This website is about my life living and working in illegally occupied Palestine. There are many websites with all sorts of fact and fiction regarding the conflict here. This, however, is a personal site so what you will read here are accounts of the day-to-day lives, thoughts and experiences of myself and others. email me

Friday 20th December, 2002 The weather is utterly miserable and the curfew has been lifted so people are out, frantically stocking up and tryin to get things done that many take for granted. Going to the shops, seeing relatives and friends, going to school, and for those fortunate enough to have a job, going to work. Are we supposed to feel grateful to the Israeli army for these few hours of freedom? On Wednesday night, the Israeli army evacuated an illegal settler outpost in Hebron, close by to the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriachs. The historic city centre of Hebron is under threat; Israel has delcared that it will demolich a whole street of homes to allow 'safe passage' for the Jewish settlers to go to the Tomb. These are all old buildings, part of the heritage of the area, but that means nothing. Nor does the making homeless of many families who will have no recompense for their loss. It is not usual to see these outposts dismantled; once they spring up the settlers cling to the land and colonize it, taking Palestine inch by inch. A friend of mine had to go to Hebron on Wednesday and she told me that vehicles from the American Consulate were there, along with the CIA. Apparently, there has been pressure from the US concerning this outpost, but not all the other illegal settlements and outposts that carve up the West Bank and Gaza, isolating Palestinian towns and villages from one another. Thursday 19th December, 2002 Curfew was lifted for 3 days in a row; Saturday thorugh until Monday. We had hoped that the Israelis were going to allow curfew to be lifted daily, this is what had been reported, however this is not the case. Since Tuesday everyone has remained as prisoners in their homes. There is also a report that there will be a partial withdrawal, only the refugee camps will be kept under curfew. This is utterly ridiculous and there is no reason for Bethlehem, or any Palestinian area, to remain under curfew. This is not about security; it is about power and control. There is much anxiety concerning the imminent attack against Iraq. Some Palestiniasn have been talking about what will happen after America installs its own puppet administration; some fear that the will be transfered to Iraqi territory and their land handed over to the Israelis. That may sound crazy but they have good reason to fear this may happen. The world will not be interested in what is going on here. Christmas has in effect been cancelled; there are no decorations and there is no atmosphere apart from fear, dread and desperation. It is unbelievable to see a population so brutalized with so little intervention. It doesn't seem to matter what the Israelis do, no-one is challenging them. Each day many homes are destroyed, 16 in Rafah (Gaza) the day before yesterday. The ethnic cleansing, although slow is very sure. Wednesday 11th December, 2002 It has been almost impossible to update my journal for over a month now due to another broken modem, no phone line and another invasion. Despite the fact that we are under curfew again, I still go out and visit friends. Each day I go to Dehesishe and each day the Israeli army comes along and fires tear gas into the camp. On Eid (the feast at the end of Ramadan) the army attacked the mosque in the camp, gassing the men as they prayed. I can't see how that is 'fighting terror'. We are almost at the end of the third week or curfew and invasion. The first night I was forced out of the home I was in by a squad of over 30 soldiers; they were looking for a relative of the family I was staying with. We were held at gunpoint from 4am until after 6am, when they finally abducted one of the men in the family and took him as they couldn't find who they were looking for. The man they took was Abed Al Ahmar, the husband of Allegra Pacheco, the human rights lawyer. (I went to their wedding in June - see the archive for more info.) Allegra is currently the legal adviser to UNRWA. Despite her position which supposedly affords her protection, they totally disregarded the protocols for dealing with a UN official. Considering an Israeli sniper murdered Iain Hook (a friend and colleague of Allegra's) that same day, it is hardly surprising. Abed is now being held in Ofer prison, under a 6 month administrative detention order. (See the Amnesty report.) Administrative detention is a throwback to British Mandate law. A person can be detained without charge or trial and held for 6 months. After 6 months the order can be renewed. At no time is the detainee or his legal counsel given any access to evidence in connection with the detention and the file is deemed secret and can only be viewed by the military judge and the Israeli security forces. The International Committee Against Torture have ruled that administrative detention is a form of torture. At this time there are over 1,000 Palestinians being held using this order. Along with Abed, in tent due to overcrowding in Ofer prison, are detainees as young as 15 and men as old as 75. The reasons for their detention are unclear but in some cases people are being held as a relative is wanted. This is illegal under international law. Thursday 17th October, 2002 I had to go and photograph the area where the homes that are under treat in Beit Sahour are located. I took various shots of the buildlings, some finished and some not, and the by-pass road, which will be for Jews only. The road is carving up the northern edge of Beit Sahour and is the reason cited by Israel as why they want to demolish so many homes. I wanted to go behind the site to take some pictures of the illeagl colony of Har Homa, built on land expropriated from Beit Sahour in 1995. There was a van a little way ahead and as we pulled up by it an armed man got out and demanded we stop. He wanted to know who we were and why we were there. I told him I was a journalist and he let us go on but he followed us and watched our every move. Of course, he was Israeli security, not Palestinian. And he was cheerfully sitting at the bottom of Palestinians gardens, 'guarding' the road which runs to the most northern point of the district. A district which is Palestinian, not Israeli, but perhaps for not much longer. Wednesday 16th October, 2002 Went for lunch with a friend in Jerusalem today. Leaving was fine, a few cursory questions but no hassle. Coming back was