email from Palestine

["John O'Neill" <johnfergaloneill@xxxxxxxxxx>]

A member of the Irish Socialist Network is currently in Palestine working in
solidarity with the Palestinian People. He manages to get the odd e.mail off
to his comrades I thought some list subscribers may be interested

fraternally

John

Friends,

As always thanks for messages and keep them rolling, makes life easier!
Im back in Jerusalem again today, saturday. We're not sure where we're being
sent next. Yesterday we were told we would be going to the city of Nablus in
the north of the West Bank cos the Israelis have made a major incursion
there and the situation is critical but there is already a lot of
internationals there so we may be sent somewhere else in the north.

Things were very quite in Beit Ummar for the last week, theres been no day
time raids by the soldiers though they did come in at night a few times but
largely without shooting.  We managed to visit Hebron again on Wednesday.
The settlers who are planted right in the middle of the town had gone on the
rampage again attacking palestinians indiscriminately in the old city.  The
police and army did nothing to protect people. We visited a house which the
settlers had broken into and occupied for a whole night. They wrecked most
of the rooms in the house and burnt a small library of ancient islamic books
that the family had kept for generations. The library was still hot from the
fire when we went into it.Some of the people living in this house had
already been forced out of their home down the alley by the army for
"security reasons" which means its going to be handed over to the settlers.
Most of these settlers are not Israelis, they are jewish fundamentalists
from the USA. The people in Hebron we spoke to were full of despair,
believing that no one could help them. Again and again people said to me
'Only God can help us now, God will punish them for what they are doing to
us'.

We also visited a block of flats that was gutted by tank fire. The Army had
come at around 4 in the morning and given the 10 tenant families (50-60) ten
minutes to get out, no time to take their furniture etc. then they let lose
with tank fire and finally they set fire to a merchants store in the
basement. Nobody was arrested, no reason given for doing this.

We also visited Al Arroub refugee camp again, where about 9,000 pople live
in tightly packed houses. Most of the residents came here from 33 villages
in central Israel, driven out in 1948. We spoke to two elderly men who
remembered their old villages. The anger and sadness at losing their homes
was very strong. One of them siad 'I remember each rock , each mountain,
each valley. I remember them inch by inch' He was 68 years old. Everyone in
the camp we spoke to insisted that this was not their home and that they
would not accept any agreement that did not include their right to return to
their original villages.

On the way out of the camp a man came out of a shop and asked us to take a
photo of him holding a framed picture of his son. The boy was killed by the
Israeli army in November 2000. He was 15 years old and was shot through the
head in his home. His father told us he was a clever boy who had just got
the best results in his grade.

Ive heard so many stories like this, but it gives you an idea of how much
the Palestinian people are suffering. Please pass this info on to anyone
whos interested.

thanks

Colm





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