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1.
Ramallah & Bethlehem....
2. Khalil/Hebron....................
3. Minnesotans enter Jenin
Report from Ramallah & Bethlehem
On Monday in Ramallah we met with George Abu Al-Zineulof the executive director for Defence of Children International - Palestine Section. Their website is www.dci-pal.org they sent out an August 7th press release called 'collective punishment in practice; malnutrition rates among Palestinian children under 5 reach emergency levels' which we think could be used to get a lot of information for a press release and deals with recent info that we have heard about from a lot of NGOs.
Meredith: "From what I have witnessed on the West Bank for the past week it is not surprising to me that children are incredibly malnourished in Palestine. People here are forced to live on $2 US a day with about 60% of the people unemployed, most of the population is living in poverty."
Anh: "In April to early May there was a 24-hour curfew imposed on Bethlehem and surrounding areas with only three hours a week allotted to people outside of the home. Although the curfews in some areas have been loosened, there are still many people who have been trapped from their homes unable to get through Israeli checkpoints. One man who lives near the guest house that we are staying at in Beit Sahour hasn't been back to his home in Gaza since the second Intifada began."
Meredith: "Store owners in Bethlehem have told us that they had to close their stores for months during the re-occupation of the West Bank this spring. Since tourism is now non-existent, they have no real method of providing for their families' needs. The curfew makes it impossible for people to plan their lives. The IDF randomly decides what the curfew will be - whether it's 6PM to 6AM or 9PM to 6AM. People listen to the radio every day to find out what their curfew will be. Many people here work in different communities from where they live. It has taken us at least an hour to get through the checkpoint each way. In some cities like Khalil there were 5 checkpoints in and out. It is therefore very difficult for some people to go to work if they still have a job. Some professionals are forced to live in two different cities. One where they work, and one where their families are. The economic situation here is incredibly cruel. Parents are being asked to watch their children suffer while they are denied the opportunity to help them."
Anh: " During my visit to Palestine, I've been startled to learn about the poor mental health of Palestinian children. Dr. Majed Al-Nassar, the deputy director of the Union of Health Work Committees, met with us and emphasized the severe rate of post-traumatic stress disorder here among children. Between 60-70% of all children (both girls and boys) are affected with PTSD. This problem is aggravated by the lack of mental health resources offered to all Palestinians. There are only 4 or 5 psychiatrists in all of Palestine, while there exists a stigma against those with mental illnesses. The Palestinian Counseling Center has documented that the significant increase of violence in the community has had a detrimental effect on kids. Children are refusing to go to school because they know of other kids who came home from school to find that their homes had been destroyed by the IDF or their parents had been killed. When they do go to school they frequently run home when helicopters go by because they want to make sure their parents and their home is safe. It is very traumatic for kids to feel like even their parents and their own home isn't safe. The Palestinian Counseling Center is concerned about the long-term health of an entire generation of children under this level of stress. Personally, if I was a child and I saw the IDF search my neighborhood and take away my parent or the parent of a friend and then had to go through checkpoints daily and see the same officers repeatedly in such positions of power I would be terrified. The checkpoints are designed to intimidate the adults and they do. No wonder they give the children nightmares. These are conditions that no one should have to live under - children or adults."
Katie: "Waiting in line at the checkpoint to Ramallah, one of the guards told me he was standing off to the side so he could allow pregnant women, old people, and people with young children through faster than everyone else. This made sense to me as the wait was over an hour, on foot, it was very crowded, there was lots of pushing and shoving, it was at least 90 degrees F, there was very little shade, and most people had no water. On the return trip to Jerusalem it was the same experience. Not only was the air hot, but the sun beating down on us made it almost unbearable. After a while I became very angry and wondered if checking everyone was really worth it, considering it really doesn't seem as though it has made any of them any more secure. As I stood there empathizing with those around me I wondered at how they could deal with this EVERY DAY. I know I couldn't. Thank god I could just return home. When I reached the end of the line I saw the area off to the side that the soldier had mentioned was for those less capable of dealing with such harsh conditions. I watched for a while and was shocked to see women with children less than 2-years old being told to turn around and get into line with the rest of us. It seemed that "young children" was up to their own discretion or what kind of mood they were in at the time. The final straw for me was when I saw a couple approach the soldier with three small children and one newborn in a bulky car seat being turned away. I couldn't contain myself and refused to cover my anger as I questioned how they could be expected endure the same hell I had just been through. When it was finally my turn to show my passport my question: "Was it really worth it?" was answered. I was pulled aside and asked to open my bag. The soldier glanced quickly at the contents and waived me forward. How could he be concerned about the contents of the bag if he didn't even look through them? My friend didn't make eye contact and walked quickly past him. Is this all one has to do to smuggle something past the 'world-renowned' Israeli security? I concluded that the true purpose of the checkpoint was, in fact, not security. The purpose was to create such a dehumanizing atmosphere to haunt Palestinians every day that their will is completely broken, that they decide this life is not worth living, that they try to find any way out and thus successfully plotting a course for slow transfer. A course for genocide. This is the plan of the Israeli military, but I have to wonder if the families of those killed by suicide bombers agree. I have to wonder if they secretly realize that the bombing continues despite or because of the dehumanizing treatment of innocent people. And if they secretly, subconsciously realize that ending this treatment, and only ending this treatment, will end the bombs."
