Sunday, March 2

When there is nothing to do but burn tires


West Bank / Kristen Ess -
The damage is Gaza is almost unbearable,
unimaginable carnage that the Israelis
caused after threatening a “holocaust.”
In total yesterday Israeli forces killed
66 Palestinians. And they kept at it
Sunday morning, killing five more people
in an attack on the north.
Early Sunday evening Israeli forces targeted eastern Jabaliya
and killed two more Palestinians.

Seventy-six Palestinians have been killed since Saturday morning,
with at least 200 injured. Since the attacks began on
Wednesday morning, at least 100 Palestinians are dead.
Not many of them are from the armed resistance, around 20,
however the Israeli military claims that 90 out of 100
killed are members of the armed resistance. The Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak says the assault on the Strip will
worsen within two days.

This morning 12 year old Safa Raed Ali Abu Seif, east of
Jabaliya, died from wounds sustained during the Israeli
attacks, while Faiz Abed Rabo and Khalid Mundhir of
Jabaliya died from shelling.

The United Nations Security Council has not issued
a strong condemnation, for which the Popular Struggle Front
is condemning them. They simply expressed "deep concern."
President Abbas has cut off all negotiations and
communications with the Israelis as the aggression
continues. He called again today for an emergency session of
the Security Council, as he did yesterday. The European Union
finally issued a statement against “disproportionate use of force,”
a sentiment similar to that coming from the UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon. And several medical committees are
calling in to Gaza while those that can make it in are at least
looking, if not helping.

Shaher Saad specifically condemned the destruction of the
Government Building in Gaza City. The Jabaliya Hospital
is destroyed, the Medical Relief Building is destroyed,
thousands of people are homeless; hundreds are injured.
And during it all, Israeli forces invaded Bethlehem’s Beit Jala
and attacked the police station. Someone had shot at Gilo,
one of the illegal settlements which divide the West Bank
into cantons.

This morning in the West Bank Nablus was again attacked, while
Tulkarem remains under siege. The streets of Jenin and Nablus
are full of protesters, while in Ramallah Hamas and Fateh
called a joint demonstration. This is a huge move considering
the recent state of affairs. Kids are at the Wall in Ramallah
throwing stones, as they are in Bethlehem at Rachel’s Tomb.
They aim at the sniper tower along the Wall. Several of the
children in Bethlehem were injured, while in Hebron's
Beit Awa one child was killed and 35 people injured during
a demonstration.

The air is full of acrid smoke; the children have lit tires on fire
and dumped out garbage cans setting them ablaze.

The entirety of the West Bank is on strike in solidarity with
the mourners and lost souls of the Gaza Strip. Thabet
Thabet Memorial Hospital in the northwestern city of
Tulkarem is holding a sit-in. Schools were in session for part
of the day, but the students did not go, or did not stay
if they did. During the Jerusalem demonstration, hundreds
of people demanded an answer for the international silence
as children poured out of their classrooms, unable to sit
through a day like this.

A 15 year old girl is walking in the streets of Bethlehem.
She says, "How can we sit there? We can't just sit in school."
In Tulkarem they held sessions on the massacre, trying to help
the children deal with the horror. But most kids are in the
streets. They are shouting against Sharon, they are
shouting for Palestine and a single nationalism. They are shouting
that God is great and scream about the killing of children and
babies. A school girl is holding a huge Palestinian flag and is
repeatedly screaming in my face, “Where is 12
year old Mohammad?”

Adults are also wandering the streets, the demonstrations come
and go and everyone joins. Some walk in and out of houses
and stare at the televisions. The images of Gaza are not being
repeated. Because there are so many to show each piece is
new; hours and hours of horrifying footage to watch. But it
seems as if no one knows what to do. There is not anything to
do. “We are screaming into the wind,” as one Gaza
friend said a month ago.

The international community has not answered, not
condemned. Most of the condemnations are coming from
within against "the massacre," against "the holocaust,"
as the Israelis called it, against "the brutal attacks on
our people." The Palestine Liberation Organization, the
Palestinian Legislative Council, the Democratic Front for
the Liberation of Palestine and its armed resistance wing
the Struggle Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine and its Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, Hamas and
the Al Qassam Brigades, Fateh and Katab Shohada Al Aqsa,
Islamic Jihad and Saraya Al Quds, the Communist Party, and
the people and local governments of Tulkarem, Jenin,
Nablus, Salfit, Qalqilia, Ramallah, Bethlehem, East Jerusalem,
Hebron and throughout the devastated Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister
Ehud Barak have already openly threatened the lives of
elected officials. Olmert said this morning that he will not
falter in attacking public and governmental buildings and
institutions. Barak said that preparations were underway
for “an escalation” in the Gaza Strip. Can one imagine more
carnage in a single day? Sixty-six Palestinians who already
live in a giant prison under occupation and siege are dead.
Funerals are everywhere; there is no more room for bodies
in Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. But what we are left with
is the fact that the people can imagine more carnage, they
have seen it before and it will happen again. This is the
nature of occupation.
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