palestine

[Enforcer Talen]

got this in my inbox - comments?

> This was forwarded to me by my sister-in-law in
> Jordan.
> Loraine
>
> This article was published on January 21st. Though
> it is already January
> >> 31st, however we kindly recommend reading it.
> >>
> >> Most Sincerely,
> >> Rania
> >> Bishop's P.A.
> >> Anglican Diocese in Jerusalem and the Middle East
> >> Nazareth Office
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Counter Punch
> >> January 21st, 2003
> >> Life and Death in a Closed Village
> >> Nablus: Another Nakba
> >> by ANNE GWYNNE
> >>
> >>
> >> If crossing Kalandia and on to Ramallah brought
> tears, then traveling to
> >> Nablus from Ramallah by UPMRC ambulance is beyond
> tears, beyond words,
> >> beyond description, beyond anything I could have
> imagined experiencing.
> All
> >> senses are numbed; you ride on a sea of despair.
> >>
> >> The roads are empty--for Palestinians are not
> allowed to travel in their
> own
> >> country. On the Western side of the huge dual
> carriageway, miles and
> miles
> >> of 'confiscated land' lie empty with every living
> thing removed by order
> of
> >> the illegal Israeli Occupation Force. The East
> side is garlanded with
> miles
> >> of height electrified fencing -- barriers which
> enclose the thousands of
> >> illegal houses of the illegal Israeli occupiers.
> We face road block after
> >> road block, wait after wait, search after search
> of the ambulance with the
> >> icy wind blowing in through the thrown-open
> doors. Everything is removed
> >> from the ambulance and everyone ordered
> out--except me with they
> >> bullet-proof EU passport. Desperately ill
> patients lie on the roadside in
> >> the rain--the wet cold chills to the bone.
> Doctors and drivers are
> insulted
> >> and bullied by insolent Israeli soldiers. At one
> roadblock, a young
> soldier
> >> spent 10 minutes picking at his spots in our
> door-mirror, while his mates!
> >> searched! the ambulance. At the Huwarah
> checkpoint (the last before we
> >> reached Nablus) an ambulance from the other
> direction was stopped and held
> >> for 30 minutes with its maximum emergency
> indicators going. Our ambulance
> >> waited 25 minutes there--I thought this was a
> long time; later in my stay
> I
> >> would consider this a short wait.
> >>
> >> At the road block / checkpoint everyone, as
> usual, gets out at the one end
> >> and then walks until some minibus or taxi comes
> along to pick them up--but
> >> only, of course, if they have the money to pay
> and, with 70% out of work,
> >> most do not. So they keep on walking in
> straggling crowds on an exposed
> >> hillside, in torrential rain and with a freezing
> wind sweeping across the
> >> hills. Over-burdened, wet, cold, probably hungry
> people carrying children
> >> on one arm and baggage in the other, endlessly
> tramping through expanses
> of
> >> muddy water, piles of rubble, huge holes, and
> road-sides torn up by tank
> >> tracks.
> >>
> >> The Doctor told me that the Director of a local
> school had a heart attack
> in
> >> a village which is 'closed'. A CLOSED VILLAGE is
> an area of settlement to
> >> which all roads have been blocked by massive
> barriers half a mile or so
> from
> >> the houses: an area into which, and out of which,
> no one and nothing is
> >> allowed to pass. So the ambulance could not go
> there. A neighbor drove
> the
> >> school director around the mountains to the
> checkpoint, where the Israelis
> >> would not let him through without proof that he
> was suffering a heart
> >> attack. In the long wait, the man died and the
> driver asked the guard "Is
> >> this enough proof for you?" This is a death
> which is not put down in the
> >> statistics as 'killed by the Israelis', but of
> course, it is.
> >>
> >> This morning, a 5-year old child was taken to
> hospital suffering from
> acute
> >> appendicitis. The Israelis refused to let her
> mother accompany her
> because
> >> they said that the ambulance then became a taxi!
> Imagine a tiny
> 5-year-old
> >> in acute pain, forced to stay alone in the
> hospital for an operation.
> This
> >> would not happen anywhere else.
> >>
> >> And then we reach the outskirts of Nobles,
> formerly the most beautiful
> city
> >> on the West Bank, the powerhouse of Palestine.
> we drive in along the
> >> once-elegant main road with its dual carriageway
> boulevards and colonnaded
> >> promenades of shops. Now they are strafed and
> covered in bullet holes
> with
> >> hundreds of shot-out windows; everything at
> street level is boarded-up.
> >> Where was the street? 'This is not a road,' says
> our driver--'where is the
> >> road?' We bumped and bottomed and rocked and
> jolted along a wilderness
> with
> >> huge mounds of rubble and piles of rocks to
> negotiate--a journey who
> jolting
> >> pain must have contributed to the death of many
> an injured person.
> >>
> >> The bombing of more than 200 factories has
> destroyed most of 'Nablus'
> >> formerly thriving industry. Two schools and a
> mosque have been
> demolished,
> >> and more than 300 houses completely
> destroyed--tanked or bulldozed; whole
> >> blocks have been gutted by bombs from F16's or
> missiles from helicopter
> gun
> >> ships. I saw the Municipal Building reduced to
> ashes together with ALL
