Incident in Nablus--Two Coloradans detained by Israeli Army

Phone conversation with Paul Wilcher in Nablus

July 10, 2003

When I spoke to Paul, he described the incident in Nablus where internationals--including two Coloradans--were detained by the Israeli Army, and six internationals were eventually arrested.

The group had gotten up very early, 6:00 in the morning to remove roadblocks. Roadblocks are generally 5-10 foot high mounds of dirt, rocks, boulders bulldozed into place by the Israeli Army with the purpose of making the roads inaccessible for the Palestinians and to disrupt their life. Removing these roadblocks is an important part of the work that the internationals help the Palestinians do--a task which is both useful and symbolic, as well as another example of nonviolent resistance against the illegal occupation.

On this occasion, the Palestinians had acquired a bulldozer. Nick Sarchet (CCMEP delegate) and another international were riding in the bulldozer along with the Palestinian driver. They were in the process of clearing the third roadblock of the day when the Israeli soldiers at the nearest outpost spotted them. Five foot soldiers came angrily towards the group. The internationals tried to stall the soldiers, but without success. A IOF jeep joined the foot soldiers. At this point, the Palestinian driver turned the bulldozer around, with Nick and the other international in it, and started driving towards Nablus (about 7 km away).

The Israeli jeep easily went through the attempted human blockade posed by the internationals, and began chasing the bulldozer.

A second jeep came from the outpost to follow the first, but this time the internationals were able to form a human blockade: sitting in the road where the jeep needed to pass. The soldiers threw a volley of teargas, which temporarily dispersed the group. They reformed quickly, however, to form another human chain spanning the street. At this point, the soldiers in the jeep shot live ammo into the air to scare the internationals. Eventually, that second jeep was able to push through the human barricade and follow in pursuit of the bulldozer.

The five foot soldiers called for back-up. Five or six more jeep appeared.

At this point, the bulldozer had been caught, and was being made to drive back to the dismantled roadblock all the way from Nablus. The Israeli Army wanted to arrest the Palestinian bulldozer driver, but the internationals surrounded the Palestinian and wouldn't let the soldiers get near enough.

The soldiers attempted to negotiate with the Palestinians and internationals. They said that they wouldn't arrest if the bulldozer and the group REBUILT the three roadblocks that they had spent all day removing! So for the next several hours, the group, with the help of the bulldozer, rebuilt the three roadblocks, while the soldiers supervised.

When the rebuilding was nearly complete, one of the soldiers noticed the "ISM (International Solidarity Movement)" t-shirt worn by one of the internationals in the group. The soldiers' demeanor instantly changed. They announced that 'all negotiations were off' and called for more reinforcements. The threatened to arrest the entire group and confiscate the bulldozer. The girl wearing the ISM t-shirt, unknown to the soldiers, quickly grabbed the keys to the bulldozer. The soldiers, angered, arrested three of the internationals on the spot. They then split the group of internationals, and told everyone that "no one was allowed to return to Nablus," that instead they all had to walk to Tel, a nearby village. A few internationals insisted that they needed to retrieve medicines and belongings from Nablus, so they were allowed to go. Paul, who was filming the whole incident, was mistakenly identified as press, and was also allowed back to Nablus.

The rest of the group formed a human chain as they plodded to the village of Tel, with the three prisoners riding in the jeep behind. During the walk, three more were arrested.

The rest of the group, including Nick, ended up hiding out at the Mayor of Tel's house. They were worried that the annoyed soldiers would change their mind yet again and try to arrest the whole group.

Eventually, a Palestinian child led them back to Nablus through the mountains.

For more information on their trip, including past journals, bios, pictures, etc, go to

 http://www.ccmep.org/2003%20deljournals/summerdelegates2003.htm