Diaries: Live from Palestine

Ramadan in Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 11 November 2002


As I write this, now at home, I am watching the news on television. An Israeli tank is shooting at little boys who throw stones at it in Nablus. George Bush struts across a green grass lawn in a clean suit, talking about UN Resolutions. Kristen Ess writes from Gaza. 

A smaller space each day

Kristen Ess Rafah, Gaza Strip 5 November 2002


A pile of gray cement, once a family’s home, sits next to the street. Directly in front is a small white tent. This is where the family now lives. There is no furniture, no clothes, no family pictures. They are all somewhere under the rubble. Each day at least 6 Palestinian homes are demolished, except Saturday which is a holiday for Israelis. Kristen Ess writes from Rafah, Gaza. 

The farmers of Qaffin

Rachel Engler-Stringer Tulkarem, Palestine 4 November 2002

Just after we came home for the evening we received a call informing us that the army was attacking the Tulkarem refugee camp. We also learned that people in the camp had been shot, and there were helicopters circling overhead. Rachel Engler-Stringer reports from Tulkarem. 

Cross the Line

Marthame Sanders and Elizabeth Sanders Zababdeh 30 October 2002


For the past six months, people in the Jenin district have been struggling under curfews and closures with varying degrees of strictness. Today, like yesterday and the day before, was one of the stricter days. Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders report from nearby Zababdeh. 

Naboth had a Vineyard

Uri Avnery Havarah 26 October 2002

Had they been there last Saturday at sunset, most Israelis would not have believed their eyes. In the middle of Havarah, a small village south of Nablus, 63 Israelis, men and women, young and old, were standing together with dozens of Palestinian villagers. Jews and Arabs talked together, drank juice offered by the hosts, exchanged addresses and phone numbers. Uri Avnery writes. 

Israel's daily destruction of Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza Strip 28 October 2002


In Namsawi, an area of Khan Younis refugee camp directly in the line of Israeli fire, displaced families live in buildings with holes the size of Volkswagen bugs. Apache missle fire and tank shelling have destroyed many areas of the camp made up of soccer fields and cement apartment buildings. There are children playing in the sandy dirt who scatter when shots are fired. Half the population is under 15. Kristen Ess reports from Gaza. 

Misery in Mawasi

Kristen Ess Qarrara, Gaza Strip 23 October 2002


At 30 mph, cars seem as if they are speeding on the dusty road of Qarrara, a village just south of Abu Ali checkpoint and a few minutes north of Khan Younis, in the middle of the Gaza Strip. The checkpoint is open now. F-16s are rumbling overhead on their way to terrorize Rafah. Israeli soldiers are shooting in nearby Mawasi. Kristen Ess writes from Qarrara, Occupied Gaza. 

In Exile: Bethlehem to Gaza

Kristen Ess Gaza City, Palestine 22 October 2002

Those Palestinians who were banished following Israel’s siege of the Church of the Nativity languish in Gaza, their families in Bethlehem. Kristen Ess crosses from Bethlehem to Gaza, to report on how families are dealing with the separation. 

In Middle East, Heaviest Toll Exacted on Civilians

Molly Moore Rafah refugee camp 19 October 2002

In the space of a few minutes Thursday afternoon, the narrow main street of O Block became a corridor of fiery metal shards and flying body parts. In the end, six Palestinians who had been going about their daily lives — buying snacks, gossiping with neighbors, taking an afternoon nap — were dead, and 45 other Palestinians had been injured, mostly by shrapnel. Two other Palestinian men, who remained unidentified, were reported killed near the edge of O Block, but Palestinian medical officials said the Israeli military had not allowed ambulances to retrieve their bodies. Washington Post reporter Molly Moore writes from Rafah Refugee Camp in Gaza. [may require registration] 

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