Hello all,\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI head off to the airport in just a few minutes. Hopefully this new yahoo \r\ngroup thing is going to work out it seemed like the easiest way to get reports \r\nback to everyone. If for some reason anyone doesn't want to get my reports \r\nplease let me know. If there are other folks who want to be added please let \r\nme know that too. Feel free to forward anything I send back to anyone who is \r\ninterested. I hope that if we encounter situations that may be helped by a \r\nphone call or other action back here that at least some of you could help in \r\nthat respect. I will let you know of any potentially helpful action. Thanks a \r\nlot everyone who supported me to help make this trip a reality. My next \r\nmessage will be from Palestine. Feel free to write me at this address \r\ngrok@riseup.net. I'm not sure how much email access I will have so no \r\nguarantees but I will try to respond to any questions or comments.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nPeace,\r\n<\/p>
\r\nGarrick\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI haven't had computer access for several days. We have been in Ramallah for almost three \r\ndays now. Ramallah has been under curfew for seven days. What that means is that \r\neveryone in the city and its a pretty big city has to stay in their houses 24 hours a \r\nday. The Israeli military lifts the curfew every few days for a few hours at a time and \r\npeople must scramble to purchase basic supplies such as food. Of course no one other than \r\nstore owners (and them for only a few hours every few days) can work so there is very \r\nlittle income throughout the city. We have been staying at Sheikh Zaid hospital, the main \r\nhospital in Ramallah and the major trauma center in the west bank. People may have read \r\nthe reports about this hospital having to bury 21 people in two mass graves in the parking \r\nlot back in April because the bodies kept piling up inside the hospital and the army would \r\nnot allow a lifting of curfew even to bury the dead. Those graves are still there the \r\nfamilies of those murdered by the Israelis have decided to leave the graves there as a \r\nsymbol of the brutality of the Israeli military and a testament to the martyrdom of their \r\nloved ones.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nYesterday many of us walked to a village outside of Ramallah called Diribziya. Curfew is \r\nabsolute for Palestinians but we as internationals can get away with a lot more. We \r\nwalked with another group of people from the International Solidarity Movement who are \r\nstaying in the village to help out with a summer camp for children. People in the village \r\nwere worried the army would try something to prevent the camp from happening or intimidate \r\nthe participants and so they requested an international presence. This walk was \r\nunbelievable. It was about 20 kilometers or about 12 miles there and back. Along the way \r\nwe saw many ways in which the military destroys Palestinian infrastructure. Simply \r\ndriving there tanks, APCs and bulldozers over roads tears them up. But in many places \r\nthey have deliberately destroyed roads or created roadblocks so that people cannot get \r\nthrough. The worst of these was blocking the road connecting Diribziya and something like \r\n30 other villages to Ramallah. It was a series of ditches, earth emankments, barbed wire \r\nand boulders toatlly blocking access. These villages are very dependent on commerce with \r\nRamallah and so you can imagine the negative effects this has on supplies and such, not to \r\nmention the fact that it further cuts Palestinians off from each other in their own \r\ncountry.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI'm really sorry to interrupt this message. I have to go. There is much more to report. \r\nSuffice it to say that the situation here is unbelievably bad. gunfire and shellfire are \r\nregular here and Ramallah is not nearly the worst from everything we have heard. I will \r\nwrite more when I can.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nGarrick\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIt's Tuesday afternoon here. We got into jerusalem early yesterday morning. \r\nIt is surreal being here again. Yesterday as we were having dinner and talking \r\nabout the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) with someone who has been \r\nhere for a while she got a call saying that a 12 year old boy had been shot in \r\nthe back in the Al-Fara refugee camp near Nablus. Later on in the evening I \r\nmet someone from Big Noise Films (people may have seen This is what Democracy \r\nLooks like, Zapatista or Black $ Gold) he is hear filming for a documentary \r\nabout Palestine as well as a larger project which will have Palestine as a \r\npiece of it. He told us about how he had been in Jenin a few days ago when the \r\nIsraelis attacked a market and how they had watched a four year old girl die in \r\nfront of them. Things are much worse here than when I was here earlier this \r\nyear. I can tell and I haven't even left Jerusalem yet. Tomorrow we will be \r\ntrained and then figure out where we will be. (We actually got here just as \r\npeople were leaving to Ramallah to do training but seeing as how we had been \r\ntraveling for more than 24 hours we decided that we probably didn't need to go \r\ndirectly to a city under curfew.) At this point the latest we've heard is that \r\nHebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah are occupied and the refugee camps around Nablus \r\nand Jenin have Israeli troops in and out of them a lot.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nSince we kind of had a free day today I and some other folks walked around the \r\nold city of Jerusalem. This place is still amazing. So much history packed \r\ninto such a small area. There are a lot of great folks here and a lot more \r\nexpected.