[Dryerase] [Fwd: (Nablus, Palestine) In the Home of Mohammed Ramadan]

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (Nablus, Palestine) In the Home of Mohammed Ramadan
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:15:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Jaggi Singh <jaggi at tao.ca>
To: jaggisingh2003 at yahoo.ca


[For previous reports, e-mail jaggisingh2003 at yahoo.ca. This report may
include some typos. Please correct. Happy New Year everyone. -- J]


In the Home of Mohammed Ramadan
by Jaggi Singh

NABLUS, PALESTINE (December 31, 2002) -- Nablus is a city under siege.
The
West Bank's largest town is the primary target for the Israeli
Occupation
Forces' (IOF) increased campaign against so-called militants and
terrorists. It's a campaign that, in effect, collectively punishes all
Palestinians for being Palestinian.

During the current siege, which has lasted for more than a month, no
Palestinian vehicles have been allowed to enter or leave the city. Army
checkpoints are more aggressive, and in many cases Palestinians are
forced
to wait an entire day before getting through, with at least several men
targeted for arrest and detention every time.

Curfew takes effect nightly at 6pm, allowing the IOF to undertake its
self-described "operations" within the city's neighborhoods and refugee
camps. The incursions involve tanks, APCs -- occasionally Apache
helicopter gunships -- and the IOF's special Paratroopers brigade. Homes
are invaded, and residents held hostage, while soldiers try to locate
and
kill Hamas or Tanzim militants nearby.

Armored bulldozers have dug up rubble and earth to create roadblocks
within the city, and the same bulldozers are also active destroying the
homes of militants at all hours. The city's basic infrastructure is
falling apart, although during the day, life maintains some normalcy:
markets stay open, workers are busy making additions to already
over-crowded apartment blocks -- or rebuilding demolished homes -- and
children fill the streets at play.

Curfew is sometimes imposed during the day too, although when the IOF
tried last week, in the center of Nablus, it was defied by residents,
who
resisted bullets, APCs and tanks with stones and firebombs. One youth
was
killed in that "incident".

Nablus and its adjoining refugee camps -- including Balata and Askar --
are centres of resistance to the Israeli occupation. According to
military
sources cited by Ha'aretz, Nablus is the town most densely populated
with
men on Israel's "wanted" list.

I met one of those "wanted" men, in his home, last night in Nablus.

Mohammed Hashem Ramadan is 19. He is a physical education student at
Al-Najah University.

Mohammed lives in the crowded Askar refugee camp, in a small apartment
home with his father, mother, two brothers and four sisters. The family
is
from the wave of refugees who fled Jaffa in 1948.

Last Thursday night (December 26), while Mohammed was staying overnight
at
a friend's house studying for an exam, IOF special forces soldiers
invaded
his family home for one of their "operations". Before entering the
Ramadan
house, the more than 40 soldiers, according to eyewitnesses, first shot
themselves into two nearby homes, firing several machine gun rounds
inside
the apartments and on the roof, shouting for Mohammed to give himself
up.

After realizing their mistake, these "elite" soldiers entered the
Ramadan
home, again, using sound bombs, and then shooting just above where
family
members would usually sleep. The family was forced out of the house,
into
the cold street.

Mohammed's mother was hit by soldiers on the neck and shoulder.
Mohammed's
father, Hashem, 50, was handcuffed and beaten, but not before he was
especially humiliated, forced to pull down his pants in front of his
family, to prove he wasn't hiding a bomb. For four hours the family,
including the young children, waited on the street, at gunpoint, while
soldiers inside searched the house for where Mohammed might be hiding.
The
soldiers left, empty-handed.

Mohammed was back home last night -- four days after the army raid --
when
I visited. That morning, an IOF commander at the nearby Huwarra Base
phoned his father to pressure him to give up his son. The commander said
he'd be phoning back at 8am today for an answer.

I entered the home last night with other members of the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), whose help had been requested by the family
after the IOF home invasion. They hoped that the presence of
internationals in the house would preempt another raid, and buy some
time
to help the family make some difficult choices.

The modest Ramadan home was full of kids, relatives and visitors, all
anxious and worried, although the children were delighting in practicing
English with their guests ("What's your name?" was a favourite
question).
At times, the adult relatives would show tears.

Almost immediately, noticing my camera and notebook, Mohammed's father,
Hashem, led me around the house. Systematically, he showed me
practically
each and every bullet hole, many of which I photographed (including the
injury to Mohammed's mother). There were traces of bullets everywhere --
the entry door, beside the beds, at closets (whose doors were ripped
off),
and in the kitchen. A television was shot out, as well as the water
tanks
on the roof.

Hashem quietly described the soldiers to me -- their faces were totally
covered by black masks except for their eyes. Through a translator, he
told me that the soldiers threatened to kill him while he was kneeling
on
the ground handcuffed.