a nightmare. "Closed" said the soldier. He was refusing to allow anyone through. Actually that is not quite true. There were a few bus loads of Jews and they were going in. I demanded to go through, as did some Palestinians, but to no avail. I called the British Consulate (my lunch appointment funnily enough) and they called the DCO. Apparently the only way I would be allowed back to where I live was to go all the way round to the DCO checkpoint at the top of Beit Jala, a few miles away. During my phone conversation one soldier roughly manhandled a little old lady who just wanted to go home. Some of them have no shame, I was sickened to see him be so rough with a frail woman. The Consulate kindly offered to send me a driver to get me to Beit Jala but they were not sure when someone could come so I managed to share a taxi with some other people who had arrived and been turned away at the same time. Before I left I asked on of the soldiers why the checkpoint had been so comprehensively closed. He told me: "So Jews can pray at Rachel's tomb." Sunday 13th October, 2002 An ominous day. Yesterday I was told that the Israelis are planning to reinvade Bethlehem on the 15th. Rumours abound constantly here and although I listen to them, I do not necessarily believe them. At about 8pm this evening I changed my mind. There was a loud explosion. I was cooking dinner for myself and a friend and we wondered what it was. It wasn't a home demolition, nor was it a missile form a helicopter or an F16. It was another assassination . A member of the Abayat family was blown up when he used a pay phone outside the Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala. (The hospital is about 100 yards from Bab Isqaq, the main crossroads in Bethlehem.) We rushed over there to find a few hundred men in the street, looking at the scene. The payphone was obviously wrecked, a mass of tangled metal. The feeling, I felt, was calm but angry. I then went to a friend's house and we discussed what had happened and what may happen next. The man assassinated is the sixteenth martyr in the family, the third killed by a targeted assassination. This fits well with the pattern of Israeli operations. Bethlehem has been very quiet since the last invasion but this may change things dramatically. The man killed is supposedly linked to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, part of Fateh. If so, what will they do? Will they shoot at Gilo (perhaps the most obvious response) or will they do something else? Whatever they do, it will be used as the excuse to come back into Bethlehem. It also fits disturbingly with the date bandied about for an invasion. And this is not the first time that a date has been given in advance. Obviously, for a man to be killed whilst using a public telephone in a main street, there had to be collaboration. The Israelis had to know when he would be there, when he picked up the receiver, when to detonate the explosives. It makes people feel very nervous to know that this was all planned and that it could not have been done without help from here. It shows how unsafe everyone is, regardless of whether there is an invasion or not. Who does one trust? Who does one not trust? Anything can happen at anytime. There is no such thing as an ordinary life here; everyone gets dragged into it. The phone is just outside the hospital entrance and goodness knows how there were no other people killed or injured. I drove back later to show someone and most people had left the scene, there were just a couple of cars parked outside. I wondered where the people who may respond to this were and what they were talking about. I hope that nothing happens, I hope that Bethlehem remains free of Israeli occupation, but it is too much to hope for that people can ever lead a normal life here or have any sort of hope for their future under these conditions. Friday 11th October, 2002 The issue concerning the home demolitions in Beit Sahour has taken up most of the working week at the Municipality. There have been constant meetings with various parties, including the Greek Consul. Some of the land in question, including the Greek Orthodox housing project, belongs to the Greek Patriachate, so the Greek Consul has taken a special interest. The Supreme Court ruled that the Israeli Government must produce its evidence and reasons for the demolitions, before the beginning of next week, then followed by a 30 day period where the Judge will examine all the evidence. Then he will give his decision. Most people are understandably despondent. I am not aware of any case where the Palestinians have succeeded in keeping their land or their homes. As Beit Sahour saw Jabal Abu Ghnaim taken from them 7 years ago, they know how hard it is to fight against the colonist policies of Israel. There is a solidarity tent set up and we hope that internationals will come and stay, particularly when the bulldozers come. But despite the support, there is little hope to save the homes. Monday 7th October, 2002 I am now in a new flat but have no phone line, so updating my journal is going to be difficult again. I have also been away, in Jordan, with a friend from New York who is Palestinian and has some family in Amman. It was refreshing to be away, even though it was only for two nights, but it is also hard knowing the difficulties my friends here are facing each day. Nothing happened in Bethlehem whilst I was gone, but apparently we are due to be reinvaded again, tomorrow so the rumour has it. The rumours are strong and based on the comments of Ben Elizier, who stated that many so-called 'wanted' men have fled here from other areas as it is supposedly safer. The rumour is also that Arafat is going to come here instead of staying in Ramallah. Someone from the PA told me that isn't true, but who knows. The land confiscation in Beit Sahour has reached a new level of crisis. Demolition orders have been issued for in excess of 100 homes in the area adjacent to Jabal Abu Ghnaim, where the illegal settlement of Har Homa has been built. It is also the area where a new road is being constructed which will mark the new border of Jerusalem. The Israelis keep taking more and more, the land of Palestine is being eroded away and colonized by Jewish settlers. Yesterday the hearing to oppose the demolitions was held in the Supreme Court. (I don't know the outcome yet.) Despite the rightful owners having documents to prove title, the Israelis continue to do as they please. I wonder how much outcry there would be if the situation were reversed? Or it was in Washington, or London, or somewhere other than Palestine? Over 600 people will be made homeless. © Georgina Reeves 2002