I left Jenin 2 days ago. The army are still waging their war of terror.
I was standing with many people outside the hospital waiting for ambulances to take them home. 2 tanks and an APC came and blocked the road leading to the hospital. Army jeeps patrolled and a special white jeep bearing Mossad special branch police circled around the hospital also. This happens regularly. Patients inside the hospital can never rest easy as there is a constant threat of the army entering. I ducked into the small shop opposite the hospital. The shop owner told me that his nephew was arrested and no one knows where he is being kept. A common story. He talked about the April invasion of Jenin and told me the horrific story of a man being wounded by machine gunfire from a tank, then the tank drove back and forth over his body 4 times. These Merkava tanks weigh between 60-70 tons. His mother and friends witnessed this horrifying death. The shopkeeper told me that the fighters held out for 9 days, an extraordinary length of time against the 4th most powerful army in the world.
Crowds of kids of all ages hang around in areas where the bulldozers and tanks are "parked" waiting to pelt them with stones. Their rage is incredible to behold. One boy was seen running towards a tank yelling "shoot me, shoot me!" I have seen the driver of a tank drive straight at these kids.
House to house searching continues. We heard that on 2 occasions the army burnt the uniforms of 2 men who were members of the PA, and destroyed their ID cards. One of my volunteer friends told me that one night she came upon an old woman who was weeping helplessly. She had been forced to listen while a group of soldiers had beaten 3 youths senseless just outside her door. The frustration of not being able to intervene was breaking her heart.
I was told that Jenin means " fertile gardens." It is indeed the only area where I have seen green-ness and crops growing. There used to be many natural water springs there but they are now very contaminated. Not much growing goes on these days due to the constant military presence. A friend from Bantry phoned to say that Amnesty are reported to be pushing for a case to be taken against the army for war crimes committed in April. I won't be holding my breath! Also news that Shaul Mofaz the IDF chief who personally led the Army into Jenin in April has just been elected as defence minister. What next?!
Eventually I managed to get a lift from an ambulance to an outlying village where I got 3 other cars to take me on my journey towards Nablus. I linked up with a young Japanese photographer who was also headed there. He had been in Han-Yunis in Gaza the previous week. He showed me the mark of a bullet wound in his leg, received when the army opened fire on a group of kids he was with. We got to within 15 miles of Nablus and were stopped by the army, refused entry and told that Nablus was a closed military zone. We decided to keep going and travelled a long circuitous route climbing the hills.
Despite my friend's leg injury he set a furiously fast pace and I was really exhausted when we finally reached a village in the dark of night. From there we contacted an ambulance which came to pick us up.
In Nablus I visited an English friend who has been staying with the family of a suicide bomber to try and intervene over any attempt by the army to bomb the family home. When I was in Nablus last April during the worst parts of the invasion there were no suicide bombers from Belata camp at that stage. I was told that because of the intense brutality of the army, killing and arresting people in the camp and a terrifyingly long period of curfew, two young lads who lived almost next door to each other became Belatas first Shaheeds (martyrs). They were known as best friends and also the most optimistic of the youth, the ones who always had the most hopeful attitude. The brutality of the army over the past 6 months changed the mood in the camp forever.
Just 2 days ago the army picked up another son of this family. It was known that he had been badly beaten and they had taken him away. The army when contacted, denied any knowledge of this. The family were very distraught when I met them, as their son has a very serious medical problem, fluid on the brain, as a result of being wounded in the head by the army on another occasion. Frustratingly, the IDF were denying any knowledge of this boy's whereabouts. As I was leaving Nablus I travelled with my friend and another woman from Belfast to the checkpoint outside of town. They headed off towards the military base, which is inside one of the rare forests you see here. There is a big building used to interrogate prisoners there. She phoned me later to say that when they asked at the base they were told that this boy was definitely not there. My friend refused to leave and sat outside for hours. She saw an army truck passing by and glimpsed the boy tied up and blindfolded, so she insisted to the soldiers at the base that they were lying.
With help from a group of lawyers for human rights they finally got an admission from the army and where he is being held. Hopefully a group called 'Physicians for Human Rights' will be able to help the situation also. A small victory which proves that its worth persevering and contacting the Israeli groups who are willing to help.
Yesterday in Nablus an Apache helicopter blew up a car carrying 2 passengers. The army claim they were Hamas leaders.
Last week in Nablus also, Mossad agents assasinated 2 men and wounded many others as they drove into a busy street in a Palestinian reg.car "Al Aqsa leaders" claim the Israeli's.
Last night the army firebombed buildings between Belata and Askar camp,which they claim were "bomb factories". The army would not allow international volunteers and the Fire Brigade in to try and quench the fire. The fire is still raging. Anyone with connections to the Irish Fire Brigade union who have actually promised support for the fire fighters in the occupied territories please try and use your influence.
Yesterday it took me 3 hours to do a 20 minute journey from Ramallah to Jerusalem. I had to get through so many roadblocks. I heard that there had been a suicide bombing, another Shaheed from Belata.
I am writing this from the house of an Israeli ex-soldier whom I met olive picking. He is not a refusenik yet but has said he will refuse to serve again if he is called
He struggles with friends and fellow soldiers over the actions of the army. I admire his courage to speak out and take a stand. I have had intense discussion with him and his family over what I have recently experienced in Jenin and the fact that brutality of the army is breeding hundreds of suicide bombers.
Thanks for all the calls and messages of support, and also for the
donations that are being collected for Caoimhe in Jenin. To keep in
touch with her, by mobile 067 598293, and email; masasa73@hotmail.com
In Solidarity, Mary Kelly.