Georgina Reeves - Diary from Palestine

Friday 5th April, 2002
Bethlehem 6.00: Firstly, I wanted to say thank you so much to the many emails I have had from people who have happened to come across this journal. I don't know how you found it, I started it as a sort of 'postcard' for friends back home to know what I was up. In the past few days I have had so many messages from around the world expressing solidarity and support for what we are doing here. Thank you.

Just got up, managed about 5 hours sleep -hurrah! Don't feel so jubilant having checked our news for info so I am ready for the barrage of interviews that I will be doing. Israeli shooting at the Church of the Nativity has left 9 men dead. Nine more martyrs. Nine widows perhaps, 9 families grieving and bringing up with hate and despair. How long is this going to go on for? Wake up world. How many people said they didn't know what was happening in Germany? How many times does history have to repeat itself.

I am almost too tired to relate any information. We have been doing virtually non-stop radio and TV interviews since the invasion and I am exhausted. Exhausted mentally and physically. I don't know how many more accounts of the tragedy, death and destruction I can take. I am also angry, really fucking angry. What other country could do this, could be allowed to do this? How many armies in the world could surround, starve and try to kill the elected leader of the people there? Israel has tanks, F15's and 16's, Apache helicopters, heavy armaments and they are trying to slaughter a people. And the politicians do little. Bush, Blair, do they realise? have they got an inkling of how civilians are being abused and killed? ARGHHHHHH.

We heard from 2 Brits who left, sadly one of them received the news earlier his week is father had died. This on top of being injured in our peaceful march of solidarity to Beit Jala. He had been prevented from leaving by the Israeli forces for over 2 days. When they got to Heathrow they had to be escorted away by Police as they had been "abused" on the plane. What sort of world do we live in where people attack others like this just for trying to uphold basic human rights?

You truly would not believe what is happening here. It is vile, disgusting, reprehensible, immoral. And all George Bush can talk about is poor Israel besieged by terrorist. Israel is the terrorist..

Thursday 4th April, 2002
I have had so little opportunity to write about what is happening here. I know that we are getting some good press coverage, which is great (I have been interviewed on TV and radio worldwide!) but I am more concerned about the lack of intervention or assistance. All I hear is "terrorist this" and "terrorist that" from Israelis spokes people. Last night I was on Channel 4 news and before me that obscene Israeli spokesperson, Ranaan Gissin, claimed that they are not targeting civilians. I was able to report about the man who has spent the last 2 days with the dead bodies of his wife and son in their home. They were killed by Israeli fire. No ambulances were allowed to evacuate the dead. We as internationals received a lea to try and help but the situation has been to dangerous. Thankfully, late yesterday a vehicle was eventually allowed access. Another elderly man was shot and had half his head blown off; a journalist friend of mine called me from the hospital to tell me how sick he felt.

We have run out of food so, as I got to go outside yesterday, Heather, Saran and Sean have gone. I was not impressed to receive a call from Sarah as she was eating chicken stew whilst I looked hungrily at our IMC-PAL puppy's dried food. Seriously though, many homes have little or no food. In Ramallah it is worse as some neighbourhoods have no running water or electricity. The press are getting kicked out and even those that are here are being prevented from giving the full picture. Journalists, along with internationals and Palestinians are fair game to the Israelis.

I want to correct a few things that are appearing on the media:
1) The internationals who were evacuated yesterday left entirely of their own volition.
2) There are also civilians in the Nativity church who fled there after the Israelis started to shell the area. (It is densely populated and the families felt safer in the church.)
3) The Palestinian resistance fighters are not holding ANYONE hostage.
4) The priests, nuns and monks are there attempting to administer aid to the injured.
5) There was some form of attack on the building, probably by shellfire.

Actually, I could write pages and pages but I do not have the time or energy to do so right now.

