It is saturday night in Balata, one of the original 1948 refugee camps. Balata is considered, I think, a part of the city of Nablus or at least directly adjacent to it. It is sandwhiched between an army base up on one hill and two settlements on the other. It is a closed military zone, which means that it is close to impossible to get in through the checkpoints for internationals. To get here, we had to go through the mountains evading patrolling soldiers.

Less than four hours ago, soldiers occupied a house here in the refugee camp. A normal procedure, the family (an old couple) was held at gunpoint while the soldiers used the elevated vantage point of the house as a sniping position. They know that the palestinians won't return fire because of the hostages.

I was in the old city when this particular incursion began. I recieved a phone call from philip, another american with ism. Three army jeeps in a clash with shabab (youth) and one occupied house with soldiers. When I arrived, the shabab were there throwing stones and I could already smell the tear gas. We attempted to block the jeeps from entering furthur into the camp by standing in front of them with two large banners. The jeeps drove close to us as to make the rocks fly dangerously close to our heads, so we had to withdraw to the sidelines. When we can't physically intervene, we at least try to be around as witnesses to discourage the army from actually killing anybody.

The army left the area (albeit temporarily) and the group paid a visit to the family in the house that had been occupied to ask them if they wanted international protection. Testifying to the undying hospitality of the palestinians, the old woman whom was only recently released from gunpoint insisted on serving the group tea. The couple said that the soldiers come into their home and hold them hostage like this at least once every week.

Now the soldiers are back, making circles around the camp. The most frustrating thing is to feel helpless in a situation like this, there is very little to be done when the army starts acting this unpredictable. I feel like I have to be writing this email because I can't just sit down and do nothing while hearing the gun shots as close as this. By far the craziest thing is the roving spotlight coming from the military base on the mountain that is actually a targeting laser, meaning they use it to fire precision shots at people in the camp. Whenever the light comes near a person he runs. It's a weird image, seeing everyone run away from a search light. Sometimes they don't use it to shoot, just to harass people, sometimes they shoot, there is no way to know.

We recieved a phone call from medical relief workers who said that in nablus they identified three other houses occupied and one school. At least three civilians have been shot and seriously injured already at this point. Three of the internationals are leaving to accompany the ambulances to safety. The army is bringing in the apache helicopters, they can be heard flying over the camp and the city. This is also pure harassment, they fly low and make lots of noise, shining lights at people on the ground.

Altogether it was considered a minor incident, occupation and violence has been absorbed into everyday life here. Last Wednesday I was probably only fifty, sixty feet away when an unarmed twenty-nine year old man was shot fatally by an israeli sniper just outside the old city, in the commercial center of nablus. Israeli snipers were shooting from the rooftops of four buildings. People ran in every direction, but there was no where really to run to because the bullets seemed to keep coming from different directions. Nerve gas was dispersed when the soldiers decided finally to leave. The Israeli Army would later claim that they had only fired two warning shots during the entire event, and that all of those injured/killed were shot by palestinian fighters. There's no way that this could be the case, the few fighters who were there were shooting up, in the direction of the soldiers on the buildings. It was an obvious lie, they had to have been shot by sniper fire.

Incidents like these may scare the shit out of me but it is normal for people leaving here. Almost a month ago there was a situation in nablus where over thirty people were killed by the army in one month, almost exclusively children. Every night they would come into the camp and shoot a kid. Even last week an ism volunteer witnessed a soldier kill a kid in Balata camp. People have come to expect it. Like I said, soldiers and violence are a normal part of the routine here.

Aaron Kuller

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