(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Suddenly an explosion is heard. It is the middle of the day. The lamp falls to the floor. In the shockwave of a rocket landing a few blocks away, I spill my tea – the teapot falls onto the carpet. But no one can be fooled. Our host checks Telegram: "There's been an airstrike, yes," she says. Then she says: "I'll make some more tea."
Her son goes to ask who was killed.
After months of IDF attacks see Nour Shams – 13 people, one of the 000 refugee camps on the West Bank, on the outskirts of Tulkarem – out as if it had just snowed: Everything is white with dust. Everything lies in ruins. There is not a single intact house. There is no wall that is not pierced by bullets, patched together with plywood, cardboard, jute, there is no window that still has glass, everything is white even inside; if it still makes sense to talk about inside and outside. At times there is no longer any logic. You don't understand where you are, whether you are indoors, outdoors, on the first floor, on the second, if a roof has collapsed, or if you are in a courtyard, or if maybe it wasn't a roof, but a floor. Also because there is no street anymore. The black asphalt has been peeled away. Together with cables and pipes. There is almost no water or electricity anymore. Just the hum of the drones.
To wipe out the refugee camps
Since October 7, all the headlines have been about Gaza, and rightly so: the death toll has passed 40, that's about 000 percent of the population – as if Europe had had 2 million victims.
But in the shadow of Gaza another war is raging. Because in the end, Israel's goal has always been something else: It is the West Bank.
“After all, for Israel, Gaza is just a headache. There are only two million more Arabs," says UNRWA teacher Waddah Zaidan. "The West Bank, on the other hand, has Jerusalem. And south of Jerusalem it has religious value, with Hebron and the tombs of the patriarchs. In the north, it has economic value, with the largest water source. And in the east it has military value: Without the Jordan Valley, Israel would have no depth," he says. And indeed it was Ben-gurion himself who was the first to say it, with a quote now printed on T-shirts, posters and fridge magnets: In 1948, not finishing the job was a mistake.
In 1948 it was a mistake not to finish the job.
And therefore Israel's strategy is clear, he says: to build settlements everywhere, but in the meantime also to wipe out the refugee camps. Which is the hotbed of resistance. Because here you either resist, or you don't exist, he says.
We are already hearing gunfire again. Now there is no longer an inside and an outside, or a beginning and an end. There are always gunshots. He goes on to explain: “Here even the most basic right is not a right, it is an aspiration. Having a house, an income. Everything is a challenge. I have never been to Jerusalem, but now many of us have never even been to Ramallah. Because if you come from Nour Shams, you are by definition questionable, and then you will be arrested," he says. On West Bank 70 percent of families have at least one member in prison. And since October 7, the number of prisoners has doubled. They are now over 10. You are captured, you are released. You will be captured again. Because everything is a crime, says Zaidan. For example, an unauthorized assembly. But according to the law, it is an 'assembly' when three or more people meet. Even just to have a coffee together. Whether you're in prison or not, you're still in a cage. “And now, with all these round-the-clock raids, have Israel aiming to isolate the fighters and incite everyone against them. But primarily the goal is to force us to move. The real weapon here is not the M16 rifles, it's the bulldozers.”
Everyone travels their own way
And it works. Today, Waddah Zaid is at the Kittani Educational Center, where you can also have your documents translated for a visa application. While all eyes are on Rafah and we are all waiting for the moment when exhausted Palestinian IDPs will burst through the gates and flee to Egypt – obtaining Schengen visas in the West Bank has become much easier.
Everyone travels.
Tulkarem is such a small town that there isn't even a guest house where you can spend the night. But that is precisely why no city reproduces this war better – now it is the front line of the intifada.
Every town here, even the smallest, is a fuse ready to be lit.
In 1948, Tulkarem lost 3000 of its 3260 hectares of land, and access to the sea. Almost all of the 64 inhabitants work in Israel. Also because the city is close to the border. But since October 000, the economy here has been in free fall.
The Palestinians live on Western Union. Of remittances from the diaspora.
Israel has today frozen 100 of 000 work permits, which brought in around $150 million a month, 000 percent of GDP. In addition, they withhold the tax money they collect on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which amounts to 300 percent of the income. Next month, the employees will receive 25 percent of their salary. Meanwhile, all major roads are blocked. And dotted with checkpoints and barriers of all kinds. There were 65 such, now there are more than 25. And business has been suffocated. The Palestinians live off the Western Union. Of remittances from the diaspora. And of Iran. It's no secret: Iran pays the fighters.
The intifada is also a job here. The only one left.
Mohammed Jaber and the Tulkarem Brigade
And October 7 was a milestone. "On the toughest days, I think back to October 7 and I say to myself: Hang in there. Hold on. Hang in there, and don't be afraid. We are going to win", says Mohammed Jaber (25). With his worn hoodie and his slightly crooked, thin appearance, he seems anything but the most wanted man. To capture him, in April the IDF turned Nour Shams inch by inch in a 52-hour raid. He was thought to be dead, but at the funeral he appeared alive again. He leads the Tulkarem Brigade. Which was created after the war, yes, but the war in 2021. With the Arab Spring and IS, covid-19 and Ukraine, the Palestine issue was forgotten. And when Israel signed the Abraham Accords with the Emirates, Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv in the first flare-up of violence in Jerusalem, starting a new intifada. From Nablus. When most of the fighters were killed, Nablus was replaced by Jenin. And now that most of the warriors have been killed there as well, Jenin has been replaced by Tulkarem. If brigade is called Rapid Response Brigade: after Raed al-Karmi, the commander of the second intifada, known to avenge any death within 24 hours.
