Media Part: Tulkarm, “Little Gaza,” is being slaughtered out of sight | News

Not a day goes by in the West Bank, where another Israeli war is raging parallel to the one waged relentlessly by the occupation in the Gaza Strip, without the Israeli occupation army invading a refugee camp, town or village, continuing its repeated military incursions.

Media Part said, in a report written by its correspondent Gwennael Lenoir from the West Bank, that the war in the West Bank is happening quietly, without much attention from world leaders and Western media, perhaps because it is less massive and less deadly, but for the Palestinian citizen Sabri and the residents of Nour Shams camp, With a population of 12,000 people, it is truly a war, and they called their camp, located at the eastern entrance to the city of Tulkarm, “Little Gaza” due to the extent of the human and material destruction.

Sabri said that 57 martyrs have fallen during Israeli military operations since July 2023, most of them since October, a number that is growing larger among this united community originally coming from Haifa, as it was forced to leave its lands and homes in 1948, after the groups expelled it. Fighting Judaism and the fear sown by successive massacres.

The city of Tulkarm is located in the northern West Bank, 15 kilometers from the coastal city of Netanya, near the Green Line, and is stuck in the separation wall, which Tel Aviv built in 2003 to separate the West Bank and Israel.

There is no stability or security

Gwennael Lenoir said that Sabri, a member of the camp’s “services committee,” arranged to meet them at the main entrance to the camp, which today, she says, is a pile of rubble. “They (the Israeli army) destroyed that with a D-9 bulldozer,” he said, “a huge bulldozer.” An armored vehicle used by Israeli forces during incursions, a machine as massive as it is terrifying, capable of tearing apart and leveling everything to the ground.

The last incursion was a few days before the correspondent’s visit, so residents were busy repairing the damage as best they could. “We have to start over,” Sabri says. “Every time they destroy the infrastructure, the water pipes, the electricity network, the Internet, and the sewage network, which costs a fortune that we do not have.” “.

Citizen Zaki in the second refugee camp in Tulkarm repeats the same story, estimating that the damage to the infrastructure alone amounts to 10 million dollars, as 180 homes, 170 shops, and 120 cars were completely destroyed, and in Nour Shams, 50 homes were completely destroyed and 200 homes were uninhabitable. .

The correspondent pointed out that the repeated military incursions throughout the West Bank, especially in its north, keep cities such as Tulkarm, Jenin, Nablus and Tubas in a permanent state of instability and fear. Sabri says, “The Israeli army’s attacks are not new, but since October they have become more severe and more difficult than it was during the second intifada.”

Sabri explained that the brutality of the occupation has become more extreme today, and the Palestinians are confronting it unanimously throughout the West Bank, explaining that “the Israelis are waging a war of revenge against us. They want to put an end to the Palestinians and create a new Nakba. They are attacking refugee camps in particular, because they imagine that eliminating Refugees mean an end to resistance.”

The resistance members meet in one of the alleys of the Tulkarm camp. They are dozens of young men. They stand and inquire about the nationality and profession of the foreign visitor before they allow him to pass. This is because the Israeli army sends Musta’rab scouts who disguise themselves as Palestinians, which makes any foreign person suspicious.

Without hierarchy

These groups – as the correspondent says – have no hierarchy or national leadership, and in the sunlight, 5 resistance members sit quietly around a coffee table placed in one of the camp’s streets, 3 of whom have Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Ibrahim Rabia, a political science researcher from Jenin, explains, “The resistance today is completely different from previous sequences such as the Second Intifada. These are groups that have no hierarchy, and no national leadership. Most of these young men are from Fatah or are close to it. They simply cannot bear to see the occupier in their camp.” Or their village or city, and this lack of structure is a problem for the Israelis, as they do not know who they are fighting.”

Behind the armed youth of Nour Shams camp, posters were hung on the wall of a house, with pictures on the posters, one of them commenting on them, “This, this, and this are innocents who have never carried weapons, and this is Youssef, who is 9 years old,” referring to a large, full-size picture of a smiling child hanging next to the entrance to a store. Grocery store, the reporter says.

They were killed on October 19, 2023, when a march opened fire on the place where the armed youth were placing their coffee table. 12 people, including 4 children, were killed, and the effects of the explosion are still visible on the floor and on the walls, according to the correspondent.

Since then, the alleys have been covered with black plastic sheets meant to blind the parades, and Ms. Umm Caesar has been left in a state of disrepair, wearing a medallion bearing the image of her son Caesar, who was killed that day. She says, “The Israeli soldiers stormed the camp in the middle of the night, then we thought they had withdrawn, so I sent Caesar and Mahmoud to bring something to eat, but the marchers opened fire.”

Economic crisis

In addition to the security problem that worries the camp residents, the economic problem is added, as many workers in this city were working in Israel with a valid permit, but they all found themselves unemployed after October 7, and the families remained without income.

In Ahmed Al-Bustani’s family, no one works anymore. He says, “I find work here and there. I do not know how I will be able to continue financing my eldest son’s studies at university.”

Eid, who is among those whose homes were severely damaged during the Israeli army incursion, does not know how he will obtain rent for an alternative residence that he was forced to rent. He says, “We come during the day to do small jobs, but I lost my job, and I have to pay 1,500 shekels (375 euros) for “I have no housing and I don’t receive any help, so it’s really very difficult.”

The correspondent quoted citizen Sabri as saying that the crossings are closed and people are afraid because the Israeli military camp is connected to the separation wall, and jeeps, armored vehicles, and bulldozers can reach them within a few minutes. He commented on this by saying, “Our lives are at a standstill.”