Katie's personal version
(use the first round in press releases):
"I concluded that Yes, it was all worth it. It was worth it for them to
treat Palestinians like animals. To create such a dehumanizing atmosphere to
haunt Palestinians every day that their will is completely broken, that they
decide this life is not worth living, that they try to find any way out and
thus successfully plotting a course for slow transfer. A course for genocide.
Yes, it is all worth it for the Israeli military, but I have to wonder if the
families of those killed by suicide bombers agree. I have to wonder if they
secretly realize that the bombing continues despite or because of the dehumanizing
treatment of innocent people. And if they secretly subconsciously realize that
ending this treatment, and only ending this treatment, will end the bombs."
Report from Hebron/Khalil: Settlers Attack and Kill Children in Khalil
Katie Bonn and Meredith Aby from the Anti-War Committee met with Riad Arar, the coordinator of social programs for the Defense for Children International - Palestine Section, in Khalil on Wednesday, August 14th. Arar works with children who have experienced violence from Israeli soldiers and settlers. Khalil has four settlements with 400 settlers who greatly affect the lives of the 60,000 Palestinians who also live there. Hebron has military checkpoints and settlements throughout the city. Three schools are in the settler-controlled area. Arar's staff works with children in these schools who experience trauma from the frequent physical attacks by settlers, the dogs of settlers, and by the shelling from the Israeli soldiers during the re-occupation of the West Bank this spring.
After this meeting, Arar took the Anti-War Committee activists to meet with the families of children who had been attacked and killed by a mob of at least 15 settlers. The settlers live in a settlement built on land confiscated on and near the Old City of Khalil. Ahmed, 7 years old, and Falah, 9 years old, were attacked on July 28th in their own home. The settlers threw stones and came prepared with knives and guns. Several attackers wore military gear and appeared to be members of the IDF, but did nothing to stop the attack. The settlers stabbed Ahmed in the back with a knife and hit him on the head with a gun several times. They cut Falah on his face and behind his ears. While rushing Ahmed to the hospital, he began to vomit. When the family got to the hospital the medical staff treated his wound and discovered that the knife was poisoned. The boys are now home with their families. Both boys are experiencing nightmares and Ahmed has been cross-eyed since the incident.
After attacking the boys, the settlers with their military escorts went to the home of Neveen Jamjoum. Neveen, 14 years old, and her older brother were shot. Her brother was shot in the leg and she was shot in the head. Her injury was fatal. Her family is still devastated and has not been able to sleep in their home for the past 15 days.
Meredith Aby: "I am shocked and outraged by the daily harassment and brutal treatment the Palestinian people endure from the settlers with the complicity and the support of the Israeli military. The US gives the Israeli government 13 million dollars a day in military aid. Our tax dollars should not be going to an apartheid society, but especially one that inflicts daily violence on the indigenous population of Palestine."
Katie Bonn: "I am starting to understand the true nature of the Occupation. Today, I listened to story after story from every day people trying to go about their daily lives in the shadow of the settler's machine gun. A seven-year old boy, stabbed in the back. A fourteen-year old girl killed for looking out into the street. I cried with her family as they told us about how she would make her brother laugh when he was feeling down. She would smile and laugh until he would smile back, and she would make their rabbits dance and say, 'See, the rabbits are dancing.' I couldn't speak after I left their homes. Their stories were still with me. They'll stay with me. No one will be able to convince me that anyone has a right to do this. The Israeli state has no validity. I've seen what they call self-defense and I call it murder."
Katie: "In Khalil, I heard a fifteen year old girl talk about being in prison for over four months. She was fourteen at the time and she was beaten consistently, sworn at and humiliated and mistreated most ways you could think of. She was fourteen."
Minnesotans
enter Jenin - Thursday, August 16, 2002
Anh Pham, Katie Bonn, and Meredith Aby of the Anti War Committee entered Jenin as a part of the Internationals for Justice in Palestine delegation. They were harassed at Jenin’s two checkpoints for over a half an hour. They told the Israeli military they were going to Jenin to visit friends and were allowed to enter only when they agreed to leave their passports at the checkpoint with the Commanding officer. Their driver was told to wait at the checkpoint all day while they were there, forcing him to wait in front of IDF solders for 8 hours.
