Dear All
Greetings from Nablus under occupation. It was very difficult and dangerous to get into this area; the IDF do not want anyone to know what is happening here. Surprisingly, we are all still alive! We could not get thru the checkpoint, so travelled over the mountains by foot to get here. It was so beautiful, meeting a huge herd of goats and the country people, but I was so scared I really could not appreciate it. There were helicopters and drone planes flying overhead and I had my first encounter with the dreaded settlers, from a distance, thankfully. They are armed and very angry people. We got to a little village and an Arab family took us in. They are so hospitable, like Colombians. The Grandfather of the family had been arrested, he told us of the brutal treatment he recieved from the IDF, stripped naked, kept on his knees, no food or water for 2 days. His son was still being held. We were exhausted and so relieved to be with friends. Next day, we walked for 2 hours and got to Nablus , a city of 180,000 people; We walked into a deserted city, bullet holes in everything, this is the Holey land we joked! Of course we were soon spotted by soldiers, I was sure we would be deported, but we got thru and arrived at Rafidia Hospital, where we had made contact with a doctor from the Red Crescent. All of the Hospital staff have been there for 8 days on standby. About 50 young students who are Red Crescent volunteers are also there, up all night waiting to be called out. The invasion happened here 10 days ago, the same day as Bethlehem was hit.
There are F16 fighter jets flying overhead, and Apache helicopters, made by the US. The main offensive is in the Old City where the Mosque is. The streets there are so narrow, no car can get thru, but the bulldozers have bashed their way in. There are still some resistence fighters holding out there. Some of the bravest volunteers managed to get in there and rescue some of the injured. They were trapped in there for many days. The soldiers came in and searched very roughly both the injured and the dead. Tomorrow I will be going with a team who are trying to get back in there. I saw a video that one boy made of the scene in there. One man had his brains blown out. I just did an interview for Pacifica, a very radical station in California and I described all of this to them. 7 Ambulances have been shot at. I saw an interview with the head of the Red Cross. He said that the last time he had seen something like this was in Nazi Germany, when the Jews were tattooed on their arms and marked for death. He also said that Ambulances are sacred and should always have a right of passage, but now they are a target for the IDF. We heard that one Commander calls his battalion the Auschwitz Brigade and said " We shall learn from the Nazis!" One of our group from the US managed to talk to a soldier today who believes tha Arafat wants to throw them all into the sea! It is a breakthrough and I hope to get to talk to them; They are so jumpy and shoot at anything, they are scared and pumped up with propaganda. I went out today to collect a young boy of 11 who had been shot by a soldier. He was so brave, wounded in his arm. His father is an ambulance driver. Today the morgue in the Hospital is full of bodies, and they had to get a dairy lorry with a huge fridge in to put more of the bodies in. Many have not been identified yet. I spent hours visiting the wounded in the Hospital with a translater. One young guy had his leg amputated. All the rest were bullet wounds. They all said to me 'Why does the world stand by and let this happen to us ? Why does no one care? Why do leaders talk and talk and never do anything? Why is Ireland and all the other countries so afraid of America?' I said I was very ashamed of my country's silence, but that they are the strongest and bravest people I have ever met and that no one can crush their incredible spirit, and it is a great honour for me to be here with them at this moment. I slept in the Blood laboratory last night. The doctor there was so admiring of Ireland and films he has seen about great irish Revolutionaries, whom he said are one of the toughest in the World. Many of the hospital staff have said this to me. But where is their voice now? The people have incredible dignity and unity. Even the town councillors are at the hospital ready to help. A French Journalist was shot in the chest yesterday and treated at the hospital. A huge fuss was made by all the journalists, but I was so disgusted to hear that after receiving emergency treatment he then transferrd to an Israeli hospital, even though he was shot by THEM!
The IDF are not allowing rotting bodies to be collected from the streets. They shoot at people who try to bring home the dead but do not shoot at the cats and dogs who have started to eat them! Speaking to people here, I am learning again that Sept 11 was a set up to attack the Arab world.
Why are the Israeli attacks not called Terrorism? Why are suicide
bombers called immoral, and tanks killing civilians is moral? Why is
Arafat being asked to give more, when all their land and rights are
taken? Sharon creates the suicide bombers. I hope that people start
boycotting Israeli goods like they did S. African produce during
apartheid. I just want to say again; the people here ae so peaceful
and intelligent and do not look up to foreigners, a great relief.
Thank you for caring,
Mary
my love to you all, and than