Nablus After the Israeli Military Invasion

**accompanying Palestinians to their homes and attempting to negotiate with IOF soldiers.

Three days ago, we rushed north to Nablus which had been placed under “curfew”, aka lockdown. The army had taken over the old city, nothing new, rendering it dangerous for anyone to move about in the old city streets. Officially, all of Nablus was under lockdown.

Jeeps and military vehicles parked in front of schools, hospitals, and other buildings around Nablus, preventing passage to even serious emergency cases and hospital staff. In the old city, snipers positioned themselves inside houses at strategic points, soldiers occupied numerous homes, shoving residents and neighbours into undersized rooms, detaining them for anywhere between 7 hours to up to 2 days without food, water, or access to the toilet. Soldiers desecrated homes, urinating on floors, tearing apart rooms, digging holes in floors in search of weapons and tunnels.

Following the Israeli army invasion of Nablus, from late Wednesday evening until early Friday morning, in which hundreds of Israeli troops in dozens of armored vehicles and bulldozers invaded the city and the Balata refugee camp, taking over numerous buildings and homes, blocking entrances to hospitals and schools, taking over radio stations, and eventually demolishing three homes in the old city, Human Rights Workers (HRWs) inspected the old city, visiting sites of IOF-demolished homes.

Several houses in the old city were demolished using explosives. The residents of the homes were not given warning of the impending demolition, and in some cases were prevented from leaving the home. One resident, a Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) medic described climbing out the 2nd story window and hanging onto the ledge in order to escape the collapse of the floor resulting from the demolition of the adjoining house.

The father of a family whose home was demolished by explosives described how the IOF invaded the home around 5:30 pm on Thursday, collecting family members in one room and interrogating the sons on two occasions. The 2nd interrogation session took place in a bathroom, where the sons were badly beaten. Two young men of the family, ages 20 and 24, were arrested. The house was demolished shortly before midnight.

The neighboring house, sharing a wall with the demolished home, also lost a 1st story ceiling-2nd story-floor due to Israeli explosives. Additionally, the weight-bearing wall was badly damaged, further endangering inhabitants sharing this wall. The mother of the family explained they had only just finished re-building after the last invasion. She further explained that had her sons been standing a few meters further away, they would have been killed in the collapse of the floor.

**formerly a floor/ceiling

**serious structural damage to the weight-bearing wall.

In the Safadi home, 3 sons were arrested. The house was thoroughly trashed: Israeli soldiers burrowed into the kitchen floors in search of tunnels and weapons, and additionally ransacked the rooms of the home. While occupying the house, snipers were installed in windows strategically overlooking the alleys outside. The family was used as human shields while the IOF occupied the house.

The Asali household suffered similar injustices. IOF soldiers also dug into the floor, opening a well and exploding a shared-family storage room on the ground level. Soldiers occupied the home from 8 am Thursday until the IOF left Friday morning, again placing snipers in the windows. Upstairs rooms were completely ransacked. Six Palestinians were kept captive in the house, as human shields, during the entire time of occupying the home.

At 3 of Nablus’ hospitals —Al Watani, Rafidia, and Nablus Specialty Hospital—at least 2 Israeli military vehicles blocked entrances from Wednesday night until Friday morning, with soldiers preventing doctors, hospital staff and patients alike from entering, despite the urgency of doing so.

According to Al Watani hospital staff, the army shot at the hospital with machine guns on 5 different occasions. IOF additionally delayed delivery of critical supply trucks like those bringing oxygen, as well as those with supplies for dialysis machines—most patients cannot survive long periods without dialysis, and further prevented delivery of food.

*boring into walls for explosives, this new hole is a health risk, an invitation for rodent-infestation

The day after the army pulled out, we visited the home of one Nablus old city resident who was held captive in one room of her home, along with approximately 40 other family members and neighbours, from Wednesday evening until Friday morning. In another room upstairs, approximately 50 neighbours were held, and a further 15 were kept in yet another room of the house. All were held under similar conditions. During their captivity, residents were neither given food or water, nor were they permitted to use the toilet, instead having to hold themselves or urinate in the room in which they were kept captive. Numerous elderly, children, and one pregnant woman suffered greatly under these circumstances. One elderly man was unable to take his vital medicine for nearly two days as it needed to be taken with food. Both the elderly woman and man developed severely swollen legs from remaining seated for nearly two days, needing to be carried out of the room when finally released from captivity.

When relating the details of their captivity, the woman expressed her sorrow and frustration: “Why have they done this to us again? What have we done to them? We love everyone—Jews, westerners, everyone… That is what God taught us. Give us our freedom. But oppress us and you will lose this love.” She related how when one soldier had fallen down the stairs she involuntarily exclaimed: “Be careful!” The soldier, surprised by her concern and humanity, began to cry.

