ISRAEL -
Living Under Siege
March 2001- 22'29''
A DR Production
|
| Sync | Voiceover |
| 00.02.03 |
| This car is neither stuck nor going the wrong way - quite the contrary. It is simply trying to get to Bethlehem via a newly forged track through a small olive grove. Israeli soldiers have blocked the ordinary road which runs alongside the olive grove to the town where Jesus was born. But where there is a will there is a way - even if it means side-stepping the occupying power. |
| 02.26 |
| The official crossing-point - the control post a little further down the road - is completely closed except to a selected few with special permits, that’s if the soldiers choose to accept them … |
| 02.38 control post | "What do you want?"
"But you can't.!"
"Do you in Bethlehem?"
"Then you can't enter. Not possible at all. Get a move on, there is a jeep behind you." |
|
| 03.03 |
| A truck loaded with readymixed cement is hoping to get through to the highway to Ramallah. But the situation is no different here than the other occupied areas - the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Since the beginning of the Intifada - the Palestinian word for their resistance towards the occupation - two and a half million Palestinians have been under continuous and ever tighter siege and are virtually unable to circulate freely. |
| 03.33 |
| But the newcomers - a couple of hundred thousand Jewish settlers, from the US and Europe - are able to go anywhere. They tend to have military escorts. The risk of Palestinian attacks is high. |
| 03.47 |
| But the Palestinians do not want to be imprisoned. Hence their many attempts to find ways through the iron grip of the Israeli military. The impassable mountains of the West Bank are a great help. |
| 03.58 Ole Sippel PTC | "The situation is absurd. There are enough roads on the West Bank, yet both the Palestinians and the Israelis are building new roads.
Down there you see the old main road and over here the Jewish settlers are adding a new ring road to lead them around the Palestinian villages.
And back there the Palestinians are making a new dirt road to avoid using the main road, where they are sure to be stopped by Israeli military controls." |
|
| 04.31 |
| The dirt road leads to the village, Ras Karkar. The School headmaster is one frequent user. He lives in another village and so walks back and forth each day – eight kilometres - with many Israeli control posts in-between. |
| 04.45 Daoud Abdallah School, Headmaster, Ras Karkar | "We are not allowed to pass, not on foot nor by car. So, we have to park a little way from the school and sneak through the mountains and olive groves without being seen. If we are discovered, we risk getting beaten up or shot. But we can only get to the school through the mountains." |
|
| 05.05 |
| Israel has been occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the war against the Arabs in 1967. Shortly after, the Israelis began confiscating land and building kibbutzes and other settlements.
The Arabs and most of the rest of the world protested from the start. They considered the Israeli expansion and colonialisation a clear violation of International Law - and a true hindrance to peace. But the Israeli Foreign Minister at the time set the tone for things to come by indignantly rejecting the protests. |
| 05.38 ABBA EBAN Israeli Foreign Minister - May 1971 (in English) | Our territorial aims are governed exclusively by considerations of security. Q: But would you say the erections of kibbutzes in the occupied territories has helped peace? A: Well so little of that has happened, it’s not really a factor. It certainly does not prejudice our position in the peace negotiation at all. |
|
| 06.07 |
| But things turned out differently. The number of settlers has exploded ever since – encouraged by Jewish fanatics and today these settlements are considered the main hindrance to peace. The Israelis will not give them up and the Palestinians want the land, which they believe is theirs, back.
The problem is enormous. The settlements are spread all over the occupied areas and have left the Palestinians in villages and enclaves surrounded by Israelis on all sides. |
| 06.38 |
| Since the beginning of the Intifada, the Palestinians have not only been surrounded, but also imprisoned in their villages and enclaves. They are under siege, unable to leave their villages. The Israelis claim it's the only way to prevent terrorist bombings inside Israel and to secure the settlements and the soldiers against attacks. |
| 07.00 |
| Ras Karkar - a few kilometres north of Ramallah and Jerusalem - one of the many occupied areas. The village has 1500 inhabitants most of whom used to make a living working inside Israel. This is no longer possible - let alone allowed. |
| 07.17 |
| These two families, Samhan and Nufal, consist of 13 members all living together in this house. Since the occupation the men, being the bread winners, have been unable to make money. They used to go to work in Israel every day. |
| 07.31 Khaled Samhan, Construction worker | "Before when we were working, we could afford food, clothes and all sorts of things.
