State of Terror

by Peace supporter Tue May 14, 2002 17:21

"State of Terror" interviewed various people in Jenin to try and draw a picture of what happenned there. The testimonies were chilling as Palestinians described seeing their relatives and friends killed in summary execututions or indiscriminate shooting. A few people told of being used as human shields with soldiers placing a machine gun or sniper on their shoulders and shooting at other Palestinians.

There was a small section of the documentary dedicated to Hebron where some teenage boys broke into an Israeli settlement and killed a five year old girl. What was lacking here was a historical and geagraphical background discussion about Hebron.

Hebron is divided into 2 sections: H1 and H2. H1 is - was -controlled by the Palestinian Auhority while H2 is under Israeli occupation. About 15,000 Palestinians live in H2 with 400 settlers in their midst. The "settlement" is actually a military fortress. One has to wonder what is the logic behind putting that settlement there? Israeli settlers are allowed full access to all areas in H2 while the Palestinians live under a curfew of about 15 days per month. Schools are prevented from functioning correctly and there is constant abuse of school children -especially girls - by the Israeli soldiers. Why does the army insist on treating the Palestinians like prisoners in their own town? Do they not see how that could create some resentment among the native population? My heart goes out to the family of that 5-year-old settler girl, but the blame falls primarily on the Israeli army that created the dangerous situation for those settlers.

The other point that I wish to make regarding the documentary yesterday, is that it failed to report about the refrigerated trucks that went into Jenin before journalists went in there. Were those trucks used to carry away scores of Palestinian corpses? I guess we may never know.