This same extraordinary woman greeted us with the broadest of smiles and loud “al Hamdillah” (praise be to God) replies when we said hello, further adding: “we have visitors from the PRC (Palestinian Red Crescent) and blessings from God today.” In the course of relating her story, she moved from this shining smile to raw, sobbing grief at she and her husband’s repeated suffering: “He has been beaten over the head and shocked on the genitals. He is but a shell of who he was,” she explained, citing previous invasions and interrogation. Yet upon leaving, this gracious woman sent us on our way with bananas and more smiles.

While occupying the home, soldiers urinated in the rooms as well as ransacked the house. Upon eventually leaving the home, one soldier tossed a hand grenade into the 2nd story window of the house still occupied by about 100 unarmed civilians, fortunately not resulting in any deaths but nonetheless adding to the damage done by the soldiers.

This house-occupation was not an isolated instance. Numerous homes in the old city were appropriated and occupied, residents crammed into small rooms together and held without food, water, or visits to the toilet.

The army was allegedly looking for “wanted men” (resistance fighters). The action of occupying homes and holding residents captive equates to using the civilians as human shields during the military invasion, a practice which is internationally recognized as illegal.

In one instance on Thursday evening, soldiers took captive a Palestinian Medical Relief (PRM) volunteer who had been part of a group escorting civilians to their old city homes. Initially detaining the medic by asking for his ID, the soldiers further detained him by keeping the ID. Soldiers took the medic into the home they were occupying, holding him inside for over 30 minutes before he reappeared blindfolded and handcuffed at the door of the building. He was then made to squat in front of the building for approximately another 20 to 30 minutes while soldiers changed shifts.

During this time, another volunteer and then myself attempted to secure the medic’s release, citing the soldiers’ violations of international law in arresting and using the volunteer medic as a human shield. Our inquiries and requests were met with refusals to release the medic and by the soldiers’ statements that they were not obligated to disclose the reasons for the medic’s detention. After numerous attempts to negotiate the medic’s release, HRWs had to leave the scene. It is unknown whether the PRM volunteer was harmed during his initial or later detention, though there is a high probability he was interrogated and beaten, as in other instances.

**Me attempting to negotiate medic’s release; daylight scene of captive Palestinian volunteer medic and occupied house.

The targeted arrest and detention of medics is common and is a form of collective punishment for these volunteers providing essential emergency services to wounded Palestinians. Volunteer medics typically are young Palestinian men, who the IOF routinely accuse of having involvement with militant groups. When not arrested, medics and ambulances are still routinely denied access to emergency areas, denying the wounded emergency attention, a tactic which can result in the deaths of the injured. On Friday morning, one paramedic, age 23, was shot in the shoulder while on duty.

During this latest invasion of Nablus, at least 60 reported cases occurred as a direct result of the IOF army presence and actions. A further 15 routine but serious medical cases required the attention of the PRC whose movement was greatly restricted by the presence of the IOF. Injuries resulting from rubber bullet wounds numbered 48 in the span of 16 hours—these were only the injuries which were reported to and attended by the PRC. Among these cases, one 23 year old man was shot 4 times in the back and once in the chest with rubber bullets. There were also two reported cases of injury by live bullets. It is worth mentioning that these were all cases which the PRC was alerted to and do not include the injuries unreported to the PRC.

Following a brief absence during the day on Friday, the occupying army re-entered the old city Friday evening and again Saturday evening, as happens on a regular basis in the Israeli military-surrounded city of Nablus.

[Journal thoughts]

Morning after the menace:

This morning, Nablus’ streets are empty, both of Nablusi and of army vehicles.
Post-invasion, I cannot imagine the damage that lies in the old city—at least 3 houses were demolished, 8 arrested, unknown wounded, and at least one killed.

[later] The streets are alive again, hours after the army pull-out. People are stocking up on supplies, just in case. Yet, remarkably, it is not an atmosphere of despair or overwhelming mourning, as one would expect. There is joking, kids playing, shops open with clothes and good dangling, waiting to be bought.

[later] Incredibly, the night after the latest curfew and latest havoc, there is a party in the area. Music and clapping overshadow the traffic, along with festive cheering.
Having seen the soldiers occupying corners, alleys, buildings, hospitals, and houses in and around the old city, having seen Palestinian Relief Medics been taken hostage, arrested for being volunteer medics, knowing that countless families will have had their homes invaded, guns pointed at their heads, abuse shouted and showered on them, I am again amazed at the blaring spirit Palestinians demonstrate in so many ways.

[later]
A call from someone on the edge of the old city reveals that the army has just now again invaded and is roaming the streets of the old city. No widespread curfew has yet been called, but it is not yet midnight; there’s still time.

[Saturday morning]
Back at the Cultural centre in Nablus, my spirits were lifted by the sounds and sights of mostly male youths practicing Dabka. Their enthusiasm is extraordinary. They danced, performing the traditional movements of Dabka and breaking out into incredible imitations of sexy women dancers. These are no pampered youths; they live in the Asgar refugee camp and know the value of their few possessions.

**back to life, between invasions