News from Nablus, Palestine

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Wednesday October 15, 2003 15:58 by Aron Baker baker_aron at hotmail dot com Balata Refugee Camp 0872895036

News on olive harvesting and army actions in and around Nablus this week

Today wednesday 15th Oct we tried to return to the village of Beit Furik,
where we planned to help with the olive harvest, as this a perticularly
dangerous area. We visited yesterday to assess the situation and we found
out that people had been shot at 2 days previous by the settlers, injuring
1 women and then the settlers had beaten and driven off all the farmers
from their lands. We are told the settlement of Itamar is 3 kms away but
there is an access road on the top of the hill and the settlers come here
and shoot down or come down the hill to harass and beat Palestinians
harvesting their olives. Last year 1 of our members curretly with us was
stoned by settlers here. We spoke with a council representative there, who
was 1 of our contacts there whose uncle had both his hands chopped off by
the settlers several years ago and was left to bleed to death by them. Our
contact dosen't venture into any of the olive groves above the village
unless theres an international presence there and even then hes very
hesitant. After all what can unarmed people, Palestinains or internationls
do against M16 toting, machette wielding crazies that live in the illegal
settlements or outposts?
Arriving at the checkpoint, BeitFurik, to leave the city we encounter the
usual scene, approx 60 people queueing to get into or out of the city,
including a small group of women detained for walking around, whats funny
is that from here we can see numerous vehicles driving directly from the
village of Salem into Nablus, on the road, meaning checking IDs here is
completely pointless. Theres a new compund here for impounding vehicles
for an undetermined length of time (possibly from 4 days to 2weeks).
Yesterday there were around 20-30 vehicles, some have been returned, while
we watched yesterday some people who had been due to get their vehicles
back and weren't being allowed snatched their vehicles, driving away a car
and tractor, hoping that the soldiers wouldn't shoot them which they
didn't, I'm not sure if it was done deliberately while we were present to
minimise their chance of being shot. We queue for awhile then head up,
only to find that 2 of the soldiers on the checkpoint are the same as the
ones who arrested us 2 days ago. 1 of them, without much english, tells
Mark he smells and laughs and keeps saying it before the other soldier
tells us we must wait till everyone else has gone through, (having queued
already for about 30 mins, less than most people), so we back off and
wait, after everyone passes on our side, we again attempt to approach but
are informed that today the order is that no internationals are allowed
into any of the villages past this checkpoint. This is very unusual but
not really surprising, usually they are busy trying to keep us out of
Nablus where we live. So we returned to Balata refugee camp, wondering how
we could continue to be of assistance during the olive harvest and
otherwise as several ISMers have been arrested in the last few days. Some
were arrested for setting up a Peace camp to help with olive harvest near
the wall in Jenin and some were arrested for being in Tulkarem city,
shortly before the army invaded, they were eating falafel on the street
when the police stopped to arrest them.
A new permit system for Palestinians is being implemented in, "The seam
area" which is the area between the 1967 internatinaly recognised border,
the Green line, and the new Apartheid Wall. This area of land, containing
many Palestinian villages, houses, olive groves, citrus groves, water
wells, and thousands of acres of land, has now effectively been annexed to
Israel. This week residents found documents pinned to walls, trees, etc
stating that to live in this area, if you are a long term resident you
must apply for a permit. To have a car here you must apply for a permit,
to drive it througha checkpoint or gate you must have a prermit, to visit
this area if your are not a resident you must apply for a special permit,
with supporting documentation as to why your visit is necessary. Obtaing
permits in the Occupied Territories is very difficult and a great waste of
time as people queue endlessly, and often its very difficult to get to the
place to obtain said permits. Failing to get a permit to continue to live
on your own land, despite being trapped within a no mans land, will mean
that you become an illegal resident. This means it is no longer possible
for us to visit or attempt to assist the Jbarra house of Abu's that I
stayed at several weeks ago.
After our failed attempt at Beit Furik we were told there was problems at
Huwwara checkppoint. We went but found it about average. Prehaps 40 people
queueing on Nablus side, taking about 1 1/2 hours, with restricted
exiting(Usually Nablus people can't leave Nablus). Wasn't prepared to try
crossing to check the other side as reentry may have been imposible. 1 man
was squating in the dirt facing a concrete barrier in the hot sun, his
hands handcuffed with cable ties, cutting into his wrists. He had been
detained for 5 hours like that. As our team negotiated on behalf of his
wife and father, who were present, I couldn't help but notice the 8 or 9
ambulance which passed by, each 1 held for awhile, searched fully before
being allowed to pass, or the 4 or 5 UN vehicles which queued or the 6 or
7 USAID trucks and vehicles which waited to pass. This is how devastating
the Occupation is. The man being detained had been beaten, and his wife
was very concerned because he had an existing head injury, posibly a
fractured skull. The soldiers claimed he had hit 3 of them, then changed
their story. How an unarmed man would be able to hit 3 soldiers, wearing
body armour, helmits and carrying M16s and other weapons is beyond my
understanding, we think he may have stood up to them when they started
assaulting him. Most of the soldiers here are between 18 and 24 and all
look about 18 or 19, teenagers with guns, completely brainwashed and with
very little morals, can you think of a better combination?,
Numerous army vehicles swarm around the area as we are very close to the
army base of Huwwara, where we were taken to for arrest the other day.
Periodically an army jeep would speed towards Nablus chasing taxis away
from where they wait for peple crossing checkpoints, sometimes they decide
the taxis are too close to the checkpoint, despite being about 150 meters
away, if they catch them they impound their taxis for a few days. We are
told by the soldiers and independant sources that the detained man would
be arrested for questioning, but then miraculously he is released.
Last night soldiers arrived at the entrance to Balata camp and started
shooting and today there are new martry posters up for the boy/teenager
who was killed earlier this week when he touched an unexploded device,
left by the army in Nablus. The army has come into the city pretty much
every night recently, taking 5 men from Balata camp 2 nights ago, several
from Askar refugee camp and some from the "old city" of Nablus. They
occupied a house in the city centre 2 nights ago, not leaving untill 10
am. They invaded Iline refugee camp here in Nablus earlier in the week
with tanks, shooting several people.
Aron