There is a significant measure of resistance creepingback into the people of Jenin. They say: “We cannotlive under 24 hour curfew, constantly subject to thegunfire of the Israeli soldiers, having our homes andshops destroyed.” So, many people—old to young, womento children—have been throwing watermelons andtomatoes at the tanks as they roll through thestreets. One young boy successfully stuffed a piece ofwatermelon in the barrel of a gun on a tank. Thedesire to live in freedom is outweighing their fearsof death and so they resist with what they have.
One young boy told an international activist in thearea: “The only thing I want in the world is toprotect my watermelon stand. Please stay with me.”Many fruit and vegetable stands have been run over bytanks in recent weeks, taking away the very livelihoodof the people who sell from them.
Local estimates say that only 20% of the inhabitantsof Jenin Refugee Camp, only three months ago home to14,000, have left the camp due to continued Israelimilitary operations there. Soldiers continue usingdynamite to blow up homes in the camp at whim, causingfear to grow and expand and forcing people to seekshelter elsewhere. Men of all ages are continuallyarrested or detained, beaten, blindfolded, andhandcuffed. For most of them, this is the second timein three months this has happened to them.
Those who remain in the camp are still trying to pickup the pieces of their homes that were willfullydestroyed by soldiers when they entered the campnearly three weeks ago. They went door to door,pillaging and destroying everything they came across.At the time the soldiers entered the camp, most peoplewere still in the process of picking up their livesfrom the large invasion back in April. They have hadto start from scratch again.
Some prisoners taken in April have been allowed visitsfrom immediate family members. This includes some ofthose held in administrative detention, meaning theyhave not been charged with any crime but are generallybeing kept in prison for two three-month periods.
The Israeli military is still searching Jenin for twoactive resisters to their presence in the West Bankbut is having trouble finding them. One of them comesfrom a very large family in the Jenin area. Manypeople, therefore, carry the same family name. One manwith this family name, but a very, very distantrelative of the wanted person, was arrested the 20thof June 2002 and is being given a four-month sentencebecause he belongs to this family.
Food trucks are often being hassled trying to enterJenin. Some drivers have had to spend the night intheir trucks—which are not fitted with sleepercompartments—due to the Israeli military holding themup. No reports of people starving have surfaced but inthe last three months, there has often been a skimpyamount of food available in the city.
The presence of international activists attuned tocultural and situational sensitivities in Jenin andthe Jenin Refugee Camp has been able to slow down “themost brutal soldiers in the West Bank” as theycontinue beating, killing, injuring and arresting thepeople of Jenin District. Due to one or twointernationals continually standing between theIsraeli soldiers and their targets—children—soldiershave largely changed their ammunition from live torubber-coated steel bullets (which are still lethal atranges under 100m). Tanks and APCs continue to firelive ammunition exclusively. International activistsfollow soldiers or tanks around as they move throughthe city or the camp, trying to provide a constantpresence and intervene where possible. Physicalintervention has been undertaken numerous times bythem, lessening the severity of the beatings somePalestinians have received at the hands of the Israelisoldiers.
International activists have also been subject tobeatings, verbal abuse, and one was drug on the groundrecently. One Palestinian-Canadian was detained forseveral hours Friday the 12th of July with many otherPalestinian men and later released. He witnessed18-year old Israeli soldiers slapping a 70-year oldPalestinian man in the face while in detention.
Resistance will continue to grow in the hearts of thepeople of Jenin and Jenin Refugee Camp due to theunsustainability of the living conditions imposed onthem by the Israeli military. Operation “DeterminedPath” is planting seeds of hatred and despair in thehearts of Palestinian children through the destructionof their communities, homes, and families. The firststage of the Al-Aqsa intifadah may be over, but thenext one is already being born.