Diaries: Live from Palestine

Nablus: 'I feel as if I was raped this morning'

Arjan El Fassed Ram, Palestine 3 August 2002

‘I feel as if I was raped this morning’, writes ‘Ala. ‘Thirty well-armed Israeli soldiers walk freely through our home. I don’t have any right but to sit on the chair and keep silent’. Early this morning, after a long night full of sounds of Israeli state terror, the sounds of bombs, shooting and cursing in the streets, Israeli occupiers raided Ala’s home. 

The court has ruled

Arjan El Fassed Ram, Palestine 13 April 2002

“Do you already have an answer?” I asked a lawyer present at the Israeli Supreme Court. “No the hearing is still going on, but they’ve already agreed that the International Committee of the Red Cross should be allowed to accompany the Israeli army to examine, collect and identify the bodies and the court advised that the Palestinian Red Crescent Society takes part in the identification process. 

Waking up with Jenin

Arjan El Fassed Ram, Palestine 13 April 2002

‘Hi, it’s Di here,’ says my colleague. She left two days ago to Jenin. Together with lawyers, fieldworkers and experts, they’re taking eyewitness accounts from residents of Jenin refugee camp, who were detained and released, and who were able to escape from the refugee camp. 

An unusual siren

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 13 April 2002

It is inevitable that children want to go out after being closed up in the house for a whole week, especially with the beautiful spring weather. The birds whistle their inviting songs. Some gardens are explored, hesitatingly. My four year old daughter, Jara, has made contact with the neighbours’ children and wants to play with them. 

Palestinians and the American people

Sam Bahour Ramallah, Palestine 13 April 2002

The Palestinian people have no grudge against the American public. We never did. As a matter of fact, if one resists the media spin and takes a closer look at what the Palestinians have been struggling for during the last two weeks—let alone the last thirty-five years—it will be revealed that the Palestinian Intifada is a very American struggle. 

A mother's nervous breakdown

Islah Jad Ramallah, Palestine 12 April 2002

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. 

'Jad was found. But dead.'

Islah Jad Ramallah, Palestine 12 April 2002

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. 

'How to find a way of talking to Israelis after all that has happened?'

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 12 April 2002

Friday morning, I go out to sniff the air in the garden. Suddenly a group of Israeli soldiers appear and ask whether I am from the University. “No, I am from Holland,” I say illogically, thinking that the word “Holland” helps to keep them out of the house, our main worry. 

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