Rapport fra Beit Sahour
It is now the fourth day at the clinic in Beit Sahour. The team (two nurses, a lab technician, a female radiology technician, and two physicians) have been present 24 hours a day. Although our spirits are high, I feel nevertheless that everyone is afraid. The jokes and the way they make fun of each other seems to be working well to ease the tension. Often it makes me uncomfortable, but I think it’s the only way they can relieve their tension and stress. The team is very well organized and there are also two volunteers. My 16-year-old son has also joined us to do his “civil duty.” We have enough water, we have electricity, the telephones work, and we still have food enough for two more days. (We discovered that eight people eat a lot under such circumstances!) We are under strict curfew. No one is allowed to go out. We have no idea where the Israeli snipers are, but we know that they shoot at anything that moves. Israeli tanks and armored vehicles marched in to Beit Sahour (the eastern entrance to Bethlehem) two days ago on their way to Bethlehem. Other tanks and similar vehicles came in at the same time from Bethlehem’s west and north sides. We hear on TV and radio news that the Israeli soldiers reached Manger Square. The local TV stations have stopped broadcasting. We hear a lot of shooting and shelling coming from the direction of Manger Square, which is about 800 meters away from us. Some pictures on TV have shown wounded people on the streets and in their homes. Ambulances are not allowed to circulate. If they do attempt to reach the wounded, they are shot at immediately. Although we have been here at the clinic for four days, we haven’t seen a single patient, nor we were allowed to go out and attend the wounded. During normal times, the clinic has over 70,000 patient visits per year. The encounter of yesterday evening, our fourth day at the Clinic, will remain with us for the rest of our lives. An ambulance dared to bring a four-year-old girl who needed an x-ray after she fell down and broke her elbow. The ambulance miraculously arrived and stopped in front of the Clinic under a heavy barrage of shooting. The Clinic entrance was immediately surrounded by armored vehicles and a tank. Many soldiers got out of the vehicles and pointed their machine guns at us. After about 10 minutes (an eternity for us), the mother of the child was allowed to enter the Clinic. The soldiers followed. No one in the ambulance was injured. As the girl was being x-rayed, the soldiers told us that there is curfew now and no one should go out in the street. Not even ambulances. So the ambulance and the mother and the child must stay over night at the center. The mother told them that she had a seven-year-old boy at home who is taking care of his six-month-old brother. One of the soldiers gave the mother “instructions” on how the seven-year-old should make milk for the infant. In the meantime, the three paramedics from the ambulance joined us and had time to relax from the fear of coming death. The Israeli officer in charge asked me, as the doctor in charge, to make everyone sit in the lobby. He then asked me if there were any patients in the Clinic. I told him that there was a wounded young man who was referred to us from the Bethlehem Hospital for recovery. The patient had been wounded in the leg during previous clashes. The soldier ordered me to make him come to the lobby. Later, the patient was arrested and was taken away by the soldiers. Meanwhile, the tank was positioned directly in front of the clinic and had its canon aimed at the entrance. The officer who was asking me a lot of questions repeatedly told me that he would kill anyone who moves. He said he would arrest everyone if he found I was lying to him about anything. I told him that no one else was in the clinic and that he could search if he wanted. He did not make a search, and nothing was destroyed. The Israeli soldiers seemed to be very nervous, and maybe as afraid as we were. During the whole ordeal we could hear shooting and shelling coming from Bethlehem. At even the slightest sound, the soldiers went down on their knees, and were prepared to shoot. Even I, as a physician, could have told them that the noises we were hearing were far away. One of our paramedics speaks Hebrew. He was engaged in small talk with an officer explaining to him what we are doing. As they were speaking, the paramedic could hear orders and questions coming from the walkie-talkie. One of the questions came from the tank outside: “Shall I shoot?” The response from the soldier with us came quickly: “No, are you crazy? We are still inside!” The Israeli officer tried to calm by telling us that nothing will happen to us as long as we do not go out. I asked him if we were under curfew. And if we are, why doesn’t he announce it clearly to the population. He responded by saying: “We do not want to announce it publicly so that we can kill those who walk on the streets.” The telephone kept ringing during this whole exchange, and we assumed that our relatives were calling just to see if we were okay. But we were forbidden from answering the telephone and the continuous ringing added significantly to the tension of the moment. After the soldiers decided to leave, the officer in charge told us that it is only a matter of 48 hours before they kill everyone in the Church of Nativity. He again tried to calm us down by saying that nothing would happen to us. He threatened me before he left, by telling me he would shoot me immediately if I should set one foot outside the building. ——————————————————– The images of the dead and wounded being left lying on the ground because ambulances are prohibited from reaching them are very distressing. The images of Israeli tanks intentionally running over two Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances are criminal. To watch people getting injured and bleeding to death while we are not able to do anything is more than distressing. The story of the young man who was forced to stay in his house for more than 24 hours while his mother and brother bled to death after being shot at their door in Bethlehem is breaking our hearts. Stories of executions are spreading everywhere: like the young man in Ramallah whose execution was caught on video camera and the five policemen who were found in an empty house, each killed by a bullet in the head or the neck. The images of the 29 people killed in Ramallah and buried together in the hospital compound are haunting us. —————————————- The team is tired and we try to comfort each other through telling stories and trying to imagine what Sharon’s next step will be. We have even started to talk about picnics since the weather is finally getting nicer