David Rolstone's Letters from Palestine

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Thursday, 30 January 2004 - Entry Forbidden

Hi All,

At the moment I'm back in a sun-drenched Ramallah so will take the time to bring you up to date on some of the happenings in and around Nablus.

On Wednesday I did checkpoint watch at Huwwara roadblock. This is the main entry point for Nablus, Askar, Balata and the numerous villages surrounding Nablus. The checkpoint is one of the worst places for trouble. Last year I helped to stop the soldiers beating a man up inside their armored sentry box. Since I first visited this checkpoint it has developed from a temporary thing comprising of a few concrete blocks to what is now a permanent construction of pillboxes, watchtowers, concrete barriers forming cattle pens and roofed areas to keep the soldiers dry.

On Wednesday An-Najah, the university in Nablus, was breaking up for the holidays so thousands of students would be trying to make their way home to the villages and towns of the West Bank and Gaza. Because of all the hassles over the past three years with traveling even students who live in villages immediately outside of Nablus stay in the city during term time to avoid the long delays at this and other check points. When we arrived at the checkpoint at 12:00 we found that older men and women were being let through after being questioned by the soldiers but that men under 35 were being held in a broad ditch below the checkpoint. Most of these men were students from the university, the ditch was wet and muddy and my shoes were soon caked in this gluttonous mess. Some of the students had arrived at 9:00am and were to be there until 6:00am while the army checked there ID passes. Hamoked the human rights group has told us that this ID check should only take 20 minutes; the delays are deliberately engineered to make live as difficult as possible for the students in an attempt to undermine the education system.

I don't have the latest figures for the disruption and interference with the education system throughout Palestine but the education authority reports 850 schools temporarily closed, 8 schools turned into military barracks. 185 schools shelled and fired upon by Israeli soldiers; 11 schools completely destroyed, 9 vandalized. 15 schools used as detention centers and army barracks.132 Palestinian students killed and 2,500 injured on their way to or from school, 1135 school days have been lost because of Israeli attacks. During the long invasion in March/April 2002 54, 730 teaching sessions per day were lost due the complete cessation of classes. So this detention of hundreds of students and other violations that we saw on Wednesday is only the tip of an immense Iceberg. During the day we witnessed one man asking for water being grabbed pulled forward off balance and the soldier then bringing his knee up into the mans chest. Muslims in order to pray have to first wash but there is no water at the checkpoint although a tank with taps has been provided for this purpose it is never filled. Throughout the day the soldiers found ways to order the students to do various things like move to the other end of the ditch for no apparent reason. During the day I was with the help of Hamoked able to get a taxi released after the driver explained to me that his taxi had been held for four days for no reason and he could not work or earn a living. After Hamoked's intervention with the IDF they released him but by the end of the day they had collected another six taxies.

There are now more than 730 military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza, and this together with the frequent and violent invasions of the cities and villages is having a detrimental effect on all aspects of Palestinian life. There is now deterioration in Palestinian health care. The annexation wall has further affected 750,000 Palestinians and the health care system is collapsing. The system had been developed according to models proposed by the WHO; clinics specializing in different aspects of health care are located in various villages and cities and are able to refer patients to alternative clinics to seek specialized health care, now they are unable to reach these clinics due to the movement restrictions created by the Wall and checkpoints. The legitimacy of the Wall and checkpoints must be challenged, as their existence is a clear violation of International Law. There is to be a Palestinian National Day against the Wall on the 23rd of February, perhaps you can do actions in solidarity in the UK.

As expected last year the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank apartheid wall. During the debate 44 speakers raised concerns regarding the wall. The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution, using its veto as one of five permanent members of the Security Council. Four of the 15 members of the Security Council abstained including Great Britain despite a foreign office declaration from London on October 1st 2003 stating that "any fence built should be on the Green Line or in Israeli territory. Breaking up the West Bank with the fence, and settlements like Ariel are an obstacle to the two state solution..."

On the 2nd October an Israeli military order declared all occupied West Bank land between the "security" wall and Israel's pre-occupation 1967 border a "Closed Zone". The order states that "no person will enter the (Closed Zone) and no one will remain there." Free access to the Closed Zone will only be granted to "Israelis" (defined as Israeli citizens, Israeli residents and anyone who is Jewish). The order requires Palestinian residents of the Closed Zone to obtain permits to live in their houses, farm their land and travel. Palestinians not residing in this zone but whose agricultural lands lie within the Closed Zone will also be required to apply for a permit to farm their land.

Nothing in the order guarantees that the permits will be respected if they are indeed granted. This order clearly represents the latest Israeli attempts to drive Palestinians off Palestinian land. Israel is openly adopting, and treating the Closed Zone as part of Israel. The political significance of the wall is therefore colossal. Israel is using the Wall to redraw Israel's geo-political border and in doing so is destroying any chance of peace.

It took me all day yesterday to travel from Nablus to Ramallah and then to Jerusalem. What should have been a one hour drive turned in to a battle of wits as I changed taxies to avoid checkpoints and argued with soldiers at the ones I did cross. This is what Palestinians have had to put up with for three years and it is becoming progressively harder for internationals now to move around. The Israelis are bringing in regulations to prevent internationals visiting the West Bank and Gaza and have launched yet another initiative to stop the flow of information from reaching the outside world.

All foreigners arriving in Ben Gurion Airport and the land crossings from Jordan are now being issued with "information on entry into territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority". The information states that entry into the territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority is forbidden without the attainment of prior written authorization. The order goes on to point out that entry into the aforementioned territories without prior authorization may result in deportation and refusal of future re-entry into the state of Israel. This message from the Interior office is a clear act of censorship trying to hide from the world the numerous violations of international and humanitarian law being carried out against an occupied population. At the moment I can still get about as I know the situation but we need to bring pressure from the outside to stop this happening. We as internationals are gradually losing our ability to confront the soldier and address the problems.

All for now peace and bright moments, Dave.

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