The Agony and the Irony of Jenin Refugee camp

On thursday, we went to the Jenin refugee camp in the north of the west bank. I knew that a friend of mine spoke of Jenin as being his home, but other than that I knew nothing about the situation there. We arrived at the camp, and we walked into their community building. The camp is confined to an area of one square kilometer for around 13,000 people, so it's pretty densely populated. A bunch of kids stared at us like we were aliens, but they were nice. I don't think they see Westerners a huge amount.

We were given a history of the camp, and what villages the displaced families were from. Some were from what is now Israel, and every family tells the children stories about the villages they left/were forced from in 1948 when the Israeli state was created. What I didnt know was thatI was about to hear a story that would break my heart.

Around 2002, there was an attack by an individual on an Israeli target which killed about 20 people. As horrible as this is, the Israeli were about to respond with something even more dreadful. They assembled 3000 soldiers and 600 tanks and invaded the refugee camp of Jenin. Perhaps there were some people they considered criminals, but the invasion was not necessary. If they wanted them, they could have extracted them. Out of the 13,000 people, less than 100 resisted. The tanks destroyed many of the homes, and killed 86 people, many of whom were civilians. They injured many more.

One story that made me very sad was this old man of maybe 70 years or more. He said the Israelis had invaded the town for 13 days I think and blocked water and food. He was walking to try and make it into his home, but a sniper shot the old man in his han. The sniper then yelled at the old man to get up, but te old man was in shock and did not have the strength to push himself up. He tried, but was then shot in the foot for not complyin immediately. He started to cry and said that he thought he was going to die. Ambulances were completely blocked, and most of the town's residents were made to walk around naked in front of everyone else. If you understand the culture of properly covering yourself in more traditional Islam that is practiced in the refugee camps, this is one of theworst forms of humiliation possible.

The United Arab Emirates paid for the rebuilding of the refugee camp after the people's houses had been destroyed, but when we got to see the new houses, we got to see te bullet holes in the walls and buldings done by Israelis after the attack on the camp. They apparently come into the town every day usually and sometimes when they are bored they shoot a bit at the new houses.

The images we saw of what the Israelis did to the people they killed were appalling. True, some of these men were fighters in a situation of war, but few of these had been involved in the attack on Israel. They were doing what anyone would do if a tank was about to destroy your house and everything you had worked for, they resisted. Many were also civilians. The only time in history I have seen bodies as badly destroyed as these was in photos of the Holocaust. In Exodus it talks about an eye for an eye I think, and that law is not meant to suggest that that is the proper punishment, but it is the limit of punishment for something done against you. I believe that is part of the Torah as well. There seems to be a pattern of violence that is dramatically disproportionate on the side of the Israelis. This story is a minor example compared to Gaza's 1300 dead to Israel's 13 or so.

After that experience, we were given lunch and we had a stimulating discussion about the state of the world with one of the refugees. He had his own perspectives because of his restricted access to books and internet and such, but some of his stories were somewhat revealing. I didn't really think about it, but he talked to me about the fact that if I was in an Iraqi refugee camp, I might be killed because US soldiers were the ones that helped create that situaton. We fund the weapons that were used against the camp 6 years ago and he said that we were welcome to the camp in the spirit of peace. Some of his thoughts on the US I disagreed with, but he was an interesting person.

After lunch we went to do volunteer work at the children's center, and this is where I had a moment that really bothered me. We painted peace symbols and signs of love on the walls where the kids play. I made a sign saying no to violence. On the other side of the center, men were installing a sign celebrating men that were being held in israeli political prisons for different things they have done, some of which was violent resistance against the occupation. So we were creating two different messages: one was peace is the way to go, and the other indirectly celebrating violence. I was really torn, and felt that it was wrong to try and make the kids think about the conflict even as they play soccer, but it was their decision to make, so i decided to make my anti violence sign a little clearer.

After that, we went to this little church where Jesus performed a miracle, the description is in Luke chapter 17 I think. There re 20 Christian families living in Jenin right now, and there were many more but they left because of easier access to visas. The church was on top of a hill, and it was very nice, the women could not enter the altar area, which was strange, but it was some kind of orthodox church too so i dont know what is normal for them.

After this experience, we went back to our camp at the university here, and me and my friend hung out in downtown Ramallah and ate scwerma.