Dairy of trip to Palestine

[Papa C.]

A member of a bulletin board which I frequent went on a trip to Palestine. He was nice enough to keep a diary and post it on said board so we could all get an idea of his journey. I've decided to post it up here as it is an interesting account and may be of interest to some.

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Tue Aug 01, 2006
hi im in palestine safe and sound Cool Laughing this place is really inspiring the people are so welcoming it really is amazing!!!

going through a check point i was told to stop but kept on walking so the solider started screaming at me but i kept on walking he ran up and kept on tapping my back then he must have got fed up so just left me to go through. all the palestians found this well funny! i have lots more stories but have no time to type them just now. im safe and well so dont be worrying. have met lots of new friends loving the place!!!!

ill try and be in touch again. oh they are loving the hoops and im singing the rebs to them which they love also Laughing i have to stress we need more internationals out here so if any1 is interested ect plz let me know.
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Tue Aug 01, 2006
im fine still loving it here, done my training on sunday and monday. It was in a city called ramallah (prob the wrong spelling)
now im in a little village called bett abeet think its that lol, 2moro im going into the hills to stay in a tent to protect ppl from the settlers who live ontop of the hills and to help farmers out ect.. we have been asked to march omn fri with the ppl of palistine from there mosque to the check point at the entrance of the village. We are expecting the to be a lil bit of trouble maybe steel coated rubber bullets, sound bombs so that shud be gd fun Laughing

The other day i went to a refugee camp called ayide.This place was very strange the wall has compelty been built around it, im going to go back and see if i can "menchie it" lol. we go invited to a end of summer school party. all the kids were singin dancing ect... then the teachers were to get awards so ppl from the old PLO were there to give them out lol this was very surreal! i ended up playing football with the local kids and go hammerd Rolling Eyes altho the were letting off massive fire crackers which i thought was gunfire the 1st coupple of times the kids were loving it!

i gotta go and have coffee at sum1s house now so tally ho ill try and be intouch. any games we play plz report them so i no wats happin and just let me no the [deleted]s score lol
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Sun Aug 06, 2006
e been staying in a little hut thing for the past few nites and have been bitten to f**k!!! The reason for staying here is. There is a settlement recently built ontop of a hill opposit were i was sleeping. The settlers came over to the ht about 3 or so weeks ago cut up the family inside beat them with sticks then set the roof on fire (the hut is made of stone). We go up stay with the locals and offer them some sort of protection. The 1st nite i was there just as it was getting dark a big 4x4 came to the top of our hill and sum1 got out and had a look we got out the hut (which has no doors or windows) to let them know we were there they seen us then left. I felt really sorry for the family i could see the fear in there eyes was shocking. I asked the oldest male why they dont fight back he said they can we have sticks and stones whilst the settlers have gun (they are allowed to carry guns for protection wanks). On a happier note the view is absolutely outstanding sunsets were amazing aint seen anythin like this b4 and wen it got dark you cud see the milky way and the occasional shooting stars was top! Every so often you would see F16s american made fighter jets heading towards Gaza and firing missiles lighting up the sky, watching this made me feel like nuts useless but summit ill need to get used to i guess.

I left the little hut this morning because we had a demo to go to we were going to march from the mosque to the check point at the entrance of the little village. For sum reason the army got wind of this and fuked our plans up so we all went back to the flat after a hour or so we heard gunfire and explosions so we headed towards it to find groups of kids with stone and slings trying to hit soldiers who had occupied 2 houses and there rooftops. We walked towards them try to dodge the stones from the kids and the rubber bullets and sound bombs from the soilders. When we got there they told us to leave or we wud be arrested we stayed and asked to see documents ect..... after an hour or so the solders left we made sure there people in the houses were ok then went home and had dinner.

I just heard from my friend Margret who was at a diff demo in the west bank, she got shot in the back with a steel coated rubber bullet and her husband had either a sound bomb or tear gas explode in his face not sure what one. Both of them are fine.

