Turmos Aya: Jewish terrorism runs and rampages unhindered

I write this painful report as right now the colonists are on the news again, attacking Palestinian villages unprotected by the Israeli army. Can’t believe this is still going on…

After the Turmus Ayya pogrom I heard on the news that the GSS arrested two Jewish “hillside youth” thugs and that they are in custody. I have not heard anything further.

I keep repeating to myself what the 11-years-old boy from Turmus Ayya said: “I live in the US, but my home is here.” We should all remember this.

7:30 a.m. Qalandiya Checkpoint – the road and the checkpoint

We travel to Qalandiya Checkpoint through Jab’a and see two army posts at every junction and turnoff – usually one right at the junction and the other overlooking the area at a higher spot. The Israeli soldier have many more police mission now. We did not see them stopping many cars.

The riddle of the route of the road crossing the Qalandiya checkpoint benath – making the checkpoint superfluous but only for Israelis – has bothered us for quite a while now. The hint on the ground is its exit to the road from Atarot South to the Begin South highway (to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and to Modi’in (road 443). We look for the entrance from the West Bank. The Separation Wall and internal walls do not enable us to see the earthworks. So we drove up to a viewpoint at A-Ram and then climbed the pedestrian bridge from the Palestinian side.

And still the riddle remains unanswered, as you can see in the attached photos.

On our way we experienced the checkpoint once more: 8 a.m., not crowded, but the occupation architecture is meant to reduce the passersby’s space: the car-park adjacent to the checkpoint is open to only a few vans that come from the West Bank and leave in that direction, while all the rest look for a space to park in a private car-park, and access to pedestrians from Ramallah is only through a small gate in the fence. At the checkpoint itself – long and narrow tracks slalom the people standing in line waiting to cross the turnstiles, after which there is a large, “dead” hall to cross and get the magnetic and permits checked. From there – the huge bridge over the checkpoint whose planning is absurd and inconceivable. It is hard to walk through and even constitutes a security threat. Descending from it, the trek is not yet over – one still has to cross another empty lot whose purpose is unclear, until reaching a relatively small area of bus stops headed for Jerusalem and Israel.

Road 60 from Qalandiya to Turmus Ayya, and a visit there after the previous day’s pogrom

We were shocked to see and hear the sounds and images of the pogrom which about 150 colonists held in this beautiful village after the funeral of the Jewish victims of the terrorist attack at the Eli Colony gas station. The latter took place after the Israeli army invaded Jenin and killed civilian uninvolved Palestinians, a raid taking place after… and so on, deep into the unceasing bloodshed, always presented by the Israeli media as Palestinian terrorist attacks out of any context. In these events, only Israelis are victims.

We decided to drive as far as possible to the attacked village on Road 60. We wished to check the situation in the nearby checkpoints and how the Palestinian residents are coping, and what the Israeli “security” forces are doing on the day after.

Road 60 shows no road signs directing the driver to Palestinian communities that are definitely more numerous along this road. Every colony and outpost on the other hand are clearly designated, and get two Israeli army pשosts manned by 4 soldiers at every access track. Access to Palestinian communities is only by narrow lower roads or dirt tracks distant from the entrance to the villages. We really wished to see whether any passage was blocked leading to a Jewish terrorists’ outpost, but did not want to involved our driver in any trouble.

At the entrance to Turmus Ayya there is not one representative of the Civil Administration or “security” forces. Thus too on the two roads where the inhumane colonists had run amuck, descending on the village from the surrounding hilltops. Nor is there any sign of anyone representing the occupation authorities who should be assessing the destruction and helping the villagers with their trauma. No one is accepting any responsibility, just as no one tried to stop the pogrom.

The villagers are in a state of joint mourning, sitting with their neighbors and discussing what has happened. They are way of cameras and do not intend to turn to foreign embassies at this point. They feel that everyone is collaborating with whatever Israel is doing. Hanna reports from Yesh Din that when they tried to call up the American Embassy, even at the emergency numbers – no one answered!

The village is beautiful and groomed, and now in the summer houses built by villagers who had emigrated abroad are filled with relatives holding foreign passports who have come to stay with their grandparents and uncles and aunts. We took pictures of the burnt cars and were invited to enter a house inhabited by Palestinians and 14 American guests. At the last minute one of them managed to close a metal inner door and climb up to the attic – old people, women and children. Windows on the first and second floors were smashed and firebombs thrown into the house. An 11-years-old boy spoke shortly about his 8-years-old cousin who stayed outside and colonists chased him and even shot at him.