Women And The Politics Of Military Confrontation: Palestinian and Israeli Gendered Narratives of Dislocation by Montgomery Heather

Author:Montgomery, Heather [Montgomery, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2002-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

THREE

Life under Occupation

Mona El Farra

Diary of the Dispossessed: Women’s Misery and Suffering under Israeli Occupation

At the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada I invited my mother, a seventy-nine-year-old widow and retired head teacher, to stay at my place so I can look after her during this state of national emergency. Her house is near settlement areas in Khan Younis, south of Gaza city, and the situation is very unsafe, with daily violent confrontations between protesters and the Israeli army. Everywhere in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Palestinian stone throwers face an army shielded from any serious threat to its safety by armoured vehicles, tanks, and highly protected barracks.

Since my mother came to my place, her only contact with our neighbours has been by telephone. The news about house demolitions, land levelling and tree uprooting reached her only gradually. Sensing unexpected events, she could not sleep for many nights, and worried about her house, unable to reach it or send anybody to get her special belongings.

On 22 November 2000 we heard about our next-door neighbours, a very poor widow and her two children, The bulldozers started their work at eleven o’clock at night. In great shock, and unaware of the danger, our neighbour threw herself against the bulldozer. She hoped to save her house, her only shelter, but she could not. She collapsed in agony, pain, and hatred. The Israelis had given no notice prior to the demolition. All the houses on their street were demolished, with the furniture inside. In some cases, the Israeli bulldozers started their job while families indoors. To this very minute, families have not been allowed to return to their houses, or their levelled land.

The Israelis continue their inhuman actions. The amount of damage is far beyond any warranted by the security measures they claim were necessary. It is simply collective punishment, humiliation, and harassment.

On 26 November 2000 I received the shocking news of my mother’s house demolition; I expressed my feelings in the following letter, which was distributed worldwide.

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