KC Doug update #4, of "touring" and bullets and checkpoints
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Andrea Whitmore
Jan 13, 2008, 2:00:14 PM1/13/08
to cj...@googlegroups.com
Update # 4 from Doug Whitmore who is serving as an Ecumenical
Accompanier for the World Council of Churches in Palestine. All of the
incidents below take place in territory declared by international law
to belong to the Palestinians.
JAN 7
Our life here is full of ups and downs. Yesterday was up but not today. Tzegha and I went to Nablus today by taxi because it's a holiday and we were told minivans were not running regularly. No problem walking through the checkpoint into Nablus and catching a taxi to Project Hope. A well-spoken Palestinian man described how they teach in the refugee camps (four) in the afternoons because regular school ends at 1:00. The Project teams a local person with an international volunteer to teach a subject they know. Volunteers come for various months.
Then we were given a tour of the Old City part of Nablus by a very nice young man who had been to Germany and France. He showed us a lot of destruction caused by Israeli jet bombers, bulldozers and tanks in a 22-day incursion in 2002. Collective punishment of towns and cities is a common tactic used by the Israeli military. Many soap factories in buildings 300 to 900 years old were destroyed and damaged. After a 45-minute look we took a cab to UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).
Did I mention that virtually all of the attack jets, helicopters, tanks and bulldozers used in attacks on civilian populations are provided by the United States government? All in the name of fighting a few men labeled as terrorists.
Back to UNOCHA-- the Nablus office is run by a youngish Swedish woman and two Palestinian men who keep track of the many human rights issues in militarily occupied northern West Bank. They are in touch with Israeli Army liaison officers and can contact higher officers in emergencies. But many times when problems are brought up, the office is told "we're working on it."
After another gloomy assessment of the human rights situation here we (two from Jayyous and two from Tukarem) walked down a hill many blocks long to a bus area. This city began in a valley 6,000 years ago and has expanded up 12 or 15 huge hillsides ever since.
Leaving on the bus we were stopped at the checkpoint and the young men got off to walk through a metal detector and have ID checked. A ways out of town we stopped at a "flying checkpoint" where a soldier (always carrying M-16 Automatic rifles) got on and checked IDs of an EA and a Palestinian man. Then several more miles down the road we passed a checkpoint in a short line but then observed a line of cars and trucks at least two miles long approaching Nablus. The soldiers were checking a vehicle about every 15 seconds and I know most people spent at least two hours creeping along. Depressing.
At Tukarem we two switched to a taxi for Jayyous and several miles later found ourselves at the rear of another checkpoint line about a mile long. Without consulting us the driver swung into the opposite lane and passed the whole waiting line to the chagrin of the other drivers. Probably using us internationals as VIPs and an excuse. We easily passed the soldiers but felt really guilty and not up to stopping and observing the process we had passed.
Left us feeling "bummed out."
JAN 8
The guilt is fading a little. I found out after writing you that the first and worst checkpoint was fixed and monitored by the two Tukarem EAs.They've had rifles pointed at them there and had to open their vests to show they carried no weapons. That is a hardcore checkpoint.
JAN 9
Today three people from Swedish humanitarian law NGOs (non-governmental organizations) came to visit.
I took them to the roof of the municipality to view the surrounding hills and villages and fence and agricultural gates. After lunch we visited the South Gate to show them how the soldiers operate, and the sheep and goat herds waiting to cross with shepherds.
A few minutes ago we received a phone call that Israeli soldiers were in the village. Dieter, visiting, and the three of us put on our coats and vests and went up the street toward the center of town. We stopped in front of a well-lighted shop and here came a covered jeep full of four or five soldiers. They stopped and got out with their M-16s and a couple of them went into the shop. As they came out Jenny asked them what they were doing there. The leader muttered "my job." Then the jeep proceeded to tear around town in kind of a random fashion.
Young men appeared with good-sized rocks in their hands and threw them half a block down the street toward the stopped jeep. We EAs hurried to get away from the young men as we knew the soldiers might fire at them. At one point when we couldn't see the jeep we heard a loud shot. This went on for fifteen or twenty minutes and then we returned to our house.
