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ISM activist Janet, along with others, decided to throw a party for the children in Balata camp essentially in response to hearing a child tell her: "My mother has been crying for 4 days. I just want her to stop crying. " Adults dressed up in clown costumes and entertained the kids at one family's home. We painted designs on their faces, made animals out of balloons, and generally goofed around all afternoon. Pictures are available - see contact details below
Three ISM activists visited an area of Balata camp that had been seriously attacked during March and April of this month. Two stories seemed to be behind the damage we saw. First, there was the man who was shot and killed by soldiers as a result of a collaborator putting a powder on his back, during a greeting, that is only visible to the army. We saw the man's completely demolished house, next to a graveyard, and the two adjacent buildings which were partially destroyed. In one kitchen, an entire wall is missing. Because of this attack, all 3 families living in the buildings have to live on one floor. Secondly, we saw a row of three houses that were worst hit during an April 6th attack this year largely through the use of Apache helicopters and tanks. As a man who lived through the attack told us, on that day the army came to the hill near the houses and detained all of these families. In all, 5-6 homes were attacked, consisting of about 20 families. Twenty-three men were taken away, interrogated and tortured, and brought back the next day. We saw and photographed incredible damage to these homes, and heard about serious injuries suffered by the Palestinians. One woman lost an eye, another had half her face destroyed, two lost their hearing, and two " lost their minds, " in the words of the man telling us this story. Two pregnant women lost their babies; one immediately (two months early), and one later. We saw a huge crater in a kitchen floor, a massive hole through a stairway, and an entire metal doorway blown away. These are just a few examples of the damage we saw. Our host told us that the Palestinians sensed that the army knew they had done something wrong here, because they had actually treated some of the injured people. In one home, a mother described having nowhere to go when the attack was happening, and hiding behind a wall, huddling over her children to try to protect them. Our host said he did not know why the army attacked them: " Why, why, why. We did not do anything. " Contact in Balata camp: A. LaVita (972) 56 389 317 |
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