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STOP THE KILLING; GET HUMANITARIAN AID TO INJURED PALESTINIANS; PROTEST AND DEMAND IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE AND INTERVENTION
This website is about my life living and working in 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.
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Saturday 13th April, 2002
This morning felt far more tense than yesterday. We had organized to do another food drop, or attempt to, so our small gaggle of renegade internationals (I am sure that some people think of us in this way) dutifully arrived at about 10am. We decided to go earlier, just in case our friendly Red Cross officials were coming in to town today. We were fortunate that the BBC turned up just before we were leaving, so Jeremy Bowen asked if he could join us and very kindly gave us a hand carrying stuff. Then, Channel 4 appeared just as we were setting off so not to be outdone, they also joined in too. (We made the Channel 4 evening news, again!)
We walked down a narrow road which meets one of the main lanes in to the old city centre. It was almost deserted but a few faces did poke out. We carried on as the sounds of war reverberated around us. Ahead, probably no more than 2 streets forward, we saw the twisted and torn wreckage for a car flying 50 feet into the sky. The soldiers had been systematically blowing up anything in the roads this morning and smoke was slowly rising from various areas of the town.
The street we were in was relatively unscathed by the onslaught that has raged here for almost 2 weeks. We moved forward cautiously, we could hear shouting in Hebrew, and rounded a corner that took us right into the heart of the town. I was utterly speechless.
I felt as if I had walked on to a film set. There was a pick up and 2 cars in front of us, all wrecked and 1 still on fire. We started calling out "hello" and "we have food." In part so that the Israeli soldiers could hear that it was a bunch of stupid foreigners. A face, then another, appeared at a balcony a few dozen yards ahead of us. To start with they beckoned us, then waved us, then beckoned us again. They desperately needed food and the old woman came out toward us so one of the group took her a sack. Brave woman, the soldiers were only yards away.
We dithered a little, which was stupid of us, and it allowed more people to notice us. Suddenly, there were people appearing in doorways and coming toward us, young boys shouting and rushing at us. The sacks and boxes we had were gone in seconds but we were concerned about the people coming outside and drawing attention to the situation; it made it so dangerous for us all. Suddenly, the shooting was toward our position so we had to beat a very hasty retreat. I had tried to get the people back indoors, as I hoped that, if we kept things calm and stable, we might have been able to come back at least once more. Sadly, we couldn't. It was far to risky for everyone.
Later, a convoy headed by the DCO's jeep passed through to the old city. In the convoy were cars with Italian flags on so one of our group, an Italian, called the embassy to see why they were there. They were bringing more food with the UN. I hope that some more of those desperate people managed to get some food today.
One of the journalists, an Arab, asked if I would go with him to deliver some medicine to an old woman with a heart problem. I agreed and enlisted the 4 others who were coming back to the office to come too. Another convoy arrived as we walked in so we actually had some protection. The woman's home was not to far in so we were able to get in and out quickly.
Friday 12th April, 2002
Another day and the usual bangs, booms and bombs. There was a massive explosion earlier this morning, the building shook to the foundations. We had to get to the hotel as there had been a food delivery from the UN yesterday. They very cleverly deposited desperately needed food rations in to a lock up near the Star Hotel but there didn't seem to be a distribution network set up. A couple of the locals asked us to help as they couldn't take it themselves for fear of being shot on sight. As we walked to the hotel we saw a thick plume of smoke rising ahead of us. There were a couple of jeeps and the soldiers stopped us and told us we couldn't go through. They didn't tell us not to be outside, although curfew hadn't been lifted, so we just walked the longer way.
When we got to the hotel we found that a small group had already managed to make a start. They had walked a fair way in before being challenged and when they were, the soldiers had not been violent or antagonistic toward them. In fact, they seemed quite willing to allow us to proceed with our mission. We all grabbed more sacks and some boxes of milk powder and took them to a point inside the old city where the soldiers had said we should wait.
We started some negotiations to allow us to take the foodstuffs in by hand, which seemed to be going rather well, until the Red Cross turned up.
I have already had a few "run ins" with certain staff members. I have been working with the Red Crescent and arranged for internationals to accompany ambulance crews as they felt a little more secure with our presence. The Red Cross official was not pleased yet she has nothing to do with the daily running of the Red Crescent. She has a rather irritating attitude; full of self-importance and it always seems as if there is a bad smell under her nose.
I had called the District Commanding Officer to see if he was willing to assist us in some way. He seemed perfectly happy to speak to me and I explained that if we were out on the streets with all this food and curfew was lifted we would be mobbed and it would be very dangerous for his soldiers. He understood and spoke to one of the soldiers to explain the position. The Red Cross had already appeared at that point and had spent about half an hour faffing with 2 women just talking on the phone all the time. So much for helping the needy in times of crisis. People are starving and all they could do was flounce about with their "just walked out of a salon" hairdos.
To cut a long, and boring, story short, the Red Cross effectively told us to go. They had 3 jeeps, one of which was empty so we asked them to come to the warehouse and fill up with as much of the supplies we had. They refused and in fact, the woman in charge just shouted at us. At that point I angrily stomped away, shouting that this was no time to be bickering when people are starving. Beaurocracy at its best. I was so furious.
Curfew was then lifted and Heather and I spent ages fighting our way through the little supermarket for some food. There was one totally irritating journalist who waved 3 bottles of wine in the air and demanded to be served before everyone else. He was standing behind me and was most unpleasant. Pushing old women out of the way is utterly obnoxious and he should have been ashamed of himself, but of course he wasn't.
Thursday 11th April, 2002
08.41: Many local people were expecting something to happen overnight at the Church of the Nativity. Nothing did. In interviews I keep getting asked "what do you think will happen" and "when will the Israelis withdraw?" I don't know what to think really. I wonder if they will withdraw from some areas but keep hold of other? They cannot leave either Ramallah or Bethlehem until the two standoffs have been 'solved'. (I hate to think what Sharon's idea of resolved is.)
I hope that curfew will be lifted today; if nothing else I would really like to have a shower and get some clean clothes. Most people, obviously, have been confined to their homes but we at IMC-Palestine are living and working out of an office so no hot showers, no beds and no clean clothes! We are also rather low on food, but I fear that any stores that do open (curfew lift permitting) will have very limited quantities of food left.
I want to go to Nablus but I am concerned that, 1) I feel a little as if I am abandoning people here (I live here and am part of the community, I would feel awful if I left for a few days to find that something dreadful happened here in my absence) and 2) deportation. That is always a worry, and as the internationals have really embarrassed the Israelis and shown them for what they are, they are very hap |
