(ENGLISH) News from Jenin, Oct. 2003

Oct. 7, 2003: SLOW DEATH Operation (Israel army) (International Solidarity Movement)

NOTE: see full ISM reports in www.palsolidarity.org

As you probably heard, the female martyr in Haifa was from here, so its back to curfew for several days.

Her families house was exploded the other night, I was not there but it woke the whole city up. She was a human rights lawyer, not particularly religious. In April she was sitting on the porch with her brother and male cousin (who was wanted), IDF shot both men, the bodies fell onto her in a most gruesome manner etc.

It has been curfew since the Haifa bombing, nearly constant incursions. Last night tanks swept in arresting 31 young men. this is the climate here.

Cultural genocide: Palestinian children here have been allowed to attend classes 3 days in the last 30.

Physical genocide: the design of the Wall is not security based; it is designed to cut off farmers from their land, people from their wells, local folks from the outside world in general. Observe its meandering path, its snake-like movements thru the entirety of Palestine. The permanency of current Isr. machinations is the most horrifying thing; the goal is annihilation/ mass exodus, truly.

Oct. 9, 2003: Maliciousness and Pride (ISM)

Today is the 3rd straight day of curfew, and the 5th of the last 7. No one is out on the streets for fear of death. At this point people start to run out of food, tp, water, medicine etc.

A boy died today who was wounded several days before i got here, he was about 10. The curfew has not been lifted for a moment since a four hour break.

Monday night: Houses from which the IDF had left in the middle of the night:

- the first was TRASHED, they were embarrassed to have us in, it was the 4th time they had been occupied, the family was physically ok, but very sad and feeling powerless, raped in a sense. The soldiers had stolen phone cards, children clothing and the family Quran. these occupations, unlike some house demolitions, are not triggered by suspicion of political activity, but by the tactical usefulness of the physical location of the home for the IDF. The patriarch had been forced to snap a photo of the proud soldiers because one of them was about to finish his military service and wanted a keepsake of his last mission. They were forced to stay in one small sideroom for the 36 hour period at gunpoint while the soldiers did their thing in the rest of the home, which was pretty big. They could not turn on the TV or radio in the room they were in despite youngsters being present. They were forced to go to the bathroom in plastic bags in front of their other family members, very very against their Islamic customs, especially in terms of the gender rules. As they finally left, the soldiers broke the key off in the door so the family could not get out, we watched a neighbor have to kick in the door to free them from their own home. There was a great deal of maliciousness involved, destruction of property for destructions sake etc.

- the second home, immediately behind the other, had a similar experience, with the added caveat of having had about $1000 worth of gold jewelry and phone cards stolen. there were 45 Jaish, or soldiers, between the two homes. Theft is a constant factor in these temporary occupations, as is humiliation and cultural attack. The plain maliciousness is really staggering, they trash the homes though it serves no tactical objective, there are many stories worse than what I have come across in the last few days, always revolving around concerted and informed cultural humiliation, theft, and acts of human hatred, such as breaking all the plates etc and going to the bathroom in pots and pans, shredding of clothing etc.

Action in a village near here in which an extended family lives

They were forcibly dislocated in 1948 from good farmland in Haifa and came here to work the rocky, rocky soil. an fundamentalist zionist settlement has started near them though, and has turned their sparse farming lives into a living hell. 3 kids have been killed by settlers, and 2 of 5 homes demolished with the other 3 tagged for demolition, which could happen at any time. the best of their meager farmland is on the near side of a valley which separates them from the fenced, armed, California suburban looking settlement. You can see the settlement from their remaining houses, its maybe 120 yards away. The israeli government is using old Ottoman laws, (conveniently) to expand settlements across Palestine. This particular archaic law says that land not worked for 3 years is up for grabs. Meanwhile the IDF militarily prevents them from working the land, under punishment of death by gunfire. This guy has less than a year to go under this old law, and desperately wants to plow his field or he knows he is screwed. Every time he tries, they shoot at him, thus the 3 dead kids from a village of only 5 small families. We will surround his tractor with our bodies and help him plow his field, hopefully in peace. He is ready to make his stand. We are waiting for curfew to lift so the IDF may be slightly less on edge etc, but its as much about the settlers as the soldiers. The crew was out there once before i arrived, they sent two negotiators to talk to soldiers at settlement. They asked the IDF why he could not plow his land despite having the deed. The soldier said "because the settlers want it" as if that should have been a sufficient explanation. Then they asked him what sort of temporary arrangement could be made, and he said "why do you care, he is Arab." There you have it, the whole deal in a microcosm. Ironically perhaps, the settlement is so after this guy because his land is in the only direction in which the settlement can expand. why??? because it neighbors another settlement!!!!