Overall it appeared the soldiers were just chasing around and going after young men who happened to be out. That provoked other young men to throw stones at the jeep and soldiers. It seemed rather pointless but dangerous.
My turn to do dishes. Got to go.
JAN 10
I'm happy that our BUMC (Broadway United Methodist Church) people are interested. Hope to be able to relate some of the many sad and maddening stories I hear from Palestinians about how their lives have been ruined by the settlement land grabs and associated fences and walls. Then the permit systems that further steal their livelihoods. Then all the men in prison for resisting, many in relatively small ways.
JAN 11
Today, Friday, we visited an archeological site not too far from Nablus that dates to 1200 BCE. Most of the ruins are Roman from about time of Jesus.
I took many pictures of an amphitheater in fairly good condition that would have seated at least 500, a large square with stone pavement and columns, some of which are lying on their sides. Also what might have been a small temple and other walls and partial buildings. Basically, a large hilltop surrounded by olive trees and natural vegetation with half a dozen areas of granite and limestone ruins without any visible excavations. Probably there is another era under some of these. Jenny, EA from Switzerland, and I were the only people there and took photos and sat in the sun and listened to the birds. The road down the other side from our approach was lined with about 15 ancient columns
still standing. A tour bus was driving up the road as we left about 11:00. This was a rare uncommercialized archaeological site in my experience.
Then a couple of nice Palestinian men in an older SUV picked us up on a dirt road and took us most of the way to Jit. We did have to walk up a long asphalt road to the village, where we visited the family of Zacharias, a Palestinian working for Rabbis for Human Rights. His three younger brothers, parents and wife were there and served us Arabic coffee, tea, cookies and fruit. He told us about his personal efforts besides working
for the Rabbi group. One was connecting "From Table to Table," an Israeli peace food organization with Palestinians from Gaza in Tel Aviv hospitals. Here a hospital patient is fed by his family and friends because the hospitals just provide treatment and paying commercially for food to be brought in is expensive. Besides this, Zacharias took a day off to escort two deaf Palestinian boys to a hospital in Tel Aviv to see if anything could be done for them because without such an approved escort virtually no Palestinians are allowed to travel to Israel. His moderate salary is spread around his extended family.
Time for a late lunch of pita and hummus.
JAN 12
10:00 Sat AM here. We went to the Falamya Gate at 5:30 but nothing unusual so arrived back here about 7:30 and went back to bed for 2 hours. Now drinking coffee and trying to get fired up for the day.
Yesterday after I wrote we received a phone call at 4:00 that soldiers were in the village. So Jenny and I put on our vests and headed through town toward the South Gate. Tzegha in Jerusalem for day off. Anyway we found about six army vehicles on the south edge though two of them were driving through the town. The other soldiers were roaming up and down the hillsides of a valley with a road running through it. Village houses are on
the hilltops on both sides. They seemed to be looking for something and I heard one of them say something about weapons so I guess someone told them some were down there. The army vehicles were parked at the top in front of a family’s house with another family outside nearby watching.
Soldiers searched among the olive trees and rocks and cacti for an hour. The two other vehicles were now parked a block away where we could see them.
Boys and young men of the village were positioning themselves to throw rocks at those two armored jeeps. In the growing darkness a humvee drove down the valley road with its searchlight playing on the hillsides. Occasional rifle fire from the vicinity of the rock throwers signaled they had begun.
Finally after dark the search was halted and all the vehicles drove through town on their way back to the gate and their unseen base. We found out later at our house that one boy had been hit in the legs with one or two rubber-coated bullets. We'll try to visit that family today as that young man will probably receive a prison sentence of two or two and a half years.
(Later)…regarding the young man who was shot in the leg--we just returned from visiting his family. He was lucky the bullet passed through near his calf and he will come home from hospital tomorrow. His father said he won't have charges against him. I'm not sure if that is because he's only 14 or if he made it home and the soldiers didn't catch him. Sometimes language problems make it hard to understand everything.
JAN 13
Jenny and I went to Qalqilya terminal at 3:30 AM and stayed until 7:00. It was cold--and painful to see how long it takes for, I estimate, 3,000 people to pass through in 3 hours. The Palestinians seem fairly good natured about it, but know they don't like it.
