Islah Jad

Vera Tamari is a famous Palestinian artist. She is also my dearest friend and neighbor. One day before Ramallah’s fourth invasion on June 24th, she inaugurated an art installation entitled ‘Going for a ride’.

Last night I did not sleep at all. As usual, I was online at my computer until 3 a.m. I have to wait until my cyber-manic daughter Yassmine is through with the internet before I can get online.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written; I have needed some time to digest our new situation, one dominated by the presence of the Israeli army. Their presence has never been easy to accept, but what is harder to accept now is that we are back to “normal,” and this, apparently for us, means being in the continuous presence of an occupying army.

I have not written for quite some time. I was busy protecting myself and my family the last few days before the Israeli army left the area around the presidential compound near our house.

We woke up this morning to see if the Israeli troops withdrew from Ramallah as they claimed yesterday or not. To start with my street, where I live, all that had changed was the fortification of the barrier sealing the beginning of my street and now a new one at the other end.

So quiet in Ramallah these days, but from time to time we hear explosions because the army is blowing the doors off of ministries, schools, kindergartens, development agencies and houses. Tonight, it is exceptionally noisy.

It took me some time to collect the bits and pieces of this tragic story.. My sources are I.T.’s husband, a doctor, three of her neighbors and friends. It is a story of the erosion of humanity and utter senselessness. I.T.’s story demonstrates that a human being can be killed twice: once psychologically and then physically.

I woke up this morning very tired. I could not get any sleep until 5 a.m. At 3 a.m Saleh, my husband, woke up complaining with a severe headache. I was checking my mail and writing my messages. I could not sleep after hearing the news from Jenin camp, and hearing the SOS calls of some of the fighters left in the camp.

Today is day 11 of the re-occupation of Ramallah. We hear less shootings but from time to time we hear explosions of forced entry into houses and I keep hearing the same stories over and over again. Ask everyone to gather in a room, they start their ‘searching’.