Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 15)
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- Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 15)
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revenge. The collective punishment of
the village was immediate, brutal and
sustained. Soldiers entered the village
almost daily, making arrests and beating
people, breaking into homes, smashing
furniture and windows. «However, as
the curfew continued,» say the villagers,
«the morale in the village strengthened.»
Due to the effective alternative local
control and organization in the village,
the people were able to cope with the
situation. Food supplies were divided
equitably; wood was used as fuel for
cooking; meat, fresh fruits and
vegetables were foresworn and people
ate only what was necessary for survival.
The problem, however, was the
shortage of water and overflowing
sewage since no trucks were allowed in to
supply the village with water or to empty
the sewers. Furthermore, the Union of
Health Work Committees was not
allowed to operate their clinic and the
two schools in the village, one for boys
and one for girls, remained closed. In
addition, none of the 400 Awarta
residents with jobs in Israel were allowed
to go to work for the duration. Even
now, more than three months after the
war, only 10% of these 400 workers have
received permission from the Israeli
«civil administration» to go back to their
work in Israel.
The villagers report extensive
damage as a result of the curfew, with
serious implications for the future
because of the prohibition on working
the land or tending livestock. For
example, they were unable to prune their
trees and 400 sheep died because the
owners could not feed or water them.
When the curfew was finally lifted in
the beginning of April, the soldiers left
the village only to come back every few
days to harass and humiliate the
villagers. On April 5th, two days after
the curfew was lifted, a massive arrest
campaign was carried out in the early
morning during which 40 people were
arrested. At the time of this writing, in
early June, only 10 of them have been
released. At the end of April, soldiers
again enterd the village and set up camp
on the roof of a house opposite the girls’
school. The next day, a van with West
Bank licence plates drove into the
village. The men inside, Israeli Shin Bet
agents, were dressed in_ traditional
Palestinian clothes. The van came to a
halt near a house which is used as a
hide—out by «wanted» shabab. The
moment the men jumped out of the van,
the soldiers on the roof top started
shooting in the direction of the
hide—out. As the girls’ school was in
their line of fire, six girls were injured,
one of them seriously. The men from the
van succeeded in arresting one «wanted»
youth. The rest managed to escape into
the mountains.
The night I was there, on May 8th,
the soldiers raided the village another
time and arrested two youths. At
approximately 1:30 am, Umm Ahmad
entered my room and told me to get up as
«the soldiers are in the village.» At first,
I thought that a huge thunderstorm had
broken out but then I realized that the air
was filled with the deafening noise of
sound grenades. The soldiers were only
20 meters away and we were all waiting
in anxious anticipation. What if the
soldiers came to our house? One of
Umm Ahmad’s sons is «wanted» by the
The intifada is for all Palestinians.
Democratic Palestine, August 1991
occupation authorities and even though
they know that he is not staying at home,
the soldiers might just raid the house to
harass his family. Umm Ahmad’s family
has a history of resisting the occupation:
one son is currently in prison, still
awaiting trial after spending more than a
year and a half behind bars, while
another son has already served time in
prison at the beginning of the intifada.
We could see the soldiers entering a
neighbour’s house and coming out with
two young men. The next day we learned
that they were arrested and taken to an
army camp near the village. While
arresting the two youths, soldiers had
thrown a sound grenade into the house,
which burnt the upholstery of an arm
chair. In addition, furniture was
destroyed and a radio-—cassette player
smashed to pieces. Umm Ahmad’s
family was lucky that night, the soldiers
never came...
Before we left the village, I was taken
to the road which is used by the settlers
of Tel Hayyim. The settlement was
founded in 1985, and the road leading to
it crosses Awarta’s fields. Much land
belonging to the villagers was declared
«State Land» at that time and
confiscated in order to build this
settlement. Currently, Awarta is
threatened with the expropriation of an
additional 1,900 dunums, on top of the
4,000 dunums of olive orchards
confiscated in the past. On both sides of
the settlers’ road, hundreds of olive trees
were uprooted on the pretext that stones:
were thrown from this area. It was a sad
thing to see....
When I returned to Awarta, on June
Ist, I was invited to watch a military
march by the strike forces of the intifada
in the village. More than 250 masked
shabab, commemorating the anniversary
of the martyrdom of Mohamad
Khawaja, were marching through the
village. Mohamad Khawaja was a
member of the PFLP, killed by Israeli
torturers during interrogation § in
Ramallah prison on June 1, 1976.
Awarta was covered with his picture,
Palestinian flags and graffiti
commemorating this great Palestinian
fighter.
The village of Awarta has already
given its share of blood and tears to the
Palestinian popular uprising. However,
my visit convinced me that the people of
Awarta are continuing their struggle and
resistance against the Israeli occupation
and its policy of repression and
destruction.
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