I wonder if the shooting will start after dark?

Georgina Reeves of Indymedia Palestine
27 May 2002

Bethlehem diary, 13-27 May

Monday 27th May, 2002
21.40: I spent some of this afternoon and this evening 'ambulance riding'. All bar one journey involved young children. Driving from a village near Beit Sahour where we had picked up a woman and her very young baby, we approached the old city centre, and Manger Square. Two jeeps pulled us over and the ambulance was searched. As the soldiers questioned the EMS guys I heard a little sniff. I turned to look at the young mother and saw tears streaming down her face, she was so frightened, presumably for her child. I felt so hopeless, I couldn't say anything to alleviate her fears. They let us go.

A man stopped us before we could move. He was with his wife and young child, maybe 3 years old. He begged them to take them to Caritas baby hospital so they got in too. The mother looked fearful, the child, dreadful. The poor thing had a very high temperature and was very glazy eyed. She did manage to point at me so I smiled and waved. As we prepared to pull away an APC blocked us, right after the jeeps had let us pass. We had to go through the same rigmoral again. Finally, we got both mothers and their children to hospital.

I have it from a good source that this current invasion will last 2-3 days. I managed to get to a shop when I was out with the ambulance and, of course, bought nothing useful. Crisps, peanut M&M's, diet coke and cigarettes!

15.30: It has been very quiet, so far. No shooting and I have only heard one explosion close to where I live and the intermitent rumble of APC's trundling past. Of ocurse, that doesn't mean that things are not happening elsewhere, I just don't know about them.

I do know that in Beit Sahour the army has taken over the building known as 'Ararat'. There are 8 tanks in the road outside and many houses are being searched. Deheishe, too, is full of troops and some men have been rounded up, cuffed and blindfolded. It doesn't seem as if they will be pulling out tonight. The empty building opposite me has become a snipers post. Three APC's are parked in front and I watched the soldiers going in and out. One side has got the customary khaki webbing slung across windows and breeze blocks in place. I wonder if the shooting will start after dark?

08.15: Got up and thought, "gosh, it seems rather quiet." Still, had to go to work so pottered off down the road to catch a bus to Beit Sahour. No cars on the road but people were on their balconies. Walked into Manger Square to be confronted by an Israeli army jeep. They hadn't seen me so I turned and walked back to my flat, feeling decidely uncomfortable. Rang a friend to find out what was happening and discovered that Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala are back under curfew and the army is searching everywhere.

I can now see on the hill opposite a few jeeps and APC's, where a new apartment block is being built. They are just sitting there. As am I, but I have no food and no credit in my phone! I can also see (and hear, of course) a pair of F16's flying around, but surely there is nothing left to bomb?

Saturday 25th May, 2002
21.00: All week people have been talking about another invasion, and that it would be on the 25th. Knowing how the mood has been it is not unreasonble, but to know the date?

I should have listened. As I write this, there are Israeli soldiers in my street. I heard some shooting, and decided maybe there was a wedding. Five minutes later a friend called, demanding to know exactly where I am. "In my flat," I replied. (I moved today to a new flat in Bethlehem, close to Manger Square and above the EMS Red Crescent building. "The Israelis are in your street now, stay exactly where you are." I said I would go and have a look from over the roof and was told in no uncertain terms not to.

I called a few media numbers and a few friends. More shooting and a small explosion (as apposed to a big, fuck off, lots of dead people type of explosion). A helicopter is overhead. I watched a column of tanks or APC's move in from the south. I did think that maybe it was going to be a few short hours of invasion and a rather specific assualt, looking for an individual, but now, I don't know.

Another call: It is just my neighbourhood. The rest of the area has got troops and tanks moving around but they are concentrating on the road I am in. Two more very loud explosions, next door. The helicopter is still overhead. I am playing the Chemical Brothers, loud, to drown out the sound of the helicopter and the shooting.

Wednesday 22nd May, 2002
A day of depression and dispondancy. I am afflicted by the Palestinian mood of hopelessness. I even wondered today whether to leave. What possible difference can I make when the people with power ignore what is happening. Although this will be a shortlived bout of despair it is still quite debilitating, and perhaps more so as I can leave when I like; so many of my friends do not have the 'privilege' of holding anything other than a Palestinian passport. So many people I spoke to today are making efforts to emigrate.

Again I watched the bulldozers, tanks and soldiers from my friend's balcony and I felt utterly miserable. I wonder what the world will think of this time in history, when they look back in the years ahead. Will they feel ashamed, responsible, culpable? Or will they just see it as another event that, perhaps, could have been avoided? Or will they feel nothing? Words loose their meaning so quickly; shot dead, killed by a tank shell, crimes against humanity. The word humanity, more than any word, means absolutely nothing here.

