20,000 people locked in with barbed wire and trenches The Sun rarely rises upon this camp without bringing a new catastrophe. An ever-renewable wound and constant suffering have become a permanent characteristic of the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. The Sun rarely rises upon this camp without bringing a new catastrophe. An ever-renewable wound and constant suffering have become a permanent characteristic of the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. On the morning of Tuesday 16 December 200, the inhabitants of the Balata refugee camp awoke to the whizzing of bullets, bombardment of missiles and the sound of rain falling on the Zinc sheets covering most of the camp’s houses. A few moments later, loudspeakers from Israeli military jeeps announced a curfew in the Balata refugee camp.

Thus the new operation against the camp, entitled “Stagnant waters”, began, with its various savage attacks on the refugees. Blocking Camp entrances A psychological aspect of the Israeli forces’ new attack on the camp is its attempt to transform it into a large-scale prison comprising all its inhabitants. Thus, the Israeli forces surrounded the camp with barriers and barbed wire and dug trenches around it on the western and eastern sides, thus eliminating any possibility of any access to areas around the camp still having some traces of life.

Thus the camp was prevented from received food aid, milk for babies and medicines. Such was the case of Nidal ‘Ata Hanoun, whose two children suffer from Talassemia and needed to be taken to the hospital urgently to have blood transfers. However, the Israeli forces’ curfew and closing of all entrances almost led to the death of his two sons, and to the camp’s inhabitants accusing the occupation forces of attempting to kill them all through a slow-death policy.

House demolition Since the beginning of the campaign against the Balata camp, no house has been left without being raided and searched by the occupation forces. 45 homes have been partially destroyed, with damage ranging from doors being blown away by plastic explosives, to holes in walls between houses, destruction of furniture.. Two homes were also completely demolished by the Israeli forces under the pretext that 2 of their occupants were wanted.

Mahmood Abdel-Hafidh, the owner of one of the completely-demolished houses reported that he was woken up at 2.15 a.m. by loud knocking on his door. When he opened the door, he found large numbers of Israeli soldiers, who forced him to leave his three-story house, together with the ten members of his family, and go to a nearby house, where he found 40 people, who were his next-door neighbours.

A few moments later, he heard a loud explosion, and people saying to him: May God replace it with something better. Mr. Abdel-Hafidh could not control his emotions when he heard the news, for his house was the fruit of 25 years of hard work! Mr. Daoud Abu Hamdan did not have a better fate, and his two-storey house was demolished and turned into a pile of rubble in a few seconds. High buildings turned into military outposts During their campaign in the camp, the Israeli forces turned tall buildings into military outposts to monitor the movement of the inhabitants. This is done by restricting all members of the family to one room and preventing them from leaving for whatever reason, giving rise to many psychological problems for children. Mr. ‘Ata Youssef, owner of one of the houses that were transformed into military outposts, said that the Israeli forces forced him and all his family, which is comprised of 25 people living in a 3-story house, to remain in a single room, and forbade them from making any sound.

They also them forbade them from bringing food from the kitchen or going to the bathroom except at specified times accompanied by a number of soldiers. Even children were forbidden from crying, and women were ordered to make their children stop crying! He said, "that lasted four days during which I almost lost my life, since I suffer from high blood pressure and thrombus effects".

Desecration of mosques During its campaign on the Balata camp, the Israeli forces also raided mosques. Sheikh ‘Abdel-Rahman al-Jamal, the Imam of ‘Abdel-Rahman Mosque said, “the Israeli forces destroyed some of the internal doors of the mosque, and confiscated the computer that was in the mosque’s library”.

He also reported that the Israeli soldiers began to sing in the mosque’s courtyard, and uttered expressions ridiculing Muslims, particularly their pre-prayer ritual ablutions. They also damaged the mosque’s Adhan sound system. Sheikh ‘Abdel-Rahman said, “the raiding of the mosque occurs every time the camp is raided, despite the absence of any materials deemed illegal by the occupation forces.

This proves that the aim is the humiliation of all Muslims and desecration of their sacred places”. Education The suffering and psychological damages inflicted on the Balata camp’s inhabitants have also extended to school and university male and female students who number 7,500.

These have been completely prevented from attending their schools and universities, whether the latter are inside or outside the camp. The end of term exams for schools and universities take place at the same time, and this interruption puts the future of many of the students at risk, and disrupts their academic lives, leading to further obstacles in their social lives. Media Blackout Mr. Tayseer Nasrallah, member of the Palestinian National Council, criticised the media indifference to what is happening in Balata camp. He said, “we sense a blackout of the Israeli crimes and atrocities committed in Balata camp, which seems intentional”.

Nasrallah called on Palestinian and Arab media to reveal the truth of what is happening in the camp, particularly since the occupation forces use the silence and lack of media coverage to commit further crimes in the camp. His view was shared by members of the community services committee who also strongly criticised the lack of media coverage, particularly by the Arab satellite channels. And until the end of this military campaign on Balata, the camp’s inhabitants will always wonder whether that will put a final end to their suffering and pain, or whether it will only be a precursor for a new campaign which may be more ferocious and severe.
Source: Mohammad Ismail - West Bank