Wednesday 3rd April, 2002
17.12: Went out today. Curfew was lifted for a few hours so I went to check on our people in the hotel (rousing cheer upon my entrance!)Some I spoke to said they would not go out, despite my presence. Picked up some food and 2 volunteers to help me try to get an ambulance in to help their wounded in Manger Square. Got some volunteers from Azza camp to help. Whilst making arrangements 2 tanks and an APC passed by. Have been offline for over 24 hours - most frustrating! We have been working non-stop for the last few days with little sleep and no food. We are trying to find a way to get some supplies but there are snipers so even going out is a little tricky.

For the updates of what is happening it is best to look at our website as there is not enough room nor enough time for me to put everything here. We have had the most phenomenal response from people around the world. I have been live on radio and TV including the UK, the US, Colombia, Australia, Austria. The others here (2 Brits including me, 2 Americans and a Palestinian) have been trying to get as much truth out as possible. It is so hard though as we have difficulty in corroborating reports.

I am particularly concerned about the Manger Square situation; there was heavy shooting at about 7.00 am and I know there are people trapped there. I don't know how long this siege is going to last. We are still under curfew although a few nurses braved the streets this morning.

Tuesday 2nd April
I have little time to write. Please see www.jerusalem.indymedia.org. There is about to be a massacre here . Bethlehem is a closed military zone. The local freedom fighters are being rounded up in fierce gun battles and being driven back to Manger Square. It will be a massacre.

Sunday 31st March, 2002
Bethlehem: 05.53. Dawn. Reports of tanks in Manger Square by Reuters and AP! I have been up on the roof and can hear nothing and I would certainly have received a telephone call if tanks were there. They would have to pass an awful lot of houses to get to Manger Square.

I just saw the text of Sharon's address to Israel. "Citizens of Israel: The state of Israel is in a war, a war against terrorism. This is a war that was imposed on us. It is not a war that we decided to embark upon. This is a war over our home." Utter bollocks.

Bethlehem: 04.55. Still nothing. Reports of Tanks in Al Khader and Doha, but then the local news reported their withdrawal. One loud boom nearby, no tanks in sight. Only a bloody cockerel which seems to crow 24 hours a day. Still dark so still time for an invasion. It's shift change about now, maybe they want to come in then. Arafat's guards have been given 3 minutes to surrender. And then what? What on earth happens then?

The most disgusting reports are reaching us of summary executions of groups of men in Ramallah. All foreigners are supposedly going to be forcibly removed, including press. A shoot to kill policy has been adopted so anyone seen on the streets is effectively dead. What are they going to try and hide? Are they getting ready for a full scale massacre? It certainly seems like it. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

Bethlehem: 22.48. Very quiet. The wind is whistling fiercely and almost blew me off the roof. There are some movements; 12 tanks mobilized around Aida refugee camp. Some shooting, but not much. I am just about to issue a press release and then go and wrap myself in some blankets for a few hours. It is assumed that in the next few hours the tanks will be in. No chance of sleep then.

All foreigners have been ordered to leave Ramallah. There have been reports of executions, something which is too reprehensible for words. I watched Palestinian students and teachers from Bir Zeit rounded up, handcuffed and loaded into vehicles. Where are they being taken?

On the IDF website they have stated that the Palestinians are lying about the claims of tanks at the hospital in Ramallah. Adam sent me pictures this morning, they are on the Indymedia website. See for yourselves who is lying.

Bethlehem: 20.50. Tanks moving around inside Beit Jala and Rachel's Tomb area, near Azza refugee camp. Our internationals are in all the camps again tonight. It does seem as if the invasion is about to start. I was on the roof and a bullet whizzed past.

Earlier I went with 2 friends, 1 Palestinian and 1 American, to check out the reports of 50 tanks and buses of troops arriving at Bethlehem checkpoint. We weren't allowed all the way up so we went around near Caritas hospital and found and APC. The soldiers insisted we took their photos and wanted them published in the Palestinian press.

Just been interviewed for American radio - very nice woman who was astounded to hear about Palestinians shot and wounded and denied medical attention, amongst all the other disgusting things that are happening. Just off to do some tank spotting......

