Jerusalem, 5/11/02

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday November 21, 2002 13:06 by As do many many other ghosts

From Mary Kelly in Jerusalem

I left Jenin 2 days ago. The army are still waging their war of terror.

I left Jenin 2 days ago. The army are still waging their war of terror.

I was standing with many people outside the hospital who were waiting for
ambulances to take them home. 2 tanks and an APC came and blocked the road
leading to the hospital. Army jeeps patrolled and a special white jeep bearing
Mossad special branch police circled around the hospital also. This happens
regularly. Patients inside the hospital can never rest easy as there is
a constant threat of the army entering. I ducked into the small shop opposite
the hospital. The shop owner told me that his nephew was arrested and no
one knows where he is being kept. A common story. He talked about the April
invasion of Jenin and told me the horrific story of a man being wounded
by machine gunfire from a tank, then the tank drove back and forth over
his body 4 times. These Merkava tanks weigh between 60-70 tons. His mother
and friends witnessed this horrifying death. The shopkeeper told me that
the fighters held out for 9 days, an extraordinary length of time against
the 4th most powerful army in the world.

Crowds of kids of all ages hang around in areas where the bulldozers
and tanks are "parked" waiting to pelt them with stones. Their rage is
incredible to behold. One boy was seen running towards a tank yelling "shoot
me, shoot me!"
I have seen the driver of a tank drive straight at these kids.
House to house searching continues. We heard that on 2 occasions
the army burnt the uniforms of 2 men who were members of the PA, and destroyed
their ID cards.
One of my volunteer friends told me that one night she came upon an old
woman who was weeping helplessly. She had been forced to listen while a
group of soldiers had beaten 3 youths senseless just outside her door.
The frustration of not being able to intervene was breaking her heart.

I was told that Jenin means " fertile gardens." It is indeed the only
area where I have seen green-ness and crops growing. There used to be many
natural water springs there but they are now very contaminated. Not much
growing goes on these days due to the constant military presence.
A friend from Bantry phoned to say that Amnesty are reported to be pushing
for a case to be taken against the army for war crimes committed in April.
I won't be holding my breath! Also news that Shaul Mofaz the IDF chief
who personally led the Army into Jenin in April has just been elected as
defence minister. What next?!

Eventually I managed to get a lift from an ambulance to an outlying
village where I got 3 other cars to take me on my journey towards Nablus.
I linked up with a young Japanese photographer who was also headed there.
He had been in Han -Yunis in Gaza the previous week. He showed me the mark
of a bullet wound in his leg, received when the army opened fire on a group
of kids he was with. We got to within 15 miles of Nablus and were stopped
by the army, refused entry and told that Nablus was a closed military zone.
We decided to keep going and travelled a long circuitous route climbing
the hills.
Despite my friend's leg injury he set a furiously fast pace and I was really
exhausted when we finally reached a village in the dark of night. From
there we contacted an ambulance which came to pick us up.
In Nablus I visited an English friend who has been staying with the family
of a suicide bomber to try and intervene over any attempt by the army to
bomb the family home. When I was in Nablus last April during the worst parts
of the invasion there were no suicide bombers from Belata camp at that stage.
I was told that because of the intense brutality of the army, killing and
arresting people in the camp and a terrifyingly long period of curfew, two
young lads who lived almost next door to each other became Belatas first
Shaheeds (martyrs). They were known as best friends and also the most
optimistic
of the youth, the ones who always had the most hopeful attitude. The brutality
of the army over the past 6 months changed the mood in the camp forever.

Just 2 days ago the army picked up another son of this family.
It was known that he had been badly beaten and they had taken him away.
The army when contacted, denied any knowledge of this. The family were
very distraught when I met them, as their son has a very serious medical
problem, fluid on the brain, as a result of being wounded in the head by
the army on another occasion. Frustratingly the IDF were denying any knowledge
of this boy's whereabouts. As I was leaving Nablus I travelled with my
friend and another woman from Belfast to the checkpoint outside of town.
They headed off towards the military base where inside one of the rare
forests you see here, there is a big building used to interrogate prisoners.
She phoned me later to say that when they asked at the base they were told
that this boy was definitely not there. My friend refused to leave and
sat outside for hours. She saw an army truck passing by and glimpsed the
boy tied up and blindfolded, so she insisted to the soldiers at the base
that they were lying.
With help from a group of lawyers for human rights they finally got an admission
from the army and where he is being held. Hopefully a group called Physicians
for Human Rights will be able to help the situation also. A small victory
which proves that its worth persevering and contacting the Israeli groups
who are willing to help.

Yesterday in Nablus an Apache helicopter blew up a car carrying 2 passengers.
The army claim they were Hamas leaders. Last week in Nablus also, Mossad
agents asassinated 2 men and wounded many others as they drove into a busy
street in a Palestinian reg.car "Al Aqsa leaders" claim the Israeli's.

Last night the army firebombed buildings between Belata and Askar camp,which
they claim were "bomb factories". The army would not allow international
volunteers and the Fire Brigade in to try and quench the fire. The fire
is still raging. Anyone with connections to the Irish Fire Brigade union
who have actually promised support for the fire fighters in the occupied
territories please try and use your influence.
Yesterday it took me 3 hours to do a 20 minute journey from Ramallah to
Jerusalem.
I had to get through so many roadblocks. I heard that there had been a
suicide bombing, another Shaheed from Belata.
I am writing this from the house of an Israeli ex-soldier whom I met olive
picking. He is not a refusenik yet but has said he will refuse to serve
again if he is called
He struggles with friends and fellow soldiers over the actions of the
army. I admire his courage to speak out and take a stand. I have had intense
discussion with him and his family over what I have recently experienced
in Jenin and the fact that brutality of the army is breeding hundreds of
suicide bombers.

Thanks for all the calls and messages of support, and also for the donations
that are being collected for Caoimhe in Jenin. To keep in touch with her,
by mobile 067 598293, and email; [email protected]
In Solidarity,
Mary Kelly