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NEWS & LETTERS, June 2002
Eyewitness accounts from West BankChicago—Kathy Kelly and Jeff Guntzel, members of Chicago’s Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to end the United States and United Nations economic sanctions against the people of Iraq, were among the first activists to enter the West Bank during the Israeli operations. The two activists gave an eyewitness account of their experiences to an audience of 250 at a forum at DePaul University on Sunday, April 28. “In the past month, Israel has engaged in a massive assault on the occupied territories in the West Bank,” said Kelly. “Human rights organizations have not been allowed into Ramallah and Jenin to survey the situation or count the number of dead, a number believed to be in the hundreds.” “In addition to looting and demolishing hundreds of homes, cars and businesses in the Ramallah and Jenin areas,” said Guntzel, “the Israeli army has attempted to systematically obliterate Palestinian society by destroying the educational records of Palestinian children and by seizing Palestinian land deeds.” Kelly and Guntzel arrived in Ramallah on April 9. The people in Ramallah had been under a 24-hour curfew for two weeks prior to their arrival. “Israeli soldiers and snipers had ‘shoot to kill’ orders for anybody who dared to venture out of their home,” said Guntzel. “Israel had declared the city a ‘closed military zone', which means no foreigners or journalists were allowed to enter.” “We were able to enter the camp because brave Palestinian children showed us how to take back ways through the countryside, avoiding Israeli checkpoints,” said Kelly. “We are also grateful to several young Israeli soldiers who showed us how to sneak past the checkpoints.” On April 14, after several failed attempts, Kelly and Guntzel were able to enter the Jenin camp. Although Israeli soldiers would not allow them to walk through the checkpoint, several soldiers did tell them how to cut through fields in order to bypass checkpoints, said Kelly. “What people should know about Jenin,” said Kelly, “is that it’s a regular city neighborhood, with three-story buildings, homes and shops. It resembles an American city more closely than it resembles what many of us picture when we think of a refugee camp.” “The IDF soldiers used bulldozers to widen the road into Jenin,” said Kelly. “To make this new road, over 800 homes were demolished. This means that the homes of 4,000 people were destroyed in order to find less than 200 Palestinian resistance fighters.” Kelly and Guntzel say they were shocked and dismayed by the war-torn appearance of Jenin. They walked to the center of the city, where they say a huge circular space had been cleared by Israeli bulldozers. The homes and businesses that used to be in this area, about 100 in all, had been demolished. “We heard snipers shooting at a small group of men who had come to pull bodies from the rubble in the center of the camp,” said Kelly. “The men began to dig a mass grave. While we watched, they pulled four bodies out of the rubble, including that of a small child.” At the DePaul forum, Kelly was asked why she chose to go to a war zone. She replied, “I was prepared to lose a limb, to lose an arm, or to lose my life.” “President Bush has said there will be an endless war against terrorism,” said Kelly. “We can be confident of an endless peace movement. We wanted to be a part of whatever protection could be afforded to Palestinians living in the occupied territories. It is up to activists and aid workers to create the tunnel for light to shine through.” —Rachael Perrotta |
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