NOLA Activists Working for Justice in Palestine : NOLA Indymedia

July 6, 2003 - Report from Adam & Thomas

We arrived in Tel Aviv safely on July 2nd. We are now in Nablus, occupied Palestine, writing from one of the ISM offices here.

The trip here was an experience in itself. El Al (Israeli state airline) employees at JFK personally escorted us, along with a Pakistani man, to the doors of the plane. They surrounded us and would not let other people in the airport near us. Immigration in Tel Aviv was surprisingly easy to pass through, although they were skeptical of why we would come to Israel right now.

After arriving in East Jerusalem, we stayed at a great hostel that was owned by a very friendly and helpful Israeli Arab. It was swarming with ISM people, all arriving for the Freedom Summer campaign, and awaiting training in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. It was a two day program that prepared us for non-violent direct action, navigating in Palestinian culture, and legal issues surrounding our presence here.

Already we have been shocked by the brutalizing nature of the occupation. Palestinians are routinely harassed, de-humanized, intimidated, beaten and killed. On our first day in Jerusalem, we took an Arab bus to Bethlehem. As we were leaving, we were pulled over by Israeli police. All the men were forced to get off, hand over there ID, and wait while every single one was called in. We were questioned as well about why we were with these men, did we know them, etc. Luckily, everyone was allowed back on and we were on our way in about thirty minutes.

After arriving in Bethlehem, we met a man who was present at the Church of the Nativity during the forty day Israeli siege last year. He showed us where the sniper towers were which would shoot anything that moved inside the compound. The bullet holes and damage to the church are still visible. He introduced us to an older man, whose brother had been shot and killed by an IDF sniper while smoking a cigarette. Then he showed us where Jesus was born, just a few steps away.

We tried to enter Nablus at the Huwara checkpoint. IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers there were randomly harassing Palestinians trying to return to their homes. They would scream and yell for no apparent reason, then let a few people through. Then they would walk through the crowd, scream some more, and go back. The soldiers were extremely polite to us as we waited in line.

While we were waiting, we approached an ambulance to talk to the driver about his experiences navigating the checkpoints. He said there was a seriously injured patient in Nablus that he needed to bring to Ramallah, a trip that is delayed hours by the indifference of the soldiers there. No special status is granted emergency vehicles, which have to wait in line with the other cars, and then could still be denied entry. Some people try to bypass the checkpoint on foot by walking through the mountains, a dangerous (due to IDF patrols) but often necessary gamble.

After being denied entry at Huwara, we took a taxi to another checkpoint, which we were told we could pass through. We got through easily, and made our way into Nablus. There are about fifteen ISM activists staying here and we are all excited to contribute. There are about eighty to one hundred activists throughout Palestine doing similar work. We plan on working here for one or two weeks before heading off to Yanun, a small village in the Northern West Bank.
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We will email again soon, when we are able to. If you would like to contact us, you can at our regular email addresses or call on us on our cell phones.

Thomas Bacon: 00972 55 420 783 (from the U.S.)
Adam Wilson: 00972 55 420 652 (from the U.S.)