All in ave got to say this is an amazing place the Palestinian people are so warm and welcoming i find it hard to get my head round it and the kids are top aswell anyway i gotta go so peace out will speak soon.

FREE PALESTINE!!!



[more to come...]

[Papa C.]

Tue Aug 08, 2006
ive got sum pics but am struggling to het them on the comp. over here but ill keep trying.

yesterday i went to Jerusalem to meet a couple of friends we were going to head north to jenin. About 3 or 4 days ago a 23 year old got caught with a bomb belt headin south strapped to him. i dunno wats happend to him ill try and find out. anyway after finding this out i knew my trip would be extra long due to more check points ect....

Off we went my two mates and i it should take you no more than 60mins to get from Jerusalem to nabulas but as we guessed it took just over 2 and a half hours this is usually the norm in the west bank so i wasnt to bothered. From nabulas to jenin all going well it would take between 1 and 2 hours it took 4 and one of my mates got arrested and one of the main check points into the north. the reason for this is, we were appartly harassing solders at the check point taking pics ect so they called the border police and you cant win with these fuckers. The girl who got took away got released after a few hours but she got took to a settlement police station and had to make here own way back to the west bank via tel aviv which can be a pain in the arse. The main concern we have over here is having our passport numbers took for two reasons on the way out you will be proper interrogated and stripped searched and refused entry if you wanna come back the later being my biggest fear.


Back to the story lol, By this point i was getting pissed off then bang a massive tail back on the road, it was a flying check point. basically you get 2 or 3 armoured jeeps they block the road the solders spread accross the road and stop you take you out your bus and check everyones documents they piss about and hold you there for ages! So the bus driver cuts off the road and starts going over the mountains on the little dirt roads so off we went again, finally we got to jenin 4 hrs later but we were there.
We were going to meet a Israeli guy who works in a freedom theatre in the refugee camp with the kids we help find it www.gphc.org but he couldnt get into the west bank from Haifa because the check points had been closed so our trip was a complete waste of time and we still had to get back to Jerusalem!!!


To cut a very long trip home short we left jenin about 1430 and got to hour hostel 2145 this is no exaggeration we came across over 12 fixed and flying check points and i was starting to loose the plot. At one of the all the males got pulled off the bus so i waited till all the Palestiains got off the bus then went to the end of the que i got called to the front and told to show my passport i said no ill wait my turn and walked to the end. Every1 i passed on the walk back said thank you and had a massive smile on there face, little things like this mean so much over here its almost getting 1 over on the army. At another check point i was asked if i like jews by the solider checking my passport i said yes i have Jewish friends then he said do you me i said no so you dont like Jews the he replied i said only Jews solders i dont like use are bad people he slammed my passport down and told me to go. Again this brung smiles to the rest of the bus, just as i was leaving the man sitting next to me said thanks gave me his number and said if your every in nablus give me a call i want your to meet my family which i will do.
Any way i gotta go im going to stay at an outpost on the other side of the wall which is stopping it being built as far as ive been led to believe ill let use know the ins and outs wen i can, ill be there or a gd few days so tally ho and peace out.


FREE PALESTINE!!!

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Thu Aug 10, 2006

Thanks for the uplifting comments talsters Cool

Just a short one this time, i went to the outpost for 1 nite but have caught a bug or summit massive cramps in my belly and sore kidneysso ive came back to Jerusalem to ride it out im starting to feel a little better now.

Tonight a group of us got informed about a stop the war parade in the jewish quater so we headed up only to find it was a gay pride parade Laughing strange to say the least, there was a group of about 50 or so israeli anarchists so we joined them pulled out Palestinian and lebanon flags so as u can imagine alot of the gay pride jewish people werent best pleased with us anyway after about 30mins there was army, riot police, police and secret service *shebak* surrounding us. One of my friends who is israeli was flying the lebanese got pointed out and about 20 roit police headed for him being really ruff throwing male and females to the ground the sticking the boot in. He got a bit of a kicking face and back but managed to hold onto the flad Wink .