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nGarrick\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI think that my updates have not been getting out to\r\neveryone I mean them to get out to. Hopefully by\r\nusing this address I will fix that problem. If anyone\r\nhas not received my previous updates and would like me\r\nto forward them, please write to me and let me know, I\r\nwill forward them as soon as I can. Please continue\r\nto use my other address, grok@riseup.net for personal\r\ncoorespondance when you can. Again people should feel\r\nfree to forward this and if anyone would like to call\r\nme, my number here is 011-972-56-489346. If people\r\nhave media contacts that would like to speak to people\r\nlike myself with the International Solidarity Movement\r\nor with Palestinians please do not hesitate to clal me\r\nand I will try to set up whatever people need.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThat said, so much has happened and there is so much\r\nto report. I am now in Gaza, I have been here for the\r\nlast three days.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe first thing I wanted to say is that I mentioned\r\nthe rounding up of men at the Al-Amari refugee camp\r\nnear Ramallah in my last report. That night after I\r\nsent that message we got new information about another\r\nincident in the camp. At noon on that day, 6\/30\r\nsoldiers entered the home of a family in the camp. \r\nThey forced everyone in the family into one room and\r\nproceeded to watch television for several hours. \r\nGiven the timing they were most likely watching the\r\nfinal game of the world cup though this is just an\r\nassumption on my part. At about 4:00 pm they received\r\norders to leave. in their haste they bumped an 18\r\nmonth old girl, Munia Adel Rehan into the stairwell. \r\nShe fell down three flights of stairs. The family\r\nfollowed the soldiers out into the street begging them\r\nfor help with their injured daughter. The soldiers\r\nignored both Munia and the family. The family then\r\ncalled an ambulence. The Red Crescent ambulence\r\narrived within 10 minutes but the soldiers would not\r\nlet it reach Munia for another half hour. Members of\r\nthe International Solidarity Movement were at the\r\nhospital where she was finally taken and took much of\r\nthis testimony from Munia's mother. They said she\r\nfinally arrived at the hospital at 7:00 pm. She had a\r\nlarge lasceration visible at her hairline and she was\r\nvery lethargic and sleepy. Though they were still\r\nwaiting for test results the doctors were very\r\nconcerned that she might have permanent brain damage.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWhat the fuck did an 18 month old girl do to deserve\r\nthis kind of treatment? \r\n<\/p>
\r\nEnd Part 1\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWe saw the checkpoint in the middle area of the Gaza\r\nstirp two days ago. When we got there there were\r\nhundreds of cars sitting there in the extreme heat\r\njust waiting. The checkpoint had been closed all day,\r\nno one had gotten through. Our contact here is\r\nconvinced that the only reason they opened the\r\ncheckpoint is because the soldiers saw us from the US\r\nand Canada approaching. These checkpoints have\r\nabsolutely nothing to do with security, they are\r\nmerely to harrass the population. When they opened it\r\nup they did not even do so much as check anyone's id,\r\nmuch less search any cars. If there was actually some\r\nkind of security risk would they have just let all\r\nthese people pass through. It's really sick.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nYesterday we met with mayors from two of the\r\nmunicipalities inthe area Nuseirat (where we are\r\nstaying) and Boreig. These and the orther areas of\r\nthe middle area of the Gaza strip are extremely short\r\nof water. (If people are not aware, a lot of the\r\nreason for why Israel occupies Palestinian land, the\r\nGolan Heights and formerly southern Lebanon is to\r\nsteal the water from these areas. They do that in\r\nGaza as well often selling the water under illegal\r\nsettlements back to the Palestinians hwose water it\r\nrightfully is in the first place.) Aside from the\r\nwater under the settlements there are two wells here\r\noutside of the Netzarim settlement. One of them is\r\nnot working but it is close to the fence around the\r\nsettlement. Every time Palestinian workers have\r\nattempted to go to the well to fix it and make it\r\noperational again they have been shot at and had to\r\nflee. This has happened even when they have gotten\r\npermission from the Israelis. We are working to see\r\nif there is any way we can help. If the workers are\r\nwilling we told them we will accompany them to the\r\nwell to make sure they are able to fix it.\r\nWe spoke with soldiers at the settlement who basically\r\ngave us beaurocratic bullshit. We would like to go\r\neven without permission but need to see if the\r\nPalestinians are willing to do this.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nOn the way back from the settlement we saw an army\r\nbulldozer destroying an orchard with orange trees and\r\nolive trees. This has been happening a lot here in\r\nGaza in the last two weeks (it happens all the time\r\nall over Palestine but has apparently been\r\nparticularly bad). Even knowing that it happens and\r\nseeing someone actually sitting in a machine and\r\ndestoying a farmers cropss for no reason is so\r\ndisgusting. These particualr fields had to be at\r\nleast a kilometer and a half from the settlement. \r\nThere is no reason.