A Personal Account from Bethlehem:
Palestinians Continue to Resist the Israeli Invasion

The Israeli invasion and reoccupation of Beit Jala has been met with incredible and steadfast Palestinian resistance. Don't believe the Israeli reports, which state to the contrary. Despite the Israeli plan to re-occupy Beit Jala in a few hours, until this very second (17 hours later) the battle continues. The Israelis have yet to accomplish their occupation and as time goes on, the chances of an Israeli success dwindle.

During the invasion, many of us stayed up all night watching the night sky, illuminated with tracers and bombs exploding, and we listened to the non-stop gun battles between the Goliath IDF and the fearless Palestinian resistance. The resistance continued even as I went to sleep at 7:00 am. Thanks to Uncle Sam, Palestinian civilians were terrorized by US made and paid for apache helicopters flying over the skies all night.

All around the Bethlehem area last night, the church bells rang and the mosques called on the people to wake up and defend their land from the Israeli invasion. Palestinians from all over went to the streets with whatever they had to fight the Israeli invasion. Deheishe camp residents took bulldozers, dug trenches and blocked the streets. Beit Jala residents put gas tanks on the roads to stop the Israeli tanks from advancing.

And as I write, at 3:00 p.m. reports from Aida camp are that the Israeli army has fled the houses it occupied earlier today as a result of the intense Palestinian resistance. And more reports are coming in that despite the Israeli action, shooting on Gilo continues. No force, not even the Israeli army backed by the most sophisticated US weapons can succeed in occupying another people indefinitely. The Israelis are a foreign army occupying a foreign land. The solution is not to dispatch international observers - that would just put an end to the legitimate Palestinian resistance to push out the Israeli occupation. We must all stand with the Palestinian resistance and call for one thing - end the Israeli military occupation now!