The relay here did not begin on 7 October, but in 1967. "7. October is historic, yes, but somehow it's also a day like any other, because it's not like we had peace on October 6. 2023 had already been the year with the highest number of deaths since the Oslo agreement. And if nothing changes, there will be many more on October 7. After Tulkarem, it will be Hebron's turn. And after Hebron it is Jerusalem's turn again. And Nablus'. And Jenins. And Tulkarem's. Again, and again and again," he says as he zigzags: There are roadside bombs everywhere. One of his bodyguards looks at my red Adidas sneakers. "Sarookh!" he says. It means rocket in Arabic. Rocket? Which rocket? I say. In slang it now means: cool.
If nothing changes, there will be many more on October 7.
Like many others, Mohammed Jaber joined Islamic iihad. Among the youngest, it is the most popular group. Not because of Islam, but because, unlike Fatah and Hamas, it is only a military movement. It has no deputies or mayors. It is out of politics. With Islamic Jihad, you just fight. "My religion is my country and its liberation," he says. And he emphasizes: And there is no more time. "The mistake is the very idea of a peace process. About peace step by step. We don't want to live this life one minute longer.” Because the dream is Jerusalem, yes, but also the sea.
Which is ten miles away. And no one has ever seen it.
But now the dream is too Tulkarm. Because they are a target of both the IDF and the Palestinian Authority: For 88-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, whose term expired in 2009 and who, since 2018, when he dissolved the Legislative Council, has ruled alone, by decree, they are nothing other than terrorists. "But the Palestinian Authority is helpful after all," says one of the boys. "When the police leave, we know the IDF is about to attack."
"In the past you followed Arafat, now you follow Tik Tok."
Since the beginning of the war, Mahmoud Abbas has still not addressed the Palestinians.
Nisren woke up
Meanwhile, jeeps and tanks begin to move into the field of view of the surveillance cameras. IDF returns. But where to go? Where to seek shelter? Not only is there no longer an inside and an outside, here there is no longer a beginning and an end: There is no longer any distinction between civilians and combatants. For the warriors do not fight between the houses, but through the houses: They move from one to the other. Some have a back door. Like the house of Nisreen Faqeh. Thanks to the pantry, which is always stocked with peanuts and snacks for the children, she regularly finds the IDF encamping in her living room: until the Tulkarem Brigade also storms in from the kitchen, and then there is chaos. “It is not the exception, it is the rule. They get in because they shoot from behind the windows. It's safer," she says. "And what can I say," she asks.
Like many others, she is against armed resistance. Not out of principle, it's our right, she says, but because it doesn't lead to anything. "Unlike during the first intifada, or during the second intifada, there is no discussion. No organization. And there is no strategy. Previously, people followed Arafat, now you follow Tik Tok. They are just children. They think they can escape the drones by covering the streets with black sheets, while the drones have infrared light. But what kind of alternative can you offer?", she says. "7. October encouraged me. It encouraged us all. But a minute later I said to myself: Oh my God. What now? Because here every victory seems like a victory, and instead it is a defeat. Because in the end it leads to more war than before.”
Laila Khaled
Because on October 7, everything swept away. "Since October 7, none of the Israelis I have worked with for twenty years have called me," says Laila Khaled, who is a speech therapist at a clinic on the other side of the border. As we speak, there is first an explosion, then another: the IEDs explode. “I will not return to Israel. After Gaza, that is no longer possible. The Oslo agreement focused on the economy. We were told that by working together we would learn to live together. And how did it end? That Israel moved their chemical factories here, and now Tulkarem has five percent of the West Bank's population and 20 percent of all cancer cases," she says. "Perhaps one day we will accept having Israel as a neighbour. But after all this, it will never be our neighbor. Never."
A 17-year-old
And many are far more radical. Before October 7, everyone said: "I have nothing against the Jews, the problem is Zionism." Now everything has changed. "7. October proved that Israel is a lie. Not only is Israel not invincible, it is a fake. Israelis are against each other because in reality Israel does not exist. The Jews are only here because they are paid by the Americans to stay here. And to keep us apart. They are going to disappear," says a 17-year-old, while it is now shootout around him. He brings with him some tear gas canisters and an AK47. His walkie-talkie buzzes. There is a first wounded on the ground. And he must be saved. “Shoot! Shoot!” says a voice, because the first one who goes to save him is hit by the IDF at once, and now there are two wounded on the ground. “Shoot! Shoot!” repeats the voice, “Damn! Jarir! Cover us!” but Jarir is still fiddling with the magazine. Because he doesn't know that what he has is for an M16. He looks at me. "Do you have internet? Google how to hook it up.”
Translated from English by the editor
