David Rolstone's Letters from Palestine

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Friday 20 February 2004 - Olives

Hi All,

First of all apologies for not writing very much lately, my days have been filled with organizing things here in Nablus and in Ramallah. Most of my time has been spent arranging a visa for Omar to visit the UK which I'm glad to say has now been granted by the British Counsel. We still have to get permission for him to leave the West Bank from the Israeli army commander in charge of the West Bank and I have a Lawyer working on this.

Back in Nablus I'm making enquires about exporting Olive products to the UK and trying to set up a business bank. The olive industry is the main source of income for the local farmers. Once the olives are harvested in October and November they are converted into oil or processed as edible olives. This involves preserving them in different ways, they are then sold as black or green olives stoned or un-stoned, and can be stuffed with all sorts of interesting things and put in to different mediums such as olive oil and lemon. The olive oil is extra virgin and it tastes astonishing, this together with the stuffing of nuts and peppers make the taste of the olives breathtaking. As well as the Oil and Olives they also make soap. Most of the soap factories are very old one of the oldest ones in the Old City was destroyed by F16 fighter bombers during April 2002. The one that I have got to know recently is just outside of the old city and is only 300 years old! The olive oil is mixed with water and soda for three days before being spread out on the floor as a thick paste; once this dries it is marked and cut up into bars. The bars of soap are then staked forming round towers to dry, this looks like a work of art with thousands of bars of soap forming dozens of towers of a beautiful cream color lit by the sunlight coming through the stone arched windows. Not sure if I can capture this sunlight but I am trying to export the soap. One of the main topics is the lack of work and money in the economy here so if I can get some fair trade going it might help to alleviate some of the hardship and challenge the occupation. So far I've managed to contact producers, packers and a freight company all I need now is some buyers!

This morning when I woke up in Balata camp, and by the time I got up and washed the camp was in full swing, shops and the street market all open and the children all in school. Then the army arrived, I immediately made for the roof to see what was happening, from there I could see 4 jeeps out side and the shops starting to close their doors. Returning to the house I called the others and we were soon on the streets, three of us were just looking at the situation and deciding what to do when one of the Palestinians started to tell us that it was dangerous and we should leave. It did not seem any different to other clashes so we were just telling him it was alright when a gunman popped his head out of the alleyway and opened fire on the jeeps. This put us between the gunman and the soldiers and we got out of there P.D.Q. moving through the back alleys further in to the camp were we found 5 more jeeps. All the traders were moving their vegetable stalls away as the jeeps drove around announcing curfew, but one stall holder was still selling cauliflower right in front of the jeeps! We split up into pairs and started to escort the school children home as they poured out of school. During this time the Jeeps fired sound bombs and tear gas at the children. I did not personally see any live ammunition or rubber bullets fired but did hear gun fire at various times. Three people were injured this morning; a 14 year old girl was hit in the mouth by a rubber bullet and an older woman was shot with live ammunition in the chest.

At about 10:30 Garry and myself were waking down one of the intersecting side streets towards the main street when jeeps arrived at the main street. We stood in the middle of the side street in full view of the jeeps wearing our florescent vests. The door of the house that we were standing by opened and a soldier threw a sound grenade and then a smoke bomb at us! Before they could go off we headed swiftly for another side ally urged on by the explosion. The soldiers soon exited the house under the cover of the smoke and the jeeps all left. They had come looking for a wanted man in the early hours of the morning but had not found him, then the assassination squad had slipped in and occupied this house hoping to be able to shoot the man if he appeared on the street. The presence of all the jeeps this morning was to take the soldiers out of the camp and perhaps flush out wanted men.

People have live with this uncertainty for years now . Soldiers can arrive at any time and cause mayhem in the streets killing and injuring and maiming for life innocent civilians who just want to lead a normal life, to work and feed their families.

All for now, Dave.

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