I had a placard of the lebanese flag stappled to a big pole and was starting to feel a little worried sure enough the roit police headed for me managed to take it off me but i didnt get beaten up every1 rallied round me and kept me safe which was nice. all in it turned out to be a strange to say the least so im off to bed its the big weekly demo tomorrow were my friend got shot in the back and her husband had the sound bomb in his face last week.

FREE PALESTINE!!!!

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Tue Aug 15, 2006

Thanks again for the gd comments people makes me smile Smile

I have been staying at the outpost in the village of bil'in which has been a gd laff but you aint really doing much. Basically a massive settlement is being built and taking the land of the village so 8months ago sum1 built an outpost and we need a 24hr presance at it so its sleeping under the stars again with the mozzies Laughing . This outpost has caused a court case which has halted the expansion and increased the costs so alot of people are pissed off which is nice. Nothing really happens while you are there during the day you get the locals from the village coming to talk to you and theres a little football park and goals made so you can imagine how happy i am there Cool at night you will get the soldiers coming waking you up justy being dicks really.


Every friday there is a protest that starts from the mosque and ends up at the wall were the soldiers are waiting.
Last friday before the protest i decided i would be arrestable which means when it kicks off and the soldiers target a palestiain we de-arrest him/her all in there was 12 or so of us that were on the front line and arrestable. Each week there is a differant theme to the protest and we were asked to carry what looked like dead bodies (made out of pillows with red paint on them this was to show whats happening in Lebanon how whole families are being killed and you gessed it i ended up carrying one of these and rite in the very front line of the protest.

There was about 250 maybe 300 of us and it was going well peacful and chating then we turned a corner and were faced with the army inside the village there dont come that deep inside the village so we were a little nervous but walked towards them( by this point i was starting to worry being tall skinny ginger and carrying a big red stained pillow i was an esay target if they wanted me to be) we got about 15 meters away then they started firing rubber bullets and throwing sound bombs at our feet now i was worrying! they split us up into two group leavin me and only about 20 other at the front and the rest at the back.

We were crouching behind slabs to avoid the bullets wen they came rite in ontop of us with big fuck off wooden battons and targeted palestians so i stood up stood infront of the man being hit then the soldier stop of a second then beat the shit out my legs and knees i managed to keep on my feet and started to walk back but he keeped on coming for me and i took a few more hits on my legs by this point i could hardly walk but the 20 of us re-grouped, then we herd screams dont think ill forget the sounds of them i knew sum1 had been hurt badly.

One of the soldiers shot an israeli protester in the neck 2times and the head one from about 10 or 15 meters away the rubber bullet stuck into his head. The guy has had part of his brain removed but seems to be doing well. We then realised armourd jeeps were heading toward us and into the town so the 20 of us stood infront of them blocking the road by this point every1 was going a little mad screaming to the soldiers and they started with the batons and trying to arrest people at this point a danish women who was with us got a m16 butt in the side of her face she is still in hospital the now but also dong fine. We decided to sit down so it would be harder for us to be arrested and impossible for the jeeps to get past. There was a stand off with the soldiers sreaming and the jeeps now at our feet reving up. We got told if we dont move they will tear gas us so we got out our cloths coverd our faces and said go ahead thankfully the didnt. After about 10mins the shebab (kids teenagers) started to stone the soldiers and it expolded again at this point i wanted to join in and "do" a couple of them but being with ISM we are non violent so we had to leave which can be a pain sumtimes!! Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes

All in there were 5 or 6 people shot with rubber bullets and the same beatin oh and one had a sound bomb sharpnal hit her arm. i was walking with a limp for a few days but now im fine all in that was a pretty scary protest but we will be there next fri and the fri after and the fri after ........... we wont be defeated!!

today im going upto the north of the west bank to a place called Jenin again but will be stayin there for 10 days living with familes in the town and also the refugee camp so hopefully there will be tinternet access. i gotta go now so HAIL HAIL and

FREE PALESTINE!!!!!!!!