Jenin, which was one of the poorest cities on the West Bank before the Intifada, has been pushed further into economic decline. The delegation witnessed that the residents in Jenin were under tremendous financial hardship due to the closure of the city for 4 months. Most downtown businesses were still closed and significant parts of the infrastructure and many homes and buildings had been destroyed during the siege this spring.
By far, the worst destruction was in the Jenin refugee camp. The residents in the camp are from over 50 cities in the original 1948 territories, now within Israel. They fled from the violent terror inflicted by Zionist armed forces. In 1967 Jenin, as part of the West Bank, was occupied by the Israelis. Some of the residents in the camp have lost multiple homes due to Israeli home demolitions in the past 50 years. However this is the first time in fifty-one years that homes have been demolished in Jenin.
The United Nations investigation team, which did not enter Jenin, released their report claiming that there was no massacre in Jenin. In addition, other human rights delegations have only visited the site of the most significant destruction, ignoring the rest of the camp. It was obvious to the delegation, even four months after the massacre, that Jenin had been a human rights catastrophe.
In April alone, 80 people were killed. Between 50-55 people killed were from the refugee camp itself. The civilians who were murdered included many elderly, people with disabilities, women and children. The armed resisters were killed while defending their own homes and their families from attack, not during a confrontation they provoked with the army. The military killed people not just with gunfire, but also through demolishing their homes while they were trapped in them.
During the siege, the military didn’t allow ambulances or medical staff into Jenin. Frequently, civilians were trapped in their homes and weren’t even given the opportunity to bury their family members who were rotting in the streets. By the time people could find their dead loved ones, the bodies would be covered with flies, rotting, and sometimes they would be hardly recognizable after being driven over by tanks and bulldozers. Other families are now haunted by the memory of only being able to find some parts of their loved ones' bodies.
After these murders, the most horrific acts of the Israeli military were the over 800 homes that were destroyed. Even four months after the attack on Jenin, the international delegation saw hills of rumble from entire city blocks that were destroyed. All parts of the refugee camp were damaged by tanks, missiles launched from Apache helicopters and bulldozers. The delegation did not see one home in the refugee camp that was unaffected by the attack. Even now, most residents still do not have electricity, sewage, telephone access, or water. Many residents must rebuild their homes that were not demolished, because they aren’t architecturally sound enough to fix. Families that still have homes are moving on with their daily lives, though they might be missing the wall to their living room, their ceiling, or parts of their stairs. While the residents of Jenin work on rebuilding their community, many are living in the city or surrounding villages because the camp is in such a state of destruction.
Although the siege of this spring has ended, the situation for the residents of Jenin remains dire. At the end of July, another 5 families, totaling 40 people, had their homes destroyed. Jenin is still under daily curfew. Residents who work in other areas have found it very difficult to be able to get to their jobs. Tanks roll through Jenin nightly and shelling still occurs frequently. Last week, a mine exploded and killed a mother shopping for school supplies for her kids. Residents are scared of the remaining mines and unused explosives through out the area.
Meredith Aby: "In the United States, we heard about Jenin and the massacre, but we didn't hear about the resistance. I was inspired that although the IDF had captured Ramallah in 6 hours, Jenin held them off for 11 days. The people I met in Jenin are not the victims the media has portrayed them to be. They are a strong community who will continue to resist the Israeli occupation. The Palestinians have had a lot to endure - especially the since the reoccupation of the West Bank. But they still are fighting for their dream - a free Palestine."
Meredith Aby: I am glad that we were able to get into Jenin. The situation in Jenin really motivated the anti war movement and the Palestinian community in the Twin Cities this spring. Likewise, the people we talked to in Jenin were excited to meet activists from the US organizing against US military aid to Israel and in solidarity with the Palestinian people. They were touched by our stories of the 130, 000 people who demonstrated in Washington DC this spring against the occupation and by the 15 activists who did civil disobedience this spring at the Minneapolis Federal Building.
Anh Pham: “What we have heard often is that we are from the most powerful country in the world, and yet the people hear nothing from the U.S. Jenin, which is one of the poorest cities, is home to one of the most active movements of opposition to Israeli occupation. They have this strength and unity that we can learn a great deal from. In the US we also must unite against U.S. support of Israel. The people of Palestine have waited, and they have made their demands known. They want a free Palestine, free of Zionist rule and US intervention. We must answer them with a response just as loud and make the international support of Palestine heard in Jenin."
Katie Bonn: "I got to go to Jenin today and it was incredible. For those of you who don't know, there was a massacre there a few months back. A few months back, and they're still cleaning up the rubble. We walked through an area the size of a couple city blocks where every single home had been demolished. Horrible. Consider that homes here are built side by side and one on top of the other. Over 800 living units...completely destroyed. I find it interesting that the Israeli government believes that all terrorists live in a mass of 800 living units right next to each other. I tried to take photos, but they will never be able to express the grave destruction. They will also never be able to express how I felt as I heard personal stories."
Anti-War
Committee |