A food convoy into Ramallah

Eelco Simon Driessen
United Civilians for Peace
13 April, 2002

With four of my UCP colleagues I went to Ramallah today to accompany a food convoy organized by Palestinian Christian churches. After contacts with the highest echelons of the Israeli army we were given clearance to pass the Qalandia checkpoint.

It was a stressful but learning experience. Stressful, because Ramallah is still under curfew. There are snipers everywhere on top of the roofs, ready to shoot at anything that moves. You just hope that the clearance is well communicated between the different military posts within the city. We proceeded very slowly, to prevent that the convoy would break up or that we would be judged by Israeli soldiers as inimical. The headlights were on and Vatican flags were attached on all cars.

It was a learning experience, because we saw a glimp of what is happening in Ramallah. The atmosphere was grim: We drove through a ghost town. Only in a refugee camp we met some children, five-ten years (I guess you can't confine them). It was extremely quiet. We reached our destinations, two churches, relatively easy, and helped to unload the trucks. We felt as if we could make a small contribution to the population of Ramallah who have been under siege for three weeks now and who must be truly traumatised. We were supported by some locals who, risking their own lives, trespassed the curfew and were brought to the scene in a Red Crescent car. They surprisingly included two little boys, perhaps ten years old. Imagine how hard they worked, those two kids! We worked hard as a team, lining up in a chain to pass on the supplies from the truck. We laughed and joked a little. At one point we heard heavy explosions coming from where Arafat's compound is located. When we finished we drank a bottle of water together, put up thumbs and shook hands, saying 'ma'salameh', goodbye. The men drove off in the Red Crescent car, while we entered our cars and empty trucks.

On our way back we ran twice into some trouble with Israeli soldiers. In both cases we were held at gunpoint within a distance of 100 metres. Luckily our Palestinian driver and director of the office who had arranged the convoy spoke Hebrew. This had a mitigating and relaxing effect on the Israeli soldiers who were 19-20 years old.

Wednesday we hope to be on a food convoy to Bethlehem. We then try to reach the Nativity Church area.

_____
Vredessite | Palestina alert 2002 Ooggetuigen