Under the shadow of Israel - human stories from the West Bank

Amidst the warm welcomes and friendly hospitality of the West Bank, I'm also continuing to hear tough stories. Each is profound, and each adds another layer to the harsh realities of life for most Palestinians living under the shadow of Israel.


Just to give an impression of some of what I am hearing here are a couple of stories.


J. lives in Ramallah and is married with three children. He is a teacher, as is his wife. A lovely story, except that he and his wife are not allowed to sleep under the same roof and haven't been allowed to for over 5 years now.


The reason? Israel's so called 'security wall' and the apartheid that goes with it.
J. met his wife over ten years ago when they were both teaching at the same school in Jerusalem - her home city (which gives her a Jerusalem ID card). They married, and had a child who is now seven, but soon after, in the process of building the wall and separating the West Bank from Jerusalem, J. was no longer allowed into Jerusalem and so now works in a school near Ramallah. As with many people from the West Bank, he can only travel to Jerusalem with a permit, and for over five years now he has never been given a permit to visit overnight. And his wife has also been denied a permit to visit him in Ramallah overnight - if she is caught doing so, she will lose her precious Jerusalem ID, and with it access to Jerusalem and her extended family. So, a married couple separated by less than 15 kilometres, but really by the dark deeds of an inhumane state; supposedly the beacon of democracy in the middle east.


R. lives in Nablus, and during the second intifada he volunteered with the Red Crescent - the equivalent of the Red Cross, with no religious affiliation, and legally under the full protection of the Geneva Conventions. 


During this conflict, the Israeli forces often refused ambulances permission to enter areas of Nablus despite dead and wounded civilians being present. In one case R. eventually gained access to a house only to find that the mother had been killed a full week earlier. The other family members were traumatised, and living with the stench of a week-old body in the bedroom. In another incident in the old city an Israeli tank decided to bulldoze literally through a house to access a conflict area - without warning the civilian inhabitants. Of 11 family members in the house at the time, six were crushed and killed instantly including a pregnant woman, and two died later from their injuries.


Later in the conflict as R. and his colleague went to the aid of some injured people - wearing their fluorescent ambulance vests - his colleague was shot and seriously wounded. He was later to recover, but this incident led R. to leave Nablus for several years and he has only now returned, with mixed feelings about his home town so full of horrible memories and such an uncertain future. What is clear is that Nablus - and Palestine - needs people like R. and I can only hope that the future is brighter than the dark days they have lived through.

The wall and checkpoint gate at Qalandiya - between Jerusalem and Ramallah