palestine need I say more

Palestine: It’s HELL / John Reese, Kristen Ess

26/11/02



1) Palestine: It’s HELL by John Reese
2) Reinvaded Bethlehem by Kristen Ess
3) This morning in Aida Refugee Camp by Kristen Ess


Palestine: It's HELL

John Reese

As I sit here in my office there are guns and explosions going off around me. Bethlehem is being re-re-re-re-invaded and more houses are, once again, threatened to be blown up by the Israeli Occupation Force. Three homes were blown up yesterday and five more today. Nablus is under curfew with more houses occupied then any time in the 6 months that I have been here (somewhere around 50 homes). Gaza is recovering from its latest bombing attack. Twelve homes where we were hoping to get people (if we had enough) have all been blown up. Five people were killed in Tulkarem on Thursday including one 12 year-old boy. Yesterday morning a friend of mine was shot in the leg by the IOF in Jenin refugee camp when she went to check on children being shot at by the IOF. An hour earlier an 11 year-old child had been shot and killed. And all the usual continues - the property confiscation, the beatings, the restrictions on travel, the humiliating treatment at checkpoints, etc....

As I prepare to leave Palestine and begin my tour in the US I only hope that as I go from city to city I can light some fire in people. Perhaps something that I say or pictures that I show will motivate people to come here. At the same time I wonder why on earth would anyone want to come here? It is, as my soon to be seventh month of being here can attest, HELL here. I have smelled death, seen the injured, been shot at, seen people kicked and beaten and seen the bodies of those killed. I have lived with sewage, piles of garbage, drank and bathed in contaminated water, been shoved and attacked by soldiers, been harassed and suffered their attempts at humiliation directed at me. Mostly though I have felt helpless - helpless as I hear the stories of humiliation, beatings, death and destruction.

I do have hopes though. I hope that the nonviolent direct action movement expands - both within the Palestinians and in the number of internationals that come. I believe that Palestine is ripe for a nonviolent direct action movement. I can see it slowly growing and there is hope it will get bigger and more organized - and of course more effective. It is these hopes that motivates me to return here after my tour of the US. I truly believe that we can make a difference here.

I have no doubt that our presence here has reduced the number of homes destroyed, the children beaten and the people killed. We have helped children get to school, taken food to those in occupied homes, made sure that water could be transported to those villages without, ridden in ambulances, and escorted sick and elderly across checkpoints. None of this would have happened without an international presence. Had we not been here quite the contrary would have happened.

It is not really that anyone would WANT to come here. They have