Now that we are under siege, we have had to decrease our consumption.
Instead of using 100 shekels a day we now use 10 - 15 shekels.
We had saved a little - and now we have to scrape through the day using the remains of our savings.
But it's almost gone now. Then it's all over.
Allah will help us.
We have to survive. What else can we do?
We must stay put, until we die. We want to die in our own country.
|
|
| 08.16 |
| The Israelis claim that food and medicine are exempt from the bans, but the locals say there are lots of exceptions to this rule. There are serious problems getting household staples. |
| 08.28 Khaled Samhan, Construction worker | We are besieged on all sides.
The settlers are on this side and the army are down there and up there.
So, both from the west, the east and the north. |
|
| 08.40 |
| That's why people have to find ways out. The much-needed goods are smuggled past the controls via narrow mountain paths - often by donkey: a risky business. |
| 08.50 Khaled Samhan, Construction worker | "I put my life on the line. I can get shot - or get taken prisoner - or get beaten up for going through the mountains."
"If there is trouble here in the village or clashes with the army, and you get caught going out to get food for the children -you get into trouble. That's the way it is." |
|
| 09.14 |
| Like many other villages, Ras Karkar has no doctors. This is a major problem when someone gets sick and needs a doctor or needs hospital treatment. |
| 09.26 Aysha Saman Housewife | "We have to carry the sick person to another village or beg the soldiers to let us pass. It sometimes takes forever. There once was a lady who died at the control post... and a young girl died before they got her through, because they keep stopping you, whilst they control the cars and the passengers. It is a very thorough control. They don't just look - Oh, no." |
|
| 09.55 |
| Since the '80's, Jewish fundamentalists have been building a large complex of settlements around Ras Karkar - and they are still growing. It means confiscating land owned by the village and used for centuries. There are frequent clashes. |
| 10.11 Abdallah Abdurrahman, land owner | "The Jews have all kinds of weapons. We have only stones. What are stones compared to guns? When we use stones against bullets, it is because we are frustrated and pressured. Otherwise we wouldn't be using stones against guns. We know, that a stone can not match the bullets. But we would rather throw stones and die, than live this way. |
|
| 10.37 |
| By the entrance to Ras Karkar stood a house, which has been demolished by the Israeli military. It lay too close to the road used by soldiers and settlers. From the ruins the Palestinians often throw stones at passing cars.
So the village is being watched closely and patrolled by Israeli soldiers and plain clothed security men. Day and night.
11.04 The father of the Salhija family, who used to make a living driving a taxi in Ramallah, has painful first-hand experience of what this means. |
| 11.13 Wafiq Tewfiq Salhija, Taxi driver | "The soldiers came on a Wednesday at 3AM. They started hammering on the door and we opened. Then they dragged us all outside and started beating me and my wife. They searched the whole house making a mess. They wanted the boy. They even hit my wife, who was 8 months pregnant. She is still in hospital. She is at risk of abortion. Then they took my son, Baher and another boy from the village. |
|
| 11.52 |
| The event took place two weeks ago. The soldiers never said why they arrested the boys - or where they were taking them. But Wafiq believes they are now in an Israeli prison, and he guesses that they were taken because they had been throwing stones. |
| 12.08 Wafiq Tewfiq Salhija, Taxi driver | "Youngsters do a lot of things. Some children attack the settlers or the army. I don't know about that. But I know that the army came to me at 3 AM at night." |
|
| 12.20 |
| At other flash-points, like the one between Bethlehem and Jerusalem things are even worse. 12.28 Palestinian snipers frequently shoot with rifles from Bet Jala, a suburb of Bethlehem, across the valley towards Gilo, an Israeli settlement in the Arab part of Jerusalem. The retaliations are severe. |
| 12.45 |
| Since the beginning of the Intifada, the Israelis have had tanks in front of Gilo to retaliate using rockets and grenades, against the snipers in Bet Jala. |
| 12.57 |
| The civilians here - primarily Christian Palestinians - have paid a heavy price , having their homes destroyed in the battles between the occupying power and the Palestinian resistance. |
