Dear friends,
Unfortunately, I can’t say things have gotten any better since I last wrote, but there are ups and downs each day. I’ve seen more guns, inhaled more tear gas, and heard more sound bombs than I ever could have anticipated. Because things are so bad, though, and because this new section of wall will cut 25 kilometers into the West Bank to surround Ariel and steal 65% of the land from the region of Salfit, journalists have been showing up to demonstrations in the past few days. I can only hope that some of you are seeing news about what is happening (people from CNN and NBC have been in Iskaka in the past couple days, as well as Palestinian, Israeli, European, and Arab media).
The positive :
1. Residents of Iskaka managed to stop the bulldozers from working on Thursday.
2. The Israeli High Court ruled yesterday that no more construction should happen in the towns of Iskaka and Salfit until an oral hearing on the matter. This doesn’t necessarily mean the bulldozers will stop working, but it does mean that if they continue to work, Israel will be violating its own law and not only the international laws that they consistently ignore.
3. The United States State Department has issued a statement against the current wall construction around Ariel. [Of course, this happened last year as well and it hasn’t stopped anything. Words only go so far. If the US were to stop giving Israel $13 million a day, perhaps Israel would take the warnings more seriously.]
4. A representative of the UN has implicated Caterpillar in human rights abuses against Palestinians.
5. Palestinians from many villages continue to demonstrate every day of the week, and today are marching in large numbers to their land for mid-day prayers.
The negative :
1. Israel is quickly beginning construction in so many new areas that Palestinians, internationals, Israeli activists, and journalists are struggling in our capacity to deal with everything (obviously an intentional move on the part of the Israeli government/army).
2. More and more people are injured each day, and the human rights abuses are piling up.
Some examples :
a. A woman in Azzawiya who was 9 months pregnant was badly tear gassed last Thursday. Five days later she gave birth to a stillborn baby whose skin and blood were blackened, which doctors say is a direct result of the tear gas.
b. The army has been firing gas into the center of villages – houses, buses, etc. – in Iskaka and Azzawiya, if not more places.
c. Soldiers fired gas directly at a group of Palestinian government representatives and old men in the town of Salfit, and threatened young boys with live ammunition.
I feel completely heartless reporting on what I’m seeing in this way, but you can imagine it’s hard to put my feelings into words right now. I want the information to get out there. My own analysis and story-telling can wait.
Below is a link to my online photo album, where I’ve uploaded some photos from the past couple days. There’s also a link to a video that Kate made yesterday in Salfit.
Thanks to everyone who has sent supportive e-mails. I can’t always respond, but I really appreciate them, and the Palestinians I’m working with are happy to know how many people in the US really do care about where our money is going and are prepared to stop it.
Peace and strength to all,
Hannah