Wednesday 22nd May, 2002
A friend called me today, she lives in the north of Israel and is married to a Palestinian. She has lived here for many years and is very active in her support for Palestine and the people. She called as she had visited a young man who is from Bethlehem and is being held in a prison near Haifa. This prison was closed down a few years ago as the conditions were so bad. It has been re-opened, specifically to house West Bank Palestinians. The young man she visited has a 2 year sentence, for being in Jerusalem without the required permit. He is in an overcrowded and cramped cell, and his family cannot visit him. So my friend does, and she takes him clothes and provisions to try and alleviate the dire conditions in which he is incarcerated. He told her he is lucky though; "If I were not in this prison I would be in a bigger prison (the West Bank). In this prison I am safe, they won't kill me. In the other priosn they may." His father had a heartattack the other day. His other son is missing, believed to be detained by the Israelis. They have not been able to find out where he is.

Monday 20th May, 2002
The afternoon, although clear and sunny, was punctuated by the sounds of distant explosions. I have no idea where they were or what the source was. I wondered if it is part of the work being done by the Israelis constructing a new road for settlers which is carving through Beit Sahour, and running south east toward Zat'ara. Even now, at 7.00pm, I can hear the occasional rumble in the distance. May be it is something else.

Tomorrow, Reuters are coming to interview the Mayor and to go out and film the Israelis bulldozing; the road runs along the edge of a built up area. I watched them work this afternoon, from the balcony of a friend's house. Her house is in the centre of Beit Sahour, and I could clearly see the tank, the bulldozer and a yellow JCB ripping their way through the earth.

The construction of this new road, with yet more Palestinian land being taken from its rightful owners, is the evidence of Sharon's desire for 'peace'. Peace means Israel is in control. Peace means that Palestinians are either transferred or cowed in to submission by brutality. Peace means an Israel for Jews and no-one else. With each rape of the land the prospect of peace diminishes. How can anyone expect a people to accept such treatment? It is absurd to think that an Israel governed by a man who has so openly shown in the past his desire to eradicate Arabs and to take all the land, the land from the Nile to the Euphrates (hence the 2 blue lines on the flag of Israel) is sincere in its calls for peace negotiations.

Sunday 19th May, 2002
Some things never change. I went to Jerusalem this morning and had little trouble at the checkpoint. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Palestinians. On my way back, I found 6 Palestinian men lined up against a wall, arms up and splayed, in the glaring sun. I challenged the soldier who checked my passport. I had spoken to him earlier on my way out and I felt he was uncomfortable with what was happening. I asked him why hold the men like that, that this does nothing to help anyone and that it causes more tension, anger and hatred. He agreed. He said he would speak to one of the officers but I know there was little he could do, even if he wanted to.

I walked through Bethlehem for the first time yesterday since the Israelis withdrew. The mess in and around Manger Square is, again, testimony to the blatant vandalism and destruction perpetrated by Israei forces during such invasions. Pavements are rubble, the Mosque is scorch marked from fire bombing and the people are out and about but subdued.

At the main crossroads, Bab-isqaq, there are the shells of 3 burnt out cars. I wondered how they came to be there. They had obviously been destroyed where they stood, and as I had been there the day of the withdrawal, I knew that they had not been a victim of the invasion. I couldn't understand what had happened.

I found out after speaking to a friend I met afterwards. Israel had demanded that stolen cars (that is cars stolen from Israel and sold in the West Bank) are to be found. He had no idea what order had been given when finding the cars in question. Force 17 were out in numbers and were stopping everyone. Three cars believed to be of Israeli origin were taken to the side where the service taxis park, petrol was poured over them and they were destroyed. Within a matter of hours, what remaining parts of use had been stripped from the skeletons. My friend, who is British, noted that the locals had achieved in hours what it takes a British mechanic days to accomplish. Engine blocks had been removed in entirety and any small parts undamaged by the fire had been removed.

He also told me of another experience, one that had happened to him. He went to Ben Gurion airport to meet a group visiting. They were, of course, coming to the West Bank and are 'pro-Palestinian'. (As if being pro-Palestinian automatically equals anti-Israeli.) He was in the Nesher service taxi, and as is usual, the vehicle was stopped at the entrance to the airport. His passport was taken for a short time, then returned. As soon as the van arrived at the terminal he was intercepted by security. He was then held for 3 hours of questioning. He was only going to meet people! After the interrogation he was made to wait in the baggage arrivals area, holding his sign with the names of the people he was due to meet. He threw the sign away, knowing that as soon his colleagues appeared they would be carted off for the same treatment. And this is democracy?

Saturday 18th May, 2002
Due to the Jewish holiday of Shavu'ot, the guys remain in prison with no hope of being deported until Monday, at the very earliest. One of them managed to call me last night and sounded remarkably well, despite being on hunger strike for 11 days. All of them, those still here and those already deported, have been magnificent. I hope that people realize the extreme price the guys have all had to pay. One thing is for sure though, all palestinians on the street, and I mean all, are 100% behind them and cannot express enough how much what they did meant to them. Everyday I get strangers as well as people I know coming up asking after their welfare and to say thank you. They are paying a similar price to that of Palestinians who have been wrenched from their families for years now. Many families are split up, some living in refugee camps outside Palestine, some in Israel and some here in the West Bank and Gaza, with little hope of being reunited. Even worse is the fate of those who were expelled under the Nativity deal. Those in Gaza are at least still with their people, but those exiled abroad are alone. It is terrible to witness and the source of much sadness and anger.