So, the matriarch of the village in question, mother of the adult sons, who originally came here in 1948, penniless and far from home, told us via translator that "it happened once in 1948, and it was horrible, and it will not happen again" she meant it. Those people will die before they become refugees again. The oldest son chronicled the decades, not years but decades, of work it took to make the small plot arable, (the land is so rocky here it looks like the moon). His father is buried there, as are three of his children and nieces and nephews, his life is there. These are salt of the earth folk, simple, kind etc, living off what they grow and some animals. The son is ready to die there, knowing what lays in store for his family should he fold. So, in many ways this encapsulates the state of the world today, 1rst world attacking the 3rd, Monsanto Vs. rice farmers, Union Carbide Vs. Bhopal, Halliburton Vs Iraqi sovereignty, Phizer Vs. Botswana etc.

10-10-2003 Teen Badly Wounded In Jenin (Islam Online, http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-10/10/article02.shtml)

Elsewhere, a Palestinian teenager who was throwing stones at an Israeli tank in the northern West Bank city of Jenin was badly injured when the soldiers opened fire, Palestinian medics said Friday.

The 15-year-old boy was badly wounded during the incident in the city centre, they said, and his leg might have to be amputated.

A strict curfew has been imposed on the town and its neighboring refugee camp since a woman bomber from the town blew herself up in a restaurant in Haifa last Saturday, killing 20 people, apart from herself.

Just hours after the bombing, troops moved into the town and began intensive house-to-house searches.

11-10-2003 Curfew on Jenin enters second week. (PCHR, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2053.shtml)

For the seventh successive day, Israeli occupying forces have imposed a strict curfew on Jenin and its refugee camps, prohibiting Palestinian civilians from obtaining food supplies, and abrogating their rights to movement, education and medical attention. Israeli forces moved into Jenin and its refugee camps after learning of the identity of a Palestinian bomber in Haifa on Saturday 4 October 2003.

According to PCHR investigations, the Israeli incursion into Jenin and its refugee camps took place on Sunday 5 October 2003. At that time, Israeli forces immediately imposed a curfew on Palestinian residents of the town. Israeli occupying forces continue to patrol Jenin streets and enforce the curfew, only allowing residents to leave their homes once in the past week for the duration of two hours. This was insufficient time for Palestinian civilians to obtain much needed supplies and many residents are in desperate need of food and other goods.

Israeli arbitrary measures have also prevented dozens of Pal%stinian patients from reaching health facilities. Thousands of workers and employees have been unable to reach their work places, and thousands of students and teachers have been prevented from reaching their schools. PCHR fieldworker reported that approximately 22 thousand students from Jenin and its refugee camps have been deprived of 16 school days between the beginning of the school year on 1 September 2003 and the date of this release.

Israeli occupying forces continue to impose additional siege measures on all Palestinian residential areas in the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday, 7 October 2003, Israeli forces extended a resolution concerning an indefinite continuation of the comprehensive siege imposed on the OPT. Israeli occupying forces also simultaneously issued a military order on Tuesday prohibiting the movement of Palestinian vehicles between Palestinian areas in the West Bank. The past 48 hours have witnessed additional Israeli imposed measures preventing Palestinian civilians from moving outside their residential areas. Such measures are an example of collective punishment.

Oct 11, 2003: What the hell are they doing here? (ISM)

Curfew continues, having not been lifted in 8 days. The farmers in Tora Shakir, a village near Jenin have been cut off from much of their farmland by the Wall, this is the first harvest with the wall as it is a new entity.

