MIDDLE EAST: Heavy rain, tear gas and rubber bullets did not deter hundreds of peace activists from marching towards Ramallah yesterday morning. Michael Jansen witnessed protests against the Israeli siege andspoke to Palestinians living in danger and near despair
Palestinian civilians from Jerusalem, five bus-loads of Arab citizens of Israel from the Galilee, European volunteers and Israeli Jews from the organisation Peace Now converged on a new Israeli army checkpoint near the settlement of Neve Yacov half-way between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
The demonstrators, carrying Palestinian flags, placards, bags of rice and other foodstuff, were halted at the barricade. Heavily armed Israeli troops skirmished with the protesters and then pursued them into the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina.
But they would not be deterred. The activists regrouped in the afternoon and returned to the barricade for a repeat performance.
Ramallah remained effectively sealed off from Jerusalem as well as the rest of the West Bank. The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, is relying on mobile phones belonging to European "human shields" to communicate with the world.
"The Israelis have two cars going around the compound interfering with communications," one of these volunteers told The Irish Times in a moment snatched on a mobile before we were told to get off the phone because "the president is expecting a call". All mobile phones on the Palestinian network have had their international connections cut.
The situation in Ramallah varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. Dr Ghassan Khatib, a professor at Bir Zeit University and a political pundit, said: "There is a lot of damage in the city centre. There is no electricity or water there. Soldiers go into houses and arrest people, shoot at houses. Thirty people have been killed over the past four days."
He continued: "The Israelis don't bother to tell us when the curfew is lifted so people are afraid to go out. Some are going hungry and many are cold because they have no heating."
Yesterday's battleground was Bethlehem where at least 150 Palestinians are trapped in the Church of the Nativity while others are seeking refuge in other churches. The Israeli army prevented the Latin Patriarch, Msgr. Michel Sabbah, and a group of clerics from travelling the 9 km to Bethlehem to assess the situation.
The daily demonstration on the steps leading down to the Damascus Gate and the Old City was attended by only a couple of dozen people because of a downpour.
"People don't know what to do. We are powerless. Most people just sit at home and cry," said a young man. "The Western powers refuse to help us, the Arabs don't care. We're alone."
Most of the shops in the Old City and along Salahedin Street, the main commercial thoroughfare of Palestinian East Jerusalem, were closed. The few that were open - bakeries, pharmacies and a newspaper shop - were only allowing customers to enter one by one.
As I walked along the street, a taxi driver, angling to fill the last seat in his eight-seat car, plucked at my sleeve. "Taxi? Where do you want to go?" he demanded. "Where are you going?" I asked. "To Kalandia, to the war," he responded with a shrug.
His other passengers were women in headscarves sitting hunched over bags of provisions bought from street hawkers. Here in Jerusalem there are no tanks, no explosions, no fire-fights. But the city is no less under siege. It has been reduced to a tight core surrounded by heavily-armed checkpoints.