Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002
Subject: Jenin, 24 April, 2002

please forward if you can. i can't open my address book. thanks and lots of
love.

Jenin Refugee Camp
24 April, 2002

An International Relief worker briefed me yesterday on how to indentify
undetonated explosives and the Palestinian explosives expert I snuck into
Jenin with has given me a crash course in disarming them. Three small
children were hospitalized after coming across a live tank shell yesterday
and one died. For an hour I heard an explosion every five minutes. There
have been at least 14 serious injuries in the past couple of days due to
mines, booby-traps, and discarded explosives left behind by Israeli
soldiers. The relief worker described the camp as a mine field.

Many Palestinian families are terrified that their homes have been
booby-trapped by the soliders who occupied them during the invasion over the
past two weeks. Much of the camp is a dusty rubble pile that was once many
homes. People wander through the ruins, some sit and stare. The mosque,
which has a kindergarten in the basement, has been desecrated and shot full
of bullet holes. Most of the homes that were occupied by Israeli soldiers
are still paritially standing, but are ruined. In one, the mother's lipstick
was used to draw stars of david on the mirrors. The soliders blew out the
door and I am told handcuffed two family members to the railing where they
were beaten. In the living room there are bullet holes everywhere, including
a pile of children's clothes which are also partially burned. Tin cans from
solider's food litters the floor as does excrement and the belongings of the
Palestinian familiy. The beds are broken and soiled. The children's toys are
dismembered and unstuffed. The mother handed my american friend the head of
a doll and said thanks for what you've done.

I met with a student yesterday who laughed and cried and shouted while he
told me that his friend's mother has lost her mind. He told me she watched
her son die, handcuffed and blew to bits by a tank shell. He was shaking and
said, "A tank against one guy with no gun." He also congratulated me as an
american. He said, "Congratulations for ruining my home, my life, for
killing my mother, my brother, and five of my friends." He looked at me and
said, "And you call me a terrorist."

free palestine,
kristen schurr
011 972 341 268

Palestine info | PGA