These farmers have been on this land for at least hundreds of years, but are now fairly surrounded by settlements, the oldest of which is from 1981. There are 5, most est. in the 90s. They are peopled exclusively by Russian and Ukrainian recruits. These 5 settlements are one of "the 7 Stars" , each star being a series of small settlements designed to eventually merge together as a big city. The 7 cities would constitute a permanent and seemingly irrevocable settler presence across the West Bank. The 7 star plan was drawn up in the 1980s by a man named Ariel Sharon (heard oh him?], who is in fact not religious by his own admission. The first complaint expressed by the Palestinian farmers was that the settlers arrived having already been coached into hating Arabs, "Thinking of us as animals, not as people.", and absolutely opposed to any degree of communication or negotiation. Also expressed was the very real concern, or rather observation, that life without the lands usurped by the wall was not physically sustainable, and the fact that these folks were never much more than subsistence level farmers to begin with. Not a lot of wiggle room in terms of sustenance, basically.

The settlers are very hostile, physically and all around, and are supplemented by a sizeable IOF presence. In fact there is an army escort every time a settler goes anywhere. The wall is about to be equipped with un-manned, sensor activated automatic weapons and is already policed by trigger happy soldiers and settlers.

Settlers carry M-16s everywhere, as they do across the West Bank, traveling thru Palestinian lands on Settlers-only roads, pr/tected by conscripted 18 and 19 year old Israeli army boys, largely secular.

"We have been here longer than any of us can even find out, since before we know. We are the farmer, this what we do, nothing else, ever. We make the olive, the chamomile, the tobacco, we make the family. We did not ask the Israelians come here, but when they come here we not ask them to leave. We must welcome stranger, its part of our culture. But they hate us before we even meeting them, they speak only with fighting, someone tell them we are like a crazy animals. We are not. They wanting to make us go, leave here forever. We will not. We know we cannot fight them; they are strong because of Ameriki giving the money too much. we cannot fight them, but we will never leave. Never. Even the whole world line up against us, we never leave. We are small farm people, but we never leave this place. Why your people we make the money for jaish (soldiers) to kill us people?"

Yesterday, we did Mosque watch, providing an international presence for Friday prayers (the most important of the week) despite the illegal curfew. We sat outside as worshippers arrived, prayed, and left. when about 75% had left, melted into the alleyways and backstreets homeward bound, 2 tanks appeared, barreling towards the Mosque area. We thought of blocking them and thought again-smile, stood on the sidewalk as locals fled the scene. The tanks have built in smoke machines, they unleashed a THICK THICK pervasive layer of noxious smoke at us and the fleeing worshippers, then barreled down the road, returning 5 minutes later headed for the Mosque itself, at which time we quickly decided that that was just too much and initiated a simple blocking action (there were only 3 of us) on the one lane road into the Mosque compound. The lead tank pulled to within a few yards of us, turned its cannon towards the Mosque, paused, then drowned us in gross smoke and took off, hamdillah (thanks to God). So, all the worshippers made it home safely, (if not calmly), as is their natural and legal right.

There were dozens of Palestinians openly and concertedly defying curfew. They stood in the middle of the main road, talking, greeting, joking etc. The tanks had just rolled thru and destroyed a (closed due to curfew) local shop with its turret, goring the entire building for no apparent reason and this was met with a hail of stones, bricks etc, to which they shot a lot of very big bullets. When we reached the crowd the tanks were turning around to come back and the locals were gathering stones and bricks. The tanks plunged into the street, shooting their heavy machine guns into the fleeing crowd, many of whom were clandestine market-goers, not stone throwers (not that stone throwers are in any way in error or legit targets). This was met with more rock throwing, then the AMERICAN tanks turned to shoot at those who had left the actual melee to seek shelter in the clandestine market area.

So, the tanks ignored the brave stone throwers to chase passersby and veggie sellers down a small alley, blasting a tank mounted 50 caliber machine gun the whole time. I was behind them, across the street; saw the whole thing from relative safety, but only 40 yards away. I saw the young boy who sells coffee to us get shot, he is about 10 or 12. He was running with his back turned, got shot in the back of the knee, kept trying to run, stumbling along, an older man came and grabbed him, carried him away with tanks still blazing. He is in the hospital, not in danger of death but maybe will be handicapped in some capacity. 15 seconds later the fleeing crowd hit a dead end in the alley and were fired upon, luckily alley was too narrow for tank to navigate and no one else was hit, though other ISMers huddled there reported pieces of the wall against they were leaning hitting them in the head as bullets hit above their heads.

