=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
U-Know! Forum »
Palestinian report
Log In to post a reply
46 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Merrick
Merrick
2148 posts

Re: Palestinian report 25
Apr 16, 2002, 16:45
Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:55:16

hello all,

back from jerusalem. it was horrible - the israeli independence day celebrations are tomorrow and the place is covered with the flags that i can now only associate with the fronts of apcs and israeli army jeeps. got some aggro for wandering around even east jerusalem with a kuffiyeh, but also got some wonderful responses from palestinians. it was extremely strange being there - we all kept jumping at anything that remotely sounded like a bang - coke bottles being driven over etc. and all that fresh food everywhere...! surely vegetables come out of tin cans? but lots of productive meetings (!) and a better level of co-ordination than we've really managed so far. another group went up to jenin this morning, and a group went to nablus yesterday.

spoke to one of the guys who just came back from jenin. contrary to what the press keep saying, it sounds like anyone with a bit of nowse and a convincing but vague story can wheedle their way in. not that many would want to - one of the internationals up there counted 14 bodies uncovered in 2 hours, but as soon as one came to light it would be spirited away by the idf to an unknown fate, doubtless beyond the ken of its relatives. hideous to realise how many people must now be fated to never know what happened to their loved ones, or at least to have a damn good idea without ever really knowing...and do we think the idf are including those 14 in the '45' dead they were admitting yesterday for the entire camp? hmmmm...one french woman (in her 60s), though, is doing the most astounding work - she swiped a fire truck and has been driving aid around jenin, and when she found an idf-looted pharmacy she loaded up buckets with medication and doled them out. my hero.

in nablus, the idf has been shelling askar refugee camp from tanks and helicopters all night, and has had it under closed military status for 4 days, so no access to the wounded for medical personnel - same old story. we just had a report in that the idf are doing house-to-house searches there and have just killed a 10-year-old girl in the process.

colin powell's visit was, unsurprisingly, a complete non-event in terms of actually achieving anything remotely useful. scum. and now they've arrested marwan bagouti, secretary general of fateh, and are rapidly preparing a mock trial for him, ask mordechai vanunu, as well as thousands of palestinians, what israeli justice looks like...

[Merrick adds: Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, rleased evidence of the Israeli government illegally producing nuclear weapons to the press. He was kidnapped in Italy by the Israeli secret service, taken to Israel and imprisoned. He served eleven and a half years in solitary confinement. He is still inside. For more details see http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/morestory.html]

here in bethlehem, things are pretty tense, and it's pretty strange being back. the rubbish has been piling up so much that people have started to burn it, so the city smells of acrid smoke. the idf killed a 24 year old woman and wounded her 8 month old baby yesterday whilst doing house-to-house in Doha. and they are still blowing up buildings here for no very obvious reason. there are also stirrings up by the nativity church, but with this atmosphere no-one is going up there...

in ramallah, a palestinian AP reporter was arrested by the idf, and an international was informed that anyone seen out on the streets would be shot on sight. this seems a tightening of the situation there, as we had had reports that ramallah was easier to walk around - lesslocked-down - than bethlehem. sharon seems implacable, and determined to ignore the opinions of the world and its peoples, especially whilst the usa slowly backslides its way out of what puny stand it took in favour of withdrawal.

take care,

sarah
In reply to:
Re: Palestinian report 24 pt2 (Merrick)		 Replies:
Re: Palestinian report 26 (Merrick)
Topic Outline:
U-Know! Forum Index