Dodging Bullets in Nablus

http://www.counterpunch.org/drier0810.html

So, before I get started about yesterday, let
me say that while Sam was dodging rubber
bullets, tear gas and sound bombs at the
demonstration today (courtesy, of course, of
the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)), I didn't
have one gun pointed at me or any shots fired
over my head today. For the first day since I
have been here in Nablus.

Ok, yesterday: while Sam, Merna and I were
buying bread for families, two Israeli armored
personnel carriers (APC's) pulled up and shut
the bread stand down. Then as one APC pulled
away, a kid in the alley right next to the APC
threw a Molotov cocktail and scored a hit on
part of the APC.

So the Israeli soldiers FREAK out and start
shooting into the apartment building, in the
completely wrong direction. We SCREAMED at
him and he stopped, but the other APC heard
the fire and came back around the corner for
'support'. We de-escalated the soldiers and
then one said to me, "go and bring me the
map." (y'all will like my Israeli accent).

So I walked down the street looking for a map.
Now, meanwhile the people on the street have
emptied and they are all hiding in the alleys
and coves and such. So I walk down and several
are yelling to me, 'what does he want?' Of
course I don't understand until someone yells in
English, but I had the gist already and was
saying, 'who the hell knows?'

I picked up some paper trash and called back to
him, 'is this it? Is this it?' -- it's good to play
dumb, of course. So, they pulled back and left.
Well, I needed a breather after that one, so we
left the scene for about five minutes. Moments
later we get a call, that now there are tanks,
APC's and some jeeps in the same area, as well
as 12 international activists -- could we
immediately go there?

Due to a horrible lack of communication, no one
had any idea what we had just been thru when
we arrived. Of course from OUR end we had
gotten the word out about what happened. So,
long story longer - Palestinians started throwing
rocks and since this is about their only form of
resistance, we stepped back. This of course let
the IOF be able to fire their guns (hard to
explain without seeing the street). Two jeeps
even pulled up right in front of us and opened
fire. Of course we were screaming and then
they stopped and took off.

The cool part is being in the streets with the
Palestinians and feeling their energy as they
clap and chant (they get loud -- they chant 'god
is great') and stand with us, knowing the tanks
and such won't fire at them with us there. There
aren't ANY women of course, and that sucks....

Digressing a bit: three or four nights ago, Sam
and I walked down the road into the Balata
Refugee Camp and stayed at a martyr's house.
Stressed out family. Since then I have been
with a few more martyr's families and realized
that that family was an exception, according to
my experience because these families were like
all the rest of the families here, kind kind kind.
I swear I have never drank so much coffee and
tea in my life.

Another woman, Serena, stayed at the stressed
out family's house the next night and told us
the following morning that the family actually
got into a fist fight (yeah, the wife and
daughters too!) with their neighbor.

So today, most people went to a demonstration
at the Huwara Checkpoint, an hour walk, but I
decided to stay in Nablus. I hung out with four
Palestinians relief volunteers and delivered milk
to babies. Yeah, parents do not have milk for
their babies/young children.

I heard today that Palestine has the largest
growing population in the world, over 50% is
under the age of sixteen. That was chill
enough, but the workers want escorts for
'security' and since another volunteer was taken
from the center the day before, they were a
little more nervous .

Mohammed, the one taken yesterday was
wearing a martyr necklace and the IOF ripped it
off his neck (the pendent is of a photo of his
friend, a martyr). A martyr, for those who do
not know, is term used for a suicide bomber
AND anyone who has been killed during this
intifada. Mohammed was released today, but
they beat him up pretty badly, so he is home
for a bit. No reason for detaining him at all.

So, after walking around delivering milk several
internationals decided that they wanted to
check on an apartment building on the hill
where the soldiers were staying and occupying.
After getting another international, the 6 of us
headed up the hill to check on these families. I
figured that they occupied that building
strategically.

A few of us went in (women) and chatted with
the Palestinian families and got their needs
noted, foods and medicines. The apartment was
5 floors, 2 apartments on each floor. The
soldiers had one complete floor and all them
were shirtless, hanging out, playing guitar, like
they owned the place, while 3 families were
terrified for their lives. The other apartments
were empty (it seemed like a brand new
building, not fully occupied with residents).

So after that, we split into 3 groups of 2 to get
the food and medicine. My partner was Fadi. A
pretty resourceful guy, before I knew it he had
gotten a ride in a big flatbed truck to Balata,
where the UN warehouse is. Remember it is
curfew, so NOTHING is allowed on the streets,
let alone driving out to the outskirts of town.
Curfew here has meant the last 40 days, 24
hours a day with tiny windows of precarious
time to fetch food.

We made it and just after pulling in, a tank and
a bulldozer showed up to close the road since
cars were driving around. The UN warehouse is
a joke. FOOD is everywhere, sitting around. The
UN is a joke. Thousands of poor people with NO
money to buy food in Nablus and WE hitch a
ride, pick up food and deliver it ourselves.

On the way back, we saw a tank driving pretty
fast on the parallel road but we beat it and got
back to Nablus alright. Then we separated the
food and got ready to go. Well, Fadi, wanted to
get the one and only ambulance from the center
to load the food to take up on the hill. But it
wasn't around, so we used his van -- sketchy,
eh?

Though we made it up there alright, the
soldiers had switched out and all bets were off
for us going back inside to deliver the food
ourselves. After biting my lip and talking to the
soldiers, they got one of the Palestinians to
come out to bring the food in. The whole
situation and bargaining and discussing is crap,
although the soldier was talkable, if you know
what I mean.

So during all of this, the soldier says, 'you don't
remember me, do you?' "oh, from before
.....here right?" "No," he replied and then I
knew he was the guy looking for the map
yesterday, in the APC.

"Oh yeah, I remember,' I quipped back. He said,
'So you didn't help me yesterday, why should I
help you?"( I was trying to get into the house
and possibly spend the night there with the
families.) I said, 'What more could I have done,
I walked down the street and looked for the
map, geez?'

Talking to them is difficult and one must stay
calm to help prevent retaliation against the
Palestinians, believe me, whether there are
soldiers who don't 'agree' with the occupation or
'hate' when a Palestinian is killed, they all have
a choice to refuse, and therefore, NO
SYMPATHY from me.

One last thing. As we were walking back (dusk,
I'm no longer too hesitant to walk in the dark,
except for snipers) today a woman pulls up in a
car and says, 'aren't you afraid to be on the
street?' I said, 'no, not really, they recognize us
now, they know who we are and why we are
here.' She said, ' take care' I said to her, 'aren't
you afraid to drive now?' (many people sneak
around in cars), and she said, 'no here we have
nothing to live for, so we don't care, but YOU,
you have to return to tell the world what is
happening here, so YOU take care" and she
drove off.

So many times during the day, I just want to
release a little and cry but I don't, and this was
one of those times, for sure. I can only kind of
get choked up, not cry, probably because I am
so angry and not sad.

Jill Dreier is one of two Coloradans in Palestine
joining hundreds of internationals with the
International Solidarity Movement in nonviolent
direct action to end Israel's illegal military
occupation of Palestine. More on Jill's trip at:
http://www.ccmep.org/palestine.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/drier0810.html