Luckily the tanks are slow to navigate and are of limited capacity in these small alleyways as the 50 cal is limited by the movements of the tank itself. These were not warning shots. The tanks continued to cruise that main street for at least an hour afterwards, each time met with a volley of stones, each time attempting to exert an illegitimate right to control Jenin.

Tank activity has been incredibly incessant for awhile now, we heard re-enforcements have been called in, and that curfew could go for at least another month. What the hell are they doing here?

Between Tuesday and Thursday, at least 61 young men were "arrested" in the dark of night, taken away in night operations that we can only monitor from the roof of our building. One can only imagine what is done to them under interrogation; most were in their teens and early twenties, some only 14 or 15, a few of them I knew.

Today curfew has been enforced with a vengeance; the sound of tanks never leaves the air. Lest the world forget, all this takes place here in the Palestinian city of Jenin. What the hell are they doing here and why are we paying for this madness?

13-10-2003: Because they say so (ISM, http://www.palsolidarity.org/reports/writings/): ...yet another day of illegal and inhuman collective curfew

A local friend, an artist, former political prisoner and self described global citizen, pick his olives near a roadblock which blocks access into or out of Jenin. We had snuck out of Jenin, met our local friend, and approached the impromptu roadblock headed towards Jenin. His trees are outside of a village, 10 kilometers from jenin. the soldiers were sitting on top of their Apc, which is essentially a tank without the cannon or turret.

Street Schools (ISM, Jenin 13 Oct 03)

Jenin has been under curfew since 8/20 with brief periods of 1-3 days of curfew being released. Since the beginning of the school year (beginning of September) there have only been 12 days of school. Therefore educators in Jenin arranged the "street schools" in private homes (this one was at a day care). The students and parents felt a bit safer defying curfew in this case since the schools were held close to the homes so that if there was a problem with the soldiers, the students could easily run home to safety. The Occupation has become so oppressive that leaving one`s house is a form of resistance. To organize street schools directly defies curfew and says to the world that the Palestinians will not be prevented from getting an education - something that is held dearly to their hearts. The parents and teachers organized these schools voluntarily without the involvement of any political party, the Palestinian Authority, or any other already established organization. When students are not in school it creates many problems. Not only does it hinder their education, it incredibly boring for kids to sit around the house all day. Not all parents are able to keep their kids in their home and some course trouble on the streets kids being kids - but in an incredibly dangerous environment. Many of the kids would show us scars saying "hero" - those who had been shot by a tank or soldier while throwing stones. Arranging the schools the students are able to continue with their education, and parents are able to get a break from the kids as well!

14-10-2003: Farmers Get Access To Land "5 Times per Year" (ISM palsolidarity)

On Tuesday, October 14, Palestinian farmers from the West Bank village of Tora Shakir near Jenin and international activists will peacefully march to a gate in the "Separation Wall" dividing them from their agricultural land and demand that they be allowed access.

At the gate they will then establish a Peace Camp, where Palestinians and internationals will stay for three days. On the following day, Wednesday, October 15, farmers will attempt to pass through the gate and harvest olives.

Farmers in Tora Shakir have been told by the Israeli military that they will be permitted access to their land on only 5 days out of the entire year.

Local farmers and activists from Israel, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, Sweden, and Germany will assemble at the school in Tora Shakir at 11:30am, then at noon march to the Wall. At 12:30 they will hold a press conference at the gate.

The entire West Bank has been under lockdown since Wednesday, October 7, 2003 with no Palestinian vehicles allowed anywhere on main roads, gates to farmlands through the separation fence completely closed, and Palestinians not allowed outside their towns and villages. This lockdown is expected to remain in place until October 22, 2003. The siege was imposed less than two days after a complete closure, imposed on the Palestinian community while Jews celebrated Yom Kippur, was lifted. Despite this and persistent denial to Palestinians of access to their land, Palestinian farmers are determined to resist by making it to their fields.