Jenny went to Tel Aviv and Tzegha and I walked to Falamya Village where a nice family had us in for tea. That town of 650 has many greenhouses and seems fairly prosperous compared to Jayyous. Time to go visit the boy who was shot and is home now.
JAN 7
Our life here is full of ups and downs. Yesterday was up but not today. Tzegha and I went to Nablus today by taxi because it's a holiday and we were told minivans were not running regularly. No problem walking through the checkpoint into Nablus and catching a taxi to Project Hope. A well-spoken Palestinian man described how they teach in the refugee camps (four) in the afternoons because regular school ends at 1:00. The Project teams a local person with an international volunteer to teach a subject they know. Volunteers come for various months.
Then we were given a tour of the Old City part of Nablus by a very nice young man who had been to Germany and France. He showed us a lot of destruction caused by Israeli jet bombers, bulldozers and tanks in a 22-day incursion in 2002. Collective punishment of towns and cities is a common tactic used by the Israeli military. Many soap factories in buildings 300 to 900 years old were destroyed and damaged. After a 45-minute look we took a cab to UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).
Did I mention that virtually all of the attack jets, helicopters, tanks and bulldozers used in attacks on civilian populations are provided by the United States government? All in the name of fighting a few men labeled as terrorists.
Back to UNOCHA-- the Nablus office is run by a youngish Swedish woman and two Palestinian men who keep track of the many human rights issues in militarily occupied northern West Bank. They are in touch with Israeli Army liaison officers and can contact higher officers in emergencies. But many times when problems are brought up, the office is told "we're working on it."
After another gloomy assessment of the human rights situation here we (two from Jayyous and two from Tukarem) walked down a hill many blocks long to a bus area. This city began in a valley 6,000 years ago and has expanded up 12 or 15 huge hillsides ever since.
Leaving on the bus we were stopped at the checkpoint and the young men got off to walk through a metal detector and have ID checked. A ways out of town we stopped at a "flying checkpoint" where a soldier (always carrying M-16 Automatic rifles) got on and checked IDs of an EA and a Palestinian man. Then several more miles down the road we passed a checkpoint in a short line but then observed a line of cars and trucks at least two miles long approaching Nablus. The soldiers were checking a vehicle about every 15 seconds and I know most people spent at least two hours creeping along. Depressing.
At Tukarem we two switched to a taxi for Jayyous and several miles later found ourselves at the rear of another checkpoint line about a mile long. Without consulting us the driver swung into the opposite lane and passed the whole waiting line to the chagrin of the other drivers. Probably using us internationals as VIPs and an excuse. We easily passed the soldiers but felt really guilty and not up to stopping and observing the process we had passed.
Left us feeling "bummed out."
JAN 8
The guilt is fading a little. I found out after writing you that the first and worst checkpoint was fixed and monitored by the two Tukarem EAs.They've had rifles pointed at them there and had to open their vests to show they carried no weapons. That is a hardcore checkpoint.
JAN 9
Today three people from Swedish humanitarian law NGOs (non-governmental organizations) came to visit.
I took them to the roof of the municipality to view the surrounding hills and villages and fence and agricultural gates. After lunch we visited the South Gate to show them how the soldiers operate, and the sheep and goat herds waiting to cross with shepherds.
A few minutes ago we received a phone call that Israeli soldiers were in the village. Dieter, visiting, and the three of us put on our coats and vests and went up the street toward the center of town. We stopped in front of a well-lighted shop and here came a covered jeep full of four or five soldiers. They stopped and got out with their M-16s and a couple of them went into the shop. As they came out Jenny asked them what they were doing there. The leader muttered "my job." Then the jeep proceeded to tear around town in kind of a random fashion.
Young men appeared with good-sized rocks in their hands and threw them half a block down the street toward the stopped jeep. We EAs hurried to get away from the young men as we knew the soldiers might fire at them. At one point when we couldn't see the jeep we heard a loud shot. This went on for fifteen or twenty minutes and then we returned to our house.
Overall it appeared the soldiers were just chasing around and going after young men who happened to be out. That provoked other young men to throw stones at the jeep and soldiers. It seemed rather pointless but dangerous.
My turn to do dishes. Got to go.
