Nablus Under Siege

On Sunday the Israeli Defense Forces uncovered a workshop for bomb construction in the West Bank City of Nablus. Since then the I.D.F. has held Nablus under siege. There are a few articles in Ha'aretz describing the campaign and the quest for seven suspected individuals behind these workshops. Another two bomb construction labs have been uncovered during this most recent campaign.

Najat is a wreck. Her friend who is a nurse in Nablus called today to describe what is happening there because she is frightened. The suspects they are looking for are boys of 17 and 18 years of age. There is a curfew and unceasing shooting. People have no food because they cannot leave their homes. The ambulances carrying wounded are being shot at. There is a need for medicine.

Najat keeps taking off her glasses and wiping her eyes.

Her friend says that yesterday a boy of thirteen was caught by the army. He was going to a neighbor's to get bread. The soldiers grabbed him and put him under the wheel of a tank. They screamed for the people to come out and see what they would do if anyone broke the curfew or the lock down. After threatening the boy with death, they let him go.

According to Al-Jazeera, the IDF pulled its troops out this morning at dawn. The mayor of Nablus asked the residents to resume normal life but there is suspicion that it is a temporary cease of the siege.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/191EC9B6-B0F7-43BF-905D-3E3519439CC9.htm

Najat asks if it is justified to completely thrash the entire City of Nablus for this search? Is it rational to put every individual in danger? Is it humane to deprive people of food and medicine?

She feels no one cares. She is Palestinian and so she doesn't exist. No one is helping, no one can do anything. She wants Israelis to go and see and tell her if what is happening is right. She can't understand how the Israeli people can stand by and let this happen, without question or protest.

More houses are being destroyed, more children traumatized, more hatred ignited.

Here in East Jerusalem things are quiet. The sun has come out from the clouds, the rain has stopped. It's so hard to believe that not so far away, one city is under siege.

I don't know what to do or what to say. Najat is overwhelmed with helplessness and I can offer no comfort. Her mouth is set firmly in a frown and she has put her eyeglasses on to focus on her work. Similar to yesterday's rain at which Najat stared at through the window, how many of these storms of her people has she witnessed, able only to watch?

The next few days will be fascinating. I wonder if this is the beginning of a cycle of violence. Jewish settler found dead in Hebron. Israeli army raids Nablus, uncovers bomb workshops, seeks out 7 (8 according to Al-Jazeera) suspects of crimes perpetrated. Nablus' streets are filled with debris and fear. What happens next? Who will administer what kind of justice from this most recent act of agression against the Palestinian people?