David Rolstone's Letters from Palestine

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Wednesday, 7 January 2004 - A can of coke

Hi Jane and all,

This morning it is pouring with rain and we got absolutely soaked attending the funeral of the latest people to be killed. The old city was full of life yesterday as people came out and shops opened for the first time in weeks but today the city is closed again and subdued. Last night the soldiers were in Balata and Askar camps supposedly looking for people and generally making a nuisance of themselves, this morning there was a tank and two jeeps at the entrance to Balata on the Askar side. During the early hours of the morning two more people were killed in Raffidia, one of the corpses was riddled with bullets. In the same raid 8 people were arrested. These latest killings brings the total of people killed in Nablus and Balata since the 15th December to 18 with 264 injured, when we visited the hospital today the wards were full of gunshot victims mostly under the age of 18 with some people still in intensive care. Some of the children will be crippled for life, one boy has lost an eye and the bullet was still inside the cranium, fortunately the surgeons managed to remove it and his life has been saved. One doctor told us the story of a 5 year old who went out to buy a coke and as he returned a passing jeep fired at him and he was hit in the head with shrapnel. He arrive at the hospital still clutching the coke. As the doctor started to treat him he burst into tears, the doctor asked does it hurt and the boy replied no but the nurse has taken my coke!

Israeli operations continue throughout the Nablus region and it is becoming difficult to cover all areas as there are now only 5 internationals in the Nablus region two will stay in Nablus old city and two in Balata camp, and I will stay in Askar camp tonight.

Dave

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