by Tamara Rettino/ISM
Monday, Jul. 08, 2002 at 1:12 PM
matashkati@yahoo.com
I wanted to get this story out earlier but didn't have a chance...horror in Al Amari on June 39.
You should have seen her face today. Little Sarai, desperatly trying
to explain to me what was going on. We are crammed into the tiny
walking space between dwellings in the Al Ama'ari Refugee Camp in
Ramallah,surrounded by dozens of children shouting to us "Yahoud!
Yahoud!(the arabic word for Jew)" and showing us with their hands
what looked like an explosion.They warn us to cover our ears.They
have been through this before. What is shocking to us has become
routine for them. Suddenly the air is shattered with the sound of
the Isreali army blowing up a small fruit and vegetable store.We are
horrified, and quite trapped where we are. The soldiers are
everywhere.
Today I witnessed what creates suicide bombings, and I can assure
you without doubt it is a direct result of the Isreali's illegal
occupation of Palestine.
We walked into the Ama'ari camp upon hearing
the news that the army was invading the homes of the residents and
removing all men and boys 15-40.Immediatly we saw
soldiers filing into Pa;estinian homes, we questioned their presence and
purpose and informed them that we were international human rights
workers and that according to international law they were
performing an illegal military operation and we wanted to assure the
humane treatment of the innocent civilians they were rounding up. As
they exited each home, with young men tied and guns to their heads,
they spray painted the outside with a symbol to mark that they had
been there. We left two members of our group with a family that was
asking for protection and proceeded through the camp.What we came
upon was horrorifying. It was liking looking at pictures of nazi
camps only this wasn't a picture. 200 hundred men were seated in
groups behind barbed wire, hands tied. Again, we informed the
officers that their activities were illegal and we wanted to insure
the safe treatment of the "prisioners." After much persuasion they
allowed Louis, a 77 year old Canadian man to enter the detainment
area. He reported back that there was a little food and water and
that at least while we were watching they were not being beaten. We
wanted to continue to observe, but one commander became very angry
and told us he would drive us out of Ramallah and detain us. We
tried to negotiate the situation, but they refused to let us leave.
We were all very very calm, but suddenly the officer fired a shot
above our heads. Somehow we convinced him to let us leave the camp.
A hundred yards ahead we were stopped again by a tank. We would have
left, but we still had two members of our group inside the camp and
we wanted to check on the safety of the Palestinians remaining in
the camp. I was elected to negotiate with the soldiers.I tried to
remain as sweet and calm as possible."Please," I asked."Please, we
would like to leave, but we left our friends inside the camp and we
have to get them out.We'll come right out. We just need to get our
friends."Etc. Eventually he caved and we re-entered the camp,
reclaimed our friends (we felt horrible leaving the people
alone,they were begging us to stay and thanking us for being there,
but we had already done what we could...they military knew they were
being watched our continued presence would have resulted in either
an escalation of the situation or our arrest) and tried to exit the
camp. At which point the children spilled around the corner warning
us about the bomb. It took several negotations with soldiers,(I can
now add international military negotiator to my resume) but we
eventually made it out of the camp. While trying to meet up with two
other groups we observed more arrests on the edge of the camp...all
with guns aimed at the head and hands tied.
We spoke with a soldier outside the camp, who begged us to
leave. "Do you realize you are scaring these children? That you are
endangering not helping Israel by acting this way?" Huwaida asked.He
answered that he did not like hurting innocent people and scaring
children but these were his orders. She told him that if enough
people refused to serve in Palestine the violence would end. He told
us he had friends who had resisted. He begged us to be
careful. "There are stupid people in there who do stupid things." He
told us. He was not talking about the Palestinians.
We got safely out and instead of continuing on to Gaza as planned
(it was too late) we are now in Jerusalem for the night and will
leave for Gaza(everything could change of course at a moments
notice) in the morning. I have lots of excellent pictures, but I
just realized that I left the CD ROM for the camera in Huwaida and
Adam's computer in Ramallah. I cannot express how insane it is here.
The occupation is brutal. We met with people in a Rehab Center
yesterday. A beautiful 13 year old boy, paralyzed by the soldiers
who were using him as target practice (no joke). A young man
paralyzed in Jenin while he was driving his friend (shot in the leg)
to the hospital( he was shot in the neck). THIS IS A HOLOCAUST. You must fight please. You must
get the media to tell the truth. (I am exhausted, writing without even reading what I write, short of time and spell check, but I wanted to get the story out nonetheless.)FREE PALESTINE
IN SOLDIDARITY,
Tamara Rettino