The Peace Camp will seek to provide a presence of international observers and media against the threat of harassment by Israeli soldiers and settlers during the harvest, and to highlight the destructive effects of the Israeli "Security Wall" on the Palestinian economy and society. The harvest began on Wednesday the 14^th:

October 14: Assemble at the school in Tora Shakir, Peaceful march to gate and demonstration, Press Conference at gate.

October 15,16: Work with farmers harvesting olives

15-10-2003 Canadian citizen arrested by Israeli police; to be deported (ISM)

Mostafa Henaway, a 23-year-old student from Toronto, Canada was arrested by Israeli police this morning in the Israeli town of Afula. Mostafa was subjected to interrogation by Israeli secret service all day and is currently being held in a jail cell in Haifa, told he will be deported. A Canadian of Egyptian heritage, Mostafa was detained with two other foreign nationals, UK citizen Claire M. and Swiss national Elsa S. while waiting for a cab in Afula. Claire and Elsa were later released but Mostafa put under arrest because according to the arresting officer, he "looked like a beatnik."

Mostafa was amongst 11 internationals with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) detained by the Israeli military police in the Palestinian village of Tora Shakir, Jenin, last night while spending the evening in the home of a Palestinian farmer. The volunteers earlier in the day had joined a few dozen Palestinian farmers in setting up a peace camp in front of the gate, part of Israel Separation Wall, that locks the farmers of Tora Shakir out of their farmland. The Israeli military forced the peace activists away from the tent and later police stormed the home of the farmer, where ISM volunteers were being hosted. "The police arrived, storming towards the house in a violent manner; they forced all the Palestinians into the house at gunpoint, yelling and knocking chairs over. Their commander put off an air of violent insanity and we thought he was going to shoot some of the Palestinians" said volunteer Ben J.

The eleven internationals were marched in the dark at gunpoint to a military checkpoint where Mostafa was singled out for violent treatment. At approximately 10:30PM the Israeli police left the international volunteers on the side of some highway inside Israel, telling them to "find their own way", though took Mostafa and dropped him off in a separate location. The group, unfamiliar with the area, caught a bus to the nearest Israeli city and spent the night in a public park. In the morning, as they were waiting for a cab, Mostafa, Claire and Elsa were detained.

Mostafa has been a volunteer with the ISM in Jenin for the past three months and is a coordinator of the Olive Harvest Campaign. At home, Mostafa is a student at York University and a longtime peace and justice organizer. According to his friend and colleague, Jennifer, "Mostafa is the kindest, sweetest person I have ever worked with."

20-10-2003 (Associated Press)

In the West Bank city of Jenin, troops backed by tanks and armored jeeps raided offices of the militant group Islamic Jihad, confiscating computers and documents, witnesses said. Two militants were also arrested in the operation, witnesses and the army said. The army said the militants were planning suicide attacks in Israel.

Recently, Israeli security officials have reported a greater number of intelligence warnings of attacks planned by Palestinian militants. However, it appeared, from radio and media reports, that the reserve soldiers were to replace the conscript soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who have been serving under increasingly stressful conditions due to three years of intense fighting.

Oct. 20, 2003: Israeli army continues to obstruct olive harvest (ISM)

Harassment of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank regions of Jenin, Qalqilya and Nablus took on various forms today.

Israeli forces denied entry to over 80 farmers trying to pass through a gate at the Separation Wall in Anin village near Jenin. Soldiers told the farmers that in order to enter their olive groves and agricultural land on the north side of the Wall they needed visas permitting them to enter Israel. The soldiers then told the farmers to try their luck on Wednesday or to come back with visas.

Oct. 24, 2003 (Red Crescent volunteer in Jenin)

A lot of curfews has been imposed lately. A lot of things happend latly, there were homes demolitionings, one in Jenin which was for Hanadi Jaradat family and her family lives at there nieghbers and relatives houses, another two houses in Silat Aldaher, one in Silat al Harthiyya and one in Zibbuba.

Untill now Jenin still under a very tide clouser.

This opporation called accourding the Isrealy army (IDF) "THE SLOW DEATH" thats all for know and i will try to inform you with the newest news as soon as possible.

