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Merrick

2148 posts

Re: Palestinian report 28

Apr 17, 2002, 17:36

Wed, 17 Apr 2002 09:13:02

it appears that, despite their protestation, the idf did try to get into the nativity church yesterday, but failed and are now trying to backtrack. it's possible they were trying to get over the walls using grappling hooks like they did into the university, having assumed that after the psychological torture and starvation of the people inside they would not meet resistance. interestingly, though, even he israeli government has finally admitted that only 30 of the people inside are armed - a pity, then, that most of the press keep talking about the 'gunmen' or 'militants' inside the church and not the 220-odd civilians and religious there. there was a lot of shelling and gunfire noises all night, including a sniper positioned just behind our building - i spent an interesting half hour crouched by the window watching dying flares or tracer bullets and then the heavy-calibre shots that would follow them, slamming down towards bab al-zqaq. we also had gunfire in the alley at the back of our building, which is unusual and must have been terrifying for the families whose houses line it, many of whom have small children.

in 3 villages in east jerusalem, families have been evicted and homes are threatened with demolition in the quest to 'eradicate nests of terrorism.' these are areas slated for demolition anyway as the israeli state expands its illegal settlements in east jerusalem, colonising more and more palestinian neighbourhoods. people returning home from work were kept out for hours, and the men and women were being separated out. it still astounds me - looking at press coverage - that anyone still thinks that this is a war against terrorism, or that anyone can believe that committing genocidal massacre and hideous individual human rights abuses can possibly stop the desperate actions of a few suicide bombers. where do these peopel think that desperation comes from? there are all these myths about religious fanaticism - the al-aqsa suicide martyrs, for example, are a secular organisation, and any religious elements for them are entirely a personal issue. these actions, horrible as they are, and born of repression and desperation, not some kind of inbred racial religious fanaticism, which is what many of the rightist zionist posters on the imc website seem to believe.

i got a call this morning from one of the guys who came out here nearly 3 weeks ago for the ism, and who i thought had left - he's actually leaving today. he's from colorado and in his 50s, i'd guess, a quiet, unassuming, pleasant kind of guy. he's spent the last 2 weeks volunteering with the palestinian water authority, using his skills as a civil engineer to put water back into the houses of those who've had their supplies cut by shelling etc. a great example of the way in which people's skills from home can be put to such good use in this situation and the way that absolutely anyone, with any range of talents, can be of use, since he thought he was coming here to do direct action and awareness-raising work for back home, until the idf intervened. and given the apparent unwillingness of the international community (political or aid) to get off their well-padded arses and actually do anything useful round here, that kind of help is really needed, since again international volunteers can get places palestinian workers can't, or can replace palestinian workers trapped under curfew or within closed military zones.

there's a horrible feeling of anticipation here, not helped by the howling wind outside and close, low clouds. how can the israelis justify still being here after these weeks? how can the international community justify letting them be here? a couple of white farmers get shot in zimbabwe and the entire world is up in arms, embargoes ahoy etc, and hundreds, if not thousands, of palestinians can get slaughtered and be denied human rights enshrined in myriad declarations and yet nothing much happens...and i wonder why i lost my faith in parliamentary politics years ago...

s xxx

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Re: Palestinian report 27 (Merrick)

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Re: Palestinian report 29 (Merrick)

Topic Outline:

Palestinian report – Merrick, Mar 29, 2002, 14:42


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