From Occupied Palestine

Palestinians cheer as army quits two West Bank settlements
JON ELMER
The NewStandard, 22 September 2005

Jenin, West Bank -- Hundreds of West Bank Palestinians rushed into the recently evacuated Jewish settlements of Ganim and Kadim late Tuesday night, only minutes after the last Israeli armored personnel carrier departed. The troops had unexpectedly abandoned the much-hated Al-Jameelat checkpoint in addition to the two settlements, from which civilian populations had evacuated in mid-August as part of Prime Minister Sharon's "Gaza disengagement" plan.

'We are at war'
GRAHAM USHER
Al-Ahram Weekly, 1 December 2004

There are some - including in his Fatah movement - who see Yasser Arafat's death as an opportunity for change. Not so Zakaria Zubeidi, leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in the northern West Bank. GRAHAM USHER spoke with him in Jenin

Jenin -- On 15 November the Israeli army ended a two-week long incursion into Jenin. Nine Palestinians were killed, including four civilians, 25 wounded and 25 arrested. One arms cache was found. It is the third morning of the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr feast, the fifth after Yasser Arafat's death. Jenin is a ruin of shell-cratered roads and lampposts flattened by tanks. As the Israelis drive out, we drive in - looking for the same man.

Prisoners of Zion
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 26 August 2004

The letters are kept in a pillow on the living room sofa. With trembling hands, as if it were a religious rite, Najiba Jelamne opens the zipper of the pillow and pulls out the envelope with the handful of letters and photos. Two folded letters, as brief as memos, written by hand on an official Red Cross form - the only sign of life that has arrived from their prisoner son, who is said to be very ill, but whose parents have been unable to find out what happened to him. One letter was sent in February and arrived in June, four months en route from the prison to the Jenin refugee camp, and the second was sent in June and arrived about two weeks ago; that's how long it takes to get from the sender to the addressees.

This week in rebuilt Jenin
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 11 June 2004

Is there any other neighborhood in the universe with streets whose width was adapted to the dimensions of a tank? Is there any other urban planner who took the width of the Merkava Mark III tank into account?

Slightly over two years after Israel Defense Forces bulldozers destroyed the center of the Jenin refugee camp, a white city has arisen from the ruins of "ground zero." Of the 530 residential units leveled by the IDF in operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, about 100 new apartments have already been built. Last week the first families moved into their new homes, and by the end of the summer, the Jenin camp will have a new and well-designed center, the width of whose streets has been especially adapted to the dimensions of Israeli tanks.

Tank lanes built between new Jenin homes
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 10 June 2004

The residents of Jenin refugee camp have begun returning to homes destroyed during Operation Defensive Shield. The homes are being rebuilt by UNRWA with a $29 million grant from the United Arab Emirates.

Construction of 100 of the 530 housing units detroyed by the IDF in April 2002 has been completed, and 70 families have returned to their homes, which are better designed than the previous buildings. UNRWA officials say they hope the entire camp will be rebuilt by the end of the summer.

PRCS paramedic: "You tell me why I am face-down on the ground"
GHASSAN ABU IBAID
FromOccupiedPalestine.org, 18 November 2003

Ghassan Abu Ibaid, 43, is a paramedic with the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Jenin. He has five children and a sixth on the way. In February, he will be moving with his family to California. We interviewed him in the sitting area of the PRCS building, while the television in the background relayed news of the Maxim Restaurant bombing in Haifa that had happened only minutes earlier.

The lost generation
JON ELMER
FromOccupiedPalestine.org, 28 October 2003

Jenin, West Bank -- Mohammed is four years-old. As he ran up the stairs to the roof where we were sitting, his chattering noises became louder and louder until his tiny figure came flying around the corner of the stairwell. He ran directly toward me and jumped up on my lap as if we were brothers. It was the first time we had met.

Testimony: Paramedics under siege
MAHMOUD HUSSIN BAJAWI
FromOccupiedPalestine.org, 17 October 2003

We spoke with Mahmoud in the sleeping quarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society station in Jenin on the afternoon of October fourth. As the old ceiling fan hummed and one of Mahmoud's colleagues slept nearby underneath a clothesline of PRCS uniforms, Mahmoud spoke with distant reflection and thoughtfulness.

Showing us pictures of his three children - six, three and one - he said, "every time I see them when I return home from work, I cry. I think of the three children of my colleague who was killed beside me. I haven't slept properly in one year, since he was killed. But what can I do? I love my job... to help our people - but there is no cover from the tanks, the Apaches..."

Send in the bulldozers: What Israel told marines about urban battles
CHRIS McGREAL
Guardian, 2 April 2003

Martin van Creveld's advice to the US marines on what lessons to draw from Israel's bloody urban battle in Jenin was precise: Forget the helicopters, invest in armoured bulldozers.

For months now, the Pentagon has been taking notes from the Israelis in preparation for what looks increasingly likely to be an arduous house by house, street by street, fight for Baghdad. Pentagon strategists have pored over videos of the Israeli military's assault on Jenin a year ago, when 150 lightly armed but determined Palestinians kept the army at bay for 11 days and killed 23 soldiers.

Israelis trained US troops in Jenin-style urban warfare
JUSTIN HUGGLER
Independent, 29 March 2003

Amman -- The American military has been asking the Israeli army for advice on fighting inside cities, and studying fighting in the West Bank city of Jenin last April, unnamed United States and Israeli sources have confirmed. Reports that US troops trained with Israeli forces for street-to-street fighting have been denied.