|
From: [Send an Instant Message] "garrick ruiz" Hello all, I returned to Tul Karem on Sunday 8/25. I'm staying here for about a week with the International Solidarity Movement group here (One of only three left in Palestine) and wanted to report on some of what we have been doing here over the last few days. Tul Karem remains one of the more hard hit areas in the West Bank, along with Nablus and Jenin. The town is located on the border with Green Line Israel in the north west of the West Bank. The town has been under curfew for most of the last month and a half, although the last two days have seen lifting of the curfew for several hours each day. Home demolitions remain very common here and the military is a constant presence in the town at night and sporadically throughout the day. The two refugee camps, Tul Karem refugee camp and Nurshams (Sunlight) refugee camp have been particularly hard hit. The Tul Karem refugee camp has been invaded with heavy gunfire and Palestinian deaths at least twice since the start of the so-called Gaza and Bethlehem first peace agreement. First two scenes of home demolition in Tul karem- In the early morning hours of 8/26 the Israeli military blew up a two story house in Tul Karem. We visited the house that afternoon. 14 people, including 8 children had lived in the house from two families, one upstairs and one downstairs. The reason the Israelis gave for demolishing the house was that one of the families was the family of a wanted man. This means that not only was the destruction collective punishment against the family of the man and the people who happened to live upstairs and the 5 other surrounding homes that were damaged in the blast (none of whom were accused of any crime) but also that even the person who was the person they were supposedly punishing had never had a trial and thus has not been convicted of any crime. What right does anyone have to blow up a house of someone who does not live there for a crime they have only been accused of? We met the father of the wanted man and he told us the sequence of events from the night before. At 1:45 am the army came to the house and threw 2 stones at the house in place of knocking. He opened the door and the soldiers told him they would destroy the house. They gave everyone inside 15 minutes to get out. After 5 minutes they started shouting and in the end they had to get out after 7 minutes rather than the 15 they were promised. After removing the family they used the man as a human shield and forced him to knock on the doors of his neighbors to make them leave their houses as well. The soldiers told him that his son was accused of killing Jews. He has never had a trial. The whole neighborhood, 300 people, was forced to move 2 kilometers away from the house in the middle of the night. They planted charges in the house and blew it up at 4:15 am. Words cannot describe the scene. A two story house collapsed upon itself, personal belongings strewn about in the rubble and nearby. Bricks blown all over by the blast including into nearby houses. Several walls of adjacent buildings with gigantic holes in them. Electrical and telephone poles knocked down. Windows shattered throughout the neighborhood. The house was the property of the other family, the family of the wanted man was renting. This means that they destroyed the property of someone else to punish this family. Some quotes from the owner of the house, who we also met and who spoke English very well: "This is the terrorism of Sharon." "They think with these acts we will stop our struggle for freedom and liberty, on the contrary, these acts make us more determined to struggle until the end of occupation." "The exact meaning of terrorism is to punish the civilians." Today, Wednesday 8/28 we visited another demolished home in the Nurshams refugee camp. This house had been destroyed between two and three weeks ago. In this case the house was the house of a suicide bomber. Again, regardless of what crime was committed by the individual, the people punished were family members, not accused of any crime and neighbors who certainly had no connection. This time the scene was inside a crowded refugee camp. This meant that the blast which destroyed this house also tore through many nearby houses, causing severe damage to many. At least one other building will have to be torn down. Again, the family was not allowed to remove anything from the house. Looking at a scene of rubble and seeing sleeping mats and clothes and other personal belongings mixed in is one of the most disturbing sights here in Palestine, unfortunately the scene today was by no means unique in my esperience. Destroying peoples homes has to be one of the most disgusting and immoral forms of collective punishment imposed upon Palestinians. Where else is this brutal practice not only engaged in but actively supported by the world community? How is it possible to justify? Why do we stand for it to continue? Once again, Israel has a lot to answer for. They constantly throw around the word terrorist to describe all Palestinians. What else can this form of punishment against innocent civilians be called? More to come.... =====Garrick Ruiz grok@riseup.net mobile phone (in Palestine): 067 371 507 (from the US) : 011 972 67 371 507 arhive of updates at http"//www.straybulletins.com/Garrick |