Welcome to the Soap Factory
The Road to Nablus.
Dave in Jordan.
Wednesday,
December 03, 2003
Hi All,
Arrived safely in Amman and everything went smoothly (though flying with a
cold is very painful on the ears). My luggage was not lost by Alatalia
though they do have an awful reputation for losing things! The bus was
waiting just outside arrivals and I was able to avoid all the clamor of taxis etc.
So a very quick entry to Jordan with no problems and got to bed at
3-30am, everyone remembered me here at the hotel. Breakfast of ful at my favorite street restaurant on Abdaly Square this morning.
Will stay around here today and probably try to go into Palestine tomorrow. There are so many stories now of people being turned back at the border. A lot of people are due in from Baghdad later today so will wait to see who they are. If I am turned back I intend to go to Iraq so it will be good to get the latest news from there.
More as it happens, till then peace and bright moments, Dave
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Jerusalem!!
Thursday,
December 04, 2003
Hi all,
Today I crossed the Jordan! And the good news is that I only crossed it
once! In other words I got across, they let me in, and I'm now in
Jerusalem!!!! Called my friend Juliana and she will be in Ramallah tomorrow so I will go and meet her there, find out what is happening where and make
plans for the beginning of my stay.
It has been raining ever since I arrived so things are going to be very
muddy once I get off the paved roads traveling in Palestinian taxis which inevitably are forced on to the back roads to avoid the occupying army's roadblocks.
More tomorrow and a longer report once I have got hold of a proper
computer. This one is old and very worn, no markings on the key board and
has crashed once already.
Peace and bright moments, Dave.
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Ramallah.
Friday,
December 05, 2003
Hi all
Things are starting to buzz here in a good way. I'm renewing old
contacts and setting up things to do. Looks as though I will continue to work between ISM and GIPP as I did last year between UPMRC and ISM. A boat
builder mending bridges! There are various projects that I will probably
get involved in during the coming months, will let you know more as things
get finalized. Today I traveled to Ramallah reasonably easily as these
things go, only got stopped once and held for a half an hour while the IDF
checked the passes of the Palestinians traveling in our taxi. It can take
up to 4 hours on a bad day if you are unlucky enough to be selected. Palestinians with West Bank Identification are not allowed to travel in or to East Jerusalem and the taxi will be confiscated from the driver if he violates this Israeli rule.
Qalandya check point was open and I had no problems passing. Which is
strange as the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) recently assassinated three Hamas men in Ramallah and you would think that the IDF would be on alert in case of retaliations. It is as if they deliberately up the stakes and then allow things to happen.
Bad news is that I wrecked my watch this morning so will have to buy a new
one. Things like that are not cheap here, so it goes!
Tomorrow I hope to travel to Jayyus so may not have access to e-mail for a
few days,
all for now,
peace and bright moments,Dave.
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Dave in Nablus
Sunday,
December 07, 2003
Hi all.
Just arrived back in Nablus tonight after two days in Jayus at the ISM
meeting. Made lots of contacts and renewed acquaintances and will be
facilitating between various NGO's and ISM etc. Tonight in Balata Refugee
Camp I met Omar Titi again. The last time I saw him he was blindfolded and
handcuffed and was being taken away in an APC which I tried to prevent. He
served six months in administrative detention, so it was good to see him
looking like his old self.
One of the things that I'm hoping to do is to get Omar a visa to visit the
UK. Last time this was tried he had a visa to go to France but he was turned back at the border by the Israelis. So this time I will have to engage a lawyer to get permission for him to leave. This should be possible but will cost money. Once I have ascertained how much this will be I will be asking if people can raise the money in the UK.
Things are remarkably quiet throughout the West Bank at the moment and so
far I have not heard a single gun shot! Hopefully this will continue and I
will not have to report any of last years atrocities.
All for now, more tomorrow till then P&BM, Dave.
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Back in Nablus
Monday,
December 08, 2003
Dear All,
Things are really easy here at the moment, the army is very quiet and
there are very few checkpoints actually working. I took a back road into
Nablus last night from Jayyus and saw no sign of the army as I walked through the roadblock. It was dark so perhaps they were fast asleep!