| 13.10 |
| Another residential area in a suburb of Bethlehem is unluckily situated right opposite an Israeli military base. The base is often targeted by Palestinian snipers and the retaliation is once again the bombing of civilian houses. This house was the dream of the Matarweh family and the result of 13 years work and savings. They now have to move like many others. Joseph Matarweh denies snipers were shooting at the base from his house. |
| 13.42 Joseph Matarweh, carpenter, Bethlehem (in English) | Q: There had been shooting at the base from the area hasn’t there? A: If sometimes there was some shooting, they are shooting at the houses. They don’t shoot at who is shooting. All the time they are shooting and damaging the houses. If somebody comes from there or from there and is shooting at them, they shoot at the houses, at civilians. Perhaps they want us to leave. We don’t leave, it’s the Holy Land. We stay here in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem, in Nazareth, we stay here. |
|
| 14.18 |
| The scene is repeated in Rafah - a village bordering the Gaza Strip and Egypt. |
| 14.24 |
| The Israelis control a narrow strip along the border and the heavily armed patrols are often targeted by Palestinian snipers and people throwing stones… |
| 14.34 |
| Maybe that is what happened a few days ago - it's only possible to glean scant information about the reasons for what happened. But Israeli soldiers came at night with tanks and bulldozers and literally flattened this area with its police station, a gas station, houses, olive groves and gardens. |
| 14.56 |
| The soldiers forced their way into the house of Nasar al-Shaers. The soldiers and the tanks were firing in all directions while 30 grown ups and children were ordered outside. |
| 15. 08 Nasar Hussein Al Sha'er, pensioner | - I broke down and got very ill. - I was afraid they were going to kill me. - They said, "Don't worry, we are not going to kill you. We are just going to remove these buildings and everything here."
- But how shall I make a living? - They have pulled up my trees. They were 30 years old. - And my vegetables that used to provide me with a living. - 30 people live off all this. - Where do I go now? - He said:" Take it easy. But don't let anybody shoot at us from this place." |
|
| 15.45 |
| The Gaza strip is the place where the showdown between Palestinians and Israelis is most intense - the hate, the differences are very strong. |
| 15.55 |
| The reason is easy to find:3-4000 settlers, protected by almost as many soldiers, have taken over 1/4 of Gaza and squeezed their settlements into an area inhabited by 1.2 million Palestinians. |
| 16.13 |
| The Palestinians live for the most part in poverty in crowded refugee camps. There are regular shooting incidents between Palestinians, settlers and soldiers. In the daytime suicide bombers are also common as well as heavy Israeli artillery attacks against the refugee camps. |
| 16.33 |
| The Gaza Strip – or Strips - as the locals are now sarcastically calling the area, because the Israelis have torn it to shreds with their many roadblocks that have led to horrendous traffic jams. |
| 16.49 |
| Around the settlements and alongside the roads that the settlers are allowed to use, the soil is burnt. The Israeli military has removed houses, olive and orange groves so they can see everything clearly. The situation is so tense, that the soldiers fire at will, if they as much as SUSPECT something. A number of innocent people have been killed for getting too close to the control posts. The press are no safer than anyone else - several journalists have been killed or wounded. We spent three days filming here and were shot at three times - most likely only warning shots. |
| 17.33 control post (in English)
|
|
|
| 17.45 |
| Gaza has been completely cut off from the rest of the world. 2500 people used to cross the border every day to go to work in Israel - now only a few professionals are allowed to pass. |
| 17.58 |
| The harbour and the airport have also been closed. The fishermen are only allowed to fish right outside the harbour. But the catch is very small there, so most of the boats are moored by the piers. |
| 18.12 |
| Only food, medicine and emergency equipment enters Gaza. All going through the goods terminal at Karni. The export of fruit and vegetables has been fallen drastically. Everything is dealt with at snail's speed. 400 trucks used to pass daily - now just 100 go through. The drivers must wait for hours - sometimes days. |