[More to come...]

[Papa C.]

[continued diary...]

Tue Aug 15, 2006
To see the video check here

www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/08/11/bilin-4/

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Thu Aug 24, 2006
Hello talsters sorry i aint postedin a while i have been pretty busy and not had a decent tinternet connection, I have been staying in the north of the west bank near Jenin in a little village called Baqa, I was asked to take part in a 'summer camp' I was put in a group with 8 locals and another guy from scotland we had to do a report on the effect the wall and opcupation has had on the village, were just finishing it now so ill post it us as soon as i can wud use like english or arabic

[Papa C.]

Fri Aug 25, 2006

Introduction to report
For this report a four day visit to was made to the village of Baqa to research and assess the situation and conditions of a Palestinian village under occupation after the imposition of the isolation wall and the land and property that has been taken or destroyed by the wall and the occupation.

A very warm welcome was given by the village’s local YDA members.

Visits were paid to a number of various local associations, authorities and individuals within the village in order to obtain information and data on the village, they’re activities and the support that they provide.

All the members of the group worked as a team researching the information and writing the report.

Background Information on East Baqa

The village is situated 11km north of the city of Tolkarm.
The population is 4200.
The percentage of the population between 13 and 35 years of age is 27.38%.
The percentage of the population under 18 years of age is 57%.
The percentage of the population over 60 years of age is 8%.
The village has a municipality.
The bulk of the economically active population either work in retail or agriculture.
The village suffers from the imposition of the isolation wall and occupation. The markets have been variously destroyed by the army or cut off from trade forcing them to close. There are two major settlements in the area, Harmish and Dotan.

Education

There is a comparatively low average educational achievement in the village as work was easy to obtain before the wall was built with a high demand for unskilled work beyond the green line reducing the incentive for educational achievement. The new reality for those in the village is that they must have better educational qualifications in order to find work in the occupied area. This factor has acted to increase the educational achievement rates in the village.
From some visits that were made, there are the following points:

Pre-school education:
• There is one playschool. This was previously supported by approximately 10,000 JD from the government of Qatar and required no contribution from parents. This has been suspended since the start of the Intefada. Currently it costs parents 300 NIS a year per child.


• The number of children between the ages of 3 and 6 in the village is approximately 260. Before the suspension of funding all of these children attended the playschool and now only approximately 60 attend.

Schools:
Information was obtained from the municipality of East Baqa on state run schools. There are no non state (ie UN or private) run schools in East Baqa.

1. East Baqa Boys Primary School: The number of pupils attending this school is 444. It has 14 classrooms. Most teachers commute there from outside the village and suffer from delays and denial of access due to the occupations road checkpoints.
2. East Baqa Boys Secondary School (Omar Ben Al- Khattab School): The number of pupils attending is 273. The school has 9 classrooms. The number of teachers working here is 16. Also here most teachers commute from elsewhere and experience problems reaching the school due to IDF checkpoints.
3. East Baqa Girls Primary School: The number of pupils attending this school is 289. The buildings have 11 classrooms. 14 teachers are employed here and suffer the same problems as above.
4. East Baqa Girls Secondary School: The number of pupils attending is 393. There is 13 classrooms and 22 teachers.

University Education:
There are currently 169 students from the village in university education of which 78 are males and 91 are females. All of them study in Palestinian Universities. Graduates find it very difficult to find employment. Approximately 153 unemployed university graduates live in Baqa of which 89 are male and 64 are female.