> the
> >> civil records of 186,000 people, and the Ministry
> of Health, which has
> been
> >> denied access by 20-foot height roadblocks to
> either side. We passed a
> >> house where eight people were bulldozed to death
> ('a mistake,' said the
> >> Israelis), the house where a 75 - year-old woman
> was shot to death, and
> >> another where three young women were killed.
> Further along, I saw the
> house
> >> where 9 people were massacred, and another where
> two women were killed and
> a
> >> third lost her legs. During this preview of the
> sights of Nablus, we
> passed
> >> rows of gutted shops (now re-stocked with the
> help of bank loans), a
> school!
> >> covered ! with bullet holes, and another with
> huge shell holes in the
> walls.
> >>
> >> At the UPMRC Center stood an ambulance with
> bullet holes in the sides and
> >> rear, but also in the handles of its
> stretchers--bullets in the handles of
> a
> >> stretcher!! It seems that soldiers routinely
> shoot at Medics' hands as
> they
> >> carry the injured and dying. At the Center,
> bullets constantly ping along
> >> the roof as soldiers from the notorious
> checkpoint on the hills take pot
> >> shots at the city -- or the 'settlers' on the
> hilltops do. Nablus is
> >> exquisitely situated in a bowl with a flat base
> surrounded by the white
> >> rocky mountainsides which glow in the sun. On
> the hills to the West and
> the
> >> East are Israeli Military Camps numbers 1 and 2,
> and on the other hilltops
> >> the guns of the 'settlers' are ready to kill.
> From these encampments, the
> >> tanks and armored cars roll in every evening to
> enforce the 6 to 6 curfew.
> >> Anyone venturing outside can, and often is,
> murdered by Israeli guns.
> >>
> >> This afternoon, we passed the street where
> courageous residents have
> removed
> >> a huge iron gate which effectively cut Nablus in
> two. Sidewalks do not
> >> exist, because the tanks which roam the city in
> search of prey during the
> >> night are so big that when they turn any corner
> they tear up the pavement
> >> leaving huge holes, often taking the corners of
> houses with them too.
> >> Gardens and trees have been destroyed by
> tanks--wide avenues of palms and
> >> tree ferns have simply been uprooted and driven
> over. Walking, driving,
> >> working , and learning are all impossible here -
> impossible that is to
> >> anyone but the people of Nablus, whose bravery
> and strength seems without
> >> limit. Their resolve, courage and determination
> never to leave their city
> >> is palpable--everywhere. Their welcome is warm,
> they are full of
> affection
> >> and friendship, their banter is laughter-filled,
> and in their eyes is a
> look
> >> so direct that you feel they see right inside you
> and that they let you
> see
> >> into their souls. Their sense of fun pervades
> everything and their
> >> hospitality and generosity is legendary.
> >>
> >> On my first morning, the delightful youngsters of
> the Medical Volunteers
> >> insist I join them for a breakfast they prepared
> themselves--delicious
> >> pitta, hummus, fuul, tea and fun. The notice on
> the door of the kitchen
> >> reads "help yourself, by yourself--no need to ask
> --what is ours is
> yours."
> >> They are extremely interested in each other and
> in me, and they want to
> know
> >> what my country is like. They ask if there is
> anyone in the world who
> cares
> >> about them. They want to know
> everything--language, foods, customs.
> Denied
> >> the universal right to education and cooped up in
> villages for three
> months
> >> at a time, prevented from attending school and
> university by the
> >> closures--it is amazing how much they know.
> Their intense curiosity is
> >> touching.
> >>
> >> The Medical Center here was set up 6 months ago.
> Nablus has six
> hospitals,
> >> the largest containing 80 beds. Two are
> Municipal (free) and 4 are
> private.
> >> There are sufficient beds in normal times, but
> the incursions, murders and
> >> injuries place a great train upon these
> resources. The clinic here
> charges
> >> 5 shekels to see the doctor and three shekels for
> medicine, which can be
> >> very costly. If anyone cannot pay, he does not
> have to --the director
> feels
> >> that even this little money can mean the
> difference between a meal for the
> >> family and no meal at all.
> >>
> >> So, I come to the end of my first day in
> Nablus--everyone has a story to
> >> tell but I have been typing for a long time and
> it is very cold in the
> >> evening with no heating--no one has any oil for
> that because the Israelis
> do
> >> not allow it. All this would be a tough movie to
> watch--but these are
> real
> >> people, suffering every moment of their lives.
> This is a great city in
> the
> >> middle of Palestine--how on each can we let these
> crimes happen?
> >>
> >> Anne Gwynne, Independent International, is
> currently working with the
> Union
> >> of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in
> Nablus. She can be reached at:
> >> nalinigwynne@hotmail.com

[Darth Wong]

We have a moratorium on Israel/Palestine threads here, as every conceivable argument has been made before, and no genuinely new developments are forthcoming. Thread locked.



PS. Your formatting is hopelessly fucked anyway.