice start to the day with
this kind of support.
Later in the afternoon 20 or so kids (all under 8 or 9 years old)
were in front of the Ibda community center just off the main road. Many of
them were holding apple sized rocks and intently watching the
road. A Zelda M-113 APC came by spewing a cloud of white diesel smoke. The kids
all ran away. After it pass they threw their rocks after it but it was so far
gone they had no hope of coming close to hitting it.
The next time the APC passed a boy hid behind small wall to the
camp and threw a rock, most of the other kids ran away. The only child visible
was a boy about 2 1/2 feet tall with an orange shirt that seemed to be about 4
years old. He threw a rock the size of a acorn at the APC but came nowhere near
it. The APC stopped I saw a weapon (most likely an M-16 machine gun) with an
oversized muzzle being pointed out of the APC. Later I realized that this was
the launching device for a
volly of rubber coated metal bullets. None of the childern in
front of the community center were hit but seconds after the APC drove off to
adults came down the hill carrying 2 children about 5 years old. They
had been hit by bullets from the APC.
Another APC passed and stopped in front of the gate, less than 20
yards away. One of the International Solidarity Movement organizers took our
camera and stood in the open (where the bullets were fired moments before),
making it plain that she was taping the soliders actions. This time the APC drove off without
firing.
------------
Carl and Chris Williams are part of a BostontoPalestine delegation
to the International Solidarity Movement's (www.palsolidarity.org) Palestine
Freedom Summer. Hundreds of internationals have converged on the West Bank and
Gaza to show solidarity, provide humanitarian assistance, and join Palestinians
in nonviolent direct action against
Israel's brutal and illegal military occupation.
For more information visit: www.bcpr.org and click on
"Freedom Summer"
Also, visit Carl and Chris's personal websites at:
http://carlton.home.igc.org
http://home.earthlink.net/~christianwilliams/