Augustr 1, 2005


July 25, 2005.

Nablus, West Bank.

  Over 500 demonstrators, including Palestinian groups, mothers of prisoners and internationals, marched towards Huwara checkpoint and military base to  demand freedom of movement and freedom for the prisoners.
Nablus has been surrounded by checkpoints since the start of the second Intifada. The city is still subject to closure and often is closed to the surrounding villages who are dependent on its services. There are 3 main Israeli military bases surrounding the city, with additional outposts on the hilltops to protect the 5 settlements that are continually annexing land and expanding their territory.

Over 8000 Palestinians are incarcerated in Israeli jails, many of whom are women and children. 1400 are from Nablus city and its refugee camps. The city and camps are plastered with posters and plaques paying hommage to the many that have been assasinated.

This is the first demonstration in over a year that has not ended in bloodshed. Because it was considered a successful demonstration that was highly mediatized, the participating Palestinian groups are planning to organize another march in one month. (Groups include the Women's union, Medical Relief Committee, Federation of Trade Unions, ISM, Nablus Governant, Mother's of Prisoners, and clerical groups).
The first nights of my stay in Balata, the largest refugee camp near Nablus, I have heard gun-fire exchange between the fighters and the army. I sit in my bed wondering what will happen, when will these people live without fear and death. Because ISM activists can only go out if medics call upon our aid, I lay listening and counting the explosions.

DEMOLITION IN TANA

Yesterday ISM travelled to the village of Tana, near Beit Furik checkpoint, where Israeli forces demolished the entire village on July 5th.
The residents had received one day's notice that their homes were to be demolished by a piece of paper left outside one of their dwellings. The villagers knew no one to call and the razing of their twenty-two homes went ahead unhindered. The UN estimates 170 persons have been "displaced",
the villagers say Tana was home to 400 people at the height of the season.

  Tana is a small farming village in the Jordan valley in one of the longest continually inhabited areas of the world. Residents say the area is mentioned in the holy books and was known to be populated 3500 years ago. The village mosque, the only structure not to be
demolished, has stood for several hundred years.

  The paper announcing the demolition says that the villagers had built their homes without Israeli permission. Their caves and stone
constructions are hundreds of years old. In recent years they have added steel and concrete structures to the front of their caves. A school house was built six years ago and this too was destroyed this month. When the army destroyed the village they demolished not only the steel structures but the caves themselves and even the villagers' cars.

  In 1989 the villagers had a court case in Israel, after which they were told they would be allowed to farm the western portion of their land. In recent years the villagers have also been threatened by settlers from Itamar, who came and swam in their water supply.

  SETTLER VIOLENCE IN SALIM - SHABAK ARRIVES ON SITE

  The day before ISM visited Salim where residents have been fighting to get access to 80% of their land in Israeli courts. Recently, 40 settlers attacked the villagers, burning and cutting down their olive groves. Abhu Jamil Mahmoud had 250 of his olive tress cut 2 weeks ago. Settlers often ambush Salim residents and steal their flock of sheep as well. Last week a man was shot in the leg while asking to go through the Beit Furik checkpoint quickly, as his wife had just given birth and was vunerable to the heat and long wait.

  As we hiked the dirt road leading to Jamil's land, we appraoched the settler road and a settler car stopped 50 meters away. Minutes later, an army jeep drove up to ask us what we were doing. The stench from the road was unbearable in the heat - we were standing on the sewage from the settlement that the settlers dump on the villagers land.

A well-known Shabak agent by the name of Turgemon appeared on site followed by the Border Police and the District Coordination Office (representing Israeli and Palestinian officials). He has arrested and deported over 6 internationals during actions and accompaniment visits in the last couple of years.

  We were refused access, and told that Jamil could file a report at the police station. After travelling to the Police station to file his complaint, we waited for "the expert" to come and "investigate" the trees to see if they had really been cut by a saw.

  Frustrated, we waited for Jamil to finish with the ridiculous phantomime of legalities and returned to the village with him at dusk.

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