Health

A visit was made to a health centre in the village to collect information and data on the subject of health and healthcare in the village. From the visit we have the following points:
1. There is one health centre in the village run by the Ministry of Health.
2. There are 6 doctors working in the health centre weekly. Each day there is one doctor on duty in the centre. Three of these doctors are from the village and two are from elsewhere.
3. The doctors are general practitioners. They give emergency treatment as well as ordinary non-urgent medical treatment and advice.
4. The health centre does not have an ambulance and the villagers have a long 45+ minutes waiting time for ambulances coming from Tolkarm not withstanding problems created by IDF checkpoints.
5. The health centre is not fully equipped with the appropriate medical equipment. It also has minimal stocks of medications to give patients. It was also closed due to a strike at the time of the visit.
6. Common diseases occurring in the village are psoriasis and vermicular infections.

Recommendations:
1. There should be an ambulance based closer to the village.
2. The health centre should be fully equipped with up-to-date medical equipment.
3. The Ministry of Health should give the health centre a better stock of medications.
4. There should be some specialists based or periodically visiting the centre according to local health needs.
 Notice:
When the first wall was built (separating East Baqa from the Palestinian Authority controlled area) there were serious problems with emergency callouts and transporting immobile patients to hospital.


Economics

A visit was made to the municipality offices to obtain economic data for the village.
• During the phases of the Isolation Wall’s construction the IDF demolished or otherwise closed 500 retail units and stalls.
• The number of civil servants living in East Baqa was 120. Large private companies employed 30 people from the village.
• Before the wall 400 people from the village were employed west of the Green Line. Each of these workers earned an average of 1,000NIS monthly.
• The village earned 70% of its income from agriculture, 30% from trade, 5% from workers on the other side of the wall and 5% from other sources.
• The total income of the municipality was 2,015,964JD.

Effects of The Wall and Occupation on The Village

At the beginning of the Intefada the village became a gateway through the Green Line. During the periods of the walls being built around the village 500 retail units and stalls had been closed and the village was surrounded by the wall like a prison. The wall took approximately 300,000 m² of village land and on 500,000 m² of village land it is forbidden by the occupation to build on it. The construction of the wall destroyed 19,950 trees on village land.
There are 81 families suffering separation from each other because of the wall. Some of these families are forced to walk in very long detours along the wall to see they’re family members. One apartment building in the area of the wall has been occupied by the IDF and become incorporated into the wall. In the area within 400 meters of the wall no building is permitted by the occupation and there are 6 buildings on the other side of the wall inhabited by 13 Palestinian families totaling 62 persons. Of these Palestinians on the west side of the wall 18 are school children and they are experiencing problems in crossing the wall to school and back daily.

From an interview with a Palestinian who lived on the west side of the wall he told of the difficulties in crossing the checkpoint in the wall now. The soldiers manning the checkpoint routinely keep Palestinian residents west of the wall waiting sometimes hours to cross the wall. On one occasion his son needed emergency medical care after the restrictive checkpoint opening hours and was kept waiting to cross the wall for over four hours.

• The wall reduced the village’s income from agriculture from 70% to 30%.
• The workers from the village employed behind the Green Line reduced from 400 to 50.
• The proportion of people in the village living below the poverty line increased to 70%.
• The total income of the village decreased from 2,015,964JD to 1,196,601JD.
 The wall caused some emigration of young people abroad in search of employment and better living conditions.

Summary of the report

This report contains an account of the building of the Isolation Wall’s effect on the people of East Baqa village and stories told by these people. The wall caused severe economic, social, health, education and agricultural problems.

Names of volunteers

1. Ali Jaradat Palestine
2. Baha’ Jaradat Palestine
3. Mahmood Shhail Palestine
4. Mohamed Al Hmoud Palestine
5. Gavin Kerr Scotland
6. Allan Hart Scotland
7. Zaher Hosain Palestine
8. Esmat Abu Nassar Palestine

We would like to thank the people of East Baqa, the Baqa members of the Youth Development Society and everyone who helped us in our research.

We thank P.A.R.C. for setting up The 5th Internation Camp Volunteers For Development and allowing us the opportunity to make this report.

We thank the director of the camp Ismail Soboh for his guidance and instruction.