after the torrential rain and winds of a few days ago. The sunshine promises a nice spring with lots of green grass and multi-colored wild flowers. Most beautiful are the deep red poppies that grow wild in every field. ———————————————– We sleep in shifts. But in the afternoon we are all awake and tell each other the latest news. And the calculating starts again. What will happen? We always come to the same conclusion. The Israeli occupation, now personified by Sharon, will try to manifest itself as LONG AS POSSIBLE as a tool to break the Palestinian spirit. On the other hand, the Palestinian people will continue to resist the occupation for as long as the occupation is present. With sadness and anger, we listen to the news of different cities and refugee camps being ravaged and destroyed by the occupation army. We hear about President Arafat and his steadfastness under siege. We hear about the brave internationals who dared the Israeli army and joined OUR president in his offices. We also hear about these same internationals getting beaten and injured. We hear that Israel is preventing them from coming to the country and sends them back as soon as they arrive at the airport. (This happened as recently as the day before yesterday to a delegation of six people from Spanish and Belgian organizations.) We hear about the journalists who are forbidden from telling the truth and forbidden from broadcasting live from the streets. We hear that they are beaten, shot at, injured, and killed. Finally, we hear that they are being deported. We hear about over 200 religious personalities who came to Bethlehem to pray for peace, but were denied entry to the city by the occupation army. They prayed at the checkpoint and resolved to continue their prayers in their respective churches. We hear about official European delegations, unable to enter Ramallah and visit president Arafat because Sharon has prevented them. We hear that Terry Larsen, the UN representative, is also barred from entering Ramallah. We hear about UN resolutions that Israel neither respects nor complies with. We even hear that there is an American general called Zinni in the area. (What is he doing, if we may ask?)We hear about large demonstrations in the Arab World and we “hear” the silence of the Arab Leaders. (Egypt cuts ties with Israel to a minimum). The Cyprus parliament charges Israel with genocide. The Flemish parliament breaks its diplomatic and economic relations with Israel. Political parties, in Sweden for example, are asking their countries to break the diplomatic and economic relations with Israel. We hear about the demonstrations all over Europe demanding an end to the Israeli occupation. We hear that many in Europe want to boycott Israeli goods (and not only those of the settlements). Norway’s biggest food chain, for example, has declared its boycott Israeli products. The University of California has cancelled all its programs with Israel. Demonstrations all over Europe are calling for an end to the Israeli occupation. Unfortunately, the European governments are waiting while Sharon continues his blood bath. Yes, they are waiting while Javier Solana is asking President Arafat to retire. What an arrogant insult to the Palestinian people! At the same time we hear the ruminations of an American President whose knowledge of history does not go beyond the fifth grade. We hear him talking constantly about “fighting terrorism.” (Sharon now repeats the same language). I agree. It is time for President Bush to declare the Israeli occupation a (continuous) act of terrorism.No matter how much President Bush and Sharon try to turn the wheels of history backwards, there is a change in the perception of the world regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel will never be the same as it was before 28 September 2000 (the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada). ——————————————- In the meantime, we keep hearing about further invasions of Jenin, Nablus, Salfit, Toubas, and many other Palestinian cities and refugee camps. I am sure that my colleagues throughout the West Bank have a lot to report. During a short phone call to my colleague Dr. Abdel Nasser Daragmeh, I was informed that in the first few minutes of the attack on Toubas, a thirteen-year-old girl and a thirty-five-year old man were shot dead. Two houses are on fire and no one yet knows who and how much are inside. The Red Crescent building has been taken over by Israeli soldiers and the Red Crescent staff is now working through our center. The only church in the town was also shelled. In mid-sentence, the phone line was cut. Death and destruction accompany Sharon wherever he goes. Many in Israel have started to question what Sharon is doing. Is his aim to destroy the Palestinian will for freedom and independence? Is his aim to impose a “final solution” on the Palestinian people? Many ask the question whether Sharon’s real motive is nothing but an Israeli internal power game where he is trapped between the so-called “greater” extremists and Netanyahu, who is now promising something he couldn’t deliver in the past and cannot deliver in the future. Sharon has recently asked Netanyahu to work with him to improve Israel’s image. Netanyahu said he would only agree if he would be made the Minister of Foreign affairs. (What will happen to the peacenik Peres? Maybe he will join the thousands of Israeli citizens who are demonstrating and demanding an end to the Israeli occupation, or maybe he will make a solidarity visit to those Israeli soldiers who have refused to serve in the Israeli occupation army and are now serving prison sentences.) Dear friends, while I know that there is a lot of cynicism in my letter to you, there are also a lot of facts, personal experience, daily fears, and hopes for a better future. We all want to assure you that nothing can stop us from achieving our freedom and independence. Never before has the desire for freedom been as precious as during these days. Many of you who have “inherited” freedom may not understand our profound and deep longing. Be assured that we do not feel defeated, even when faced with the 300 tanks in Ramallah, 200 in Bethlehem, 150 in Jenin, 400 in Nablus, 100 in Tulkarm, 100 in Qalqilia, and so far “only” 50 in Hebron, in addition to the Apache helicopters and F16s, and I don’t know how many thousand soldiers. When this “Sharonic” attack is over and he realizes that nothing has changed except the increase in death, destruction, sorrow, and grief, on both sides, he will also surely realize that the Israeli occupation was and is solely responsible for the bloodshed. It is time to end the Israeli occupation — once and for all. Dr. Majed NassarDeputy Director, Health Work Committees