ISM Reports: Terrorizing Jayyous

1)
Terrorizing Jayyous
February 4, 2004

Tonight is the second straight night in a row that Israeli soldiers
have
invaded the village of Jayyous and terrorized the people. It is
speculated
by the villagers that this behavior is the Army's response to a few the
shebab (young men) of the village managing to cut the lock and chain
off the
gate in the fence that keeps the Jayyous farmers out of their land.
Currently only 3 farmers of the village have permission from the
Israeli
Army to access their farmland according to certain operating hours for
the
gate set by the Israeli military. The rest of the farmers of the
village
are completely denied access.

Below is an account given by Tracie in Jayyous:

"At 7:30 pm, I was at the nearby fruit/vegetable stand (for those of
you
who have been in jayyous..i was with Abdel K)..chatting and sipping
tea when we heard an extremely loud CRASH! And then several shots of
live ammunition...quickly, he closed the door, leaving a crack so he
could peer out to see what would happen next. I asked him what he
thought the loud crash was because it sounded as if the jeep had run
into
either a building or a vehicle. No reply. He was too intent on finding
out if the jeeps were coming towards where we were...sure enough...one,
then two jeeps drove by...heading west in the village.

"There had been no reason for the military to enter into the village.
As i
mentioned...it has been quiet here in jayyous and there are no "wanted"
men here. ...clearly, it was only to provoke...and, they did. As
usual..after about 5 minutes, we heard the running of the shebab
(youth)
going towards where the jeeps were headed...clearly, rocks and stones
are
no match for jeeps and guns, tear gas and sound bombs, but they do send
a
message. And the message is clear. "This is our land, this is our
home,
and it is time for you to go home."

"While I have no way of knowing what happened next, as I was enclosed
in a
vegetable stand, it was later reported to me that -yes, the shebab
throw
stones...giving, in the minds of the soldiers, free rein to do whatever
they set out to do...harrass, provoke, frighten, maybe even
injure...this
night, it seemed as if they were intent on doing all of
it...fortunately,
no one was touched by any of their weapons. After about 5 minutes of
being holed up in the stand, it felt safe to make the short quick jaunt
up
to my home...and so i did...from there, things got worse...for more
than
one hour, there was live ammununition, soldiers both in their jeeps and
on
foot, throughout the village...throwing sound bombs, which are
extremely
shocking and loud, tear gas, these other light/flare like "bombs" that
light up the sky...and give the impression that they could land on
you....and of course, the worst of it for me...the shooting of the
M-16's
and maybe other weaponry, over and over again, into the air. All of
this
while i am alone in my home, with no money in my phone to call to make
sure all of my friends are safe, or to talk thru those brief moments of
fear...and there were some on this night.
For sure, this was the "worst" night since my arrival in Jayyous in
terms
of the behavior of the soldiers. The sound of pretty consistent
gunfire
for more than one hour is pretty unusual in my world. and the way the
roofs shake when a sound bomb explodes nearby rattles you, too."

-T
======================
2)
Turkman family experiences roadmap firsthand
January 28, 2004
Sonya
Jenin

In Suweitat, a village in the Jenin district, today the Israeli's were
actively engaged in advancing the road map. A bulldozer, excavator and
surveyors were hard at work under the protection of the Israeli army.
Olive
trees were being uprooted and the land was being ripped up in a long
winding
strip. A Palestinian farming family was losing their land for a
"security
fence" for the nearby settlement of Qaddim.

In a small village, more like a small suburb, of Jenin an extended
family of
33 lives on their farm of 200 or so dunams. They live in three houses
clustered together with the shelters for their cows, goats and
chickens.
There use to be five houses until September when the Israeli military
came
in the night and demolished two of the houses. The remaining houses are
under the threat of demolition. The military also dug a trench in the
road
leading to the cluster of houses which the family had to fill in, in
order
to have vehicle access to their farm. Along the land of the Turkman
family
runs a fence surrounding the settlement of Qaddim. An army guard post
is
camouflaged at the base of some trees inside the fence. Soldiers
constantly
watch from this post all that goes on outside the settlement fence in
the
Turkmans land. The houses of the settlement are close enough to the
houses
of the Turkmans that each can clearly see each other. The family has
had
internationals stay on their farm before to help with the olive harvest
and
to help the family access their land along the fence surrounding the
settlement.

On Sunday the soldiers were in the Turkamns fields with two bulldozers
and a
mechanical digger. The army uprooted olive trees from the families
olive
grove and ripped up the earth in the chick-pea fields. The long strip
of
cleared land extends into the agriculture areas surrounding the
settlement.
The only warning the family received was a couple of stakes in the
ground.