October 24, 2003: DAY OFF (ISM)

An isolated village well outside Jenin had been invaded by the IOF, placed under curfew, school kids were stuck at school unable to leave, and the IOF was conducting operations all over the village. So we hurriedly went in a cab, traveling most of the way off road, thru olive tree orchards as Jenin is still sealed off by the IOF.

We got to the village, walked in, found the area of main IOF activity and made ourselves very visible as our only intention was to observe. We ascertained that the IOF was doing house raids, had arrested 2 young men, and were still doing raids. We observed them enter a home, kicking out the 2 occupants, an elderly woman and a woman about my age. An IOF jeep zoomed up to us, told us leave the area, we said we were not doing anything, he said, "you want to get arrested?" We said no. He said "then go away now". We backed up a few feet. The illegally house arrested residents of the village were thrilled to see us and waved enthusiastically from their house windows. There were about 10 IOF vehicles in our immediate vicinity, we stayed visible and held our hands clearly out in front of us, re-iterating our role as witnesses, not participants.

Again, a jeep zoomed towards us, "why are you here?" We could have asked them the same, but instead replied "we heard there are small children here being held, and we find that unacceptable." He said we had to leave the village immediately, we said we had had no intention of interfering or "causing trouble", but we would not leave until the operations were over and the kids were retuned to their families. The jeep guy again told us to leave or face arrest, but we sensed that were probably OK. We observed their operations for several exhausting hours with periodic exchanges with IOF trying to get us to leave. After they left, we left too.

After the hour ride home we were walking towards the front door of our flat, around dusk, when a university student I know ran up to us, another busload of students was being held at the exact same spot as the load of univ. kids I wrote you about the other day. We groaned, got another cab and went. We found them there, almost exact same situation as Tuesday, soldiers took I.D.s and disappeared. The kids had been there for 4 hours and were wondering what had taken us so long! We explained why it took us so long and 4 hours later they were on their way, having been held for 8 hours. To accomplish this, we had to flag down an army jeep on the deserted road; this task fell to me and Moustafa, another ISMer, while the other ISMers and the students hung well back. Doing this sucked; it was pitch black and we knew that the soldiers were young and scared. As Mous is a brown guy, I had to spearhead the flagging down (I am white), so I did so. The jeep, for which we had waited for several hours, turned so its headlights (brights) were blinding us, and 2 soldiers climbed out very cautiously, guns raised to shoulders, aimed at us, took a few steps toward us...."lift your shirts!. Turn around! Why you here?" We explained that we came at the behest of the detained kids families to gain their release and he told us to back to Jenin. We said we could not do that without the kids because we knew their families and would be ashamed to do so. He checked our passports, we still having not seen the soldiers much because we were blinded by headlights. We stood there with our hands in the air for 30 minutes, blinded, while the soldiers milled around their jeep. Eventually they told us to call the detainees forward, which we did. They were called up to our position one by one and given their I.D.s back.

Problems remained though, first one was that the soldiers had thrown the bus drivers keys into a big field at the the time of the student`s initial bust, second was that a cab driver was also caught up in the mix (he had also been carrying students to the university), and the soldiers claimed they did not have his I.D.

We knew they were lying and probably had thrown it away or something, so pursued the issue as much as we felt we could. The soldier we had been dealing with looked a little ashamed, then said "Do not have it", got back in the jeep and drove off into the night. The bus driver hot-wired his own bus and took the students back to Jenin, We stayed there with the cabbie. Without his I.D. he faced renewable 6 month terms in Israeli prisons, we all knew this, specially him. He was a slight, sad looking man, probably 55. We waited with him there in the darkness for another 2 hours in slim hopes that the jeep would return. It did not. He was sad and worried and humiliated, but bought us bottles of fruit punch on the drive home. There were 6 bullet holes in the front doors of his cab. He told us (via Moustafa) that he as very embarrassed and humiliated because as visitors we should be drinking tea in his home, not sitting in dark fields waiting for foreign soldiers, and that he was not quite sure why he was no longer allowed to live like a human being, that he had no problem with Jews and they all used to live together.

Read the full ISM journal reports at http://www.palsolidarity.org/reports/writings/