Saturday 30th March, 2002
Ramallah is very, very bad. Adam and Caoimhe (pronounced "Queever") are still inside Arafat's compound. Desperate pleas have been issued for the Red Cross and the Red Crescent to be allowed access to the injured. Still they are prevented, so those injured may die. What sort of democratic country has a policy of allowing injured to bleed to death in front of their eyes?

The tanks moved closer inside Beit Jala and power was cut to some areas. The internationals here marched into Beit Jala to demand their withdrawal. Although CNN have just reported that the tanks in Beit Jala have left, I can assure you they have not. (17.42)

Many people think that, as troops have been mobilizing in the area, there will be trouble tonight. Will it be reoccupation or will it be targeted arrests? These are the 2 thoughts.

Assuming the worst case scenario, we have split the group in to 2 and they are going to spend the night in houses throughout the refugee camps. Heather and I will be bunkering down in the Indy Media office. (Visit the site for reports from the region, as they happen.) Of course, it may well be another quiet night and I can sleep in a bed, but it is too difficult to guess at the moment. At least if we are there and something happens we can get the details out immediately, until our power or phones are cut.

Five men were executed earlier. They were dragged out from a building and shot in cold blood, witnessed by many. The newscaster on CNN was visibly shaken by the account relayed to her by their reporter in Ramallah. More war crimes.

But let's not get things out of perspective here. The Queen Mother passed away today, aged 101. George W Bush was "deeply saddened".

Friday 29th March, 2002
2.00 am: The tanks in Beit Jala are just playing nasty mind games. Revving up, moving around a little, that sort of thing. There is no Palestinian shooting so I think I will go back to the hotel and sleep in a bed, rather than the floor.

One anxious moment walking back: I had an American with me who was deferring to my judgement as I live here. We were just near to the turning we needed to take when headlights appeared from the direction of Rachel's tomb. That is where the tanks live. I was so disappointed to find that, even running with the fear that Israeli troops may be invading and heading straight at me, I wasn't able to run like a superstar. Pathetic! Round the corner was a large group of freedom fighters who I shouted very loudly good evening and peace to you in Arabic. I don't want them to shoot me either!!

When I got back to the hotel I felt close to tears. Seeing those men out there in the cold and the wet, with a pathetic little road block to try to repel a tank, made me feel so miserable. They are trying to protect their families, their homes and their lives. This should not be happening. Anywhere.

Midnight. Just got a call that tanks are entering Beit Jala. Am in the IMC office on the main road through Bethlehem so if they come this way, we will see them first. They may well be on their way to Deheishe; the Italians who are staying there were contacted by their Embassy and told, very nicely of course, to leave before 11 pm. They didn't. It appears we are now staying in the office for the duration as it is not safe to go out right now. The hotel is about 10 minutes away but the walk is though an open area, which I have been strongly advised not to walk through. More as it happens...

(Please excuse any errors in this - I am trying to update as and when I can.) I am sure you have all seen the images on your TV screens of today's military action in Ramallah. Arafat has said he will die a martyr and has called on all Palestinians to fight against the Israeli military forces. Here in Bethlehem the day stared relatively calmly. There was little trouble overnight, which didn't surprise me. Went up to the hotel in Bethlehem where the internationals are staying to help with the training. The course of the morning changed dramatically. A suicide bomber, from nearby Deheishe refugee camp, blew herself up in a supermarket. As I write this, the whole area has been completely surrounded and sealed.

we have discussed with the group what to do in the event of an invasion and how best the presence of internationals can be used. I have rushed home to get film and recording equipment, along with a tooth brush and contact lenses. We have 35 Italians in Deheishe now and another 50 or so Brits and Americans (and a few others) who can go and act as human shields in homes across the region. I am not sure where I will be staying but it looks as if I will be somewhere in Bethlehem.

There was a little shooting earlier but I imagine tonight the place will erupt. Things are very, very bad.

In Ramallah, some internationals are riding ambulances (Red Crescent, Red Cross and UN) but they are coming under gunfire from the Israeli army. It is difficult to know how things will evolve over the next 24 hours.

(c) Georgina Reeves 2002

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