Thursday 16th May, 2002
Since the start if Israel's "Defensive Shield" operation in Palestine there have been over 2,000 foreigners refused entry and over 50 deportations. I am at a loss to understand what scares Israel to have resorted to such actions. Humanitarian aid workers are even being persecuted, including an American doctor who is currently in detention being questioned about terrorist activities. He visited Jenin camp and dared to criticise Israel for its actions there. Anyone who is interested in seeing justice and humanity prevail is being thrown out. If this were any other country, not only would there be political outcry but probably American marines assualting the region. I am staggered that the world can remain silent despite all the sinister signs.

Some of my friends are still languishing in prison, the rest have been deported already. All of them had been detained illegally and without due legal process by the Israeli authorities yet there has been no international outrage nor strong media coverage. I have been trying to do all I can, working with Allegra Pacheco - an American/Israeli human rights lawyer, to secure their release. It has been an incredible battle against an apathetic regime. Israel is a rogue state and is not a deomcracy, depsite its protestations to the contrary and America, through its Embassy, has been totally complicit in the absue of its citizens. (See Indymedia Palestine for more information concerning their detention and subsequent mistreatment.)

So many people have been working hard on their behalf, mainly in America, but we are just small voices against a very powerful and brutal opponent. I just received a telephone call from Rev. Jesse Jackson's office. They have already taken up the case of the doctor and have been following our situation closely. Rev. Jackson spoke to Shimon Peres earlier this week regarding the deportations and detentions, and he has been waiting for a response. There has been none. I was told that they had contacted Peres' office today but were told that there is a Jewish holiday, perhaps Monday. The religious holidays are observed without interruption regardless. At this time, 6 Americans, 4 of whom are on hunger strike and have been for over 10 days, are still being held hostage in an Israeli prison but they will have to stay there until the powers that be have enjoyed their freedom to celebrate their holiday uninterrupted.

In Bethlehem the depth of anger and depression runs very deep. Israel, even as it withdrew, stated that there are 2 men they want who were not in the Church. Forces seem to be on standby and everyone thinks it is just a matter of time before they come back in. Gaza, too, is expecting the worst. I spoke to a man in Gaza today about internationals coming and his joy at knowing that people are prepared to come was overwhelming, but more so was the acute despair of the situation. He told me he just wants to show people what happens to Palestinians at checkpoints and how miserable their lives are under Israeli occupation and oppression. I spoke to an American who has just returned and she was in shock. She said she could never have expected or believed that life there could be so horrific.

Monday 13th May, 2002
I cannot believe how mad, frantic and depressing the last 10 days have been. There is a lot that I cannot write about now - there is just too much and I need to take some time to record accurately what happened, particularly with my friends in the Church of the Nativity. I was in a very unique position and it is important to record the facts.

At the moment however, my time is spent supporting the guys in prison. There were, in total, 22 internationals held. Those from the church have been arrested, the others who helped them are detained without arrest. None are charged. So far, 10 have been illegally deported, the remaining people will be deported in the following 24 hours. That is really rough for them as they have paid a very high price for their belief in justice and freedom as they will probably never be allowed back in to the country.

I find it incredible that Israel can be allowed to do this; they were carrying food for God's sake. The people in the Church needed help and no government was prepared to stand up and do the right thing - someone had to do something. Today I had so many local people come up to me to thank us for everything we tried to do to help them. Before all the shit happened the guys wrote a statement, which I have never issued. It is a shame as it told of the jubiliation over their arrival. When they arrived they were greeted with such enthusiasm and gratitude. "Now we know that everyone has not forgotten the Palestinian people." That is what the Palestinians said after they arrived. It was a very emotional and warm wlecome. The departure was even more emotional but full of sadness, disbelief and some anger.

Despite the reports of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the district, they have not gone. They are out of the centre but they are still close. A CNN report I watched this morning had some excitable woman driving around Bethlehem, talking about how everything is getting "back to normal". Does she not understand that nothing is normal here; occupation is not normal. There were also reports of the "surging crowds" mobbing Arafat, as if he is a hero. It is not true. Most people I know are horrified by the expulsion of the Palestinians. I have heard a variety of comments, most unprintable. I agree with them, what happened was just awful. I was at the house of a friend and her mother-in-law expressed her disgust. She cried as she spoke of a young man, one of her son's best friends. The tears streaming down her cheeks told the truth of how people here feel.

Georgina Reeves works for Palestine Indymedia. She appreciates reactions on her journal by e-mail.

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