On Tuesday a bulldozer and excavator returned to the Turkmans land to
continue the destruction. The surveyors were also there with their
equipment. We approached the soldiers and asked what the land was being
cleared for and how long the army would be on the Turkmans property.
The
soldier told us it was for a security fence around the settlement and
that
it was going to take a longtime, 6-8 months. One of the Turkman
brothers
stepped forward in hopes of seeing how many trees were lost and if any
of
them were small enough to be saved, he was denied access. The manager
came
forward to explain in broken Arabic. 'The fence will be here' he said
pointing at a stake in the ground in the middle of the strip of churned
up
land 'and extend 8 meters in this direction and in this direction'.
After
much discussion the farmer was told he would have his uprooted olive
trees
delivered to him at 5:30 and piled up on a section of land that is
still in
the Turkmans possession. When we asked if the farmer would have access
to
his land, that will end up in between the existing fence around the
settlement and the new one that is being constructed, the answer was
'who
knows' as if the fence is a manifestation from god. There was also
mention
of a road cutting along side the fence. This seems to describe the
massive
apartheid 'fence' that is being built around the west bank, not simply
another fence.

It is rumored that at the start of the 2nd Intifada the settlers of
Qaddim
who could afford to move to the other side of the green line did so.
The
remaining are asking for compensation before they do the same. We were
told
only 30 settlers remain in the settlement that has houses for a hundred
or
so and that both settlements are to be dismantled as part of the road
map
negotiations. The maps that show the path of the wall do not show plans
for
a fence in this area but we saw the destruction and know that access to
the
land will now become close to impossible for the Turkman family.
==========================
3)
Balata Installation - Your help needed!
February 2004
Kelly
Nablus

Hello,

As most of you know, i have been living and volunteering (with ISM and
other
projects) in Nablus, Occupied Palestine for about seven months. My
time has
been concentrated on Nablus, particularly in Balata Refugee Camp.

In addition to ISM, myself and another volunteer have been working on a
new
project. We are creating an installation
about Balata, composed of photos, children's art, sound, pictures, film
(both our film and films done by people in the camp), drama, and
interviews.
After we are finished collecting everything, we hope to take the
installation on tour in the US, UK and Sweden. The content of the
installation is determined by the people in the camp - we are working
closely with many different organizations, centers, schools, political
groups and individuals in Balata on this installation. The project is
essentially coming from the people in the camp.

Balata Refugee Camp is one of the most hardhit communities in the West
Bank.
Refugees from the 1948 expulsion, the over 30,000 residents are crammed
into
a single suffocating square kilometre, almost all physically closed by
IOF
roadblocks. Unemployment is the norm, and most families rely on UNWRA
handouts for survival. Daily incursions
by IOF forces that park at the entrances and shoot into the camp are
taken
for granted. It is rare to meet somebody who hasn't tasted tear gas,
every
second boy seems to have been shot at some stage, and there isn't a
house
the soldiers haven't entered at some point. Despite being the largest
refugee camp in the West Bank, Balata receives very limited outside
support.
Visitors are rare and links to groups abroad are practically
non-existent.

The purposes of the project are:
-to raise awareness about the complexity and
reality of the camp
-to counter distorted western views about Balata
and the people within
Balata camp
-to take people's messages from Balata to people
in Europe and the states
-to encourage and provide opportunities for
political activism about
Palestine, and Balata specifically
-to make links between political and social
organizations in the camp with
similar organizations abroad

We are looking for help from people in the US, UK and Sweden on this
project
on a number of things. Primarily, we
need help organizing events and preparing to find groups and venues
willing
to host us. Our general timeline will put us in the UK and Sweden from
March
10- April 10 and the US from April 10 - the middle of May.

Second, from ISM volunteers who have spent some time in Balata, we are
need
of video footage, pictures or audio recordings that you'd be willing to
share with us.

For this interested in this project, we want to set up a mailing list
to
keep people informed of what we are doing.
Interest or questions can be sent to:
 kelly@riseup.net or
 jolifanto@riseup.net

For more information on what we've been doing in
our time here, see:
 http://www.madison-rafah.org/correspond.html
 http://www.notesfrompalestine.net

thank you!
in solidarity,
kelly
===========================


INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
www.palsolidarity.org

"For the tyrant has the power to inflict only that which we lack the
strength to resist"... Krishnalal Shridharani