| 18.35 Samir Abdel Hadi, driver |
|
|
| 18.52 |
| The delays are also due to the fact that all Palestinian goods are checked for security reasons. Then they are reloaded on to Israeli trucks and driven to Israel - and vice versa. Every box of vegetables is thoroughly checked before it is handed over to a large Israeli export company. |
| 19.13 |
| The siege has completely destroyed the economy in the already weakened Gaza. The number of people living below the poverty level has, according to the UN, risen from 650,000 before the siege to one million - more than 3/4 of the total population. How do people get by? |
| 19.33 |
| We asked Sohel Ahmad. Sohel lives in the Shatti refugee camp with his nine brothers, their wives and 40 children in all. The ten brothers used to make a living working in Israel, but they have not been able to since the uprising began. Their savings have already run out. |
| 19.54 Sohel Mahmud Ahmad, construction worker |
|
|
| 20.06 |
| - and Sohel and his family have had to join the ever growing queue of people receiving emergency aid from international relief organisations. The UN refugee organisation UNWRA has more than doubled hand-outs of basic foods. But the demand is growing day by day and both UNWRA and the Palestinian home rule has sent out appeals for help |
| 20.29 Mohammad Jendia, Secretary at the Social Ministry |
|
|
| 20.50 Ole Sippel PTC | The situation can easily become deadly serious for Palestinian home rule and for Yasser Arafat. |
|
| 20.57 |
| The uprising and the siege has brought home rule to the verge of economic disaster - partly because for months the Israelis have been holding back money they are collecting for home rule. Israel is defending its actions by claiming the need for security. But the Palestinians, along with many others, see the siege as a way to collectively punish a people, whilst putting pressure on Yasser Arafat to stop the uprising and give up political claims. The EU and the US have condemned the siege - and international human rights organisations go as far as to criticise Israel's whole modus operandi in the occupied areas. |
| 21.42 Raji Sourani, Managing Director, The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (in English) | The Israelis obviously, from the very first days of this crisis, they are using all ammunitions they have in their hands. They are using it actually against civilians. And obviously, the Palestinian civilians should be protected by the full Geneva Convention, as civilians. Israel doesn’t apply that, and that’s obvious, and the entire international community says so, including the American Human Rights organisations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. |
|
| 22.22 |
| So far the Israelis are just tightening the siege. Over the last couple of days and weeks, more and more Palestinian villages, like Ramallah, have been blocked off by banks of soil. Mobile military patrols have increased their control of roads. The Israelis are not going to change their politics or re-negotiate peace until the Palestinians chose to renounce what the Israelis call violence and terror. |
| 22.54 |
| But despite the suffering, the deaths and the destruction – the Palestinians will not give in to the pressure and give up the Intifada. |
| 23.02 Sohel Mahmud Ahmad, construction worker | - the situation is forced upon us. We can not change it, unless the other side change their attitude. |
|
| 23.09 Nasser Abu Saideh, student | - The Intifada should continue - by all means. If it is stopped we are back where we started. |
|
| 23.22 |
| So far, the Intifada has not brought the Palestinians any closer to peace. Recently, the new Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, offered peace talks on a completely new footing than before - and therefore completely unacceptable - at least to the leader of the Fatah-organisation on the West bank - the man known as the king of the Intifada and perhaps the successor of Yasser Arafat. |
| 23.48 Marwan Barghouti, Fatah -chef, West bank (in English) |
I think it was the speech of war. You cannot find any room for negotiations with the Sharon government, according to his speech. So I think that it will be very difficult must, but the Palestinians have no option. They have to continue in their Intifada. The Israelis have to understand. If they use everything against the Palestinians, they will not succeed to reach for peace or for security. They cannot get security and stability and peace and incubation and settlements together. They have to choose. |
|
|
|
|
|