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe situation here is horrible. I urge everyone to do\r\nwhatever they can to support the Palestinian people\r\nagainst the fascist policies of Israel. People are\r\ndying every day, crops are being destroyed every day,\r\nhomes are being destroyed every day, people are being\r\nrounded up without charges every day. One of the Jews\r\nin our group has said that if you stand by and do\r\nnothing it would be like standing by and doing nothing\r\nknowing that the holocaust was going on. I find it\r\nhard to disagree with her. I also find it hard to\r\ndisagree with the comparison of Israel to Nazi\r\nGermany, straight down to writing things on mens arms\r\nand using dogs to round people up. Pleasee do what\r\nyou can, contact your representatives in Washington\r\nand tell them that as a taxpayer you are absolutely\r\ndisgusted by what is happening with US support here. \r\nSpeak out against Bush's imperialist agenda in\r\nattempting to tell the Palestinians who there leaders\r\nshould be. If the US decides for the Palestinians\r\nthen there is no independence. (then again the people\r\nof the US don't even get to decide who there leaders\r\nare anymore as we saw with Bush himself). Work for\r\njustice. The US must end all aid to Israel if it\r\ntruly supports democracy and justice around the world\r\n(I'm under no illusions that it does but perhaps the\r\npeople can force it to.)\r\n<\/p>
\r\nPlease feel free to write me with any questions or\r\ncomments at grok@riseup.net or give me a call. I'd\r\nlove to hear from more people to know that there are\r\npeople at home listening and working for some kind of\r\nchange. My access to email is intermittant but I've\r\nat least been able to check it every few days.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIn solidarity, with rage and love from occupied\r\nPalestine,\r\n<\/p>
\r\nGarrick\r\n\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThese are some quotes from a worker in the hospital we\r\nstayed in for three nights in Ramallah. I will not\r\ngive his name becasue he is afraid the Israelis want\r\nto arrest him.\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"what we want exactly, we want to live in peace\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"This intifada does not come from Arafat or Hamas, it\r\ncomes from all of us, we all have intifada in our\r\nhearts\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"9 of my friends have been killed\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"I will stay here and I will not leave and I think the\r\nsame is true of the Jews. We must make peace together\r\nbut without Sharon\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"We are human beings, not animals\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"tell your people the truth. We don't want you to\r\nlie. In my country I cannot move.\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"I have not visited my family in 3 years, it is 10\r\nminutes away by car\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\n\"We will not let anyone take this country from us. \r\nThe only way this will happen is if all Palestinians\r\nare killed.\"\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI thought these quotes from a much larger conversation\r\nwere all incredible. And I feel like it is extremely\r\nimportant to relay the words of the palestinians in\r\ntheir own words.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI also wanted to relay the stories of a few\r\nPalestinian we met in the rehabilitation center in\r\nRamallah.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nMahmoud:<\/b>\r\n<\/p>
\r\nHe was working his land near Nablus in November. At\r\nthat time settlers had already uprooted over 240 of\r\nhis olive trees. 4 settlers came and shot at him from\r\nfar away. One of the bullets hit the main nerve in\r\nhis leg and severed it. He still walks with Crutches.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nArkham (age 23):<\/b>\r\n<\/p>
\r\nHe lived in the Jenin refugee camp. When the Israelis\r\nattacked in March one of his friends was shot and was\r\nlying in the street. He and another friend got a car\r\nand drove to their injured friend. They picked him up\r\nand put him in the car but as they tried to get away\r\nthey were fired at from behind. His friend was hit in\r\nthe shoulder. He was hit in the back of the neck and\r\nis now a total parapalegic. Both of his other friends\r\nwere arrested and remain somewhere in the Israeli\r\nprison system despite their injuries though he does\r\nnot know where they are. He will never use his legs\r\nagain.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nHussam (age 13):<\/b>\r\n<\/p>
\r\nHe lived in the village Beta near Nablus. He was\r\nstanding at the gates of his village watching 3\r\nIsraeli soldiers far away on a hilltop. They suddenly\r\nopened fire on him, he thought for target practice, \r\nObviously a 13 year old boy with no weapon presented\r\nno danger to the soldiers. He was hit with 5 bullets.\r\n Proof that they were extremely far away was that the\r\ntwo which hit him in the arm did not even penetrate\r\nall the way through, they stayed in his arm. One hit\r\nhim in the spine. He will also be paralyzed for the\r\nrest of his life. The main thing he wanted to tell us\r\nwas \"tell the truth about what is happening here\" I\r\nonly hope that I can do that in some small way.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nI will collect more stories and send them. I feel it\r\nis extremely important to do this because so few\r\npeople are doing it. Israeli dead and wounded always\r\nhave names in US media, Palestinians are almost always\r\njust numbers.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nGarrick<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Garrick Ruiz, a Los Angeles activist and food justice organizer, has been sending reports from Palestine. These are the first few, which have been sent to several listservs in LA.","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/07\/17505.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":17523,"heading":"Emjoy your stay in Palestine.","article":"And if you think it sucks in the West Bank and Gaza, try visiting Syria or Jordan.","author":"Hesham Mohammed Hadayet","parent_id":17505,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2002-07-06 09:34:25","modified":"2002-07-06 09:34:25","fileurl":""}]}