The fence at Jayyus is now complete. It's something like the high security fence at Faslane with a perimeter road following it. It snakes through the countryside cutting a raw swath through the ancient olive groves. On the Palestinian side of the fence is a wide area of flattened bare earth, and outside of that a considerable ditch then rolls and rolls of razor wire. The fence itself is about the same height as at Faslane but has an extension of light wires making it much higher. On the far side is an immaculate road, what a pity that all this money from the US is not spent building peace and alleviating the intense poverty here in the West Bank.
I got up early on the day of the ISM meeting and went to the South
Gate (yes they have north and south gates here!) to see it opened for the
family who have been cut off from the village and now have to pass through
the gate to go to school. Every morning the mother and four children arrive
at 7:15 on the dot as they did yesterday.
Two army jeeps passed without
opening the gate. Eventually at 8:30 they came and opened it an hour and 15 minutes late. I was glad to hear the mother giving the soldiers a hard time for their tardy behavior, she now has to stay in the village until school ends and then returns home with the children, ensuring that she cannot get on with her normal work and life.
Jayyus is a village about 4 miles from the Green Line, south of Tulkarm.
The village used to have approximately 4,500 residents, but now contains only 2,500 many people having been forced to leave. The so-called "security" fence is built almost four miles east of the Green Line, and is only 90 feet from the village. It separates the residential area from the farmland. The Israeli wall is taking 75 percent of Jayyus' most fertile land, including all the irrigated farmland, seven wells and 12,000 olive trees. The truth is, Israelis want the land without the people. Jayyus residents depend almost entirely on agricultural income. So this means a loss of livelihoods, dreams, hopes, future and heritage. Despite all this the villagers are still convinced that non-violent resistance is the best choice.
Found a taxi last night to bring me across Nablus to Balata Refuge Camp so only got a brief glimpse of the city but I was extremely pleased to drive past the Makatah where we had removed the road block last January and to see that it had not been replaced; in fact it looked as though the road had been resurfaced!
Will give you a more detailed account later once I have walked up to Nablus.
All for now,
Update on Jayyus
By the end of the year (3rd December 2004) Jayyus witnessed Israeli contractors arriving with American earthmoving equipment to demolish their ancient family orchards and farmlands that they could no longer reach on the other side of the annexation fence.
The contractors said they were there to begin building a new Jewish-only town on land belonging to the native Palestinian families. Caterpillar D9 bulldozers worked all that week.
As you may remember, the families of Jayyus lost most of their land to Zionist militia in 1948. The rest of Jayyus was captured in 1967 by Israel and under occupation the families have had more land confiscated for the building of Israeli settlements and an Israeli quarry which has set up business on stolen land and blasts to pieces the inheritance which has been passed down through countless generations of Palestinian families. Over the last two years Israel has built the Wall through Jayyus land, trapping 75% of the remaining farmland in a security zone which is accessible only to the few who are granted permits. This has resulted in the economic collapse of this agricultural community, and devastating anguish and despair for its people whose identity and livelihood is drawn from the land.
Having been there I cannot imagine what people can do next to survive, they have resisted strongly by non-violent means but Israel's resources from the West allow it to answer every form of resistance with death and destruction. Though I have followed the development of settlements over the years, it is a terrible thing to witness the ethnic cleansing of people whom I know.
Building settlements on stolen land is illegal, violating the Geneva Conventions and universal laws regarding the theft of private property.
It is in violation of commitments Israel has made to the Western Governments about the wall not annexing territory.
This demonstrates that much of the Separation Wall is designed for land confiscation, rather than security. ( A map of the most fertile lands and water sources, compared with the route of the wall, also confirms this.
The new settlement will place Israelis in immediate proximity to villagers whose land has been taken, proving that this "buffer zone" is an empty argument for the wall's location.)
The action in Jayyus, and the route of the wall which traps thousands of Palestinians between Israel and the wall, are clear and present examples of ethnic cleansing. The people of Jayyus have done everything possible in terms of non-violent action as the wall cut through their land. They have testified at the Hague, started websites, published reports, invited people from all over the world to their village to see the wall's impact, and linked arms with Jewish peace activists from Israel to march against the taking of their land. Israeli soldiers responded by opening fire on the marchers, severely wounding several, including two Israelis.