JAN 10
I'm happy that our BUMC (Broadway United Methodist Church) people are interested. Hope to be able to relate some of the many sad and maddening stories I hear from Palestinians about how their lives have been ruined by the settlement land grabs and associated fences and walls. Then the permit systems that further steal their livelihoods. Then all the men in prison for resisting, many in relatively small ways.
JAN 11
Today, Friday, we visited an archeological site not too far from Nablus that dates to 1200 BCE. Most of the ruins are Roman from about time of Jesus.
I took many pictures of an amphitheater in fairly good condition that would have seated at least 500, a large square with stone pavement and columns, some of which are lying on their sides. Also what might have been a small temple and other walls and partial buildings. Basically, a large hilltop surrounded by olive trees and natural vegetation with half a dozen areas of granite and limestone ruins without any visible excavations. Probably there is another era under some of these. Jenny, EA from Switzerland, and I were the only people there and took photos and sat in the sun and listened to the birds. The road down the other side from our approach was lined with about 15 ancient columns
still standing. A tour bus was driving up the road as we left about 11:00. This was a rare uncommercialized archaeological site in my experience.
Then a couple of nice Palestinian men in an older SUV picked us up on a dirt road and took us most of the way to Jit. We did have to walk up a long asphalt road to the village, where we visited the family of Zacharias, a Palestinian working for Rabbis for Human Rights. His three younger brothers, parents and wife were there and served us Arabic coffee, tea, cookies and fruit. He told us about his personal efforts besides working
for the Rabbi group. One was connecting "From Table to Table," an Israeli peace food organization with Palestinians from Gaza in Tel Aviv hospitals. Here a hospital patient is fed by his family and friends because the hospitals just provide treatment and paying commercially for food to be brought in is expensive. Besides this, Zacharias took a day off to escort two deaf Palestinian boys to a hospital in Tel Aviv to see if anything could be done for them because without such an approved escort virtually no Palestinians are allowed to travel to Israel. His moderate salary is spread around his extended family.
Time for a late lunch of pita and hummus.
JAN 12
10:00 Sat AM here. We went to the Falamya Gate at 5:30 but nothing unusual so arrived back here about 7:30 and went back to bed for 2 hours. Now drinking coffee and trying to get fired up for the day.
Yesterday after I wrote we received a phone call at 4:00 that soldiers were in the village. So Jenny and I put on our vests and headed through town toward the South Gate. Tzegha in Jerusalem for day off. Anyway we found about six army vehicles on the south edge though two of them were driving through the town. The other soldiers were roaming up and down the hillsides of a valley with a road running through it. Village houses are on
the hilltops on both sides. They seemed to be looking for something and I heard one of them say something about weapons so I guess someone told them some were down there. The army vehicles were parked at the top in front of a family’s house with another family outside nearby watching.
Soldiers searched among the olive trees and rocks and cacti for an hour. The two other vehicles were now parked a block away where we could see them.
Boys and young men of the village were positioning themselves to throw rocks at those two armored jeeps. In the growing darkness a humvee drove down the valley road with its searchlight playing on the hillsides. Occasional rifle fire from the vicinity of the rock throwers signaled they had begun.
Finally after dark the search was halted and all the vehicles drove through town on their way back to the gate and their unseen base. We found out later at our house that one boy had been hit in the legs with one or two rubber-coated bullets. We'll try to visit that family today as that young man will probably receive a prison sentence of two or two and a half years.
(Later)…regarding the young man who was shot in the leg--we just returned from visiting his family. He was lucky the bullet passed through near his calf and he will come home from hospital tomorrow. His father said he won't have charges against him. I'm not sure if that is because he's only 14 or if he made it home and the soldiers didn't catch him. Sometimes language problems make it hard to understand everything.
JAN 13
Jenny and I went to Qalqilya terminal at 3:30 AM and stayed until 7:00. It was cold--and painful to see how long it takes for, I estimate, 3,000 people to pass through in 3 hours. The Palestinians seem fairly good natured about it, but know they don't like it.
Jenny went to Tel Aviv and Tzegha and I walked to Falamya Village where a nice family had us in for tea. That town of 650 has many greenhouses and seems fairly prosperous compared to Jayyous. Time to go visit the boy who was shot and is home now.
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