During its April invasion of Nablus between 3 April and 21 April 2002, Israeli forces shelled a bakery in the old city of Nablus. Nablus was especially hard hit, especially in its old city, which contained many buildings of cultural, religious and historic significance. Much of the destruction appears to have occurred in the fighting as a result of the use by Israeli tanks, helicopter gunships and bulldozers. On May 6, 2002, EI’s Arjan El Fassed and Annet Meeuws visited Nablus and filmed the destruction. “Soldiers told me to stay in my house,” says an old woman. “That is all! No further warning before they exploded the building next door. The blast was so immense. First I thought my home including me would collapse as well, then I thought I became deaf. Now, I know I am lucky to be alive and that only my home is badly damaged,” she says. She shows the cracks in the walls, the broken windows, and burned and destroyed furniture. “The day after, soldiers did come back to my house to check if we survived the explosion.” She asks: “Why? Why did they explode the building? It was a bakery and empty at that time and they knew it. Why did they not evacuate us as they knew our lives were going to be in danger?”

View video [0:36 mins, Quicktime file, 2.0MB]

Camera: Annet Meeuws; Editing: Arjan El Fassed

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SCREENSHOTS

Related Links:

Equal human beings, Annet Meeuws, Live from Palestine, 9 May 2002