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Ramallah Invasion

Tanks in Ramallah

AP Photo

March 15, 2002
Ramallah

From my dear friend in Ramallah:

Two nights ago, ten tanks rolled by my bedroom window at 1.30am, to my sleepy bemusement. Since then, my husband and I have been blessed with unbelievable luck. Although we hear heavy gunfire, watch Apaches circle, and see the pictures on the news, we have not been badly affected the Israeli invasion into Ramallah. We have been shopping for an invasion for months and were worried enough by the previous Israeli invasions of Palestinian towns over the last week to buy the basics. Many others were not so lucky and are without even bread or milk, a terrible situation to be in with children.

This Israeli invasion into Ramallah is wrong for many reasons. Already civilians have been killed - a man out to get bread for his family and an Italian journalist are just a few. People are trapped inside, with no electricity or water - many families have had their apartments confiscated by soldiers and been shoved into one apartment. We have no idea what is going, why the Israeli army is here, how long they will stay, and how much m ore damage they will do.

But of all the things that are happening here, one thing worries me the most... the proven indifference by the Israeli army to the most basic international conventions that dictate the treatment of medical personnel and journalists in conflict. I highlight this because I believe that when an army abuses these parties, it will not hesitate to ignore other basic human rights to achieve its goals.

In the last two weeks, five medical personnel have been killed - many of them shot in the head and one blown up in an ambulance that was fired on at a checkpoint. Two of them were Red Crescent medics who were travel ling through checkpoints under a safe passage arranged by the Internationa l Red C ross. Another worked for UNRWA.

During these ongoing invasions, the Israeli army have also targeted hospitals. My sister-in-law's husband is a doctor at the Tulkarem Hospital. During the three-day Israeli invasion of Tulkarem, the Israeli army encircled the hospital, preventing any patients to arrive despite the many wounded civilians, and cut off electricity and water.

When they invaded yesterday morning, the Israeli tanks immediately surrounded and shelled the three Ramallah hospitals, including the local maternity hospital. The Israeli army has cut off the water and electricity of all three hospitals Israeli soldiers are preventing ambulances from picking up those wounded in the recent
fighting. Instead, they are being ferried by cars and wheelbarrows. One victim of this anti-ambulance policy was an Italian journalist who was shot six times in the stomach by an Isareli tank gunner. Rafael arrived at the hospital an hour after he was shot, even though the hospital was ju st down the road. Why? Because the Israeli soldiers refused to let the ambul ances come to pick him up. I have heard of so many cases of people bleeding to death in these recent camp invasions or checkpoints because the soldiers refuse to allow medical aid. The doctors who operated on Rafael say the main reason he died was the delay in bringing him to the hospital. The Israeli soldiers are also interfering with ambulances carrying out basic medical services - an ambulance taking a sister of Ali's good friend from the hospital with her new baby to the checkpoint between Ramallah and her village was stopped by soldiers manning a number of tanks. The soldiers told the ambulance driver that he had five minutes to drop his patient anywhere before they took action against him.

Which takes me to journalists... before dawn on the day of the invasion, the Israeli tanks turned their guns on the City Inn Palace, a hotel that overlooks one of Ramallah's refugee camps. For several minutes, heavy weapons fire rained on the hotel, where a corps of international press threw themselves onto the floor. Press sources indicate that it was clear that there were cameras being held, and not guns, and that the building was a hotel. And yet the Israeli army strafed it. Today, already one journalist is dead and two are wounded. And I just heard that they have now entered the press offices of Al Jazeera, the leading Middle Eastern satellite channel.

Who knows what will happen next? But one thing is for sure - an army that does not respect the basic conflict conventions and respect the human right to medical care is a terrifying army. I am thankful that I am healthy because if I were to sicken during this occupation, no ambulance would be able to come get me and if I could get to the hospital, water an delectricity would not be part of my medical treatment.

One thing is for sure because it came from Sharon's mouth: the Israeli army will "continue its offensive until a ceasefire is achieved." If anyone can explain to me how a ceasefire can be brokered while one party is occupying and bombing another, I would be grateful. I would think that, in this case, the Israelis should withdraw their tanks from in front of my relatives' houses, stop firing indiscrimately from Apaches into residential areas, and stop shooting at people. I can only imagine that the Israelis are expecting to bring about a cease-fire by killing all th ose who might fire at them. That is not a cease-fire, that is a massacre.

So they are here until they kill enough people - guerrilla or civilian. Sit tight and watch the news. I know I will. I have no other choice.