An uncle -- a local soccer coach and an accredited FIFA assistant
referee
-- spoke proudly of his nephew's soccer skills as a fullback defender. A
cousin, who studies business at Al-Najah, specifically spoke to me about
the perception of Palestinians abroad. Practicing her English, she said,

"Do you see Palestinian[s] as terrorists? Do you see what Israelis do to
Palestinian people? Write about us to the outside."

Mohammed seemed embarrassed by all the attention, and mostly stayed in
his
room, listening to friends, cousins and uncles. I was able to chat with
him too, through a translator. He's tall, athletic and broad-shouldered
--
perfect for a soccer fullback -- and quite shy.

I asked him how he was feeling, and he just shrugged. Was he angry? His
reply, after I repeated the question in different ways: "Sure I'm
angry."

He opened up somewhat when we talked about soccer. His favorite team is
Real Madrid, and we went back and forth naming players, and expressing
degrees of approval or disapproval -- Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Roberto
Carlos; he really liked Roberto Carlos.

I tried to get an idea of why he might be a wanted man. Again, just a
shrug. His mother, and all the relatives, insisted he basically went to
school, played soccer, and stayed at home, and had no associations with
political groups.

Saif, a Palestinian activist with the ISM in Nablus, who's from Askar,
put
it to me this way: "Every male between 15 to 55 is wanted; [the IOF]
don't
need a reason."

There was some argument about whether the targeted males started at 15,
or
were even as young as 12. But there was no argument that if you're a
male
and Palestinian, you'll be wanted by the IOF some time for some reason.

Everyone was speculating about why the IOF might want Mohammed. There
were
two main theories: either a case of mistaken identity, or that the IOF
want to use him for information on others through the pressure of family
separation and forced detention.

Again, Saif remarked, "At least during the first intifada, they'd try to
make sure they got the right person; now, if they're not sure, they just
arrest or kill both people."

When I left for the night, it was still unclear what decision Mohammed
and
his family might make. They were expecting a call from the IOF commander
the next morning, and feared for another raid on the house. Several ISM
international activists stayed the night.

By the next morning, the decision was made.

What I never appreciated from my brief discussion with Mohammed was how
upset he felt at the humiliation and terror to which his family was
subjected. The family considered the option of helping Mohammed go into
hiding, or even openly defy the IOF with the help of ISM activists. The
latter option could mean a certain amount of media attention on
Mohammed's
case and, potentially, force the IOF to publicly justify their home
invasion and detention.

In the end, Mohammed decided to turn himself in, to spare his family any
further humiliation or anxiety. The family too rationalized the
decision,
thinking that at least in prison, they would know he's still alive. To
go
into hiding as a "wanted" man means eventual murder at the hands of the
IOF.

As promised, the IOF commander at Huwarra phoned at 8am sharp today.
Mohammed's father, supported by the presence of ISM internationals,
requested the small dignity of allowing his son to say good-bye at home,
and meeting the IOF at the base. The commander said he'd phone back in
15
minutes.

Exactly 15 minutes later, the occupation commander phoned, and agreed to
meet Mohammed at a location just outside the Askar camp, but not near
the
base.

Mohammed said goodbye to his younger sisters, kissing each one tenderly.
Susan -- a long-term ISM activist in Nablus, who's seen many traumatic
situations -- found herself breaking down as the sisters began to cry.

Accompanied by his father, mother, sister and older brother, as well as
several internationals, Mohammed walked through the Askar camp to his
rendez-vous with the Israeli Occupation Forces. Camp residents came out
to
say their farewells, repeating the Arabic phrase "deer baaluk" [take
care], shaking his hand, or kissing his cheeks. A camp procession began
to
follow Mohammed to his destination.

The IOF commander maintained contact with Mohammed's father by cell
phone,
and when he got within sight of the IOF -- who had arrived in several
armored military jeeps and an APC -- the rest of the procession was
ordered to stop.

Many of the children who were following were ready with rocks in hand,
but
they stayed behind as Mohammed proceeded ahead with his father, mother,
as
well as the internationals whom he wanted with him as protection.

As Mohammed got even closer to the IOF soldiers, he was ordered to walk
ahead alone. He kissed his father good-bye and, finally, kissed his
mother
two times on each cheek before walking up a hill to meet the soldiers.

Before arriving, he was ordered to lift his shirt, and drop his pants.
In
his underwear -- and within sight of his family and friends -- Mohammed
was asked to turn around.

Mohammed Hashem Ramadan, 19, was placed in a jeep and driven to the
IOF's
Huwarra Military Base south of Nablus. He will be held and interrogated
there until the IOF decides to hold him in administrative detention --
ie.
detention without trial -- for six months or more -- or order his
release.

There are currently more than 8000 Palestinians in IOF occupation
prisons.

[Written by Jaggi Singh (December 31, 2002) in Nablus. Jaggi is a writer
and activist based in Montreal, and a volunteer with the International
Solidarity Movement (www.palsolidarity.org). He is also a member of the
No
One Is Illegal campaign and the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC).
There
are a few digital photos related to this article, but they will not be
available for download until mid-January. For previous reports from
Palestine, or for copies of the photos, please contact the writer at
jaggisingh2003 at yahoo.ca.]